My Story

Elle asked me to post before and after photos. I figured I'd include my story too since I'm home today with some spare time. 

I grew up in the deep fried South. Most of my family is overweight. I was lucky enough to be average size most of my life. I recall my Mom yo-yo dieting pretty much all my life. My Dad was a regional salesman for a music company so he was on the road travelling a lot. He had a pretty unhealthy diet and was quite sedentary. My mom has heart issues and has had two knee surgeries. Both due to weight. My Dad was diabetic and lost all his teeth before he passed away from lung cancer a couple of years ago.  

When I was little we'd go on road trips. We'd visit national parks and such. We'd always find the closest parking spot and walk just to the areas that were easily accessible. No hiking or real work put into seeing the sights. I was never into being an athlete at any point in my life. Physical activity wasn't something that was important. 

After the birth of my gorgeous son in 2006 I started to slowly put on the weight. I went from a size 8 up to I'd say around a size 14 maybe even 16 within a few years. It was gradual and I noticed it but then again I didn't. We went out to eat all the time. We too were fairly sedentary. We'd take our son to play or to take walks but never spent a lot of extra time being active. I recall trying to join the local YMCA when my son was around 1. The trainer I met with at the time made me feel so utterly awful about myself that I refused to step foot back in there again. 

In 2011 I participated in a 5k WALK with friends. I remember it taking about a hour to complete. I remember thinking all the runners passing me were batshit crazy! 

This wasn't me at my biggest. I shyed away from the camera and was the one taking most of the photos. Here's a rare glimpse post hike...of which I huffed and puffed my way up hills. 

Shortly after this I found myself hooked up to heart rate monitors in my doctor's office after having chest pains and erratic heart beat. I was scared. I looked at my hubby and said "I have to change. I'm following in the footsteps of my parents." I started paying attention to the food we ate. It took around 6 months more before I decided I wanted to try working out. I started with Jillian Micheal's DVDs in my living room! Me and my little pink baby weights were BFFS several mornings a week while my guys still slept. I dedicated myself and started seeing/feeling results. 

I started using the apartment fitness center cardio machines and turned into a cardio queen. I LOVED the big burns. All I cared about was a lower number on the scale. I dropped down to about 105 pounds at my lowest. I had a friend mistake me as a tall child from behind. Grossly enough, I was excited by this for a while! 

I took up running and got super into it fast. I found out I am actually not a sucky runner! FINALLY! Something I was good at! Running is still a great love of mine...I just know that when I start upping the mileage, I start losing my gainz...anyway..jumping ahead here...sorry! 

I ended up feeling puny all the time. I decided I want to try putting on some muscle. I fell in love with weight lifting. I found out I'm a VERY hard muscle gainer. Keep in mind, I was still running all the time on top of lifting. I kept this up for a few years. Saw my body changing. Felt pretty good. 

We moved to WA a couple of years ago and I decided to finally try crossfit. I never found a box where I felt like I "fit in". I always felt like an outsider. I also was still running/training for races and I hated that the wods were kept secret til the day of. It was hard for me to plan my training around their programming. I stopped going to the box. I'd still hit some wods with my girlfriends in their garages when I could but mostly I focused on typical gym rat lifting/running. 

Fast forward year before last. I went from hitting my deadlift PR and running 6 miles without thinking about it to not being able to walk my kid to school...all within a couple of days!  I got hit with adrenal fatigue and had to take some major time off. I did gentle yoga and walking...that was it! Everything else exhausted me and left me totally tanked. I was pissed off and scared! It took about 6 months before I could even attempt lifting or running again. 

Recently I started gaining weight again. Woke up one day and was 135. I'd gotten really lax with my eating and even though I was still training, I was packing on the fat. Started tracking my macros several months ago. Here's a recent photo....Thanks for sticking with this long ass story if you did! 

