Lighter

First I want to thank those who contacted me after yesterday's post.  Turns out I'm not the only one to experience this miracle!

Heavy stuff this week so far, so we're changing gears to talk about one of my favorite things: food.  In order to lose the last few dozen pounds, I've been having us eat a whole ton more of veggies.  I know that it's pretty normal to eat more hearty fare in the winter; and we ate a ton of soups/stews and roasts.  But now that it's warm out we've been eating salad for almost every meal.

The best piece of advice I ever read on a blog about food was this: to make a salad from whatever you ate the night before.  So we've done that, using bbq beef with onions and peppers on salad.  And we also prepared food specifically for salad, like roasted chicken, and fajitas (beef steak with onions and peppers).  Sometimes we use dressing, sometimes other toppings like bbq sauce or salsa.  I'm looking forward to whipping up a batch of hummus to use as a dressing soon.  To get some carbs in I've been baking/roasting potato chunks in the oven (leaving the skin on for the nutrients!) and then at the end melting pepperjack cheese on them.  Delicious!

I will say that I love veggies, so that helps.  For instance, my lunch usually consists of a lot of greens piled with cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, red pepper, a pile of carrot sticks (I just slice up a bunch of carrots and keep them in the fridge).  Then I top with protein and carbs and add in a side of fruit or maybe roasted broccoli.

I understand that this might be more difficult if you have issues with vegetables.   However, my best advice is kinda harsh:  suck it up and get over it.  I used to loathe bell peppers and onions, and now eat them in most things!  It took me sitting down with G, talking about nutrition and deciding we were both going to eat these no matter whether we liked them or not.  They have amazing nutrients, so it was just how it was going to be.

So far, eating lighter and walking all the time has helped a ton.  I'm currently wearing a pair of jeans I hadn't worn since G left last year.  With our CSA starting up the beginning of June, and the farmer's markets full of brightly colored local produce, this summer should be pretty easy to eat super healthy to jump start this whole process.

Now I need to work on getting down on the floor and doing pushups and (sadly, thanks to having a baby) crunches.  I need to tone up as I slim down to avoid too much jiggle!

Are you looking forward to eating lighter during the warm months?  Have any tasty salad combinations?