So here I am, one day away from making a commitment to post my entire caloric intake for the day. That's every meal, every snack, every jelly bean, cookie, glass of hot chocolate before bed - all of it! )
You may ask yourself why? Why would I do this and why would anyone CARE?? I can hear it now, "is Ruthe really eating peanut butter toast for breakfast AGAIN???" LOL . My goal is to be completely accountable for all the decisions I make regarding my diet...No...not diet. That's not what I'm really getting at, I want to be completely transparently accountable for my HEALTH.
About 4 years ago I had a revelation. I realized I was GETTING OLD!! I was 60 pound overweight and had the lipid profile to go with it. I was tired all the time and was extremely stressed out. My job sucked and my home life wasn't much better (that's a blog in itself!). I looked at my children and realized I really ripped them off as far as having a fun, vibrant, active mother was concern. I became passionate about the thought that, as a grandmother I would be the type of woman my kids deserved. I loved the though that I could have the energy to run circles around my grand kids. I told my husband, "This is it! I'm done! I want to completely change the way I'm living my life. I want my grand kids to say, "SLOW DOWN GRANDMA!!" I want to feel good again!". (Disclaimer=I am NOT a grandma yet! I was looking into the future hoping that one day I can wear that title).
Mike is most likely the most supportive husband alive, so he was 100% behind me. I was not going to try any specific diet because I know they're all crap. Instead I was going to keep a food diary and practice "mind full eating". I have an incredible sweet tooth, so part of my diet was slashing the sugar monster into a manageable little beast. I knew it was unrealistic to cut sugar out completely, after all, what's life without birthday cake?? But chocolate cake for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner had to go! I didn't take long. I went from a tight size 16 pants down to a size 6 within a year and a half. It seemed like my body really liked good food and exercise. My change of lifestyle didn't, at first, include any cardio. But then I reached a bit of a plateau and knew I needed to get my heart pumping. This was especially critical because I knew my LDL's and HDL's and all those other creepy acronyms needed rearranging with their values. I watched my father's life become confined to the house and backyard because of heart disease and was damned well sure that would not be me. THAT was the start of my love of running. I can't say enough good about running! It's saved my life over and over again!
So here I am...47 years old and I'm back in a rut. I haven't gained the weight back. I'm 150 right now and I'm fine with that number. So you may say, "Why this transparent diet thing then?". Well here's the thing...I'm not practicing what I'm preaching! My body seems to like this weight and the amount of running I'm doing is keeping it on the level. BUT what was once clean and healthy has now gotten dirty and sick...again! Ahhh it's so easy to backslide. I know stress has won this battle - I eat badly when I'm under a great amount of stress. But it's time to get back on track.
Here's what you'll see in this blog.
1. Daily food journal
2. Complete honesty
3. An attempt to explain what's going wrong - and what's going right in my attempt to start eating clean and healthy again.
It's February 28. Tomorrow starts a new month and a new me. I'll test this out privately for a week and If I'm not too chicken you'll see it on facebook.
Ruthe
