Back to Basics Challenge Finale! Are you a member of the 300 Club?

I'm not a member of the 300 Club, not yet, anyway.  Our challenge ended this past Sunday, it turned out so much better than I thought it would! Here are some fun facts from our Challenge:

Number of people committed to the challenge: 28

Number of people who paid $25: 24

Number of people who finished all 8 weeks: 18

Amount of money they all get back: $33.33

Average amount of points the first week: 128

Average amount of points the final week: 247 (Thanks to the 300 Club Challenge, there were 4 who are official members and a couple more who came really close- including myself).

Most overall points: 1791 (average of 223.8 points per week- seriously impressive).
(Not to mention the people who lost 10-12 pounds in just 8 weeks!!!)

I showed you my first week's chart: 108 points.  Here is my chart

Week 8: 289 points.  You know what's crazy?  It wasn't as hard as you might think after increasing my points a little at a time.  The whole point of this Challenge was to teach people (including re-teaching myself) how to improve healthy habits.

A comfortable spot for me is getting around 150 points.  I work out often, but don't always choose healthy food options.  I'm a sucker for sweets, especially good baked desserts or ice cream.  I usually make room for those in my day.  Which is totally fine- working out regularly and enjoying an daily treat is fine, if you're trying to MAINTAIN your weight.  If you're trying to lose an extra few pounds (such as 7 lingering pounds of post-pregnancy belly and saddlebags) then you need to push yourself past that point of comfort.

A big change for me was to keep a food log, make a meal plan and follow it.  I knew that those things were important going into this challenge, which is why I made them all worth 5 points each, but I thought that I could still get by with my comfortable maintenance habits and eventually the weight would fall back to my oh-so-natural 147 pound pre-pregnancy (including pre-kid) body. But it didn't.

In order to shoot for the 300 club, I had to average 45 points a day.  In order to do that, I had to make a meal plan and stick to it almost every day.  I don't have time to plan meals, so instead I made a list of acceptable foods.  Here's an example:

Fruits and Vegetables accepted anytime

Breakfast:
Eggs
Cereal
Oatmeal

Snacks x2 (morning and afternoon):
Protein bar
Smoothie
Edamame
Popcorn
String Cheese
Beef Jerky

Lunch:
Sandwich
Salad
1/2 quesadilla
Leftovers

Dinner:
Protein
(If I know I'm going out or I do have a meal planned then I will decide what I will order at the restaurant or what else to eat with the meal I have planned)

Treat: 200 calories

The key to this plan is understanding that I only choose one option and I only eat when I'm hungry and I stop before I get too full.  Some people may need a much more detailed plan than this.  I, however, have been doing this a long time, and I am roughly familiar with calories in common foods.  If I'm not sure, I look at the label, or use a Calorie Counter.

The other key is that I have is to eat what sounds good, which is why I have a lot of options.  I don't limit myself to the same foods all the time or else that gets boring and I won't stick to it.  I eat fruits and veggies first since I'm trying to get as many of those as possible.  However, eating fruits and veggies all the time makes me crave salty snacks, which is why I have a long list of options to choose from.  I decided it's much easier to make a list of foods I CAN eat, than a list of forbidden foods I don't allow myself to eat.  (It's also not a healthy practice to fall into- just ask Intuitive Eating Ladies).

I'm not perfect at this and I don't pretend to be.  I know that if I wanted to lose the weight faster, I could, but my habits wouldn't last  That's why this Challenge was perfect for me.  It gradually got me back to healthier habits and then by pushing myself at the end, I feel ready to keep pushing myself for a few more weeks.  My current goal is to achieve 300 Club status and try to keep it until my half marathon on the 21st, (almost 3 more weeks).

I love the feeling that I've had this past week.  I feel thinner (even though the scale says otherwise, which is why I hate weighing myself), but I feel mentally stronger than before.  I feel empowered by pushing myself out of that comfort zone and being successful.  It is an empowering thing to say no to a treat.  Or go all week of Halloween without eating a single piece of candy.  Seriously people, it can be done.

Not only do I feel physically better, but my house is cleaner, I feel more energized and motivated to get things done.  I'd like to say that I'm more patient with my kids, but I'm not sure if that's really true.

I know that I'm not going to keep track of my points forever, but I'm excited to keep pushing myself for a few more weeks.  I'll also be glad when it's over.  Then comes Thanksgiving and the holiday season.  Dun Dun Dun.

I mentioned to my peeps in the Challenge about a new Challenge I'm hosting over the holidays: Maintain, Don't Gain. It's not crazy and totally doable.  All you need to do is maintain your weight during the holidays.  As long as you don't gain weight between Thanksgiving and New Year's you'll get your money back, plus the money of anyone who doesn't get theirs back.  I'll keep you updated with more details to come.

Something that I've learned a lot through my adult years is the power of goal- setting.  If you want to really achieve something, you need to set a goal, but that's not the end.  Once you set a goal, you need to make a plan to achieve it, and stick to that plan until you do.  There are a lot of bumps and diversions that come while trying to reach a worthy goal, so you need to be prepared for them and mentally strong enough to keep going when you are not successful.  Most worthy goals are not that easy and therefore you will experience some level of failure.  You need to be strong enough to get back up and keep going.  Those are the kinds of people that succeed.

Halfway but not Halfway

So I had a few major thoughts this week:

I have very little control in most parts of my life.  The things I put in my mouth and how I spend my free time are the few things I can control.

The Challenge is halfway over, but that's not when the good choices stop.

When I was in high school my dad was a very busy man.  He had put on a few pounds and I remember that one summer he decided to give up desserts and ended up losing thirty pounds.  It's not fair, right ladies?  The thing that I really remember is that when he decided to give up desserts, he said he felt like it was the one thing he could control.

I have a four-year-old, a three-year-old, and an eight-month-old baby.  I teach at least four gym classes a week, fourteen piano students, and I'm training for a half marathon.  I'm moving in five months and I've never packed an entire house with kids before.  There are very few things I can control.  My house looks like a mess when we spend the day at home, but it takes a lot of energy to take three kids anywhere.  I can't control my kids, but I try.  I don't have a lot of free time, but I try to make priorities.

I can control the food I put in my mouth.  I can control the food I keep out of my mouth.  I can control what time I go to bed.  I can control what time I wake up to exercise, if I exercise at all.   I can control what I do in my free time- whether I watch TV or read my scriptures.  I'm not perfect, but I always have choices to make.  The results in my health and my happiness are direct results of those choices I make.  We can't necessarily control all of the results or how our body will react.  (Weight loss depends on a lot of variables including hormones, water retention, and genetics).  Either way, you can choose to be healthy and that doesn't always mean being as thin as you think you should be.

Onto my second thought: I have been keeping track of points for four weeks for this Challenge.  I actually did some of my own goals and food logging for a while before that.  Although it's really helpful, it's not realistic that I can do that for the rest of my life.  The purpose of this Challenge is to help you (and me) remember the choices that we should be making.  Choosing vegetables and fruit over treats.  Making time to exercise, drink more water and get more sleep.  Be a better friend and motivate each other to make these good choices.  I recognize that there are only four more weeks of this Challenge, but don't put a time limit on these healthy lifestyles you are creating.  Remember how good you feel physically.  Remember how good you feel emotionally when you turn down a cookie because "it's not worth the points."

I know that I will let loose for a little while when this is over because I'm human.  But I also know that making this lifestyle change for 2 months won't change back to my previous choices overnight.  I can still be in control.

Back to Basics Challenge: Weeks 2/3

So, in a conversation I had the other day (with a husband who will remain nameless), we talked about what constitutes a treat, how many calories are in certain things, how much a serving really is, etc.  I wanted to explain something about this Challenge.  I realize that it's not perfect.  There are ways to really "beat the system."  You can aim low and do the minimum and you'll make it.  You can rationalize that a muffin is breakfast and not a treat even though it's made from a cake mix.  You can eyeball a cup of raspberries and call it a serving until you actually get a measuring cup out and realize that it's about half as much as you thought it was.  However, if you rationalize and try to cut corners, you aren't going to see many changes in your body.  If you want to see change, then you need to change.

I know a flaw in this challenge is the fact that if you have an awesome week, it will be really hard to maintain that pace in the weeks to come.

"I'm home, I don't have much going on, I can exercise, eat healthy, and have plenty of time to plan meals and keep a food log."

