Finding a Happy and Healthy Me!

Be it a diet, a lifestyle change, or whatever description you choose to call a change in your nutritional intake in order to lose weight, gain weight, maintain weight, or just get healthy... I have tried many different scenarios talked about in the world today. Back in college when I gained my freshman fifteen forty I definitely needed a change. At close to 220 lbs I was feeling a tad miserable about my choice to eat a hamburger and fries every day at good ol Kramer Dining Center. (But they were so good and convenient!!!) Needless to say my ways of eating needed an adaptation. That is when I decided to try the Weight Watcher’s program. Did I actually attend meetings and such? No. But my grandma did and she was wonderful enough to share all of her wisdom with me, and I am happy to say with that program I was able to lose 40 lbs! There was a definite change in my body after that! I was feeling pretty great about myself, but I wanted to continue to reach my ultimate goal, unfortunately that is when the dreaded plateau hit. At this point in time I was also extremely bored with Weight Watchers. I don’t have anything negative against it, but it was not something I was excited about sticking with. Figuring all of the points for everything became a chore for me and thus my journey with Weight Watchers was over.

I had managed to maintain my 180 for quite some time which for me, felt pretty good, but I knew I could feel even better about myself. Which is when I started on SlimFast shakes as meal replacements. I was a bad person and would usually skip breakfast because I was always rushing around in the morning, but then I would have my shake for lunch with a side of something on the healthier side. Only problem was I wasn’t following an actual program and I was still sitting at my 180. So SlimFast went the way of Weight Watchers... out the diet door. For a while I just kept tabs on my food intake and portion control, and 180 and I lived to be very comfortable together as my wedding day was approaching (obviously you don’t really want to have drastic wedding gown alterations before the big day) so we just kind of hung out together. I will mention that for the better part of a year up until this point I had given up soda and was feeling really great about that, but then came our honeymoon and my unfortunate motto became “Oh why not, I’m on vacation!” Well once you go on vacation with the dieting and being careful with what you eat, you do not want to come back from vacation.


Months had passed since we arrived home from Mexico and 180 and I sadly parted ways and I met up with 193. Seeing this number on the scale and letting it sink in let me to a scary realization that if I kept these habits up I would be right back to 220 again. (The place where I was most miserable about myself) Enter my amazingly supportive husband... He introduced me to the Keto diet which I previously featured in one of my posts, so I won’t go into all of the details on what it is. With that I said goodbye to 193, goodbye to 180, and found a new friend... 174. Again this was progress, but still not my personal goal. I had more business to attend to but... another plateau as well as another vacation... this time to Disney World’s Food and Wine Festival... Goodbye keto... hello carbs! Let me tell you something about low/no carb diets... once you find the carbs again... you never want to give them up at all. Again coming back from vacation I could never seem to get back completely on track especially with the holiday season coming up and then excuse after excuse would find itself engaging in me eating too much of stuff I shouldn’t be having which leads me to now...

I was close to meeting 190something again and feeling sorry for myself and the choices I have made. I am skeptical of diets and what they have to offer, but I saw one of my friends having success with this program that I have decided to try the Herbalife 3 Day Trial. Yes, I have researched. Yes, I have some skepticism. But I also know what I feel like I need to hold myself accountable with any nutrition program. I need something simple, quick, and planned out (for the most part). I am that weird person that would rather have a shake most meals that something else. I am excited even though I still have some reserves about this program as I do with anything new, but I want to document my experience not to promote Herbalife or say negative things about it, but rather to share my own unique experience the 3 day trial brings for me, so stay tuned.

(I want to make a note that my goal number is one which will put me in the healthy BMI range. As of now according to my height and body fat percentage I am considered in the overweight category. Losing weight for me isn't about superficial issues, it is about feeling good about myself, gaining confidence in myself, and most importantly getting to a healthy stage of my life so I can continue to make the most of it.)

Mrs. Imparato

My Child Has Autism...

My child has autism… and I have a carrousel of emotions spinning in my head on a daily basis: feelings of embarrassment, frustration, aggravation, but also feelings of compassion, admiration, and love.

After our last few days of social interactions, I have had ample time to reflect on my thoughts on having a child with autism:

1. My child has autism… she has no filter and YES I do notice.

           

            I do not ignore her sometimes (most often times) inappropriate outbursts or over fixations out of being a bad parent. I do it out of her not always being able to control herself or change these fixations. Yes I do see you staring at me, probably wondering what sort of things we subject her to at home, but lets face it, the world is a lot more desensitized than it was when we were even kids. YES we have had conversations with her about what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior in social situations, but these new habits will not happen overnight. We do however try to provide appropriate social situations at home. YES she is 9 and has seen the puberty video at school and YESSS this has become a new area of fixation for her (unfortunately). But at least she is educated and YES we have and will continue to have conversations with her about how that is a topic only to be discussed with family or a trusted adult at school, so here is my public apology for anyone she offended tonight or any other moment when speaking out about puberty and I quote, "the bloody part."

