Today was the last day of eating unhealthy for us. Ever since Caitlin began talking about the “Eat to Live” book she had read, I have been really putting some thought into eating better. While I am not ready to dive in headfirst like she has (which I think is totally awesome ), James and I are making some changes to our diet. We are giving up red meat, and will only be eating seafood, chicken, and turkey. We also stocked up on lots of fruits and veggies today for side dishes and snacks. There was nothing unhealthy in the buggy…no processed foods, chips, soft drinks…nothing! The tab was a lot less than I expected…$56 for enough food to last us a week. We are debating on whether we want to eat the rest of the junk we still have in the house, which isn’t much since we haven’t bought groceries in 2 weeks due to vacation, or throw it all out tonight to start with a clean slate.

We chose today’s lunch to be our last unhealthy meal, so we splurged and had Zaxby’s. I realized fast food isn’t very appetizing when you are becoming more health conscious. I couldn’t really enjoy my food (even though Zaxby’s is my favorite fast food restaurant) because I kept thinking about how fattening and filled with calories it was. We don’t have to worry about that any longer. For dinner tonight, we made a homemade veggie soup with a side salad. It wasn’t the best thing I’d ever eaten, but we plan to experiment with the ingredients and herbs to see what tastes good.

This decision will definitely help with our ongoing weight loss goals, but that isn’t the only reason we are doing this. It does help with motivation that James is participating in a weight loss challenge at work, where his team could win and split $5,000 if they make it in the Top 4. We are also doing this for our future health. I currently don’t have anything wrong with me, aside from being overweight, but I’ve been experiencing problems sleeping and random muscle cramps and spasms. I believe most of this is due to my unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise, so I plan to fix the problem.

Speaking of exercise, I am committing myself to exercising a minimum of 45 minutes, 3 days a week. I plan to increase the frequency and amount of time per session as I get used to this…the ideal is to increase the numbers monthly. So, in August, I’ll move up to 45 min, 4 days a week. I have to get my butt away from my computer and off the couch if I plan to make any of this work.