A few numbers: 48--6--26--30

For this free print click here!

Dear friends,

48 is for 48 days. 48 days since my last post.
I have been MIA but I am back now, yay!  In February I was so excite to share a new series I was going to be writing called Plant-strong pregnancy but before I was ready to unveil it, things changed and I experienced my first miscarriage.  Read more about it here if you would like.  I learned so much and have come away from the experience with such an immense gratitude for life and the miracle that it is.  I believe in life we experience storms but those storms are only to steer us in the right direction, if they are accepted with humility and grace we are allowed the greatest opportunity for growth and learning and I am humbled by all I was allowed to learn.

6 is for weight lost-26 pounds down!
From a body standpoint my hormones caused a small weight fluctuation but within a month I was feeling better and not only dropped the little bit from the hormone craziness but lost another 6.  Yes I weighed myself this week and am down 6 more lbs. making that a total of 26 lbs. lost since becoming plant strong in November.  The amazing thing to me is if I had endured the same experiences I have gone through before becoming plant strong, not only would I be dealing with the storm of those experiences I would have forgotten about whatever diet I was on and I would have went into survival mode.  This time I felt that my health was part of that crucial life raft that was going to help me come out of it better than at the onset.

30 is for a birthday coming up in 30 days, my birthday!
I am so excited for this birthday, I am not totally sure what it is but I do know it is ushering in a year I will look back on with fondness forever, I can feel it.  There is a book I bought my hubby for Easter, a children's book, called A Good Day by Kevin Henke.  It begins with Squirrel losing her nut, Dog getting tangled up, Fox losing her mother, and Bird losing her feather.  And then it comes to a page filled with colorful stripes that says, "But then.."  I feel like my family right now is in that page, our life is in that precipice of what is to come.  There is so much hope and excitement here.   In the book the Squirrel finds a bigger nut, fox turns around and finds her mom, Dog untangles himself and romps through the dandelions and the bird forgets his lost feather and flies higher than he ever has before and a little girl finds the feather, tucks it behind her ear, and runs to her mother saying...what a good day it is.

To begin this year the right way I am going to aim big in health...I am dedicating myself to 1 hour of different exercise each day until my birthday.  I am going to post a printable chart tomorrow if you want to follow along, with the exception of Sundays, I am going to post a candle with a description of the exercise each day--so that I hold myself to it.  Here is my list of exercises that I have so far but I need your help...

Jog
Walk
Hike
Bike
Long Board
Yoga
Zumba
Elliptical
Treadmill
Power Board
Kick Boxing
Spin
Soccer
Basketball
Wagon pulling
Swimming
Kenpo
Spinning


Okay...I am 12 short so if you have any ideas...please help me finish my list and...

if you see me skipping down the road you will know why, I am just getting creative.

Here's to 30!

Viv

Update: Here are the calendar posts-

PINKY VERSION

BRIGHT VERSION

Wait...this is what I meant.

Dear friend,

Well, I so loved this saying left on my facebook by a friend that  made it into a logo.  As I was sharing it on Pinterest and Facebook I noticed something.  Not everyone understood what I was trying to say.  So, I googled the saying to see if there was anything else out there similar to what I was thinking and here is what I found--people were using it in terms of rock hard abs strong is the new skinny, like to replace the Kate Moss version of skinny with Jillian Micheals skinny.

THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT.

In fact while we are on the Jillian point--I know she has motivated a lot of people to get fit but in an interview I saw on late night--that woman believes that if her fitness were taken away from her she would be nothing, I don't even think she would like the woman left over...she spoke very harshly of her former self with quite a bit of distain.  This is not what I was trying to express when I created this image.

I was trying to express what living a plant strong-whole foods life has given me.  A holistic acceptance of myself.  I am strong--not rock hard ab strong-- but strong in that I know who I am and no matter the size if I am doing my best I love myself.  I am strong from the inside out.

It's a mental clarity mixed with will power and motivation to continue forward in reaching my full potential.

Strong to me is achieving my optimal health not just physically but mentally and spiritually.

And the only way to do this is by accepting yourself, seeing your beauty without qualifiers, without comparisons, without criticism.

Be good to yourself with the gift of healthy fuel, invigorating exercise, kind words, and support...be your own best friend, don't belittle yourself or live your life as if your happiness must sit on the shelf until this is defined or that is slimmed down...just take care of yourself.

Keep harmful things out and put helpful things in and I promise, the peace of mind, the clarity, the kindness it allows you to give yourself is worth so much more than that image you have of the perfect physique.

If your self worth, your view of yourself hinges on the outward--what happens when you age, if, heaven forbid, your physical appearance is changed with illness, or an accident.  Love yourself for that deep beauty you possess and reach for the full potential inside of you.

