As some of you have read in my past posts, I saw 150.4 last week which put me 10 lbs away from my goal. I did weigh in this past week and I was up .6 of a pound. No big deal! This week I am focusing on something I haven’t ever really given much thought to, but as I was reflecting and coming up with a plan for the week I noticed a habit that I had.

Every day after my girls are settled and ready for their day, I eat my breakfast. That’s normal, and not anything to draw attention to. However, I noticed that I apparently have a set time schedule for all my other meals throughout the day. It is something that happened without me realizing it, but it just was the way it was.

Why do I eat this way?

It didn’t matter if I was hungry or not, I ate something at set times.

Sometimes I wonder if it is because when I was a kid we had set snack times and lunch times at school. Then, when I came home dinner was at 5:00PM every night. I think having dinner at the same time every night is fine, but my snacks are really throwing me off. I know we all eat around the clock to some degree, but since being a stay at home mom with the refrigerator at my beckon call it has gotten much worse.

For example, I may get my breakfast at 9am, and then I go on about my day. If I looked up at the clock at it was 10:00am I knew it was time to have a snack. 10:00 AM was my snack time whether I had breakfast at 6:00 AM or at 9:00 AM. This is really a bizarre way of doing things.

The Rigid Schedule

I basically was forcing a snack when I wasn’t hungry, but because it was 10:00AM I knew I had to eat it.

Lunch is at 11:30 AM every day, snack is at 2:00PM, and then dinner is at 3:30PM. I would then have a snack around 5:30PM, and that would conclude my eating for the day. I know dinner seems early, but that’s what works for our family since Todd and the kids come home around that time and are hungry and I can prepare it during Taelynn’s nap time around 2PM.

Here is a glance at the ridiculous eating schedule I have created for myself.

6-9:00-Breakfast

10:00- Snack

11:30- Lunch

2:00-Snack

3:30- Dinner

5:30- Snack

Why is this bad for me?

Now some of you may think that’s great because you are supposed to eat frequently throughout the day. My hesitation is that when I look at how often I eat, I am not always eating when I am hungry. I feel like breaking free from a rigid time schedule of forced snacks may allow me to eat less calories than I am eating and it will give me more satisfaction as I will be eating only when I am hungry.

In my book, this time schedule has created a mindless eater and also taken some freedom away. I stopped counting calories because I didn’t want to be forced to think about food all day, and worry about every single thing I eat and how much I eat. I want my new normal life to be designed in a way that I can eat when I am hungry and stop when I am not.

I don’t want to be obsessed with thinking about food all the time.

Sometimes I still find myself thinking about food all the time. I LOVE food, and that love has not gone away just because I have lost weight. I have learned how to manage the love I have for food in a much more controlled way.  I don’t give into the love constantly, but I do think about it often.

I will eat my breakfast and think, well you only have an hour until snack time and then I watch the clock like a hawk. The second it says 10:00AM I am in the cabinets. It doesn’t matter if I am hungry or not.

Goals for Eating

I don’t know if this kind of thinking makes sense to anyone, but it is helping me put my plan out there and I am really going to be focusing on it this week. I will eat when I am hungry, not when the clock tells me it’s time to eat.

I have come too far in my journey to let a clock dictate when I need food. It amazes me that two years into my weight loss journey, I am still learning so much about my way of eating. It has become very clear to me as to how I got up to 241 lbs at 5 ft 2 in.

Ninety pounds are gone forever, and I will keep learning so much in order to keep these off and find MY new normal.

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We have had beautiful weather here lately in Northwest Indiana. It has been hard for me to get all my runs in though because my husband switches shifts every week and I have two little girls that can’t watch themselves. I get frustrated at times because I want to get out and exercise, but I don’t necessarily feel like walking with the stroller. My workouts have decreased a lot because of this.

I have found a way to get a workout in with my family.

A Great Purchase

Last summer we bought a really nice bike trailer from a friend. It was such a great investment, and it’s something I highly recommend to anyone with young kids that want to get out for bike rides. I used it a few times last summer with Tessa, who was one at the time, and she loved it so much.

It was nice, but I didn’t get to use it to its full potential. I still had a newborn at home that I had to take care of, and my husband was still working unpredictable shifts.

Siblings in the Trailer

We broke out the bike and bike trailer this week. Taelynn, who is now one, is old enough to ride in the trailer with her sister, Tessa. It is in perfect condition, and has 2 sets of seat belts so they are safe. I am fortunate enough to have two girls that love each other so much, and a two year old that isn’t aggressive with her little sister. I am sure some sets of siblings would be fighting back there.

