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!

Good Measure

I took my measurements last night. I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed, but everything but my forearms increased. That’s okay though. I’m glad I have them as a starting off point…they’ll go down from here!

For me, taking measurements has been the best way to see results. The scale is so wonky sometimes…water, salt, time of day, etc all cause drastic changes. And your body composition can change with the scale being the same. I’d rather be smaller than lighter any day!

I also joined a diet bet with some friends for even more motivation yesterday.  You each bet a certain amount, and whoever reaches the group goal splits the pot (minus their fees) when the bet finishes. I can’t wait to see if I’ll win some money at the end.

Workout yesterday – ChaLEAN Extreme Burn Circuit 1
Workout today – TurboFire Fire45 and Stretch10

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

 

All clear!

A of Friday, I’m cleared to exercise. They said to ease into it, and I don’t feel completely comfortable with some of the more ab-focused moves so that’s been okay. But I can now get a good sweat on, and good sweat I did! I have a picture to prove it. This is after Friday’s workout.

So I will start back with each day’s workouts to end my posts. I have two challenge groups that I will be running and participating in (sign up here for details on my challenges) and I’m so glad to have some friends joining me. It will make it much harder to decide to skip a workout because of a tough day learning with my baby. Accountability!

It seems that I will need to become a late evening exerciser though. This baby is not a napper so I will need to wait for bed most days. Even today with my husband home, I have had to ditch my workout twice. Only once was for the baby. So far, I’ve done 10 minutes of kickboxing and burned 140 calories, so better than nothing!

Workout Friday – Turbo Kick round 45
Workout Saturday – TurboFire Sculpt30

I’m on a roll!

Three recipe posts in a row! I made Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies. Lactation cookies are really nothing more than cookies containing ingredients known to help supply. Anyone can eat them. I wanted to make a dessert for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and so far the only dairy free recipe I’ve made is for the Peanut Butter Lactation Cookies. So I adjusted the recipe to a) correct the error I made last time and b) add chocolate chips.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Lactation Cookies (dairy free)

Ingredients:

1 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp baking powder
egg white equivalent of 1 egg
1 1/2 cup oat flour
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 bag dairy free chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix ingredients together. Place spoonfuls on cookie sheet and use a fork to create the peanut butter cookie lines. Bake for 15 minutes. Makes about 20 cookies.

If I had more ground flax seeds, I would have used them in place of some of the oat flour. But I’m running low, so I’d rather have that for my oatmeal.

Off to get a few more things done. I’ve got challenge groups to plan and more holiday to dos! Also busy watching the Giants lose 😦 If you want more information about a beginning of year challenge, let me know!  I’m excited to join in a challenge with TurboFire!  I should be cleared to workout next week.