WHOLE 30 CHALLENGE {08.18.2017}

Let's talk about the Whole 30 Challenge. I'm not sure I would call it a "challenge," it's more of a healthy lifestyle change than a challenge, but I see so many people say it's a challenge, so for now we will go with that. Alright, so this post is going to dish out all the details on how this challenge works. This is a 30 day lifestyle reboot to teach you how to cut out the things you normally crave that you know aren't good for your body, healthy, and weight.

We'll start with the "rules."

So for starters, this challenge focuses on eating things that are good, wholesome, and healthy for your body and it's functions. You'll see on the left side that you want to focus on eating things that are NOT processed!

I think the best part of this program is that it's a no-sympathy challenge. Basically, this program is designed to make you healthy, so you won't find anyone feeling sorry for you that you can't drink your coffee with sugar, or that you can't have cookies/icecream. On the Whole30 website, you'll find that their beliefs are this:

· Beating Cancer - IS hard

· Birthing a baby - IS hard

·Drinking your coffee without sugar - IS NOT hard!

I have to say...I agree! We, as humans, tend to make excuses. We think things are "impossible," when the reality is, it's easy, we just have to believe and know that it's not as hard as we think. Weightloss and eating healthy, are the same way! You can have a really great workout, sweating and heavy breathing, no excuses! Or you can go in with the mindset that you can't do it, that it's too hard, that you'll never be as good as the other people, and you'll find that you will get NOWHERE in life, especially in the fitness world, with that attitude.


"Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right."
- Henry Ford

Each day, I will be posting what I've eaten for that day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. I will let you in to our world for the next 30 days. This will be raw. This will be new, so be patient with us as we walk down this path for the next few weeks. I will try doing daily vlogs at the end of the evening with my husband to recap how we feel. I think the hardest part of this challenge, is not being able to weigh yourself or take measurements for the 30 days! Yes, that's part of the rules.
NO WEIGHING YOURSELF!

In addition to changing what we eat, we will also be continuing our workouts.
Here is my schedule:
Monday- Zumba or Cardio
Tuesday- BobyPump
Wednesday- BootCamp
Thursday- BodyCombat
Friday- Yoga
Saturday & Sunday- Rest or Cardio

So, that's it! That's our plan. You can find out more information about the Whole 30 program HERE!

 

Let me know if you've tried the Whole 30 program, and how you felt overall. For those that are interested in joining us on this journey, be sure to follow us and check in daily starting tomorrow so you can get all of the details and our menu!

WE CAN DO THIS! Our lives depend on it!

Sincerely,

THE PLATEAU {08.06.2015}

 

{PLATEAU}

to reach a state of little or no change after a time of activity or progress

 

When E and I started on this fitness journey, we had no idea where we would go but we knew that we would be better than we were. I remember back in 2013, I had just started fertility treatment, we were eating horrible fast foods every night (just about), and sodas were the number one in our house. I don't think we even thought about water.

I remember stepping on the scale and seeing that digital scale read "198."

 

At the time, I didn't think I was that bad. I kept telling myself things like, "you're taking fertility supplements you're going to gain a few pounds," "you don't look that bad," "who cares? I'm married, I'm not trying to look good for anyone but E." And while it really didn't matter if I looked good for others because E would love me no matter what, it wasn't about fitting into size six Miss Me Jeans, it was about health. I remember when E stepped on the scale in 2013 and his mouth dropped when it said "299." For about a year, we pretended it wasn't important. Always using the excuse that "we didn't need to look good," and I think a lot of people think that gaining weight is okay because we're married. The bottom line is, it's not about looking sexy for others, its about health for each other. Towards the end of 2013, I decided to stop drinking sodas. I figured it was a start and was bound to take me somewhere, I just never expected to be where I am today.

After six months of completely cutting out sodas, I managed to encourage E to stop as well. It was at this time that we started talking about the possibility of losing weight. By November 2014, after our trip to Florida, we looked at photos of ourselves and decided right then and there that we would work together to get back to our fit bodies. After all, I had always been fit from Cheerleading, Volleyball, Track, and Swimming and E was always fit from Football. December 2014 we hit the gym hard. But we didn't really make huge changes to our eating. We thought as long as we were putting the work in at the gym, that would be good enough. Granted, we did lose 10 pounds by the end of 2014 just from working out and cutting out sodas, but it wasn't good enough.

