Worked For Me #3 - Finding Time

A friend recently asked me how I find the time to fit everything in.  I'll let you in on a little secret; I don't.

This brings up something that has bothered me for quite some time.  Why do we as humans always feel the need to hide our humanity?  I'd love to be able to post on this blog that I'm always perfect.  My home is always clean, the baby always goes to the sitter properly dressed and without food in her hair, my job never suffers, I shower and style my hair every morning, I always manage to get that workout in, and I do it all with a smile on my face.  But it would be a big, fat lie.

Give yourselves a pat on the back.  You ARE good enough. It's human nature to want to show the world our best selves, that's why we manage to clean our houses more in the 20 minutes before someone arrives for a visit than in the last 2 weeks.  But don't expect to look at someone else's "perfect life" and see an accurate representation.

This is what my kitchen looked like this morning when I went to work:

Not exactly a "perfect homemaker", hey?

That being said, there are ways to get things done.  First, don't think about ALL the things you need to get done, think about what you need to get done right now.  Prioritize.  I didn't do the dishes today until I had finished work for the day and gone to the gym.  Actually, since I'm being honest, I still haven't finished all of them.  Because, for me, the gym is a bigger priority than dishes (unless someone is coming over).

Another thing that has made a huge difference in what I can get done in a day is my level of physical activity and nutrition.  Honestly, if I hadn't been to the gym today and eaten properly, I probably wouldn't have finished any of the dishes, made dinner, or packed my husband's lunch.  I actually find that when I get some exercise and fuel my body with what it needs, I wind up getting a lot more done in a lot less time.  I just have more energy.

What I'm trying to say is that if you make proper eating and exercise a priority, the rest will come.  Just don't beat yourself up if you're not quite living up to this myth of the "perfect woman".  Because none of us are.

Worked For Me #2 - Breakfast

Most people have heard the saying "breakfast is the most important meal of the day", but is it really true?

I'm not sure I believe it's the MOST important meal of the day; each and every meal you eat has a huge bearing on how you feel and whether your body is nourished and burning fat or just storing it.  But breakfast has definitely played a huge role in my weight loss journey.

Typically I will eat breakfast within 30 minutes of getting up.  My usual breakfast consists of oatmeal with ground flax and cinnamon in it, and a scoop of protein powder mixed with water.  And coffee, of course.

I've experimented with a number of different oatmeals that I like, from pumpkin pie oatmeal (add a spoon of pureed pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves), to cinnamon apple oatmeal (add chopped apple and cinnamon).  Some things always stay the same for me, though.  I prefer the large rolled oats rather than the instant kind (and I can get a HUGE bag that lasts me about 6 months worth of breakfasts for $15 on sale!), and I cook it on the stovetop with 2 parts water to 1 part oats.  I usually throw some raisins in with the oats to cook, but occasionally I'll use blueberries or other fruit.

The protein powder I'm using at the moment is a whey protein isolate/concentrate blend that I get from the health food store.  I'm relatively paranoid about artificial sweeteners so I always look for a kind that is sweetened with stevia rather than sucralose.    The difference between isolate and concentrate is mostly the rate of absorption from what I've heard.  When you've just got up in the morning and haven't eaten all night, or you've just had a strenuous workout, isolate is generally preferred because it is absorbed quicker to aid in muscle building/recovery.  I'm being a bit less picky about that at the moment being as I'm not going to be competing any time soon.

As much as oatmeal is my breakfast of choice, there are certainly other options that would have the same effect!  Any kind of whole grain, such as quinoa, whole wheat, rice cakes, etc. would do the trick.  Just be sure to include some kind of fruit, whole grains and healthy fats.

A good, nourishing breakfast can set the pace for the entire day.  Definitely not something to be skipped or taken lightly!

Change

I've made it to the gym 3 times in the last 1.5 weeks and feel so much better! I was right; the second I started eating better and exercising, my "pregnancy symptoms" all but disappeared.

