Life after baby weight.

I am busy editing Madyson's baptism video so it will be up tomorrow!!

Today-I am sharing (by request) my journey of clean eating.

Over the past few years my weight has been a battle. Before the miscarriage I was 120-after the miscarriage I was 145-then I dropped down to 115 -then I got pregnant, and Todd's mom died, and I get sick, and Todd lost his job, and life fell  apart and I found myself weighing in at 165 lbs. I have never been overweight-and for some people 165lbs is a great weight. But I am 5'2 tall. I am small framed. My little heart doesn't work well and when it has to work extra hard-i have to take medicine for it. So when Amelia was born I made a commitment to myself. I would do a strict clean eating diet until I was at 120lbs. Then I would maintain my eating but live by the 80/20 rule.

So let's get started-here I am right before Amelia was born. 

I look "pregnant" to the untrained eye-but   I was all over big. My arms had doubled-my legs had doubled-my face was fuller. My blood work was off-my energy level was shot.

I pintersted "clean eating" and here is where I began.

This was my first shopping list-minus tuna,salmon, and cottage cheese ((I can't do those my tummy doesn't handle it well))

I stocked my grocery cart (buggy) with kale, spinach, dark leaf lettuce, tons of avacados, celery, carrots....picture walking through the produce department and loading up on almost everything.

Produce goes way beyond salads-that was my first lesson I had to learn the hard way. After spending a week eating salads for breakfast, lunch, and dinner I took it back to Pinterest to figure out what to do with all this clean food i just purchased-I liked a bunch of pins (and I have now put them on a board for you and learned how to cook with all this.) 

{{I know what you are thinking-my kids would not eat that}}

Well-mine do-at times and at times they look at me like I am crazy. So if you come to my pantry you will find easy Mac, jambalaya mix, princess soup, and a few other "kid staples" that they are allowed. 

 The first month it was hard. I adore Oreos and cheesecake and ice cream and kit Kats and all that. But I knew that I also adore my 3 girls and my husband and if I want to be healthy for them-I had to do this for myself. 

After 2 Weeks I had a waist line again. But the rest of me still needed to deflat.

I kept it up-and once I got to 130 lbs -I began to allow myself to indulge 20% of the time-while staying focused 80%.

At 6 months post delivery-I was at my goal weight of 120lbs. 

I went from wearing large/xL clothes to a size 2. The only exercising I have done in 6 months is strolling with my girls around the neighborhood-and nursing. Now we all know how many calories nursing burns-so by clean eating I had to make sure I was taking in my daily amount PLUS enough to maintain a milk supply for miss Amelia. I am proud to announce that she is in the 99% for weight-so this did not effect her in anyway. 

What do I eat? 

Check out my Pinterest board for some ideas but a normal day would include:

Breakfast: oatmeal with fruit and honey

Avacado (sliced) with a boiled egg (sliced)

Snack: peanut butter and banana wrapped in a wheat flat out wrap.

Lunch:2 quesadillas (8 triangles) with black beans, shredded chicken, low fat cheese, 1/2 avacado and spinach.

Snack: fruit bowl or carrot/pepper/celery and Greek yogurt ranch dip

Dinner: grilled/baked chicken or turkey breast-sweet potato, broccoli, wild rice

Dessert: dark chocolate 

Snack: smoothie or low fat cheese & crackers or some sort of fruit.

On my indulging days I would eat a cheeseburger-French fries-Oreos-cheesecake....

Now that I am allowing myself treats I will have one of the mentioned above each day-i just make sure I get my veggies in!! 

 

*****i am by no means a doctor and before beginning any diet or life style change always consult your doctor.*****

Look at ME!

So most blog post this week award goes to me!

I have a new system in place for blogging so I hope to stay caught up now!

Thank you to all 300+ of you that visited during Kelly's "Will you be my friend?" SUYL. I am so excited to grow my list of MS bloggy friends!

I have had so much feedback on "Just need to write" through tweets, emails, and messages. Thank yall for the kind words and support. Life is getting a little less chaotic, but I have a super strong feeling that God is up to something BIG. Words can not describe what is going on in my heart right now, but my whole "outlook" on things is getting wider.

