Alright, let's take a moment and talk about activity trackers. Years ago I was watching the Dr. Oz show and I saw him talking about the original Fitbit that came out and I wanted it!!!!! I had been using pedometers for years and always wanting to hit those 10,000 steps everyone talks about. I don't know what it was about the Fitbit in particular that made it so appealing to me, but for the next couple of years I kept promising myself that I would invest in one. 

     Fast forward to a couple of years after my first encounter with seeing a Fitbit on TV I am trying this and that fad diets plans still, but of course not getting anywhere. I also at this point had invested in about 100 pedometers that I had lost. It got to a point where I was going around constantly searching for where my pedometer fell off in the grass, in the car, at my work desk, in the kitchen, bathroom etc. It also annoyed the ever loving crap out of me that most times when I sat down in a chair, the pedometer would hit the chair and reset itself!!! ALL those steps were lost. *queue sad music*. Finally in 2014 I felt that I owed it to myself to finally purchase the beloved Fitbit that I had been wanting for years now. I took the leap of faith and bought one. It was the absolute BEST birthday present I gave myself....EVER!!! I first bought the Flex, which was very basic. I upgraded the following year to a Charge, which was awesome because it had some fancier features, like bluetooth (text messages, calls etc would display) , and it just looked cool. Finally this year I upgraded to an Alta. I absolutely love my Alta the best. 

     For me, it's been very accurate in tracking my activity. It helps me stay moving throughout the day. I have a desk job, so sometimes you forget to get up and stretch those legs. Every hour it buzzes to remind me to get up and walk. Also, it has a silent alarm that I use for morning wake ups. It buzzes on my arm, and gently wakes me up from my sleep. It beats the heck out of the BONK BONK BONK!!!! of traditional alarm clocks, and the crazy sounds that come out of my phone alarms. It also tracks how many hours I sleep, am awake during the night, and how restless I am. This has been awesome because I realize that the mornings I'm really exhausted and think I didn't sleep well, I have the validation from my Fitbit tracking to tell me that I really didn't sleep well, what times I was restless and how long the total was. I've been able to take that information over time and find what might be triggering a poorer night's sleep than others. Therefore, my Fitbit definitely helps me get better night's sleep.  The last and most awesome thing about Fitbit, is you can join challenges with others who have them and this has by far been the best motivator. After 2.5 years, I'm still participating in weekly, daily, and special challenges. 
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     If you've been on the fence about getting an activity tracker, jump off that fence, get to your computer and order one!! Below is the link to Amazon where you can purchase a few of my favorites. If you don't need too many bells and whistles, the Flex is a cheaper more basic option. If you want a little bit bigger display, then go with a Charge model, but if you want sleekness and a smaller,less flashy design, I'd recommend the Alta, which is what I currently have. 

     
     I don't have time, I can't keep up ,kids have practice, I'm too tired, It's useless.......These are just a handful of excuses I've made for myself to not plan ahead with my food choices. I always think it's just too much work. I'm so dead wrong when I think that! It's just me getting inside my own head trying to psych myself out, and it's doing nothing but setting me up for failure. 
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     I've found that planning ahead of time is the key to my success thus far. If you are prepared for various situations, you will be able to stop yourself from falling into poor eating traps. Last weekend I brought a protein bar with me to a birthday party to eat in lieu of cake. I started eating the bar right before "Happy Birthday" was sung, and I was able to resist the temptation to eat the cake. I went to lunch with co-workers on Friday, and I planned out my meal prior to going. I knew exactly what I was going to get prior to going to the restaurant, I made sure not to let my mind change and waver to something else (which most likely would have been a spur of the moment, I'm super hungry, give me whatever, type of choice). Instead I stuck to my guns and ordered what I planned.

     I've also made Sunday my meal prep days. I grocery shop, and I plan what I will have for the week ahead. I make sure I always have ready made salads on hand, protein bars, almonds, and Greek yogurt, on hand for quick and easy snacks. Plain, non fat, Greek yogurt with a table spoon of granola has actually been satisfying to my sweet tooth.  I make up snack bags with a variety of nuts and seeds for quick healthy snacks. I also put in a teaspoon of mini dark chocolate chips in the snack bags for a little chocolate fix. 

     One things I've been looking for is something to satisfy my chocolate cravings. I mean, what woman doesn't crave chocolate???  One thing I bought recently was cacao nibs.  What are cacao nibs? They are essentially raw chocolate. They are the result of taking the cocoa bean and processing it to the point where the next steps would be to make it into a chocolate bar. They are super good for you and they actually taste good. They are more for the bitter chocolate lover (I love dark chocolate), but despite them being yummy, they have a lot of health benefits. Here's an article with some of the benefits laid out: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/02/cacao-nibs_n_3695571.html 

     Here's to another week of success!! Please feel free to share your tips and tricks about prepping meals/snacks etc in the forum. 

Some pictures from my food prep from this week :)

      A common phrase I hear in relation to health journeys is "What's your Why?". I finally sat down to take a deeper dive into what exactly that phrase means to me. Two and a half years ago I started on a journey to bettering my physical and mental health.  There was an obvious turning point that lead me to get super serious about the state I was in, but was that my why?
     Over 2 years ago, my beautiful princesses gave me the weight loss wake up call I desperately needed. The weeks leading up to my wake up call, my oldest had been making comments about what things could help me lose weight, "Mommy, maybe if you do this" or "Mommy, I just want you to be healthy". She had mentioned something prior regarding me trying to go onto a TV show as well. While watching TV, an ad for Weight Watchers came on and my oldest looked at me and said "Mommy, I think that might work for you!" These were profound statements coming from a 6 year old.  It wasn't until about a week later, my princesses were playing on the iPad and asking Siri questions, and the question that came out of my little princesses mouth hit me like a ton of bricks. "Siri, why is my mommy so fat?" to which my oldest adds "but she's such a nice , really really nice mommy" Ummm......can we say OUCH! I realized in that moment, while trying to be the best mom, wife, daughter, sister, friend etc that I can be, I forgot somewhere along the way to take care of me. I pride myself on how healthy my kids are, and I find myself always saying to others "If I ate the same way my kids do, I would be skinny!" 
     While these scenarios were hurtful, the thing that made them hurtful was that they were true. I decided at that moment to take charge of my life. It's been 2.5 years, and I'm still working on goals. What I've realized along the way is , there's no finish line. This is an ongoing process, this is a forever process. I'm working daily to continually battle issues that might side track me, but I'm also progressing. Even if it's sometimes 2 steps forward 5 steps back, the most important things is to keep going. Giving up is not an option, I'm on an adventure to become the best me I can be.  So what is my why? I don't think anyone has just one why that gets them going, but rather, your WHY is a combination of tons of smaller whys. My wellbeing, my mental state, my physical comfort, my kids, my confidence are all just some of my whys to make up my WHY. 

​So tell me, what is your WHY?