Meal Delivery Services Green Chef

Continuing with the exploration of dinner delivery services I decided to try out Green Chef. I had a code for $40 off which made this more affordable. Everything is organic and they work really hard to pack/ship in a sustainable manner which I appreciate. I opted for the Paleo box because after last week's vegan carb fest I was feeling bloated and not interested in a bunch of grain/beans/legumes.

Upon arrival (yay UPS!!) and opening of the box I immediatly noticed the packing materials. Wowza...compostable lining..super dope! Everything was cold and very fresh.

I really liked that the ingredients for each recipe were in paper bags! 

Decided to try out the Cod Piccata,Endive Salad, Lemon Caper Sauce with roasted veggies first. The card was easy to follow and well made. The produce was top quality as was the fish. Hubby swooned over this dish! He has a thing for capers. 

Next up I made the Thai Steak Chard wraps and OMG! These were SO good. I did have beer with them so I ruined the whole Paleo vibe but whatever. The flavors worked so well together and the freshness of the produce really shone through. Yum! 

Last up I made Jerk Chicken with Roasted Sweet Potaotes and Collard Greens with Raisins. Now, if you know me at all, you know I'm NOT a chicken boob fan...like at all. I will have to say, these came out so tender and juicy. I had no problems wiping my plate clean. Hubby agreed it was amazingly delish! 

Green Chef Paleo has been my fave of the two we've tried thus far. I love the packaging, I love the quality and I felt energized after eating these meals instead of tired. Of COURSE it's also one of the priciest plans we signed up to try. $98.94 for 3 dinners that serve two adults...they charge $9 fee (included in that price) for shipping which I think is lame. It's still cheaper than going out to eat though and the dishes were REALLY good. 

Meal Delivery Services- Purple Carrot

So, I've been in a rut lately with cooking. I don't feel like doing the thinking, shopping and prepping for cooking healthy meals. The result is we've been going out A LOT which has been awful on the budget and on my body. I decided to try out a few of the dinner kit delivery services. I thought it would be cool to share my thoughts with you all in case you were curious about them too!

First up I tried Purple Carrot. My lovely friend Jackie gifted us a free box. Thanks for that! I decided to go with their TB12 Performance Meals. They are higher in protein, gluten free and have limited use of soy.

One strike for them right off the bat was the delivery service they use for my area. I can't stand this company and have not had good experiences with them EVER! My package finally showed up at 830pm, was basically tossed on to my porch with no knock or alert of arrival. Grrrrrr!

Upon opening the box I found the items inside to be nicely packed and still cold. The recipe cards were well done and everything you need for each recipe was packed in a clearly marked bag.

I decided to cook the Socca Pizza first. The recipe was easy to follow and we found the end results to be very tasty! It was supposed to be one serving for two people but neither hubby nor I could finish it all in one sitting. VERY filling!

Next up I made the Jackfrut Tacos al Pastor with Pineapple Salsa and Zesty beans. YUM YUM AND YUM! We both really enjoyed this meal. Def thumbs up. Jackfruit is delish and a great meat sub when shredded. Hubby wanted to make sure I was going to be able to eat the leftovers so they didnt' go to waste. This one was def his fave!

Lastly, I made the Thai style cauliflower with mint and sticky rice...OMG! It was SO good. Hubby was out of town so I enjoyed this for two different meals. It was better fresh but still tasty as left overs. I really liked the way the flavors came together and it wasn't as hefty feeling as the pizza was!

All in all I really liked these meals. I did find them to be VERY high in carbs though. I think one was like 100 plus grams for one serving. Yikes! I thought the recipes were creative and well thought out. I thought all the flavors worke really well together too. Total cost for this plan for 3 dinners that serve 2 people is $78 per week. Seems steep but if you think about what you'd spend on dining out at a legit vegan place, it's really not bad. I enjoyed not having to stress over dinner!

