Cleansing...fun?

I'm somewhat pleased to report that I've lost 5 pounds since January 3rd. Good news, right? My main problem with those 5 pounds is that I gained those over Christmas! Well, no, lets be real here, I gained 10 POUNDS over Christmas. Now that's just some plain 'ol North American gluttony for you! Christmas 2009 will go down in history as the "1o-Pounder Christmas" in my books. So I feel like those 10 pounds aren't even the real issue I'm trying to 'deal with.'

Anyway, 5 pounds down. And according to my measurements, I'm down 5.5 inches thus far. I think although we often focus on the pounds, its the inches that really make the difference. Now of course, I'm not a professional, so I'm sure there could be a bit of a discrepancy in the numbers, but heck, I'm not gonna argue with my 5.5 inches!

So in my quest to get to a more healthy weight, and well, while I'm keeping it real, the goal is also get into that most fab pair of jeans, I've begun my first cleanse. At this point (beginning of day two), I have nothing to report. Rob keeps on saying, "just wait." Hmm, I expected more here people! Its called First Cleanse, and like the name says, its supposed to be a nice, gentle, First Cleanse. Well, that's lovely and all, but lets get the show on the road! Not like I'm asking to be stuck to my toilet for 15 days, but I mean, lets get cleansing already! I'll report back in a few days, and see if there are any developments.

First Cleanse.

The giant horse pills! Shudder...

Rob has also been doing well with his pH balancing. He is not as gung-ho about the measuring as I am, so I can't report any numbers there, but he is down 5 lbs. He recently started taking Greens. Which is a powdered supplement that you take twice a day. Not only is it chock-full of green goodness (although it smells absolutely horrible), but it also helps to balance the pH in your system.

Le Greens.

And veggies, my word! We are the veggie people right now. I've been having a lot fun trying out new recipes. My main focus is low-fat, but I'm also trying to work with some of the pH diet veggies. Last grocery shop, I had three reuseable grocery bags full of veggies. I don't know about you, but previously I maybe had one bag full. So this is a great development for us. Snacking is now reduced to mainly veggies. And the even better part is that none of the veggies are really going to waste in our fridge. Within a week of my mongo grocery shop (with the three bags of veggies), the fridge is almost entirely empty. This is a huge, positive change for us.

So there you have it, some great, good changes on the Nepper front. Its just really exciting to be on a similiar page when it comes to eating, and being more healthy. We have been doing our sit ups, push ups, leg lifts, squats, and planks (my word, talk about a burn!) side by side. It really is so much easier when you do it together, although I also feel the need to mention, this is the first time in 5 years of marriage that we are both ready to be on the same page. Previously, only one of us would get inspired, and I found that led to a lot of temptation. Not like we intentionally tepmted each other, but its just so much easier to both avoid popcorn (although Rob argues that popcorn is an alkaline food, mmm, hmm), or ice cream together. Like a team!

A funny story regarding being a team happened on Thursday. I had a rush dentist appointment because I was having tooth pain (which apparently turned out to be nothing more than tooth sensitivity). They squeezed me in at 1:00pm. Now as any Mother knows, that's just bad, bad, bad timing. So off I went, with two kids in tow, thinking it couldn't be so bad. Well, let me assure you, it was BAD! Gabe was screaming, Abbi was supposed to be watching TV, but instead she was touching each and every thing in the office. Then Gabe threw is banana on the floor, which Abbi proceeded to stomp and smear all over the dentist's floor (thankfully not on purpose!) . So it was just chaos, and at one point the hygentist even asked me if I had a babysitter. Sigh. Just remember this, all you Mom's and mommys-to-be, you cannot and should not bring two children to the dentist by yourself! Don't do it. Its horrible!

Anyway, I came home from said, stressful, horrible, cry-worthy, dentist appointment, and Rob arrived home within minutes as well. He asked how my day was, and I began to tell him the story. He said, "no wait, I have something that will make it better." He proceeds to pull out the most beautiful, masterful, chocolaty cupcake out of his lunchbox. Sigh... "Dear, don't you remember I'm not eating chocolate until I finish my History course." My poor husband. It was terribly thoughtful, and I suppose I could have just eaten it, but I have gone 20 days without any chocolate, and to be honest, I don't even crave it anymore. So no, I couldn't eat the cupcake. I think Abbi was quite pleased with Mommy's discipline, because she got to munch on its yummy goodness.

I don't blame Rob, I think it was just an oversight on his part, but I think the thing that I got from it, is that I actually said NO! For me, that's impressive. After a long, stressful day like that, nothing is better than some chocolatey goodness. But I said no! Now, I know all you psychologists are telling me that I eat for all the wrong reasons, and often I do, but I'm excited to see a shift in my tendencies. So there you have it. Cleansing. Cupcakes. Planks. Greens. Does it get any more exciting?

In other Nepper news, this is what I woke up to this morning. Why, oh, why do we live here again? Sigh, "only" 3-4 more months of this...