As regular readers know, I had been trying to follow a real food lifestyle, but over the last 3 or 4 months, just like everything else has gone to pot, so had my (and the family's) eating habits. Not only did it show in my kids' behaviour, it showed on my health. Months of poor eating habits and no exercise left me at the heaviest I have ever been - even heavier than when I was nine months pregnant! (94kg/207lbs) - and feeling the worst I have ever felt - no energy, sluggish, and all the things I felt before I moved towards eating real foods. So now that I have been perfectly honest about how far down I fell, I'll
share what I am doing to pick myself (and the rest of the family) back
up again.
Firstly, I rid the house of as much processed foods as I could. I kept some breakfast cereals and some fruit juice for the kids, but that was pretty much it. I debated about what to do with the stuff I was getting rid off; do I give it to charity knowing it is not good for you, or throw it away? In the end, I gave it to charity and figured that people in need could decide whether they want to take it or not.
Secondly, I started menu planning again. When I menu plan, we tend to eat much, much better, without relying on takeaway or unplanned dinners out. However, since I was pretty much starting from scratch again, I have been relying on 100 Days of Real Foods. You have to check out this site! It is truly amazing with a plethora of info, recipes and ideas for transitioning to a 100% real foods diet. But better than all of this great info is her four FREE menu plans. The plans are for a family of four - breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack - and include the shopping lists budgeted for around $167/week, not including extra savings you can make from specials or coupons. What I liked most is that all of the plans are designed for busy families. There are no complicated recipes and time-saving tips are included. If you would like access, all you need to do is head to 100 Days of Real Foods Facebook page and "like" it. Then click on the image of the menu plan you would like to download.
Thirdly, I signed up for the Huggies 12 Week Body Transformation from the Australia's Biggest Loser trainer, Michelle Bridges. This is unfortunately not free, but so far it seems great and is pushing me much harder than I would be able to push myself. It comes with exercise and nutrition plans; the exercise plans have three options, including working out at home, at the gym or outdoors, and the nutrition plans so far seem to based on real foods, so I am combining the nutrition plans with the meal plans from above. The first week's exercise plans were doable, so I have a feeling that Michelle is easing us in to the program for the first week. The nutrition plan also showed my just how much I have been overeating, and I have found it tough to follow, but am sticking with it. Her fitness test left me in no doubt as to how unfit I really am, so I am hoping that hard work over the next twelve weeks will bring up to a better (and healthier) level.
So hopefully these combination of changes will have a real impact on my health and how I am feeling. I will give you updates as I go along.
image sourceLabels: exercise, food, weight loss