How Our First Week Went

If you want the short version, here it is: not that great.

Here's the long version: We set out this week with two goals.  The first was to have Eat Clean dinners and the second was to give up soda.  I only managed to go two days without soda of any sort and I didn't make any Eat Clean dinners over the weekend.  That said, it was still an improvement overall.  We tried a lot of new meals- with mixed results- and we went without soda until Lilly got a stomach bug and we bought some ginger ale to settle her tummy.

In case it wasn't clear before, I am intending on this process being a long one.  After all, I plan on this being more than just a diet- it's a lifestyle change, and it's one we're making as a family.  So we don't want the crash course version, we want something that has staying power for the whole family.  That's why we're not making all of these changes at once, but rather we're doing a few at a time and seeing how those changes sit with us. Granted, this week could have gone better, but if we continue to have improvement (however slow it takes), then that is what matters.

We're going to try two new goals this week and see if we can see progress with both these goals and the previous week's; if having two new goals prevents us from improving on the previous two, then we'll spread out how much change we're going through as a family.  Which means that we're attempting four goals this week: continuing to stay away from soda and having Eat Clean dinners, but now we're also having Eat Clean breakfasts and we're preparing containers in the pantry and the fridge for where to put Eat Clean snacks. I figure that we'll check our progress at the end of this week and if we've plateaued because there's too much change, then we'll go back to just the first two goals until we have those better in hand.

Now would also be the time I'd talk about how the numbers on the scale have changed (if they have at all), but I'm checking that every two weeks.  However, I do feel like there is an improvement on how I feel- that may only be since I know that I'm at least making an effort to eat healthier, but I'll take what I can get. I intend on weighing myself every two weeks, checking body measurements at each five-pound weight loss, and pictures at every ten-pound weight loss. There probably won't be much to report for a while, though.

Finally, the recipes!  Here's where I felt we had the greatest progress- we tried a lot of different recipes this week, and even though not all of them were successes, now we know which ones we'll want to keep in the future. I will post these recipes in my next blog, along with a cute picture of Joey as soon as I can find the iPod.

This first week wasn't easy, and that is a little discouraging.  After all, if I'm already running into trouble, then how on earth is it going to get better when it's only supposed to get harder from here?  I am trying to not see it that way, though. To quote Samuel Beckett:

"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better."