How I lost 30 pounds!! 65 total after having Gage =)

                                                  Me at 185+ while pregnant with Gage....

                                                          Me 2 years later under 110!!!!


I know... Its hard for me to look at these pictures too.  Granted, Gage weighed 10 pounds of that pregnant weight but when I got home from the hospital I had only lost his weight.  I couldn't believe I weighed that much and I will never be back there again.  After having Gage I lost all my baby weight in 6 weeks which got me back to 140.  I had never been that heavy either but gained it after I got married.  So at the beginning of 2011 I started my major lifestyle change to get under 110, and I did it.  I have sent many people what I ate but I will be more specific and break it down for you pretty much exactly what I ate to lose the weight.  I did this all by myself with all the resources I had gathered over the years to achieve this.  You CAN do it by yourself if you really want it.  But you have to be willing to put in the blood sweat and tears for it... no joke.  There is never a healthy easy way to lose weight.

Here is what I ate to get down to this weight!!  You have to follow it exactly ; ) You can pick one of the options to eat if there are a few listed (besides snacks) but make sure you are only eating 1200 calories to lose the weight than later jump up to 1500 to maintain.

Breakfast
One egg and egg yolk
1/3 c. Rolled Oats with cinnamon (optional- natural sweetener)
1 c. Multigrain cheerios with half c. unsweetened almond milk

Green Tea

Snacks
Low sodium V8 with either a babybel cheese or light string cheese
Any raw veggies and fruit just add them to your calories (LOTS of green veggies!)
(I use yogurt based dip instead of ranch to dip them in)
1/4 c. raw nuts
EAS advantage protein shake (within 30 mins after working out)
Green smoothie (see my old post)
88% dark chocolate, one square

Lunch
1/2 can progresso low sodium soups
Salad with mixed greens and whole dressings
Chicken and quinoa w/ olive oil and Mrs. Dash (recipe below)

Liver Detox Tea or other organic tea

Dinner
4 oz. Salmon with lemon juice and lemon pepper with 1/2c. peas
Tuna dip (recipe below) with a serving of sun dried tomato basil wheat thins or organic crackers


Thats it =)  Might not seem like a lot but 1200 calories is not a lot of food!  I eat the snacks when I am hungry in between meals.  I eat about 6-8 times a day 100-200 cals at a time to keep my metabolism up.
Drink at least 2 liters of ICE cold water a day with lemon juice.

Chicken and Quinoa
1 Tbsp. olive oil
Mrs Dash and pepper
3 oz. chicken

Grill chicken till brown with oil and dash then add 3 tbsp cooked quinoa till golden brown

Tuna Dip
 1 Can Albacore white tuna
 5-6 shakes of red wine vinegar
 1 tbsp. lemon juice
 1 tsp. olive oil (optional)
 1 tsp. light mayo and relish


Good luck!!!  If you have any questions just ask PLEASE!  I am always here and love to help.  Later I will post my workouts and supplements I took and still take.

Ditch the coffee, pop, and energy drinks for TEA!

Tea is truly an incredible thing.  I didn't understand all the amazing benefits of it until a couple years years.  I have my sister Mackenzi to thank for starting my obsession with tea.  I found a Chantal brand tea kettle and wanted it just because it had my name on it but they are kind of expensive, but she said I would regret not buying it, which she was totally right.  Because I invested in it I started doing research on herbal teas and what I could get out of them... holy cow was I opened up to a new world of health!  Tea has been around for thousands of years and it is used for so many different purposes.  Here is what one person had to say about it which many others would agree.  "Studies have found that some teas may help with cancer, heart disease, and diabetes; encourage weight loss; lower cholesterol; and bring about mental alertness. Tea also appears to have antimicrobial qualities.

“There doesn’t seem to be a downside to tea,” says American Dietetic Association spokeswoman Katherine Tallmadge, MA, RD, LD. “I think it’s a great alternative to coffee drinking. First, tea has less caffeine. It’s pretty well established that the compounds in tea – their flavonoids – are good for the heart and may reduce cancer.”

How amazing is this?  Your doctor might tell you to drink wine because of the flavonoids, or coffee instead of energy drinks.  But you can replace all those harsh chemicals for your body and get all the same benefits from different teas.  I drink 2 cups a day.  An herbal green tea which curbs my appetite and increases energy and my metabolism, and I might drink a liver detox tea, chamomile before bed, or jasmine.  These are just to name a few.  I have a whole cupboard full of different herbal teas.  My favorite brand is traditional medicinals tea.  A lot of them are organic and you can get them at the health food store or even walmart.  

