200.2 pounds

Last night Charlotte slept from 11:00-4:30 and then didn't get up again until I woke her up (at 7:45) to get ready for the day. Praise God for a good night's sleep. Probably it was a fluke and won't happen again, but it felt amazing.

It's that time of year again, a brand new year, when people make promises they end up breaking, but are willing to try really hard at something for a couple of months. Last year at this time I had also just had a baby (stillborn), so I was just getting back into good habits (walking 3 miles a morning and trying to eat well). This time I don't have the same freedom to walk at 6:00 in the morning (don't want baby girl freezing. plus, did I mention the general lack of sleep, last night excluded?), but I'm committed to a new (to me) way of eating.

The plan is called Trim Healthy Mama, and that's the end goal. I'd like to be a trim, healthy mama for that beautiful baby girl. The basics are these:

• You eat every two to three hours (every three hours if you're not breastfeeding).
• Every time you eat you have to have protein, no exceptions (meat, cheese, or egg.)
• If you're having carbs, you don't have fat, and if you're having fat, you don't have carbs.
• You never have: potatoes, milk, sugar, white flour, white rice or honey.

It's been really simple to follow, and I know exactly when I step off plan. As long as I'm good about packing snacks (OIKOS triple zero yogurt or fruit for me) so I can eat often, the rest just comes down to pairing things well at meal times. 

I'll keep you updated as I go. It helps me to have this public platform for accountability. My (long term) goal is to get to 130 pounds, but my first goal is 170 pounds by May 11th (my brother's graduation from college). I started at 200.2 and was 196.9 at the end of the first week. Progress is progress.