So what's this about health and being healthy??

Well. It happened.

S. and I started our journey to eating better and making healthier choices the beginning of last year. Wait, scratch that. We SAID that's what we wanted to do, but really didn't change a thing until June.

We began medifast and that's where our change began. We detoxed from our food-centered life and were beginning to crave earth-given goodness (fruits and veggies were on our super desired list). We took ourselves off the packaged diet early (after we lost about 30 pounds each) thinking that we should ride the craving train. Instead of gradually reintroducing foods we couldn't have on the diet back into our lives, we jumped right in.

We did very well the first couple months off. We ate whole grains sparingly, fresh homemade pasta (sparingly), loads of fruits and veggies, tons of snacks like almonds and other nuts, and were very happy with our transition back in.

Then the holidays hit.

It all seemed to unravel from there.

One cheat turned into two turned into three turned into a full on revisit of our former life.

It isn't nearly as bad as it was before hand - we still have not stepped inside a fast food restaurant, we're not eating the large portions that we used to - but we stopped burning calories, we have eaten more than supposed to, we stopped eating smaller meals in between, and we've added some not so good choices in food to the mix.

I so desire to get back to that euphoric state in my life where all I wanted to do was move, where I had amazing energy and a healthy glow, and where I craved the good, wholesome foods given to us from mother nature.

It's time to stop fluttering back and forth. It's time to once again get healthy and STAY healthy.

Neglected health

We worked so hard to learn to eat right, add exercise and take care of ourselves. What we didn't learn is how to manage this in incredibly busy and stressful times.

We started our journey in the summer, where everyone was on vacation so sales/business was a little less rushed, I only had 2 classes (one was done in 3 weeks and the other was online) so I had extra time, and the sun was out later so even if we got home at 6:30, we could still go for a walk.

S. and I are working until 7 or 8 most nights, our eating schedule is chaotic, stress levels are higher since work is really pouring in (thank you, Jesus) and I'm taking 4 classes this semester (3 at school and 1 internet). Thankfully, we have NOT touched fast food, which is something we swore off for as long as humanly possible - if not forever. But the thing I miss the most is the exercising and the energy. I'm finding myself to be very lethargic and tired all the time.

I'm happy to feel like I'm not near the place we were before with our health, but I'm definitely not happy with myself now. So I have made 3 goals for myself:

1.) Eat my big meal at lunch. It seems easy, but we are normally "too busy" and end up grabbing a small sandwich or a salad, and then are starving for dinner, which leads to us going out since it's too late to cook.

2.) Remember the small snacks in between. The one thing Medifast taught us was to never let yourself get to be "starving." We bought nuts, some high-fiber cereal, and a bunch of other good snack items for the office, but we usually get too busy to remember to eat. I really want to reincorporate this back into our life as I know it will help keep the unwanted pounds off.

3.) Go to bed earlier. When we were on Medifast, Steven and I would be out by 9:30 (10 was usually our 'late' time) and we woke up around 6:30-6:45 and felt great. We had plenty of energy. I also think we could use the time in the morning to go for our walks then and get back to exercising. I know the pups would enjoy a good, long stretch in the morning.

I love challenging myself and seeing what I can accomplish.

Happy Windsday!

After a delightful and last minute evening trip to Disneyland last night, I'm feeling refreshed and amazingly lighter. Although I was craving a churro or some other delightful Disneyland treat, I stayed away and much to my amazement actually lost weight this morning (even after a couple cocktails).

I am very proud of our decisions, though. Before Medifast we wouldn't have hesitated to get a churro AND an ice cream AND a corn dog AND whatever else our tastebuds yelled for.

I just can't believe how time has flown and 2009 is in the later half of the year. Christmas will be here soon enough and I get more and more excited about the holidays. Hope everyone is having a great week.

Energy Shields Are At Maximum Capacity, Captain!

I admit, I came into MediFast thinking I would eventually find out that I had been duped and the whole direct selling thing is a sham preying on the weak and the fat. I convinced my husband to just give it a try anyway as we were out of control and if we didn't get a hold of ourselves right then and there, we'd be on the Discovery channel talking about how we're both 800lbs and eating a billion calories a day.

But I admit I was wrong. I was very wrong about you, MediFast.

You have somehow retooled our way of thinking, of eating, and how I feel about myself. Maybe it's a drug in the food, but whatever it is I like it.

I go out to eat and make SMART choices (ok, so the 2 glasses of red wine aren't smart, BUT I do realize that I need to add about 10 extra minutes of exercise the day before and after to make up for that choice).

AND I have a LOT of energy. I love going out for out walks and if it's getting close to 2 days since I last walked, I get antsy and irritable. My body now craves movement. Once I get started I can't stop. If I come home after a walk and still have energy to burn, I'm running up and down our stairs, or doing lunges, or dancing to good ol MJ.

I also used to spend HOURS in front of the TV or the computer. And now I get antsy if I'm there for too long. I need to get up, to move, to DO SOMETHING. (As a matter of fact I'm running to my room to change into my walking gear as soon as I'm done with this blog!)

I love how bright the future looks for my husband and I and I really feel that in these short 7 weeks on the plan we have been taught a valuable lesson on eating wisely. You can have a cheat meal once in a blue moon - BUT do something to counter act that choice and add in a few extra crunches and 15 min extra on the cardio. And don't beat yourself up. Feel great about that choice. It's a wise one.

