Making Progress

I have been insanely busy! I have always dreamed of opening up a little etsy shop and selling things I create. I am no professional but I do enjoy sewing and crocheting. So, I did it! It was scary and has been nerve racking but I have a few orders already and am loving it.

As far as working out I have kinda put it on the back burner. But starting to tomorrow I will be right back at it! Here is my progress so far.

Although it's pretty embarrassing to post these it's also crazy to see the changes. And I was even bigger before my Jan 1 picture. I was just way too embarrassed to remember what I looked like. Seriously, I can't even believe how big I was.

Crazy week

I can't even believe it's already Saturday. This week flew by and you know what? I did EXCELLENT on my eating. So good that last night when I ate some yummy but oh so bad for you hot wings, it made me sick. I hadn't had that much sodium or anything fried in a while. I love getting to that point in my eating because that means I crave things less and I do a lot better.

This week I was offered birthday cake, ice cream, chips, dr. pepper, m&m's, cupcakes, many many baked goodies, chocolate covered strawberries, and delicious bread. Plus I went out to chilis.

I ate from the lighter menu at Chilis for under 600 calories. I chose the dr pepper 10, had the smallest piece of birthday cake at my dads and brothers birthday and the rest I turned down! Yes, even the chocolate covered strawberry. I know, I am crazy.

I believe all things in moderation. It is OK to eat treats I just don't think you need something sweet everyday. I look back at how much I have changed over the past few weeks and how much better I feel about myself.

I am in control of me. Not my cravings. I can say no and sometimes say yes. It is a liberating feeling! Plus, I feel like I am sleeping better, I have more energy and I am not dragging. We are what we eat :)

One of the biggest things I am teaching myself this week that ONE bad meal won't make you bigger just like ONE good meal won't make you smaller. It's all about hard work and changing your lifestyle. No diets around here. I feel confident in me and you know what? I tried on a pair of 10's at Old Navy yesterday and I could of gone smaller. Now that is a wonderful feeling. Going from a 14/16 to a loose 10 is motivation for me to keep working hard.

Courtesy of pinterest

It's the truth! Put down the cookie, pick up your fruits and veggies and see the changes happen. I sure am! 

Healthy Treat

(So this same post is on our family blog. I know, how lame. But I am not brave enough to share this blog with everyone I know. Unless you know how to find the link I haven't shared it. Maybe one day.)

I am eating really healthy but I still love my treats. Like really love my treats so it's hard for me to just give up my sweets. Good thing is there are recipes out there that taste delicious but are still healthy. I found this on pinterest. I believe the original is found here.

You will need:

2 older bananas
1 cup quick oats

additional: whatever you want! I did chocolate chips and a little cinnamon. You can add nuts, raisins, craisins, basically whatever you desire.

Heat oven to 350. Spray cookie sheet (DON'T FORGET THIS PART!) Bake for 15 minutes.

Eat them all because all you will be eating is 2 bananas and 2 servings oatmeal. What up! (Yes, I watch How I Met Your Mother wayyyy too much.) Even my husband liked them and that is saying something!

I needed this

Uhhh this definitely slapped me in the face. How foolish I am to let a number make me feel worthless. 

You know what made me feel good today? Doing more reps in my workout than I did yesterday. THAT is what I should be focusing on, not a silly number. 

An example of my daily eats

I have learned the best way for my body to be healthy and to keep up my metabolism is to eat 5-6 meals a day. It is not easy to eat that much with a baby. Time goes by so so quickly and before I realize it some days I haven't eaten in 5 or 6 hours. 

I have started writing down everything that goes in my mouth. I tried to use My Fitness Pal. It is a great app but I get impatient with it and give up after a few days. I found out what works best for me is to get out my note book and write down the times and what I eat. Plus I track my water. It holds me accountable and lets me look back at what I've done. 

Today I got up at 7:45 and I try my hardest to eat breakfast within an hour of that. Doesn't always happen with a baby but I try! 

I usually have 1 cup oatmeal with a spoonful of raw honey and and handful of craisins. Some days I use agave, honey, cinnamon, or a couple chocolate chips to keep it sweet but still healthy. I also do two egg whites with one who egg. Fills me right up and starts my day off right! 

