Learning to Love the Foods you Hate

I grew up with two different people-my mother and then my aunt. For the first ten years I remember being forced to eat Brussels sprouts, squash, zucchini, broccoli, cabbage soup and other things that still gross me out today. I don't know if my mother didn't cook it correctly or like I've said all my life, "My taste buds weren't meant to eat them." Now that I'm older and know how to cook, I'm going to assume the former, but don't tell my mother.

When I was in fifth grade and moved in with my aunt, I knew she wasn't a fan of the kitchen. The only person that cooked in the house was me, but we never bought things you could cook. Our fridge was filled with pop and our pantry was filled with cookies and chips. If dinner was made, it was usually from a box-Hamburger Helper, Tuna Helper, Chicken Helper-you get the idea. I say if, because our normal "What's for dinner?" conversation was picking out what fast food joint we would be patronizing. Pizza delivery on Thursday nights (Must See TV) was a weekly tradition and usually popcorn on the weekends while watching movies-yes, as dinner.

Bad eating habits have followed me into adulthood, to say the least. I haven't bought boxed dinners in years because I enjoy being in the kitchen and using my culinary skills. I ditched most of the frozen food meals long ago as well since they are so full of sodium. Canned foods, frozen pizzas, and chips still find their way into my home and stomach, but not too often. 

One of my personal rules is not to diet. I have never seen anyone diet who has maintained their weight loss, so why should I suffer and not eat yummy foods? When I started doing Insanity, I checked out the meal plan so I could try my best to make healthier choices and get the amazing results I kept picturing in my head. However, I don't eat a majority of the items on the lists. I have either never had them, or have a bad memory of eating them. I thought I would try my best to follow it, but my husband didn't want to, so I just used MyFitnessPal to track my calories and keep track of what I was putting in my mouth. 

My Fitness Pal tracks your calories and goals. 

After Round 1 of Insanity, and my husband being disappointed in his results, (What do you expect when you eat thirty-eight  wings at Hooters because they have All You Can Eat?) he decided he wanted to follow the meal plan for our second round. Since I was happy with my first round results, I told him to use MyFitnessPal with me. He was very hesitant, but I thought that would be easier for him than the meal plan. To get him to agree, I told him I would start eating broccoli at least once a week. He loves it and I hardly cook it because I couldn't stand the smell. Well, I've eaten it twice now and didn't gag or throw up. Plus, it's not as bad as I remember. 

He's been using MyFitnessPal for a couple of weeks now and he's paying way more attention to what he puts in his mouth. He's seen positive results in the weight department as well. 

I am buying foods I've never tried, just hoping I can find healthier alternatives to the junk I've come to love. 

If you have any tricks of the trade, please share. I need to learn new ways to cook the foods I've always avoided. 

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Getting Started

Two years ago I had my first child. When I realized I was pregnant, I was at my heaviest weight I'd ever been, 190 pounds. At 5'3", that's quite a lot of extra weight I was carrying around. During my pregnancy, I gained forty four pounds, but quickly lost it and more after she came around-she was almost ten pounds herself and she ate like a champ! 

May 2010

November 2010

I learned a lot about healthier eating habits while I was pregnant, but didn't put the information to everyday use. After J came, I realized I was more on the crunchy side of parenting-we cloth diaper, baby wear, co-slept for a bit, I made my own baby food, breastfed, etc. I wanted only the best for my daughter, yet I didn't use the same care with myself. 

I had started a workout plan, 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels, but only lasted thirteen days as my knees were killing me. I thought I needed new shoes, but that wasn't a priority for me, so I didn't ever pick it up again. 

When my daughter was fifteen months old, we moved an hour away-not far in reality, but away from all my friends and places I knew. I've moved a lot in my life, and I always hate it because I leave my friends, but then meet new people who I get attached to and eventually have to move away from. It's depressing. 

As a new mom, I stayed home from work and so couldn't meet people that way. I joined a few mom's groups, but as other parents will understand, it's hard to find people you really mesh with and agree with their parenting ways. I also owned an online retail business so I was now online many hours of the day sitting at the computer and not exercising, therefore gaining fifteen to twenty pounds in a year. 

Last March, I felt a lump in my neck and made an appointment with my endocrinologist. After a couple of appointments and a biopsy, I was told I had cancer. Fortunately, after an MRI and surgery, the lump was just a cyst and benign. After my surgery, I decided that owning an online business was not at the top of my priority list-spending time with my family and creating memories with my daughter is. 

July 2012-a couple weeks before we started Insanity

In June, I bought a couple of boot camp passes from Groupon and planned to use them after we got home from a family vacation to Texas. However, once we got home, my husband decided he was ready to get healthy and bought the Insanity workout program. I thought he was crazy. After all my years of begging him to workout with me, he wants to go from zero to Insanity?? As a person that needs motivation to get going and stay on track, I was so happy he wanted to exercise and get into shape that I would have done anything!

We started Insanity July 17th and I cried. I cried when we took the before pictures and I cried at the end of the workout. I cried because I was so out of shape and sad that I had let myself get to that point and I cried because I was ecstatic that I was finally doing something about it. I cried when we started round 2 of Insanity and I cried when we finished our first round. 

There was not one day after I started that I wanted to quit. It was hard for me to find motivation sometimes, but I would just think of my results and imagine how I wanted to be or look at some of the success stories from people who had done it before me. Some days were harder to get through than others and there wasn't one day where I felt like I wasn't dying more than the last. 

I never knew I could sweat so much and in places I never would have imagined. I never thought I'd be able to do SIXTEEN push-ups in a row-thanks to level 3 drills I found out I could-and probably more though I haven't attempted it. I get enough upper body workout with Shaun T and his craziness. 

I'm on Round 2, week 2 of Insanity, and although I push myself everyday, it is getting a bit easier. I don't have to push pause after each circuit and I know I'm stronger and faster than I was two months ago. 

I've lost about fifteen pounds in 2 1/2 months and my shorts that I couldn't squeeze into before are way too big for me now. It's great to see the transformation, but thinking of where I will be at the end of each round is what keeps me going. Looking back at pictures and knowing I'll never be that big again pushes me to dig deeper. Setting a good example for my daughter and preparing her for a happy and healthy childhood is more than enough to make me push play everyday. 

Finally, I decided to start helping others and keep the motivation going by starting Made to Motivate-a blog dedicated to encouraging people to take that first step and each step afterwards to get on track and follow their dreams to becoming the happy and healthy person they've always wanted to be. 

Please follow along with me as I share my journey with you on my transformation from unhappy to ecstatic! :)