the2beths

Guys! I am back on a roll and I am feeling good. I’ve been consistently exercising and I’ve finally cleaned up my diet starting this past Saturday. I am doing this 8 week whole life challenge with a few of my besties and one of the focuses is eating real food. It’s broken down into three levels and I chose the least restrictive. I can still have rice and potatoes in moderation, which felt sustainable for me. 

I’ve also been going to the 6 am body pump on MWF and I love it. I’ve been walking on my off days and making sure to get my 10,000 steps every day. It’s funny how this is not difficult at all now that I am not feeling anxious/depressed. In fact, a sign of this is how little I’ve blogged. I blog when I sit on the couch watching television, and lately I haven’t been doing much sitting. 

I’ve noticed that working out in the morning makes me so hungry but I just eat snacks even though I am not supposed to do that at school. And the way this diet is I find that eating every couple of hours works for me. So, I pack a cooler every morning and graze all day. 🐮
My baby boy is really starting to communicate and I love it. He is such a sweet boy. 

This is my before picture for my challenge:

Ok, I am going to pay attention to Henry for a while before bed time! 

Xoxoxo,

Beth WA

I didn’t weigh in at the gym this evening but I had a doctor’s appointment this afternoon and they have a really nice scale. I weighed in the same as I did at my last weigh in on Aug 29th. I’ll take it. I expected a huge gain. I feel big. And some clothes I had shrunk into already don’t fit. These are just some of the reasons I know the whole life challenge is coming just at the right time for me. 
Well, I decided this weekend to go to the gym on MWF for the 6 am body pump class. And then for cardio do walks when I can, videos, or the low impact aerobics/dance type class that I take after school MWF if child care allows.   I got up at 5:30. I had everything ready to go and packed so I could shower at the gym and head to school.  I loved the class, and getting up early was fine. But I have to fine tune the logistics. I am pretty sure on Wednesday I am going to try to run home and get ready. I will have everything ready to go so I can get ready in half an hour and be on time to work. 

Anyway, I slept like crap last night. I was nervous, I forgot to take my medicine and Henry woke up repeatedly. So after school instead of going back to the gym I fell asleep on my couch. I ate good all day until I woke up from my nap and majorly shoved a bunch of crap in my face. I was disappointed in myself but I am working on it. I did a lot of things to be proud of today and I just have to focus on continuing those things.  I know I don’t like waking up feeling crappy so I just have to remember that when I am about to start a binge. 

I have so much work to catch up on tomorrow. I can’t wait to be able to stay and get caught up. 

I hope everybody is having a great Monday! 

Henry and I went on a walk- that is another good thing- I am going to get my 10,000 steps!

Smooches!

Xoxoxo

Beth WA

Hi y’all. 

I have the house to myself!!!!

It’s been a while since I have written here as I’ve been navigating through this depression, the start of school, and this weight loss journey. I am struggling with all three but at the same time being patient with myself and doing the best I can and trying to be okay with that. As I transition back to school I realize my old workout schedule isn’t going to work for me for several reasons (child care, motivation, time with Henry). So, I’ve decided to switch it up and test out something new. I am going to try to do my body pump class MWF at 6AM and then continue going to the cardio class at 4:30 if I feel like it and have child care. And on T and Th I will walk outside or do an exercise video. On Saturday it will be “my choice”; gym, walk, video. Sunday will be my rest day. But, every day I would like to get my 10,000 steps. I know I feel ten times better when I am doing that. 

For food, I am not one for elimination diets with my binge eating disorder but I know I need to clean up my eating. I eat way too much sugar, bread, pasta, etc. I eat way too many calories per day because I am not choosing satisfying, filling foods. I know that but now I need to apply it. In order to help me with this I joined what is called a Whole Life Challenge with two of my best friends. It is about eating real foods, exercising regularly, getting good sleep, and reflecting on the experience. I am really looking forward to it. The food list for the intro level, which I am doing, is really manageable. But, I know it’s going to be hard for me because I eat so much sugar that I don’t even think about- especially adding chocolate chips to everything! 

So, I hope to be back on the losing streak instead of the gaining streak I’ve been on. 

In other news, Henry is finally starting to talk and it is adorable. There are so many times he says to things to us that we have no clue what he is saying, but he knows exactly what he is trying to say. So cute. 

I got my hair cut again and I love it. I had her color it dark all over and then highlights concentrated in the front. It’s kind of messy in these pictures but you get the idea. I think next time I will get it shorter in the back. 