But you know that it won't be like that every week, so you hold back.  Avoid holding back.  The key to seeing change is trying your best even if it's not easy.  It's not easy to eat salads when you're at Disneyland.  Believe me, I've gone twice in the past two weeks, but did you know that they actually have really good salads there????  Seriously, I loved it.  Also, did you know that even though walking around Disneyland all day may not count as exercise in my book, but if you get up a little early, you can work out for 45 minutes before you go?  I LOVE having challenges like this to push myself into making better choices.  I've never regretted making those choices. I didn't miss the sleep and I know that I felt better because of them. In fact, I'm excited to see some of the changes I know are bound to happen if I keep this up for five more weeks.  Those choices are getting easier to make and I can keep pushing myself each week to do just a little bit better.

You know, I also love that Saturday and Sunday are the last days of the Challenge week.  Oftentimes we will slack off on the weekends, but when you know you need a certain amount of points to make it, you will make better choices on those days.  I didn't eat treats, I planned my meals, and I went to bed early.  Since my three "alarm clocks" don't know how to sleep in on the weekends, I appreciate the extra sleep.

Moral of my story:  Don't hold back.  Do the best you can and keep trying.  I promise you that you won't regret exercising often and eating the most vegetables you can handle.  You will feel so much better going to bed early and drinking more water.  And you know what, you might even learn to like smoothies, because I have!  I now have one every day.  Ryan's probably sad because now he has to share his Vitamix with me, but at least I stock the fridge with awesome frozen fruit, Greek yogurt, and salad.  Whatever works!

Back to Basics Challenge: Week 1

I learned a lot from doing the first week of this Challenge.  My biggest lesson:

Big fatty donuts from food trucks in Austin can cost you a lot of points.

Here's the breakdown of my week.




The first few days were awesome.  Then I went to Austin to visit my sister.  Which was even awesomer, just not for my healthy goals.  The thing is, Austin is known for it's amazing food.  So when you have two sisters with three kids under the age of 2 and no husbands or babysitters, what else is there to do other than eat that amazing food.  Which is exactly what I did and I never looked back.

However, I knew that I was going out of town, so in order to meet my 100 points goal, I needed to make sure I got some good, high points in the beginning.  I knew exercise would be my easy points, it always is.  The trick is not to cancel out those points with my treats.  This is exactly why I gave the point values that I did, it's WAY too easy to cancel out the good you do with burning calories when you eat them in treats.

I want to go through each of the points and note some specifics and hopefully clear up some confusion about them.

1. 30 Minutes of Exercise (5 points/ 30 minutes):  This is meant to be intentional exercise.  Did you get your workout clothes on and get a little sweaty?  The point of this is to CHANGE your habits.  If you are looking back on your day to figure out what you can "count" as exercise, then you're missing the point.  You need to do MORE than you're already doing if you want to see your body change.  So no.  Walking around Disneyland for 8 hours will not earn you 80 points.  Nice try.

2. Servings of Vegetables (2 points/ serving): I'm sure many of you are curious as to what exactly is a serving?  Here's a helpful link

What is a serving?

3. Servings of Fruit (1 point/ serving): See above link.  And you ask, why do vegetables get more points than fruit?  For the most part, vegetables have much fewer calories than fruit and therefore the more of those you eat, the more food you can eat with less calories and still get lots of nutrients.

4. Not eating within 2 hours of going to bed (3 points): A lot of you have voiced your dislike for this goal.  Here is my reasoning for it: A lot of people will have eaten their needed calories for the day by dinner.  If you eat dinner around 6:00 pm, then wait to go to bed until 11:30 pm, of course you're going to be hungry!  However, your body doesn't really need calories to sleep.  In fact, it's better to go to bed a little hungry so that you will wake up hungrier and have a more nutritious breakfast to jumpstart your metabolism for the day.  If you have had a crazy day and you haven't eaten dinner and it's 8:30, by all means, eat dinner.  If you're exhausted, go to bed.  The biggest reason behind this goal is to avoid bad late-night snacking habits and eating un-needed, bad choice calories.  (Because let's be honest, if we're eating at 10:30, it's probably not a salad or a nice lean chicken breast).

5. Hours of sleep before midnight (2 points/ hour): As much as we'd like to stay up and watch our favorite shows, or read some good books, the sleep we get before midnight has been shown to be more beneficial than the sleep after midnight.  And believe it or not, good quality sleep can make a huge difference in your energy level, metabolism, and overall health.  It's worth it.  And besides, when you wake up early, you're probably more productive than if you wake up later... maybe that's just me.

6. No soda (2 points):  But what about diet soda?????? I know.  So the point of this one was to get you to drink more water.  I figured it can be tricky to keep track of exactly how much water you drink, but if you are not drinking soda, try to drink water instead.  I know that diet soda doesn't have any calories in it, but your body needs water.  Just sayin'.  You can conclude what you will.

7.  Kept food log (5 points):  So this one helps me a ton.  Just by holding yourself accountable for everything that goes into your mouth.  I heard about a lady once who added up all the calories she ate through the Costco samples and it was really surprising.  (Not sure what it was, but a few hundred calories add up fast).  If you haven't done this one yet, you might be surprised.

8. Create a Meal Plan (5 points): So the point of this goal was to make your choices before the choice is to be made (just like saying no to drugs.... :)) If you decide beforehand what you are going to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, then you will have the food in your house and you won't have to make the choice when you're hungry, tired, etc.  What if you are going to a party?  Make a plan.  (I'm going to eat one dessert and a salad before I go so I don't fill up on other food... etc.) This would really help a ton, I know it takes some time, but sometimes big changes take a little bit of effort.

9. Sticking to Your Meal Plan (5 points): Self-explanatory....

10.  Motivation to other competitors (Limit 2 people/ day, 2 points/ person): Sticking to your goals is always easier when you are doing it with friends, right?  Helping each other can really be beneficial.  Obviously I realize that many of you don't know other people in the Challenge, so I created the FB page.  However, just to be clear: One FB post is 2 points.  If you comment on it, then you only get points if you add to the idea or somehow motivate them back.  I know this one can seem silly, but there is a lot to be said for community efforts in helping each other succeed.

11. Personal Goal (3 point):  This should be a goal that every day you can answer Yes/ No.  (i.e.:  your personal goal cannot be weight loss.  If you weigh yourself every day, then it's not a true measure of actual fat loss).  Make it something that you actually do as opposed to an outcome.

12.  Serving of high sugar/ calorie treat (per 200 calories) (-5 points/ 200 calories): This is my nemesis.  This is why I ended up with -22 points on Saturday.  Again, just to clarify, you subtract 5 points for every 200 calories of a treat.  If you want to break it down, you can.  For instance a 300 calorie bowl of ice cream could be -7 points.  Or a Gourdough's food truck donut and a quarter pan of Ghiradelli's brownies could be -30 points (just as a hypothetical example).  This is meant to help people be aware of the fact that eating these treats could easily cancel out exercise.  Of course, you'd still get the muscle gain and cardiovascular effect of exercise, just not the calorie loss.  Please let me know if this is still unclear.

One week down!  From here on out, we all need to increase or maintain our week's points.  Just so you all know, the points I received from people expanded a range of 100 points all the way up to 204 points.  Push yourselves and I promise you will see positive changes and you won't be disappointed!

Oh, and P.S. I will not remind you to send me your points every week.  I am changing it to Monday night at midnight so you can finish earning your Sunday points and have Monday to total them up and send them to me.  I would prefer that you email them to me so I only have to look in one place.  Tonight I had to jump around from email, text, FB, etc.

I also believe that as of now, there are 23 people still in the game.  May the odds be ever in your favor and may the force be with you!!!!

Back to Basics Challenge: Get fit, win money.

Hey friends!  I've been thinking about doing a Get Healthy/ Weight Loss Challenge.  A few years ago, a bunch of my friends did the 8-week Challenge from the Six Sisters.  I loved it so much that I organized it again another year with my family.

I'm ready to do another one, however, this time I am making up my own Challenge with a different competition in mind.  Instead of competing with other people, we will be competing against ourselves.  In the past while doing the other challenge, I didn't like the fact that we lost because it's easier for someone else to lose weight or give up sweets.  For this Challenge, if you continue to improve your own lifestyle through the entire 8-week Challenge, you will win.

In real life, the goal is to make changes that you can keep and continue to improve.  I find that we often make goals or go on a diet and then we plateau;  or worse, we give up completely. The most important thing we can do for ourselves is to stay healthy or become healthier, not deprive ourselves of our favorite things for a couple of weeks then binge on them when we give up.  (Can you tell I'm not a fan of dieting?)

Here are the rules:

1.  Sign up by commenting on this blog or contacting me via email, text, Facebook, etc. BEFORE MIDNIGHT ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 5TH. 

