As a working mom, with three jobs (Real Estate Agent, Photographer, and Full-Time Administrative Coordinator), and a wife, weight-loss and going to the gym can seem impossible. For my husband and I, we take any extra time after work with each other and our son. While we've always been big into fitness, we kind of fell off the wagon after I got pregnant. Even though I was eating healthy, I never wanted to cook (it grossed me out!), which meant my husband had to figure out what to eat and usually it was a fast food that he could just pick up quick and get home. After my son was born, weight-loss was hard because I couldn't work out for the first 6 months, since my C-section scar had re-opened after 8 weeks! And that meant that my husband was stuck doing most of the daily/nightly routines such as: cooking, cleaning, ect. Since he isn't a huge fan of cooking, he again tried to just pick up things that were fast so he could come home and help me with the baby since my tummy caused me so much trouble.
After 6 months post-partum, I was back in the kitchen and most of our meals were healthy, sheet-pan meals that were simple and easy. But occasionally, we would find a way to sneak in a cheat meal or two. In June, I started explaining to my husband that I wanted to incorporate working out and find a way to get rid of this "mommy-weight." We started by swapping our lunches for homemade meals rather than going out to eat, and dropped Sodas for the most part (unless we were out for dinner with the family). While we were doing good, cooking healthy foods, we still found it hard to drop the things we loved, i.e.: homemade cookies, ice-cream...you get the picture.
In July, I stopped making my famous homemade cookies, and started preparing myself for workouts and a healthier home menu. By mid-July, we found ourselves working out during our lunch breaks, which means we aren't cutting into our time as a family. We started a Paleo/Whole 30(more on that soon) only lifestyle and have continued it through today. We have had a few "slip-up's." We went to a place called Creamistry...it was delicious, but probably not the best decision. Overall, since we started our journey, we've done really well, but I want more. Sounds greedy, but I want to be the best me possible. Not just for my health, but for our son! I want to be able to play with him as he gets older and faster. I want to be able to enjoy activities with him without feeling like I have to quit half-way because I can't do it.
Insert the WHOLE 30 CHALLENGE! That's right, we've decided to take it to the next level! I'll explain briefly for now, but will do a full blog post about our Whole 30 Challenge and what it involves. First, I want to say that this will be starting after we return from our vacation, because as most know, it's very hard to do any type of dieting for the first time on vacation. It's basically like you're just waiting to slip up and fall back into the rabbit hole you just spent time climbing out of.
I will be posting daily to talk about what I've eaten that day, what workout I did, how I feel, but most importantly, I want to blog so we can track our progress and see how far we will have come once we reach the end. I will also have E (my husband) as a guest blogger so that he can share his stats, this way if you have a spouse you'd like to bring on board, you can see what it's like for a male.
Stay tuned for my next post to talk all about the Whole 30 Challenge!
Sincerely,