My marathon of bowel preps is now over. Thank you Jesus! It definitely wasn’t my first rodeo as I’ve definitely known how to survive a bowel prep but being that a colonoscopy wasn’t waiting at the end made it quite different.

I would like to know who gets hired to write the labels for bowel prep kits. My BFF Mamie and I were joking on Twitter about some of the descriptions. This week’s bottle read “sparkling saline laxative” as if using the word “sparkling” would make it easier to drink. Mamie’s favorite was the brand “Go-Litely” which should have been retitled, “Go-all-day-and-all-nightly.” I think the one that really takes the cake are the barium shakes you have to drink before CT scan or upper GI which kindly read, “Pleasantly Flavored.” Whoever the jerk is that wrote that I would LOVE to treat him or her to three or four bottles and see how pleasant they find it.

But I digress.

Lately its been no secret that I haven’t been happy with my body. I busted tail in 2010 to lose close to 40 pounds. I was so proud of myself and definitely felt confident about my body for the first time in a long time.

Then 2011 happened.

It was not a good year. Pain seemed to escalate throughout the year regardless of any type of intervention we tried. Surgery did not even provide relief as we would have hoped and let’s not get started on the megace treatment.

Between the pain, inactivity, and treatments, it kills me to say that all of the weight I lost is now back and its a struggle to not hate myself for it.

So with this week’s cleanse, I’ve decided to make something positive out of it and use this as an opportunity to have a fresh start and start to make better choices about what I put in my body. The timing of the kickoff of Sharing Our Spoons is great as I’m really looking forward to having the accountability and support of some amazing ladies on this journey to regain control of my body or maybe re-lose would be the better way to think.

Either way, I’m ready to go. I just signed up for a six-month meal planning service to help me plan healthy, gluten-free and kid-friendly meals in advance instead of showing up at the house every day after work and having John and I ask each other, “What do you want to do for dinner?’ Menu planning will commence tonight and grocery shopping will take place this weekend to help us get off on the right foot!

I feel super-charged already just putting this all in writing! Who’s with me?

*P.S. The giveaways associated with the Sharing Our Spoons kick-off will run through the weekend & winners will be drawn Monday so be sure to check it out!*