Wow, The Challenges!?!?!?

First off let me apologize for gap between blog post lots of changes for me and I got a little overwhelmed. I changed companies I was working for, trying to eat healthy, excerise, and adjust to thinking about eating differently. I know that last part seems off the wall, but you know it is hard for me. I am struggling BIG time with that. The reason for that in my opinion is lack of healthy recipes (time to scour the internet for healthy clean recipes) and like millions of others – my home life is hectic. We have always had supper together as a family at the table. Well, the last couple months that hasn’t been possible and it has thrown me off quite a bit.

So let me explain why I this has me thrown. My husband is an Ironworker, who is now working 1 1/2 hrs away from home on top of working 10 hour days. He leaves the house at 5:15 am and returns around 7:45 pm. My son is now working a job in the Quad Cities and he works 10 am – 6 pm Tues, Thursday – Sunday. That leaves Fiona (my son’s girlfriend – who lives with while she is attending Muscatine Community College) and my self to make the meal, which isn’t too bad. But I also need to make sure that the meal is enough to fill the bellies of the two men that come home after 7 pm. On top of that, they are huge meat eaters. I have significantly limited the amount of meat I eat. I know that may not seem to hard, but to me it is. I am trying to find recipes where I can make meat a side option with out a ton of extra work. Plus make sure that is isn’t the same type of meat each night. My husband is a huge red meat fan! He loves steak, ribeye, new york strip, and t-bone. Red meat is hard on the kidneys, so i am try to avoid it as much as possible. After eating red meat, I hurt worse then I normally do across the flank of my back. So he gets bored of chicken recipes. Plus, I should mention my two step-sons that come every other weekend – who are both very very picky eaters. So I will be honest I haven’t been eating the best or the cleanest. All this has stressed me out – so if anyone has any great recipes to share, please do. I know I will conquer this. I just need to do more searching for recipes and learning to prep meals ahead of time.

On the positive side, I am down 20 pounds, about 7 inches from my waist and hips and down a size (almost 2 sizes) in jeans. I have one cup of coffee in the morning, drink 64 oz of water most days ( I am working on making this goal every day), NO soda, dairy, and very limited sodium. I have some victories and some failures, but I am staying committed and I will succeed. I have met my first goal I set for myself when I first started this journey – which was to lose 20 pounds. Not to mention the goal of no soda and to make healthier choices (still working on this one).

Well, I am going to wrap this up for this post. I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed First Friday of April. Happy Spring!