So Far So Good

This is what my day one looked like:

Breakfast:

Protein pancakes

Snack:

Carrots and humus

Lunch:

Grilled Cheese Ezekiel Bread with cottage cheese

Snack:

Quest Bar

String cheese

Dinner:

Whole wheat pasta with Italian Sausage 

Before bed:

Protein shake 

I ate more today than I have in a long time..and I was hungry all day. And it was hard to make myself eat. I had a million and one things to do, and eating wasn't something on my list....but I made it happen.

I had to take CJ to physical therapy...as 10 o'clock rolled around, I knew it was crunch time. I had to get both car seats by the front door, along with the stroller, the seats for the stroller, the diaper bag repacked, toys for his physical therapy, myself dressed, boys fed, boys loaded into their seats, boys and everything else loaded into the car finally at 11:20...Yes, it take me that long to do all of that. Why does that hour before I have to go anywhere seem to disappear? Ha!

I also had to make sure to grab myself something to eat. I was starving and I knew that if I didn't get a snack, Taco Bell would literally make my car act like a magnet and I would have been driving home with a delicious bean and cheese burrito and a cheese quesadilla....yummmmmm.

BUT, because I packed my snack of carrots and humus, I was able to resist the urge. It also helped that I took backroads home so the temptation wasn't there. I was very proud of myself. 

Day two looked like this:

Breakfast:
Protein Pancakes
Snack:
Carrots and Humus
Lunch:
Ezikiel Grilled Cheese
Cottage Cheese
Snack:
Quest Bar
 Dinner:
Grilled Chicken and Quenoa
After Gym:
Protein Shake

Gym day!

I was PUMPED to be going to the gym. It is the first time in, gosh, a year and half. I think...

I worked out in the beginning of my pregnancy. It wasn't long though until my body was aching and I was exhausted.  So that didn't last.

Yes, many preggo mommies can work past the exhaustion and achy-ness, I was not one of them. Oh well.

I hate working out at the free weights, not because I hate lifting but because I'm intimated by the people who actually know what they are doing. So I stuck to the assisted machines. I am sure I will get comfortable in the free weights, just not there yet.

I started on the elliptical, did leg exercises and end with a 20 min cardio sesh on the elliptical again. I had gone on a walk/ run early that day so I think I got my fair share of cardio in ;)

As the week has gone on, I have felt great. I have definitely had my moments where I want to eat everything and anything in the house, especially when I got home from the gym, but I resisted. It was and and will continue to be hard. Any change is.

I took a picture of my side profile this morning, and much to my surprise I can see a big difference! It's been nearly a month since I started thinking hard about what I was eating, but it's been the last four days that I have actually stuck to a clean eating lifestyle. I have more energy, I am in a better mood, I've been getting more done around the house. It feels great!

Seeing my progress in the picture this morning was an even bigger motivator. I can't wait to see what a month will bring!

Time to Step It Up

So I stepped on the scale a few weeks ago and much to my surprise I had gained about 10 lbs. Still lower than my pre-preg weight, but definitely not want I wanted to see...

I know that I have been over indulging, because I can. However, my days of nursing my twins are coming to an end in the coming months and all of those calories I have been so effortlessly burning are going to start sticking. Booo

Yesterday my sister was looking at Instagram and mentioned to me something that Nutrishop had posted about a Body Transformation Challenge. It struck my interest because it helps to be held accountable. Everyone has their own motivators; mine is when I have someone to answer to besides myself. However, I am not doing this for ANYONE ELSE this is for ME, but it helps to have that outside support.

Today was the last day that I could sign up, so on our way we went. I weighed in and spoke to one of the employees about a meal plan. It is so simple. Eat every two to three hours. Make healthy choices. The right combination of proteins and carbs...

The thing is, I know how to eat healthy...it's just hard. It's hard to prep, it's hard to continue to eat clean when you crave the bad stuff. However, hard is not impossible, and I am finally at the point where I am ready.

I am ready to see this change. I want to see what my body can do.

I played softball my entire life, until adulthood, so I always had an athletic body. Age and babies, of course, have changed my body, but I can still be healthy. I am ready to do this.

Will I have cheats? Duh. Will I have bad days?  I am sure of it. Will I succeed? Absolutely.

So here we go.

B and I heading to Nutrishop :) 

One of my before pictures.

