Boobie Bites! plus Milk Supply Boosters

So, I’m here…I swear.  I’ve been in that first few month baby haze where days both fly by and take forever.  I’ve been more active on Facebook, so if you are missing me, come on over, but I’m going to do my best to start posting more.

So for a short update related to my post today, my almost-5 month old isn’t gaining weight…whose genes did this guy get?? So we’ve started him on Zantac for reflux because he was spitting up a ton (but super happy!) after ruling out a ton of other things.  We also have increased how much he’s getting in his bottles at daycare, which means I’m trying hard to keep up.

The happy kiddos

I’m eating a lot and not really counting my containers as I had been…but still trying to keep it to clean foods that make me feel GOOD.  I’m not losing weight, which is something I’d expected to be the same this time around.  I can’t lose weight without losing supply, but good choices and habits never hurt!

So, if you found me because you have trouble with your supply or can’t lose weight while breastfeeding…welcome!  I’m here, virtually holding hands with you.  Know that you can still make whatever your breastfeeding goals are even when it isn’t easy, but I’ll never judge you for supplementing or stopping.  We all make the best decision we can for us and our families!

Here is a list of some foods said to boost milk supply.  I’ve been including a lot of these in my diet and I do find them helpful!

• Water…all the water
• Oatmeal
• Flaxseeds
• Brewer’s Yeast
• Salmon
• Beer
• Dark, leafy greens
• Garlic
• Green Papaya (haven’t tried this yet! Have you?)
• Chick Peas
• Raw Nuts
• Greek yogurt
• Water…worth another mention!

I make these Shakeology Boobie Bites to help me from grazing for less healthy options and they’re delicious and milk boosting.  You can still have them if you aren’t breastfeeding, but if no one who will be eating them is, just leave out the flaxseeds and Brewer’s yeast for a treat!  Two of these would be a yellow on the 21 Day Fix or other container based plans.

Shakeology Boobie Bites
(per 12 servings)

1 Cup Chocolate Shakeology
1 Cup All-Natural Nut Butter (I used peanut)
1 Cup Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 Cup Pure Honey
2 Tbsp Ground Flaxseeds
2 Tbsp Brewer’s Yeast

Method:
Mix all ingredients.
Roll into 1 inch balls (I use my hands!)
Place on wax paper and refrigerate or freeze. Or eat right after!

Have you dealt with low supply (or just low pumping output!)?  I’d love to hear your story!

How my usual eating has helped my pregnancy eating…

27 Weeks and all is mostly well…

But, I hate food.  All food.  Especially vegetables (unless prepared by someone else!).  Nothing is appetizing and even if I think I want something, it doesn’t taste like I thought it would.

I’m still eating pretty well though.  I’d been using the 21 Day Fix eating plan for most of 2 years prior to finding out I was pregnant.  The plan isn’t about 21 days and done, it’s 21 days to make it a habit…and habit it is for me!  Even with the food issues, I’m measuring foods in my containers, trying to sneak vegetables in when I can, and making smart choices out and about.

Some examples…ordering a salad when out to eat last night, knowing that the pizza might look good on the menu but that it wont taste as good as it looks.  Trading my hard boiled eggs for egg muffins made with vegetables.  Adding fruits and vegetables to my Shakeology.  And of course, keeping portions in check!

Moral of the story?  Creating healthy habits help when life gets in the way!

Here’s one of my recent hidden-ish vegetable meals that I brought to a friend’s house…my favorite to share!  For the recipe, sign up for my newsletter!

What’s going on?

You may or may not have noticed that I didn’t post Hammer and Chisel results. Well, I finished the workout part. The food? Not so much!

My second workout buddy was along for most of the ride!

As with my first, I’m nauseous and food averse…existing mostly on carbs. So my results weren’t great. But I loved the workouts and look forward to using it all out after the baby!

We’re super excited to become a family of four in August!!

(This is also the main reason I haven’t finished the Hammer and Chisel workout series!  I promise it’s all coming!)

Two!

My little girl turned two yesterday!  I didn’t take enough pictures at all, so some pictures plus words will have to do to describe her party.

We did a rainbow theme…partially because it was easy (last year was rainbow polka dots) and also because she loves colors and I love that.  After many hours of pinteresting, it came together pretty well!

Some pre-party playing in her amazing tutu!

 

Here’s the tent set up.  Simple, with lots of balloons for color with a white base.  I had streamers, but the tent made it a bit more work than I was planning, so I scrapped that.  I think it was better without them!

Here are the appetizers…rainbow fruits and vegetable platters (raspberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, green grapes, blueberries and red grapes for fruits; tomatoes, carrots, yellow peppers, snap peas, blue corn chips and terra chips on the vegetable one).  Plus rainbow goldfish, cheese and crackers, and some dips.  A few were added after this!  Check out the vases (beer mugs that we had from our wedding) with colored water!  Loved them.

We didn’t do anything rainbow for dinner other than a colorful quinoa dish, and I have zero pictures from that.  It doesn’t matter though, because all you want to hear about is the dessert, right?

