Wow! I can not believe I am doing this. I am applying to be one of the next Mamavation Moms. I have to say I am scared to death right now. Yeah, part of it is that I guess I find @bookieboo a little intimidating. But for the most part, it is quite difficult to just put myself out there. This is my first time applying to a Mamavation Campaign and I have never done a personal video like the one you will see below.

This Mamavation Campaign is different than all the others, because this time Mamavation is teaming up with Healthy Child, Healthy World to help us not only lose weight, but to also help us rid our homes of the toxins and chemicals that can make us sick. We will learn not only about the types of food we should eat and the underlying components to choose what is best for us, but also about the chemicals that are lurking throughout our homes. 

The diagnosis of childhood and adult diseases and ailments has dramatically increased in this country. Everyone you talk to has a new ailment. We are living longer, but our lives are plagued by pain and sickness. There has to be an answer for this in what we are exposing our bodies to. But how do you live in this world and go about daily life without exposure to it all when it is all around you? The food we eat, the products we use and the very air we breathe are all filled with chemicals. I want to know how to remove the harmful toxins and I am hoping that the Mamavation team can help me weed through it all. 

Here’s my application video to join the Mamvation Mom’s in this Campaign.  When you finish watching, please show your support by tweeting the following:  #Mamavation & @Healthy_child are teaching moms to detoxify their home & I’m in support of @lumpytoleandee, http://bit.ly/16CMjgq

 Thank you for your support. I couldn’t do this without you!

 Let the hazing begin! 

This post is sponsored by ChopChop Magazine and Mamavation – a community dedicated to obesity prevention & weight loss for women and I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway.

How can it be Monday again? I just wish the summer would slow down a bit. It was a decent week, but I am having major sugar issues again. I have to find a good way to deal with this. So far, I haven’t found an answer. Right now I can’t seem to keep all the kids healthy at the same time so I am trying to just keep moving without the gym, as I can’t take sick kids to the child-care. I am working on 5 days each week with 15K steps and adding +10 squats each day(that means 100 today ouch!). I also started my kettlebell class again and I love it! There are new moves I am not so sure about yet, but I am sure I will get them figured out.

This week, I want to continue with my workouts, and I hope to make it to the gym at least a couple of times if everyone will get healthy enough to make it happen.  I also want to menu-plan for the next week. It helps me so much to have a plan. I did well while we had company, and, not only did I do better eating-wise, I also had so much less stress and didn’t have to deal with the 5pm “what’s for dinner?” question during my high-demand/ high-stress time. That makes it so much nicer. If I can just figure out the way to keep it up and not be an all or nothing kind of thing. I also want to find a good time to blog more. I have several half-started posts and would like to get those up for everyone to enjoy. I hope you all have a great week! Keep improving each day.

But not BEATEN! This week has been pretty intense. With the holiday weekend, we had friends and family in visiting. It was also the last week of school for my kids. We had a really great super-busy week though. Although my eating was not the best, I tried to do well with my meals. It was really the snacks and sweets that were giving me the most trouble. I continued to walk and get my steps in as well. Then, on Saturday, I did the craziest fitness thing I have ever done.  With two of my best friends, I went and participated in the  Foam Fest 5K. 

This thing was insane! I plan to write up an entire post about the experience (hopefully this week). After all was said and done though I can’t wait to do it again. I was truly afraid I wouldn’t be able to walk on Sunday as I was physically exhausted and really stiff and sore on Saturday night. I kept moving though and even went for a nice walk on Saturday evening as part of a date night with my husband. I know that is what kept me from having nearly as much trouble the next day.  Even though it was a great temptation to do so, I just didn’t stop and let everything seize up.  Here’s a picture of my poor knees and legs after the thing was done. They still hurt and my arms have some muscle soreness (the good kind) still, but I am moving great and even got to the gym this morning for the first time in a month. 

So school’s out for the summer! What are your plans? Are you going to put yourself out of your comfort zone? What types of great things do you have going on? I have a busy one planned for sure, but –at the top of my list– is to get motivated and get losing again. I just saw the post come through that the Mamavation Mom’s Bootcamp is starting again and applications are now open. I will be applying for sure this time! My mind is 100% ready to do this thing.  Watch for my application video forthcoming very soon. 

