GROW...

Back in January I shared that my word for this year was "Grow"... and then I had different areas I wanted to apply that to.  Well, one of them was "Grow Healthy"... I will be honest and say, this is probably one of the hardest one I chose to focus on this year.  I love to host, I love to cook, I love to eat, I'm not crazy about dieting and I definitely don't like exercise. LOL!

But, early in March, my husband and I started to talk about the need to both get healthy.  And we started making a plan.  The month of March was pretty crazy for us, with traveling, (we went to Chile, then to a conference in North Carolina and then to a conference in Florida.) Then the first week of April we had a birthday celebration for our son and Easter... so I tried to think practically and not plan a huge dietary change, that was destined to fail right off.  BUT, we made plans, and we just finished a 2 week "detox", that involved no sugar and no starches or grains.  I was a little skeptical about how it was going to work, but we both did amazingly well.  We didn't feel overly hungry and I wasn't craving sweets all the time. 

A big test for me was attending a small group, where there was delicious looking homemade cookies and not really being tempted to eat any. I mean they looked amazing, and I hope to try them when/if they are shared again, but that night, I felt like it was not super hard for me to stay away from them.  Then we took dinner to our Daughter's when my grand daughter came home from the hospital and I made a pan of brownies.  They looked amazing too, but I didn't have problem not eating them, and just this past Friday, when the grandkids came over, I helped my grandson make some "cake mix" cookies, and again, while they smelled great, it wasn't a huge tempation.  SO, not exactly sure why that was, but I'm thankful for it, and we were able to stick to the plan.  

Today starts a new step, where we will add some things in moderation, and see how it goes.  My main goal is to not gain weight... So we will see.  I expect the weight loss to slow down, hoping to manage about a pound or 2 a week, as long as we are doing that, we will continue adding things in moderation, and continue to learn to make healthier choices and cook healthier.  I think if we start gaining we will just back off again, and go back to a few days of our stricter plan.  

I want this to become easier and just a part of life... a new way to eat and look at cooking.  A "lifestyle change."... So we aren't really counting calories, or worrying about that... We are watching our portion sizes, and working on making good choices. 

Hoping to be on the road to Growing Healthy!