Happy 16th...

 

We now have a 16 year old in our household. It is so crazy how fast time flies... I met this girl when she was 6 years old. It has been such a wonderful 10 years. We are still in quarantine so we had a very low key birthday for her. However, I believe that is what she likes. She does not like all the attention, so I think it was a good weekend. She got a new phone from us and finally decided she wanted to try out an Iphone verses the Samsung she has always had. She spent most of the weekend setting it up the way she wants and learning about it from her sister and her sister's dad. She was very happy and I think she loves it. We ate things she wanted, went to drop off the youngest at her dad's and while we were there we enjoyed some homemade chocolate cake and sang to her. All and all it was a good low key weekend. 

I hope she has a wonderful year despite COVID still putting a damper on most things. I hope that she enjoys being 16 and remembers she is loved so very much!

Happy 16th birthday kiddo!

First Week Down

Today is a great day. We are so blessed despite what is going on in the world. Today marks 1 week of me being back on track with my fasting and weight loss. Well I guess it's been only 5 days. I weigh in on Friday's, but I started Fasting again on Monday.

My fasting plans will be one meal a day every day except Thursday when I will be doing my 48 hour fast. The fast will start Wednesday after dinner and it will end Friday when I have dinner. It hasn't been too bad. I am familiar with fasting, so I think that helps some. I am drinking a TON of water with electrolytes in it and I think that helps with the hunger as well. 

Today I am down 6.6 pounds from last Friday. Yes, a lot of that might be water weight, but I will take it. Total weight loss is 32 pounds. 

It feel so good to be back on track. Yes, I would love to eat more or do this or do that, but doing all those things would not help me reach my goal weight and this year is the year I will get so much closer to my goal weight. And just remember that I do enjoy some goodies after dinner as well. I sometimes will have a few pieces of chocolate or something sweet to help my cravings, but I try to make sure it is within the recommended serving size. 

Here is to a new year... I wanted to lose 5 lbs this month and I have already crushed that goal. So, from here on out, my goal will be maintaining my 6.6 lb loss and maybe work on losing 1/2 lb each week. 

I am definitely motivated and determined to reach my goals.

 

New Year, New Goals, Same Me

 

The Christmas holiday's are finally over. I got off work on December 24th at noon and didn't go back to work until Monday January 4th, except for once when I had to pick up a package. I was on vacation. Since I didn't see my parent's this year, I had the extra days to use. I definitely needed this time. We even had our kids from the 26th through the 4th together. I spent it relaxing, crafting, cleaning, organizing my new desk my husband built me, setting up my new desktop computer (so I can work from home when it snows... THIS IS SO RELIEVING...), laughing with my kids, listening to their laughter and just getting my mind ready for 2021. 

2021 is finally here. And boy what a year 2020 was. Our year started when we got evicted from our duplex because the new landlords wanted to remodel and raise the rent on the tenants. So, we began the year trying to find a new place to live. The Coronavirus began and started to spread here in the US and in March the kids quit going to school in person and began online schooling. That was surely interesting with lots of frustration on the kids, parents, teachers, and staff. Our state went on lock down and everyone started buying all the toilet paper and all the food. It was so crazy. We ended up buying a house in April. Moving at the beginning of a pandemic and when the state went on lock down was incredibly hard. We had 2 friends who were able to help us and we are forever grateful for those 2 guys! Summer came and went... My parents weren't able to come visit this year because of the virus and our hearts were broken. This past year was the first year I have not seen them ever in my whole entire life. I am still struggling with that, but we are doing what we have to do to make sure everyone is healthy and safe. The holiday's came and we stayed home and visited with very few people. Our state went on lock down again right before Thanksgiving and I am not really sure if that has been lifted or not. 

However, we made the best of what we had. We made the best of the time we had together. We made the best of moving into our new home and making it a place of our own. We have some amazing neighbors and were able to finally decorate our yard for Christmas. (Granted, someone out there decided to steal our Yoda blow up and our Star Wars light show...) But, all in all, we are extremely blessed. 

Yes, I wish I would have done more in the weight loss area. I should have fasted better, I should have worked out more, I definitely could have chosen better foods to eat, but you know what... 2020 was hard. I had emotions I rarely have and dealt with more anxiety and being sad more than normal. The unknown is scary and life was just plain hard!

We are now in a new year. 2021 is finally here. No, not everyone has been vaccinated yet... not even close. No, the kids aren't back in school yet. No, things are still not even close to normal... Yes, things are still hard... but I have to stop letting myself fall back in old habits that has kept this extra weight on. I have to get back into the good habits I spent so much time creating. But, you know what... I refuse to be hard on myself for what I did not ACCOMPLISH last year. I am choosing to look at the good that happened and the memories that were made, despite the hard times.   

So... I spent my time planning my goals. I spent my time preparing my mind to get back into the swing of things and I have been killing it so far. I mean, granted it has only been 2 days of being back on track, but GO ME! 2 days of fasting the way I want to do. 2 days of getting up at 5:45 and starting my workouts at 6. 2 days of crushing my goals I have set. I call that a win so far. I have a long way to go in 2021, but I can do the hard things. I just had to spend some time reminding myself how far I have come and how far I still need to go to reach my goals/dreams. I am worth all that I can be... 

Here is to a new year. New dreams. New goals. New memories to make. I can't wait to hung my parents sometime in the 2nd half of this year. I can't wait to reach my goal weight (probably will happen in 2022, but I will be so much closer in December of 2021....)

I hope you are having a great New Year and you are remembering the positive parts of each day instead of dwelling on the hard parts. You can also do hard things. Cheers to 2021.........

Happy New Year Everyone...

May your 2021 be way better than your 2020. 

2020 for us  has been a really hard one, but there have been so many blessings as well. I am going to choose to reflect on the blessings instead of the hard times.

Hard times are a part of like and they will come and go. You just have to do your best to make the best out of each moment in life. This year has been the hardest year my husband and I have been through together and we are so thankful for our family and our lives. 

Have a wonderful New Year everyone! Looking forward to seeing what 2021 brings to everyone...