Although it's been tough to get back in the swing of things (my last "cheat day" turned into a "cheat long weekend"), I finally feel like I'm turning things around. As much as I don't like to admit it, I hit 200lbs with my last pregnancy and had to work my butt off to get rid of that extra weight. But I refuse to let that happen again!

Yesterday I went to the local farmer's market and bought some beautiful produce. I had forgotten how good homegrown really is! There is a local hutterite colony near town which sells local chicken, eggs, and produce. I'm feeling inspired to eat lots of fresh produce and will probably go for a run today. Then it's back to the gym tomorrow!

First Trimester Update

I'm over 10 weeks along now and I've just realized something interesting.  As much as I've been moping around and whining about no energy and feeling "yucky" from morning sickness... it's really no different from every other time I've eaten crap food and not exercised.  Sure, I have a little bit of morning sickness going along with that, but I'm guessing the majority of my ailments at the moment have to do more with not nourishing myself properly and less with the pregnancy.

So, with that in mind, I really need to start eating properly and moving more again.  I know this is the time that it is the most critical for my baby and I know it's just going to make it easier to get back into shape afterwards... but it's really hard to overcome that little voice inside my head saying, "what does it matter, you're going to get fat either way".

Well, I'd better go pack up my gym stuff and a healthy lunch if I'm going to have a chance of actually making a change!

Worked For Me #1 - Cheat Days

After just 3 days of eating properly and exercising I decided to give myself a "cheat day".  So yesterday I gorged myself on cake and pizza.... and spent the entire evening with zero energy lying on the couch feeling sorry for myself.  May have overdone it just a tad.

Even with this experience well behind me (I went for a 30 minute run this morning before breakfast and feel much better now), I'm still a believer in cheat days.  Or, at least, cheat meals.  A full day of cheating is probably a bit excessive.  

Let me explain.  Anytime prior to having my last baby that I got on a "health kick" and starting eating right and exercising, I would get it in my head that I didn't need to eat that crap ever again.  And, invariably, I would wind up gorging myself when I finally broke down.  

When I started a program with a trainer last year, she gave me one cheat day per week.  One whole day that I could eat anything I wanted.  BUT the rest of the week had to be spot-on.  I was sceptical, but you know what?  By giving myself that cheat day, I found myself actually eating a lot less of the bad stuff than before.  If I was craving nachos on Tuesday, it didn't seem to bad to tell myself "On Saturday, I can have those nachos".  And the funny thing is that by the time Saturday comes along, half of the time I'm not even craving whatever it was earlier in the week.  And usually I'll wind up eating pretty well most of the day on my cheat day and just having pizza and beer for dinner or something like that.

Anyways, back on track for the week now.  My plan for this week it to make it to the gym at least twice and do legs, shoulders chest and triceps.  And no more cheats until Saturday!

Note (9 Sept. 12) - I'm going to start categorizing some of my posts into categories.  "Worked For Me" will be a regular post, outlining different ideas, plans or meals that have worked for me in my journey to get into the best shape of my life!

Gym Time

Okay I'll admit I didn't make it to the gym last week as promised.  My excuse is that I was lazy and unmotivated.  But I did finally make it yesterday and boy, am I feeling it today!

After just 2 days of eating right and working out once, my pants already feel looser.  Maybe it's just my imagination, but even though I know my size hasn't changed at all in the last 2 days, I feel like a million bucks!  So, to those of you thinking about getting to the gym or getting started eating right, DO IT!!! You'll feel so much better by tomorrow.

That's it for now.  Good luck!

New developments

I'm pregnant again.  5 weeks.  Here we go!

Also, I weighed myself today.  First time since my competition.  I've gained 13lbs from my competition weight.  Admittedly, my competition weight wasn't a really sustainable weight, but 13lbs sure seems like a lot!  And I know that's not just water weight... I've been eating like crap and not exercising.

So, I've made up my mind... today's the day I get back to the gym.  I really need to get my butt in gear if I'm going to keep from gaining a ton of weight again this pregnancy.

Exciting changes.  Hopefully they will give me that extra kick I need.