Jul 31, 2014

BUMPdate: 15 Weeks!

Quick side note: in case you don't follow me on my other social media sites like Facebook or Instagram, I'm a daily challenge winner with Beachbody today! Check out my story here:


And now back to our regularly scheduled program, which is (I know), a day late because frankly I was too damn tired yesterday from traveling to even think about a blog post! Anywho, here it is!

How far along are you: 15 weeks

Fruit: This week baby is the size of a navel orange



Baby bump: Same answer as last week…..I mostly just feel bloated and fat right now...I'm looking forward to the day when I look like I have a real bump!

Maternity Clothes: I’m in an awkward stage right now.  Most of my pants are officially not fitting, unless they have an elastic waist band of some sort…another (unexpected) wardrobe issue? My boobs are HUGE..like to the point where some of my tops don’t fit now because of them!



Gender Guess: I’m sticking with boy still.

Stretch Marks: No new ones (yet)

Sleep: I can’t get enough, I’m tired all the time, but I end up sleeping for only a few hours at a time before getting up to pee! 

Cravings: Carbs are still a big one, and now salad with crispy chicken too (super healthy, I know).

What Makes Me Wanna Gag: Honestly plain grilled chicken is giving me a hard time still…

Exercise: PiYo and walking, though tomorrow I’m going to try for a run again!

Mood: I’ve been ok, but traveling this week has taken a lot out of me.  I feel pretty run down and just crappy in general today (and yesterday), and have been dealing with a migraine headache since Tuesday so I’m hoping that goes away soon!

Favorite thing this week: We received our first baby gift! It was a little hand puppet with farm animals and a matching book, so cute!

Excited For: I can’t wait to find out the gender so we can start shopping!!!

Jul 28, 2014

This sh*t is hard

Quickie post today since I'm traveling for work (I'm in Austin, Texas as I type!) I've never been to Texas before but unfortunately they've got my schedule so jam packed I won't really have a chance to see anything but the resort I'm staying at and the airport :(

Anyways, I just wanted to state, for the record, that this stuff is hard.  This health and fitness stuff.  This making the best choices as much as possible stuff.  I really thought that by the time I got pregnant, I'd have this routine DOWN.  And to some extent I do, but throw in extreme fatigue, an aversion to grilled chicken, and cravings for all things bread, and well...my diet has not exactly been stellar.  I know I need to snap myself out of this funk, and fast, or I'll quickly be heading down the exact road I was trying to avoid, which is an unhealthy pregnancy and too much weight gain.  My body is starting to feel better this week, so I'm going to attempt to be more active; I brought PiYo to workout in the hotel with (hello, no equipment or sneakers!), and although I don't have control over my food while I"m at this conference since all the meals are provided, I am going to make a much bigger effort when I get home, not just for my sake, but for the health of my whole family.  

So, as soon as I can get my butt back home and to a grocery story, I'm getting back to the 21 day fix way of eating.  No, I'm not trying to lose weight (I will adjust my calories accordingly), but I know that this program is designed as a lifestyle change and truly shows you the RIGHT way to fuel your body..and I can't think of a better way to get back on track for the rest of this pregnancy.
So, if you want to join me and learn how to eat better, shoot me an email at babebeforebaby@gmail.com...I have to shift gears to becoming a babe DURING baby now :)


Jul 23, 2014

Happy BUMP Day :)

It's BUMP Day (get it, instead of hump day? No? Anyone? I digress...)
I figured I'd start to do weekly bumpdates to keep you all up to date with how things are progressing, and so I could have a record for my own benefit too.  So, without further ado, here it is...


How far along are you: 14 weeks

Fruit: This week baby is the size of a lemon



Baby bump: I mostly just feel bloated and fat right now...I'm looking forward to the day when I look like I have a real bump!

Maternity Clothes: Not yet, although fold-over pants/skirts and dresses have been my best friend.  I can technically still fit into my normal pants, but by the end of the day I’m super uncomfortable so yesterday was the first day I tried out wearing a bella band with my pants unbuttoned.