Carbs: Oatmeal

Protein: Egg Whites

Fat: Egg Yolk

About 2-3 hours later I have my  mid morning snack. This can be just about anything! I try to eat a protein, carb and fat in every single meal and snack. Today I ate a cheese stick and 90 calorie granola bar. Other days I eat an apple with peanut butter, almonds and a fruit, yogurt and veggies, cottage cheese and fruit, and so on. 

 Lunch is always my hardest meal. I never know what to eat. I love asparagus and quesadillas so I stuck with that. The quesadilla is a fresh only 5 ingredient tortilla with cheese and black beans. I roasted some asparagus in the oven with some salt garlic salt, and olive oil. (Today I used butter because I am out of olive oil but you do what you can). 

Protein: Black beans

Carbs: Tortilla

Fat: Cheese

I went on a run today after lunch with Oakley. Holy crap was I slow. Pushing a stroller around a hilly neighborhood is SO hard. I did a mile in 14 minutes but I blame it on the stroller/hills. 

For my afternoon snack I had a protein shake, carrots, cucumber, and a little ranch. I missed out on a little carbs but it was post workout and it was what sounded good. 

For dinner I made Lemon Garlic Tilapia. I can post recipe if wanted. It was some of the best fish ever. We had broccoli and brown rice with it. Seriously so so so amazing. 

For tonight I have level 2 of Jillian to finish and I will probably have a protein smoothie with fruit. YUM!

And just for fun I thought I would post a pic of 

me and my Oakley girl! 

My frustration with losing weight

I love working out. It's not just something I do every once and a while. It is a part of my every day life whether it be 15 minutes or an hour I always try to find time to do at least 10 pushups, 30 jumping jacks, and 30 crunches. Some days that happens right before bed but hey, at least it happens.

I workout because it makes me feel good. I crave the high I get from finishing a hard workout, dripping in sweat, and feeling accomplished.

I also enjoy working out because I love to see results. I love to see my body change form my hard work.

Before I got pregnant, I dropped 30 pounds fast. I worked out 6-7 days a week and my body responded well.

Now post baby, I still work out 6-7 days a week and guess what? I am not dropping any pounds. Yes you read that correctly. I know before I said I lost 13 pounds (Take into account that my baby weight 6lbs so half of that was her). Well I somehow gained 5 over the weekend with only 1 cheat day.

Can I just scream out loud?! I am so frustrated. 5 months post partum and I weigh the same as the day I left the hospital. How is that even fair?

I work so hard!

To top it all off I hurt my rotator cuff so doing any shoulder exercises in the last week was a big no-no. I did more normal exercise last night and it's sad to see how much I've regressed in the last week.

I have really cracked down on my eating since seeing that 186 jump back on the scale. I was doing good about 85% of the time before but now its 100%. No more of this garbage.

The old me would have said forget this and just eaten more crap because I feel bad about myself. The me now wants to buckle down and figure this crap out. I will not be big this summer. I just won't.

I know it's terrible to compare yourselves to other but I have friends who have had babies the same time as me who eat like CRAP and hardly work out and somehow they lose 5-10 pounds without trying. Seriously? Not even fair.

But I am doing this to be healthy so if this is the weight and size I stay for the rest of my life, at least it will be a healthy one!

Late Valentines

Tonight my husband and I went out for Valentines. I was making sure I was eating well because I knew we were going somewhere full of calories and carbs... and I wouldn't be able to say no. Well of course he took me to Brick Oven. Think pizza, salad, garlic bread, homemade rootbeer, and pasta. Andddd our meal came with a cookie. Eeeep!

I wanted to enjoy our night out together and not worry. So I indulged. We walked around the mall and got me workout pants for Valentines (woop woop). Plus he took me to jamba juice afterwards as a "healthier" dessert. I really wanted to just call it a night and get a cupcake but we enjoyed our jamba.

Afterwards we rented a movie and I changed into my new workout capris and got to work!

