Back to Regularly Scheduled Programming

Hi Friends!

I feel like we have been apart for so long! If you’ve been around here for any number of years, then you know that the weeks leading up to school starting for me are C-razy, and this year as been no exception. I was going to try to do a post about everything I’ve been doing since I’ve been away, but that sounds boring to me and I can’t image it would be interesting to you. Just know that my classroom looks great, my lessons plans are going to kill it this year, and I am as ready as a middle school teacher can be for the year to begin. HOOAH!

Bean starts kindergarten tomorrow.

I felt like that was worth mentioning, but I don’t want to talk about it yet. My heart is in this bittersweet place, and I’m hoping that by tomorrow afternoon when I pick him up from his first day of school and kiss his face until he is sufficiently embarrassed I will feel better and we can talk about it then. For now, just know that I laid out his first day outfit and he appropriately said to me, “I CAN’T WEAR THAT TO SCHOOL, MOM! EVERYONE WILL MAKE FUN OF ME!” And then I felt like I had done my duty as a parent.

Today, let’s talk about this crazy bootcamp I have been doing for the past two weeks now. I signed up a few weeks ago for a fitness bootcamp. It comes with two components. First, I have been working out four times a week at a little gym. Actually, it’s a fellowship hall of a church, but I really like it so much better than a traditional gym. I LOVE our fitness instructor. He rocks my socks and makes me feel like I’m doing all kinds of amazing things when, in reality, I just did my first unassisted push up for the first time in my life this past Friday. I’m not changing the world, people. But my arms do have a very nice little line where a very small muscle is making her presence known.

This kind of work out is different than any I’ve done before. In the past, I have done mostly cardio. Running made me drop weight like nobody’s business. But this working out is actually building muscle mass. Yesterday, I stepped on a scale just to see what was going on since I started the class two weeks ago and my weight was exactly the same. I cried for 24 hours. But this isn’t really about weight (although, my thighs and belly would like for it to be). It’s more about toning and defining and making yourself feel good. And I have to say, it is working wonderfully in those areas. Turns out, there’s a muscle in your ass cheek! WHO KNEW?!?! I keep discovering muscles in all kinds of places I never knew they existed.

Along with the work outs comes a very strict diet. Normally, I am not one for dieting. In fact, I hardly ever diet. I think a good, balanced, healthy lifestyle and diet is way better than a diet any day. But this bootcamp is all about jumpstarting your body, and the diet portion jumpstarts you into a very different type of eating. It began as a diet with very limited food amounts, but now, I am eating so much food that I sometimes can’t finish it all. The difference is WHAT I am eating.

This diet is very close to paleo, I think. It is focused on eating clean and natural foods that the earth grows. I eat lots of salads with 2 cups of veggies mixed in. Lots of lean chicken and fish. Lots of fruits. Lots of nuts. I even have to make my own salad dressing (I whisk together 2 tbsp of Annie’s dijon mustard with 1 tsp olive oil and pour that over my salads – it isn’t exactly Hidden Valley, but it’s not terrible and it’s much healthier for you).

The bootcamp started with a three day detox diet, which basically meant I was hungry the first day, pissy the second day, and felt amazing on the third day. Every day since then has been better and better. I get a green smoothie for breakfast (I put banana, strawberries, blueberries, 2 handfuls of spinach, and an Emergen-C packet in mine) and eggs with veggies on the weekends, a mid-morning snack that usually involves a protein of some kind and a piece of fruit (I like almonds with a peach), a lunch of mostly vegetables (I have been steaming broccoli and carrots a lot), a mid-afternoon snack (similar to the morning – I like Greek yogurt and a fruit), and a smaller dinner with a lean protein and twice the amount of vegetables.

And I’m only drinking water. All day, every day. I have never been a real big water drinker before, and I really think this is what is making me feel so good. I’m drinking about 90 ounces of water a day, plus an extra 20 on days when I have a work out session.

On the first three days of this detox, I couldn’t eat any protein. By the third day, I literally DREAMED about hard boiled eggs. Seriously. I dreamed about them. The next day, my menu called for one hard-boiled egg for a mid-morning snack, and all the teachers at my school cheered me on as I had my first bite of substantial food in days. It was the greatest thing I’ve ever eaten!

That is one thing I have noticed about changing what I eat. Now, I crave types of foods that my body actually needs. I can tell when I need more protein or more vegetables or more water now, and two weeks ago, I couldn’t do that. Not to mention, I feel incredible. I don’t sleep very well, but since this started two weeks ago, I have enough energy to get through the day without napping and then I sleep right through the night. FOR TWO WEEKS this has been happening! That is INCREDIBLE for me. I also have clearer skin, a happier attitude, and my clothes fit better.

All of this is why I am trying not to focus on the fact that I haven’t lost a SINGLE POUND. (Sooooooo frustrating…)

I also love that the food plan comes with a cheat day once a week. For one day, I can eat whatever I want. I try not to go crazy. On my first cheat day last week, I “splurged” with cheeries as an extra afternoon snack! Living it up! But this past weekend, my cheat day was in Atlanta for my nephew, Tillman’s, second birthday. I pretty much ate like a pig. And I loved every minute of it!

Tomorrow is my first day back at school with students, and I packed my food bag tonight. When I looked at it all together in one big bag, I realized that I actually eat a LOT more than I used to eat. It’s just that it is much more substantial food that my body actually needs instead of junk that fills the space and keeps my stomach from rumbling.

So, that’s what I have been doing for the past two weeks. Well, I alternate between working out, eating a vegetable, and crying in a corner about Bean. It’s a pretty reliable schedule.

*****

Hey, check it out!  Wyndham Hotels profiled mine and Chris’s relationship on their website!  Head over and check out our lives with this fun little interactive map!  And while you’re there, vote for us!