This week I am starting by switching my family over to a summer schedule. It will take some time to figure it all out.  I will be beginning a Kettlebell class on Tuesday evenings as well as making it a point to get to the gym at least 3-5 times a week, but also I want to keep up the walks and enjoying the outside weather as much as possible. I have put away all the sweets and am going to get my snacking under control or at least make a switch back to some healthier options.  I hope you all have a great week! 

This post is sponsored by Radiantly You and Mamavation – a community dedicated to obesity prevention & weight loss for women and I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway

Many people  like to weigh themselves daily. For me, I would go crazy. I can be up or down 5lbs daily. I know that it is just water weight, but it would make me nuts and I would feel defeated to see that on a daily basis. I promised a weigh in this week good or bad. Well it isn’t good but here it is. 
This is 6lbs up from my low a few weeks back. I am not happy about that, but I am not defeated by it either. I am hoping it is mostly water and that with watching what I eat over the next few weeks will help it go back down quickly.

The scale is just a tool. There is nothing it can do to hurt me. The only thing that hurts me is the choices I make on my food and exercise. This week, the food was much better. I am thinking about what I eat and at least partially logging again.  I am walking again, and my steps are doing great. I even got my first 25K-step day on Saturday. I still haven’t been to the gym, and I am thinking I will be back this week. But a lot of that actually depends on the weather. Today, the weather is nice, and I just can’t bring myself to go inside. So, my plan is to go for a great walk and push myself to do more, too. I want to do some calisthenics or something in addition to the walk. I can’t remember when I did my last push-up, plank, sit-up or burpee.  So this week, even if I don’t make it to the gym, I will be trying to incorporate those activities back into my routine. Time to break out the challenge workouts and get back to it.

My garden is growing and I am just thrilled to see all the sprouts popping up everywhere. In the picture are sugar snap peas. I hope the threat of frost is over so I can get the rest of my plants out there in the next couple of weeks. I am looking for organic pepper plants to use as none of my pepper plants seem to have taken well indoors. I can’t wait to incorporate my own freshly grown veggies into my meals.

I hope you all have a great new week! Good luck on your goals and remember to love yourself no matter where you are. 

This was a pretty great week overall. There was lots of celebrating with a birthday as well as Mother’s Day all thrown into one week. Yes, I ate cake, and enjoyed every minute of it. This week, I had a lot of help to keep myself on track though. Lydia at Cluttered Genius has been helping me to keep focused and that is HUGE. Just by simply knowing someone is there and checking in, I make better choices in those moments of weakness.  I am still afraid to return to the scale, but have set a date for that reality check this Friday. I will share the results here next week, no matter how bad.  I had thought today would be a big “return to the gym” day, but yesterday the baby ended up with a nasty cold/sinus thing again and he can’t go into childcare until he is no longer oozing. We’ll get there, though.

Last week, I finished prepping the garden and planting the first of our veggies. I am holding off on a few things because we still have the threat of frost. I probably won’t be able to get the last things in the ground until June. The kids are enjoying watching them grow here at home in the meantime. It’s so much fun to see their excitement over all the sprouts. So far our peppers aren’t doing much, but I keep hoping.  I planted a ton of starters and I’ll have to find some nice pre-started plants if they don’t get going soon. 

So far this month I have kept with my 10,000 steps. Some days that means marching before bed to get those last few, but I have gotten them every single day. It helps me so much to have a goal and something that cannot let myself slide on no matter how small it is.  It is funny how some days it is super easy to get them done and over, and other times I look at the end of the day wonder what happened. 

I hope to be posting more here this week. I got a little inspiration for a multiple-post series and am excited to start writing. I wish you all the very best week! Keep pushing yourself to be a little better each day.

I just saw a status from Fit for Life that read “The choices you make are totally under your control….no matter what is going on in your life. It’s up to you and no one else.” Wow! This speaks to me today.  It’s been a hard couple of months for me and my journey.  I have a million excuses, and that’s all they are: excuses. I know what I need to do but am failing miserably right now. I know much of it is mental, and I have got to get my head wrapped around that and fix it.  I know I can do it, and I will do it. I just need to kick it into gear and get moving.

