Progress :)

It's amazing how well things work out when you have a goal to work toward.  Since Jason's ok with starting a family (as long as I'm comfortable with my body... see previous post), I have been working hard to lose weight!  I have cut my soda drinking by about 85%, upped my water drinkage by about 300%, and have slowly changed my diet.  Here are a couple of things I've been eating/doing:

Chobani Greek yogurt - we bought a case from Costco.  They are the kind with "fruit on the bottom" and come in 3 fruit "flavors" (strawberry, blueberry, & peach).  They are made with real sugar (not high fructose corn syrup), are non-fat, and have 14 grams of protein per serving!  I love it :D.  I've been tossing some Kashi GoLean Crunch! Honey Almond Flax cereal clusters into the yogurt and eating that for breakfast.  The Kashi cereal has 9 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber per serving (woot!) and 500mg of omega-3 fatty acids.  Not only is my breakfast yummy, but it's healthy and filling too :).  Love it!

As a snack, I'll eat either a cup of diced peaches in light syrup or a cup of "no sugar added" applesauce.  For lunch, I try to be good and eat either a grilled chicken salad or a turkey sandwich on honey wheat bread (70 calories per slice or 40 if I buy the 'light' bread).  For a mid-afternoon snack, I've been bringing a hard-boiled egg and low-fat string cheese to work with me.  They're pretty good for now, but I think I need to try adding a fruit or veggie in there.

For dinner, I always try to keep it balanced.  Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I fail, but I'm not going to freak out if we have to bake up a Digiorno's pizza ;).  I try to have a lean meat, a vegetable, and a starch.  Sometimes I have to resort to spaghetti or the aforementioned pizza, but I try to keep it all in perspective :).  I'm not going to diet for my entire life, so I try to be reasonable and eat normal-ish meals so I can stick with it in the long run. 

My main struggle is with drinks.  I love soda (pop)!  I have pretty much kicked my addiction (again) to the caffeine and sugar, so that's not too much of a worry right now.  I still drink my coffee in the morning, but I've been trying to cut back on the sugar/creamer I add to it.  The main thing I'm working on is drinking more and more water.  Today for some reason, I can't drink enough!  My mouth and throat feel dry and I keep drinking and drinking, but it doesn't seem to help.  I guess I'll just keep at it :).  I've already gone through a 17oz bottle this morning and I'm working on my second now :P.

One thing that I heard somewhere is that your body is like a garbage disposal (kinda gross when you really think about it ;)).  If there's not enough water running through it, the 'motor' will burn up.  Water really is important for regulating your digestive system and body temperature, along with lots of other things.  I have already noticed a change in my skin since I've been drinking more water... it's much more radiant and clear... and my body doesn't feel quite as sluggish, yay!

As for exercising, I've been doing the Kettlebell workouts and have already noticed my jeans feeling loose :).  My body has been hecka sore, but it's a good sore :).  I'm really enjoying the kettlebell and am actually thinking about going jogging, if the weather would ever get nice again :P.  Today I noticed that my stomach is a tiny bit smaller and my energy level is up a little bit :).  I love how I've been feeling and I'm hoping that I will stay motivated.  I'm not on a "crash diet" this time and I'm losing weight just by making changes here and there, so I think I can stay on this path for a long time :).  I can always use encouragement, though, so please let me know if you have any good ideas for exercises or things to eat :).

I'll try to post updates here as often as I can.  I don't think many people read this anymore, so I'm more comfortable with posting details.  Ok, that's all for now.  Time to work!