2.  Pay $25 to enter.

3. Print off 8 copies of the worksheet provided with this link.

4. Beginning Sept 7th (Labor Day), track your points every day for a week.  That first week's total will be your baseline (a minimum of 100 points).  Each week you will reset your baseline.

5. You will need to submit your weekly total to me by Sunday at midnight of each week or you will be disqualified.

6.  If you fall below the previous week's total, you will be disqualified and forfeit your $25 entry fee.  However, if you stay in, you, and everyone else who succeeds will split the entire money pot.

A few things you may be wondering:

- I developed the point system based on the things that will really make a difference in your physical health,  If something is worth more points such as exercise, food logs, meal planning, it's because doing those things will contribute more toward your overall health.

- You may have noticed that there is a "Personal Goal" box at the bottom of the worksheet.  This is to provide you a way to set your own goal that you have been meaning to work on.  It could be anything from daily scripture study to making your bed to complimenting your spouse to not yelling at your kids... etc.  You decide and keep track.

- This Challenge is all about improvement and consistency.  In other words, every week you will need to earn the same amount or more points to stay in the Challenge. (For instance if in week 1 you earned 100 points, then in week 2 you earned 110 points, that would be your new baseline.  Week 3 would need to be at least 110 or more).

- You can earn the points any way you want to.  If all you wanted to focus on is increasing your exercise and servings of fruits and veggies then you can do just that.  But remember, you need to get at least 100 points on the first week.

- Remember it doesn't matter if you earn 150 points and Joe Schmo earned 250.  As long as you both continue to earn the same or more each week, you'll both win.  This is why I was so excited to switch up the competition.  You aren't competing against anyone else, you just need to keep motivated and consistent.

- If only 2 out of 25 people stay in through the entire Challenge, you will each get $312.50. That's a pretty big winning just for continuing to improve your healthy lifestyle!  The worst that could happen is that everyone stays in and you all get your $25 back.  Not a bad deal either!

- This Challenge may seem tedious. Keeping track of daily points for 8 weeks will not be easy, but I have seen more success come from dedicated goal-making than when I am just "trying to do better."

- Remember, that although the initial urge would be to earn as few points as possible during the first week, the more that you change in your lifestyle, the more change you will see in your health.

Project Momma: Final Post 25 Weeks

I decided last week to wrap up my weekly posts for Project Momma.  It has been so good for me to hold myself accountable to the virtual world out there.  Making goals every week is not easy.  Meeting them is even harder.  ;)

Molly turns six months old tomorrow which means I have posting weekly for just under five months.  The before picture was taken on March 9th, the after picture was a few days ago.  Honestly, I was not excited about taking selfies every week (which is why I stopped doing it every week).  But until I compared them a few days ago, I had no idea that I looked that different!

Try not to notice the better lighting and the fact that I am smiling in the post pictures.

(Final Pregnancy weight: 194)
Pre Weight 5 weeks postpartum: 174 lbs.
Post Weight 6 months postpartum: 160 lbs.

This is still 10 pounds above my original goal, but had I known the hang up I would have with my knee, I would have expected a slower weight loss.

I am what you would call a pear.  Well, I have a pear-shaped body.  It's not a good or bad thing, it's just a body type that I was born with.  If you notice that my fat loss has mostly been in my mid-section.  Believe me, it's not because I did a million sit-ups, it's because my genetics tell my body where to add and take away the fat.  The first place I gain weight is in my hips, so that's going to be the last place I lose it.  As a personal trainer it was always frustrating to me when someone would ask how they lose fat in their stomach, or booty, or the back of their arms, etc.  I would just tell them that they need to eat healthier and keep working out.  If you really want to spot reduce like that, it's called lipo-suction.  :)

This is the first week that I have been able to run a couple of times in about three or four months.  It felt so good to get up at 5:50 am and run this morning.  Ryan had to leave for an appointment so I had a time-limit and I pushed myself so crazy hard.  I decided that I should set a time limit more often.

I still have a lot of goals that I want to work on.  This week I had a few experiences where I was busy being homemaker and realized I needed to take a few minutes to be Momma.  I played a game (Jenga) with Lucy and Liam.  I read Liam and Molly a few books in the middle of the afternoon.  (We always read, but usually at bedtime).  It is good for me to stop and realize that I can take a few minutes to connect with my kids and everything will still get done.

I went to Costco today and loaded up on the produce.  It's hard for me to eat as many fruits and veggies at the end of the week, I just need to plan better.   I actually made a smoothie that I liked this week!  It had blueberries (fresh and frozen), a banana, strawberries, a little bit of apple juice and a big spoonful of greek yogurt.  I had it for lunch one day and I loved it.  Someday I'll work in more veggies, but I'd rather just eat a big salad.  Baby steps.

I will still post some updates as well as other training and healthy-living tips.  Please message me or email me if you have questions about specific topics.  I would love to post things that you are interested in.

Until next time!  Thanks for the support in my Project Momma journey!  This is just a pit-stop though.  The journey to becoming a healthier and happier momma is never really done.

Project Momma: 24 Weeks

Did you miss me?  I didn't post last week because I was with the "Happiest People on Earth" in the "Happiest Place on Earth."  That's right, we spent three days at Disneyland with most of my family, 11 kids ages 6 and under with 10 adults.

We had a great time, however, it was so nice to come back to reality and a schedule.  Going on a vacation is great, but going to Disneyland with three kids under 5 for three days is not a vacation.  Now that we're home, early bedtimes and healthy food makes for a happier family.

As I think about the goals I want to focus on again, it's interesting because a couple of them will be a lot harder than before.  Taking Zoloft has had a couple of side effects- a change in my appetite and drowsiness.  The change in appetite is actually great because I don't have as much of an appetite, but I especially don't have an appetite for healthier options like fruit and veggies.  Boo.  It's been rough to get my five servings in.  It only means that I need to make more purposeful choices.

My other goal of waking up early is tough with the extra drowsiness, but I figure if I can wake up at 6:00 am for three days to walk around Disneyland all day, I can make the effort to wake up and read my scriptures, right?

I also realized that my original goals of Project Momma were set to finish when Molly turned 6 months old (next Tuesday).  Although I realize that many of my goals have been altered due to injury, emotional instability, and recognized priorities, I want to post my current results to my original goals next week.  It is really cool to see that even though my focus has changed, my body has still continued change.  The weight loss and fitness have not come as quickly as I originally thought, but I have continued to do as much as I can.  Walking four miles isn't going to give me the same results as running five miles, but it will get me closer.

I've realized that even though I will eventually meet my weight and fitness goals, there will always be ways to be a healthier, happier, better momma for my children and wife for my husband.  He has been so supportive in this journey.  He listens to my goals (and my whining) and always supports my efforts.

This week's goals: 6:30 am wake-up and 11:00 pm lights-out
Book of Mormon and Old Testament study every day (one verse is better than nothing)
Five servings fruits and veggies
Daily family connections

Throughout this journey, I have loved hearing from all of my friends and family.  Your support has helped immensely, but what I have loved most is hearing about the goals and changes you have made as a result of reading my posts.

The thing I have missed most about working full-time in the fitness field as a personal trainer and wellness consultant is helping others make their lives better.  Please message, text, email, or even call me to tell me about what you want to do be a better person in any of the roles that you play in your life.  I would love to hear from you!

Project Momma: 22 weeks

This week was amazing.  First of all, I want to thank everyone for your positive feedback and support following my post last week.  I started taking Zoloft last Monday night.  The first couple of days were rough.  I was SUUUUPER tired.  Drowsiness is a possible side effect of Zoloft, so I took it at night.  Regardless, I was dragging all day long and honestly felt like I had mono.  I called my doctor and he suggested to only take half a pill.  It made a huge difference and now feel much more like myself.

It is CRAZY how normal I felt this week.  I had patience for my kids, less frustration with my husband, and I felt happy.  Not only did I avoid bad days, I can't think of any bad moments!  Recognizing the difference between this week and last week, made me realize how bad it really had been. Again, our lives weren't awful.  We weren't miserable, but our home was not often a place where we all felt good and felt love toward one another.  For two months I had tried to overcome that place I found myself in, but I knew that I couldn't do it all on my own.

As a personal trainer and a wellness coordinator, I worked with a lot of middle-aged women.  So many of them fought weight gain and struggled with getting the weight back off.  They had to work so much harder than they did when they were younger and more than most men their same age.  (It stinks, but it's true).  I attributed a lot of these struggles to possible hormones changes.  Although all the textbooks say that it's about calories in vs. calories out, that's not often the case.  Hormones play a big part in metabolism and a lot of women cannot control that.  I now recognize how much hormones can affect your emotions, no matter how much effort you put into trying to control them.

