Yum...right...now...

8oz unsweetened chocolate almond milk

1.5 frozen bananas

1tbs of peanut butter

3 ice cubes 

YUM! 

results...

I've lost half of the weight I gained from pregnancy and the other half... well...it's just hanging around.

I'm not stressing out about it or making myself feel guilty for not having gotten back to my pre-baby weight yet. I know some women who lost it all in a month and others who are still working on it... years later.

I had decided to give myself one year to loose the almost 50lbs I gained with Marley. That's right! I gained 47lbs with only 7lbs being actual baby (see pic above!) 

Notice I said I had given myself one year. I was making excuses to put off the work that comes with weight loss based on the way I had worded my goal. I've been there before... it didn'twork. 

"I'll start tomorrow," and "I have a year to do it," won't get me to where I want to be.

Last week, at mommy bootcamp the instructor took body measurements. This was after five weeks of working out regularly and not having lost a single pound on the scale. It was a wake up call that my choices have been preventing me from loosing weight. 

People may say, "but you're breastfeeding," or "you just had a baby," but I can honestly tell you I'm not making smart choices with the foods I've been eating. 

I'm eating for connivence, usually in front of the television, while breastfeeding, or standing up comforting a baby who just wants to rock out on my hip. Mindful eating has left the building!

I have a choice. I have eight weeks of bootcamps left. My new goals are to results in those measurements and to eat mindfully. By telling the whole world here on my blog, I can be held accountable by YOU. I'm not out to lose it all in eight weeks... I just want to see progress.

I'll check back in around the half way mark.

I also received about a billion dollars in gift cards around the holidays for a new wardrobe that I would really like to use soon... Thanks, family :)

feeling fully charged...

Imagine for a minute that we all have an electric charge inside of us. Let's call it a "love charge." When our charge is full we're happy, positive, and feel on top of the world. When our charge is low or border line on empty we complain, feel helpless, have a hard time getting out of bed, and maybe on occasion cry in front of a mirror... you know you've done it.

How do we stay fully charged? Can we? I believe I have the power to control my emotions 98% of the time while the other 2% I blame on my crazy family's genetics. Here are a few things I bring myself back to when I'm running on empty...

awareness

First and foremost, you have to have to know when you are on the brink of a breakdown in order for you to snap yourself out of it. When you're having a really great day acknowledge and appreciate it to the fullest. When you're feeling down or "blah," acknowledge that too! Its OK. Just because you're feeling a little depressed doesn't mean you are depressed. It's just where you are today.

power of choice

You are in control of which side of the bed you get out of every morning. You can choose your next move. Choose happiness. Choose to make the best of any situation. This is the most difficult thing to master and is so much easier said than done.

surround yourself with the right people

You've heard it before. If you want positivity in your life hang out with positive people. You want the people closest to you to support you and your goals. We all have that friend or family member who always seems to bring the "womp-womp," but when your not your best self you don't need their belly aching weighing you down.

do something nice for yourself

Yoga. A long walk. A cupcake. A bubble bath. Whatever it is that makes you feel special do it and don't feel bad about it. If you did this all the time I promise you'd be happier in all aspects of your life. It is so, so, so important to take care of yourself.

While we can't always expect to be happy and cheerful there is a certain self confidence that comes from knowing you have the power to choose the way you react to situations. Next time you find yourself a little below the line check yourself: are you hanging with people who make you feel good? Have you taken time for yourself recently? Are you choosing to make a situation more dramatic than it really is?

I give myself a day to sulk and cry when I want to. Any more time than that and I've realized I'm just wasting time. Precious time.

Don't let your battery die, people.  

affirmations...

If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all force yourself to say something nice.

Affirmations are powerful.

Give it a try.

 

Posted with Blogsy

easy peasy ways to incorporate greens [part one]...

I'm 39 days into my 365 day challenge. I like posting about it on Saturdays to keep me in check over the weekends. You cool with that? Great. I will share what I've been eating and any successes or challenges I've run into over the past week.

As I sit here with my juiced greens (kale, spinach, celery) I have to say I think I relied to heavily on juices this week. It's kind of an easy out but then again I am still getting my greens in, right? AND good news is I have another 326 days to get inventive in the kitchen.

It isn't too difficult to incorporate greens into simple things like eggs, rice, or pasta sauce. This week I tossed a green pepper and zucchini into a jar of Ragu and voila! An extra serving of vegetables. You can pile that up on top of pasta or spaghetti squash.