Cake – next to Shakeology of course!

inside!

My mom got this amazing cake – a rainbow inside and out!  So good too.  Then there was an assortment of rainbow goodies I made – Fruity Pebbles treats (like Rice Krispies treats, just subbed Fruity Pebbles), marshmallows dipped in white chocolate and rainbow sugar sprinkles, Ring Pops and M&Ms.  Plus some family brought desserts as well.  To say we have an amazing amount of leftovers would be an understatement!

Here are two shots from toward the end of the party.  She really warmed up to the overwhelming party and had a good time.  It is so wonderful to have a huge amount of family and close friends who love this girl, but having them all in one place is a little freaky for her!  I think we all had a great time!

I made funfetti cookies for a favor and had some colorful treats for the kids to take.  And forgot to tell a bunch of people to take them!  I never said I was a great party planner/thrower.  I just do my best!

I know what you want to hear though…did I eat all that?  Yup!  Hey, it’s my birthday too (for serious!  We share.) and I wanted to taste everything.  The marshmallows and M&Ms were my main focus.  I was back on the Body Beast plan this morning.  I have a week left and can’t wait to share my results!  I have a little to share on that as well, but I’ll save it for tomorrow.

If you have any questions on what we did, let me know!  Happy to share.

 

 

 

How to Eat?

Growing up. I didn’t have the best food role model.  I don’t judge my mom at all for it, because I think most women of the late 70s/early 80s who wanted to lose weight ate similarly…cut calories to really little, all diet foods, nibble instead of actually eating a meal.  It was just what was thought to be the way.  (And there are a few benefits…I never really had full fat foods like ice cream, so I never got used to them.  I prefer ice milk/frozen yogurt and can’t even take whole milk in my coffee.)  And it was always a topic of conversation…I feel fat, I need to lose weight, I can’t eat that.

So, how do I want my daughter to see me eating?  What impression do I want her to have?  This is a constant struggle, and I’m sure she’ll look back and think I messed it all up.  But what it comes down to are that I have some options…

1. Go food crazy.  Eat entirely healthy all the time so she knows that this is what you should eat and other food is bad for you.
2. Go for middle of the road…healthy base with enjoying good food some of the time and not making a big deal about that.
3. Go easy.  Just eat and try for a good mix of super healthy with some day-to-day indulgences.

I’m trying for 2…I feel like 3 is a slippery slope and 1 makes everyone crazy.  I think more than this is how we talk about food and our health/bodies.  I refuse to say fat.  I may say that I ate poorly and don’t feel great, adding that it’s a reminder of why we try to stick to foods that make us feel good.  I also refuse to avoid all unhealthy foods.  But I can set the example that these are not everyday choices without even saying that.  Being a good example is definitely a big part of my motivation and one of the things I keep in mind as a reason to continue on my healthy path.  Because it can be difficult!  I would love to eat all of the Halloween candy that’s still talking to me.  But is it worth setting that example?  I remind myself that it isn’t daily.

But, with our birthday coming up, will I eat dessert that day?  Yes!  I will have cake because though life’s too short to be unhealthy, it’s also too short to not enjoy cake with my daughter.  We will also do things to celebrate that don’t involve food!

In the end, it’s all about balance, right?  I know this post may strike a chord with some, and I’d love to hear other opinions!

Do you do this?

So, something comes with a rewards program…say a code to enter on a website.  Do you participate?

Currently, the only one we have is Pampers.  We use their sensitive wipes along with the Honest Company ones that come with our diapers.  They’re a little wetter according to my husband (I would be fine with just the Honest ones).  So they have a code that can be entered for rewards.  The things you can get are really not too exciting, but if you’re going to get a lot of wipes, you may as well take what you can get, right?

But I hate entering the codes.  So we end up with a load of wipes wrappers for the codes waiting to be entered.  Like this:

I think it looks worse than it is…there were 17 packages in there.  They are all entered now, and I have almost 700 points.  For this, I could get 12 4×5 Thank You Cards from Shutterfly, or once I hit 700, a Discovery Toys $10 eGift Card!  The problem is, I don’t know that my time is worth a $10 eGift card.  I used about 5 minutes entering these codes, which isn’t much.  But I wouldn’t mind it back!  I just don’t know if it’s worth the trouble!

Knowing me, I wont decide and will make a new collection of them and enter them.  Because it just seems to simple not to!

What about you? Do you enter codes?  What’s the best thing you’ve received?

About Mommyhood

We went to a Zumbini (Zumba for the little ones) class yesterday.  It was super fun and I may see if we want to swing more classes.  Watching my kiddo jump around and dance was a blast!

This says Hello. The back of her shirt says Goodbye!

That’s not what this post is about though!

On the way home, I was thinking about what I thought being a mom would look and feel like and what it actually is like, almost 2 years in.  One of the things that popped into mind was that I thought we’d be more put together…that at least if I didn’t look together, my child would.  A lot of times, that isn’t the reality…though we start there for the most part!  But kid things happen and it was oh so funny to look at us when we got home.