2. My child has autism… she does not have complete social awareness.

            Oh were you having an adult conversation with just adults? Well sorry about that but my child is going to interrupt the heck out of that conversation with about 36 questions/opinions of her own. Were you trying to eat something? Oh sorry about that too because my child is now going to talk about how corn syrup gives her runny poops. You live in a dwelling that does not contain children and expect everything to stay in its perfectly placed spot when we come to visit? Well I apologize for that too because it is just not going to happen when you have an extremely curious child seeking out tons of new knowledge as she gets older and more aware of her surroundings. YES again I notice these things and wish there was more I could do to help these situations be easier and more convenient for you, but these are my everyday situations at home and we do what we can to adapt and provide positive learning opportunities for when we venture out into the world but that is not always going to be enough. This is where my frustration and aggravation comes into play because again I can feel the searing gaze of your eyes looking at me as if I have the magic button to turn off the autism and make her act like a typical child her age. Trust me, if I had that button I would need about 50 replacement batteries by now, but the truth is there is not such a device and aside from restraining her there is no immediate solution to your inconvenience, so suck it up buttercup… you see her for a couple hours? I get this 24/7. It will take time and practice (lots of it) to see these changes, and that is just the way it is.

3. My child has autism… what would you like to know about?

            One of the most wonderful things I see everyday is the breadth of knowledge this girl has. She can recall some of the most amazing facts that may have otherwise gone unnoticed by us “normal” folks. She also takes an interest in things that her peers may otherwise find boring. Lately this 9 year old wants to know everything and anything about history. Civil War, California Gold Rush, you name it. We recently had a conversation in the car that completely took me by surprise the other day wherein she asked if we could go to church because she wants to learn things she cannot learn in school. Her appetite for learning just astounds me and I really hope this is a trait she will hang onto for quite some time to come.

4. My child has autism… do I wish she did not have autism? NO!

            Lets start with this, would I wish this disability on anyone including her, no I wouldn’t, but would I wish it to go away so she could suddenly be “normal”? Absolutely not. This is her normal, this is our normal, it is what makes her the person she is, and in my opinion (which may contain a little bias) she is one fabulous kiddo! Yes, we have our rough moments, and YES I know everyone is watching to see what our next move as parents is going to be when these rough moments arise, but quite frankly I don’t give a squat what anyone may be thinking as they witness our worst moments, because unless they are also there to witness the wonderful moments we have with her, they are not getting the complete picture. We will continue on with what has been working and try new strategies for things which are not working in terms of helping her grow into a more well rounded being so we can prepare her for a future filled with endless possibilities. And when it gets down to it, I suppose this is what any parent wants for their child.

Mrs. Imparato

Oh SH--ugar!

Two months ago my husband and I embarked on a journey that has resulted in a huge lifestyle change. We began and are still taking part in a ketogenic diet lifestyle change.

What is a ketogenic diet?

To get you started I have listed some resources that Nate and I are frequently checking into. Yes… I’ve listed reddit as a source, but please don’t let that scare you away.

http://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq

http://www.ketogenic-diet-resource.com/ketogenic-diet-plan.html

In a nutshell the ketogenic diet lifestyle change is as follows: of your daily calorie intake 70-75% of those should be calories from fat… yes FAT, 20-25% of them should come from protein, with 5-10% coming from carbohydrates. CALORIES ARE NOT RESTRICTED, but you should be mindful of what you are eating.

But wait… Isn’t this just Atkins?

More or less, yes it is, except I am not spending tons of money buying premade meals containing who knows what still hiding inside them. I am taking charge of my own life and body by choosing the right path for me.

Why the ketogenic lifestyle change?

As with any diet lifestyle change, I started with the personal problem of being overweight. No one was telling me this or saying anything nasty to me, but in all reality I was 5 foot 8 inches and 193 pounds… do some number crunching for yourself and you will find that a size of that proportion is in fact overweight. I also had a friend’s wedding approaching and my bridesmaid dress did not want to fit, so I knew I had some work to do.

