37 Reasons to Stay Motivated!

 
Wow!   I love this!  We all have our "lazy" moments so this will be my reference point when I start stagnating and/or making excuses. In fact, just so I do have it handy, I'm downloading it to my desktop!  

Motivation + Habit = Success!

I could not have said it better!   We were motivated in February by watching a documentary by Joe Cross, and here it is three months later, and it's definitely become a habit!  We continue to have a spinach/berry/banana yogurt smoothie and/or veggie juice nearly every day.  For variety, we also make big salads as a main meal.  We eat meat a few times a week - mostly chicken and fish.  Our dairy only consists of feta cheese and yogurt - and we have eaten light Laughing Cow cheese on occasion.  We often have veggie omelets or oatmeal for variety in the mornings.  We now only drink coffee on the weekend - otherwise, we have herbal teas.  As for breads, we have home-made bread occasionally.  When we eat out, we try to make healthy choices.   All of this has become our "norm" and both of us have felt healthier and more energetic since we've made these changes in our eating regime.

Overcoming those Vacation Indulgences - or Taking Off the Fluff!

It goes without saying that unless one is going to a health spa for vacation, weight gain when is nearly inevitable - and for me, that meant a three pound gain!  I will say that I indulged more than once - my downfalls were huckleberry ice-cream!  What saved me from gaining more weight is the fact that we often prepared our own meals in the condo where we were staying - and tried hard to fix only healthy and low calorie meals - soups, salads, etc.  We also splurged by eating out - especially during our travel excursions, but didn't do too badly in our food choices.  In fact, we ate twice at a cafe in Flathead, Montana because the vegetable soup was "to die for" - but then we also had their home-made sour dough bread!

Now that we're back home,  it's time to get the "vacation fluff" off.   We found that we actually missed our daily Juicing and were more than happy to return to our healthy nutrient-rich veggie juices.   We are also back to eating light meals - soups, salads, veggie omelets, etc.   As a result, I've lost 1.5 pounds this week, and expect to lose the other half of my weight gain quickly.

I've also made a "monumental decision" in my own program.  I decided to cancel my WW online subscription as I've found that WW doesn't jive well with Juicing as a way to lose weight and keep healthy.   This is not a "program" for us as it's become our eating lifestyle, or maybe we should just call it our new "norm".  We enjoy it, it keeps us healthy, and it's helping us lose weight.  We've decided to continue having our veggie juices and/or a smoothie along with one light meal each day during the week, and have one juice per day and two meals on weekends.  We also plan to continue this "norm" with our kids when we move together to North Texas this summer - as they are in agreement that this is a healthy lifestyle. In fact, it was my daughter who first introduced me to Juicing last summer although I didn't actually adopt this lifestyle until I watched the film by Joe Cross, "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" in February.  I am now reading a book by Jason Vale entitled "Juice Yourself Slim:  Lose Weight Without Dieting".  It has given me a lot of motivation as well as ideas for adding healthy soups and other meals along with Juicing.

I will end this with a quote from Jason Vale:
True transformation to a healthy eating and juicing lifestyle is going from "what you want but can't have" to being grateful for what you now have (i.e a healthier body, etc).  It's also changing one's mindset to "what you can have but no longer want".   


EDITED (just two days later!):   I lost 2.7 of the three pounds I put on during our vacation within the first week home - YAY!!!!

A Pictorial Essay of Montana = Relaxation, Rejuvenation and Spiritual Renewal

We recently returned from a 10 day trip to Montana which was not only relaxing but proved to be rejuvenating and spirtually uplifting as well!   While this blog entry does not address "weight loss", it is about holistic health - mind, body and soul.    The clean mountain air, exhilarating scenery, relaxing excursions and walks, healthy meals we prepared together in our vacation condo, and the shared quality time with my husband  - all added up to a rejuvenating and spiritually uplifting vacation.   So often when we distance ourselves physically from our everyday responsibilities at home, we are re-energized!   Montana proved to be the perfect venue for one of the most relaxing and re-energizing vacations we've ever had!   The scenery is extraoordinary - majestic mountains, serene lakes, and beautiful evergreens, as can be seen in the photos that follow which were taken at Glacier National Park:

In addition, we visited Flathead Lake, also in Montana, and Lake Pend d'Oreille in Sandpoint, Idaho.   Here are photos of both:


                                          Flathead Lake in Montana
                             
                                         
                             
                                     Lake Pend d'Oreille - Sandpoint, Idaho

                                       

Finally, we encountered wildlife - first when we drove through Yellowstone Park on our way to Montana, and then throughout Montana, itself.   Here are a couple of our wildlife encounters:

                                          

                                         Mountain Goats in Montana

                                  Elk seen in the woods on our way to Idaho

All in all, a vacation to remember!  We came back fully energized and ready to address the many challenges of our impending move to North Texas!   We expect to be moving sometime toward the end of June so we will be spending the next several weeks packing.  Lots to do but we are looking forward to this next chapter in our lives!   After all, "Life is a Journey, Not A Destination"!