Gender Guess: Lately, I’m really feeling boy, but I had a dream that said girl, so who knows!

Stretch Marks: No new ones (yet)…remember you’re talking to a tall girl and former fatty, so I’ve already got my fair share J (Aren’t genetics fun??)

Sleep: I’m sleeping like a log…except when I wake up every night to go pee.  Every morning I’m now up at 5:30 without fail since apparently my bladder can only make it 3 hours before emptying again 

Cravings: Carbs, Salt, and Salty Carbs.  ‘Nough said.

What Makes Me Wanna Gag: I’m doing better now, but the thought of protein killed me my first semester.  I was very lucky to not have bad morning sickness (only nausea, no vomiting), but if I snacked constantly I was really ok…except I wanted nothing to do with grilled chicken breast, like AT ALL.  I’m slowly introducing it back but I’d much rather have a grilled cheese right now J

Exercise: This week I’m taking it easy per doctor’s orders (see my post from yesterday), so I’ve just been sticking to walking for now.  Hoping next week to get back to some running and PiYo.

Mood: In general, I feel great! I worry a lot more than I ever did before, but I suppose that’s to be expected.  Oh and I cry at just about everything these days.  Seriously..the Iphone commercial made me cry the other day (what’s wrong with me?)

Best Part Thus Far: Hearing my baby’s heartbeat last week J

Excited For: Our next big milestones, like feeling the baby kick, and finding out the gender.

Jul 22, 2014

The stuff no one tells you

I promise I won’t let this blog become overrun with nothing but baby stuff, but the reality is, pregnancy is part of my new journey here, so I’m going to talk about it a bit.  Today I’m going to talk about the stuff no one ever tells you before your pregnant…like how terrifying life suddenly becomes because of all the little things that could go wrong.

Last week, I had a bit of a scare on Tuesday, right before I shared my news with all of you.
It was about 8 o’clock at night, and I went to pee…and there was blood.
Now, in hindsight, I guess it wasn’t a lot of blood, but ANY blood when you’re pregnant is the scariest thing you can ever see.
I was terrified.  I reached out to both of my sisters (who both have babies) and who reassured me everything was probably ok, but to call my doctor just in case.
I called the doctor, and the on-call physician told me I’m fine, that so long as there is no cramping or pain, and that the blood flow isn’t seriously heavy, there’s nothing to worry about.
Luckily, I had an appointment on Wednesday anyways, so he said they’d check everything out in the morning.

That wasn’t enough to stop my thoughts though.  Every possible scenario jumped into my head.  I went running for the first time in a while on Monday…did I push myself too hard? It was so hot and humid, did I let myself get dehydrated? Did I do this? What if I harmed my baby??

Flash forward to Wednesday morning, and at the doctor’s office, when they put the fetal heart rate monitor on my belly and I heard the heartbeat, I literally burst into tears.  I know everyone said it was “probably nothing to worry about” but “probably” means there’s a chance, even if it’s tiny, that something might be wrong…and that tiny chance kept me awake all night long.

The doctor told me after an exam that it’s just the way my cervix is built, that there are lots of little blood vessels closer to the surface now and that it will probably be a normal occurrence for me throughout my pregnancy, but holy cow were those 12 hours waiting to find out what happened were nerve wracking.  I hadn't had any issues before that, so this was a total shock. 
To be on the safe side, I’m supposed to take it easy for a full week.  No running, no high impact workouts.  I can still walk, and PiYo is probably ok too, but I have been too scared to push it, namely because the bleeding never really “stopped”, so I don’t want to aggravate it.
So, in the meantime, I’m trying to focus on getting my nutrition back on track.  The first trimester was tough with nausea (I was lucky to not have any vomiting, but the only thing I wanted to eat were carbs, carbs, and more carbs!), so now I’m trying to focus on getting enough protein again.
I’m lucky to have my Shakeology still to help fill those voids in my nutrition, but the healthier I can eat, the healthier baby will be, so I’m trying!

What are some things that you learned as a first time momma that no one ever told you or warned you about?

