Elephant in the Room

****Note: The title of this post was confirmed this morning when I got an e-mail from a friend/co-worker about a dream she had about me last night.  In the dream our school was surrounded with elephants and I was sprayed by one of them.  I was soaked and not happy at all about it.  Hilarious!

Okay, it is time to talk about the elephant in the room.

No, I am not talking about Ellie.  She is more of a horse than an elephant anyway.

I am talking about the thought that some of you may have thought, and I know I have been thinking about for awhile now.  Allison, if you are training for the Mini and running / working out more, then why aren't you losing weight?  Great question!  I mean, you would think if one is working out on a regular basis that weight should be coming off.  I would lose some weight one week just to gain it back another week.  Losing and gaining the same pounds over and over.

Then I saw something that stopped me in my tracks.  This picture has haunted me since seeing it:

That is the problem.  I have been feeding disease for far too long.  I have struggled with eating right for many years.  I decided a change was in order.  

I need something manageable and something that I can maintain for the rest of my life.  I have been seeing and hearing about people that are "eating clean."  I looked into it and thought that seemed like it would work for me.  Last week I tried eating cleaner.  I did not eat clean for every meal simply because I refuse to be wasteful with food I had already purchased.  

I have noticed some positive changes since eating cleaner.  I do not seem to be craving sweets as much (and I definitely have a sweet tooth)!  I also seem to have more energy.  The recipes I have used so far have tasted great!  

While I am not planning on weighing in every week I will be weighing in for the next couple of weeks to make sure I am losing and not gaining while trying to eat cleaner.  I weighed in this morning and after eating cleaner for only 1 week, I have lost 14 pounds!  That is exactly the momentum I need to keep pushing towards my goal of being a healthier, happier me.  

I realized it has been awhile since I have added a picture of myself.  When I first started the blog I was adding monthly pictures, and I am going to try to do that again.  This is to help me see some of the physical changes (hopefully!) in my body.  This month you are in for a special treat.  I had the world's cutest three year old at this month's photo shoot and she had some creative poses for me to try.  I tried every single one she wanted me to do, and I am going to add them here now.  Enjoy!