Transformation Tuesday

It is a very powerful thing to have pictures like these…at times when its been a few days since the number on the scale has changed and I’m feeling stagnant, I need reminders like this. And these reminders turn into motivation to keep going! Before and after (or during, as the case may be) pictures are my jam! I have been pouring over them on Instagram and meeting new people on similar journeys or those who have almost reached their goal weight and who are keeping it off and living a healthy and thriving lifestyle. They inspire me. #transformationtuesday has been one of my favorite hashtags on Instagram lately, so I thought I’d share a couple transformation images of my own to chronicle the journey and show my progress.

The picture on the right is from October 2012. I just just started working at Horizon Credit Union. The picture on the left is from a couple weeks ago. I see the changes in strange places like my nose; my bra fits so different, and I’ve lost at least a half size in my feet. That jacket on the left picture…I can wrap it around my front now. I feel like my eyes sparkle more now.

Picture on the right is from May 2013, just before we made the change and the one on the left is from last week. I have a much more pronounced chin, and I can almost see my collarbone! Yay! This encourages me to keep on going, and maybe it can encourage others too. Set your mind to something, do the work and you’ll see and feel the results. And take pictures!! I think its so important to have these to look back on and compare. I’m sure grateful for them.

Something I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on in regards to my health is the reason that I put on the weight in the first place. I want to break this physical cycle, so I need to understand the mental one too. We live in such a food-centric culture, where everything revolves around food and meals. We celebrate with food, we comfort with food, we eat when we’re bored, we eat when we’re sad, we eat to gratify our emotions….we rarely eat because we’re hungry. It is so common to never experience that true need for food because we never stop eating. But in these last few months I have come to really understand that food is a fuel, and I need it to thrive and be healthy and active, but I need another outlet for my emotions.

“I must learn how to eat to live, not live to eat.” –Tweet this!

I have been doing some reading on the topic and there were a few questions in a book that really hit home for me: Can you find a different hobby when you’re bored, instead of eating? Can you deal with stress without using food as a pacifier or distraction? Can you create happiness without having to eat?

There have been so many times that I use my “celebrating the everyday” motto as an excuse to eat and justify bad food choices. I need to break this cycle!

What it comes down to for me, and I think for everyone, is to understand hunger and need and how food fuels the body. So I am working on developing a genuine desire to eat less. This is where HCG protocol comes in so handy. Because of the effect the HCG has on you, you can eat significantly less food than you ever have before and really test your body. It has given me a chance to retrain my mind so I think in terms of physical need instead of cultural norm. Just because its “lunch time” doesn’t mean I have to eat if I’m not hungry. This break in eating has given me a chance to rethink the role that eating (the act itself) has in my life, and to develop different coping mechanisms and build emotional strength.

This is huge to me.

I know that my desires to eat in the past have had nothing to do with hunger. I am so susceptible to commercials, advertising, seeing others eating, thinking that you have to get popcorn at the theater…I have to retrain my brain to recognize true physical hunger to control these desires, which I know will ultimately result in me reaching my goal: thriving in health.

I’m working on this…letting my emotional wounds heal, breaking the cycle of overeating to compensate for those wounds, and eating less because I want to, not just because it will result in weight-loss.

Glad for these lessons and the results. Thanks for letting me share.

Is this something you struggle with too?
What things have helped you better understand your hunger and motivation to eat?

Recent Design: PS Rowland

A couple of months ago I got a message on Facebook from my friend Pam who revealed to me that she was getting her book of poetry published! I was super excited for her, and that excitement grew when she asked me a bit about my design services and my perspective on author’s websites. We talked a lot about it and in the end, she hired me to design her brand new website to be released with her book. I was honored.

It has been such a great project and, as with every one I undertake, a learning process. Pam knew the feel she wanted for her site and we nailed down the colors based on the sweet sunflower picture we used for the background. We focused a lot on navigation and ease of use for her readers and I think we accomplished that. I love the final product and how well it matches Pam’s personality and her poetry.

Here is the final product. Click through to view it live at psrowland.com!

Here’s what Pam had to say about the process:

"As a new author I was in need of a professional working website. I did a market search, and consulted with many web designers. It was a mind boggling daunting process. I then remembered my friend Shaina was in the biz. So I contacted her, and wanted to jump for joy for how easy she made it for me. Her upbeat, "can do" attitude was refreshing. Her calmness when I was frantic was very soothing. Her artistic qualities, and thought process made it a breeze. I love the soft romantic feel she gave to it, which is perfect for the poetry I write. The ease of use for readers is the best. I've already received SO many compliments. I chose the PERFECT person for the job, and would HIGHLY recommend her for anyones needs. Thanks Shaina!"

Thanks so much Pam for trusting me with this project and working with me to make something beautiful. I hope that it continues to fit your needs as your readership expands with the publishing of your book. Congratulations and thanks for sharing this part of your journey with me!

Want to learn more about Pam? Follow her on FB and see her brand new book of poetry available for purchase here.

Now & Then

I recently fell down the rabbit hole online (through Pinterest, of course!) and came across this really great meme called Now & Then. Some of the ones I saw were srslyliz, bedsidesign, and fernaly. I thought I was a super cute way to look back and see how some things change and some things stay the same… and might give you a little bit of insight into my personality.

