Good morning! I’m typing this from my new apartment (I think you’d call it a MIL apartment attached to a house where 5 other girls live) after a 2 mile run this morning. It’s a good thing that I have a few more weeks before my half marathon because I am definitely going to need to spend some time training in this new elevation with all of these hills (although I purposely chose a course that is mostly downhill so it shouldn’t be too bad).

I left Chicago last Tuesday morning, spent a few days in Washington, drove to Montana to see a friend on Saturday, and then finished up my drive yesterday, ending up in Provo. Classes start in 2 hours and I desperately need to make a trip to Wal-mart because last night I slept on my bath towels with my kitchen apron acting as a pillowcase (I’m really glad I brought a pillow!) and a fleece blanket from my car as my cover (thought I didn’t need it much because this room is much too hot for my sleeping preferences).

During that time I ate horribly, and I am really feeling the effects of all of the refined carbs and sugars I ate, especially on the drive down. All of that’s in the past though, because I’m starting Whole 30 today! My fridge and cupboards are stocked with exclusively Whole30 approved products, and once I’m done typing this I’m going to go borrow a pot from my new roommates so I can hard boil some eggs for my lunch. I know I’m going to be missing some things a week from now, but early this week will be a celebration as I flush all of my previous poor choices out of my system.

Time to shower and assemble my lunch and make my way up to campus for my first day of class. I’d love to hear how things are going for you!

It’s taken me a long time to get these pictures put together, in part because the process is a bit of a pain. Now I’m kind of glad it took so long because I think it’s really motivating to see these pictures when we are two month into the progress and losing steam (I’m not the only one going through that right?)

ALL of these ladies are superstars and I hope you will take the time so leave some encouraging comments. 

Lydia

4.26%

Amy

6%

Laura

7.87%

Joy

10.05%

Paula

13.36%

Alicia

20.49%

 Ali

21.87%

Leah B

26.29%

Brandy

Start: 198.5

End: 140.8

57.7lb lost, 29.07%

The best part about seeing these pictures? I think the results from TWLC3 are going to be EVEN BETTER.

This post is more of a breeze-by than anything else. Tomorrow I’m getting on a plane and waving goodbye to Chicago. That Husband will climb into our overloaded car and drive across the country to Washington, where T1 and I will be waiting for him. We’ll have one more day together as a family, and then I will take that fully loaded car and drive it down to Utah for my 6 week school stint. It’s going to be a jam-packed week!

We cleaned out the fridge yesterday, giving away our bottles of ketchup and leftover cheese to our friends downstairs. This week I’m trying to make choices that help me feel good and strong and energized, but I’m not going to worry so much about low-carb or vegetable heavy or any of the other things I try to do on a regular basis. I’m starting Whole30 on the 18th of June, so there is plenty of time to be hardcore. For now I’m going to eat out a lot and enjoy meals with friends and family, focusing in on eating small portions of things I find really delicious.

Lucky for me, my running schedule has me doing three 3 mile runs before I ramp it up to 8 miles on the 23rd. After my 6 mile run this weekend, a 5k sounds really nice!

Time to go finish packing and crossing things off my list. Shoutout to That Husband, he graduated with high honors with an MBA from the University of Chicago this weekend! I’ll have more pictures to share from that soon.

The winner of the May Google Doc weigh-in contest can be found at the bottom of this post!

This week the weather was finally warm enough to go out and take some 2 year pictures of T1 in this spot I’ve had my eye on for weeks (the same spot we did some of our family pictures). Here’s a picture of the two of us taken by my friend. It was hard work getting two adults and 4 kids under 5 out the door for these pictures, but definitely worth it. I’m so glad she suggested I hand the camera over to her!

Writing these posts, and thinking about what I’m going to say each week, has been really helpful for me. I find myself paying more attention to the choices I make throughout the week, and why I make them, so I can better identify the changes I need to make moving forward. This week I was fighting off the PMS monster and I found myself making excuses for bad choices because “I’m not going to lose any weight this week anyway”. What a horrible approach! I’m never going to get anywhere with an attitude like that. I know that there is a pattern to my weight loss, that I hold steady through my period and often drop a few pounds 3 days after menstruation ends, but that drop isn’t going to happen if I’m eating poorly. I’m naturally hungrier during certain parts of my cycle, and it’s fine to take in more during those times (number one rule for me is always, always, always listen to what your body is telling you (not your mouth hunger, your actual needs!)) as long as the things I’m eating are nourishing in some way.

I haven’t been updating much on the exercise side of things. Only about a month before I run my half-marathon! I ran 6 miles this weekend and so far I’ve felt grateful that I put the money down for this race already because it’s forced me to keep my training consistent, since I really want to be able to run the whole thing. On the other days I’ve been doing a marginal job doing HIIT. I’m looking forward to working with my personal trainer friend so she can work me really hard!

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Another week down. Another fantastic photo shoot (my last in Chicago *sniff*). Another day closer to finishing my last online course and moving away from this stage of life. I only have one paper, 3 quizzes, and a final left to go! I’m going to do the final in Utah where I can do it for free in the testing center, and I’m hopeful that I might actually be able to finish everything else up this week.

These last few weeks I feel like I’ve really been fighting the Last Supper mindset. Not because I’m starting a new diet in the morning (although I am going to do the Whole30 challenge next month) but because we’re moving and I have kitchen full of food that we can’t possibly eat before we leave. It’s painful for me to think about throwing out my bread cheese or snack foods, and so I find myself snacking on them not because I’m hungry or craving them, but because I’m stressed about throwing them away! As That Husband would tell me it’s really just a sunk cost, and I’m sure our friends will be happy to take the food from our cupboards and use it up in their own home.

Best nutrition choice of the last week: Read more →