This workout is hard. I love that it's short when it's late at night but still super hard.

Oh pinterest. I love how you give me the options of getting in a fun workout that is different and challenging.

Favorite exercise

If you can't get into the gym, which many can't, the best place to work out is at home. It has been a challenge but it has worked for me. We don't own a treadmill or any gym equipment besides the basics. I have 5lb and 10lb weights, stretch bands, and DVDs. That is it! When the weather cooperates I go running outside (which is not happening this winter with a 5 month old.)

Really though, if you can spare between 8-10 dollars go out and buy a Jillian DVD. My favs are the 30 days shred and ripped in 30. It gives great results and kick starts your weight loss/toning.


The first time I did it I took before and after measurements and pictures. This is super embarrassing but since no one reads this anyways I am going to post my before and afters PRE baby.

My Story

I have always been a curvy girl, or as many has said "bigger boned". That being said I have always been an athletic girl. I have always played sports and danced. One thing that really has always been out of control for me is food. I thought I could eat whatever I want and keep in shape. Wrong!

I grew up feeling extremely self conscious about my weight and size. Being the tallest sister with the most curves was a hard pill to swallow. I never realized that I wasn't over weight growing up. I just had an extreme skewed view of myself. So when I really started to get bigger, my mind always thought I was that way.

I stayed small through the first 2 years of college and then the weight piled on. I got married and even more weight piled on. I was up to my highest number in my life and realized I couldn't live like this anymore.

So I got the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred and worked my butt off. I lost a lot in inches and found my love for exercise again. I craved more. I wanted to be the healthiest I had ever been. So I got a personal trainer (when we had money, ha!) and I worked hard.

I ate extremely clean and only had one cheat meal a week. I exercised 6 days a week and was dropping weight and gaining muscle like crazy. I ran my first 5K, I almost had a 6 pack, was at my lowest weight since high school and felt great.

Then, I got pregnant. I was ecstatic. I wanted a healthy pregnancy. I wanted to be the one who worked hard and bounced back. I made it up to 20 weeks working out 5-6 days a week and had only gained 8 pounds by 22 weeks being pregnant. My body started going into preterm labor and I was put on bedrest until I was 35 weeks pregnant. By the time I was able to get moving again I was so big I couldn't do much. I walked and walked but it didn't undue any damage that was already done. I was 50 pounds heavier. 194 pounds.

How did I ever let myself become this big? How did I throw out everything I had educated myself on about food just because I was stuck on the couch? Don't get me wrong, I love a good treat but I indulged every.single.day. Why oh why?

My baby is 5 months old and I have lost 13 pounds all at home. I have had to go in and out of exercising due to nursing and injury but I am back at it full swing. I was not one of those lucky girls who just gained a bunch of baby weight. I gained real weight that is making me work hard to get off. Lesson learned the hard way.

So here is my journey to lose the weight, again!

Graduation trip 2007

College 2008 

Cruise 2009 

Engagements 2010

Christmas 2010 at my heaviest prepregnancy

August 2011 During my 30 days

Dec 2011 Cruise. Sorry for all the cruise pics but these are the only ones I got at my fittest. 

And then September 2012 6 days before my due date.

This is me Jan 2013. I have been working hard. The number on the scale doesn't reflect all my hard work but things are changing I tell ya! 

I obviously don't consider myself fat. I have to rid that word from my vocabulary. I am out of shape and not confident with my body. So all I can do is work hard to make a change. 

Welcome

I've been really wanting to start a blog about making the most of your down time whether you have kids or not.

I am NO expert when it comes to a healthy lifestyle. (Note: I didn't say diet and exercise because I don't believe in diets. When I ate really healthy everyone kept asking me which diet I was on. It's not a diet, it's a way of living.)

I am just a girl who used to be super in shape and is trying to get back to that.

I had a baby and was on bed rest during my pregnancy. I let go of everything I had taught my body and myself about health and felt sorry for myself.

Boy am I paying for it now.

So, I thought why not keep track of my journey, my workouts, my meals, my failures, and triumphs all along the way to keep me motivated and maybe, just maybe inspire others.