Going Grain-Free

Hello, Loves!

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. I did! It was my birthday over the weekend (Feb 21) and I turned the big 2-4!

I had such a blast- so many loved ones came and celebrated with me. 

I wrote a facebook status thanking everyone for all of their birthday wishes and I then proceeded to tag everyone who spent my birthday with me. When I continued tagging everyone, I noticed how many people there were. I was so overjoyed and felt so blessed that I have so many close friends and family. It really made me realize how blessed I am with my relationships. :)

So, as you may have seen with past posts, I have tried so many things for dieting. Some have worked, some have not, but either way, I tend to gain the weight back no matter what I do. 

One thing I have always done is rely on exercise to lose weight, but the second I would stop, I would gain the weight back. I realized one thing I never really became disciplined with was my eating habits. 

I met with a nutritionist a few times in the last couple months and got an assessment done that tells me what I burn at rest, what my body reacts to, and what foods I should focus on.

The good news? 

I was eating NOT ENOUGH calories! This was good news because I always wished I could eat more. 

Also, my nutritionist told me no more fat free foods. What?! That is great news because I love milk, full fat yogurt, etc. 

The bad news?

My body reacts very poorly to grains and other carbs (like sugar).

The nutritionist asked me if I bloated when I ate grains, if I would break out, if I gained weight quickly, etc. All my answers were YES! 

So, first- I challenged myself to do 21 days of fasting sugars because if you know me at all, I LOVE sugar.

I fasted and prayed about it and in a matter of no time- I made it 21 days.

I have now done 2 fasts since the beginning of the year- all with the help of the Lord.

I first did social media for 21 days, and now sugars. 

Cutting out sugars helped me realize that I do have the discipline to get strict with my eating choices. So I have made the decision to start 21 days of grain-free. 

Of course I did my research on what grain-free entails, tricks of the trade on how to be successful, etc. One thing the articles said was to pre-make and pre-pack your food. So that is exactly what I did!

First pre-packed meal? This delicious salad:

Whats included (all ingredients from whole foods):
Spinach- i cut up my spinach into little pieces so it's easier to eat for me.
Cilantro- I used this to add some extra flavor
1/2 cucumber
1/2 tomato
tbsp Almond Slices (oven roasted)
Italian blend organic cheese
OrganicVille Gluten-Free sun dried tomato vinaigrette (this is sooo good! I highly recommend it!)
All natural, organic, ROAM FREE chicken breast

This salad was so good!
300 calories
11 grams  carbs
9 grams of fat
40 grams of protein

Do you know of any good Grain-Free cookbooks I should try? Or any good recipes? 

Wish me luck!

Journey to Restoration: Progress Update!

Happy Gratituesday Everyone!

Well- the spring has come in MN (so we thought)- Its snowing again!!! 

Surprise? Not so much. 

Well- you know how I have been on this journey of restoration? If you don't know, you can see here and here.

It has been about the 2 month mark now!

I was getting discouraged because I haven't seen a big change on the scale. It wasn't until I took another progress photo that I really could see the difference!

I have lost about another half in everywhere. I am working on getting that "stubborn" fat off! Ha!

What keeps me going?

1] Seeing results! It is always motivating to see how far you have come- in many different areas of life- and this being one of them :)

2] Jesus. I always remind myself the purpose of why I even started exercising and changing my habits. Its because I wanted to be a healthier, cleaner temple for Him to dwell. Not just that, but He blessed me with a healthy body and I want to make sure I manage it well!

3] Friends. It is always helpful to have the support system. When I say I don't feel like working out, my friends and family will help remind me why I do this. So I encourage you- if you are on any journey- loop in your family and friends for support :)

Share with me any journey you are on by commenting below with your blog information! I would love to read about what is going on with you :)