After all is said and done, I am so excited to get back to feeling like myself.

Two HUGE milestones:

I went for a RUN this week!  Well, it was a walk/ run/ walk/ run, but it felt so good!  Ryan and I took the double and single strollers together so we could run with all three kids.  I was actually surprised how "easy" it was considering I have run twice in the past 3 months.  I walked first to warm up my knee, then ran for a while.  I walked down hills because downhill running is harder on the patellar tendon (where I have the tendinitis).  My goal is to go for a couple of walk/runs this week and work my way back towards a half marathon, but not too quickly.

I weighed myself.  As I have mentioned, I have decided not to weigh myself regularly because I started to look at that too much as my success or failure.  I wanted to focus more on other goals that I can directly control.  However, my clothes were fitting much looser, so I was curious.  I was 162!  That's about 8 pounds less than the last time I weighed myself!  It just goes to show that you don't need to use the scale to motivate your progress.  I still don't think I will weigh myself again for a while (I hid my scale back under the sheets in my linen closet), but it's nice to know that I only have about 12-15 pounds left to get to my pre-pregnancy weight!  And let's be honest, five of those are in my bra.  :)

I tried to focus on all of my goals again this week, and it didn't work. I have decided that I feel much more successful when I only focus on two or three goals than when I have twelve like I attempted this past week.  I did fairly well with half of the them:  sleep, exercise, one daily treat.  However, the others that I haven't worked on as long like one-on-one time with my family were definitely not habitual yet.

This week I want to focus on the

one-one-one family time (one daily meaningful effort/ moment with each child and husband) 
personal prayer (morning and evening)
scripture study (Book of Mormon and Old Testament study)

When I look at the priorities I should be making in my life, those are the top three and they definitely lacked this week.  I know that I will still make time for exercise and eating healthy, so I need to put my efforts towards those things that matter.  Keeping a daily checklist of those goals help me stay on track.

And since every post needs a picture- this is a highlight of my week.  Bunk beds= three kids in one room.  The joys of living in SoCal (a two-bedroom house)  we have more family bonding time, right?  I love my kids.  Those faces really are why I am working on being a happier, healthier momma.  

Project Momma: 21 weeks

I've loved my goals this past week.  There were so many instances when I made the choice to spend time with one of my kids over doing something like dishes or cleaning, or even just browsing Instagram and Facebook.

Ryan and I studied scriptures and conference talks a couple of times together at night and we even took an overnight getaway to Julian.  It was amazing!!! Ryan's mom decided to come visit and stayed with our kids, so it was perfect.

Lucy and I made cookies together this week and played her Princess game.  My time with Liam actually turned out well because we could play together and chat while Lucy was at her swim class every day.  Chatting with a two-year-old is the best.

With Molly, my biggest effort was to hold her more often while I wasn't feeding her.  I know that sounds silly, but when I'm as busy as I am, I rarely make time to do that.  She is such a chill baby that she sleeps anywhere, and is usually pretty entertained without me.  I am grateful that I have that time to hold her while I feed her, but that I also made some additional time to enjoy her sweet personality.

 
With that said, it was also a tough and emotional week.  It's actually been a tough couple of months.  At the end of April, I called my doctor to see if he thought I might be having emotional side effects from the Mirena (IUD) I had put in.  I noticed that I had not been very patient at all with my kids- WAY less than normal.  (Mean Momma emerged too many times).  I know as parents, we need to learn patience more than a lot of other things, but I was not handling those lessons well.  

In addition to the impatience, I hadn't felt like being social.  Those that know me well would understand why that seems absolutely crazy.  I love a good party and hanging out with people.  I love having people over and meeting new friends.  At times when I had planned to go out with friends, I had to talk myself into going.

I found myself not really wanting to workout (not mention it's been way harder because of my knee). I knew that if I could get up at 6:00 am and go for a 5-mile run it would have been a lot easier.  But because of my knee, I could not find the motivation to do other workouts and make time for something that I would normally look forward to doing.  


During this initial phone call, my doctor told me that he didn't think I was reacting to the IUD, but that he could prescribe some medication to help with postpartum imbalances.  I had had a feeling that he would suggest that and by this time of the conversation, I was in tears.  However, I felt better just after acknowledging my struggles and talking it through with him.  I had even talked to a few members of my family and some friends that day which helped a lot too.  I told my doctor that I would consider getting the prescription, but I was pretty sure that I would be able to do some things myself and get through this on my own.

I had heard about various friends and other women go through hard times after having three kids, but I thought I had it down.  Molly is such an "easy baby" and my kids are pretty good at listening and staying out of trouble.  I feel like I'm a pretty laid-back parent, so I don't usually stress out about little things.  I love to exercise and get out of the house and I know that those are two things that can really help battle postpartum "baby blues."  I had pretty much accepted the fact that if I had some level of hormone imbalance, I would be able to handle it, no problem.

Fast forward a couple of months, I had a few ups and downs, but I felt really good overall.  A few weeks ago I started rating whether I was having a "good day" or a "bad day." My rating would vary depending on my mood, my lack of patience, and level of anxiety and frustration.  I discovered that there were at least three factors contributing to the outcome:  a good bout of hard core exercise, some time for myself (naps or errand by myself, etc)., and not over-scheduling my day.  If I could accomplish all three of those things well every day, I was most likely to have a  "good day." However, reality comes and you can't control everything.  There were many days when I could not make those three things happen.

I think my low was when I declared that Sunday was my least favorite day of the week.  Then within that day, the hour before church was the most stressful hour of my entire week.  Feeding my kids lunch, feeding the baby, getting myself ready, getting them ready (after eating so they don't mess up their church clothes), remembering the fifty thousand things I have to bring to church (diapers, wipes, toys, snacks, etc.) then getting there all by myself (Ryan has meetings) ON TIME without yelling at the kids?  I recognize I put too much stress on myself about it.  Who cares if they have food on their clothes?  Who cares if they eat a Z bar for lunch?  Who cares if I'm on time?  I know. And my attitude towards the Sabbath is exactly the opposite of what the Lord wants for His Holy day.   It should be a day of peace and comfort.  A day apart from the rest of the week.  I love church, I love the Spirit I can feel there.  However, if I don't prepare myself, my heart will not be open to the Spirit.

After two weeks in a row of bursting into tears once I got to church or right before, I recognized that I needed to change something.

Have you ever seen Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood?  My kids are obsessed.  They sing his songs all the time.  So this morning I was in tears again as Ryan was gone and his mom had just left to go back home.  I heard my little two-year-old Liam singing, "When you're feeling frustraaaated, take a step back, and ask for help."  You'd think that this jingle was written for two and three-year-olds, but I think I needed to hear that this morning.

As I thought about calling my doctor, a lot of thoughts ran through my head

"I should be able to do this on my own, I shouldn't need medicine to make me patient and happy again."

"People will judge me: my doctor, the office ladies at my doctor, the pharmacist, etc.  They will think, 'It's her own fault for having three kids so close together.  Of course she's going to feel overwhelmed.'"

"I'm fine where I'm at.  It's not like I'm lying in bed all day in my pajamas."

"If this were just about my happiness that's one thing, but it's affecting the happiness of my kids and my husband and the Spirit in our home."

It's really that last thought that urged me to call my doctor.  Why should I settle for less when I can get some help to make things a little bit better.  It's humbling, but it will bless my family.

I recognize that things won't be easy and I'll still need to do everything I can to keep my body and spirit healthy.  It's very likely that this will be a temporary thing, but it may not.  It's so silly to me that if I had diabetes and needed insulin (a hormone) to help regulate my blood sugar, I wouldn't think twice about it.  However, if I need a medication to help regulate hormones that affect my emotions I feel defeated and ashamed.

In the end, I was really hesitant to write about this on my blog.  I have received a lot of feedback about how my friends have really appreciated my honesty and candor when sharing my goals and my progress.  This situation is a little different though.  A little more personal.  (Although I think some people would be more inclined to admit they were taking an anti-anxiety medication than to post on Facebook how much they weigh).  

I decided to tell my story because I realize that after talking to a few people about my struggles the past couple of months, I realize there are a LOT of women who have taken medication for similar situations. I recognize that I'm not alone and I want other women to know that they are not alone either.