Jul 16, 2014

Struggle, failure, and success

Today I want to talk a bit about struggle…I've seen a lot of buzz in some of the online groups I’m in lately about the fact that there’s a lot of people struggling, but more so that they feel like they’re alone in that struggle.  I’m here to tell you that you are NOT alone in that category.

I've done my best to try to keep this blog as open and honest as possible, and for those of you reading that have been with me for a while, you know that my progress has never been totally linear.


The truth is, we ALL struggle.  In fact, if you show me someone who claims they NEVER struggle, I’ll show you someone who’s not being honest about their journey.

It’s totally normal for you to have moments of weakness, days, even months where you just can’t seem to get your head in the game.  The difference here between success and failure is how you decide to look at this struggle.

Adversity IS your advantage.  Just like with weight lifting, where stress and strain actually make your muscle grow, the same can be said about your personal health and fitness journey.  If you never experience failure, you won’t know the joy of success.

There is no quick fix; success is EARNED one day at a time.  Decide every day, every choice you make, whether you are going to contribute to your goals, or give in and accept that one bad choice will not make or break you.

Like I mentioned yesterday, small changes DO add up.  Success is a result of small (seemingly insignificant) choices you make today that can add up to make a HUGE impact in the end.



Did you know that we could LITERALLY END OBESITY with 125 calories per day!? If everyone in the “obese” category simply eliminated 125 calories per day from their diet, the change over the course of the year would be staggering.  You must have patience in this journey, because although these small changes might be unnoticeable immediately, think where you could be 1, 5, or even 10-15 years down the road.

Going off track doesn't define you.  Staying off track does.  

So what small change will you make today to get you closer to your goals?

Jul 15, 2014

Small Changes

This past week has been so much more consistent for me in the exercise category; I've managed to get a workout in most days of the week both last week and now into this week too.  I’m trying to just switch up my routine a bit to keep from getting too bored, so last week I took a step class at the gym, and yesterday I threw in a run for old time’s sake.
I’m still doing PiYo, but in the summer time I like to get outside too, so when my husband offers to go for a long walk instead of being cooped up in the basement, I happily agree J Either way, I don’t think it matters too much WHAT I’m doing, so long as I’m doing something!  

But that brings me to part 2 – nutrition.  I haven’t been so good with this one.  To be honest, I’ve let a lot of my old habits sneak back in, and I have to put a stop to that! One of the biggest changes I made when I got serious about my health and fitness was to stop accepting free food at work.  I even came up with a saying to stop me…”Free food is FAT food!”
Seriously.  My office celebrates a birthday just about every other day, and because we have a peanut allergy in the office, it’s ALWAYS an ice cream cake.  I used to skip this unless it was my own personal birthday but I’ve been lax about this rule (who doesn’t love ice cream in the summer!?).  Not to mention the countless sales reps that come in on an almost daily basis with things like cookies, brownies, bagels…need I say more? So this is an effort I’m going to make this week – remember that small changes add up to big changes, so simply cutting out the mindless snacking on free treats at the office will go a long way for me, and pairing that with my renewed commitment to daily exercise from last week will mean even more progress.

So, small changes this week and last, in anticipation of re-starting the 21 day fix next Monday.  I need a reminder of portion sizes and what foods are the RIGHT foods to be eating, so it’s time to get back to a program so I’m not just eating whatever gets put in front of me.


If you’re interested in joining me, today is the LAST day I’m accepting new challengers for my accountability group starting Monday 7/21, so email me ASAP if you want in! babebeforebaby@gmail.com

After my first 2 rounds of the fix, I got down to my lowest weight EVER, and I’d love to get back there again, so it’s time to buckle down.  



Jul 9, 2014

Q&A with Autumn Calabrese

As I mentioned in another post, I had an amazing opportunity at Summit to go to a private Q&A session with Autumn Calabrese, creator of the 21 day fix.  You all know by now how much I love this program and how successful I've been with it, so I was dying to get Autumn’s take on some of the most common questions I get in my group.  

