Pretty Pretty Please, don't you ever ever feel, like your less than, less than perfect!

I've recently discovered that listening to music is far more motivating during a workout, than any television program. Why did his take me so long to figure out? One song in particular today stuck out to me. I have heard the song "Less than Perfect" many times before, but for some reason, today, I seemed to connect with every word Pink sang. As I was running and listening to these brilliant lyrics, I realized how distorted my vision has been on the way I view myself and that I put too much credit on how others view me. Our family is very swiftly realizing how mentally challenging our health goals are. We knew how "physical" weight loss is with exercise and healthy eating, but we didn't understand the depth of how "mental" it was. We've discovered in this journey of health that we give the opinion of how others view us way too much credit. We let those opinions affect our behavior and we choose to let them bring us down. Light bulb moment....who the heck cares what anyone else thinks! And the same goes to that inner voice that likes to tear us down. That is a new goal for the Hodgkiss fam-bam! Pretty pretty please, don't ever ever feel, like your less than, less than perfect! A new family motto. AND, from now on, it's music at the gym, only music! :)

These last two weeks have been fun and busy!  We
had family roll into town from Boston, Dallas, and Boise on Friday night. On that Sunday, Big 'D' was happy to report to his family that he lost 5 pounds! And this week he lost 3 pounds, excellent! I was very impressed with the lengths that our family went to to help our family goals. Momma Kiss/Na Na took us shopping at Costco and showed us some awesome products that will help us and Darrin in our goals. We got almond flour, coconut flour, protein shakes and powder, some healthy snacks, healthy peanut butter, frozen chicken and soooooo much more!! I wrote down a few healthy recipes and momma kiss put them to the test and they turned out yummy!! Heather Hodgkiss also made a delicious version of "fried" chicken called almond crusted chicken and it was to die for good! Very excited to have my own try at these two dishes. This was actually pretty huge for us Hodgkiss' because we are notorious for eating really bad at family vacations all day, every day! I'm sure this is something common for many, many families. Don't get me wrong though, we still had tons of fun and had some cheat meals, but for the most part, we all did really really well, and I'm very proud of all of us!!

They also helped us fit in our weekly family activity, just when I didn't think it wasn't going to happen for the first time in 8 weeks! We squeezed in a nice family walk by the beautiful canyon and then some soccer fun after our Boise soccer weekend the following week. The things we learned this last week will be invaluable to our success!!

We are falling in love with our soccer Saturdays! They are busy and prove to be incredibly exhausting, but we aren't going to trade them in!





Darrin also had a very intense week of studying for a big mid-term exam so, honestly the 3 pounds this last week were very well deserved, as work-outs were put mildly on the back burner. Something we have had to just come to terms with. Especially me as at times I expect a lot from him. And I will continue to do so, but on exam weeks, studying will always have to put up a good fight against exercise until Darrin graduates. He managed to fit in some good workouts and shifted his diet back to low carbohydrates and was able to bust out a total of 8 pounds in the last two weeks. We'll take it!! Good news....he fought and won an 86% on his midterm exam!

Now that Darrin has dabbled with different diet experiments, HE, has decided that what he deals with best is cutting out all bad carbs. He's learned that he, like many others, is a TRUE food addict and the best way to deal with this addiction for now, is to go cold turkey (again). He is also slowly opening his mind up to some actual counseling on this addiction. Until then, he wants to do what he knows works best and we'll touch back on the counseling. I'll be ready for whatever he decides. For now, I'm just THRILLED that he has even opened his mind to the sheer idea of getting a counselor to help with this addiction.  This journey is opening his mind to different ideas that will lead to his and our family's success! This my friends, is gold! I've also realized that I have treated Darrin as less than perfect, and that isn't going to help get him anywhere! He feeds off of my behavior, and that is a big responsibility. No, I don't control him in anyway. If I had any amount of control over him, then he would have lost all his weight 13 years ago. What I do know, is that my attitude affects his attitude and if I treat him as less than perfect, then often times he will act less than perfect. He's my husband, and I love him and he deserves better treatment.

We let our girls take a break this last week from our fruit and veggie experiment. This week we start fresh and recharged. I right now am in love with roasted broccoli, so that is what our girls will be trying this week. And our fruit is cantaloupe! They have slowly talked themselves out of liking this two food items; my job, to talk them back into it :) AND to get our booties to bed earlier.

Our community project is going wonderfully!! I have an employee, healthy eating class, set up for this Wednesday and we should have over 20 people present. We'll be discussing success stories, recipes, motivational tips and a pampered chef is coming to make us a healthy meal and will show us tools in the kitchen that make eating healthy much easier! I have also put together some awesome grand prizes worth around 1000 dollars, both in funds and products, so I'm incredibly happy! I will be putting together a sponsor newsletter/list and be advertising for companies as well. I'm so grateful for such wonderful support!

Here's to another good week!