Being a full-time mom is not easy.  Raising, disciplining, and loving kids is a difficult and rewarding privilege I have been given by my Father in Heaven.  He has entrusted me with His spirit children to do my best and teach them.  If my best means asking for medical help so I can concentrate more on how to love my kids better, than that's what I'll do.

For this coming week, I want to focus on the essential things I've continued to try to do, but haven't been as diligent in the past few weeks.

Sleep 11:00 pm- 6:30 am
Five servings of Fruits and Veggies
Exercise five days
One treat a day
Connecting with each family member each day
Personal prayer (morning and evening)
Scripture Study (Book of Mormon and Old Testament)

I know that if do my best to keep my body physically healthy, my family relationships strong, and my testimony strengthened, the Lord will help provide the rest.


 

Project Momma: 20 Weeks

I'm happy to report that my goals of bedtime and waking up was very successful this week.  Monday through Friday (I decided that weekends can be a little more relaxed) I went to bed- meaning lights off- sometime between 10:50 and 11:20 (With 11:00 being my goal).  And I got up EVERY DAY at 6:30 am!  I was so proud of myself.  However, the whole point of getting up early is so I can get some scripture studying done and have some morning peace.  Someone must have told my kids though because now they are getting about 45 minutes to an hour earlier than they did about a month ago.  SERIOUSLY?  Super frustrating. Regardless, I still think it's a good habit to do, I may even try to push it up to 6:15 or 6:00, especially if I turn my lights off early.

I've had some more emotional ups and downs this week.  Also super frustrating.  I know that if I could get up and go for a run in the morning, that would help my stress level.  My knee is slowly starting to feel better, but it's definitely slow coming.

I started teaching at the gym last week though and it will be really fun to get back into it.  I can't even tell you how hard it is to teach two strength classes without doing all the lunges and squats.  Anyone that has ever been to my classes can tell you that they are my favorites. Every day is leg day!!! I know that doing less now will help the tendinitis in my knee heal more quickly, but patience is a virtue.  (And really hard to have sometimes.)

I'm still doing pretty well with my eating goals.  I stick to about a treat a day and I'm getting quite a bit of fruits and veggies.  I'm feeling good about those.  My scripture reading could be better, but my kids need to stay in bed!  I have been able to keep my house pretty clean which helps my happy moments.

This week I'm going to focus on my family relationships.  There's not much point to having a happy momma unless my relationships with my kids and hubby are where they should be.

Goal for my thoughts:
Speak positively- refrain from complaining.  This is a hard goal to make because it's not a SMART goal.  (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) It's not specific, but I did a little test run today and it was really hard.  I love having Ryan home so I have an adult to talk to during the day, but it often turns into a lot of time complaining to him.  I realize that many of my "first world problems" wouldn't be so "hard" if I didn't focus on them so much.

Quality Time Goal:
I want to have a specific moment each day when I spend good one-on-one time with each of my kids and my husband.  I have had a similar goal like this in the past, and it was not easy (and I only had one child at the time).  I get easily distracted with things that need to get done that I don't allow myself to keep that one-on-one time a priority.

I did a test run of this with Lucy today.  An ideal time to do this with her is when Liam and Molly are taking a nap.  After sitting with her doing some "projects" for about five minutes, I looked around for my phone, then at the unfolded laundry on the couch.  I told myself I would sit for another 15 minutes and then kept looking at the clock!!! Why is it so hard for me to sit with her?  I'm excited to work on this goal this week.  I know finding that one-on-one time every day with Liam will be tricky.  I'm not making a time limit, but I just want to make sure that my kids and husband know that I love them and want to connect with them.

On the plus side, my clothes are fitting looser.  I still haven't weighed myself, but I really don't want to focus on my weight right now.  I'm sure I've lost some pounds, but I'm doing everything I can to be healthier, and that's all I can expect of myself right now.

A relaxing day at the beach this past Saturday can't hurt either.  ;)

Project Momma: 19 weeks

I am calling this last week "The week where I am showing you what not to do."  Why?  Because not only did I not meet my goals this week, I didn't really try.  Now I'm not saying that I let everything go and gained five pounds.  That wouldn't happen.  What I'm saying is that I had probably 10-12 treats this week instead of five.  And I probably only ate an average of three servings of fruits and veggies every day instead of five.  Seriously, if that's me "not really trying,"  that makes me pretty happy because a couple of months ago, those WERE my goals!

However, I did recognize a difference in how I felt.  One night specifically, I had a few treats (more for emotional reasons than really wanting them), and I felt AWFUL!  Then I stayed up late to watch TV because Ryan was gone.  That decision made me feel much worse in the morning.

I look back on the weeks where I was better about going to bed earlier and I felt so much better in the morning.  I was waking up earlier and reading my scriptures.  And because I felt better, I had a better workout, and made better food choices.  It's a chain reaction.  This past week I recognized the opposite chain reaction.  When I started staying up and late and sleeping in, I wasn't making good choices and I didn't have as much energy.  I didn't feel as good emotionally because I wasn't making that "me" time in the morning before the kids got up and I didn't make great food choices.  

I learned something else this week too.  Sometimes you just need a break from trying so hard.  I realized that this has been almost four months of solid improvement and goal making and it felt really liberating to not write down every serving of fruit and vegetable that I ate, or keeping track of my treats.  I obviously didn't go crazy eating treats though (for the most part) because I have made those habits.  And even though I had a couple of "free" days, guess what, I DIDN'T GAIN FIVE POUNDS! (Not that I would know because I haven't weighed myself for a few weeks), but a few days did not cancel out four months of hard work.  I feel like a lot of people put too much pressure on themselves and feel too much guilt when they "slip up" or stop trying.  It's called living a normal life.

It has also given me motivation to keep my good habits because I recognize how much better I feel physically when I am making better choices.

I decided today that thanks to my "chain reaction" discovery, I will only make and keep track of two goals this week.  Getting out of bed before 6:30 am, and lights off before 11:00 pm.  10:30 pm would be ideal (because if 10:30-6:30 is the Lord's sleep timetable for productive, hard-working, full-time missionaries, there must be some inspiration in it, right?) But I'll start with baby steps.  11:00 will be hard enough.

Milestones

I wore my "fat skirt" to church.  It's a grey pencil skirt that I love, but I originally bought it when Lucy was four months old for my sister's wedding.  I still hadn't lost all the baby weight from her pregnancy and so I bought a size 12 instead of 10, which is my "normal" size.  I had the hardest time buying a size bigger, but that's what fit me, so I did.  And I'm soooo glad, because I have clothes that fit me during this in-between stage.  However, since it's a pencil skirt it looks funny when I'm back down to my comfortable weight because it's too big and loose, but that's a good problem to have, right?  Up until this past Sunday I either couldn't zip it up, or it still felt too tight.
Find success in the little things!

I am teaching at the gym for the first time tomorrow morning, I'm nervous, but it will be fun.  I have missed that part of my life and it will be good to get back into that scene.  Fitness is always more fun when you're with friends.  

Take a family selfie if a good moment arrives, even if you're not wearing any make-up.  It's good to remember those moments too.  

I better end there so I can get to bed on time.  :)

Project Momma: 18 weeks

When Molly was 4 weeks old, I went to my doctor for my follow-up appointment. He said that I should keep hydrated and be sure not to cut out too many calories, or my milk would not be nutritious and thick enough for my baby.  In fact, he said I should be eating an extra 500 calories a day for my milk supply.  I thought that sounded a little extreme, but he assured me that my weight loss shouldn't be more than about a pound a week.

I've thought about that advice as I have been on this healthy and happy journey.  I recognize that my knee injury has kept me from running as much as I would have liked to.  I have tried to exercise as much as my knee would let me, but I know it's not as intense as I have done before.  I recognize that that is also most likely a major reason I have not seen the weight come off as quickly this round.  Unfortunately, I am not one of those moms where the weight just "falls off" if they breastfeed.

I'm sure that many people have wondered why I haven't cut more calories to lose more weight.  It would be "easy" to not eat sugar at all, or to eat 1400 calories a day.  Here are a couple of reasons why I haven't done that.

1. Not sustainable- I know that I could not go the rest of my life without sugar.  I would eventually begin eating it again, and may feel guilty, and would most likely re-gain weight.

2. Milk production- While breastfeeding my previous two kids, my milk would begin to thin out when my baby was about three months.  Liam only gained 1/2 a pound between 4 and 6 months. I felt awful.  So with Molly, I wanted to do everything I could to keep my milk supply thick enough for her. Burning too many calories through exercise or cutting too many calories in my food intake could have been the culprit for thinning it out before.