I am sure mine may be fighting by next summer! ;-)

The Solution to Getting Exercise In

The girls were both staring out the screen door as I was hooking the bike trailer up to the bike. Tessa was so excited and she was telling Taelynn that they were going on a bike ride. I am pretty sure I was the most excited out of the three of us.

If it went well, this meant that no matter what happened other than a storm, I could get a nice cardio workout in every day with a bike ride.

Prepping for the Ride

I lathered the sunscreen on all three of us, and hooked them in with their sippy cups full of water. They were ready to go, and it was the sight that melts a mommy’s heart! I set my Runtastic app up, and away we went.

I rode my bike earlier this weekend, and it felt much easier. That trailer with my girls was heavy, and I could really feel the pull especially on inclines. It was about 80 degrees and the sun was shining bright.

sisters

The Ride

I pedaled and by mile 2 I was exhausted. I originally had it in my mind that I would be riding for 8-10 miles. I stopped back at home after 3.5 and was ready to call it a day. I got off my bike and Tessa says, “More ride Mommy!” Seriously?

I put more sunscreen on them and I couldn’t say no because they were so happy. I had no choice. We rode through the other half of the subdivision, and I was so tired. My girls looked like they were about to fall asleep. Sitting so sweetly looking out their windows.

We rode 3.5 more miles.

bike trailer

Quite the Workout

48 minutes of riding and 7 miles was a pretty good workout. I was pulling about 100 lbs total between my girls and the trailer. I was sweating a lot more than I do during most of my runs. As I was riding, I thought about how great this is. I am not only getting my own workout in, but I am being an example to my girls. They will grow up thinking that being active is a natural thing.

They will one day be riding next to me on their own bikes, and I hope that they may be running next to me one day also.

Quality Time with Family

It is the just the beginning of being able to be active with my family. My husband and boys have bikes too, so the drivers around here should be prepared for the Wilson family to take up a lot of room on the streets. I have all kinds of hopes for my family as the kids get older which includes hikes, bike rides, climbing sand dunes, swimming, and much more.

I would much rather be getting active with my family instead of taking time aside for myself all the time.

hook up bike trailer

How do you get active with your family?

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The First Recorded Obesity-Related Death In History?

May 21, 2013

As I was having my daily devotional time with God a few weeks ago, I came across what might be the first recorded obesity-related death in history! Here is what God’s word records… 15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see. 16 The man said to Eli, [...]

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Impulsive Reactions and Julie’s Faves 5.12.13

May 20, 2013

Recently my iPhone had a battery that was dying.  I went to charge it and when I plugged the charger in, nothing happened. It wouldn’t charge. I pulled the charger out and looked at the part that plugs into the phone, and it appeared to have some sort of residue on it.  I had it [...]

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My New Plan Of Attack: Fighting Against A Strong Enemy!

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Hey guys, when I wrote to you last time during my weigh in I told you that I gained 13.4 pounds in the month of April. I also told you that I had a plan to try to overcome some of the physical things that I’d been dealing with lately. So even though I still [...]

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An Update From My Visits To The Doctor

May 15, 2013

You guys may remember last week I wrote about how awful I’ve been feeling lately. I even wrote yesterday about gaining 13.4 pounds in one month. Well, last week I went to the doctor, actually I went to my general physician and then I went to a specialist. When I went to my primary doctor [...]

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A Recap of April 2013 for Fat Guy – My Worst Month EVER!!!

May 13, 2013

As the title says, the month of April was the worst month that I’ve had since I began this weight loss journey.  I already wrote about some of the things that I have been dealing with lately, so I won’t go into detail here. I’ll just say that because of everything, it has been impossible [...]

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May 8th: A Special Day & Julie’s Faves 5.5.13

May 13, 2013

It was such an exciting week for me on the weight loss journey.  On May 8,2013, my daughter turned one and that was one year since I started documenting the second half of my weight loss journey on Youtube.  Those two things were enough to make me extremely happy, but it doesn’t stop there. I [...]

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I’ve Been Having A Horrible Time Lately

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For the last 6 weeks or so things have been “off” for me. I have not been able to sleep, I have had no energy – either physical or mental, and I have had no motivation in regards to losing weight. The lack of sleep has been tough because it’s not due to stress or [...]

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Finance Carnival for Young Adults: Cinco De Mayo Edition

May 5, 2013

Happy Cinco De Mayo!  I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to host the Finance Carnival for Young Adults! Celebrate by reading these great submissions!  Enjoy! Roger Wohlner @ The Chicago Financial Planner writes Target Date Funds: 6 Considerations Before Investing – Target Date Funds are a popular option in many 401(k) plans. [...]

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