Today, I’m going to share some of those answers we got from Autumn to help you in your own 21 day Fix endeavors!



Q: How many containers should I eat with each meal? How many meals per day? What does YOUR day in containers look like?
A: I try to eat 5 to 6 meals per day, about 2 to 3 hours between each meal.  I ALWAYS eat all my carbs before 4pm (this includes both yellow and purple containers), and I make sure to eat my orange/blue containers somewhere in the mid-day area, and without carbs.  A typically day looks like this:
1st Meal: Red + Yellow
2nd Meal:  Red + Yellow + Purple
3rd Meal: Red + Yellow + Purple
4th Meal: Red + Green + Blue or Orange
5th Meal: (Remaining containers)

Keep in mind: Autumn works out for 3+ hours PER DAY!! She’s a beast, seriously…don’t let her tiny frame fool you, she works hard for that body, and remember, it’s her JOB to be fit, so don’t compare your journey to hers!

Q: What’s the deal with almond milk? Why is it considered a “treat” and a yellow container when it’s so low in calories and macros if it’s unsweetened?
A: Really, that was the nutritionist’s call.  I say if you love your almond milk, go for it (in moderation of course).

Q: I’m in the lowest calorie bracket and I’m STARVING.  Seriously miserable…my stomach could eat itself.  Anything I can do?
A: Don’t ever NOT eat – just bump up to the next bracket if you’re truly starving! HOWEVER, be sure this is really the case.  Are you drinking enough water? Try eating more “Green” containers first to see if that helps.  Play with this to find your sweet spot, especially if you have a more active job or are doing more than one workout at day.

Q: Is a 30 minute workout REALLY enough to change my body and lose weight?
A: New studies suggest that if you push hard in the first 30 minutes of your workout, that’s where all your gains come from.  It’s only 30 minutes, so no slacking off!

Q: How often should I be doing the bonus 10 minute ab workout?
A: You can really work abs every day if you want to, but keep in mind that Leg day also works your abs.  I do abs twice a week in addition to my leg day workouts.

Q: Are there modifications to make if I’m pregnant or breastfeeding?
A: If you’re pregnant, add 300 calories to your daily intake.  If breastfeeding, add 300 calories.

Q: Why are beans a yellow? I’m a vegetarian, and that’s where I always get my protein from.
A: Again, it’s the nutritionist’s call on this one; beans are more carb than they are protein, and the bottom line is, at the end of the day, animal protein is the best source of protein for your body when it comes to weight loss.

Q: Is there a preferred fish for the “3 day fix” portion of the program?
A: Tilapia and Cod are best

Q: Do you have “cheat meals”? If so, what’s your favorite cheat meal? How often do you do this?
A: Yes, I’m human, I eat bad food too.  I wouldn’t say I have a “Favorite” cheat meal, but my most common one is that on leg day, right after a serious, intense, long session…I INHALE not 1 but 2 donuts.  Seriously…it might scare you, I don’t think I breathe while I do this, and they’re gone so quick, but they’re delicious, and I look forward to the end of my workout on those days!

Q: What’s the biggest piece of advice you have for someone going through this program?


Want the answer to that last one?? Well, I have to save something for my customers, don’t I? I share this tip with those going through my challenge groups, and my next 21 day fix group starts on 7/21, so if you want this last answer, along with some other great knowledge I’ve learned so far in my various rounds of the fix, then email me at babebeforebaby@gmail.com for more info!!


Jul 7, 2014

Truth

So the truth is, I've been a bit off track for the past few months.  I’m not talking 100%, throw in the towel, give up on life off track, but I’d be lying if I said I was putting in any serious effort.  My workouts have been sporadic, and my eating has been less than stellar.
I've even gained back a few pounds L
BUT, this is not the end of the world.  One thing I've learned throughout this journey is that we are never “Done”.  This road has many ups and downs, twists and turns, but the ultimate goal is simply to be healthy.  To me, healthy means eating good, clean foods in proper portions and a few treats (in moderation) here and there, and getting at least 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week.
These are the habits that make a healthy lifestyle, and I’m not losing sight of that…sometimes you just need a little kick in the butt to get there!
So, to get me back on track, I’m doing 2 things.

