And it begins...

It's 2012 and I'm committing. Well, "we" actually. And by "we" I mean my family. All four of us. We're not unhealthy people in general, but we don't have the best habits. It's pretty easy for us to fall into making a pasta and garlic bread dinner every night for a week. This year needs to be different, and it needs to be a long term plan. I've dieted in the past and have struggled every moment. I'm not bad at working out, but tend to plateau within the regime I choose. My husband has never struggled with weight or fitness; if anything he's struggled to keep weight on. Our bodies are completely different, so in general, sharing workouts and diets haven't been beneficial to the both of us. Until now.

So here's our plan. We're going to commit to health in 2012. We're doing that in 2 ways. 1) We've been going to a Crossfit gym. It's perfect because it's something we can do together and even bring the kids. They can play in the kid pit in the back of the gym while we work our buns off. We're hoping for 3-4 workouts per week. People say it takes 24 repetitions of an action to create a habit. This puts us at 2 months until it becomes a regular part of our lives. 2) We're going to eat Paleo. That's right, the caveman diet. I like to cook and so does my husband. This isn't really a diet, it's a lifestyle change. No dairy, no grains, no major starches. Lots of lean meats, fish, poultry, veggies and fruit. The most important aspect is that I can keep bacon in my diet. And alcohol. Phew.

Here are our challenges: 1) We have 2 great, but picky kids. Our son is in Kindergarten and our daughter is almost 3. They are really mac n cheese and chicken nugget kind of kids and I'm not sure how we'll adapt our new meal plan to them.  2) We work full time. I'm a high school art teacher and my husband is an Administrator at a high school. Our schools are between 25 minutes to an hour away each, depending on the time of day we're attempting to drive. 3) Eating paleo is likely to be more expensive than our existing diet.

Here's what I'm hoping to accomplish with this blog: During the course of one year, I want to prove that a busy working mom can create a healthy home environment for her family without going broke. I want to share recipes, links, planning techniques and general ideas to show that it's not impossible to cook something nutritious every night for your family and it's not impossible to fit fitness into your schedule. 4) And lets be honest, I'd like a safe place to vent my frustrations as well as celebrate my accomplishments. I'll share with you my progress, weight loss, fat loss, muscle gain and overall health benefits. Some of the info might be TMI. Just fair warning.

So if you'd like to come along for the ride, I'd love to have you!