ON EATING

Eating.  It is something that we all do, and although I like to think of myself as a mostly healthy eater (with a major sweet tooth), I will admit that I have never really watched what I eat very carefully.  There are times in my life I've plumped up a size and times I've slimmed down a size, but most of the time it came with relative ease.  I am lucky in that I have a small frame (I'm 5' 2").  But recently, I've had a few what I will call "health hiccups".  Nothing major is wrong, and no doctors have informed me that I need any type of lifestyle change, but these hiccups really did something to me and my mental state more than anything.  You see, it had been a little over a year and a half, and I was still carrying pregnancy weight.  How I wish I could be one of those people who slimmed down almost instantly, but I am not.  And I was having a hard time fitting in proper exercise in my life. 
So this motivated me to take a look at my options.  Are there dietary changes I needed to make?  I felt like for the sake of my health, both physical and emotional, the time for change was now.  I quickly found that the best option for me would be to cut out, or at least cut way back on, meat and dairy.  Meat wasn't that big of an issue, but dairy would be a bigger sacrifice for me.  Surprisingly, my husband said he would attempt to stick to my new eating plan (though he still adds cheese to his meals and eats meat).  So with his support, I made the change. 
Now, I didn't want to be stupid about this, because if I am going to be cutting out two food groups that I have been used to my whole life, I wanted to ensure that I wasn't losing out on nutrients.  So added to our diet became plenty of beans, larger hepings of greens and broccoli, more nuts, etc.  I turned to Pinterest to find recipes that would work for our family.  Some of them turned out great, and some of them, well, not so much (I'm looking at you chick pea brownies).  I've been going at this for about 8 weeks, and although I have been eating slightly more dairy and meat since I started, it is amazing what the change has done for me. 
Starting off, I have lost about 6 pounds.  And although I wouldn't quite say I'm back to pre-pregnancy weight, I have seen those numbers on the scale once.  So I'm *this close*.  Even better than that, though, I have way more energy.  I had begun crawling into bed shortly after Mason would go down, which completely eliminated any time that Byron and I had together without him.  Now, I can stay awake for a full hour - sometimes more - after he goes down. That sounds pathetic, I know, but keep in mind I wake up at 5 every day, so early bedtimes are still a must.  Now I can go to bed at 9:30 instead of 8:00.  And the increased energy that I feel really helps my family.  I can play with Mason more.  Our house is cleaner.  Our things are more organized.  And the more I read, the more I think this can all be blamed on the sugar I was eating. 
I seem to be hitting the phase of any new initiative where the initial excitement is wearing off, and now meal planning is getting just a smidge harder, but I am committed to continue.  I don't want this to be so much of a diet change, but rather a way of life.  I hope to shortly lose those last few pounds, feel better about myself as summer is coming around, and have more energy to be participating in life with my family!