Black Friday Deals Start today!

Actually, right now! For a limited time only, get select Beachbody programs, equipment and supplements for the lowest price of the year!

Have you been waiting for a deal for some fitness products to keep you on track this holiday season?  Well, here you go!

There are so many great sales here…Turbo Fire (my favorite!!) to kill calories.  A free chin up bar with P90X or The Asylum.  A half price dance ab workout.  Tai Cheng…a great workout for stability.  Derm Exclusive skincare.  Equipment…you know I love my jump mat! Plus nutritional supplements…I’m jumping on the Energy and Endurance deal!

Contact me with any questions…always happy to chat!  Or click here if you know what you have your eye on 🙂

Breastfeeding and Exercise

So here will be MY experience.  I’m not a doctor, a lactation consultant, or any other medical professional.  I’m just a regular woman with a baby and boobs (pardon me).

Everyone asks about losing weight, breastfeeding and exercise.  No one really wants to know if it can be done.  The true question is “will it hurt my supply”, and the answer is maybe.  This “everyone” doesn’t include those who lose tons of weight by breastfeeding (many do) but the others who can not shed weight until after they wean.

You need extra calories to breastfeed so you shouldn’t diet to lose weight.  It’s good for you and your baby to eat good food and not be starving.  I count calories, but give myself 500 extra a day to accommodate breastfeeding, and don’t really worry if I go over.  I also eat any calories burned from exercise.  And that’s what this post is about.

At this point, I am doing Insanity.  I have also done TurboFire and LesMills Pump, along with some running and yoga.  These can be intense, and I started slowly and built up to the Insanity program.  I don’t think I could have handled that first for many reasons.  I find that I’m okay as long as I drink water and eat extra.  And by water, I mean a LOT of water.  I have dips in supply, but nothing that would be noticeable if I wasn’t working and pumping.  My baby always gets enough!  I’m losing weight slowly but surely.  Baby is gaining weight.  Everybody wins!

So, what exercise did you do before pregnancy (or during!)?  You can probably do it now, starting slowly and working your way up.  The important things for me have been to listen to my body, drink a lot of water, eat when hungry, and eat healthy foods.  If you feel it is too much or that your supply is taking a hit, adjust.  I’m serious on the water!  Cookies help too!

What has your experience been?  I’d love to hear your stories!

60 Day results

I can not believe I haven’t shared these yet! You saw the before pictures but they are also here with the afters.  The pants are the same but in a smaller size.

I see some decent results and also had bunches of fun working out. I did mostly TurboFire by the schedule, adding some Turbo Kick round practice and walks and then couch to 5K in the last week or so. Plus Shakeology, which I completely think gave me the energy to workout and be a new mom, along with being a healthy meal replacement. I feel so much more physically like myself, even if I’m still above my pre-pregnancy weight. Exercise makes me happy!

So now I am doing Les Mills Pump, which has mostly Pump workouts but also has walking on the schedule. So I have been walking, running and Turbo Kicking. I can’t wait to see my next round of results. I love the Pump workouts I have done so far and working out with a barbell at home is giving me a great workout without needing to go to the gym. Excellent stuff.

I am going to stop listing my workouts here. I started it for my accountability when I was struggling, and I have been able to be fairly consistent lately. If you miss it, speak up!

Quickie Manicure

I have little time to do little things like manicures these days. And if I was going to have childcare for time enough to get a manicure, I’d get my hair cut. But I still like my nails to look nice. When I can, I get it done quick by myself…with a little help from Sally Hansen 😉 I use the Complete Salon Manicure in Pink Slip. It’s base/topcoat/color all in one and this color is light so it’s both tough to mess up and doesn’t scream “look at my nail polish coming off” if you don’t get back to it for a while. Not that I let my nails go weeks without looking at them. Except that I do.

So I did my nails today and also made these super easy cookies with chocolate chips because that’s what i had. I definitely want to try it with cranberries soon!

I need to work on my photo skills!

Lots of workouts done…
Friday – TurboFire Fire55EZ and lifted weights
Saturday – couch to 5K, TurboFire Fire45 and Stretch10
Sunday – TurboFire Core20 and Stretch40
Monday – couch to 5k, walk, TurboFire Fire45EZ

 

 

Pump it up!

Look what came in the mail the other day!

I am seriously excited to try Les Mills Pump. It is the home workout version of Body Pump which I have been wanting to do for a long time. I’m also looking forward to having a barbell at home. It comes with the workouts…how cool is that? I still want to finish up two more weeks of TurboFire and will use it during Pump as well.

Workout Friday – TurboFire Fire45 and Stretch10
Workout yesterday – TurboFire Fire55EZ

Workout update

Wow, I haven’t updated much and haven’t updated my workouts in a week!  So here is that…

Wednesday – TurboFire Fire45 and Stretch10
Thursday – HIIT20 and Sculpt30
Friday – Fire55EZ
Saturday – Core20 and Stretch40
Sunday – Fire45 and Stretch10
Monday – Fire55EZ and Stretch10
Tuesday – Fire30 and Sculpt30

I have moved on to a new month of TurboFire.  These weeks have more straight cardio and strength training and none of the HIITs (though the cardio workouts usually have intervals of higher intensity – the Turbos).  My toe still hurts, but I don’t notice it much in all but one pair of sneakers.  So I don’t wear them much now.  Good thing I have others.