This chunky monkey weighed in at 16 pounds today, 88th percentile for her age in weight.  My other kids were never even in the 70th percentile for weight, maybe 60's.  Today the doctor said she looked perfect.  I recognize that thinner babies can still be healthy and perfect, but I have felt better this time around knowing that she has that extra weight and I have done everything I can for my baby.

Ten years ago I was a full-time missionary in Southern France.  When I left, I was in good shape and at one of my lowest weights.  During those 18 months, I did not have much time for exercise, and often did not have control over my meals.  I always shopped and cooked with my companion (roommate) and was hosted by many wonderful French families with amazing food.  I may have also fallen for Nutella and peanut butter toast.  It's amazing.

I gained quite a bit of weight a couple of different times through that year and a half.  It was really frustrating to not have the time to exercise and not eat as healthy as I would have liked.  However, I remember one day, I realized that I had dedicated that time as a missionary to the Lord, not to staying in shape.  As soon as I was able to let go of that, I gave the Lord everything I had.

I think about that experience now as a mom.  This is the third time in less than 5 years that I have gained 40 pounds and tried to lose it.  This is not my time to be an Olympic athlete or a bikini model- that will be my next life ;) This is my time to raise healthy, righteous children of God.  I want them to know that I love them and that I want what's best for them.  I want them to remember me enjoying a treat with them for Family Home Evening or going out for burgers and ice cream on the weekends.  I'm also really careful about talking negatively about my body.  If I want my daughters to grow up respecting their bodies, I need to show them that I love and respect mine.

Happy Moments

Ryan was out of town for half the week.  Taking care of three kids as a single mom is not super easy.  I needed to focus on creating as many happy moments as I could in order to keep some sanity and still let my children know that I love them.  I wasn't very dedicated at writing down my goals this week, but here are a few of my happy moments I created:

Spontaneous trip to the elementary school talent show (my kids loved it)
Cleaned the bathrooms
Breakfast with friends at a local French cafe
Kept house mostly clean while Ryan was out of town
Date night Friday night- tennis with my hubby then dinner with friends
Relief Society (Women's) Stake education day- (i.e.: no kids, fun classes, and friends for almost 6 hours)
Date night Saturday night- dinner and a movie with friends

I thrive on social situations.  Especially while being alone with my kids half the week, making time to be with other adults is really important for my happy moments.

Upcoming Goals 
I met my 7 treats again this week!!!! However, I think there were days that I could have gone without, but I had one because I knew I could.  So, I want to shoot for 5 treats this week.  This is huge for me.  There were so many times this week when I didn't eat a cookie, or candy, etc. because I didn't want that to be my treat for the day.  You begin to realize what you really like and what you might be eating just because it's there.

I am scheduled to start teaching at the gym again next week!!! I start off on Tuesday morning teaching Body Pump at 8:30 am followed by another cardio/strength class at 9:30.  I'm not sure that I will be able to get through those without trying to do a couple of 2-hour workouts before then.  So, that's my goal for this week- at least two 2-hour workouts.

I also need to work on my bedtime and wake-up time.  11:00 pm and 6:30 am.  I know I feel better when I make those goals happen.

Project Momma: 17 weeks

I had a lot of thoughts going through my head this week.  Here are the positive things I've been thinking about lately:

Positive Thoughts

I am eating healthier than I have for years
- I easily eat 4-6 servings of fruits and veggies every day (that's eating- not drinking smoothies)
- In the last 13 weeks (since I started Project Momma) I naturally (meaning slowly and non-deprivationally- yes, that's a word) cut my weekly treats from about 20-25 per week to 7 per week.

I ran a 5k in my goal time of 28:00

I am now reading roughly 12 pages in my scriptures daily (10 pages in the Old Testament to catch up on my scheduled reading I follow (click here to follow too!) I also read in my Book of Mormon every day.


On the other hand, here are some negative things that have crossed my mind:

Negative Thoughts

I have tendinitis in my knee which means recovery should take more like 6 weeks than 2 or 3 like my doctor originally said.  Boo.  That means no squats and lunges and probably no running.

I have only lost about 5-7 pounds since I started keeping track about 3 month ago.

I am still wearing my maternity jeans.

Conclusions

I hid my scale yesterday.  I didn't even own a scale until about 2 years ago.  Which means I never weighed myself when losing weight with my first two babies.  I do not focus enough on my other successes when I know that my weight loss is not meeting my expectations.  So I put it in my closet and won't weigh myself for a while.  I know I mentioned no more weekly weigh-ins, but it's hard to avoid it when I feel really good about how I've done that week.

I am not happy.  The whole reason I started Project Momma was to be a healthier and happier Momma to my three beautiful children.  I am too focused on the fact that I'm not losing weight and that I can't run.  I am healthier, but I am not happier because I am focusing too much on the things that I can't control.  As much as it kills me, I need to allow my knee to heal.  I would love to get up and run five miles, but I can't.  I will be able to in a couple of months, but only if I'm patient.

Not all pregnancies are created equal.  I keep thinking about where I was at "this" point with my other post-pregnancy bodies.  With one baby it was easy to workout because my schedule was my schedule, not hers. With the second, it was similar.  With the third, I now have Lucy's schedule, Liam's schedule, my schedule and a newborn.  I spend a large part of my time cleaning up toys, making lunch, putting kids in time-out, etc. I am injured (which I didn't deal with before).  I would normally be running about 20 miles a week by this point.  Although pushing three kids in a stroller walking for three miles is a fairly good workout, it's not quite the same as running five while pushing two. I can't compare my pregnancies.

Things I can control

I want to focus on the things I can control which means measuring what I do, not what the outcome is.  This means keeping track of food, exercise, sleep, scriptures, etc.

My goals this week were:
1. Be up at 6:15 am (my kids usually wake up between 7:30 and 8:00, so this is awesome alone time)
2. Be in bed by 11:00 pm
3. Read the Book of Mormon every day
4. 10 pages of the Old Testament
5. 5 servings of fruits and veggies per day
6. 7 treats for the week, so an average of 1 per day
7. Exercise 5 times with 2 of them strength training.

Tuesday: I was up at 6:30 and met all of the other goals.  I did my new BodyCombat video for exercise.  I usually end up turning a show on for my kids while I do it in the other half of the living room.  Molly takes a nap in her swing.  This new BodyCombat video is a crazy release, but it's got a lot of jumping lunges that I can't do.

My new secret for one treat a day is to eat half a treat after lunch and another half after dinner because I often crave one earlier.  I found these amazing salted chocolate covered caramels at Costco that are less than 100 calories each and about 2 is one serving.  Totally worth it.  I also find myself eating less after dinner when all I have left is half a serving.

Wednesday: I was up at 6:20 and went to bed at 11:10, but met all my other goals.  I did my new BodyPump class then took my kids on a 3-mile walk.  There's a trail with a crazy hill and my kids love to get out and run up the trail with me.  There's also no way I could push them all up anyway.  I know I'm a super Momma, but it's pretty steep :)

Thursday: I was up at 6:45, in bed at 11:20 and met all my other goals.  I did my BodyCombat class again.  I am seriously dripping sweat by the end and that's without the jumping lunges.

Friday: I was up at 6:30, in bed at midnight after date night at the temple.  I didn't get all my fruits and veggies and I didn't work out, but I had planned that because I knew I had an early morning with doctor appointments.

Saturday: I was up at 7:45.  This was actually the first day I didn't get up before my kids, but I rationalized it since it was Saturday. I only read 4 pages in the OT and had 1.5 treats, which means I had to take one from another day.  I went to the gym today and did a BodyCombat class.  It was amazing.  I loved running into a bunch of my friends I haven't seen in months and it's crazy how much of a better workout you can get in a class of 40 people than by yourself in your living room, but I do what I can do. I only had 2.5 servings of fruits and veggies, but I did get to bed by 11:00 that night.

Sunday: I slept in again til 8:00 and only read 5 pages in the OT.  I wish that Sundays were a rest day, but it's often more stressful than not. I only had 4 servings of fruits and veggies and, I had 1.5 treats again, so that means I can't have any on Monday.  I was in bed by 11:00.

Monday:  It was actually easier than I thought knowing that in order to meet my 7-treat goal I couldn't have a treat today.  I did BodyPump without the squat and lunge tracks.  It's not a great calorie-burner, especially without the leg tracks.  However, I had the goal to get in two days of strength training.  It's always easier for me to do the crazy cardio workouts, but I know that I need to do muscle building exercises.

