Back on the wagon

So here I am. I'm going to try blogging about food and weight loss and PCOS thing again. A lot of things have changed for my family in the past 2 years since I last posted and that has, of course, changed the way I see food, the way we eat, and what we eat. There is so much that has changed, I'm not even 100% sure where to start.

Probably the biggest change, and one that led to many of the others, is that we have two toddlers now. A & N will be 2 in November and they are silly, sweet, wonderful, difficult, everything I had hoped for and nothing like what I expected. Being a mother has dramatically changed my priorities and how my day looks and feels. I am so blessed to be able to stay home with the girls, but this also presents challenges. I always have food at my fingertips. Any time I am frustrated, bored, needy or feel the slightest tinge of what may be hunger I have an entire pantry and refrigerator waiting for me. Some days it is so easy to turn on Sesame Street and give myself an hour to just sit in a recliner instead of taking the girls outside to play. I have long been an indoor girl-- I'm sure my mom would tell you from when I was a toddler myself that I would rather sit in a cozy chair and read a book than go climb on playground equipment. But my girls need to get outside more than we do right now.

So from the concerns of a new mother, as well as general disgust in my own body after giving birth (I gained 90, NINETY, pounds during the twin pregnancy. 50 came off easily. The last 40... not so much. Since Nov. 2011 I've lost 25 of those 40.), I started gathering information. That's me right there. Gather as much info as I can and then take another million years to make a decision. But then, THEN I am wholly altered and I move as quickly as I can with dogged conviction to make changes. Here is the stage I am fully implanted in now when it comes to food. Many of you may have read or heard through other avenues (or even me) about Michael Pollan's book In Defense of Food and the follow up book Food Rules. These two books have completely changed my views on food and the food culture of North America. Later I unintentionally read a series of books related to the food culture in France and have ever since been trying to take real steps in making concrete changes to the food that my family eats.  We daily move a little closer to eating what many blogs and books call "Real" food. There are countless people who can give more information on what this means, but to us it means cutting out the pre-made, processed food for whole, more natural foods. In the coming weeks and months I'll go into how this really looks for us. Right now, it means a lot more cooking, a lot more learning, and most of it is fun.

I've really been feeling lately that God wants me to pour myself into encouraging and supporting other women. For a while, I thought it would be in helping other mothers of multiples, but after a few unsuccessful attempts to connect with some ladies, I'm hearing more and more of my friends around me discussing food and weight loss and how it relates to us as Christian women. I have 0 credentials, y'all. What I do have is a lot of reading, and one successful dieting attempt that was cut short by pregnancy. I lost 60 lbs before getting pregnant, and I am looking forward to seeing those numbers again. But I also want to help and encourage those around me who want to lose weight, whether it's 10 lbs or 100. This journey isn't just about eating less and exercising more, honestly. It's about your thought process and your soul and your motivations and your relationships with people AND with food. I'm learning this more and more, and I'm excited to share it.

Well, now what is this blog going to look like from now on? I'm going to be honest and real with my expectations here. My plan is to make one post daily-- however, however, most of these posts are simply going to be accountability posts for myself. I am going to start over working through The Beck Diet Solution and will post my work through that each day including a sort of food diary to keep accountable. I am 100% positive that most people won't want to read that stuff and that's ok. Then I'm planning to make more in depth posts weekly: one recipe and then one informative post (I'm thinking Mondays and Wednesdays?).

Here we go. So far today:
breakfast: bowl of cereals (Multigrain Cheerios, Mom's Best Naturals Honeyful Wheat & Grape Nuts with whole milk. 2 cups of coffee
lunch: Open faced turkey sandwich: 1 piece walnut whole wheat bread from EarthFare with 1/2 tsp mayo, 1/4 tsp dijon mustard and 3 turkey lunchmeat slices; 1/2 medium apple (pink lady. yum); 2 small sweet peppers, 18 mesquite BBQ kettle cooked potato chips (meijer).

Not the best day so far... gotta pull back on the carbs for snack and dinner!
See you all tomorrow!