21 Day Vegan Kickstart, Week 2

So, I'm over the half way mark in the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart and I'm still following a vegan diet. I've had a couple challenges, but it's getting easier to do.

I have not been following the menu plan this week. I've been loading up on veggies and adding pasta or rice and beans as well as adding lots of fruit. What I need to find is a quick go-to meal for those nights when I really just don't feel like cooking and would normally go out and buy a pizza.

I keep finding myself wanting to add cheese to things, but I have caught myself in time so far. It becomes tempting when the food is something the kids aren't going to eat and normally I would just finish it off for them. Now I'm having to consciously make an effort to leave it.

Benefits? You bet! My pants are starting to fit better. Last week when I put on my jeans, they were very tight and I had more overhang than was comfortable. It's been great to see the overhang (aka "muffin top") shrink over the last couple of weeks. My skin feels better too. I don't know that it looks better yet, but it feels less oily and blemished to me. I've also noticed that I am not craving caffeine, cola or chocolate. This is huge for me because caffeine (usually in the form of diet cola) was what fuelled a lot of my days before. I'm not having my typical mid-afternoon slump where I can barely keep my eyes open and I'm sleeping at night. I'm falling asleep easier and even though I may get up in the middle of the night, I go right back to sleep! I'm still tired, but no where near what it was like before. I'm even having less headaches! Before I would have to have a bottle of acetaminophen in my purse at all times. Now I've had maybe 4 tablets over the last two weeks. So, I'm feeling pretty good, thanks for asking!

I made some Chocolate Raspberry Mousse tonight from the Day 6 menu. It was incredibly easy to make. It's chilling now and I am looking forward to trying it soon! Yummy!

Day 5, Wii Fitting my way to Healthy

An indispensable commodity of which the typical New Yorker gets too little (LOC)
Originally uploaded by The Library of Congress

Last night was one of the first nights I have fallen asleep without staying up half the night. I had a fairly good sleep except that our 7 year old came in our room several times through the night telling us that she hadn't slept all night. What she didn't realize is that she was sleeping, then getting up to tell us she wasn't, going back to bed and sleeping...well, you get the point. Despite waking several times, I thought I had a restful sleep. Well, I guess I didn't, because I was exhausted all day. I even went to the extreme of having a coffee this afternoon in the hopes of waking myself up. Since I don't like coffee and it was really strong, it woke my tastebuds up at the very least. I only managed to drink half of it, and that was with the inclusion of 3 packets of sugar.

So by the time I got home from work tonight, I was not looking forward to getting on that Wii Fit board, but I did it. I'm proud of myself because it would have been so easy to slack tonight and skip it. I got my 30 minutes in and that darn machine told me I lost 0.2 kg since yesterday. I'll believe it when my weight actually shows improvement for more than 3 days in a row.

I found something new on the Wii Fit Plus. From the main menu, where you see the board in the background, running on the treadmill, if you click on the board, it gives you two new things you can do. The first is the ultimate balance test--very hard! And the second was weight judgement or something like that. That was funny--you have to put things on the balance board that weigh the amount shown on the screen. I would have done better if I realized you had to hit A after putting things on the scale to weigh them. Oh well, still fun, if not very productive.

Burning My Candle at Both Ends

Burn
Originally uploaded by accent on eclectic

I've come to the realization that there are really not enough hours in a day. 24 just doesn't cut it. Of course, it could also be true that I am trying to do to much....nah, that couldn't be it, could it?

OK, yes, that is it. I'm home all day with my kids--and trust me, keeping up with my three year old who has special needs is a full time job in itself. Then I go to work in the evening. Yep. I talk on the phone for 5 hours to people and have to be "on" in order to provide good service (and keep my job). Then I come home, try to go to sleep, stay awake because of stress, post a blog and eventually fall asleep only to wak up and do everything over again.

By the time the weekend comes, I'm completely wiped out. When I went to work today, I could feel the bags under my eyes--not good. My company is all about "work/life balance", but I'm not feeling it right now.

How do other parents do it? Please, share your secrets with me.

Sick and tired of being...sick and tired.

PICTORIAL REVIEW
Originally uploaded by George Eastman House

My little darling got sick this week and when she's sick, she's all about Mama. Daddy is the cool parent, but when she's sick, she would rather snuggle with me than him. She will climb into my bed in the middle of the night and lay on top of me and go back to sleep. I'm always surprised to wake up with the weight of a two year old pinning me to the bed. The fact that I can stay asleep when she climbs into bed should give you an indication of how tired I have been.

Now I know why I was feeling lethargic last week. My body must have been fighting off the illness--too bad it lost that fight today. I woke up coughing and I felt lousy all day. I had a huge list of things that I wanted to get done this weekend but instead spent much of my time in bed, putting most of the chores off to a time when I feel better. Of course, looking at the chaos that is my house, I don't feel better at all. Here's hoping I feel better enough tomorrow to get back to trying to declutter the mess that is my house. And maybe if we're feeling good enough, we'll go out and get some sunshine too.