Sunday in church, our Pastor spoke about David and Bathsheba and sin and responsibility. 

 "The failure of responsibility is a welcome mat for the enemy."

This is going to be my motto for the month. I am battling a spiritual battle inside. For 2.5 years I have been surrounded 6 days a week by Godly people who supported me daily. Now, it is up to me to bring God into my life. Working from home adds alot of extra responsibility. Family is A LOT of responsibility. And managing it all is huge responsibility. The only way to do it all and do it all successfully is by leaning on Him to give me strength and help guide me.

On the Adoption front: If I go by my gut, a lot should be happening in the next few months. You know before you give birth you get that "nesting" feeling? Well, I defiantly have that right now. I need baby #3's room done, I have a desire to start doing a lot more and this is a new feeling for me. This whole process I have been kind of "going through it" without the emotions that normally go along with adoption. My reason behind it is this is God's thing. I know He is in control and I have done really well to just let the process go His way and tried not to let my emotions of I WANT MY BIGGER FAMILY NOW get in the way. But in the last 2 weeks, the nesting feeling has set in. And this was brought on by nothing. SO, we shall see!

Aubrie Kate is done with 3k preschool for the summer!

Last Day at 3k!

 She will be hanging out around the house with me/Todd/or a sitter until Madyson is out at the end of May. Then we will have a little Summer celebration kick off, then my mom will step in to help me during June&July (as well as some super fun "big girls" to help!) THEN in 60 days we leave for DISNEY!!!

I am so excited about our trip to Disney World! Our best buddies are going with us this year. You can follow along our planning process over at our Disney Blog!

On the Lifestyle change, I am now into month 2 of my big lifestyle change! For the newbies. I gave up eating all animal products for 2 weeks. My life changed! On week 3 I integrated milk, cheese, eggs, chicken and fish into the diet. But kept red meat out. Week 4 I thought I could eat a hamburger at a cookout and be okay. WRONG. never been in more pain in my life so I gave up all red met.

I have not felt better in my entire life. Including the years of playing soccer, cheerleading and dance.

I am down 14lbs total. and still have 6 to go! But, I am content with this size. I feel healthy. I look healthier and I can see my family making better eating choices. I have a TON of recipes to post! My girls are diggin Veggie Grits and Turkey Bacon on the weekends!





Lifestyle. Part 3

When introducing those around me to my new lifestyle the most common questions are, "where are you getting your protein from then?" "Are You starving yourself?" "Can Veggies really give you all you need?" Well, I am learning all of this as I go. So here is some info that I found.

I decided to embark in this journey after reading this article, i watched the documentary and was intrigued by it. the whole concept. I already love vegetables so It was really just letting go of the other things...

I started doing research and found that Ellen is a Vegan!

From "Going Vegan" 
Do It for Yourself
Scientific studies supported by the American Dietetic Association have confirmed that vegan and vegetarian diets are associated with lower cholesterol, lower risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure, lower risk of hypertension and Type 2 diabetes, lower body fat, and lower overall cancer rates. In fact, studies have shown that a vegan diet can actually reverse diabetes, heart disease and even cancer. For more info, check out "Forks Over Knives."
Vegetarian and vegan diets tend to be lower in saturated fat and cholesterol, have higher levels of dietary fiber, magnesium and potassium, vitamins C and E, and folate.
The health benefits of a vegetarian and vegan lifestyle are vast. The American Dietetic Association (or ADA) released a report which stated that vegetarians and vegans "meet and exceed requirements" for protein consumption. In fact, vegetarians and vegans usually have better protein consumption than people who eat meat, dairy and eggs.

I gather my protein from protein rich veggies like Broccoli and asparagus, avocados & spinach. Also throw in some almonds (21.1g of protein) and things like whole wheat pastas, etc. And of course...my Luna Protein bars :)


Like I said in Part 2. There is no other reason behind this experiment other than, I want to try it. Its not an animal cruelty bit, its not a religious movement...its simple the fact that I want to be the healthiest me I can be. My only 2 hold backs are Honey (i read somewhere that this must be cut out to be considered Vegan) I use this daily for allergy medication and Goat-Milk Soap (the savior to mine & madysons skin)

I want to share with you some of the foods I have been eating.