What do you do when you fall off track? How do you motivate yourself again? I need a serious jolt to get me out of this funk. Spending time at Mamavation definitely is helping. I am thinking about it more for sure, but I am still not moving like I should be.   This week, I am going to work on the basics again and get myself back into those habits I know must be there. Drinking water, moving, and logging my food.  These three things are core to any successful journey, and I can tell how far off I am in that I am not doing these simple key pieces.  

My goal for this month is to simply get my 10,000 steps each and every day.  Sundays have always been a hard day for me to get them in, but I have to get moving again and this is the best way I know to do it. I have a goal, and I will succeed.

Wow! It has a whirlwind few weeks and I know this one is going to be even more insane. I am working on an event for our school and am just running like crazy. I miss the Mamavation Community the most and think much about all you new Mamavation Mom’s working it out there. Since I have been so wrapped up in other things, I have not put the focus on me much the last couple of weeks. I have been way off the radar for most everything. Very little gym time and eating poorly is really taking its toll on me though. I didn’t even weigh in this week because I was afraid of what the scale would say.

Last weekend was the topper, I ate too much JUNK! I mean things I haven’t had for a long time. I am severely paying for it now though. I am bloated, gassy and feel just gross. Just because we have little time, that is no reason to neglect our health. The drive-thru may be easy now, but you will pay for it dearly later. For me it is reminding myself and keeping things in perspective. A little planning can make a big difference in keeping things on track. This week I am going to take better care with what I eat. I am also going to make sure I get in some form of workout daily even though I know I cannot make it to the gym.

I am still working out to my Jillian videos and find it hard some days to not stop and work on the other million things that need done. I must stick with it though. I know I will feel better in the long run if I do. Doing this little thing for me, I know helps to maintain my sanity. I hope you all have a wonderful week. I will be back more regularly soon.

This post is sponsored by Doctor G and hosted by Mamavation – a community dedicated to obesity prevention & weight loss for women and I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway

It only took a week to really get back into the right mindset again. March may have been rough, but April is going to kick butt. Working through my Jillian Dvd’s as my challenge, I am really enjoying the workouts — especially since the baby has been sick again, so the gym was out the last couple of days. The weather for at least a day or two perked up as well and I was able to get outside and get some much needed Vitamin D (sunshine).  The toughest part about winter for me is the lack of sunshine.  While taking a walk the other day, I realized just how wonderful it felt to be in the sun again. 

Weight-wise, I am down this week: at the beginning of this week, I got on the scale and was bloated — carrying at least 6 pounds of extra water. That is gone, and I am down a pound from my last official weigh-in two weeks ago. I also won the “cash for lbs” competition I was doing through the local park district.  It wasn’t a huge windfall but a little extra cash never hurts.  Since I won’t be weighing in at the park district each week for a while, I have decided I would post my weigh-ins here each week.  The accountability and getting on the scale every week is a big thing for me.  

All week, I have been really watching what I eat. The low-glycemic diet thing is tough only because I can’t figure out the index number for many of the things I eat regularly. So, basically, I am eating the way I know has worked for me before, Low-Carb. No-Carb isn’t an option for me because I bottom out. I tried that before and it just didn’t work at all. I still have whole grain bread products, but I am trying to keep those to low amounts early in the day.  Eating a lot of lean protein, fruits and veggies is my goal. You could almost say I am on the “Apple Diet” because that seems to be the snack of choice for me. I have been eating a ton of apples. This week, I want to find more snack options that work well for me. I love apples, but I don’t want to burn myself out on them by having so many a day. The apples, however, are keeping my sugar problem under control.  At about 4:00pm each day I still have a major dip (emotionally, energy-wise, and all-around), and I want to find a way to deal better with that proactively. It is definitely my “high stress” time each day and I really want to get where I don’t feel s0 frazzled then.

Good luck to all the moms in the running for Mamavation Bootcamp. I wish you could all get it.  But, I do need some of you to try again with me for the next go-round. I look forward to following all the great success stories.