My New Goals

Making Happiness

When I realize how frustrated I was getting, I started to think about the little things that make me "temporarily happy."  Every time I got in my van, I smelled my new "fresh linen" air freshener and it made me happy.  It's something so little, but it helps.  So I decided to make a list of the things I could think of that make me happy.

Good smelling soap from Bath and Body Works
Empty kitchen sink
Empty hampers
Clean bathrooms
Hair and makeup done
Good chocolate
Good movie/ show
Bed made
My kids naptime/ bedtime
Being outside
Exercise
Friends
Sisters
Family
Date Night
New Clothes
Haircut/ Colored
Redecorating my house

Some of these things are hard to come by.  I don't live by my sisters and family, but I can call them.  I can't exercise like I would like to, but I can do what I can.  I made my trip to the mall to restock my soap, I made an appointment to cut and color my hair.  I have date night set up for Friday.  These are the things I can control.

Spiritual/ Gratitude Moment

Monday is my Costco day.  My kids love it for the samples and they are pretty well-behaved.  In order to make it work, I carry Molly in a Moby and have my 4-year-old and 2-year-old in the double seated cart.  As I was headed for the checkout line a lady came up to me to admire my kids.  She saw Molly, then she saw the other two and started talking to them, telling them how beautiful they were.  She asked their names and talked to them about their baby sister.  This is all pretty normal conversation for us at the store.  I waited for the usual "You really have your hands full" or "Enjoy it because they grow up too fast" comments.  However, instead she said, "You must have a lot of fun with them.  They are beautiful." More than once she said,  "I really needed this today." Then she looked at me and said, "You are beautiful. Enjoy your day."  You can't even know how much that meant to me.  I teared up as I walked away.  I love it when people recognize the goodness of having three little kids, because we do have fun.  I know people mean well, but the "they grow up too fast" or the "hands full" comments are heard way too often and don't make me feel better about anything.  Knowing that talking to my kids made her day better made my day better.  Then she told me I was beautiful and it was exactly what I needed to hear.  Thank you Doreen at Coscto for being my Spiritual Moment.  I think the Lord put you in my path, and I hope my kids brightened
your day as well.

Project Momma: 16 weeks

Hurray for new workout clothes!  That deserves a selfie.  And I even smiled.  :)

I still have a little bit more bootie than I would like to be able to fit into my "normal" pants.  We're getting there!

I didn't lose weight this week, but I had to step it down a notch again because I'm afraid to hurt my knee more.  However, this morning I went running anyway, and it's okay.  I think if I wear the brace that my doctor gave me, it will be better. The problem is a tight tendon, not a sprain or anything.  As soon as I'm warmed up it doesn't hurt, it just might hurt later after I exercise and my muscles cool off.... BAH! Injuries are the worst.

So this was the first week that I didn't keep any sort of log.  It was kind of an experiment and I'm pretty sure I didn't eat as many fruits and veggies as I normally would.  I know that when I keep track of them during the day, I'm more likely to make better decisions later on in the day if I only need one or two more servings.  If you haven't kept a food log before, you'd be surprised how quickly you forget what you've eaten.  Just try doing it.  I dare you.  ;)

It was easier to keep track of my 7 treats goal since all I had to do was keep it to one treat a day. However, I didn't do that either.  Which leads me to my topic of the week:  Intuitive Eating. I know I've already talked about this a little bit in a Previous Post, but I thought about it a lot this week.

As I've been working on eating less sweets, it has gotten much easier.  I usually don't crave them much and some days I don't feel like I need them at all... until this week.  There was a few days when I just needed chocolate.  I'm not talking about the old waxy Easter bunny from my kids' Easter baskets, but good chocolate.  It's for times like these that I always try to have a stash of "my" candy or Oreos, etc.  The nice thing is, when I eat a couple of Oreos, then the craving is satisfied and I can move on with my life.  If I don't eat something to satisfy my craving, then I will eat something else, and since that isn't what I needed or wanted, then I'll try some other kind of substitute.  Then after all that, I end up just eventually eating what I wanted in the first place with in addition to the extra food that I ate to get to that point.

I didn't meet my 7- treats goal again because I had a few days like this.  But I also stayed sane on those days.  I would like to think that I have a good relationship with food.  I allow myself to enjoy food.  I love my chocolate brownies, but I also LOVE my daily salads.  I love my meals loaded with fruits and vegetables, but I'm not gonna lie, I had chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and dinner last night.  (I need to go to the store tomorrow).

One of my favorite lessons about intuitive eating is thinking about how toddlers are natural intuitive eaters.  If you were to put them in a room for a day full of healthy choices and sweets, they would not only eat the sweets, but would eventually choose healthier options as well.  They listen to their bodies.  Some days they eat a lot of food, some days they hardly eat anything.  I'm not saying that we should do that, but I do think that we should listen more to our bodies.  Ask yourself questions like:

Am I really hungry?  Or am I just bored?
Is this a healthy food choice?
Am I eating because it's "lunchtime" (noon) or am I really hungry?
Am I NOT eating because it's NOT "lunchtime/ dinnertime?"  (I often need a small snack around 10:00 or 4:00).
Do I need to eat something now, or can I go to bed just a little bit hungry?
Am I really hungry or am I just thirsty?  (Drinking water may help)

So although I didn't have very many healthy choices yesterday, I also wasn't very hungry.  It's tough as a mom because you still have to make meals for your family, but try to listen to your body.  Eat if you're hungry.  Stop when you're full.  Try to make healthy choices when possible, enjoy a treat if you really want one.

GOALS
Scripture Success
A goal I made this week was to wake up at 6:15 every morning.  My kids usually wake up around 7:30.  Sometimes earlier, sometimes later, so I usually wake up with them.  However, I was not getting my scripture reading in.  So, I decided to wake up an hour earlier and read a chapter in the Book of Mormon and 10 pages in the Old Testament so I can try to catch up.

IT WAS AWESOME!

I felt like I had so much more time.  The trick is, if I read before exercising, it can be easy to fall back asleep.  So instead of reading in bed or on the couch, I sat on the floor.  I didn't fall asleep and I was able to get some good reading done.

Strength Days
This was another goal that I would not have accomplished had I not specified what to I wanted to do.  I did weights twice this week.  Even though my knee hurt one day, I still did the class (at home in my living room) without the squats and lunges.  I think I would have avoided that before.  The second day I added the squats and lunges without extra weight and it felt okay.  Fingers crossed!

Goals for this week:
1.  Bed before 11:00 pm
2.  Wake up at 6:15 am
3.  Read daily in the Book of Mormon (keep up with BofM365 schedule)
4.  Read 10 pages a day in the Old Testament (to catch up with Standard Work in a Year)
5.  Keep a food log of fruits/ veggies, treats, and exercise
6.  One treat a day/ 7 treats for the week
7.  5 solid workouts including 2 strength training (I don't need to specify because I LOVE getting a good workout in- but for me, a solid workout would entail 30-60 minutes of medium-high intensity cardio or interval strength training).  I will give a detailed log of my exercise like I did with my eating last week to give ideas and thoughts I have.

It's gonna be a good week!

Spiritual Moment
I had a few "pity me" moments again this weekend.  I realize that a lot of times my thoughts are irrational and I should be able to control them better, but sometimes I just don't want to.  However, it sucks being in that state of mind.

Today we celebrated Memorial Day.  I think about all of the people who sacrifice so that I can be with my family in a free country living the comfortable life that I live.  It's silly that among all these blessings, some of my "biggest worries" are trying not to eat too many sweets.  First world problems.

I am so blessed and extremely grateful for my family and health.  I have great friends, a good home, my husband and I have good jobs, and we live in San Diego for Heaven's sake!  I have a lot to be thankful for.

My Mother-in-law has a tile in her house that reads "Gratitude turns what we have into enough."  I love that phrase.  We can always want more, but only when we truly have gratitude, is it that we realize that we are doing pretty well.  I love my life.  

Project Momma: 15 weeks

I finally had a "normal" week of no travel or illness and it felt so good!  So many good things came from working on my goals this week.

- 5 days of good workouts
- I zipped up 2 skirts that I couldn't zip up a month ago ( I love using clothes as a success measure rather than the scale)
- Down another pound (168)
- 10 treats (I know it's not my 7 treats goal, but the 10 this week was easy)
- 5 days of 4-5 fruits and veggies

And I took a selfie!

Maybe someone should remind me to smile next time I take one.  :)  I'm still wearing my maternity jeans, but I'm feeling more and more like myself again.

So I promised a detailed list of some of my goals so I can explain how I am able to accomplish them and hopefully give you some ideas as well.