Still Alive and Doing Well

We're almost and the end of 7 weeks on MediFast and we're feeling AMAZING. We have more energy, we exercise at least 3 times a week, and DRUM ROLL........

S. has lost 25 lbs and I have lost 21 lbs!

I'll get a great pic of us after we get back from our vacation so you can see the half way point transformation of us. (Well S. is over his half-way point, I've got about 25 more to go.)

One of my greatest milestones on this weight loss journey has been being able to fit back into my wedding ring without having the horrible skin irritations that forcing it on caused.

We're looking forward to the day when we step on the scale and see numbers we haven't seen since before we met each other and can feel great about how we look. And since starting MediFast, we're realizing that day is actually not too far away and completely attainable.

"It doesn't taste that bad"

We found ourselves saying this a few times today (except for a couple of things we both kind of had issues with). You see the plan is to eat every couple hours or so, we we eat 5 of their meals and 1 of ours since we wake up.

As I mentioned earlier, we started off with a bowl of oatmeal (off plan) and didn't get our food around noon. So we were a little on the famished side and dug right in.

S. had a strawberry crunch bar - "surprisingly not rancid" (his words) and would eat again!
I had a bowl of wild rice and chicken soup. It was decent, although I think it would move up a notch on the yumm scale if a) I didn't overcook it and b) I added salt, and a lot of it.

We then moved on to our mid afternoon snack around 2 where S. partook in the chicken noodle soup, which he likened to the Lipton soup and gave that a two diet thumbs up. I had the strawberry cream shake.

Now I forgot to mention that we decided to mix in a lot of the food we wouldn't normally go for or really dislike, and eat it in the beginning. We were told that the first few days were the worst, so why not make it super bad and give us something to look forward to when we're feeling better?

I bring this up because I hate strawberry shakes, strawberry ice cream, and a bunch of other strawberry items that aren't either real strawberries or jam.

The shake I had was not a hit with either of us (Steven decided to sample what little I had remaininig) and I was bummed he didn't like it as I wanted to trade my strawberry for his orangscicle. :-/

Anyway, then we had our 4p snack and it consisted of the orange cream shake (the orangscicle) for S. (who was not a fan but I thought it was super yummy) and then a lemon merengue bar for me, which was "eh".

The best meal of the day is the lean and green (where you cook for yourself) by far. We had 5 and 6 oz of roasted chicken - no skin - (I had 5 because it was dark meat), 3/4 cup of cucumbers, and 3/4 cup of green beans. Steven poured a tiny bit of rice vinegar on my cucumbers and a pinch of sea salt for the beans. His meal was a little more crazy. I think it was the same thing, except he also added truffle salt to his beans, and paprika and chipotle powder to his chicken. We also took a long time to eat, drinking plenty of water during the meal, and are pleasantly full.

We have one more Medifast meal for dessert tonight and then it's on to day 2.

So far, we've decided that it's not the diet that will kill us, it's each other. Our irritability is through the roof. Thank goodness we can make each other laugh after we've yelled at each other and we realize what the other is going through.

At any rate, we're still trucking on with a positive outlook and can't wait to get to our goal.

Day 1 Commencing

Here's to our oatmeal (without any sugar or fresh fruit) and coffee (sans the cream and sugar).

Will report back after we've ended our first day.

Have a good June 1st!

Monday is coming up fast!

"I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me."

This has been our mantra for the past few days and it's been working.

I love that we are doing this together because as one person is having doubts creep in, the other comes right in and reminds us why we're doing this and why we NEED to do this.

We are finding that the more we realize how bad we're eating, the more things that used to sound yummy are now beginning to make us queasy. Monday can't come soon enough.

Here's our plan:
We get shipped to us 4 weeks of food that includes:

• 42 Bars (Chocolate Mint Crunch, Peanut Butter Crunch, Oatmeal Raisin Crunch, Caramel Crunch, Fruit & Nut Crunch, Strawberry Crunch)
• 14 Oatmeals (Apple Cinnamon, Maple & Brown Sugar)
• 7 Scrambled Eggs
• 14 Soups (Chicken Noodle, Chicken & Wild Rice)
• 7 Chocolate Puddings
• 7 Cappuccinos

We get one meal a day that we make ourselves. We are sent guidelines as to what that meal can consist of, and it's really not as strict as you'd think. We can even go out to eat for that meal as long as we stick to the rules. And right now, considering the excess 50lbs we each are carrying, we're not about to start going against the rules.

Considering we have a very low caloric intake, we are told to hold off on the strenuous activities until the 2nd or 3rd month. We can take 20 minute walks, though! :)

We are grateful for your support and would love encouragement along the way to help make this easy! :)

Back on the wagon, we go!

So we all pretty much didn't do a thing the past few months and our bodies show that and more.

To top things off, we pretty much just raced to the finish line where we were supposed to start trying to conceive AFTER we got healthy, but didn't. And, of course, the Lord basically told us what we already knew and that was "not yet." So after 5 months and 6 cycles of nothing, we're back at square 1 and feeling much better about this.

After some feedback from family and friends, we decided to try the Medifast diet and low exercise to start for June and July. Then September, October, and November, we add a lot more exercise and do half the Medifast plan and half on our own. And then go from there. We would love your prayers for our success that we can stay on track and always remember that God is in control.

So, starting in exactly 6 days, we will be on our new plan and new life. We're both excited to drop the weight - especially after this picture was taken (this passed Friday). NOT cool.