 

January 2015 we decided we were going to get in the gym and make huge changes to our diet. We both formulated a healthy eating plan for ourselves and went on about our business in the gym. By March 2015, we had managed to drop 25 pounds each! Still we knew we needed to push harder. We hadn't completely cut out fast food and would eat it on several occasions. So, we set out to find another way to get ourselves to cut out fast food entirely. We found several eating plans that required you to eat certain amounts of food for weeks at a time. This made a big difference in the way we started looking at food. By July 2015, we both lost a grand total of 30 pounds each. We were just pounds away from our goal but needed something to get us there. We were stuck in a plateau. E was stuck at 260-265 and I was stuck at 165-170.

 

At this point, we thought about looking outside for meal planning assistance. That's when we walked into My Fit Foods.  That, by far, has been the best decision we ever made. In addition to eating My Fit Foods, we also started doing more than just cardio and the occasional lifting. We set out to find a new and improved/strict workout plan. We found this amazing plan on BodyBuilding.com. Was it hard? YES! But, it was rewarding.

 

Currently, we have been on a My Fit Foods diet for about a month and have also been using the BodyBuilding.com plan in conjunction with the diet. We do allow ourselves two "cheat" days on Saturday and Sunday but this doesn't mean go out and eat hamburgers and french fries, this means making smart decisions because we know that those hamburgers and french fries will eventually come back and haunt us.

  

Today, I can officially say that I have left my plateau behind me. I am now at 163! Which is a major accomplishment. Keep in mind that I was stuck at 165 for about 2 months! This morning I weighed in at 163.0. What a wonderful and overwhelming feeling to finally be less than 20 pounds away from my final goal. E and I always say we aren't done yet, we aren't where we want to be but we are so much further away from where we used to be and we are never going back.

 

I hope that you can find the motivation inside of you to not get fit to look good for others, but to be healthy for your loved ones. It's so important to stay healthy for each other. I couldn't imagine life without E and a lot of times I blame myself for just sitting back and allowing us to get the way we did. There are so many things that could have happened just from being overweight; heart attacks, diabetes, the list is long. No matter what you decide, just remember that you can do anything you put your mind to. Will it be easy? NO. Will working out be fun? NO. Will it be rewarding? ABSOLUTELY!

 

 *see our workout plan here*

 

 

WEIGHTLOSS UPDATE {07.22.2015}

Last week, E and I started eating My Fit Foods. Although I have had it before, I was worried that E wouldn't like it. To my surprise, he loved it! We got back into the gym and so far things have been going great. In addition to the healthy eating, workouts, and vitamins, I have also been waist training (read tips here). So far, I have seen a great improvement. We have been following the workouts posted on Body Builder. You can see our workout plan here. I've been feeling the burn and can tell that I am pushing myself, which is good, for a while I was stuck in a plateau. No matter how many times I went to the gym in a week, I couldn't get past that weight plateau. Finally I realized, it's not about the weight scale but how my body image is changing. I've been impressed with the changes so far, even after one week.  

I've been mostly eating (2) boiled eggs in the mornings, My Fit Foods in the afternoons and for dinners. For snacks, if needed, I always had some type of fruit or veggie on the side waiting. Waist training really helps with not over eating so I usually do not need a snack. In addition to the eating healthy, I also drink (1) gallon of water a day.

I am currently taking (3) vitamins: Pre-natal, Fish Oil, and B12. The pre-natal is to help balance my hormones, fish oil is great for the heart and body systems, and B12 is used for a natural energy since I did not want to have to take pre-workouts or fat burners. I also decided to purchase some CoQ10 in addition to the other vitamins. CoQ10 has so many wonderful benefits. (read the benefits here)

Results after one week look great! I'm actually not mad about not dropping five pounds because I've noticed a huge difference in my appearance. Eating right and drinking water all day has definitely made great changes for my body.

