I've Chosen My Hard

This little ditty on Pinterest really caught my attention the other day...it really brought to mind how hard it is to be so severely overweight (about 120 pounds OVER a healthy weight for my frame when I started this journey). It's amazing how quickly I became so heavy, and also mind boggling how long I let myself feel so awful before really doing something about it.  This statement is short and sweet, but really helped me clarify why I was taking the time and mental effort to change my ways...please don't hesitate to reach out when you get to the point of choosing option number one. I will be ready to help you!

Eating Healthy is NOT Deprivation

I am still very much in the beginning of my travels in changing my life for the better by making and owning more healthy choices.  I am by all means no pro at the healthy life - but I am changing that.  The old me probably got this far into despair by believing that eating healthy was depriving myself of some sort of enjoyment some how. Sure, I guess, not eating the chocolate cake resulted in me not getting to taste it's sugary goodness. But how long does that flavor last, anyway? 10, maybe 15, seconds? And the effects of the choice of eating the cake (or in my case, years of eating the cake over and over again)....can last a life time. Not the positive experience of tasting the cake, of course. But the negative effects that eating poorly does to a person. You know, weight gain, addiction to processed/sugary foods, lethargy, depression, low self esteem, more expensive plus-sized clothes, embarrassment...I could go on and on, but you get the picture.
The definition of deprivation is: to remove or withdraw something from enjoyment or pleasure. I recently came to the realization that by eating better and living healthfully, I have not deprived myself of anything. Alternatively, I have given myself more. To parallel my thoughts above, it would seem that in eating healthy, I have deprived myself of weight gain, addiction to processed/sugary foods, lethargy, depression, low self esteem, more expensive plus-sized clothes, embarrassment...I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

So the way I see it now, I have 2 choices:

1 - eat healthy and deprive myself of ten seconds worth of flavor.
2 - eat poorly and deprive myself of 60+ years of feeling good and living life.

Doesn't seem like much of debate anymore...

Serial Clothes Tryer-On'er

  I've changed in a lot of ways since I began this journey - emotionally, physically and behaviorally.  But because my body shape is changing so quickly, I've been trying to be excited by the "new" wardrobe of old clothes that didn't fit before in my closet instead of buying a bunch of new clothes - especially because I'd like to loose about 90 more pounds...in the mean time (especially on days that I am "toning" and don't see a change at the scale in the morning), sometimes I like to reaffirm my progress to myself by trying on clothes at the store with no plan to buy them.  Today I had a few minutes to check out some of the newest dresses at Dress Barn and was pleasantly surprised. I took in a dress that was 3 sizes smaller than my original size before starting the Omni Drops Program.  And, I had to ask the lady to bring me a smaller size! Good bye 24, hello 16! Yes, I know that a 16 (especially on a size 5'1" frame) still means I have a long way to go, but I haven't bought a size 16 since I got married in 2006 - and from what I can remember I don't think that I would have looked this good in it at that point in time, either.

Here's to recognizing the changes we make, even when they aren't documented at the scale!

16!

 

This is a picture of me on Wednesday, June 11. This dress is a size 16! When I started, I wore a 24 and it was TIGHT! This journey has been amazing in so many ways. I feel great, my energy is through the roof, I sleep well at night, I eat completely clean which I feel great about, and I get the benefit of changing how I look on the outside just about as quickly as I have been changing on the inside!

A Typical Day

For those of you who are curious about how a typical day goes for me in relationship to food (by the way, that relationship is changing quickly), I thought it might help to have an idea of what I eat. Please know that with any change, it takes time to retrain your mind and subconcious expectations. I am a true believer that the expectations that I previously had were extremely skewed, and were part of what got me to where I'm at now...I also believe that we can change these expectations - or I wouldn't be doing this blog right now.

So....

• Weigh myself and document my progress on my handy chart
• Get ready for the day

Take vitamins, drink a very large glass of ICE COLD water.

Make coffee (typical travel size mug with 2 tablespoons of whole milk and 9 drops of flavored stevia)

Head to work with my cup of coffee

When the coffee is gone, I switch to water ALL DAY LONG!

Mid morning - if I am hungry and it doesn't go away with after finishing my water mug, then I'll eat half of my lunch time apple.

Lunch - my awesomely packed lunch, usually buffalo chicken with celery, Wasa and an apple (or the other half of it if I've already eaten it).

After I get home from work I usually eat half of my dinner apple.

Dinner - my omni meal of the day...I usually eat a different protein than I had for lunch and try to eat a different fruit (usually strawberries).

If I have beef for my protein for dinner, I'm usually too full to eat my dinner time fruit. If this is the case, I would then eat the fruit for snack when my kids are snacking.

I take evening vitamins as I go to bed, and try to go to bed no later than 10pm when I can.

Hope this helps!

-Jen

What I Use

Some have asked about which Omnitrition products I am currently using to support my life long change.  So, I decided to give you a run down of what I use personally:

Omni Drops (and Program)
Omni IV
Nite Lite

Just recently I added Garcinia Cambogia, of which I take one every morning with my Omni IV vitamins.