I have had so many people tell me that they "can't" do tea either for the flavor or because their body doesn't like it... well let me tell you something, the only reason your body might not do well with it at first is because it is detoxing it!  Of course your body might freak out if you drink crap like pop or alcohol all the time and switch to something that will cleanse it.  Why do you think it is so hard for people to get off drugs?  Withdrawls in the body can be horrible.  You have to give your body time to detox and cleanse.  Try to give it a real chance, 10 days for that matter and if your body still is struggling than at least you can say you tried.  But you have to give it the benefit of the doubt!  Some of them like the liver detox tea says to do it for I believe a month.  But I promise if you stick to it you will be a healthier person, your skin will be more radiant, and some of your digestive and skin problems can be cleared up.  =)

Simple healthy changes!

   A couple years ago when I started on my health journey Joe agreed to start changing some of the foods we eat in the house.  Leading a healthy lifestyle is so much easier if your family is also on board with you.  Somethings they won't even notice but it will help keep them healthy for life.  Joe and I decided to never buy dairy milk again.  Many new studies over the years have shown the negative side effects of cows milks on our bodies.  Same thing goes with soy, it is a better option but our bodies digust nut milk better so we have been drinking Alomond Milk for the last 2 years and love it!  It has twice the amount of calcium as dairy milk and it doesn't hurt my stomach.  Gage loves the Vanilla Almond Milk =)  I also never buy bleached flour.  You can find all purpose flour that is unbleached, just check the labels!  I use a lot of whole wheat flour but there are so many options like buckwheat flour, oat flour, teff flour, if you want to try something new.  You will never find vegetable oil in my house either.  I cook with olive oil all the time and it is such a better source of the good fats you need.  In order to lose weight you need to have good fats!!  Look for the mono and poly unsaturated fats in foods.  If something will taste horrible with oilive oil then I use Canola oil.  Another thing we decided on was to never buy beef again.  I cook with only lean turkey meat, chicken, or fish.  Switching out the beef for turkey is such a good change, in most foods you can't tell and Joe even likes it better now because there is hardly any fat from the meat in our food. 
   Carrie Underwood lost a lot of weight a few years ago and one of the things she said she did was when she was reading the labels on food if there was an ingredient she didn't know (most of the time they are added dangerous chemicals) then she didn't eat it.  I thought this was a good example of how much crap is in our food.  The more there is in something the worse it probably is for you!  Many of you reading this are probably wondering how you will get your kids to like foods that are "good for them".  Well for starters, if they have never been introduced to then they won't want it, for instance Gage has never had a hamburger or mac n cheese.  He has seen it and I have asked him if he would want it but because he eats well and we dont eat like that he doesn't care for it!  Start them young on good habits so they will not want the junk later.  I believe though that if you completely keep things away from children then they tend to hoard that food later and have issues because they never had it growing up.  Moderation in all things, just make the things they might want treats or only on special occasions so they understand its not a daily thing. If you need ideas on foods to make or creative ways to put stuff in food, follow me on pinterest.  I don't have a lot of recipes on there yet but I have pinned some awesome sites that are full of them.  If something temps you that you know you can't avoid if its in the home then don't buy it!  I love cheese crackers so I know I just can't buy them because even I am human and struggle with temptations =)  So in review making these simple switcheroos will help you stay healthy,

1. Olive oil instead of vegetable
2. Turkey (lean meats) instead of beef
3. Whole grain flour instead of white and bleached flour
4. Almond Milk instead of dairy
5. Stay away from unknown chemicals and food coloring in foods

You will be surprised what you need to throw out and change when you follow these simple guidelines! 

EAT the rainbow

I strive everyday to eat at least one color a day of either a fruit or veggie.  Like my first post one here smoothies is one of the easiest ways to pack in veggies and fruit.  No vitamin in the world can be absorbed as well as in living foods and your body thanks you for eating them.  There are so many pros to eating these fruits and veggies you see in this picture I could write books about it.  One of my new favorite quotes a saw the other day helps remind me why I eat the way I do.  "What you eat in private you wear in public."  Just a good reminder that our bodies are a true reflection of how we take care of them.  After all they are temples right?  So lets make more of an effort to treat them like one!  P.S. greens are the best thing you can eat so I hope all of you have them in your fridge!!

