By now most of my readers know that I lost 23 pounds and improved my allergies by giving up wheat products and sugar. Along with plenty of exercise and rest I was able to gain control over my cravings and improve my emotional well-being. But it took many years of trial and error, and pretty big failures to finally figure it out. And now that I have figured it out, it doesn’t mean that I am perfect! But I take comfort in the knowledge that I know what works for me and I can follow this lifestyle 95% of the time and feel fantastic.
I think it is so important for each person to figure this out for themselves! What worked for me may not work for you and vice versa. For example, take my cousin that I met up with at the pizza place on Monday. During dinner the conversation turned to the topics of diet and food. My cousin is the same age as me and is in fantastic shape! He is very active and has a strong “joie de vivre” that you don’t see too often. Turns out he is a vegetarian and has been for many years! He obviously does not seem to have problems with eating grains like I do.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that our lifestyles actually have two major things in common. And these things that we have in common will work for EVERYONE!
- We eat minimally processed “real” foods as the biggest portion of our diet,
- We love to exercise and enjoy many different activities.
Simple, eh! I think everyone trying to lose weight and improve their overall well-being should start with those two things, and then work out the details as they go along. My husband remarked today that I am a changed person. I asked him when he noticed the change and he said since January (when I started this journey)! I asked him what seems different about me and he replied that I seem calmer and more energetic. I love that he shared his thoughts with me because it is very encouraging. I know that it is the improvement in my diet which has brought about these changes!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
It’s a new beginning and I’m very excited!!!
Thank you so much for your supportive and helpful comments on my last post! Everything went well yesterday with my resignation. I tried hard to stay calm and not cry and I was quite successful. My boss was not happy that I am leaving, but I take that as a compliment! I did my best to leave on good terms and I am happy with the way I handled this situation.
I feel like I am beginning a new chapter in my life once again. There are some events on the road of life that are marked with a clear sign on which direction to take. In this case there was a big yellow sign marked “Happiness This Way” with a big arrow. I know I made the right decision because it feels so darn good! My husband is happy as well. He also told me yesterday that his business has picked up quite a lot over the last 6 months and that he will be glad for any help that I can give him. And he will also pay me! Woohoo! Usually I do his books for him during any spare moments that I have, but now I will be able to take a more proactive approach. I can’t wait!
In other news…
Last night we met up with my cousin who was in town with a friend of his. We decided to go out to this awesome pizza place in Little Italy which we haven’t gone to since I changed my way of eating 4 months ago. The kids had been begging to go for weeks now so this was a good opportunity. I decided that I was going to enjoy a couple of slices of pizza as a treat. This is not a “junky” type of pizza; if you’re going to have pizza this would be the healthiest way to go. Well after 4 months of no bread products I can tell you that it felt AMAZING to indulge!!! But unfortunately within about 30 minutes of eating it I had to take my puffer and I started to feel bloated. Within about an hour my stomach was in pain. And I didn’t overeat, I only ate until I was pleasantly full! So that’s that. I won’t be able to do that again for quite a while, but I did enjoy eating it! 
I hope you all have a great day and thanks for reading!
I ain’t workin’ here no more!
That’s what I said to my boss on Friday. Well, not precisely. Actually I didn’t even tell him yet. But I will tomorrow! I’ll just say it in a much more polite, professional way! 
I have been working at my current job for over a year and a half and have learned so much from my experience. I loved my co-workers and clients and felt challenged and satisfied with my work. Over that period my boss has been encouraging and supportive of my work and has said many good things about me. Except when he gets mad. He takes it out on people. I have noticed that when he is under a lot of pressure he tends to find little things to blame on people and then blow things out of proportion. I was not often the brunt of this type of behavior; usually it was the poor receptionist who had to take it. Until Friday.
As many of you have probably heard, tax season can be challenging for accounting firms, to put it mildly. The pressure of approaching deadlines, unusually large work volumes and angry clients that blame the accountant if they owe taxes can take its toll on everyone in the office. But I believe that no matter what kind of pressure we are under, it is in everyone’s best interest to treat each other with respect and patience. My boss obviously does not feel that he has to follow these common courtesies because he became verbally abusive to me.