Here is my take on Now & Then. I thought back about 10-12 years ago when I was 16/17.

Some of the things that stayed the same…obviously my attraction to Christian Bale (from Little Women to Batman!), trying different things with my hair, my love of music and watching shows about families, music and spies.

Things that are different…the way I approach each day has changed, and I also don’t have time to read my Nancy Drew books much anymore. My perspectives and priorities have matured a bit I think. But that comes with getting older.

Such a fun way to look back, right?!

Did you learn something you didn’t know about me?
Try this post idea yourself and share your link in the comments. I’d love to see your Now & Then too!

Shaina learns Brush Script

I have been completely smitten with Kal Barteski’s script art for a long time…she turns simple words into magic with her brush. And so I was so excited when Studio Calico made the announcement that Kal was teaching a class for them called Life : Scripted. I was not missing this opportunity!

And let me tell you, I have not been let down. Kal’s love for this art and the supplies she uses to create it just ooze out of her. And she is a great teacher. I watched her do it and felt like I could do it too. So I got my supplies out and ready and for the first time dipped my special bamboo brush into gouache and then touched it to paper.

Too much water…making the paint was too lean. So I loaded up again and got so excited when the color looked just like I wanted. Attempt number two:

And then once I got the feel for water to paint ratio figured out for my brush I just kept drawing lines…line after line after line. Big fat lines, skinny little lines, some really dark, some lighter…all fun! I just felt my smile getting bigger and bigger on my face.

Then I tried diagonal lines and swirly lines and shapes. I was getting the feel for my brush and loving it!

And then it was time to move on to letters. I was trying to connect them, not connect them, use thin and thick lines, focus on the shapes and just get a good handle on how the brush works on actual shapes. I did lowercase and uppercase and this is my absolute favorite page of uppercases. I added a heart at the end cuz it made me so happy.

After pages and pages of letters and lines I wanted to try my hand at my One Little Word for the year: THRIVE. I wrote it a bunch, using different types of letters and combinations. My first page of “thrive” was my favorite in the end.

I added some drips for good measure and they made me extra happy. In the end I’d used tons of gouache and tons of paper. My whole office was covered and it just made my day! My plan is to use my scripting in my Project Life for 2014. Been waiting for this class to share those pages so they would be complete.

I am so glad that Kal and Studio Calico came together to offer this class. I know that this is something I’m going to fall more in love with the more I do it. I can’t wait to practice and practice some more and really learn my brushes and the shapes that I like.

Hoping to share lots more of the process and progress!! Thanks for peeking.

What is a new form of art you want to try?
Have you tried Brush Script before?
Do you love it or hate it?

My Favorite Phase 2 HCG Recipes

Phase 2 of the HCG diet can be really difficult because the food choices are so slim. You can have 100 grams of protein plus one vegetable and a fruit per meal. I usually split up my fruit through the day, unless I want to count my tomato as a fruit and add to it a meal. If you’re creative you can create so many different meals, and there are lots of recipe suggestions to be found, even on Pinterest. Here are a few of my go-to favorites.

This pesto sauce is just amazing, and I can’t wait to add it to lots of different veggies in the future too. I mixed basil, garlic, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, chicken broth and a little bit of stevia in a food processer and added salt and pepper to taste. Then I cooked up the chicken with some onion and once the meat was browned I added the pesto sauce and water to the chicken. Let it simmer a little and then pour all of this over a bed of spinach. So full of flavor!

This one is super easy, and one of the cases where I counted a tomato as my fruit for the meal. It helps to have more than just meat and lettuce on a salad sometimes. This is 100 grams of lean ground beef flavored with Mexican spices. I love to mix up my lettuce a lot and this time I used Iceburg. Its got a lot of crunch and the moisture picks up the flavors in the meat very well. Chris adds hot sauce to his, but I can’t handle that stuff. For me all that its missing is some olives! wink*wink.

This is one of my FAVORITE ways to eat cabbage. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and spread some MCT oil over a cookie sheet. Slice a heal of cabbage into 3/4” slices. Lay it out on the sheet and brush on some oil on the tops. Add seasoning (salt, garlic, etc.). Flip and repeat on the second side. Cook for half an hour and then flip the steaks and bake for another half hour. The edges will get dark and crispy. That’s my favorite part because it tastes so sweet. We pair this veggie with lots of different things…steak and grilled chicken breast are my favorite.

I love how easy this one is do at lunch time…quick and easy. I usually buy the tail off, precooked frozen shrimp and so you just need to run water over them and then give them a quick seer. I start my frying pan with the coconut oil and lost of garlic. I add the shrimp and it makes a bit of a sauce with the water from the shrimp. I throw this over a bed of spinach and I’m good to go. Super fast and super delicious.

So I’ve been on Phase 2 for 11 days and I’m down to 192.2 lbs, which is 17.8 lbs lost already! Feeling really good about my progress already. I drink a ton of water a day and triple-shot Americanos with cream are my jam! It feels so good to be the one cooking my food and making menu plans and shopping for real food. Not even 2 weeks in and I feel so much better. My energy is up and I’m sleeping better. I’m excited to keep watching the pounds drop and my smile get bigger.

What are some of your favorite healthy recipes?
I’m making a collection of them for our maintenance phase!