Dog Day

Yesterday was Dog Day at the school three of my daughters attend.  It was fun and out of my box to stuff hot dogs and see my girlies in their element.  I came home with a little over an hour to check on my home boys and create a clean lunch before heading back for pick-up.  I was a little tired and happy to be home as I stared in the fridge deciding what to eat.  Normally I would have wanted a little "reward" meal.  Something yummy with way too many calories to celebrate my morning.  It reminded me of a lot of past Sundays when I  woke up in a panic realizing I was going to have to try to squeeze into my only remaining black pants that fit; the ones that barely fit the week before.  It is very stressful wondering if this week will be the week the pants finally don't zip.  It doesn't usually put me in a worshipful mindset.  Armed with my slimming undies and Spanx  I would somehow fit into them, and feeling like a stuffed sausage waddle around church, BUT as soon as I got home from church and pulled off those tight clothes I was ready to relax.  Ready to rest and rejoice that I had pulled it off another week.  So instead of beginning right then my new healthy eating that would help those pants fit better the next week, I would "rest" in my comfort foods .....after all who diets on Sunday right?  That cycle of course led to the next Sunday of stuffing myself into clothes that were too tight,clothes I wore over and over, and clothes that were not fooling anyone...except maybe me.

With the cleanse eating my comfort foods was not an option.  Thank goodness.  I baked a healthy clean chicken breast and added some veggies.  Instead of "resting and relaxing" in my food, I rested in my memories of the morning, the little boys hugging on me, and God who is so good to me.  It was so much better than loading up on sugar and zoning out of life into a sugar fog, followed by depression and exhaustion.  Boundaries give me freedom.  I usually think they are so restrictive. This clean eating is freeing me in so many ways.  Everyone has there own boundaries and trigger foods.  I am learning refined sugar is gonna have to be one of mine.  When I try to eat it in moderation all I can think about is wanting more.  When I put the no eating boundary around sugar, that boundary actually frees me because I don't long for it nearly as much.  I wish I could handle a bite here and there like a lot of people seem to do.  Since I cannot, I am going to need to put boundaries around it when my cleanse is done.                                                                            Below is what I ate on Friday.

Mr. Sweet Hubby made me an energy smoothie while I got ready to leave for Dog Day.  It had peaches, almond butter, cinnamon, and coconut milk in it.  It energized me for 3 hours of hot dog stuffing!

Me hugging my Mr. Little Man (baby of the family) before heading out the door.  Notice his bangs please.

Me doing a rare thing...letting someone photograph me.  Ugh.  My 11year old son did a great job. My face puts on a lot of weight when I gain weight.  Hopefully the puffiness will be totally gone in 6 months.  Calling this my before shot since I was too scared to take one even 12 pounds higher in January.

Lunch was a garlic dijon mustard chicken breast with some steamed broccoli and carrots.

My afternoon snack was a bowl of crunchy apple slices with 1/3 cup of cashews.  I was so hungry that I did not share any of these today!

There they are.  Did you notice the bangs above?  Mr. Little Man decided to try out his barber skills while I was enjoying my apples and cashews.  After discovering this I decided it was time for dinner!

Dinner was a berry smoothie.  I ate the second serving this morning for breakfast, and now I am headed to eat the other garlic dijon chicken breast for lunch!  I was down another pound this morning bringing my cleanse weight loss totals to 11.5 pounds in 11 days.   I am off to organize my 11 year olds room...I hope!

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