After complaining to my husband at how horrible I feel about myself and how crappy I look, he finally took it upon himself to propose to me for the second time. Only this proposal was quite different, this proposal would not lead to a lifetime of love for each other, but rather a lifetime of love for our bodies. Let’s rewind about 10 months ago…

We were on our way to being married and I was sitting at a plateauing weight of about 178-180 pounds. I had been stressed with wedding planning without real time to think about eating everything in sight. After we exchanged I Do’s and settled down into what would be our day-to-day lives I started thinking about being more “health conscious.” We would go grocery shopping and I would immediately seize all of the 100 calorie, low/reduced fat, lean foods that were lining the shelves. I started taking part in replacing one of my meals a day with a protein shake to help myself cut the calories. I was making healthier choices for my body… or so I thought. Over the months I watched my weight fluctuate from between 178-180 lbs to 180-183 lbs to 183-185 lbs until finally I had reached my breaking point of stepping on the scale and reading 193 lbs. What had I done to myself? I was leading a fairly active lifestyle while eating all of these healthier foods! (There is where my problems were growing.)

If you inspect all of these so called “healthy” foods, you will notice all of the added sugar these companies put in to compensate for the lack of fat. Why do they add sugar? The companies add in the extra sugar to make the food taste better. When they get rid of the fat, they get rid of the flavor, so they need to replace it with sugar. So while on this very high sugar diet I unknowingly put myself on from lack of education, I was becoming addicted to sugar. A lot of people may say that a sugar addiction is pure fiction, but when I first started my keto diet lifestyle change and kicked all sugar to the curb, I found myself balled up on my kitchen floor throwing a major tantrum with my husband because he wouldn’t let me take a step backwards and eat a girl scout cookie that was staring me in the face. If wailing for a cookie on the kitchen floor in front of your husband isn’t a sign of a problem then I don’t know what is.

After that I vowed to do something differently, and I can proudly say that two months later I have said sayonara to sugar and I have dropped 20 lbs! I am feeling more active and better about my body. I am not constantly hungry and wanting more snacks all the time. I am not going to lie, it was very difficult in the beginning weeks. There are temptations all around, and not everyone is considerate towards your dietary needs. You will need to look out for yourself and plan ahead if you are participating in any sort of special occasion where there will be a lot of sugary snacks/drinks. It is your job to work around what is going on, not make everyone work around you. You need to have discipline… if you want to make this lifestyle change, then you need to take charge.

I am by no means an expert in this field. I am only doing what I feel is the right thing for my body. If you are interested in making a lifestyle change for yourself such as this one please please PLEASE do the proper research and consult with your physician if you need to do so. I only know what this has done for me, and I can only share that much. I call it a lifestyle change rather than a diet for 2 reasons: 1. you really do need to change up a lot of your life if you are used to eating the way I once ate, 2. I personally feel that diets have a negative stigma associated with them.

Mrs. Imparato

P.S. 

If you have not seen this documentary, then I highly recommend it. "Fed Up"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCUbvOwwfWM

Finding Balances and Life Updates

Whether it be socially, financially, or even just daily, it is proving a difficult task to find balance in my life.

For instance: This has been the first time in two months I have even thought about posting to my blog. Obviously I'm not going to be condemned or even missed if I do not continue to make timely posts, but I took up this hobby and I would like to have time for it.

So here is a run down about what has been happening over the last couple months. Long story short, I have a job... sort of. All I really know is that until December I have a long term substitute job as a Special Education teacher. I have been working with K-2 students, and I am absolutely in love with this job. Yes I come home tired and achy on some most occasions, but the students I work with are so sweet and smart and tug on my heart strings. It will make me sad if come December I find out I will not be coming back for the rest of the school year at least.

Having this job has been wonderful! I have had the chance to work with and befriend some pretty incredible colleagues. I have somewhere to go when I wake up every morning, and I am able to be productive throughout the course of my day. I feel like a fully functioning adult now... in most areas.

There are some downsides, which is why my whole balancing act is becoming a chore. I come home after a productive day, and I am exhausted, so much that I am finding it a struggle to stay up past 10 p.m. (ok let's be honest... it's a struggle past 9 p.m.) This is the time where the hubby and I usually settle in to watch one of our shows together, and that had been a pretty regular thing until lately I have been giving the ol' "not tonight, I'm too tired" routine. I hate to be that way, but I am having trouble finding that... yep you guessed it... BALANCE.

The same problem hits me on the weekends. This is the area in the 7 days of the week where I actually have free time! (What in the heck is that?!) Because I see these two days of nothing to do, I automatically assume that I should book the hours up full with things Nate and I should do, people Nate and I should see, and spur of the moment errands Nate and I should run. I am finding myself feeling that since I am so tired during the week that I should make up for it on the weekends with doing ALL OF THE THINGS!!!!!1 I have recently learned that that is the absolute wrong thing to do. When ferociously scheduling numerous weekend activities, I am setting myself up to be even more at the mercy of exhaustion. I am slowly learning that I need to just sit back and relax on the weekends with maybe one or two fun things to do with the husband.