1) Hummus, Salsa and homemade chips.
2) Meatless Tacos (i could have added black beans to this but didn't feel like it at the time)
3) Avocado & Tomato Salad
4) Peanut Butter
5) Almond Milk
6) Quinoa (this is a new thing for me...)
7)oatmeal
8) McAlisters has a veggie club that is really good! I get it without the cheese :)

Needless to say, I am not starving. I have made a few exceptions (aubrie's party i had cake that had eggs in it...and a slice of pizza for dinner) but other than that, I am trying really hard to do this.

Lifestyle. Part 2

On my adventure for a healthier lifestyle I began to research the lifestyle changes of an all plant food based diet. Now, understand me when I say, I LOVE MEAT. I love bacon, I love chicken, I love seafood, I love fish, I love steak...You get the picture. This has nothing to do with being harmful to animals...or loving animals more...I see a chicken and the first thing that pops into my head is my moms baked chicken breast. But since I am on a roll of kicking out all sorts of stuff out of my life that I love...(like Sonic Cherry Cokes, Cookies, Ice Cream) i figured what they "hay". Lets look into a Plant-based diet.

I began my journey this past Friday, I watched "FORKS OVER KNIVES" documentary. (If you follow me on twitter, you already know that. ) It is an interesting concept to believe that you can literally change your healthy by cutting out all things nonplant based. I am always up for a good experiment so I decided to try it out...for 2 weeks. 2 weeks of no bacon, no chicken nuggets, no seafood. I can do 2 weeks.

Right now I am learning that life with meat, isn't that big of a difference yet. Last night I did have to get creative. Todd and the kids wanted Jambalya for dinner...so I ate a roasted red pepper, stuffed with spinach, avocados, and brown rice. It was actually really good.

I love salads so that is an easy thing. But getting creative with dinners will be my challenge. We shall see!

Lifestlye.

I have been working (since January) on Lifestyle changes. I feel like I am constantly complaining about weight, shape, etc. Yet, I am doing NOTHING about it. So after some research, I began my lifestyle changes. Here is what I am doing...

1) cutting out Sodas. This is very hard for me. I only drank 3 a day but that was TOO many. So I started cutting back 1 a day in January. Did good with that. Now I am down to 1 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Those are my longest days.

2) Eating Better. I have a huge desire to be Vegan. But I am held back because of Eggs, Bacon, and Chicken and Fish. (I adore Bacon, and not Turkey Bacon...real Bacon) So I have created a "meal plan" for myself. I eat Minimal Meat. More Veggies, actually tons of veggies. I supplement Candy for Luna Bars (I have dubbed myself the unofficial spokesperson) Water is slowly becoming my friend. Processed foods are almost nonexistent in my household. (beside a few kid items)

3) I am reintroducing exercise into my life. Moms understand, if you work all day, run kids around in the afternoon, cook/clean house/do laundry..you don't have time to sleep, let alone exercise. So I am trying out a few different things (walking/running with the big dog in the evenings we are home, 15 min cardio workout with the TV, maybe even a zumba class or two...)

Thats about it right now..baby steps.

I have found a few products that I love.

1) Luna Bars, mentioned above. They are a great tasting snack. Its like eating a candy bar but better. 70% organic, packed with protein and fiber. Their Luna Protein bars are Gluten Free. My first taste of one was on Black Friday, Target was giving away free samples to people in line. I have been hooked since.

2) Naked Juice. For the days when I am super busy and running around and it would be just as easy to go through the drive thru...I drink Naked Juice. I adore the Red Machine.

170 calories, 70% Vitamin B6, 8 grams of flax seed. There are some with lower calories but I enjoy the flavor of this one.

3) OIKOS Greek Yogurt. (Coupons on website) our whole family loves this company. For YoKids to Honey flavored Greek yogurt