My 3 Monsters: 2017: The Year of ME

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1.06.2017

2017: The Year of ME

Thank you Jenny Craig for sponsoring this post. -- Get serious about losing weight with Jenny Craig!

Hi guys!  Today I’m going to TOTALLY switch gears on y’all and get a little personal for a minute.  Do you mind?  I feel like most of us over-indulged in sweet treats and rich foods over the holidays.  The general concensus I’m seeing among my online pals is that we are all paying now for slacking off in December. You can see from my past several posts that we were no different around here.

Make 2017 The Year of ME by making your health and well being a priority with Jenny Craig!
If I’m being honest, my slacking off started long before the holidays.  I have THE WORST sweet tooth, and I’m completely addicted to soda.  Like, a 44 ounce a day (minimum) habit.  I need the caffeine and sugar to prop me up through my busy days. I work a full-time day job as an elementary school health assistant and then I come home and try to channel all my creative energy into this blog, all while making sure my little family is cared for, feels loved, and doesn’t drown in clutter and dirty laundry.  I sleep about 5 hours a night. That doesn’t leave me with much time – or energy – for healthy cooking and working out. We end up grabbing burgers or tacos at the drive-thru more often than I would like to admit.  What’s worse is that I actually LIKE fast food.  It’s not something I “suffer through”, wishing I could have something better.  I actually, legitimately enjoy it.  Add to that my love of baking and we’ve got a real problem.  You guys, it’s ugly.  Seriously.

I haven’t always been this way.  I mean, I have always loved fast food, soda, and cookies, BUT – believe it or not – I ran a half marathon about ten years ago.  The training got me in the best shape of my adult life.  I reached a point where my body craved water instead of soda.  I didn’t even think it could do that!  I would get up at 5:00 a.m. to get my run in before the family got up and then I had boundless energy for the rest of the day.  It was awesome.  My race was the first weekend in December.  Having successfully completed my training, I decided to take a break “just for the holidays”.  And here I sit a decade later.

I could just never get going again.  Since then I have struggled with anxiety and depression, my husband has been laid off twice, and I have started working full-time instead of being a stay-home mom.  The puzzle pieces of my life have been scattered and I just haven’t been able to make everything fit back together again.  In that time I have put on over 60 pounds.  I can’t even believe that – it seems like such a huge number, but gaining about 6 pounds a year didn’t seem so bad as it was happening. 

I finally decided that 2017 was going to MY year.  I’m going to make that damn puzzle fit together – in a new and beautiful way – even if it kills me!!  When I was given the opportunity to try Jenny Craig and share my results and thoughts with y’all, I jumped at the chance.  Healthy eating is just something that I am bad at. I don’t know why.  I don’t feel like I’m stupid, but I can’t seem to apply the Food Pyramid to my daily life.  Not only do I not know WHAT to eat, my portion sizes are way out of whack.  When something tastes good, I want more.  And more. Until I feel terrible and full.  

Make 2017 The Year of ME by making your health and well being a priority with Jenny Craig!
The most appealing thing about Jenny Craig to me was one-on-one weekly consultations.  At Jenny Craig, personal support is the cornerstone of what they have been doing for 30 years. Every member is paired with a consultant who provides them with one-on-one support to identify their challenges and goals, and helps them to create unique weekly meal and activity plans.  Each week, my consultant will work with me on my menu, discuss any challenges from the previous week and determine a plan for the week ahead.  Plus, she will keep track of my success with weekly weigh-ins and teach me how to self-monitor.  I need someone who knows this stuff to sit down with me and spell it out in micro-detail.  Tell me what to eat and when to eat it.  Because of my anxiety, I hate making decisions and I kinda’ like being told what to do, so this totally works for me until I become more confident in my food choices.  

I was nervous going to the center for the first time.  I mean, I judge myself pretty harshly for letting my weight get to this point, so I just assume everyone else does, too. My consultant, Kristin, was so nice and super knowledgeable.  I left rearing to go, with a trunk full of healthy meals.

Can we just talk about the meals for a minute here.  I was afraid they were going to be gross frozen meals that tasted like cardboard. And I was afraid I was going to be hungry, like all the time, because they looked pretty small.  I was so wrong!  While you do cook most of the food in the microwave, it tastes like I made it fresh.  They are actually a little yummier than the things I typically cook for my family.  Here’s what I got to eat for lunch on Day 2 this week:

Make 2017 The Year of ME by making your health and well being a priority with Jenny Craig!
A loaded baked potato – with cheese and bacon! – and a huge garden salad.  I wasn’t hungry after eating that plate full of food, but if I had been, there is a whole list of Fresh and Free Additions I can eat as much of as I want to fill up.  Plus, there are snacks built into the eating plan so a few hours later I got to eat this delicious Greek yogurt and banana treat:

Make 2017 The Year of ME by making your health and well being a priority with Jenny Craig!
Our morning schedule is a little bit hectic so I love that there are grab-and-go options I can throw in my purse and take with me to stay on track.  

Make 2017 The Year of ME by making your health and well being a priority with Jenny Craig!
I only really felt hungry the first day, but my body has adapted surprisingly quickly to eating small portions throughout the day instead of grazing all day and bingeing at night.  I have had a mild headache in the afternoons, but that is probably just the caffeine and sugar withdrawal rearing its ugly head.  Today, on Day 4, it hasn’t been an issue at all.  Eating healthier has also motivated me to go walking every evening.  We have been going to the park and walking as a family, which is awesome!

I’m excited to see how this journey will go.  It is brand new for me and I am excited about “rebooting” my system. Kristin told me that Jenny Craig members can expect to lose an average of 1-2 pounds per week, which is a healthy range of weight loss. I promise not to get all spammy, but I will post updates as I go on my Instagram account with all my other projects, if you’re interested in following along.

What are your goals for the new year?  We're going to rock 2017, friends!

Amy


I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.



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