One step at a time

So part of the journey to being a better me and a better wife and mother is being healthy. I've recently decided to put forth the real effort to not just purse my dream of writing but to be in the best shape possible for me.

That began with changing my eating habits. When you have an infant easy is always better. Fast, quick, and the least amount of clean up possible please. In the beginning you are so sleep deprived that cooking is dangerous because you may very well fall asleep in the middle of it. Then your tiny baby because this little person that you want to play with so much the thought of cooking and leaving him alone while you do it breaks your heart. So there is a lot of fast food in your life. Now I know this isn't true for everyone but in my case it was. My husband's idea of cooking is hot dogs... and that's it. It was so much easier to go through the drive thru or sit in a restaurant and let someone else cook it and bring it to you.

So this household has given up fast food and eating out for the most part. You can't cut yourself off completely because then you crave it so much that when you break you binge. We don't want that. So we are limiting our eating out to once a week and even then to make the healthiest choices possible. Not always easy in restaurants but I will do what I can.

My cooking is changing too. Healthier choices at home as much as out. More fish and chicken and less hamburgers and steak. Not to0 mention giving up the nightly routine of Reese cups. Cooking breakfast instead of something that comes out of the microwave and carrots over snack size bag of chips.

On top of the food there is the exercise. I'm a mom. Finding the time to exercise when my only free time comes during a nap is not so easy. Especially when you add in the laundry, dishes, sweeping, mopping, etc. that have to be done during these precious few hours of napping. When I can I take walks with Angel but some days it just doesn't work into the routine. So recently I've decided to just move more. I crank up the CD player and dance around the house. I can do it in one trip but purposely make myself take two. I dance with Angel. I dance with my husband. I just move.

Then there comes the most important part. My support system. My wonderful husband who does everything he can to encourage me to be better. He supports me and cheers me on. On the good days he is proud of me and on the bad days he reassures me I will have better days. He keeps me going and makes sure I don't give up.

All of this adds up to the ten pounds I have lost in the last week and a half. A pound a day is my goal and some days I exceed my goal.

I am going to be that mom who can run around with her little boy at the park. I am going to be that wife on my husband's arm that other men are jealous of. I am going to be a woman I am proud to see look back at me in the mirror.

Well maybe I've already done that last one, but it can't hurt to make her a little prouder. One step at a time.