I’m baaaaccckkk! Did you all miss me? As much as I enjoyed unplugging over our Memorial Day Weekend trip to the mountains, I did miss being involved in the world of blogging. I feel so out of the loop! I’ll try to catch up with everyone as much as possible soon. I hate to think how much I’ll miss blogging when I am gone with no Internet access for 10 days! Please don’t leave me all of you fabulous readers! You really put a smile on a girl’s face…especially when she is still feeling sick as all get out 80% of the time. Yes, I still don’t feel so great. But I’m surviving and was still able to enjoy myself this weekend. Care to see what I did? I hope so because that is what this post is about. 😉

Friday

I spent the morning in the bathroom, the afternoon on the couch, and somehow managed to pack up for our trip and get a Flashback Friday post up showing my baby bump progression from my pregnancy with baby M. We left at around 6:30 to hit the road for the pretty easy drive to Ellijay in the North Georgia Mountains.

I was so happy when we finally made it to our cabin. It looks small but it had 6 bedrooms, a hot tub, a pool table, and plenty of room for the 8 adults and 4 kids in our clan. Friday night was all about getting unpacked and settled before relaxing with good conversation and company for the night.

Saturday

Saturday was a little more eventful. We searched the surrounding area for a hike to go on that would be suitable with little kiddos and had some pretty views. We found a good sounding one that had some waterfalls and was a short hike in.

We got M settled in the hiking pack and made our way up to the waterfalls.

The waterfall was smaller than we expected, but it was still nice because you were able to walk out to it easily. Makenzie even got the chance to touch it.

We then all packed back up to head back down and go to a little country restaurant we found for lunch.

It was along the river and had such a charming feel to it with all the country style decorations. Well, besides the stuffed animals all over the place. They could have done without that.

Continuing with my nothing-healthy-sounds-appetizing food aversions and first trimester eating habits, I ordered some chicken tenders, sweet potato fries, and coleslaw. It was delicious. Probably only because I was SO hungry after it took them an hour to get our food.

The remainder of the day consisted of naps and watching the kids use pool noodles for the best entertainment out of the many toys they had access to.

As well as cooking out and playing some games with Heather’s Insanity Bars to fuel us at night.

Sunday

Sunday was extremely low key. We took our time waking up and getting the day started. I even slept in until 9:00 which is unheard of for me. I honestly don’t remember how we filled our morning. After lunch, however, we headed to the pool and playground that was part of the cabin rental community. The girls all had a blast and Makenzie adored the pool.

Of course she loved the playground too. There was swinging involved and wooden bears she could high five, so how could she not love it?

The night was spent much the same as the previous one – eating and relaxing.

Monday

We did a mad dash of packing up the excess of stuff you bring on a vacation when you travel with 4 kids ages two and under to be able to make our 11:00 check out time. Then, headed home. I caught up on some emails and crashed on the couch out of exhaustion and the worst nausea so far. We still had to head over to Peter’s parents’ house to pick up our dog and also let them in on the pregnancy news. They were shocked and excited. I’m thankful it was a quick visit so we could get home and pop in a movie with some pizza. You would think I would be craving veggies after eating so little. Normally I would, but not when the sight of them make me want to dry heave. So, the lackluster in the nutrition department eats continue. I only have about 6 more weeks of this. Lucky me! 😀

• Tell me the best part of your weekend! I really want to know since I haven’t been able to catch up on blogs much yet.
• What is your favorite thing to do on a vacation? Do you like to be busy or just do nothing?

I hope everyone has been having an enjoyable weekend. I am still in the North Georgia Mountains with some friends. I’ll be back with an update on the trip tomorrow night. For all you US readers, have a great Memorial Day tomorrow and enjoy the 3 day weekend. I know I plan to. We may even be telling Peter’s family I am pregnant tomorrow. Exciting stuff! Now onto the next installment of the Intuitive Eating series.

Find the links to all the previous Intuitive Eating post on my “Click Me” Page at the top of the site.

This post will be all about Principle 7 of the 10 Intuitive Eating principles Tribole & Resch discuss in their fabulous book. It is the one I feel most strongly about as well – Respecting Your Body. Yesterday I had a post about why I love my body and mentioned the importance of each of us loving our own. We need to understand that our bodies are amazing things and do so much for us. They deserve to be treated with respect. It took many daily prayers asking God to show me how to respect my body and treat it as He wills for me to even begin realizing how worthy my body is of love. Once I loved myself, it was much easier to take action to respect my body as well. Here are some ways you can begin to respect your body or continue a path of honoring it.

1. Don’t be unrealistic about your body. It is okay to have goals and strive for improved fitness or to eat a healthier diet, but the stress we can put on ourselves to be a certain size or weight can be hurtful. Why? Many of us will choose a goal weight or size that is simple unachievable, or if it is achieved is unrealistic and difficult to maintain. We should love our body’s for their natural size over the ideal one we create in our skewed minds. That isn’t to say stay obese if that is your current situation. That is not natural. The natural size I speak of for you to embrace is one that is achieved through a healthy and balanced lifestyle, easy to maintain once reached, and leaves your body functioning optimally.

2. Focus on meeting your body’s needs. Eat fruits, veggies, lean proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats that you enjoy and be moderately active because it is what your body needs. Not because you want to burn X amount of calories that day. Do things for your body and you will witness a change. You will feel stronger, more energetic, and balanced through eating enough quality foods and getting physical on a regular basis. This doesn’t mean you can’t have treats when you want them or be lazy when you feel like it. It is simply to be sure you are taking care of your health and being able to enjoy life.

3. Change your body assessment tools. Instead of focusing on how you look, try to think about how you feel. Pay attention to your energy levels, your happiness, how powerful you feel, and other positive effects of being healthy. Try to stop comparing yourself to others, or when you do, be realistic about your own strengths, which is something I have shared that helps me. If possible, don’t use a scale or tape measure to tell you how you look. Don’t let a calorie tally tell you how good you are with food. Choose healthier habits to meet your body’s needs and be confident in the fact you are caring for yourself. Healthy living is not a Pass/Fail test. It is just constantly striving to enjoy life in a balanced manner.

4. Don’t put off things in life until you reach a certain “body goal”. Live life today, right now. Don’t allow your body to dictate your happiness. You have to be happy first before you will be able to respect yourself and therefore your body. Live the life you want and do the things you love. Be happy. Don’t wait for life to pass you by.

5. Treat yourself. Have clothes you feel good in; get a pedicure; schedule a massage; take a lunch date with a close friend. Do things that leave you feeling more confident. Confidence looks good on everyone. Build up confidence in those subtle ways, so you will be more likely to take actions to respect yourself in other ways.

• How do you respect yourself?
• Have you ever put off something because of a “body goal”? I can’t think if I’ve ever put off doing something, but I know I have had thoughts before that I would be so much happier if I was X weight. Ridiculous!
• Do you think it is better to strive for our natural weight instead of an ideal weight? I do think you have to work at losing weight, but that you should still be eating enough for your body's needs and not overtraining while losing weight. I also think that once you reach the goal, your body shouldn't need to do anything drastic to maintain it.