I have been talking about my health and wanting to feel better for a really long time.

And admittedly, I haven’t done that well with it.

This past school year was the hardest of my career. It left me stressed, anxious and defeated, more often than not. Typically when I’m stressed I eat a lot of bad things, I lay around/sleep a lot, I don’t want to do any form of exercise…I basically just exist…and eat all of my feelings.

And that’s basically what I did for….almost the entirety of last school year. As a result, any attempt I made to lose weight/get healthy was all for naught. Because you can’t get healthy when you’re constantly in an unhealthy environment. So, I basically wound up more unhealthy than I’ve ever been, so much so that when I saw my doctor in April she (told me later) that I looked like death.

Literally. When I went back about a month ago she told me I looked like hell when she saw me in the spring, which is why she made me come back in 6 months instead of a year. She’s like, you looked “exhausted, on edge, you weren’t eating properly or caring for yourself properly”….so…yeah.

That was fun.

But she wasn’t wrong.

I spent the past year or so just…existing….and did a lot of what felt good as opposed to what WAS good for me, just to get through it all.

The good thing is, now I have gotten past a lot of that stress and frustration and all of the things that were damaging me for the past year, so I can actually focus on making myself better.

And I AM FINALLY making myself better. I’m taking better care of me so that I can take care of others better (considering that’s a lot of what I do as a profession). And, as my doctor pointed out, since Devon and I are trying to get pregnant, the healthier I am the better/easier it will be for me in pregnancy.

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll notice one thing is certain: my eating habits have changed drastically. I have lowered my carb intake significantly. I am someone who does better with lower carbs; I’m not cutting them completely, but I have reduced them by at least half. I feel less bloated when I eat less carbs, I feel lighter and have more energy, as well.

In contrast, I’ve been incorporating a lot more protein and veggies into my diet. Most recently, I’ve been taking some chicken sausage, riced veggies and broccoli for lunch. This is so filling for me, that I genuinely don’t need to snack on anything until dinner, which is what I’m going for.

I’ve also been roasting chicken and veggies for lunches, which is so easy to throw it all in the oven and roast it for a quick meal prep:

I’ve also started tracking myself with My Fitness Pal, which I am liking for accountability. I know it’s not the end all be all to all things, but I like the fact that I can see what I’m eating and where I am throughout the day. Being a visual person, the more I can see things, the better I am.

You can see that I currently have it set on calorie counting, but I can also switch it macros, a low carb setting, etc, which I do from time to time throughout the day to see where I am in those areas (since I’m trying to limit carbs).

You can see based on my information, my goal calories a day is about 1600, which is pretty realistic. Because I’m eating more protein, I actually come in under that a lot and still feel full because I’m eating things that are better for me and my body.

Now, I’m not going to sit here and say that I’m restricting all things and that I’m depriving myself. Because I’m not. Like, Devon and I got pizza last night and it was delicious and I’m not going to pretend like it wasn’t.

But, I am trying to be a lot more mindful of what I’m putting in my body and this is definitely helping that.

I also like that this keeps track of my steps. I’ve never been a step counter, but as someone who is also trying to be more active and move more, it helps me to see whether I’ve moved a lot in a day or not.

I know that phone step counters (which is what this is using) aren’t the most accurate things, but it’s good enough for my needs right now.

Also since I’m someone who hasn’t done a ton of exercising, I’ve started getting into work a little early (which I usually do anyway) and just doing a lap or two around my building before the day starts. It’s nice because the building is still quiet and it gets my metabolism moving a bit. I’m in a 25,000 square foot building this year, so doing one good lap around it is about a mile which is a good starting point.

I’m still so bad at drinking water, though, so let’s not talk about that…

I am happy, though, to finally be in a place where I can do this and feel good about it. You know, I’m not someone who measures success by a number on a scale; it’s not who I am. I’m someone who wants to feel better and to fit in my clothes better.

I’ve been taking this healthy kick a bit more seriously the past couple of weeks and I have to say, I feel a lot better than I have in previous months. I don’t feel as bloated as I was feeling before, I have more energy, and I feel happier (which could just be the by-product of my new environment). But some good changes are happening and here is to hoping that they will continue.