A woman who can truly see her own beauty is priceless, that simple knowledge creates so much power.

I was 10 when I can first remember looking in the mirror and not liking what I saw... and it took me almost two decades to change that.

I can not remember the last time I said a negative comment to myself--and to me that is truly amazing.

It frees up so much of my time and energy to focus the things that really matter, I don't stand in my own way anymore...it makes me feel as if I can do anything.

And I can.

With love,
Viv

My New Mantra...I want T-shirts.

See this post for details.

Love, Viv

To WEIGH, OR NOT to Weigh

Love this picture-KEEP IT UP!

Dear friend,

I came home from my weekend a little tired:) Why do vacations always do that?  You go to get rejuvenated and come home with wonderful memories and heavy eyelids.  Eating was awesome,  I brought:

• a big batch of fajita pasta salad for everyone 
• a gallon size bag of cut up veggies
• a bag of grapes
• a few oranges, bananas, and apples
• a quart of Almond milk
• 2 bottles of nutty spread and two bottles of fruit spread
• a hearty loaf of wheat bread 
• plus a bar of dark chocolate 

We had a little kitchen in one of the rooms so I was able to eat my food when we ate in.  Bed and Breakfast morning times consisted of egg casserole, loads of bacon and sausage, french toast strata, yogurt and fruit.  I loaded up on the fruit, added a piece of wheat bread smeared with nutty and fruit spread and a nice cup of lemon tea sweetened with agave.  

For lunch on Saturday everyone had Subway and I had a veggie version with dijon and salt and pepper on the wheatiest bread they had.  And the last night we ate out at Carlos & Harley's--if ever in Eden--eat there! Delicious food for everyone.  I had corn tortilla tacos stuffed with portabellos, poblanos, cabbage, rice, black beans and salsa.  I am craving these already, I am totally going to remake these little yummies.    I did not eat anything I would not have at home other than the leafy greens were a little hard to come by.  

On return I stepped onto the scale and...well nothing happened the scale had not budged.  As I stood there staring at that number I realized something, my goal of toning, because of my weekly "Weigh-ins" has turned to losing weight.  Over the last 12 weeks since this plant strong journey began I have lost 22 lbs.  I used to plateau in weight loss at 178 or so, now it is at 158--that's big, but all I can think about is that it's not coming off anymore.  If I were on a regular "diet"  I can tell you what already would have happened I would have jumped ship for a few days and thought to myself, 

"If it's not working then I am going to eat what I want."  

Because of plant strong living my perspective has entirely changed there are more important things to me than losing weight.  I believe that not only has our eating habits as Americans created our "sickness" but also our dieting habits.  We have tunnel vision, there is no grand ideal of health and wholeness, we care about size and shape.  

In protest of this perpetuation I am throwing out my scale.

Yes, you heard me right-I am throwing it out.

I am going to measure every 3 weeks and gauge my progress by how I feel- lean, strong, healthy then A for me.  As I exercise and give the best fuel to my body I will achieve my goal of toning up and feeling great and that has nothing to do with weight and that monster scale.  Because of my thyroid I need to keep a tab on my weight periodically but my Drs office has told me I may slip in once in a while to weigh--so GOODBYE scale and HELLO health.

We need to stop and realize how much we have to GAIN not how much weight there is left to lose--Health, Energy, Strength, Quality of life, the list is endless--our bodies are the vehicles by which we carry out our purpose here on Earth.  I don't know about you but I want mine to be a Bentley.

Here is to strength without scales--whew I feel better already!

Viv

Week 2: The grades are coming up?!

Dear friend,

Okay here's the rundown--I feel good I have been kind to myself but had a flash today of self consciousness...why you ask?

Because of that silly scale-we should send them all into outer space if you ask me.

I haven't regularly been weighing myself and so this is something I am not liking but it does give me some insight to share with those wishing to lose weight eating a plant strong diet.  This week I did not juice so I had a sweet tooth:)  I only ate good for me food like instant cookie dough (see the recipe here) and dark chocolate and these delicious little soy based coconut bars my hubby brought me but moderation is still key and I may have got a D in moderation if it was one of my classes included on the report card.

So what am I going to do this week?

For one CELEBRATE that even on a week where I gain a little I am happy and doing good things for my body, even when I have something to refine diet wise I still know this week I have combated cancer, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, and I love that!

But for the plan-keep up the good fight in getting more exercise for my body, focus on the veggies and fruit, I swear it's the little secret of weight loss, and be kind to myself.

Also, I have been eating quickly this week without preping my food, which means more grains and less fruits and veggies, grains (whole grains) are not bad but when aiming at weight loss it is important to outweigh them with the produce...so more prep and more variety for me this week.

How about you, did you fight the good fight? Were you kind to yourself? Tell me about it...

Viv