Also, for my ladies, and gentlemen, with stretch marks the absolute best home-remedy for this is coconut oil. I have been using it day and night and have seen amazing results. I am not a huge fan of using chemicals and try my hardest to self-heal or home-remedy things, so when I started using the coconut oil, I was thankful that it was a natural ingredient. I typically use it with an essential oil mixture so it smells nice, and it's great to use closer to bed time, it's so relaxing and calming.

Looking forward to week two as I bump up my weights. Have you tried My Fit Foods? What did you think? What is your favorite meal, if you currently eat My Fit Foods? Thanks for catching up with me and please let me know if you have any weightloss tips, tricks, ideas, and more.

God Bless and Thank you for reading!

 

WEIGHT, REALLY?! {07.10.2015}

Over the past few months E and I have been working very hard to loose weight. We successfully managed to lose 35 pounds each! It took hard, hard, HARD, work! We busted our bums and managed to get down to a manageable weight. I was so shocked when I started looking back at old photos from 2013. I was shocked that I let myself get to that point, but more shocking and horribly, I let the man that I love get that way. I know there are a lot of people who say "just be happy in the skin your in, fat or skinny," but when E and I were naturally toned people and you let your loved one get fat, it's a sad scenario. We are supposed to encourage each other. I was mad at myself for letting him get that unhealthy because it could have been very dangerous. He has diabetes in his family so to think that us gaining weight was just "ok," really breaks my heart. I could never imagine life without E and to think that I didn't encourage him to be the best he could be for himself, well let's just say it hit me.

 

Now, we are just 7 weeks away from our vacation and I want us to be in the best shape possible. Not to look good for photos. Not to wear bikinis and show off. But to be able to truly enjoy ourselves. When we went on our cruise, back in 2014, E was about 300 pounds and I was almost at 200 pounds. It was hard to do some things because we kept getting out of breath, we were lazy, and exhausted. Sure, we would probably be just fine now that we are at a much better body-state, but we aren't physically where we want to be. 

 

We haven't been able to get back to the gym due to the craziness that has been our life, but I am ready to start and Monday will be the day. No more nice guy/gal, we are hitting that gym hard and work our bums off again. The crazy thing is, we are both only 10 to 15 pounds away from our goal/ideal weight range. These next 7 weeks will probably be hell but it's about time. Taking a few weeks off from the gym is so hard and it's actually not fun. I miss the gym like crazy. I miss the workouts and the sweat. Time to get back!!!

 

I am really excited to share with you our new eating and workout plan. I will be posting all about it on Sunday to prep for the start on Monday.

 

Join us and together, we will get these bodies toned and tightened!

 

 

 

WHAT WE DID DIFFERENT YEAR 2 ROUND 1 THAT WORKED!!! {04.15.2015}

I wanted to share our "changes" that took place last cycle and helped us get pregnant so quickly. Let me just say that I have absolutely no idea which of these helped boost our chances, but I can tell you that God was the main source, the rest of the things were just a little "assistance," or so I like to say. It's so important to both E and I, to acknowledge God plays and played a HUGE part in our fertility journey. Do I think God wanted or planned for us to have miscarriages? ABSOLUTELY NOT! I believe God wants us to do as we are told, "go forth, be fruitful, and multiple," and that is why He continues to bless us with babies. So, without further ado, here is our TTC year 2 round 1 list of things we did to succeed.