I guess I just need to keep moving forward in life and try to figure out what to balance with what. Life is all about trial and error, and I'd like to think I have time to figure something out.

And to end this post on a fun note, here are...

Other fun tidbits from the last two months:

• Nate and I purchased our first family pet: A ball python that Alice lovingly named Bouncy.
• I got new tags put on my new car.
• I got a library card... finally! (I had one as a kid, but who knows where that is)
• I made my first ever cheesecake.
• I bought a DLSR camera... to try out a different hobby.
• I have been putting together fun things with our wedding photos.

Mrs. Imparato

Priorities! Priorities? Priorities...

As I was doing my growing up, living life as a dependent/wanting to be an independent throughout my college years, I always heard a common theme coming from my family: "Where are your priorities?" I was a college freshman without a care in the world! Priorities? Pfffft! My priorities were go to class, make some spending money, and work on my new found relationship. Well, I had the making spending money part down pat with my awesome college job. I will say this now and forever, I LOVED my campus job! I loved the people I worked with and the job itself. I was truly lucky to be employed at Quik Cats. Going to class was something I was able to keep up with too, as long as my classes didn't begin before 8:00 a.m. As far as the relationship goes, that was a big priority for me which ended up biting me in my patootie. It led to my new boyfriend and eventual husband, but it also led to my priorities being out of whack, a lot of distractions, and what ended up to be the semester that would smash my GPA to pieces eliminating me from a chance of graduating with honors even though it was a year of A's and B's and two more years of straight A's. Anyway, why am I rambling on about my college priorities interests/mistakes? Because I am now graduated and in the very elaborate process of joining my husband as we make way to leave our parents and cleave to each other.

While I have been on the job hunt this summer since December, we have been budget planning and discussing future plans together. This discussion and planning has led us to a discussion on what our priorities are, and oh boy was I not ready for all that was in store. I know that this is all part of growing up and you may have the, "Well you should have thought about that before you got married" feelings, but married or single you must eventually part ways with the awesomeness that is the warm cushy support of your parents and attempt to make it on your own.

So here are some things we have discussed that we need and slash or want:

1. A House:
This is kind of a necessity right? Single or married, you need a place to live that is not under your parents' roof if you claim you want to be independent. Face it though, houses are expensive if you have certain needs for your living arrangement such as three bedrooms, two full baths, a two car garage, etc. Plus it comes with huge monetary risks as does any purchase worth thousands of dollars. But then again for an apartment of the same standards minus the garage you are paying the same or more just for rent than you would on a mortgage, utilities, and taxes for a house. This process is both confusing to me and frustrating.

2. A Car:
My 1997 Honda Accord is puttering around on over 300,000 miles, with a giant gash in the windshield. It's time for a newer car. Something in the 2000's please!

3. An International Trip:
This one is a want, yes. I would like to travel with my husband to Europe. Can you blame me? It's Europe! He has been twice. I make my first trek out of the country for our Honeymoon. I have not been one who has traveled far and wide even within the country. I can probably count on my two hands the number of states I have been to, which I realize is more than a lot of people, and I should be lucky I have had the experiences I have had, and I am thankful for them. I just want more. The world is such a beautiful place and I just want to roam.

4. Debt:
We are both coming into this marriage with debt on our shoulders. This is a priority because we need to get it under control and pay it off so we can afford to make it on our own with our own place and things.

5. Believe it or not the reproduction talk has happened:
Go figure... you are not married one day then the next you are and suddenly... BAM! A wave of hormones overcomes you as you start to see everyone you went to school with become married also and have started families and you think to yourself, "I want to bring a little me into the world." Nothing is set in stone yet, we are not a go for project littleimparato by any means! It was just a consideration I never thought I would have, but have recently considered the idea and have not totally been horrified by it... Awww look at me, I'm growing up. But this is where these priorities really come into play. Everything listed above definitely needs to be taken care of before bringing a child into our world. I want to be financially stable and have taken care of my dreams before committing my life to a person who will need me to be a strong example of what it is like to have your "priorities" and then your priorities.

Let's face the facts, everyone is going to make a mistake, have much different priorities than one another, choose the hard way even though parental voices are strongly urging the easy way, but that is how we grow and learn. I could have went off to college with the priorities my family had for me, but then I would not have had the opportunity to grow and appreciate my family even more, and I definitely would not have landed here with the man of my dreams as we face our future together.