Strawberry Banana Smoothie

-8 oz coconut water

-1.5 frozen bananas

-5 juicy strawberries with stems
That's right! You can eat your strawberry tops! They count as greens in my book so blend it up, baby! 

Eggs Scrambled

-3 egg whites + 1 yolk

-1/2 cup mushrooms 

-1/2 cup chopped green pepper

-1/4 cup white onion

-1/4 avocado if you'd like 

-jalapeño (as much as you can handle!)

-salsa on the side 

Don't worry about measuring... Use as much or as little of each. Heck, just throw any green veggie in and scramble!

Spinach Smoothie

-8 oz almond milk

-1 frozen banana 

-1-2 cups of spinach leafs 

-1 tbs of nut butter (your fave!)

-Chia seeds for good measure (optional)

Blend (I love my Vitamix!!!) and enjoy!

Butternut Squash and Spinach (inspired by a side I got at Whole Foods)
-Diced butternut squash (how to peel and cut a butternut squash)
-Spinach
-Dried cranberries
Saute squash before adding spinach and cranberries.

How am I tracking what I'm eating? I keep a note in my notes app on my phone and keep up with it daily. I won't post this every week but it's kinda fun to look at from time to time. I think I'll start taking more notes on how I'm feeling like I did on January 18th...

365 of Green

1.1: iceberg, green beans, one kale chip

1.2: spinach salad

1.3: asparagus (Marley was not OK with this)

1.4: green peppers

1.5: pear, kale, celery, spinach juice

1.6: kale chips, kale and pecan pesto, spinach salad

1.7: spinach smoothie, zucchini

1.8: spinach smoothie

1.9: spinach smoothie, kale chips

1.10: spinach smoothie

1.11: romaine lettuce

1.12: oh kale yeah juice

1.13: spinach smoothie

1.14: summer salad, juice with mint, spinach, dandelion greens, & celery, spinach salad

1.15: arugula, leeks

1.16: green grapes... FOOD POISIONING

1.17: jalepenos...in salsa... (still getting over sick. good enough excuse?)

1.18: spinach smoothie, kale chips >>>>>I hate kale<<<<<

1.19: one spinach leaf, grapes

1.20: spinach smoothie

1.21: spinach

1.22: spinach, green pepper, jalapeño, basil

1.23: kale, celery, basil

1.24: kale, celery

1.25: kale, collard greens, cucumber, chlorella, spirulina, spinach, basil

1.26:kale, collard greens, cucumber, chlorella, spirulina, spinach

1.27: celery, cucumber, spinach, romaine, kale, parsley, wheat grass, clover sprouts, green pepper, jalapeño

1.28: celery, cucumber, spinach, romaine, kale, parsley, wheat grass, clover sprouts, peas

1.29: cucumber, celery, kale, zucchini

1.30: cucumber, celery, kale

1.31: celery, cucumber, spinach, romaine, kale, parsley, wheat grass, clover sprouts

2.1: celery, cucumber, spinach, romaine, kale, parsley, wheat grass, clover sprouts

2.2: strawberry greens, green pepper, jalapeño

2.3:  kale, collard greens, cucumber, chlorella, spirulina, green peas

2.4:kale, collard greens, cucumber, chlorella, spirulina, green peppers, green onion

2.5: kale, spinach, celery

2.6: green pepper, zucchini, kale, spinach, celery, avacado

2.7: green pepper, romaine

2.8: kale, spinach, celery

Until next week!

s

follow me on bloglovin

get in on the blog love...

I recently discovered Bloglovin and I wanted to share it with you because I'll be using it as a new platform for sharing my blogs. It's an app that lets you follow all of your favorite blogs in one spot! Think of it as a news feed of just blogs, and only the ones you want to see. You can download the app for your iPad or iPhone from the app store here and you can find my personal page by clicking here! On my page you click the follow button for both of my blogs Feeling Whole & Marley's Mom. Not interested? No worries. You can follow me old school style by entering your e-mail address over on the right sidebar and you'll receive my blog in a pretty little e-mail format when I publish a new post.

As always, thank you for reading!

my life's work...

I think in a former life I must have been an Olympic athlete. A distance runner. When my time was up in that body the Universe was like, "Hey girl, you had it pretty easy as an athlete in this life. Let's send you back down and put you in the body of someone who is not an athlete."

So here I am and I'm running. I've ran five marathons and I'm mentally preparing for my sixth. Running has never come easy for me. I have had to really work at it.