1) I’m starting the 3 day Refresh next Monday.  


Why the 3 day refresh? Here’s some info:

A little ice cream here...
an extra slice of pizza there...
and before you know it, your jeans are too tight and you need a quick way to lose a few pounds and get back on track. Or maybe you're just finally ready to start a new weight loss program, and you want to jump into it with total commitment...
3-DAY REFRESH IS A DRAMATIC CHANGE THAT WILL HELP CLEANSE YOUR BODY AND IMPROVE THE WAY YOU FEEL — WITHOUT STARVING YOURSELF.  
Specially formulated shakes for 3-day results. 
Easy-to-prepare "clean" meals DESIGNED to help you lose a few pounds and never feel deprived. GUARANTEED or your money back (less S/H).
THIS IS HOW YOU BREAK THE CYCLE OF BAD EATING AND GET A JUMP START ON HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS. 
ONLY 3 DAYS, AND THE RESULTS ARE AMAZING.

Just check out Chelsea’s results….5 pounds in 3 days, and she doesn't have much to lose!!!


I’m putting together a support group starting next Monday for anyone interested in joining me in trying this program out…it’s only 3 days, what do you have to lose? Email me today for info though, you’ll have to order ASAP to get your program in time to start with me!

And 2) I’m committing to doing PiYo consistently for the next 21 days, starting today! 

 In fact, I’m ready to go beyond the 21 days, so I’m starting a new accountability group on July 21st for any one of my customers doing PiYo OR the 21 day fix…this is going to be an amazing group of ladies, I can already tell! I’m going to try to keep it limited in size for personal attention though, so if you’re interested in joining me, email me asap at babebeforebaby@gmail.com to reserve your spot!  BOTH PiYo AND the 3 day refresh are on sale this month only, so this is a great chance to lose weight AND save money

Hope you all had an amazing 4th of July weekend!

Jul 3, 2014

I'm back...with a Summit Photo Dump!

I know, I've been seriously neglecting my little corner of the internet over hear lately, I'm so sorry! I promise to try to do better this month! Summer has me thinking of beach days and pool time, and I keep putting off blogging for some reason, but I'm going to make a bigger effort this month, promise!

So, to get me back into the swing of things, I thought I'd share with you all the absolutely AMAZING experience I had a few weeks ago at the yearly Beachbody convention called "Summit" in Las Vegas.  Honestly...I can't even put into words how awesome this trip was! (Exhausting, but awesome!) I met some incredible people, like my coach Caitlyn from Live, Sweat, Sleep, whom I've been working with (online) for a year now, but never had the chance to meet in person until this trip. We've become great friends through this little business venture of ours, and I'm so grateful I have her to help me through this crazy journey!


 I learned to much while I was there, but above all, I loved the theme of the whole conference: NEVER GIVE UP.  No matter what it is you're going through, your goal is worth it, and you CAN get there.  It was amazing to hear some of the stories that were showcased, like the challenge winners who lost over 100 pounds each using beachbody, or this year's top coach (Lindsay Mattway) who literally went from Bankruptcy to millionaire in less than 2 years.  I love what this company stands for and I'm so honored to be a part of it!


So probably the coolest part (yes, I'm still starstruck) of my entire trip, was that I got a chance to meet a few of the celebrity trainers! I met my absolute IDOL Chalene Johnson, AND I had a chance to do a private  Q and A with Autumn Calabrese herself (creator of the 21 day fix).




In fact, my results even made it into the success story show that day!! 
Even better? I got to work out with her and Chelsea Pearson, in the FRONT ROW of her 21 day fix workout the next morning...don't let her sweetness fool you, girlfriend will kick your booty!!



I'm so excited for all the new things Autumn taught me, that I'm ready to start the 21 day fix all over again.  I'm thinking of doing my next challenge group starting on 7/21, so if you want more info, email me at babebeforebaby@gmail.com!

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