5 Ways to Make the Whole Family Healthy (Fatty Friday)
This week was all about making the whole family healthy and I think we’re succeeding…finally!
As you know, we have been on this health journey basically since May 2010 and we have had our fair share of setbacks, but this week we got down to business and really took charge of our weight loss, eating healthy, and spending time together as a family. Benjamin has set a goal for us as a family and that is for us to be able to go to a restaurant and sit in a booth together. As it is now, when he and I go, I can squeeze into most booths and be reasonably comfortable. Howard is getting there, but when he is with us, we sit in a “booth/table” where Benjamin and I sit on the booth side and Howard sits in a chair. I am with B on this goal and we can’t wait until we can realize his dream!
This week we ate more dinners at home, drank our water, took our supplements and appetite suppressants, and just generally ate better. I told a friend last night about my weight loss this week and she asked what I did differently for this to happen. My response: “no cheating and drinking extra water”. There you have it – my secret is out. The real key to a healthy lifestyle change making an impact on your life – no cheating!
5 Ways to Make the Whole Family Healthy
1. Drink water
Water is essential to life and even more essential to successful weight loss. I’m a caffeine and energy drink addict and that never works well with my weight loss. This week, I discovered Crystal Light energy powder for my big glasses of water and I’m in love. I’ve only tried the orange flavor so far, but it is delicious!
2. Eat healthy meals at home
When I was growing up, eating out was a very special treat for my family. Now that I’m a grownup (most of the time), I love to eat out when we have the money. I know that we can save money (even eating healthy) when we eat at home, but I just can’t resist most of the time. However, Howard is a former chef so I really should enjoy his food more often. He loves to cook for us and this week we were at home more. We have control over our portion sizes and seasonings. We can eat “clean” and know what’s going in our food. We’re not the crunchy, clean-eating type of family, but having control over our food always shows when we are on the scale on Thursday afternoons.
3. Family Time
Spending time as a family and doing fun things or even mundane things (as a family) helps our overall health, mental and physical. We love to have family movie night and do family activities together. We even used to love walking together and this is about to start up again. Howard and I were noticing at soccer practice that our boy gets winded and tired a little earlier than most of the other kids. We need to keep him active every day of the week, not just on Tuesdays and Fridays for soccer practice.
4. Supplements
As part of our weight loss plan, we both have to take a multivitamin. I tend to take a prenatal vitamin because we still have a small hope of eventually getting pregnant again. I also like that prenatals have extra vitamins in them so I’m getting the max I can from a vitamin. I’ve also begun taking a probiotic to help with my digestion. I’m on a campaign for a natural probiotic through my blog work and I’ve been reading about the benefits of probiotics. I think I’m beginning to notice the improvements in my gut health since being on it for about two weeks now. If you’re not eating according to the four food groups and getting in all your vitamins, consider taking supplements to help you overall.
5. Be Happy
Smiling and laughing are great for your overall health and my family has no problem with this! Although I take an antidepressant for my depression and Howard takes an anti-anxiety medication, we are a happy family almost all of the time. We love to laugh and have fun and just be together (see #3). Sometimes, laughter really is the best medicine. Find what makes you happy (hobbies, alone time, family time, etc.) and do it!
Now for the update you’ve been waiting for…
I lost 7 lbs this week!
Howard lost 11 lbs and even Benjamin lost 3 lbs. Of course, B doesn’t need to lose weight, but maybe he had some extra weight that his body didn’t need and I’m not too concerned because he’s still very healthy. He did have basketball practice, a basketball game, two soccer practices, and a soccer game this week, along with skating at school for an hour every day. No wonder he would lose a little this week!
I’m so thrilled that we are all back on track and feeling great this week. And…another little secret…sometimes on Thursday nights after we weigh in, we might go get a cheat treat (sweets or pizza), but last night we decided to keep up the momentum and we stayed on the plan so hopefully we can have another great update again next week.
Congratulations! These are great tips to live by.
Way to go, Janet and family! It’s so true that cheating hurts our success.
Congrats on your accomplishment!! That is a great list of goals that we should all try to be abiding to!!
Congrat on losing 7 pounds. I agree with being happy as it changes your out look so much
Congrats on your achievement… we are a salad eating family… that is our way of staying healthy…
Whoa! I am sure I gained 7 pounds this week. My mouth dropped when I read that. Talk about motivation to keep on. Congratulations!
And I can’t get over that kid’s smile. He is so adorable. I love the picture of the two of you. Your smile is beautiful, but it doesn’t quite melt my heart like Benjamin’s does. I’m sure you understand
Congratulations that is so awesome!
Janet,
I love your blog. Your post are so real and down to Earth. Congrats on the loss! Keep up the good work!