Since the receptionist was overloaded with work and I was nicely caught up with my own, I offered to help her assemble tax returns. My boss thought it was a great idea and he even made me prepare the packages to be sent out by courier. I did this with a smile on my face and a team attitude. I felt like we were all in this together helping each other out. On Friday morning when my boss and the other partner sat down to review which tax returns were done and which ones still had to go out, I mentioned that I still had one on my desk and I was going to be sending it out by courier first thing that morning. He turned to me with an incredulous look on his face and said, “WHAT?! I thought that went out yesterday!!!” I replied that since the client was not even in a hurry to give us his mailing address I thought I could finish what I was doing and then get to it first thing in the morning. (Neither my boss nor the client ever mentioned that it was a rush). Well he freaked out. He started ranting on me in a loud voice and said (among other things), “What the FUCK were you thinking?!?! I can’t believe you did this!!!” He humiliated me in front of my co-workers and swore at me. And that is not something that I will stand for. So I’ve decided that it’s time for me to move on.
For the rest of the day he tried to be nice to me, and was making silly comments such as, “Oh poor Carla, she’s having a bad day!” I wouldn’t speak to him unless it was work related and I felt sick all day and I couldn’t stop crying. By the end of the day he must have realized how mad I was so he gave me a bottle of wine and said, “Here take this home and have a glass of wine to help you calm down!” I couldn’t believe it!!! I will be handing in my letter of resignation tomorrow and I am very nervous. He has a way of making personal comments and judgements that can be very hurtful and I am not looking forward to that.
Thanks for reading and wish me luck! 
Hi everyone! I hope you had a nice week and a relaxing weekend!
I am super happy that tax season is almost over! I busted my butt at work this week so that I wouldn’t have to take work home this weekend because one of my sisters was in town and I wanted to spend some time with her. Damiano and I took the metro (subway) downtown Montreal to meet up with her and we walked and shopped for hours in and out of the rain. My sister brought her youngest daughter along and we all had a really nice day together.
I was feeling very tired today after all the excitement and busy-ness of the past week. It also may be because of the disgusting weather we are having. We are supposed to get 5 cm of snow tonight!!! Wha!!! 
I find it so hard to get motivated to do anything when it’s cold and rainy.
I am actually looking forward to this week because my dad is coming to stay with us for a few days! It is always fun having him around. He takes the boys out for adventures on their bikes and loves spending time with them. I can’t wait!
I have been eating super healthy as always, but I haven’t had much time to exercise again this week. I did get to the gym on Wednesday for a 40 minute cardio workout. I couldn’t remember the last time I took my inhaler so I decided to work out without taking a puff before. And I didn’t end up needing to take my inhaler AT ALL!!! This is amazing if you consider that I have always had to take my inhaler before exercise for the past 15 years or so!!! I am so happy!!! It’s incredible that the healing is still going on while I continue my healthy lifestyle.
Tax season will be over by April 30th but until then I will have to bring work home and work through my lunch breaks most days. My weight stayed the same this week which is great. No stress eating for me!!! Overeating just makes stress worse. Eating healthy makes stress easier to handle. Who would’ve thought?!
Have a great evening and thanks for stopping by!
I’m down another 2.4 lbs this week!!!
In all honesty, I’m not really sure how this is happening. From Easter dinner last Sunday, overtime at the office, only one trip to the gym, three meals out at restaurants and one stressful week later, I weighed in this morning at 137 lbs!
I can’t tell you how amazing it feels to be at a heathy weight and to realize that my body isn’t done yet getting to where it wants to be. I’m eating when I’m hungry, working out when I can, and getting lots of sleep. I eat healthy every single day. I am still not eating any grain products or sweets. Actually I’ve had rice about once a week lately without any side effects at all other than pure enjoyment. I don’t eat processed foods. Only the real stuff! I really don’t even think about it anymore. No laborious decisions of what to eat or not eat, no energy draining arguments in my head about why I should or shouldn’t eat a Pop-Tart or three for breakfast. It’s such a RELIEF.
This is where I have wanted to be for the longest time. Not just with my weight, but with my MIND. No food guilt, shame, or broken promises to start over again for the 1000th time. No more trying to be perfect and beating myself up. No more excuses.
There are only 15 days left until the end of tax season and then my schedule should let up. I’ll be able to get back to regular posting, reading and commenting!
Here are a couple of pics from last weekend:
Enzo, Hubby and Me
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful, healthy week!