Body for life!!!

Thanks to my mom for introducing me to this amazing program.  I love the EAS products that goes along with this program, I drink their protein shakes everyday.  This book taught me how to lift RIGHT and when to lift, how to eat, what to eat, it truly will transform how you workout at the gym.  Every time I go to the gym I see 7 out of 10 people that are using equipment wrong or not lifting correctly.  I had a physical therapist teach me how to use the elliptical properly and this book taught me how to lift free weights.  Just google body for life in the images and it will pull up peoples before and afters... can you say amazing!  When I am done having kids I plan on getting down to a ridiculous body fat percentage but you have to have some fat on your body to get pregnant so that will be a fun thing for me to do and I look forward to it!  I have recommended this book to so many people.  If you don't want to buy it I am sure the library has it =)  I just did the upper body routine out of this book today!!!

Stay motivated!!!

My husband knows me all to well to buy me one of these =)  Now I am super pumped to keep accurate track of my calories burnt each day etc.  One of the things that helped me with getting motivated, as many of you have asked me what keeps me motivated, is simple things like this.  I went out and bought new workout clothes which is a big deal for me.  I rarely buy things for myself because I hate spending the money so when I do spend it I take it seriously.  Now I make sure I use them so it wasn't a waste of money!  I have a white board on my fridge with the foods that I can eat each day and as I eat them I check them off.  Since 1200 calories is not a lot of food it adds up a lot quicker than you think so for me it is easier to have already added them up and pick and choose each day and substitute different meals to stay within my cal count.  Some people buy a small pair of jeans they want to fit into as one of their treats for hitting their goals.  The biggest motivation for me is my family and guilt.  Now being a mother  I am very careful the foods I buy and what is in them to feed my kids.  I am a nutrition guide addict like every should be.  Read the labels!!!  There is so much crap in food, like food coloring and high fructose corn syrup which is in so many foods people think are "good for them."  I put a lot of pressure on myself to make sure my family stays healthy because I am the one buying them the food they eat!  Good nutrition habits start in the home.  So it is up to me to make the best decisions for them.  Did you know 70 percent of parents with obese children think their kids are a normal weight?  Overtime we truly become desensitized to the dangers around us that come from early childhood obesity. Failure is not an option and I would feel so guilty if I knew I wasn't giving my family the proper nutrition they need each day.  My family is my greatest success and I plan on keeping it that way!  Find what your biggest fear is in your fitness progress and make that your strength.  That is what will keep you going!!

Ayurvedic Skin Type!

   My aunt is a talented Esthetician who has taught me a lot about skin.  I learned from her that teenagers with acne can help their skin just by changing what they eat.  Ever since then I have dived into skincare as an important part of health.  What you eat shows through your skin, hair, and nails and to me this makes perfect sense.  I recently learned about the Ayurvedic Skin Type where people in India have been following this for thousands of years.  They believe that what you eat can heal and help the skin, basically treating it from the inside out.  I took the test and have found out what type of foods I need to eat, what to avoid, and supplements to take to reduce skin aging and to help it heal.  It is amazing!!  They say what you should be eating you tend to avoid which is interesting.  I have never liked Coconut  which is one of the things I need.  Coconut oil has many benefits including improving the skin, fighting viruses and bacterias, killing Candida in the body which is yeast, etc.  I have been adding this to my smoothie everyday and I feel amazing.  Not to mention rubbing it on my skin this dry winter which is helping it to heal.  Here is the link to take the Ayurvedic test to find your Dosha so you can start taking better care of your skin.
http://www.doctoroz.com/quiz/ayurvedic-skin-type-find-your-dosha

    They also talk about a leaf called Neem they use to help cure all sorts of different skin diseases such as eczema, psoriasis, and acne.  I bought the Neem Tub Tea and have loved it, I also have a Neem bath salt with Eucalyptus oil in it I am excited to try.  You can get that stuff here http://www.justneem.com/. Taking care of your body really does show!!!

My 2 bite rule!!