So, day by day, I hope for things to continue to get better. I am in a much better place than I was a month ago – that’s for sure! 

I really need to get caught up at school.  That is weighing on my mind. It’s been too hot to stay after school and I don’t bring work home because I simply don’t have time once I get there. Plus, I’d rather just get it done at school and not bring it home. This week I am dedicated to getting caught up and planning ahead. 

I hope you are all having a great weekend! 

Xoxoxo,

Beth WA 

Today is Labor Day, so I don’t have to work. So, Henry and I are having one of our infamous slow mornings. 

It’s really slow because he had us both up from 4:30-5:30. But, then luckily, he(we) slept in until 8:00. 

Henry and I went to my parents boat Friday night until yesterday morning. Craig worked 10-7 on Saturday so it was a nice mini get away for H and me. Henry had a blast playing with his cousin, Maya. She is such a tender heart and took really good care of Henry. 

Henry is shy and cautious. It takes him a while to build up nerve to try new things. But, he will if you give him time and don’t force him into things. So, it was extremely adorable when he built up the nerve to do this:

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These are my other favorite pictures of him from the weekend:

My eating this week was pretty good, even at the boat. But then I got home last night and ate a bunch of crap. But, it was just one night and I’ve acknowledged it and moved on. And I have to share one of the delicious things I ate. 

It was Stacy’s Cinnamon Sugar pita chips dipped in pumpkin spice Allouette. Omg. It was amazing. And I ate way too much of it. 

We don’t have weigh in tonight because the gym is closed. So, I am not skipping. Ha ha. 

Hope everybody is enjoying their three day weekend. 

Xoxo,

Beth WA

I am officially back on the wagon and it feels good. I was happy to see a big loss and next week is Labor Day and my gym is closed. I would like to lose 4.2 in two weeks to get back to -30. My energy is good and I am looking forward to continual loss. 

I did great yesterday and cooked for four hours meal prepping for the week. I have to tweak my gym schedule this week due to child care issues but I hope I stick to it! I will be super proud of myself if I do. 

Hope everybody has a great week. It’s super hot at work and it’s hard to stay and work. Hopefully it’ll cool down over the next few weeks. 

This is me today: 

This is Craig and me on Saturday. We went out to celebrate our anniversary, a month late.  But it was still a lovely evening. My awesome mom kept Henry for the night and we slept like champs over here!!

Angie, I know you love to see pics of Craig! 😘

Gotta go to bed. Zzzzz

Xoxoxo,

Beth WA

Well, I sit here on my couch on this Saturday morning after having a glorious 10.5 hours of sleep. Good sleep. Except the 20 minutes in the middle when I had a Charlie Horse.  This week was a perfect recipe for one. It was my first week back to school and it was super hot and we don’t have air conditioning. And I went back to the gym all three scheduled days for two classes per day. And I wore impractical shoes to school because it was too hot to wear socks and tennis shoes. I did drink lots of water but evidently not enough. Anyway, as you just read, I was back to my regular schedule at the gym and it felt great. I did miss Henry an awful lot but I always remind myself that this is for him and well as for myself. It makes me a better person, therefore a better mom. 

Real talk: I had a really rough summer and I gained 12 lbs total. I never gave up on myself and tried to move as much as possible but near the end of summer I was delving deeper and deeper into a depression. I was feeling really awful. I couldn’t cover it up like I had done in the past. So I reached out to my friend who is my doctor and she got me in immediately. She recommended that I definitely get a counselor and started me on Lexapro, an antidepressant. And man alive, after feeling the effects I realize I probably could’ve used this stuff years ago. The difference is huge but subtle. I know that doesn’t make sense but if you’ve taken one, it probably does. It doesn’t get rid of your problems or make you feel perfect but it changes you to feel less hopeless about things. And it is getting me off this couch that I am sitting on right now. 

My group at the gym had a back to basics start up on Monday and we are back to our support group meetings and I love that. I’ve continued to weigh in most of the last month but they were always gains. I am hoping this Monday I am back to losing. 

I have a lot to do at school but it’s just so damn hot. I will get in a groove in the next few weeks when it cools down but for now I am just surviving. 

Henry is finally starting to say lots of words and lots of jumble and it’s awesome. He is so hilarious and always trying to make us laugh. I love him so much. 

It’s a lot harder to get pictures of him at this stage! As you can see some of them are blurry. 
Hope everybody has a great weekend and I’ll be back to posting my weigh ins on Monday. Right now my total weight loss is at about 21. It’s disappointing from the 31 I was at but this shirt I bought from Walmart for 7 bucks is a good reminder to myself and sums up my philosophy of this journey. 

