Taking the Challenge!

Do I find it ironic that my very first post is about eating and my weight? Not really. :) I feel like I'm not much different from most women. At some point during every single day, I have a small self-image breakdown, some small, some epic. The last year has been better than usual as I've been fairly consistent about making it to the gym two times a week. I tried going on my own and I just don't have the dedication to go on my own....so I visit John at Genesis Health Clubs twice a week. The results have been very encouraging.

This is a photo comparison from Easter a couple of years ago (on the left) to June of this year. I will say that when I started working out, I weighed in at 192 and currently, I'm 182. In the last year, I've learned lots of things - I've learned that being healthy is more than just a number on the scale. Even though I've only lost 10 lbs on the scale, my body fat percentage has dropped 6% or so. I am finally on the border of healthy versus obese. That is HUGE for me!!

 While I am finally falling in love with how I look, I know my workout has taken me as far as it probably is going to and I need to commit to a healthier, consistent diet. My step-sister made the change about a year ago to eating clean and using the Paelo diet and has had tremendous success. She looks great but she also FEELS great!!

After doing lots of reading and pinning just shy of a million pins (and wasting my life away on Pinterest...this topic would need a whole post dedicated to it), I decided to take the plunge. You, my friends, are along for the ride. Hopefully I can survive the 30 day challenge and switch over to a healthier lifestyle!

Getting prepared: I found a site that lays out the 30 day challenge really nicely. She even gives you a weekly shopping list for the first two weeks and suggests workouts for each day. I have to admit, the first week looks like it's going to be rough but when I saw bacon wrapped filet in my future, I kept reading. Take a look at www.robinssweetconfessions.com and go to the 30 day challenge. This morning, I went to Target and got all of my food for the first week. I had quite a bit of the spices but needed some of the staples like coconut oil and sunflower butter. My bill was about $200. Here's everything I bought:

$200 is expensive but there are a lot of things I bought today that I will continue using in the coming weeks. Once I got home, I wrote out in my journal the food plans for the next 7 days so I can carry it with me at all times. I also cut up my veggies based on the meals I'm going to be making this week (I HATE doing this so I consider this dedication if I'm cutting my veggies up early!).

Tomorrow morning I'm going to take my before photo for the 30 day challenge and kick this thing off! Here's to a successful eating change!