Going Green

I've recently discovered green smoothies, and I am smitten! Rather than giving a lengthy explanation, here's a great video telling you all you need to know..

And here's the smoothie I made for myself this morning with spinach, frozen tropical fruit, a banana and unsweetened coconut milk:

Good eats!!

Where I Was and Where I Am

I thought it would be fair to show you a pic of me at my heaviest (eep!) I don't have a good full-on photo like my July one, but here are a few to give you an idea of what we're dealing with here:

February 2009 at a friends baby shower.

(too blurry to enlarge much)

These last two are from a family event in November 2009 (yes, that's my nephew I'm holding but let's leave his cuteness out of this).

So that's where I really started. By July when Julia started this blog (again, thank you!!) I had already lost about 20 pounds. Yay me!

A few things about Where I Was:

1. Rarely exercising
2. Not eating "right"
3. Eating too much
4. Not getting out of the house to get fresh air
5. Not drinking enough water
6. Snacking too much
7. Not staying away from sugar like I should

I should admit that in between then and now I had a bit of a yo-yo. I went from being employed full time to getting laid off. No worries on the job front because I have my business to fall back on- but unfortunately, I also fell back on some bad habits that resulted in a bit of a gain. The good news is I didn't let that discourage me and that brings us to now..

Where I Am:

1. Exercising more- still lots of room for improvement, but every bit helps
2. Eating much better. I've cut out most animal products and am staying on a mostly plant-based diet (not because of moral objections to meat-eating, but for health and environmental reasons). I also pretty much stay away from dairy (some cheese but no milk- I use coconut milk, yummy!)
3. I'm possibly eating as much as before, but it's mostly fruit and veggies, so no problem there
4. It's very hot right now in AZ, so this will be better in a month than it is now
5. I get plenty of water now, including quite a bit from the produce I'm eating
6. With all the fruit I'm getting at all my meals, I don't feel the need to snack
7. I get a little bit of sugar in my morning coffee, but not really anything else for the rest of the day

I started reading Eat to Live (Dr. Fuhrman) recently; it's about eating a vegetarian diet (though there are meat options discussed in the book as well). There's a 6-week plan that I decided to start yesterday. So far so good (not too different from what I was doing already- just adding much more beans and really paying attention to what you're eating) So far so good, but we'll see how it goes won't we? So far, no hunger pains and I have really good energy.

As for the goal that was posted (going to bed earlier): I wasn't doing very well on this until last night. Previously I just couldn't fall asleep- I'd just lay there.. thinking, and it just threw off my sleep schedule. But the night before last I only got about 3 hours of sleep so last night I went to sleep at 9pm (so early!) and slept mostly through the night (one bathroom dash, no biggie). Hopefully this signals a trend. I really have to get on a regular sleep schedule because school starts on the 23rd. Cross your fingers for me!!

Julia will post our weights tomorrow (no, not actual numbers!!.. ok, ok, guess I have to fess up to them, huh?) o_0

Emily