I am not comfortable just yet posting my slightly more revealing before pictures on my blog. Maybe after my transformation, but you get the picture. I would like to lose about 20 lbs and tone up. 

Stay tuned!

Have a blessed Sunday everyone :) 

~Nic

It hurts so good

So the other night my sibs, hubby and I had a spontaneous work out in my mom's garage. You work with whatcha got.

We made special stations, using an old night stand from my Gramp's house as a bench to do tricep dips (with cases of water for added weight, for the boys), weights from my brothers room, towels as yoga mats (haha),  my sister's pull up bar for push ups and pull ups, and put on some Bass Nectar radio and got cray cray.

We choose to do three sets of burn outs at each station.

Station 1: Tricep Dips and Pull Ups (or attempted pull ups where I held myself in a pull up position until fail)

Station 2:  Push Ups (wide and narrow)

Station 3: Chest Press and Around the Worlds

Station 4: Skull Crushers and Tricep Extensions 

Station 5: Plank (I went for 26 seconds and then a whole minute, STOKED!)

It felt so so so good to get a work out like that in. I haven't worked out for way too long.

We finished off with love from babies and protein shakes. YUM!

The day after,  I was pretty sore. In fact, I kind of thought I may have done some damage to my right arm...but after using it, the pain subsided to good ol fashioned soreness.

Today I am really sore, especially my core because of the planking, but it feels so good! When I feel that soreness, I know that I worked out hard and that if I keep it up I'll see some great results. Can't wait to go at it again!

 

Tricep Extensions

 Tricep Dips 

Push Ups and Around the Worlds

 

Bad A**es ;)

Bicep Curls

 

 

Skull Crushers

Annnnd I leave you with this picture of the two cutest little guys around! I am such a lucky momma :)

...

The title is how I felt at the end of yesterday.

Just...blank. Worn down. Emotionally drained. Exhausted. Frustrated.

 

I prayed all day yesterday for patience and strength to get through the day. God granted me those all day until I was able to have a moment to unload when my husband came home.

I love my three guys more than anything. My poor husband who also had crappy day yesterday, walked through the door to a wife who had been crying and was not done....I fed my little Monkey handed him to my husband and walked into our room, laid on the bed, and cried...ugly cried.

The boys were non stop all day. All I wanted to do was clean the kitchen and I couldn't. If  I had them in their walkers they were at my feet crying for me. If I had them playing on the floor, they were grabbing the Christmas tree and pulling needles, or crawling to me in the kitchen. If I put them down for a nap CJ would fight me....and on and on.

Don't think I don't let them cry either...with two, I don't really have a choice! However, you can only listen to your baby cry/ whine for so long before you cave.

I think they are getting stir crazy just as I am.

At the end of the day yesterday, I had just had it. I needed a good cry, and a nap.

The thing is it is okay to have bad days. I haven't broken down like this since the boys have been born. Maybe small freak outs here and there but not full on ugly cry. It is hard to be needed 24/7 and I've been having a real identity crisis lately.

I spoke to a few of my friends over the last few days, I am so glad to hear I am not the only one! haha!

Being a mom is so amazing, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. However, there are hard days. Days when I miss getting up and going to work, days where I miss it just being me and my husband, days were I wish I could eat when I am hungry! I am so in love with my boys though and that's why it is so hard to have those feelings.

But I am human...and I have to learn that it is okay to have those selfish feelings...at times ;)

Other than my venting sesh....although the boys have gotten more clingy, they have been so much fun! Crawling, standing, trying to walk. I love it! They can crawl up on my lap and they snuggle into me, makes my heart melt every time. It is moments like that, at the end of a stressful day, that I soak up every moment and wish they wouldn't grow so fast.

 

This pictures depicts my daily life perfectly. CJ usually is flipping upside down being a crazy, and my little HB "Monkey" is sweetly snuggling me, or holding on as I am trying to save his brother ;)

 

I am so incredibly blessed to have these two. They have taught me so much about myself over the last 10 months. My husband is amazing for putting up with my mood swings and being such a great daddy. I love watching the boys' faces light up when he walks through the door at the end of the day.

 

I hope all you other mommies know it is okay to be overwhelmed. We aren't perfect, we are human! We give our all, all day long. It is exhausting...and that is okay too.

 

~Nic