Life is like a marathon. We have ups and downs and sometimes we're not sure we'll make it to the finish. It wasn't until April 3rd, 2011 when I crossed the finish line of my first marathon and experienced that incredible runner's high that I experienced truth in that metaphor.

Today, I ran my first full three miles since having the baby. I didn't stop once. I wanted to but the thought of having to complete this challenge on a different day kept me going. I wanted to do this today.

When you want to quit, keep going. You've heard it before. Pick your head up, look ahead far into the distance and pick a point.  Run to it and when you get there pick another point. Keep running. Don't stop. You'll get to that point you picked that seemed so far away before you know it.

That sounds a lot like life, right?

I have a baby. I don't know how. I mean I know how but if you would have asked me about kids three or four years ago I would have said it was still a decade away... at least. It's kind of like when we think about turning thirty or forty and then we're blowing out the candles on a cake in what seems like a blink of an eye.

When you feel like quitting... don't. When you are running it's about avoiding distractions. The distractions are what prevent us from achieving our goals. Avoid sweeping the hair from your face, tugging at your clothes, or wiping the sweat from your brow. Let the sweat burn your eyes and keep running. Don't let the distractions win. Keep running. If you're in pain, check in with yourself to make sure it's your body and not your mind begging you to stop.

I encourage you to keep running, even when gets hard. 

I encourage you to keep living your best life, even when you experience setbacks.

I promise it'll be much better to get to the end of that race and say, "hell yeah! I did it. It was hard but I kept at it and I'm proud of that," rather getting to the end and wishing you had done it differently. We can't re-do life.

I find so much comfort in knowing I was put here on this Earth to share this message with people. You can have anything you want in this life. It's not going to come easy, but you can have it. It may take a while, but you'll get there if you want. I'm going to make it my life's work to share this message with people.

follow my blog on Bloglovin by clicking here.

waiting room...

The energy in the waiting room I am in right now is toxic. Everyone is pissed. One after another march to the check in desk to see how much longer they have to wait to be seen. The doctor is running behind schedule.

I recently read a blog post written by a doctor on what causes long waits for patients in their offices and I really want to elaborate on it today being that I am one of those patients who has now waited approximately an hour to be seen today.

Not too long ago I was a patient in the hospital...for about a week, laboring and awaiting the arrival of my little girl. My doctor's office happened to be in the same building and she was able to easily check on me. She didn't have to but she checked on me three times a day for five days. She kept us informed, offered support and encouragement, and spent time performing procedures to move things along and keep me and the baby safe. I couldn't have done what I did without her and I will be forever grateful.

So I think to myself as I sit in here in the waiting room that if she was with someone like me, someone who needed her support in a tough situation this morning and that is why she's now behind schedule I understand and will gladly practice patience. I cannot get upset with someone who is helping another, perhaps saving a life! 

Next time you have a wait at the doctor's office remember that they are not intentionally putting you off. They may be in surgery saving a life, or helping a sick child, or telling someone they have cancer. If it were you in that situation wouldn't you want them to spend time with you too?

eat something green...

One of my 2014 goals is to eat something green every day and I'm happy to report I just completed the first 31 days!

My definition of "green" is a vegetable that's green. Green juice totally counts because that's about the only way I can ingest kale. On day 16, I counted green grapes because I was super sick with food poisoning and the thought of throwing up grapes was better than spinach. I kept nothing down that day.

I'm learning a few things about myself on this journey...

First, I don't have to hate vegetables. I can learn to love and incorporate them into my everyday. I want my daughter to be open minded to all different foods and if I hate veggies she may think she does too. 

Secondly, I have had to branch out and get creative with my meals. I'm certainly out food shopping more frequently and getting picky with my produce (you should too!) I've been reading Food Matters by Mark Bittman and it's opening my eyes to how often I over consume the wrong foods (along with the rest of the country.) I want to shift my diet back to being more plant based. Between getting pregnant, having the baby, and now nursing I've made the choice to eat what I wanted and that's fine but I'm ready to get back on track and make smarter choices.

I don't think I ever imagined eating a clover leaf or melted leeks. Not half bad! I wonder what else I can discover to be edible this year.

None of this work is going to be overnight for me and I'm cool with that. I love the concept of eating something green everyday as a way to ease back in.

I'll keep you updated on my progress. I'd love for you to join me for a month or two, or the rest of the year! And please, share the love... If you have fun ways of eating greens let me know!