3 Day Refresh Round 2 with Meal Plan -- Part 2 of LWA

Last weekend I started to get this post ready...it was a beautifully laid out meal plan, let me tell you.

But below each day, you will see what REALLY happened.

Monday

Upon waking- 8-10 oz water

7:30  Shakeology + fruit
8:30 Morning tea

9:30 Fiber sweep

11:00 Vanilla fresh, fruit, vegetable, healthy fat

1:00 Vegetable and healthy fat
2:00 Afternoon Tea

5:00 Vanilla fresh, Dinner recipe, vegetable broth

6:00 or later Evening tea

Day 1.... I had to come home and take a nap because I was so exhausted about not having caffeine. And I forgot that I could have Vanilla Fresh and vegetable broth at supper.  Thankfully my salad was yummy, delicious and filling.  

Tuesday

Upon waking- 8-10 oz water

7:30  Shakeology + fruit

8:30 Morning tea

9:30 Fiber sweep

11:00 Vanilla fresh, fruit, vegetable, healthy fat

1:00 Vegetable and healthy fat

2:00 Afternoon Tea

5:00 Vanilla fresh, Dinner recipe, vegetable broth

6:00 or later Evening tea

Day 2... I decided life was too damn short not to have caffeine in my life.  Remembered my Vanilla Fresh at supper but forgot my vegetable broth...again.  

Wednesday

Upon waking- 8-10 oz water

7:30  Shakeology + fruit

8:30 Morning tea

9:30 Fiber sweep

11:00 Vanilla fresh, fruit, vegetable, healthy fat

1:00 Vegetable and healthy fat

2:00 Afternoon Tea

5:00 Vanilla fresh, Dinner recipe, vegetable broth

6:00 or later Evening tea

Day 3.... Morning went well...until 9:30 when I realized I forgot my damn fiber sweep and vanilla fresh for lunch.  By supper time I said f it all and made spaghetti and garlic bread.  I am not adulting well this week.  

Results- surprisingly I lost 2 pounds.  Imagine what I would have gotten if I had actually done this to a T.

Thursday/Friday

Breakfast- Oatmeal with Blueberries

AM Snack- Shakeology

Lunch- Country Heat Veggies with Sweet Potato and Chicken

PM Snack- Berries and Nuts

Supper- Chicken and Green Beans, Steak and Green Beans 

Let me just throw out some things that I ate.... Dairy Queen.... Burger King... multiple ice cream cones... a medium pumpkin spice latte from a local coffee shop.

Yup.  Best laid plans right?  

So why do I share this-- to let you know that sometimes, shit happens.  Life happens.  I am SO happy to have found out we are probably going to be able to move 3 weeks sooner than we planned but that also means we are moving THREE WEEKS sooner than we have planned.  As in, moving out of old house next weekend and into new house the following weekend if all goes well.  So it's been a whirlwind of working and then coming home and trying to deal with paperwork and meet with people in between being there for Lucas.  Is that an excuse?  OH YES-- a big one.  But it is what it is.  Life gets in the way and I don't always adjust that well.  Some weeks are easier than others.  This is not one of them. 

This is life with anxiety for me...Sadly, I stop doing things that are going to help make me feel better because I'm so stressed out about getting the things done that I have to. This is me shutting down....

The positive thing is I already have my plan ready for next week and my lunch packed and ready.  I'm ready for you this week life!

Living Life With Anxiety- Part 1- The Story

I've thought about writing a post like this a million times and stopped myself.  It just seemed like too much to share... photos of me post-workout sweating like a dog just don't compare to talking about your deep, personal feelings.  Plus, honestly, I didn't have words to describe these feelings inside of me.  Until I read the book Running Home by Alisha Perkins and she literally put into words exactly what I have been struggling with.



I have ALWAYS been a perfectionist.  High school came fairly easily to me so I didn't have too much to stress out about.  College was a little bit more difficult and as many of you know, I just ate my feelings.  Until I started to apply for grad school and I got so stressed out that I literally dropped 10 pounds in 2 weeks.  Don't worry, once I got into grad school, I gained it all back ;)  I would get stressed but I managed it all fairly well until I got pregnant.  I worried nonstop about my little baby. It didn't help that we got a false positive on his first genetic screener and spent a week thinking that either my baby would not survive or he would have a physical disability.  Lucas was a great baby...during the day.  Night times were difficult.  Two years of broken sleep and being a "married single mom" half the time, plus a TON of stress at work, and I went to my physical and broke down to my doctor.  Poor woman probably didn't know what to do with me... except she did put me on anti-anxiety meds.

And WHOA did life change after I went through some crazy side effects (I am in the 1% of people who got tinnitus the first month as a side effect).  But after that, positive things started happening.  I could deal with things in a way that I hadn't been able to in months.  Things that used to instantly piss me off, I could breathe through.  As I told those who knew what I was going through, it took the "edge" off.

So why break my silence about it now?  Because I want to use Alisha's words to explain to people what anxiety CAN look like.  It doesn't always look this way because it's different for everyone and I think that it's important that we start talking about these things.  I advocate for the kids I see to do this every day and yet I haven't been able to do it for myself.  So here are some quotes I would like to share:

"It is an awful cycle and one I am ashamed of.  I hate the days I spend doing nothing; the type A in me can't handle it.... There is middle ground, one that I am trying all the time to find, where I don't shut down but I do allow myself to slow down without fear of where my mind will go.  I want to realize that I can do anything but not everything."

"I was struggling with what was going on with me.  It seemed to come out of left field, and I was so frustrated that I could not control it.  See, that is the funny thing about anxiety- it is a perpetual cycle.  It starts, you want to control it, you can't control it, you get stressed that you can't control it, and so it gets worse...it spirals and spirals".

"I worried for so long that if I was an introvert, that meant I was a recluse.  I now know that being an introvert means I am not mad, sad, or antisocial; it just means I need to be alone for awhile and that's ok.  I am friendly and enjoy being around others, but I need my downtime, too.... Some times I shut down and don't talk to anyone for days.  It is nothing personal.  That is hard for people to understand, even me, but I am working through the adjustment and learning to be me."

So there it is... that's me.  Summed up in 3 succinct paragraphs.

Meal Plan inspired by Country Heat

This post is going to be short and sweet as I have a big weekend preparing for my SECOND half marathon but here is my meal plan for the week! 

Breakfast:  Overnight Oats

Snack:  Shakeology

Lunch:

Stir fry mixed veggies from Country Heat cookbook

Carrots/cucumbers/tomatoes

Baked sweet potato with coconut oil

Chicken and sesame seeds over stir fry veggies

Snack:

Nuts and mixed berries

Supper: 

Monday- Steak and carrots

Tuesday- Chicken and steamed spinach

Wednesday- On the Go-ECFE Family Night

Thursday- Sliders and green beans

Friday- On the Go- Little Huskies Family Night