Eat More Plants - Plain and Simple

Today, I'm starting simple. Eat more plants. That's it. I started the morning with green juice and a banana. Then for lunch braised brussel sprouts, onions and garlic in an egg scramble. My goal for this week is to start every morning with green juice and fruit. As always - baby steps.

What's on your menu today?

Old Habits Die Hard

As I sit down to write this post I feel like a bad friend who said she would call and then didn't. And then when a week turned into two and then three, calling seemed silly and pointless. But I'm back, making that long awaited call. Hoping that you're still here.

I've spent the last three weeks in technical rehearsals for a show and then opening and running that show. All of my time has been spoken for. Even my family is wondering when I'll re-engage.  The show has been lots of fun and I'm SO thrilled to be acting again. But I'm also feeling totally out of my element - my routine shattered and old habits finding new footing. 

Confession time: I've gained back almost 30 pounds since the fall.  What?  30?  Yes.  30.  I worked my ass off and lost 75 and then gained 30 of it back.  You know what it feels like to lose 75 pounds in a big public way and then gain 30 back?  Kind of shitty.  

Luckily, I've got this blog.  I wrote down everything I did and now I'm going to retrace my steps and re-lose that weight.  Yep.  Welcome summer shred!  My show closes next week and I will once again be making the trip to Cedar City, Utah where my husband works every summer.  I began and ended my Smaller Sarah year in Utah and it seems the perfect place to pick up and start again.  

So here's the scoop: Starting on May 1st, I will be re-introducing a mostly raw diet. Once I'm in Utah, I'll also start running again. I would like to drop 40 pounds in 4 months.  That means 10 pounds a month with a final weigh-in on September 1st.  As I begin again, I am reminded of a post I wrote to a reader who emailed asking 'what do you do when you get discouraged?'  You can read it by clicking HERE. Here's another pick-me-up from September of 2012: click HERE. All of this just to say, I did it once... I can do it again!

source

In other news... 

I just found this amazing 3 minute ad that Dove posted on You Tube.  

I thought it was perfect to share here at Smaller Sarah.  

Taking Pictures

Having your photo taken is one of the hardest things to do when you're not feeling your most trim, fit, healthy or beautiful.  This weekend, I took some head shots.  I needed them for my website and work as an actor. My hope was to shed a bunch of weight over the past 6 weeks in preparation for the photo shoot. But life went crazy, I got sick, kids got sick, things became very busy and I wasn't able to attend to my health in the way I had planned.  I didn't want to take photos at this weight.  I was embarrassed because after having lost so much weight last year, I was gaining some of it back. I didn't want to commemorate my weight gain with professional photos.

I took them anyway. I went into my head shot session without make-up and told my photographer that I wanted honest, open and authentic photos of me. I was nervous about what that might look like given the extra weight I'm carrying.  I held my breath when we looked through the shots. To my great surprise and delight, I didn't see the extra skin under my chin or my poofy cheeks. I didn't see a lugubrious lethargic body. I didn't see a fat girl. I didn't see any of the terrible things I thought I'd see.  I just saw me. I saw a healthy, well-adjusted, real, present and yes - even beautiful - woman.  I saw me. It was a good reminder that living my best life has nothing to do with being up or down fifteen pounds.  Living my best life means being in the moment and enjoying the gift that awareness brings. What is that gift? Peace in my own skin.

Here are some of the photos: