September Update -- 9 months post baby

Hi, there!  It's been about 2 months since my last update, so I guess it's time to check in again.  By looking at the pictures, it doesn't seem like much has changed in the last several months.  Kind of discouraging.  However, I feel very different.  I feel stronger than I was in July and I also feel healthier.  Been doing pretty well eating clean. 

     JULY 12         SEPTEMBER 10

120 LB                  108 LB*

 

 

So overall, I am happy with where I am at.  I definitely feel like I'm in the best shape that I've ever been in.  The scale says I'm at 108 lbs, but I find that hard to believe.  I feel like I'm closer to 120.  There's a new scale at the gym that I might try next time and see what that one says.  The number itself doesn't matter very much to me, but it is interesting.  I have actually been trying to gain weight the last 5-6 weeks, trying to add muscle, so I was very surprised to see 108. 

I didn't take my measurements this time, but I probably will do that in the next few days. 

Post-Baby Body

It's been 2 months since my last update, so here it is!


July 12                       May 11
120.4 lb                     124.5 lb
                                               

Body Post Baby -- Post 4

 

This is my fourth month updating my progress.  Baby is now 5-1/2 months old.  Not much noticeable change.  This may be the last time I post a monthly update.  I am pretty happy with where I'm at and there probably won't be much change on a month-to-month basis.  I am going to shift my focus from losing fat to building muscle.  And hopefully eradicate that belly fat with a change in eating habits.  I may update every 3 months or so, just so I'm at least accountable and still able to track my progress over time.

 

                                 April 4                                                May 11

                           133-ish lbs.                                       124.5 lbs.

                                               

 

Starting to see a little muscle

Measurements:

Bust = 36"   (March = 36")

High Waiste = 29"  (March = 30")

Belly-Button = 31"   (March = 33.5")

Thigh = 19.5"  (March = 21")

Arm = 10.5"  (March = 11")

Hips = 37"  (March = 39")

 

21 DSD -- Day 5

Day 5

 

Today was good: no sugar cravings, no headache.

 

Breakfast

8:30 am

Omelet -- 2 eggs, veggie-infused sausage, spinach, tomatoes, coconut oil

1/2 Sweet Potato with Butter & 1/2 Avocado

 

 

Lunch

2:00 pm

 

Leftover Ox-Tail Stew

(homemade bone-broth)

BIG bowl of cauliflower w/ butter

1/2 Sweet Potato w/ butter

 

Snacks

5:00-ish

 

Carrots & Cucumbers

Homemade Chicken-Salad

(with Sarah Fragoso's homemade mayo)

(so easy and so cheap -- and no soybean oil!)

 

 

 

 

Dinner

10:00 pm

 

10 oz steak, onions & green bell peppers

whole sweet potato w/butter

Steak is still in the oven -- it was a little too pink!

 

For dinner, we went to a Mexican restaurant to celebrate my Dad's 50th birthday.  I knew this was going to be a challenge because I usually pig out on chips and queso dip.  And sweet tea.  I planned ahead and made chicken salad to eat before going there so that I would not be very hungry right when we arrived.  I also just made my mind up that I was going to stick to the 21 DSD. 

 

I was worried about being tempted by the cake, though.  It was from Publix and they have the BEST cakes.  However, my baby helped me with that problem because he got fussy and we had to leave before the cake was brought out.  Temptation avoided.

 

I had ordered a steak with peppers & onions, but I left before it came out.  My parents brought it to me just a while ago, that is why dinner is so late tonight.

 

Also, I had my first taste of fruit today!  The 21DSD recommends a green apple or a green-tipped banana everyday.  I wanted to go at least 3 days without any sugar at all just to get my body acclimated.  Today I ate a few slices of an apple, and it was SOO good.  It did taste sweeter than usual.  Not sure if that's due to the sugar detox or to the fact that it was a local, organic apple and I usually just get regular apples. 

 

 

Good Night!

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

21 DSD -- Day 4

Day 4 went pretty well.  I woke up before 7:30 am and felt well-rested.  We got up and went to the gym.  I had plenty of energy for my workout.  We then went to pick strawberries with some friends.  I was almost tempted to eat a few strawberries -- they looked SO juicy and perfect!  I also survived my first trip to the grocery store since starting the detox.  I had to run into Kroger and was immediately met with the aroma of freshly baked pastries.  And they had all the specialty desserts and cakes laid out for Mother's Day.  I tried not to look at them.  :-)  

Breakfast
Same as yesterday -- eggs. sausage, 1/2 sweet potato

Snack
Some nuts and carrots after my workout.  I usually eat deli meat after my workouts, but I don't have any this month. 

Lunch
B.L.T  (no bread)  SOOO good.  The other 1/2 of my sweet potato

Snack
More nuts, carrots, cucumbers

Dinner
Haven't eaten yet, but it will be leftovers from last night's dinner. 

I didn't eat as much as I usually do, so I ended up with a mild headache around 6pm.  We were out and about all day and I didn't pack enough food in the cooler.  I need to start making jerkey a couple times a month so that I have something quick to take in the car. 

21 DSD -- Day 3 Menu

Brunch

11:00 am

2 eggs scrambled in Coconut Oil; Veggie-Infused Sausage;

Sweet Potato with butter and avocado

We usually eat around 8, but neither one of us were too hungry this morning.

 

 

 

Snacks

2:00 pm

Steamed broccoli with lots of Kerrygold butter. 

That is the BEST butter ever!

Eva had veggies with Whole Food brand peanut butter.

I started to feel a headache coming on around 2, so I decided to eat something even though I wasn't very hungry

 

4:00-ish pm

 Few handfulls of trail-mix

(pecans, walnuts, macademias, almonds, and coconut flakes)

 

 

 

Dinner

6:15 pm

Oven Fried Chicken Nuggets, Squash Fries & Marinara Sauce, Mashed Sweet Potato

 

Nuggets: coconut oil, 3 free-range chicken breasts, almond flour, salt, pepper, paprika and Italian Seasoning

Squash Fries: 1 squash, 1 zuccini, 2 eggs, 1 Tbs coconut milk, pepper, garlic, onion powder

Spicy Mustard: mustard, coconut aminos, black pepper, chili powder

Sweet Potato: microwaved 2 sweet potatoes for 12 min, mashed them, added butter & cinnamin, and then beat with a mixer until smooth

 

 

This was my first time using free-range chicken breasts.  I got them for $10-ish per pound at Whole Foods.  I have never bought them before because of how expensive they are.  Kroger brand chicken breast is usually only $1.99/lb.  That's a BIG difference.  I wish I could afford to buy exclusively free-range chicken because there is a very noticeable difference in the quality of the meat.  I didn't notice a big difference in taste, but the free-range chicken breasts were a deeper pink color versus the white-ish colored chicken at Kroger.  The free-range chicken was also softer and more tender to the touch and much easier to cut through with a knife.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



21 DSD -- Daily Updates

- DAY 1 -

May 6, 2013

 

Day 1 was fairly easy.  I had a few sugar cravings, but nothing too bad.  Not much to say about Day 1.

 

 

- DAY 2 -

 

Day 2 was really hard.  I woke up with a headache that would not go away!  Sugar withdrawals, I guess.  All day, I just felt unsatisfied.  I just wanted something to eat, but couldn't put my finger on what it was.  I guess I just wanted to munch and snack.  This was a bad day for me, I hated feeling that way.

 

- DAY 3 -

 

Day 3 (today) was actually really good!  I got a good night's rest, which is rare in my house.  I woke up raring to go, and my headache was GONE! Yay!  I have had hardly any sugar cravings.  Right after lunch and right after dinner, I had the urge to grab something sweet.  Old habits die hard.  But once I ignored the craving and got busy doing other stuff, I forgot about it. 

I also had a ton of energy today.  We went on a long walk around town this morning.  Then after we finished school work, we went on another walk about twice as long as the first.  After that, I just felt like I had a surplus of energy that I needed to get out, so I did a quick work-out while the baby napped in the stroller.  It was a nice day. 

