Never Say Never

Y'all...it's been over a YEAR since I have updated. Honestly, I'm not sure why I stopped. I think I ran out of things to say and just lost track of keeping up with this blog. It has also been an extremely hectic school year! 3 more days! I am so ready for summer. I hope everyone has had positive things happen in their lives the past year. There have been ups and down for me, that's for sure.

I titled this post "Never Say Never" because I was looking back and reading through old blog posts and I came across this one: It's titled "Non-Negotiable-Requirements" and it was focused on different foods/items I pretty much refused to do or give up on my weight loss journey. Here is a list of what I discussed in that post:

• "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter!"
• Light Ranch Dressing
• Brown Rice
• Wheat Bread
• Egg Whites or Egg Substitutes
• Making Recipes "Skinny"
• Quinoa
• Anything other than Bluebell Homemade Ice Cream
• Fat Free or Skinny Coffee Creamers

I say "never say never" because it has been a year since I made these rather bold declarations. And guess what? Things have changed. So here we go, let's go through these again:

• I still don't use "I Can't Believe it's Not Butter!", but I also don't use regular butter/margarine either. I have actually weaned myself away from most dairy products. I use Earth Balance spread quite a bit and olive oil to cook with on occasion. 
• I will never eat light ranch dressing. I have never cared for the taste. However, I now make my own dressing with olive oil, honey mustard and water! And I love it.
• I eat brown rice at least 3 times a week now and love it.
• I LOVE me some wheat bread and wheat buns! 
• Still no egg substitutes, but I will use egg whites from time to time when making a breakfast meal.
• I don't necessarily make recipes skinny now, but mainly because I eat whole foods as much as possible.
• I have tried and will, on occasion, eat quinoa. It still isn't my favorite.
• I am still extremely loyal to Bluebell and I always will be. No apologies!
• I don't drink coffee anymore, so no need for creamer! 

Kind of interesting, eh? I also said that I would never wake up super early to work out. My alarm goes off at 4:30 A.M. Monday-Friday and I am out the door to run (or something of that nature). Am I a health freak now? No. Am I more conscious about what I put in my body? Absolutely. Do I eat fast food all the time? No. Do I indulge every now and then? You bet. Do I skip workouts? Yep. Do I get back on track as soon as I can? You betcha. 

I guess my point is...don't swear something off or say you will NEVER do or try something. Change is good. It leads to growth which leads to progress and expansion within yourself. Don't give up on this journey. It's FULL of ups and downs. It has taken years...hear me?...YEARS...to feel comfortable about my body. I am a steady size 10-12 and that is something I am so proud of. I am healthy. I can physically do more than I've ever been able to do. I will always have curves and I have embraced them. I will never have a thigh-gap and that is perfectly ok. I still have things I want to work on. I'll be starting another round of 30 Day Shred when school is out so I will document that for y'all! Drop a line and let me know what else you want to read about so that it's not another year before anyone hears from me! 

As always, we need a good comparison photo, right? Why am I super pale in that bottom picture? Oh well!