Healthy Living

I made the mistake of doing a 3-day cleanse. I got what I paid for, I lost some weight and I stuck to the strict diet for 72 hours. I also got more than I paid for: lessons. Some good. Some bad. Overall, I will not be putting myself through another cleanse. I learned that sleep is important and I will commit to giving myself a nap 3 days a week while my kiddos nap. I am an early riser and have not been prioritizing sleep for myself as well as I do for my littles. I learned that I do  enjoy vegetables and I will spend more time making creative sides and snacks of them instead of reaching for packaged items first (or primarily). I learned that I do not like celery or cucumbers. I can tolerate celery in smoothies, but I do not like eating it by itself or with almond butter. I do not really like almond butter. It's peanut butter or nothing! HA! I am far too dependent upon coffee. Prior to said cleanse, I was consuming somewhere between 150 and 350mg of caffeine per day. Since...

36wks 3rd pregnancy vs 36wks 2nd pregnancy Well, let's see, where do I begin? Hubby and I found out last May that we were expecting our third baby! It was exciting and scary, also, I did not know how to navigate a healthy pregnancy. After several months of losing stamina for fear of working out and even longer of losing self control giving into pregnancy "cravings," I was able to pull the reigns back in just after Halloween and landed a position with my online weight loss community in November. Though I struggled through my pregnancy, I was so grateful to be able to go back to my community and share and work through it. I ended up gaining 30lbs. So, after my 6 week PP clearance, I was back at 203. My baby boy is now about 3mos old and I am teetering between 199-200. 3-4lbs lost is not bad in about 6-8 weeks. My energy is up, my mood is way better, and life is beginning to shift into balance. Meeting Heather Robertson, Founder of Half Size Me Last September h...

I like food. Whew, I'm glad I could get that out there. Has anyone who LOVES food (probably more than we should), and being "health conscious," ever fasted? It is very difficult. Sometimes, I confess, I have fasted for the most wrong of reasons (is that a phrase? Let's say that it is): because I over -indulged and I am "effectively" punishing myself for not staying on plan. Because depriving myself of EVERYTHING will get me back on plan, right? No. Here's the thing, last week, I fasted with my church for a very right reason. However, I knew that in the past (and was heading toward this again), I had the wrong mindset around food. So, I fasted from social media and main meals. This meant that I had breakfast (6:30am) and snacks (the fast was 24 hours 8am-8am). It meant that I would not deprive myself of anything, I was just going to limit my time frames and was aware of my intake. There was still an evening struggle at small group with the snack table, ...

I would like to take a moment to talk about plateaus. Most of us begin to feel frustrated when we hit them (and we all hit them). I have decided to take the time to enjoy the maintenance aspect. I was initially taking a maintenance break, now I have began lowering my calorie intake again in order to lose. However, I am still maintaining, and that is okay. Here is why: I am healthy, I have no physical ailments that I cannot deal with which might be impeding on the norms of my life. I am strong, I can carry both of my 25# toddlers in my arms up 3 flights of stairs and into their bedroom (or down and into the car) without pausing several times up/down the steps; I can also carry all of my groceries from several stores up and down the stairs without being too winded to put them away after I bring them up. That is a sufficient amount of strength for my current employment ;) I enjoy my workouts! Many people dread the gym or have to force themselves to get their workout in because th...

Do you ever find yourself wondering, "How is it 4:30pm already? Where has the time gone and what have I been doing for the past hour?!" Me too. It seems like I open up Instagram for a quick scroll and pop over to Facebook for a short scan, then I close them and look up and my afternoon is gone, the babies are waking up from their long nap waiting for their snack. I also found myself having short spans of time, checking my messages then - by default - tapping that Facebook icon or hitting the Instagram app. I admit, these are my two most commonly opened apps (besides My Fitness Pal), and it is amazing the amount of time that was being wasted throughout my day. So, in light of this, I decided last week to take a 48 hour social media fast. Day 1: I scrubbed the bathroom, deep cleaned the kitchen, reorganized the fridge, swept the floors and "mopped" without a mop (that is on my hands and knees with disinfectant wipes on my laminate floors). Day 2: My phone batt...

Hubby had an extended vacation due to the holiday, so we had a fun time at my family’s house and a good drive up to Reno to visit his sister! I was so surprised at how well our little ones did through the drive up and down, we were so blessed with the timing! The most difficult thing was the food. A lot of it wasn’t even really that tempting, but my poor habits are tough to break. When there is food: I eat! When I’m stressed: I eat. When I’m bored: I eat. When I’m angry, frustrated, feeling out of control/anxious, etc: I eat! Food is an addictive coping mechanism and breaking it is one of the hardest things to do.  I’m working through it, though. We were in Reno from Friday early morning through Monday late afternoon. I went with my hubby, his sis, her boyfriend and his brother for a walk and did a few quick HIITs and yoga stretches on the trail. The  next morning, things were (once again) beyond my control, and I did a brief yoga session before eating anything, so t...

On Sunday I took my two year old, AJ, to Disneyland by myself. We headed out after church and arrived at 2:20ish. Loading her in a Tula carrier on my back, I front-face our backpack filled with water, snacks and diapers, and headed for the parks. I like to get the extra steps, so I prefer not to take the tram. We climbed down 3 flights of stairs, trekked across the Pinocchio parking lot, passed the Downtown Disney parking area/Lilo parking lot, and walked through Downtown Disney before reaching the turn-style into the Magic Kingdom. Knowing her excitement for Moana lately, we headed straight to Aladdin's Oasis to see if she would be there, perfect timing! A 20 minute wait before she came over and 3 minutes in line once she arrived! After this, we darted over to Fantasy Land to ride the carousel, AJ cries out, "Horse!" She really enjoys it. Then we rode the Teacups for the first time (mommy does not spin hehe). She LOVED them! Alice in Wonderland was not a ridiculous l...