1. I tracked everything!!! I'm so serious y'all. I tracked my temperature on two different fertility apps.
• a) Fertility Friend
• b) Ovia Fertility
2. I took daily OPKs starting on CD 8. I did use off-brand OPKs because I couldn't find the ClearBlue Digital sticks.
3. I attended weekly acupuncture appointments. I attended one appointment before starting Provera, one after Provera ended while still taking Clomid, one after Clomid ended near Ovulation, and one final appointment after Ovulation was registered.
4. I took prenatal vitamins. I have heard countless times that prenatal vitamins are sooo important, but I never really thought about it until after our first miscarriage in 2013. After taking the break during all of 2014, I decided that I would start taking prenatal vitamins at the start of my cycles. So for my year 2 round 2, I have decided to start taking those pills two days before the start of Provera (vitamins started on Monday, April 13).
5. Clomid was moved from CDs 3-7 to CDs 2-6. I don't really think this made a HUGE difference since I did get pregnant the first time taking Clomid on CDs 3-7. I will admit that I appreciate the change, I just seem to like the CD 2-6 better.
6. Pre-seed was used every time we BD. I've talked about it before, but pre-seed is amazing! Mostly because it is the ONLY sperm-friendly lubricant that I would trust.
7. I tracked my CM daily. Sure, it may not be the most amazing thing in the world, but I learned so much about my cycle just by paying attention to my body's signals.
8. We followed the SMEP, with a few adjustments to work with our schedules. Click to see the full SMEP!
9. Last but not least, I lost weight!!! I believe this was a real help in our TTC journey. I lost close to 30lbs at the start of the year and at my appointment on January 5, my doctor said that he was impressed and just knew that getting pregnant would be easier now...he was right!!! We got pregnant immediately! Obviously, I know this is not easy for everyone, but even just a weight adjustment of 5-10lbs can drastically increase chances of pregnancy.

My goal for this upcoming cycle is to follow the same pattern. I do want to try to eat Chia Seeds regularly throughout this upcoming cycle so that my body is healthy and for all of the health benefits. Click to read all about the health benefits of Chia Seeds. I have faith that we will have no problem getting pregnant this cycle, and with my doctor now considering us "high risk," I believe we will have a much better chance at keeping the next baby.

As always, thank you so much for reading and keeping up with our journey.

God Bless and Baby Dust!!!

Healthy Lifestyle Change {12.13.2014}

Last week, I had this crazy sensation of determination and decided that I wanted to take that determination and run with it...literally! So I am proud to say that I am more determined than ever to lose weight. Today marks day 6 of my daily date with Gym. I have literally gone to the gym every night this week, well technically, the only night I did not go was Wednesday but you better believe that I was working out at home. Since working out, I have also started changing my eating habits and paying close attention to what I eat. One of the things I'm looking forward to, is what my body will look like in the end. I have also decided that I want to do a 3 day detox cleanse but I am waiting to do that over the weekend. Right now my plan is to detox Decmeber 26 through 28. That way I can eat on Christmas (but of course I will be choosing healthy plating options). So in honor of healthy eating, I have a few photos for you, and maybe they will motivate you.

I'll admit that right now, I do feel so proud to be sore! It means that I am working hard. 

Along with working out, hubby and I purchased C-4. I'll be doing a review and full detailed post on this product, but *spoiler alert* it is amazing! You will LOVE it!!

And of course I had to get pink...DUH!

This was before we mixed it, but doesn't it look soooo good?!

I also went ahead and purchased a new outfit from PINK. Here is what I bought...

I love my "I Can't Even" boyfriend tank! It works well with my Victorias Secret Sports Bra.

I also purchased these yoga pants with "Love Pink" in clear rhinestones! These are so comfy and I thought they would make me sweat like crazy, but to my surprise they don't.

I have been trying to implement a workout schedule for 7 days that allows me to work on all parts of my body. Recently, I developed a routine that has been working so far, so I will keep it for now. Here's the details of my workout plan:

It's easier to stick to something when you have a plan of action. 

Another thing is FOOD!!! I know how hard it can be to want to just stop at s fast food place and grab a bite but I also know how bad that bite can ruin your body! I've been inspired by the beauty of healthy foods, and I've even started getting disgusted by how much I ate throughout the years. Speaking of "eating throughout the years," one of the things that I am really looking forward to, is my 3-Day Detox Cleanse! The plan right now is to start the cleanse on December 26 and follow through until the 28. I remember when I stopped drinking Diet Coke cold-turkey. It was hard but the benefits were so worth it. It's been a year now since I've had diet coke and I feel so proud that I was able to completely cut it out, which is how I know I will be able to complete a three day cleanse. As we get closer, I will talk more about this cleanse, provide you with all the details, and I will also give you the shopping list! 

Week one will end Monday, which means E and I will weigh in and see where we are. I'm really hoping to see some change, but I know with persistence I will. E and I have also designed a Weightloss Goal Chart that rewards us for pounds lost. I hope I lost enough to make it to my first reward, but if not, I'll work even harder!

Best Wishes,