Doubles

****First let me start out by staying prayers to all of those devastated by the storms that swept through so much of our country last night.  I know so many of my Impact family was in harms way.  Please know I am praying for you and your loved ones and if you need prayer specifically please email me or comment below. 

Happy Monday y'all!!

I am heading into my LAST week of the 21 Day Fix and I am really excited.  The group of ladies that have been pushing play with me are doing so awesome and staying super motivated.  Some have even committed to another round to continue on their journey to meet their goals! Love that!

This last week I have decided to push myself even harder. I am going to alternate doing doubles and adding in the 10 Minute Ab Fix.  I know that I want to really continue to sculpt my arms and legs and create tone underneath my growing baby bulge.  

My schedule is going to look something like this:

I know this schedule is going to challenge me.  But that is ok.  We SHOULD challenge ourselves.  The thing is, it would be easy for me to say, "I'm getting too pregnant.  I just want to take it easy. Probably shouldn't push myself."  But the thing is, that would be an excuse.  And excuses have never gotten me anywhere.  

We all have excuses we can make but they aren't going to get us to what we want.  So instead, I am telling myself things like, 

"You are having a great pregnancy.  You can do this." 

"You will bounce back and feel better if you continue this lifestyle." 

"Your baby has the right to be given the best nutrition possible so eat well!"

"Cancun is a year away.  You know you will not want to be in a tankini!!" (that last one is a real motivator ;)

I am 22.5 weeks pregnant.  Here is my pregnancy progress.  I am excited to see how I can continue to push myself these next few months! 

What excuses are you going to throw out the window today? What are you going to start telling yourself to keep you going?? Let's start our own pep talks and be our biggest cheerleaders.  

And if you need someone to cheer for you in your corner, I'll love to help! Use the "Contact Me" form on this page! 

We all need a little help from our friends

Did y'all sing along with that post title? ;) 

I hope you all had an blessed Easter weekend with your families.  I know we sure did. 

I love Easter for so many reasons but I simply HATE the heinous amounts of candy my boys get.  And, I'm a mom first and fitness fanatic second, so I really love making special treats around holidays with my boys.  Especially now that Hudson is old enough to actually help a little more.  However, the candy and the treats are a dangerous trap for this preggo!! I mean really, check it that yummy-ness. 

I have a serious sweet tooth.  I say have because even though my lifestyle has changed drastically.  It is still something I struggle with.  I knew that there would be treats around all weekend when Andrew and I took the boys home to be with our family.  I also know that I needed help.  I needed a plan and accountability.  

Through my challenge group (we're into our second week of the 21 Day Fix) we talked about ways to stay on track over the weekend.  I can't even begin to explain how helpful it was to have the ladies to chat with.  We came up with some great ideas to help us stay on track.  We even checked in with one another over the weekend a time or two. 

Accountability is such a HUGE part of any life change you are trying to make.  No one is perfect.  We all have things that can cause us to stumble or be cause for a set back.  With accountability, and honesty, you can work through those challenges that come with change.  

So to my challengers working towards their goals with me--THANKS! Thanks for keeping me on track and letting me keep you on track too! 

If you are looking for some accountability with health and fitness, I would love to have you join my next challenge group! Just fill out the form below and I will be in contact! 

Take the Challenge

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Just a little honesty from me to you..

Just as a preface, I LOVE being a mom! It is my greatest achievement in life.  So please don't think I take this blessing for granted.  But, this is my blog about health, fitness and doing it while pregnant, so in all fairness, I have the right to be honest.

I have had easy pregnancies always. (Please keep reading, even if you are cursing me under your breath!) I had the typical first trimester energy lag with the first two (not so much with #3), had some terrible heartburn with Hudson (due to my terrible eating habits and weight gain) but really nothing that most pregnant women don't experience to some degree and really far less in comparison. I have been very fortunate in that realm.

Like I have said before, I did not work out with my first two pregnancies.  My first one I really ate whatever I wanted.  I like to think I was a bit  more cautious with my second but in hindsight, I didn't eat clean in the least, just maybe made a few less trips for ice cream.

When I found out we were expecting our third, a surprise no less, I was committed to doing it differently this time.  I had found a passion for a healthy lifestyle I had never had in the previous months and I wanted to continue.  And I have.

It was easy really.  Well not really easy but I was seeing great results with P90x3 (as were my challengers), I was loving the fix nutrition, the scale wasn't moving too much (unlike my other pregnancies).

And then my bump appeared.  And it was small and I loved it.  Until the past week.  Week 21 hit and about halfway through I feel like I really popped.

Here is the honesty part.  It has been hard.  Mentally to see my body change is difficult.  Obviously this comes with pregnancy and I love to know my little man is growing but mentally it is really hard to see work that you have done for months seem to go out the window. Especially in that one area of my body that I feel like I have never had fit.

And that mental trip, played with my motivation.  I started to tell myself, "Why even work out? You aren't seeing those changes in your  body anymore."

I knew that was a lie but I still had to find a way to overcome it.  How? I started to focus on things I could keep control of.  My stomach is going to grow.  I can continue to eat healthy foods and with watch my calories and drink my water, but a healthy pregnancy and baby are my end goal.  Instead of my stomach, I'm focusing on my arms and legs.  I can still create muscle definition there regardless of how far along I am.

Just changing my perspective has given me that push to continue in my habits.  I'm using heavier weights with the Fix, I am pushing myself to finish each set, keep my reps high.