Tuesday 
I had a handful (1 cup) of fresh raspberries and blueberries on a bowl of instant oatmeal with a piece of toast.  (I used to have 2 pieces of toast with my oatmeal, but decided I only need one)

I went for a 3-mile walk with a good friend.  We caught up and got our kids outside, and exercised all at the same time!  I have a double jogging stroller, but if I'm walking, one of my older kids can sit on the front of it and Voila!  Room for three (or technically four- it has been done).  I just won't run with them like that since they're not buckled in the front.

I had a favorite mid-morning snack of banana and peanut butter (I get a spoonful of peanut butter (1 Tablespoon- half a serving, so I know how much I eat)

Salad for lunch- Salads are my new favorite way to get veggies.  I used to get the bagged kits at the store, but you eat it too often and you get sick of it.  So I started having my own "salad bar" on stash.  I start with the organic Spring mix from Costco.  It's huge and only $3.50.  Then I'll have a bunch of toppings: Costco rotisserie chicken, craisins, bell peppers, apples, pears, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, etc. Then top it off with some feta or bleu cheese and have a few really good salad dressings to choose from.  I love having a variety of different things.  I love taco salad too when we have taco leftovers like black beans, salsa, and greek yogurt.  (These are easily 2-3 servings of veggies/ fruit)

Then I had some broccoli soup for dinner.  We make it with our Vitamix.  It's creamy, but only has broccoli, potatoes, almonds, some onion and chicken stock.  I LOVE it!  It's by far my favorite thing to make with our blender.

I enjoyed a Magnum bar for my daily treat.

(P.S.  This is NOT a food log.  I ate other foods as well, I'm just giving examples of how I got in my fruits and veggies, what I did for exercise and what I ate for my treats).

Wednesday

I had a banana for a snack and a salad for lunch.  I didn't get quite as many in that day.  But you know what, I don't stress about it and most days I do get it in.

However, this was an awesome workout day because not only did I do a 3-mile run, I had some friends come over and do a BodyPump class with me.  I need to go back to teach at the gym next month and need the practice.  It's always more fun to workout with friends!

I had a serving of leftover Cadbury mini eggs from Easter as my treat.  I still have some left, aren't you proud of me????

Thursday

I got up and ran 3 miles again.  It was tough because I really didn't want to, but knew that once I got up early (6:00 am) and did it, I wouldn't regret it.

I had oatmeal with berries for breakfast again.  But this time they were berries from the community garden I help out with.  They were amazing.  It's so great to eat fresh foods and enjoy the natural taste of them without adding sugars, sweeteners, butter, etc.

I had a banana for a snack, salad for lunch, and mixture of corn and bell peppers for dinner.

Some people have asked me if starchy vegetables count as a vegetable serving.  Of course they are vegetables, but I wouldn't consider potatoes a vegetable serving unless it's a sweet potato.  There is more color in a sweet potato, so that means there are more nutrients.  Corn is fine, but not as nutritious as broccoli or green leafy veggies.  The more color, the better.

I made chocolate chip cheesecake cookie bars for dessert because we had friends over.  This was a 2 serving treat day because I had a serving of dough in addition to the dessert later on.  I was quality control so I needed to taste test it... believe me though, in the past I would have had 2-3 servings of dough... it's all about being a little better each week.

Friday

This was a no-workout day.  I had made the goal for 5 days this week and I chose this rainy morning to get up and make my kids pancakes instead.  But my pancakes are full of frozen blueberries and topped with applesauce, raspberries, and a sliced banana with some drizzled syrup.  (I used to eat pancakes with my syrup.  I've come a long way).  People usually think the applesauce is a weird topping, but it's a great, healthy way to use less syrup and keep your pancakes from tasting dry.  I also have tried to stay away from the chocolate peanut butter.  It's another favorite pancake topping, but adds a lot of extra calories to an already hefty meal.

I enjoyed some leftover broccoli soup with a grilled cheese for lunch.

This was again, a 2-treat day.  I had a little piece of leftover cookie bar, then went to fro yo with some friends that night.

Saturday

Since I had made the 5-day workout goal, I got up and did a workout class in my backyard.  I was about 20 minutes late to my daughter's friend's birthday party, but I figured it was a good sacrifice for a good workout.

I had pancakes again, loaded with my fruit toppings (keep in mind, this is not 3-4 raspberries, but a huge handful with 1/2 cup of applesauce- just because it's a lot of fruit doesn't mean it's a serving.  You need to measure to be sure.)

I had a huge salad when I got home from the party to help out with the Chuck E Cheese pizza lunch, and watermelon chunks for a snack.  I always find that if I cut up the entire melon when I first buy it, it is much easier to eat.

I had a 1/2 cookie bar (they're almost gone, but I'm making them last!!!) and split a
chocolate milkshake at Habit Burger with Ryan.  I LOVE their shakes and it's really hard not to eat it all myself, but half was enough.

Sunday

Finished off my pancakes with all the toppings, threw in an apple to eat at church while I fed Molly, then Ryan grilled some squash for dinner.  It's amazing!  He chops it up and sprinkles powdered garlic, salt, and pepper, drizzles some olive oil and grills it on our charcoal BBQ.  It's sooo good.  I steamed up some broccoli too.

Sunday is always my rest day from exercise.  Even our bodies need a day off to recover.

I made a really good chocolate pudding cake for dessert because we had friends over again.  It was pretty darn good, but I did without the ice cream on top.  I try not to layer treats if I can help it.  Besides, I had already had enough batter when making it to possibly constitute another serving...

Monday 

I got up at 6:15 to run 3 miles this morning.  It's starting to feel good again.  When I came home to stretch, my knee started hurting again.  NOOOOOO!  I hope it doesn't stick around.  I don't know what else to do.  It hurts to squat, lunge, etc.  No bueno.

Berries on my oatmeal for breakfast and an apple for a snack at the zoo with my kids.  I grabbed a quick salad before I left (I was so close to make a PB and J to take with me, but knew that the salad would get me more servings.

Then I had some mixed veggies and watermelon with my dinner.

I had half a cookie bar for dessert.  The homemade baked goods are my favorite, but also my weakness.  As long as I only eat a small half piece, I can have some, enjoy it, and make it last.

I won't do this log every week, but thought it would be good to hopefully give you some ideas of fitting in some more fruits and veggies.  I made the goal to do 3 sets of 20 push-ups every time I run too, which helps as well.  I went to bed much earlier this week (close to 11:00, but not always).

Spiritual Moment

I had some great insights while reading my Book of Mormon this past week.  I was studying in Mosiah 26 in the first verse when I had some thoughts.

"Now it came to pass that there were many of the rising generation that could not understand the words of king Benjamin, being little children at the time he spake unto his people; and they did not believe the tradition of their fathers."


I thought about how King Benjamin's speech in Mosiah 2-4 is one of my favorite scripture passages, but that because the 'rising generation' had been too little to understand it, they were falling away from the church.  My first thought was "What about their parents? Didn't they teach them?"  It's not the children's fault if they don't believe something they heard when they were little, they need to review with their parents. The parents should be teaching them.

While all this is true, I put aside my judgmental ways as I kept reading and realized that some of the worst examples of these "Prodigal sons" were King Benjamin's own grandsons and the Prophet Alma's son.  I'm pretty sure that they would have been taught his words many times.

I have shared with people many times about my fears of teenagers.  I am busy with my little kids, but they love me.   I'm not so sure I will feel that love so strongly in about 12-15 years when they're in high school and I'm trying to guide their choices.  The wonderful thing is, they have agency.  I can't force them to make good choices.  Just like the Prophet Alma did, he fasted and prayed for his son.  He must have felt so helpless, but knew that all he could do was pray for his son and love him, the Lord answered his prayers and helped Alma the Younger, his son, change his life around.

I love my kids and I want them to always make good choices.  But I can't make them choose correctly, and they probably won't. I can have faith that they will remember what Ryan and I taught them.

My Goals:

My new goal this week is to wake up between 6:00 and 6:30 (before my kids) and either read scriptures or go for a run (depending on my knee of course). If I don't read in the morning, I will read when my kids go to bed before I do anything else (tv, laptop stuff, etc).   I was able to do both this morning and it was awesome!  I haven't been able to keep up on my Old Testament reading, so I think this goal will solve that problem.  Then of course I have the 10:30- 11:00 pm lights out goal that accompanies the 6:00 am goal.

I again am working toward 5 workout days, 7 treats this week, and 5 fruits and veggies.  Along with my 5 workout days, I want to make 2 of those include 20 or more minutes of weight training.  I need to get these muscles back in shape!