I LOVE food!  Like most people who can honestly just take one bite of something they really really want?  No one, and if you can you're amazing ; ) Thats why I gave myself the 2 bite rule instead.  It is ok to eat things in moderation especially if you are craving them.  Studies have shown that if you are craving something it is better to have a little bit of it then nothing so you don't binge.  When you have cravings it sends messages to your brain which spikes adrenaline.  Thats why food is such an emotional thing for us because it triggers our good senses!  So if you want some cheesecake, have 2 bites, or your favorite snack that might be high in calories.  You will feel so much better knowing you got to try what you really wanted rather then completely avoid it.

If you are a chocoholic like me, stick to dark dark chocolate.  It is good for your heart and doesn't have milk like milk chocolate.  The brand of chocolate I absolutely love is called endangered species.  Love it!!http://chocolatebar.com/

Don't talk to me about excuses

My life has been riddled with all sorts of trials, but who's hasn't.  Seriously though, mine have always been on a high level of difficult and pain.  My biggest struggle I think is my health.  One of the reasons why I have become slightly obsessed with health of my overall well being.  I am writing this today because I struggle daily with hearing peoples excuses about life when most often times what I am hearing I have personally experienced worse.  I have never been able to see someone become happy until they change their attitude!  Anything is going to seem very hard until we start looking at the glass half full, which it is ; )  When it comes to overcoming mental obstacles I find myself leaning on my darkest moments to push me through those immense strains of life.  Until you can find your way of "venting", your body will hold on to weight and emotional toxins.  Some of you wonder, "Well what has she really gone through that she understands me?"  You would be very surprised unless you know me well.  But just a little insight, after having a 10 pound baby it literally ripped all my skin from my chest to my knees and all my muscles in my torso.  I have seen almost 20 different doctors for all of the damage it has caused, and having another big baby did some more.  I don't want you to think I am complaining because I am not at all!  I just want you to know we all have hidden trials and things we have to mentally overcome daily and it is always a fight.  But all the problems I have run into have brought me to find many healthy newer ways of healing myself and my body and bringing me to meet some amazing people.  One of the things I have come to love is acupuncture, my TENS unit, herbs, and crazy weird vitamins and foods I have never heard of.  I am like a library of random health knowledge and because I have explored many avenues of learning I have helped many people.  So when it comes to excuses about not working out, not having time, not having strength, well I have legitimate excuses daily but it never stops me.  I love more then anything to set hard goals and hit them. It is such an overwhelming feeling to do something for yourself you know was so hard to achieve.  I have had many people say to me "Oh I can't because I don't have enough money for the gym" or "I can't work out because of such and such a health problem" please never say these things to me because I have yet to hear a good enough excuse.  Start replacing the CANTS with I WILL do this because I have a health problem and I want to feel better... make sense?  This is a 90 percent mental game and until you can figure out how to fight your demons, they will always win.  They won with me many times but finally I found my breaking point.  You don't need a gym membership to lose weight!!  Here are a couple websites I love that have videos of amazing challenging workouts you can do at home.  www.dailyhiit.com and www.toneitup.com.  Lots of pics with girls in bikinis and workout clothes so don't be alarmed ; ) Exercise bands are cheap and give you great resistance as well as a medicine ball.  No matter your physical situation you can always find a way to keep moving!!!  Even on the couch, but push yourself, your body will be sore but thank you later.  If you have some physical limitation you can't see yourself working around then talk to me, I will help you find a creative way to get your body moving.  Never say never, can't or I won't.  Stop limiting yourself and your strong will power to move forward.  You CAN do it!!!  If I can, you can!  There is nothing more attractive than a confident person!

Portions, Portions, PORTIONS!