This isn't a woe is me post.  This is me, just being honest. We all are going to have situations in life that come up and make us lose motivation.  The point is, we have to find new ways to stay motivated.  If it finding a new program, a new routine, switching up the time of day of your workout.  It is important to remember this is a lifestyle change.  Our lives change so we have to adapt what we do to make it work.  So whatever it is, push through!! Find your motivation.

Moving on

Last week my challenge group and I wrapped up our P90x3 journey.  I honestly can't believe it's over.  I can't believe I stuck with something so long! Looking back on it, I feel like it flew by, but then I think- well, geez, it's April and we started in January so maybe "flew by" isn't exactly right! (I'll be sharing my 90 day photos as well as my final thoughts on the program later this week.)

As much as I loved x3, and how it challenged me, and good ol' Tony Horton's humor, I am definitely ready for a change.  Change is good.  Doing the same workout routine over and over gets BORING! It also doesn't confuse the body. The body learns what to expect.

So yesterday I kicked off the 21 Day Fix.  I have been the nutrition side for the past few weeks while I finished P90x3. But yesterday I got to go full throttle into the program.  I don't know what it is about starting something new that feels so good to me.  It is like a fresh slate, a new challenge.  And even though I love the Fix nutrition and did well the first week or so, I got WAY off track here lately.  There are five birthdays in the month of March in my family. So I really felt like for the last couple of weeks I was always having a little birthday treat here or there.  Nothing wrong with an occasional indulgence.  I just felt my occasional indulgences were happening more regularly then occasionally <--- You feel me?? 

What I love so far (two days in) is that this workout is another quick one! Thirty minutes and I am done- warm up, work out, cool down! It works my whole body and it is such a change of pace from P90x3.  I decided a couple of things when before I started this workout. 
--One- I was going to do the workouts in the morning.  At 20 weeks pregnant, by the time I go through my day, I just wasn't feeling motivated to go get that workout in like I was before.  I also didn't feel like I was giving it my all.  I don't like that feeling during a workout. With the fix being only 30 minutes, I can easily get up before my boys, get it done and go about my day. SO NICE!
--Two- Nutrition.  I am still in the lowest bracket given my calculations using the fix.  But I also noticed it was leaving me a little hungry as the baby starts to grow and is beginning to need those additional calories.  I decided for me I needed to make some adjustments. Being pregnant doesn't mean I can eat whatever I want, but it does mean I needed to approach the nutrition a bit differently.  I added another green (veggie) to my plan, as well as another blue (healthy fat).  Doing that gives me some additional calories, I feel satisfied and more energetic.  I know that I will probably go up to the next tier in a few weeks as I gain with the pregnancy, but it is nice to have a plan to keep me on track.

I can't wait to see where I am after these 3 weeks.  I know I won't have six pack abs but I will be continuing to tone and build muscle.  

Autumn said on day 1 "One day at a time, one pound a time." I won't be losing, but I can sure take it one day at a time and hopefully steadily gain those pounds versus how I gained in the past! 

Getting those greens!!

Let's be honest, no matter how much we try, it can sometimes be hard to get all our servings of veggies in each day.  But much like water, our bodies really need the nutrition vegetables provide.  More than that, they keep up fuller longer.  They are more naturally dense then processed food so we don't automatically want to snack two hours later. 

It is even harder to get our kiddos to eat their veggies.  Maybe you have kids that eat their's at will and always ask for more like in those Hidden Valley Ranch commercials, but once my kids got over 18 months, it became harder to get them to eat their vegetables for the day.

So as a mom, I needed to get creative.  I needed to get a little sneaky.  And to me, there is nothing easier and sneakier than spinach.  It is so easy to add into foods we are already having to get my boys to eat some veggies.  Chest check out all the benefits of spinach!

You may be thinking that spinach tastes horrible or would be too hard to hide, but trust me, it can be easier than you think.  Let's talk about some ways to incorporate spinach into recipes to give your kids, and yourselves, more veggies!

1. Smoothies. One of the most popular way to get your kids to gobble up some of those fruit and vegetables servings is to make a smoothie.  Shakeology already has so much dense nutrition but for my boys, I can add in 1/2 banana, some all natural peanut butter and a handful of spinach and they really don't notice the difference.  You can make all kinds of green smoothie recipes utilizing spinach.  Plus, kids think it is a really fun treat.  So mix some up!! 

2. Burgers.  That's right! in your burger.  We always make our burger patties homemade, using ground turkey, an egg, and spices.  Take some frozen spinach, thawed with the excess water drained, and add in a handful to your mix.  Then, grill em up! Your kids won't know the difference! Delicious!

3. Pasta.  My kids love pasta and we don't have it often as our main dish but when we do, I try to add spinach.  Spinach stuffed shells, cooked spinach mixed in with baked tortellini, spinach lasagna rolls.  It adds in that extra veggie to a dish your kid already loves.  Plus the cheesy goodness is really what the kids focus on so that spinach isn't looked at twice!

4. Spaghetti Sauce.  It is so much easier to make your own sauce.  You can do it in the slow cooker.  You know exactly what is going into it AND you can add tons of veggies including spinach.  Your batch can also be canned to stretch out over several dinners.  And that sauce--use it for spaghetti, pizza, to top meatballs.  Be creative!

What are some ways you have used veggies in your meals to help your kids eat them?