Habits

To get back on track with my health, the first thing I needed to do was break some bad habits. (Such as eating candy corn on a regular basis.) In January, I decided to join Weight Watchers online to help me monitor what I put into my body and just how much I was eating. Turns out, my portions were huge, and the food was not the best for me! I had gotten in some pretty bad habits during pregnancy.

So I decided even a few small changes could do a lot.

- We switched all our white-grain foods for whole wheat. Whole wheat pasta, bread and rice. I also added in quinoa to add protein to meatless meals.
- We started buying Bountiful Baskets again! If you haven't heard of these, you need to look it up here. You get an entire basket of 50% fruit and 50% vegetables for a great price. It forces us to include fruits and vegetables into almost every meal, so that it doesn't spoil and go to waste.
- Portion control. The plates we have are huge, and I always feel like I have to fill it up. We have a few smaller plates, so I try to use those more to help control my portions.
- Healthier snacks and meals were a necessity. Instead of eating potato chips, I eat veggie straws. I replaced marshmallows and candy corn for apples with almond butter and bananas with peanut butter or a handful of almonds. For sweets, I keep a bag of dark chocolate chips on hand.... I have quite the sweet tooth!
- Exercise. I started out walking a mile or two a day to get my blood moving and my heart pumping.

Even though we are healthier, we aren't totally extreme. We still go out for ice cream, I love making fried chicken, and we bake cookies once in a while. It's all about balance. And I'm proud to say, with these few changes, I am between 176 and 178 pounds! That's almost ten pounds lost since December.

And a big shout out to Ben, for supporting and helping me through this change. He is loving the new meals and snacks, and even exercises with me. This has been a great change for both of us.