I’m also enjoying my Shakeology so much.  I had it for dinner today (I may have dropped the crockpot lid into dinner and didn’t want lid chips with my chicken) and I am EN-ER-Gized!  My husband is drinking it mostly daily too!  Sometimes I think he forgets that he has it until I mention it.  He had salad and Shakeology for dinner.  He goes straight Shakeology and water plus a little Coffee Mate.  I usually do frozen berries, almond milk and water.  So good!

My mommy and baby workouts came yesterday and I hope to try them tomorrow.  We have a very busy week with lots of appointments and friends.  Fun stuff!  And it’s all after nap time.  We like nap time.  Zoe has one good nap a day most mornings and everyone is happier when that happens.  Happy baby = Happy mommy!

Morning versus night

Lots of people want to know the best time to workout.  Like the best workout ever, that differs by person.  So this is all about me…

When I first was cleared to workout, I was exercising at night once the baby went to bed. I knew my husband was on baby duty if she woke up and that I would mostly not be interrupted at that time. But there are a lot of issues for me working out at that time. First, being not full but not hungry for my workout. Another, also food related, is knowing my calories for the day if I don’t know how many I’ll burn at night. Add in some downtime and a shower after the workout and I’m going to bed pretty late.  Plus face it, I’m tired.  It takes a lot of motivation to exercise at night!

I have been able to exercise a bunch of mornings recently.  The baby wakes up for her “middle of the night” feeding between 2 and 6am (so sometimes it really isn’t the middle of the night) and then goes back to sleep for another three hours.  If she gets up late enough for that feeding, I just get up and start my day.  Once she’s back to sleep, I can workout and shower and still have some time.  This is much better for me and I tend to be more productive these days.

Today, she woke up about 3am, so I exercised at night.  Now I still have things to do and I’m sleepy.  I don’t really get back that morning time to myself, so all of my productive time is pushed to evening.  I am so happy to have some productive time in addition to the baby smiles and giggles.  Priceless!

Maybe a picture tomorrow.  For now, I will finish my to do list and get to bed.

When do you exercise?  Is it the same time as when you would like to workout?

Workout yesterday – Practiced TurboKick round 49
Workout today – TurboFire HIIT15 and Tone30

Skin is in!

Healthy skin, that is. Always in. I was a bit worried that my post-pregnancy experience with Derm Exclusive would not be as wonderful as during my pregnancy…how much was from pregnancy and how much was the skincare.

I have been terrible with taking care of my skin in the past two months. Many nights, especially before I was working out at night, I just wanted to go to bed and a lot of days I would put it off until I showered, and that would be at night! I’ve been so bad that this box of Derm Exclusive has been sitting there untouched since 12/31!

So we’re looking at no pregnancy “glow” and using the products sporadically on skin that was fairly terrible before pregnancy. And still excellent. I’m so happy with these products. I get complements on my skin even when I have had no sleep and am wearing no makeup. I couldn’t ask for better results!

I feel like I may be getting sick, so I had miso soup and sushi to try to kick it…along with lots of tea! I did core/yoga today and it was better than last time. Not great but better and that’s all I can do!

Workout yesterday – TurboFire Fire45EZ and Stretch10
Workout today – TurboFire Core20 and Stretch40

Food find!

I love Steel Cut Oats. I do not love making them, and especially with a new baby I just don’t have the time to wait for my oats! Trade Joe’s has quick cooking Steel Cut Oats, and those are super. However these have them beat!

Packets of microwaveable Steel Cut Oats! So easy. I put in flax seeds. a sliced banana and some sugar free syrup. And that’s breakfast!

I’m exercising again but my face still hurts when I do. So I’m not doing jumps and such. But I’m doing what i can.

Workout yesterday – TurboFire Fire 45EZ
Workout today – TurboFire Fire 55EZ

 

 

Happy New Year!

2012 was terrific…hoping 2013 will just build on that!

I don’t usually do resolutions, but this year I have several things that happen to coincide with the calendar change. I was cleared to workout, so I’m stepping up my healthy efforts all around. I also started my first post-baby challenge and accountability groups so I could join in myself.

To organize my new priorities and work on the mom me, I’ve decided to redo Chalene Johnson’s 30 Day Push. I’m excited for it as last time I was pregnant and it was very focused on that period of time for me. My goals centered either around pregnancy or had time constraints that were related to pregnancy. So now is a great time to use the 30 Day Push to refocus!

Not new years related, but I finally used my new stand mixer today to make lactation cookies! The first step of creaming the oil and sugars was where I noticed the most difference. So easy!

Workout Sunday – 10 minutes of TurboFire Fire45 and TurboJam CardioParty 3
Workout Monday – TurboKick FireStarter and Stretch10
Workout Today – LowHIIT20 and Stretch10