Email me if you would like more information!

Burning the UGLY fat!

Ok, so is there really any pretty fat? Well, in fact, there is. Although I'm not sure pretty is the right term - maybe useful is better? All the good fat in our organs and such - it serves a purpose, right? Right.

Then there's the rest of it - and for me, that is a LOT. About 120 pounds too much when I started this journey.  The beauty of the the recent changes I have made is that I've been burning the UGLY fat away! Even with just about 10% of my initial weight gone, the way I look is significantly different. This is because the fat that I'm burning is the adipose fat, or the unsightly fat. You know, the stuff that gives you a muffin top, spare tire or in my case what appeared to make me look 9 months pregnant?  It's quickly melting away, which is why my clothes fit differently so quickly...I've never tossed stuff from my closet because it was TOO BIG so quickly!

Here's an IN PROGRESS photo from this morning...these pants were too small when I bought them a few weeks ago and now I have a lot of room left to spare!

This morning I weighed in at 23.8 pounds down! I feel great and finally don't despise what I see in the mirror. Love this stuff!

Non-Scale Victories!

In the process of making changes, I am losing weight. But all of this process is not in the number at the scale, but rather consistent every day, minute by minute changes in my thoughts and actions...I no longer think of this journey as a diet - as with this word comes a lot of negative thoughts and it seems to indicate a short term plan. My journey is a life long one...and even as early on as I am, I am already feeling different.

Please check out the "non-scale victories" tab for successes I have had off of the scale...

In the meantime, I thought I'd mention one from today.  Part of my day at work today involved going to Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch.  While I was there, I was able to get by with only drinking water with lime, after having eaten my Omni lunch prior to the appointment.  Before Omni, I would have obsessed about what I wasn't eating the entire time I was there, and it would have been an internal battle with myself as to whether or not I was going to give in to the temptation that that smells wafting through the restaurant were creating...

It's funny how much my nose does not register intense, food based smells any more. I went to Chick-fil-A my first week on the program and ate an apple and water while my family ate their glorious chicken. I wasn't phased by the smell at all....I have no idea what has caused this amazing phenomenon....maybe the fact that I haven't eaten processed foods in over 4 weeks? No matter what it is, I'll gladly accept it as part of my healing on this path to wellness.

Health to all of you!

-Jen

A Little More About Me

So if you've poked around a bit at this blog, you may have a decent idea of what I've been doing to change my life.  But, I realized that some of you don't really know who I am...so, here are a few details:

I'm currently a middle school crisis counselor in the middle of a total career change into teaching - middle school math, no less! Because of this, I work full time and then go to graduate school full time. I'll be student teaching in the Fall 2014.

I have a husband (my high school sweetheart) and two beautiful  and hilarious children, one almost four and one almost three.

I have difficulty saying no, have  a tendency to take on too much, and when I commit to something I have a need to commit 110%...this has resulted in a pretty frequent state of running frantic from one  responsibility   to the next, but when I have a few moments to myself I can't enjoy them anyway...always on the go!

When I decide to take a moment for myself, I enjoy reading dystopian novels, creating vinyl art, trying out various Pinterest projects, watching The Walking Dead and Heart of Dixie, and spending time outdoors with my family and friends.

I hope this helps you get a sense of the life I lead and a better understanding about how changes can be made (and often should be made) when life is crazy busy! (By the way, that's a great book - CrazyBusy by Dr. Edward Hollowell).

Take care all!
-JJJen

Official Blog Launch!

So a couple of days ago, I posted a "before" and "in progress" picture on my personal Facebook page because it was definitely what was on my mind that day. This program is amazing and I feel so good I just had to share. I encouraged my Facebook friends to reach out if they were curious about what I was doing to change my life, just in case they found that they might be able to benefit joining in my journey. I really didn't expect such interest...so, in order to keep information about what I am doing organized and conveniently available to those who are considering changing their lifestyle, too - I decided to start this blog. 

This site is definitely a major work in progress, and is lacking in a lot of ways.  It's current purpose is to get the basics of what I am doing out there...but ultimately, it's purpose is therapeutic in nature to myself. It helps me to document my progress along the way, and serves in part of the healing what needs to be healed in order to make my current behaviors permanent changes. 

I am happy to answer any questions that anyone may have, and can be reached by email at mylifechangedwithomni@gmail.com.

Because I have found the supplements and the program I am following so amazing, I have also decided to become an independent marketing consultant and the products that I use are available on my personal website. Please contact me directly for the website address if you are interested.  I am part of a close knit support group and can connect anyone who chooses Omni with me to a 24 hour per day secret Facebook support group of over 14,000 people nationally that are more than willing to provide support at the drop of a hat. This is not a journey I have gone alone, and shouldn't be for anyone else either.

Cheers to progress and a journey to wellness!

-Jen