Portion control plays a major role in weight management.  It helps to eliminate bloating and increases your metabolism through out the day because you eat more frequent smaller meals.  For those of you who don't know this about me I can destroy food.  I have always been able to eat a ridiculous amount of food in one sitting for my size.  Am I bragging?  No, but growing up always hanging out with guys I thought it was cool I could eat just as much if not more then them.  Now I see why I had so many stomach problems as I got older.  As I have started eating 6-8 smaller meals through out the day I feel so much better and have a lot more energy.  Because I like to eat food, well who doesn't, I HAVE to be eating all the time.  I just changed the size of what I ate.  Something that I did was not allow myself to eat on a dinner plate.  Just put them away, there is no reason why you should be filling an entire dinner plate of food and eating it in one sitting.  To stay small you have to eat small!!!  It is fulfilling to eat everything off your plate but it is such a mental game we all play that we have to clear our plates.  So just make them small and that way you still clear it with out having the guilt of consuming too much.  America has this crazy mentality that we have to eat footlong sandwiches and full pound burgers but that is insane.  Your stomach can't handle food in large quantities.  Why do you think so much of our nation has gastrointestinal problems?  Irritable bowel syndrome?  Bloating and gas?  Ulcers?  Diverticulitis?  All of which I have been diagnosed with at some point in my life and none of which I struggle with now.  Why?  Because almost all of these can be cured with diet!!!  90 percent of our nation doesn't get enough fiber in their diet because they eat so much processed grains with no green vegetables.  I can't stress enough how much your diet can affect your body.  Your body is made up of living tissue so why do you think it is so important to eat living food?  A good rule of thumb, the longer the shelf life the shorter yours will be.  Eat what your body can break down and that is food that breaks down fast like fresh fruits and veggies with lots of water.  Portion out your plate to have more greens then protein and more protein then carbs.  I love to eat 4 oz. of Salmon with lots of greens and sometimes no carbs at all with lots of fluid.  I feel so good after eating like that and I know my body thanks me for it.  So hide your dinner plates and remember that small amounts of food frequently will help you lose weight and keep it off for life.

I'm no Jillian Michaels, but...

Ok friends here it goes.  It's time to be real and honest and I finally have a minute from taking care of two amazing boys to write this.  Since this is the start of my blog I am going to warn you that I am a very blunt, honest, hardcore person when it comes to setting goals and challenging myself and others ; ) Sure I may not have 10 percent body fat or have ever been a personal trainer.  I don't refer to myself as an expert just because I lost weight and kept it off but what I did obviously worked and it is a realistic way to stay healthy for life and feel good about yourself.  Now, I will say things through out this blog that will be honest and true but that you might not like to hear but that needs to be said.  So many people suffer from lack of knowledge about nutrition and health and in turn it affects their whole family which trickles down to their kids.  Some people are in denial about their weight and think they are healthy because the eat vegetables even though they fry them in oil.  My main goal with this blog is to help change your mentality about food and fueling your body how it is meant to take in energy.  I have gathered a plethora of information over the years from my wonderful mother who has always been so knowledgable about health, nutrition, and fitness as well as many friends I have met while on my own journey a few years ago to get down to a weight I have never been at as an adult.  ANYTHING is possible but you have to be ready to do it.  It is all fine and dandy to start a "new goal" especially one about losing weight, but not being realistic or calling it a diet.  Please never use the word "diet" again.  It has to be a lifestyle change or you will revert right back to your old ways.  I did it for a long time until it finally clicked that I have to eat like this the rest of my life and I feel amazing doing it.  As I get more used to this who blogging deal I will try and post tips, recipes, work outs, links, whatever you want to hear that has changed my life and my little families forever.  I LOVE how I feel and how much I have learned that will always help keep my boys healthy for life too.  Nothing is ever just about you but you are the only one that can change how you look and feel about yourself.  If you are 100 percent dedicated and ready to change your life and be more confident, I promise the things I say on here if you truly apply them and stick to them will transform how you view food and working out.  You can't help or love others until you do the same for yourself!!!

P.S.  I just want you to know, personally, that if you ever have any questions no matter how dumb or ridiculous they may seem, just send me a message and ask because I love helping people so much and I want everyone to be as happy as me!

Oh, and obviously I can't end this without starting you off with a few tips to get you started =)

1.  Drink at least 2 liters of water a day.  Adding lemon juice will help detox your body and adding ice will help rev up your metabolism.
2.  Throw out all your white bleached flour products from your house and never buy them again.  Whole grains from here on out.
3.  Good fats.  Stay far far away from saturated fats and look for the poly, mono unsaturated fats such as coconut oil, olive oil, and raw nuts.  Salmon is a great fish for omegas and is heart healthy too.

And here we GO!!!  =)

Smoothie!!!

I don't know what I am doing on here but I guess I will figure it out!!!  My nutrition post for the day is a yummy smoothie recipe that even your kids will love.

Green Smoothie
1 c. Unsweetened Almond Milk
1 1/2 c. fresh pineapple
1 banana (preferably frozen)
Huge handful of spinach
Optional- 1 tbsp. organic coconut oil

Totally awesome!  I sometimes substitute the pineapple for another 1 cup of frozen or fresh fruit.  Put whatever you want in it such as flax seeds, kale instead of spinach, raw cacao, one container of greek yogurt, etc.