“Give up on giving up!”

Have a great weekend. 

Xoxoox

Beth WA

Welp, the time has come. Another school year is beginning. I have open house tonight, meetings tomorrow and Friday, and then Monday is my first day with the kids. I have switched to teaching all religion all day and I am excited and nervous. I want to make it a really great experience for kids but I have a lot to learn. I am happy to leave the stress of teaching math for a while because it stresses me out and to be honest, I am not that good at it. 

So, today is the last slow morning of the summer for Henry and myself.  We are both going to miss it as we are both slow starters! 

Yesterday we went to my BFF, Liz’s house. She recently lost a lot of weight and was giving me some of her old clothes (that I begged her for!). Last night I tried them all on and I am so happy to have some new back to school clothes. There were cute dresses in there, too. These were two of my favorites. 

On the way down to Liz’s we stopped at McDonalds for lunch. I got a Southwest salad, and Henry got a happy meal. He got a pedometer watch and he loves to wear it and I just think it’s the cutest thing to see a two year old with a watch on. 

Then we got home and Henry “drove” his jeep that he got from his grandparents for his birthday. He now has the hang of holding his foot on the gas, just not steering. So, I was a sweaty mess following him around. 

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In case you are wondering how he got in there, he ran right over everything you see behind him. Luckily the flowers were resilient. 

It was hilarious. I couldn’t stop laughing. He said “Tadaaaa…”

Have a great day, y’all! 

Xoxoxox,

Beth WA

Today I am committed to doing my best for today. It’s so weird the subtle changes in my body from not working out regularly. I cleaned the house as I mentioned yesterday and today my ankles and back are killing me! This was not the case the last few months. My joint pain was practically gone. Instead of feeling bad about this I am just going to use it as motivation. 👍🏻

I have a doctor’s appointment today and I have to get some blood work done for the dermatologist. Other than that Henry and I will be hanging out, and I will be trying to do work. 😕

Happy Monday, friends!! 
Xoxoxo,

Beth WA

Well, I’ve been going through a bit of a rough patch with life in general and starting back to school with a new boss has piled on to the whole thing. But, I am persevering. I may have gained 8 lbs back but I am not quitting. I am doing my best each day trying to figure out how to make it through this time.  My schedule is wonky so I’ve decided I need to go week by week and figure out what workouts I am going to do – whether at the gym or at home. I know I won’t be able to go to the gym as much as I did last year but I can’t use that as an excuse not to work out. I mean, I have every workout DVD that ever was. 

My group at the gym is having a renewal of sorts on August 22nd but I can’t wait that long to be back on plan! I could gain another 5 lbs easily!!!! So this week I am going to try to stay in calories and get at least 3-4 workouts in. I start back to work officially this week and on Monday is my first day with kids! 

This past Friday we had a farewell bbq at my parents for my brother and his family. They went back to Houston on Saturday morning. We are going to miss them like crazy. They were excited because they were going back to their new house! 

This Saturday we went to this Food Truck event the local Rotary puts on in a park about .75 miles from our house. Here is Henry looking cool at the event. 

Today Craig took Henry to his parents house and I spent 6 hours cleaning out Henry’s toys, hanging a few pictures, scrubbing the tub and cleaning the kitchen. There is so much more to do but that’s what I got done today. I threw away three giant bags of garbage and I was pretty thrilled with that. 

I hope everybody has a good Monday!! ❤️

Xoxox,

Beth WA

Well, obviously this isn’t great but it was way better than I thought it would be. The good news is I was completely on track yesterday. And I am feeling motivated to continue that streak. But, one day at a time for now as I climb back on the wagon! 

Yesterday my husband truly supported me. He was out running errands and I asked him to pick up lunch for me. He knew I was back on the wagon and yet he didn’t ask me what I wanted for lunch. I was so hungry if he had asked me I would’ve told him a burger and fries. But, he brought me home my favorite salad from Wendy’s. He said he was on his way to get me a whopper and changed his mind. That is support. And I was so grateful. Because it tasted delicious. 

Then I went to the gym for two hours and he stayed home and made dinner. He grilled steak and vegetables and made baked potatoes. It was the perfect meal. That is support. 

It was a good first day home after vacation. The next two weeks will be filled with home organization and school preparation. I am ready and excited. 

Have a good day! 

Xoxox,

Beth WA

PS. My silly goose.