Unplugging

 I've been feeling pretty anxious and "off" lately. I've had a hard time putting my finger on what exactly has been causing the feelings. We had some money stress but have put a game plan into place and are seeing great success (hooray!). Learning to say "no" or "I don't really need this thing" has been tough but we are already seeing the benefits so I know it's not the finance stuff. Things have settled down with the kiddo and the bullying crap he was dealing with so I know it's also not that. I've been moving my body as best I can and have stopped trying to push myself to be at a different level of athleticism than I am now..I mean, I ALWAYS strive to do better but I'm honest. I'm never going to run 7 minute miles like my friend "Little K". She had to slow down so much to run long with me that it hurt her legs. That's kind of depressing and humbling for me but instead of beating myself up over it, I'm just saying "Sorry...it's where I'm at right now. Let's run short runs together instead". I no longer make myself drag through workouts because I feel like I "have" to. If I need a day off, I take a day off. I'm excited for hiking weather to be coming up and have plans for a hiking blog. :)

 Life is rolling along and there wasn't anything glaringly obvious to me until last night. See number 4!!!

 I found myself scrolling through various Instagram accounts and was feeling envious/anxious/discouraged over the way my life is. I was thinking about how maybe if I ate this certain way I'd be leaner. Maybe if I ran this certain way I'd be faster. Maybe if I lived this certain way I'd be happier. It all left me feeling empty/depleted/confused. I love that social media exists for us to share our lives but sometimes it's all just TOO much for me. I'm going to take a social media fast for a little while. At least a month. Maybe longer. I think I'll update my blog every week or two just to keep in touch but I'm deleting instagram, facebook and even pinterest from my phone. I'm going to keep facebook open so I can touch base from my computer once a day (so my Mom won't worry) but that's it. I want to cherish the life I'm living, not look at someone else's life and idealize it to the point of feeling like mine is boring or somehow "wrong".

That's all I got. See ya'll when I decide to update again. :) I can be reached via text, FB messenger or email if ya need me.

Know Your Body

 I've worked so hard to learn to listen to what my body is asking for with regards to fuel and movement. I spent about 2 months leading up to Christmas ignoring the fueling part of that by eating crap and drinking like it was my job. NOT good for me. I decided that another Whole 30 round was the way to go. I needed clear, solid guidelines on how to eat. The first week was typical...ups and downs. This second week has been pretty good. I'm sleeping better (no wine induced night sweats), my weight is down (almost 6 pounds of bloat), I don't have mid-day energy slumps and my mood is better.

 BUT today, on day 16, I've decided I'm done. Why you ask?  Because the restrictiveness of this eating style is making me really really stressed AND because my stomach feels like shit. I haven't been able to make myself eat all the meals I've made. I've spent countless hours, dollars and energy learning what's right for my body. High fat, lower carb doesn't seem to be making me feel as good as it does for some. I know that eating the same stuff over and over again leads to my body reacting negatively to those foods (nuts, garlic, certain greens). My nose rash is back. My stomach has been hurting. I've done Whole 30 at least 5 times in the past few years. I know what I react to. I don't feel like I need to cut out items that aren't an issue for me.

 My body was begging for something besides meat, fat and veggies. It's been begging for 3 days and I've kept ignoring it. I realized that this sort of behavior, ignoring my body's demands for healthy fuel, is ridiculous! It's what I wanted to get away from! It feels like too much of the "all or nothing" mentality I don't want to subscribe to in my life. What I really need to work on is my relationship with food and drink. I need to be able to make good decisions for myself and to listen to when something is too much or not enough. I can't do that when I'm following a plan like this.

  Yes, I love Whole 30. I do think it's great when you are trying to learn what sort of typical American diet foods might be issues for you. I think it's great when you need a reset. I just know, right now, it's not what my body needs most. Yes, I could push through and see it to the end but I don't think that's the right choice for me right now.

 You do you! I'll be here eating the most amazing bowl of Sheep's yogurt, raw honey and crap free Maple Pecan cereal. I just heard my body sigh with happiness and I feel like, though I just worked out a couple of hours ago, I could go run right now. That's telling me that I'm making the right choice. :)