So some days I seem like I am constantly hungry and wanting to eat each and every time I go near the pantry. We can eat for all kinds of reasons. Many times they are the wrong reasons. I know I eat at times because I am bored, tired, upset, and –occasionally– because I am hungry. It is time for me to listen to my body again.  Our bodies are amazing creations that were given to us to care for. We are each beautifully and wonderfully made. If we stop over-stuffing ourselves and listen to our bodies we will learn so much about who we are and how our body needs to be treated. 

Without all the soda and sugar that I had been taking in, I have noticed my appetite is completely different. I can feel the difference between a dip in my blood sugar and true hunger. When I wake up in the morning, I feel my stomach growl. Do you remember this? It’s a sensation that, when I am not watching my quantity and just eating what I want when I want and not thinking about it, that I never seem to have.  We need to think of the food we eat as fuel for our bodies. When we fill up on things that are good such as fresh fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains, our bodies just run more smoothly. Then we don’t have to worry about the constant dips and spikes that cause us to sputter and crash. 

My body is still getting back into the routine and dealing with the sugar withdrawal, so I find a lot of my dips are blood-sugar-based.  Listening to my body, I know when I need to find fuel that will give me a boost, but will not send a spike that I will have to deal with later. There is still much for me to learn, but I know that, by listening to my body, I am much closer to figuring out when I should eat. By watching what foods I choose, I will keep the fire burning without needing to resort to quick sparks loaded with sugar.

March is finally coming to an end. It has been a tough month for me, full of ups and (mostly) downs. My weight has just stalled, but I know why, because I am not eating as I should. I continue to workout, but I know that I cannot out-exercise a bad diet. While that is not what I have been trying to do, it is what has kept me from moving forward.  However, I’m thankful that I can always make changes and push forward.

Here at the end of the month, I even came close to just scrapping my entire list of goals for the month and chalking it up as a lost cause.  But, I’m glad I didn’t do that though. I have stuck with every challenge so far, and I didn’t want to give up on this one too. So with one week to go for the month I still had 1500 (out of 2500) jumping jacks to do. I made up my mind and pushed through 500 in one night. That left approx 200 a night for the rest of the week (definitely doable!).  

So, for my March fitness challenge, I did complete it! I ended with over 2700+ Jumping Jacks (there were a bunch in there that I didn’t count because I failed to write them down).  My logging for workouts and food both were not very good this month. I also participated in the Mamavation 2-week workout challenge and –while it was tough some days to get it it in– I did complete it as well.  Between sickness and vacation I have missed many days at the gym and the 2-week challenge was actually a saving factor as I still pushed to get in at least that workout.

Here is a recap of my Goals for 2o13: 

1. Conquer my Dr. Pepper addiction! I really feel the addiction is in control. However, I have to watch out because old habits are really easy to fall back into. Vacation was tough on this front, as I did have several Dr Peppers. However it wasn’t an everyday thing, and I could function without them.  I was just indulging way too much. For April, I need to get myself much more disciplined on this and not return to my old habits.

2. Meal Plan Weekly and Log My Food.  This month was a big fail on this one. I know that’s why I haven’t lost weight as well. My eating has been out of control, and I have not been logging my workouts or my food intake consistently. I have got to get back on track with this one.  It makes a huge difference when I am paying attention and recording  and planning as I should.

3. “Run” a 5K.  - This month I participated in my first “virtual” 5K. I did not run it all, but I pushed myself and that is a great feeling. By the end of May, I would like to be able to run a significant portion of a 5K and see if I can get my time moving down.

4. Get under 200lbs.  This is the end of March and I should be down 20 lbs. and back to my pre-baby weight. However, I am still not quite there. March wasn’t a good weight-loss month for me. I am thankful that I haven’t gone up, but I am no closer to my goal for now.  This, I have got to change!

 So, while the month wasn’t my best by far, I am thankful that I held on and didn’t just give up. For April, I need to recommit and refocus to put forth significant change. I really want to report a BIG loss before  my birthday in May.  Summer is coming and I want to be ready. I can’t wait to be back at the pool, and it’d be great to be there 15lbs lighter.