Mrs. Imparato

Hard Truths... About Me

Today I write about some hard truths about myself. I am forcing myself to write this, so I may be able to take a good look and change the things about myself that are bothering me. These views are strictly from me about me, I do not project them on to anyone else.

I have always been super hard and judgmental when it comes to... me. This is one of my biggest faults in life. I am super horrible to myself, not in any sort of physical way, but emotionally and verbally. I am super critical of my (wait for it...) appearance. Embarrassingly enough I fall into the category of one of those people who spend their whole lives looking in a mirror and hating the way they look. "I'm so fat," "I look hideous," and "blec!" are all repeat phrases in my self-description arsenal. I can't say who or what is to blame for this kind of thinking that has consumed my brain for my young adult life, all I know is it has to stop.

The one thing that bothers me more than this thinking itself is the fact that I can say all of these things about myself, yet I do absolutely nothing about it. Diet?... No. Exercise?... No. Whatever I can try to fix how I feel about myself I do not try. I sit here and try to blame everyone else for it, when the problem seriously is with myself. I blame my husband for not making me go on walks with him or not exercising at all with me. I blame him for giving into my googly eyes when I want to buy some sweet treat at the store or go out for some sort of dessert. I think he is the absolute worst because he will not do it for me, but in all reality he is the smart one here and I need to start listening to him.

Sure, he doesn't do these things for me and he doesn't always try and motivate me, because the only one who can motivate me to change my ways is... well, me. I need to learn how to say no to the extra cookie and yes to a cup of water instead. I need to learn to say no to sleeping in or the extra nap and yes to the mile walk around the block. If I really have a problem with myself, I need to make the change on my own. The only results that will be worth it are the results of my own hard work and dedication.

Once I get the ball rolling on how to change these bad habits I've picked up, then I can work on my self confidence. I need to get these negative thoughts out of my head and replace them with positive ones. If I go through life always criticizing myself, I am just giving others permission to do so too. If I only see myself in this poisonous light, that is how I will come across to others and I will not be very successful in life. If instead I look at myself in a positive manner, others will see me that way. My attitude will rub off on others and I will appear more confident and successful.

All of this thinking has been manifesting itself over my 23 years of existence, but the thing I am able to realize... I can do something about it. All I need to do is get in the right mindset and get going. Nothing great was accomplished from not starting somewhere.

Mrs. Imparato

Even looking back on old pictures, I can tell I have already come a long way.

From the top picture to this one I have lost 43 pounds.

Why Am I Blogging?

For those of you wondering to yourselves, "What is this blog, why am I reading it, and why is it being written?" this post is for you. I myself have wondered this very thing too. After a couple of weeks playing around with this new venture, I will come clean.

First of all I would like to make the statement that under no circumstances do I believe just because I am married that I know more than I did or am a more well rounded person than I was before I was married. I have just chosen to have an overall blog theme that is now showcasing what experiences myself, my husband, my children (step and potential future), and/or all of us share. Not everything is going to be about being married or filled with mushy love stuff. This blog was started after our nuptials took place ergo the reasoning for my blog title. Most blogs I see out there have a solid theme such as weight loss, teaching ideas, or everything you need to know about having a baby. My blog is just going to be filled with my own thoughts and life experiences.

The second point I would like to make is that I am not blogging for other people. I am not looking for approval of what I am doing. I am not looking for justification on whether or not this is a good idea. I am doing this for me. If people do end up liking what I have to say then that is terrific! I am glad other people can take pleasure in these life experiences. I had a heart to heart with myself a few weeks ago as Nate went off to his barbershop quartet practice. I noticed that he is actually pursuing hobbies outside of our marriage which is fantastic! He is doing something he loves for himself. I took a hard look at myself and discovered that outside from Netflix I had no real hobby. This concerned me a lot, so I started tossing around things that I could start doing for myself that could be fun. This is when I turned to blogging, and I am glad I did. Ever since I have started, I have enjoyed it so much. This came as a shock to me at first because the idea of writing during my school days never interested me in the slightest! So, this is solely something for me to enjoy doing for myself and I am very glad I chose this. I will also be looking for other outlets of creativity of course, but this is a good start.

These are the two main reasons for sharing my happenings online. You may like it, you may not and that is fine with me. I am not here to judge others or try to make people think one way or another. I am not here to offer up some life altering teachings. I am here to share my thoughts and opinions and my real life experiences so I can look at them and learn, and if you happen to learn something too, I am glad. (Of course that could very well just be the teacher inside me!)

Mrs. Imparato