My daughter left in adorable and neat pigtails.  Cute outfit of skirt, shirt and leggings.  Clean face.  Well, a teething toddler is probably not going to keep up her appearances!  I got her out of the car with messy pigtails, hair about half out of them.  Skirt all bunched and looking crazy.  Snot and drool all over the place (but the teething snot is clear, so one might miss that!).

Me?  I left in glorified yoga pants and a fitted t-shirt.  Hair wet because I just got out of the shower.  Breakfast (a yogurt and fruit smoothie) in hand.  At home? A wet pocket that I threw a wipe in and never tried to find a receptacle for.  Hair that dried weird with a lock right in my face.  Oh yeah, and yogurt smoothie all over me, the car, and I’m sure things I haven’t found yet.  Which I didn’t notice until I was home, even though there were mirrors all over Zumbini.

But, there is an upside.  We were too focused on the fun to notice any of this while we were out at the class.  There, it was all about the fun.  The fun is the point.  Sure there’s learning in the fun (yesterday involved some sharing lessons…sometimes you’d think she never played with others and not that she does every day!), but at almost 2, we’re all about fun.

And that is okay.

What perceptions/realities did you have differences in?  I have a lot more to share!

 

Beast Mode is On!

This week, I started a new (to me) program.  It’s called Body Beast and it’s a bodybuilding program – straight up.  This isn’t lifting weights to music, it’s like going to the weight room at the gym.  The program has 12 workouts designed to get BIG results in the comfort of your home.  You do need equipment for this one.  I bought new fancy dumbbells for it, and also use my jump mat, an exercise ball (that’s the one I have, but I got it with this fun workout!), pull up bar (with Chin Up Max for me because I can’t do a pull up yet), and sometimes my Transfirmer as a bench.  You can also use a workout bench and an EZ Curl bar, but there is always a limited equipment guy who uses dumbbells (resistance bands for the pull up bar stuff) and a ball.  Had I not needed to expand my weight selection, I probably would have purchased a bar.

Sagi Kalev, who does the training in this program is straight out hilarious, and that’s added to by the fact that my DVD player assumes I need subtitles for him!

Sagi’s Rules

So far, I’ve done almost my first week of the Lean Beast program.  There is also a Huge Beast calendar for those looking to solely add muscle, not also lean out.  Ladies, there is nothing about this program that will mention you.  That doesn’t mean you can’t do it!  You will not get huge, you will not look like a man, you will not…I don’t know what else, but whatever you’re thinking.  You WILL gain muscle, get definition, and as a side effect, feel like you are amazing.  Do not fear weights!

So expect a more formal and total review of the workouts and program as I tackle it.  It’s 90 days long and I have two groups (one run by me, one Body Beast specific larger group) to help me stay accountable.  I decided to keep up the 21 Day Fix eating at a higher calorie level.  My plan is to keep an eye on how I’m feeling and adjust that up if needed or to the plan in the Body Beast program if it’s still not fueling me.

Speaking of the 21 Day Fix, the Spanish and English programs are both on sale for September.  If that’s been on your wishlist (or thinking about it list), now’s a great time.  Contact me with any questions!

This week was also back to school for my cool chic!  She has been having a blast with her friends after a few weeks off.  I am so glad that she has fun at daycare, though I miss her so much while she’s there!!

 

What are you challenging yourself to take on in September?  What will make this a great month for you?

I love Saturdays!

Today was a great day.  I got to play with my awesome daughter for most of the day, which is really the standard for a good day.  Add in a workout, and I’m doing well!

Did much happen today? Nope!  We went to swimming lessons, ran some errands, played at home, and went to a playground mostly.  But we had fun!

Playing at the library

Playground!

Climbing up the slide

 

And heading back down!

 

 

 

 

Now, this is mostly a fitness blog.  So why am I hitting you with my day?  I ran all about, up and down and up and down things meant for children…children with boundless energy and no fear.  The fun we had today completely made me appreciate my level of fitness and that I can play (and keep up with) my daughter!  I don’t think that this version of me could have…

I can’t wait for another fun day tomorrow!

Time for a Refresh!

If you haven’t heard yet, there’s a new 3 Day Refresh that came out.  It’s a 3 day cleanse with shakes and some whole foods.  I bought it, knowing that I would want to do it eventually and it came Friday!

I was trying to figure out when would be best to do the refresh, and Monday just kept talking to me.  I wrote out a grocery list and decided to start tomorrow!

So, I plan to share it all…ups and downs and all arounds.  I need to hit the food store for a few more things tomorrow, but I feel well prepped for this.  I’m excited to see how it goes.

A big thing in when I started this was that I was still nursing every so often.  Most people will say that breastfeeding and cleanses don’t mix.  But it’s been so sporadic (I’m talking days between sessions) that I decided to go for this.  I don’t know if anyone here will judge me for stopping (or for still nursing at almost 20 months) but that’s okay with me.  I’m okay with it.  Getting there took about a month of the sporadic nursing to accept that this time was ending.

And if you’re wondering, so far today was just a regular 21 Day Fix eating day.  I didn’t decide to overeat and go crazy pre-refresh!