5.09.2015

21 Day Fix: Round 2, Day 8

Ok, Ok, I fold. I am not going to try any longer to catch up on my previous 5 days that I didn't write about. I started some drafts, I uploaded some pictures.... But my "mommy brain" just can't write that detailed about anything that happened 5 days ago!! So I apologize- you get Day 1, Day 2, Day 8 and (hopefully) every day from here going forward! 

I have to give you a little background on my life right now, real quick. I have recently accepted the position of co-president of MOMS Club in my chapter area, and I have really been throwing myself into the club the last few weeks. I have been attending most of the scheduled events. One reason is because my 5 year old drives me crazy at home! Another reason is that I need the energy I get from interacting with other people (especially moms!) in order to keep me going strong in my crazy life. My husband currently works out of town for 3 days at a time, and he never knows when he will work or be home from work! So I have found myself searching for activities that I can do with my kids so that I can make friends, keep my energy levels up and my momentum going, and get us out of the house. 

So that is part of the reason I have been back-logged on my blog. I think about it daily, and I take lots of pictures of my meals. I hope people can see these meals and snacks and think, " I could do that!" or "That doesn't look like diet food!" or "That's food that I already eat!" I want people to know that I have been working on the health aspects of myself and that it is really not rocket science and that anyone can do it- You just need to set goals, be motivated, and have support. I have all three of those things right now, which is why (in spite of my lack of documentation) I am still going to strong in my new Journey! 

Alright, now onto today :) Fridays are Cardio Days for exercise. I set my alarm last night but I must have somehow turned the volume down, because I woke up about 45 minutes after my alarm normally goes off and I didn't remember turning it off. Luckily my baby was still asleep and my son is pretty good about letting me get my 30 minutes of exercise in, even if he is already up. I am actually pretty proud of him because he made himself a bowl of cereal all by himself while I was doing my exercise :) I really had to get myself amped up for this workout- it is really challenging and gets my heart rate up pretty quickly. But I always feel really great afterwards- I might be sore and a little tired, but when I am eating clean and drinking Shakeology those things don't bother me nearly as much as they used to. It was the most difficult for the first 7-10 days of exercising. Then after that, it became much more doable as the habit became part of my routine. My body isn't in as much shock as it was before! 

So after getting all sorts of sweaty and out of breath, I had to get on with my day. Normally I would go right into making breakfast. But my husband got his call to go back to work and he needed helping getting his 3 days worth of food put together, laundry rotated so he could pack it, etc. Once he left though, I made my chocolate Shakeology with half of a banana (and some ice and water) and I also made myself 1 frozen waffle with 2 tsp. of peanut butter. So far I am at 1 red, 1 purple, 1 yellow and 2 tsp. 

After getting my kids fed and all situated, it was time to shower and get going- we had a playdate scheduled for 9:30! Most days I am awake around 5:30, and I will exercise and shower before my daughter is out of bed. On days like today though, I have to still try to do my "self -care" routine (which we all know is so difficult to justify as a busy stay at home mom, we put ourselves on the back burner so quickly!) First I made it a goal to exercise everyday. Then I made a goal to shower everyday after my exercise. So I am sticking to those goals! I wanted to post this picture to show you what I do on days like today where I need to shower and doing it while baby is napping is not an option. 



What you don't see in this particular picture is the trash can, toilet brush, and plunger are all up on the sink counter. I also put some heavy toys in front of the sink cabinet. And then I just pop my head out of the shower every minute or two to check on her. She hasn't figured out how to lift the toilet seat yet, but when she does I will probably get a toilet lock so I don't have to sacrifice my showers when I am home alone for 3 days! 

Right before we left the house, I peeled 2 hard-boiled eggs and I cut up some bell pepper and celery (1 red and 1 green) to eat in the car. I knew that if our friends had food it would probably not be the kind of food I would want to eat today (often times muffins are served at playdates, and while I love muffins I didn't want to have any of those today!) We went to our playdate and ended up staying later than I had anticipated- we got home at 12:30 and I was pretty hungry! I did snack on a little bit of grapes and banana bread, so I called it 1/2 a purple and 1 yellow. At home I made myself a lunch of 2 greens (mixed green salad) 1 red (leftover taco meat) and 1/2 orange (creamy dressing). 

So far my daily tally is 3 greens, 1.5 purples, 3 reds, 2 yellows, 0 blues, 0.5 orange, and 2 tsp. Sometimes when I am not following a meal plan (ok, most times!) I do a simple tally like this: 


FYI this particular tally sheet was not from today which is why the numbers do not match. The numbers on the left show how many I am allotted per day. The tally marks on the right are what I make as I go along. Part of the 21 Day Fix is doing a formula based on your weight and necessary caloric intake to determine how many of each container you get each day. 

That afternoon I played Disney Infinity on the xbox with my son and just enjoyed his presence. Sometimes I have a hard time slowing down to play with him because my to-do list is always so long. But today I actually wrote "Play Disney Infinity with Sean" on my to-do list so I would remember that it was a priority today! 

That evening I was slacking and totally forgot to prep for dinner. We eat dinner on the early side (5/5:30) because my kids go to bed on the early side (7/7:30). I have to try to remember to get started on dinner before my daughter gets cranky in the evening, otherwise she just follows me around the kitchen crying for 30 minutes! I wasn't in the mood to deal with that tonight, so I made the executive decision as "Single Mom" that night to take the kids to Round Table Pizza. They have a play area there and a salad bar, and they are less than a mile from my house. Winning!

I had my salad bar greens, and a piece of pizza (which is not encouraged but we all know that life happens, so there is a special section in the 21 Day Fix "bible," as I like to call it, that discusses how to calculate those types of foods) I counted it as 2 yellows and a blue, and I put my dressing into a side cup so I could portion my other 1/2 orange container for dressing. 

At the end of the day today, I was lacking in proteins. I know that is not a great thing and I wish I had thought about that at dinner, but honestly they didn't have much for great protein choices at this particular restaurant. I guess I could have had some hard boiled egg or cottage cheese from the salad bar, but that was about it! I also could have used more fruit today. I will tell you a secret- I have a horrible sweet tooth that kicks in immediately after the kids go to bed. Today when I acknowledged that persistent sweet tooth around 8pm, I thought about the fact that I was 1.5 containers short of fruit and 2 containers short of protein and thought about making a snack. But I had to also acknowledge that neither of those sounded all that appealing to me, which probably meant I was't all that hungry!  I am trying really hard to accept and acknowledge my sweet cravings (just like my anxiety) and let them come and go as they will. Occasionally I will have sweets after the kids go to bed. But most nights if I find something to do I notice that I am doing just fine without satisfying the sweet tooth. And I remind myself that currently my goals are to create good nutrition habits and to lose some weight. Eating sweets at 8pm is not helping me to accomplish that goal! 

I'll leave you with this quote today. It's thoughts like these that have been helping me tremendously as I work through my new Journey in life. 




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