 

 

 

 

21 Day Sugar Detox

Yesterday, I began the 21 Day Sugar Detox led by Dianne Sanfilippo over at Balanced Bites.   I love Dianne, she is chock full of useful info regarding health and nutrition.  She and Liz Wolf (Cavegirl Eats) have a podcast that I listen to a lot, and I always hear them talking about Dianne's program, the 21 Day Sugar Detox.  I thought about doing it a few months ago, but decided not to.  I didn't want to pay the $21
for the kit because I don't eat that much sugar.  Or so I thought...  Fast forward to this past Sunday when I decided to fork out the $21 and start the program. 



Sugarrrrr!!

More Sugarrrrr!

Over the last few weeks, I have been allowing myself more and more treats.  Sugary treats.  To the point that I was eating some kind of candy/chocolate nearly every day.  It started off innoculous enough with a Trader Joe's 75% Cacoa chocolate bar.  Then, I made brownies with fudge icing and ate half the dish in one night.  Then my grandma came to town and brought her famous sugar cookies and I decided to have one... or seven.  Then I made more brownies and ate half the dish while skyping with my husband.  Then I bought a few bags of chocolate chips and at them all within a week.  Then I made more brownies... you get the idea.


Unfortunately, I think I am addicted to sugar.  I can't just have a little bit like some people can.  I have realized that I cannot rely on my own will-power at this point.  I must completely eliminate sugar long enough to let my body re-group.  I hate the way I feel after I binge on sugar, or even after I eat just a little.  I feel sluggish and lethargic.  I have no energy or motivation the rest of the day. 

So anyway, yesterday was my first day.  It went fine.  I am used to eating pretty clean (other than my increasingly prevalent "treats"). 

However, in the middle of the night I woke up with a headache.  The headache stayed around all day today.  I guess I am more dependent on sugar than I thought.  Though I don't typically eat candy/chocolate everyday, I do usually have a couple servings of fruit everyday.  And raisins.  I love raisins.   I'm really hoping this headache goes away by the morning. 

Hopefully I can stick it out all 21 days.  I really need to do this as a way to reset my body.  I have fooled myself into thinking that I am healthy because I follow a predominately "Paleo" template.  I have been following the 80/20 rule (although sometimes it's more like 70/30), but I want it to be more like 95/5 (95% clean eating, 5% treats).  And I want the 5% of treats to be a healthier kind of treat.  No more binging on brownies! 

I will try to log my progress on the blog.  I will also take before/after pictures to see if there's any change in body composition. 

Thanks for reading!
~Patti

April's Activities

As I said in an earlier post, April was a VERY busy month for us.  We had something on the schedule every single weekend!  I am hoping to make up for it by keeping May relatively low key.


We started off the month with a giant, community-wide Easter Egg Hunt that our church puts on every year.  Eva had a blast with her friends.  It's a little overwhelming for me, since my introverted nature doesn't do well in big crowds.  But Eva is a bona fide extrovert and thrives at events like these. 

 

 

The next weekend, we went on a tour of a local farm, Wil-Moore Farm.

We regularly buy butter and eggs that were produced on their farm, so it was fun to see where they come from.  We also bought some ground beef and milk from them during the tour.

 

 

The weekend after that, we went to see Disney on Ice with some friends.  I don't have any pictures from that, though.  The next weekend was Eva's birthday party.  She wanted to go to Monkey Joe's to play, followed by lunch at a Mexican restaurant and frozen yogurt at Sweet Frog.

 

 

 

A few days later, we decided to make a day trip to Charleston, SC.  I love this town.  I considered going to the College of Charleston, and I kind of wish that I would have!  Maybe Eva will...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last weekend in April was the USMC Mud Run.  My dad, brother, and brother-in-law ran it with me and we had a blast!  It is a 10k trail through the woods with 36 obstacles to complete.

Eva did the kid version and loved it.  This will definitely be something we do every year!

 

 

Eva and Uncle Tommy going through the kids' race

 

 

Before

After

 



What We've Been Eating

My intention when I started updating this blog was to use it to log my meals.  However, that is not realistic.  I hardly ever remember to take pics of our food before we eat!  But here is some of our meals from the last month...

Green Eggs and Ham, requested by Eva

 

Local, grass-fed burgers from Wil-Moore Farms

Grilled Steak, Sauerkraut, Broccoli, Sweet Potato

Sweet Potato, Chicken Salad Lettuce Boats

Meatloaf, Canteloupe, Cauliflower

Easter!