There comes a time in every woman’s month where all she wants is to tell her healthy-eating habit to hit the road and eat everything in sight. Or maybe it is just me!

Today, I really REALLY wanted to go to Starbucks. I had to take the kids to school and I was already in town, and the nearest fix was only 20 minutes away. And I needed things at the store next door to said Starbucks, too. And the little kids were fed and dressed.

It’s all I wanted today!

But Matt forgot to put the scale back in hiding and I got on this morning before my shower, and I have not lost more than the 13 lb. I reported last Friday. My slip-ups have caught up with me. I’m happy to not have gained, but it was a harsh reality how hard this really is because I have not even slipped up that badly!

So, I re-grouped and came home from school drop-off and found myself happily munching on my breakfast of kashi and skim, banana and hard boiled egg. It’s no Starbucks, but I am glad to have resisted the challenge.

Today, anyway.

After a few slip-ups last week, we are going strong as of yesterday. I didn’t go to town and eat whatever I wanted, and I definitely still made wise choices, but I know I did not stay in my 1,500 calorie allowance. So here are my cheaters’ confessions, which I am placing here not to shame me before the world but because I want to look back on this time and be thankful I stuck with something for once!

Thursday, I had an Arby’s beef and cheddar sandwich after the girls’ dance class (we sometimes go out on Thursday nights because it is really to cook/serve something once we get home) and just about threw it up. I couldn’t eat more than half of the curly fries and it all made my stomach hurt! I think I learned that I either need to have a salad when we go out for supper, or I need to stick with kids’ meals! One thing I have learned in this month of March is to eat less, more often. And obviously my body is trained to appreciate this, because when I do indulge, I feel really awful. On Friday, after MOPS I had a Runza salad and I ate every last drop of the creamy, delicious, fattening dressing. Shame on me! I also made pizza on Saturday at noon with white flour crust, but I did use much less cheese than normal. I felt so guilty by this point that I ate only one slice of the pie and had a huge romaine lettuce salad with balsamic vinegar on it to fill me up. Matt took me out for supper before my “gig” on Saturday night and I refused to eat anything but a salad and a few pieces of onion rings. I am glad I stuck to my guns because I felt much better Sunday and was able to climb right back on the horse without looking back.

Now, I want to share that I know this all completely reasonable eating for someone who is at their goal weight or level of daily fitness activity. Life is life, and people will eat things that are unhealthy at times. But as a “newbie,” I don’t want to allow myself room for daily slip-ups just yet. I want to stick to this 30 days (or the remaining 15, anyway!) and adjust as necessary to allow for these occasional derailments. When I get to the point where my body is healthy and the fat is shed, I will simply do more working out to make up for any indulgences. But for now, I want to be really hardcore. I am, afterall, staring down the barrel at swimsuit season and I do not want to be held back my this overweight body any longer. It’s not even what others may think about me, because I just don’t care anymore. But I do care what I think. I do care that I am exhausted after a day of chasing my children around and I know that it is possible for me not to be!

So yesterday, I stuck to “the plan” for the entire day. I even managed to resist the homemade ice cream pops I made the children in the zoku maker on our sunny, hot Sunday. It was fine, I had an apple and some pistachios and they were more than sweet enough!

Here’s yesterday’s lunch. A sushi sandwich! It is made of one la tortilla factory 50-cal tortilla (whole grain) and one triangle of laughing cow cheese. A cucumber spear, a scallion, a little avocado and some roast beef. I also had mango and strawberries mixed with some homemade yogurt. It was good. I was going to photograph and share our supper, but I really didn’t like it!

Today, I am enjoying a half-graprefruit, a hard-boiled egg and some granola for breakfast. The food is really good when I actually eat it.

Here’s to the next 15 days……!

I couldn’t take it any longer- I made Matt un-hide my scale today while I was in the shower. I had to weigh in! I am 20 days in on daily exercise and 10 days in on changing our family’s eating habits- and I had to know how it’s going. Ahh, temptation! And I lost……. THIRTEEN POUNDS! I feel awesome! I should also share that Matt has lost 10! I have asked him to give up pop in the evenings and mornings and drink it only at work, so maybe this is why he has lost so much. Other than eating what I’m cooking, we have not been portioning out his food. He still just eats whatever. But we’ve all been more active- especially with this great weather.

I have had a few hard days (food-wise) and giving up the amount of sugar/carbs I did has been harder than I thought it would be. I am still having a few M&Ms here and there (and by a few, I mean, like six a day) I am not eating anything else, except what is on my Biggest Loser 30-Day Jump Start menu, except for maybe once a week when I indulge in something much lighter than what I used to indulge in. Take for example, the Chocolate-Covered Katie diet. I made her big cookie pie over the weekend, but I halved the recipe. Mmm! This is a whole different post, but search her up on FB, ladies. Dang! It’s good!

So, I’ll show you some of my BL food for this week:

Tomato soup, turkey burger in a LaTortilla factory 50-cal wrap with yogurt

BL recipe: pesto pizettas (on polenta.)
So good! I had three with 2 c. salad and balsamic vinegar

I can not wait until this lettuce is growing in my garden!
With the hot temps last week, I ate a LOT of this!

Turkey meatballs, made with skim milk, oregano, garlic and quick oats.
Kids went nuts over these. A serving size was 6. I could not eat more than four. Delicious!