I am one happy woman reporting back and feels so great to be back!!! Good Morning everyone 5 a.m. PST and 2 p.m. Italy Time, I’m back…..! Boy did we have a great time and ouhhh I missed you all so much!! We had so much fun in Rome, throughout the Amalfi Coast and back to Rome.
I will have updates on our trip later today and throughout the week. We Ate, we Prayed, and we Loved!
Here was the beginning of our adventures On our way and having too much fun…. 😉
12 days and I cannot tell you how much it feels great to be home. It is such a great feeling to go away and then look forward to coming home. If you didn’t there would be something wrong and you are either living in the wrong place or your home isn’t the “sweet home” it should be. Nothing like almost a 24 hour travel–Leaving Rome at 5:30a.m. on Sunday and getting into SD late afternoon Sunday (that is with the 9 hour time change! 14 or so hours flying and only about a wink of sleep. Needless to say I was beat last night but got a great night sleep and am right here back in the game come 5 a.m. PST Monday morning! It took me a while to get use to the time change in Italy. Believe it or not it was not until the few days before we left that I was starting to get the hang of it. I don’t remember having those issues with the time change before but I sure did this time! Beating the time change is a crazy thing. It feels as if your body doesn’t know whether you are hungry, tired, getting sick, nervous or what. It just can’t figure out what the heck is going on. It is as if your body may be tired but your mind is or vice versa!! Anyways, amazing how back in my own environment and now ready to go! I am one creature of habit that is for sure I have come to realize that traveling just reinforces that so much more. It is what it is ladies, I love my routine, I love my schedule, I love my structure, it is what it is, right??!! Gotta love it and what a great feeling to be eager to get back into your swing of things! 🙂 That is how you know you are doing what you should be doing and loving every moment of it!!
Headed home and we were both so excited to get to Costco and load up on our Clean Foods! Yes, so excited for a homemade dinner and to be in control of our ingredients, seasonings and portions! I have so much to report on FOOD, eating, etc but for now just to touch on the basics. Ladies, it is so unlike me but I did, I ate out at least 2 times a day everyday for 10 days, can you believe that!!! What are you going to do…. Making healthy decisions and eating the amazing food of the sea and fresh locally grown produce but in Italy
FOOD = SALT. Yes, everything from salad to proteins, SALT SALT SALT!!
I cannot tell you how much salt I consumed, there was no choice! That is just the way things are marinated in Salt and Oil. No matter how healthy your meals are, salt and oil it is! I just let it go and did the best I could, enjoying the food for how it was prepared and doing my best to choose accordingly! More on the food to come! Believe it or not, I embraced the salt and lack of modifications. I put my brain to rest and allowed myself to just live like a “real” person, so to speak. The funny thing is, It was great for my body to recharge and take in the lovely minerals it may have been lacking. I have to say, I think I ate more salt in 10 days than I have ever had in my life, not joking!!! Funny thing is, I felt the sodium and water retention only slightly but I usually can feel it and visually see it in my face and that was not the case! Almost as if my body needed the salt! Kind of strange. The salt was definitely noticeable in my food but not so much in my body. There is something to be said about removing salt all together and becoming sensitive to it. When you incorporate it in your diet, in natural ways and not have a fear of salt, suddenly your body is not as sensitive and just adapts! Not saying to salt load your foods but again, talking about fear, the removal of your fears allows for a piece of mind and a better response with the lack of stress! Letting it go, that was a common theme of the trip! So no modifications, ate the salt and loads of Olive Oil as is, made smart decisions not going for the large amounts of carbohydrates Italians eat on a daily basis and just let things go. Wine, Gelato, bites of homemade pasta, a few meals of fresh pizza, lots of fresh seafood, fresh mozzarella and tomatoes and vegetables and of course salt salt salt and now it feels so great to have experienced Italy for Italy and now, back to the grind… 🙂
Protein Shake, cup of coffee, Oats (look familiar)
Creature of habit but enjoying and then getting back into the swing of things is what equals long term success and a well balanced lifestyle! 🙂 Consistency and knowing how to turn things on and off is key to longevity!
Thought for the day….
We talk a lot about weight and the difference between what you see on the scale and reality right! I thought this was a perfect example of what the scale is not telling you! So I know this happends to several of you on a regular basis….
You’ve stayed on top of your workouts AND watched your diet every day, but then what the heck, you step on the scale and it DOES NOT budge, right!!??? Have you hit a plateau and if so why!? You are doing everything as planned, being strict with yourself following everything to a T and still, no movement of the scale! What the heck is going on??!! Does this determine your success?? No my friends, NO!! Absolutely NOT! Think about what the scale is NOT telling you…. How hard you are working and how focused and self motivated you are! How mentally and physically strong you are becoming, the shift of your body composition, the mental challenges you are overcoming, the growth you are experiencing, the lifestyle you are embracing, the steps you are taking to be a better you, the investment you are making in yourself! What about the endurance levels you are developing and cardiovascular health you are creating. What about the inches you are losing and how great you are looking and feeling??!! THE SCALE DOES NOT EQUATE TO SUCCESS!!
You have to account for all your hard work and your goals!n Goals are to shift body composition and decrease body fat while increasing lean body fat right!??? Okay so you are working hard and scale is not moving, that does not mean you are that much less of a success. Maybe you are more of a success because all your hard work is paying off and your body comp is shifting!!! If you are doing everything you are suppose to be doing and following a lifestyle healthy eating and workout program, you are a success!! Throw away the scale, at least remove it’s impact on you! Could stress and the fear of the scale be what is causing your physical, mental or emotional “plateau”?
Remember one of the themes of my trip to Italy, “LET IT GO”….
Typical weight a.m. weight= 129-133#, depending on variables
Left for Italy = about 131
Back from Italy 12 days later, p.m. post flight, eating, water, salt, trip weight = 127.7#
What the heck, you may say what eat, drink, pray, love and lose weight, why aren’t we all on that plan, right??? NO… absolutely NOT. There was a definite shift in body composition, even in a few days. Body got softer and mind is refreshed. A few things that went on:
-shift in body comp
-indulge but not over indulging
-lots of walking
-lack of working out
-LETTING THINGS GO— KEY HERE, DECREASE STRESS, CORTISOL AND FEARS
You see how any average person would be stoked and that weight loss would determine their success right? NO, watch what happens, over the course of a week or so, getting back in the gym, working out, getting back to a more simple and clean balanced eating plan, eating more times throughout the day, MUSCLE MEMORY, body responds and gets back into the grind, shifting back in composition, decreasing excess water and reintroducing
Weight does not determine success and you cannot allow it to make or break your day or create the
They key is learning your body and using your own instinct and knowledge to understand what is going on with your body, knowing the reasons and taking baby steps to allow your body to do the talking, letting go of what your mind is telling you! Do not get discouraged by your weight, it is just a number and has nothing to do with your success! Creating lifestyle habits and consistency is a gauge to your success!! It can be a struggle, but that’s what we are all here for, to help and encourage each other along the way.
You are here on the site, learning tools, asking for help, creating your life and embracing it, that is the first step to being a success!!! You can do it — I KNOW you can!!!
I am excited for those of you who have participated in my Eat, Pray, Love contest and the raffle for the FREE IPOD Touch will be Friday. I have received some e-mails about people having problems uploading and will allow a few more days to iron out all the kinks so please you be patient and allow me to help you get your entries uploaded and Friday will be the drawing!
I will be back online later, reviewing what has been going on in the forum and offering more info on my travels!!! Missed you all and so glad to be back! xoxo
I am excited to be back. Let’s get this party restarted and Monday it is, end of the month, let’s do this!!!
