My 21 Day Fix Results

This past week has been a bit crazy! Sorry for not posting.

Last week, I wrote about how I slipped on a toy and hurt my leg. It got worse, so I finally went to a doctor. Luckily it wasn't broken, but my fibula had a contusion. So she told me not to exercise my leg at all and let it rest. I had to modify my workouts and only workout my abs and upper body, but I still stuck with it!

Monday we had our weigh-in. We completed the 21 Day Fix. I was disappointed that I didn't lose as many inches in the past week, but with my injury I expected that. I did lose 2 lbs in the last week though!
Here is my before and after picture for the 21 day fix:

9 1/2 inches lost and just over 4 lbs in only 21 days is definitely something to be proud of, and I am. But most importantly, I am getting stronger and healthier. I am going to keep up with the regimen. This wasn't just a "quick fix" for me, this was to jumpstart my new healthy lifestyle.

If you would like to start a healthier lifestyle and join me on this journey, contact me at journeytoahealthymomma@gmail.com and I will help you find what can work best for your situation.
To order the 21 day fix program (or any other of Beach Body's great programs) CLICK HERE

Confession Time...

I am 16 days into the 21 day fix by Beach Body. The only days that I haven't worked out are Sundays. Otherwise, without fail, I have worked out. Even if at 10 pm, I got it done. I thought it would start getting easier by now. Or that I would enjoy it by now...

I was WRONG!

I really don't like working out. I never have. During the workout I am counting down the minutes to being done. The only way I don't do that is if the exercise isn't a typical workout- such as mowing the lawn, dancing, hiking, swimming, taking a walk with the family...

In the past that would make me not want to keep doing the workouts, but guess what?! That is life! Not everything is going to be fun, enjoyable, or something we like to do. The thing is, it still HAS to be done. It is part of being a responsible adult.

Sometimes I wish I weren't a responsible adult haha

If I really don't like working out, then why do it?

Good question. I do it because if I don't then my body is more likely to get sick and be weak. I do it because health is important if I want to live a full life. I do it because I want to be healthy enough to play with my kids and then when they have kids- to run around playing with my grandkids! I want a full and happy life. I don't want to be held back by the limitations of my health. I want to race in the Spartan! I want to run 5k's or even a marathon one day. I want to travel with my husband when we are old. Heck, I want to be doing fun races together (like the Blacklight Run we did recently) when we are in our 70's!

So if in order to do all the things I dream of doing, I have to exercise regularly and eat foods that fuel my body rather than make me feel cruddy, then that is what I will do. Because hard work pays off!

What things do you dream of doing? Aren't your dreams worth the hard work?

Stupid Mistake

This morning I was doing good, getting things done, felt pretty good. I drank my Shakeology and put my son down for his nap. I was all pumped to go work out so started to head to the living room....when I stepped right on a toy, which slid across the linoleum; my foot went with it. My leg twisted and my body fell to the ground. I hit my ankle, hip and wrist on the floor, plus was in pain up my leg from twisting. As soon as it happened and I felt the pain, my first thought was, "DANGIT!!! How am I going to workout now?!?!" Which is funny since I really don't enjoy working out... but I love how I feel afterwards so was very disappointed.

After a few minutes of my 4 year old daughter comforting me and making sure I was ok, I was able to get up and hobble to my room to lay down.

Very quickly the disappointment of not getting to workout really got to me. After laying down working on things on my computer for a while, I found some hidden gummy candies and ate them- because that is my stupid habit that I fall back on when I am upset.

BIG MISTAKE!

I haven't had dyes in a long time and I have barely had any sugar during this 21 day fix (just a little bit of chocolate), so my body got angry at me. I got a massive headache and felt sick. This happened within about 10 minutes of eating it. I felt very sluggish and irritable too.

Goes to show how bad junk food is for my body and mind! It was so not worth it. I am still feeling the effects hours later. I would much rather eat healthy snacks and feel good than to feel this way again. I would much rather eat my healthy chocolate! (click here for the post with the recipe)

Although my mistake was stupid, I have learned from it. And isn't that what matters the most? :)

Don't trust the scale....It likes to make you believe lies!

The scale is evil. How often have you worked hard, stepped on the scale, and saw NO difference or very little weight lost?? I swear the scale gets a laugh out of making people feel bad about themselves.

Scales tell you lies. They tell you that you have made no progress or barely any at all. They make you feel like it isn't worth putting the work in. Don't trust a scale.

So who do you trust??

Mr. Tape Measure!

Yup, he is kind. He likes to make you feel better about yourself and makes you want to keep pushing harder and harder to keep seeing results. I like him. He is my friend.

In the past 2 weeks of working hard and eating healthy (21 Day Fix by BeachBody along with Shakeology), I have only lost 2.2 lbs. Just barely over 2 lbs??? For all that work?? The scale is telling me that I am not doing good enough and should just give up.

But then my friend, Mr. Tape Measure, came along and set things straight.

"You lost an inch on your upper chest!
You lost a quarter inch on your left arm!
You lost 2.75 inches on your waist!
You lost 2 inches on your hips!
You lost half an inch on your right thigh!
You lost an inch on your left thigh!
You lost a total of 7 and a half inches!!! Way to go!"

Do you see why he is my friend? :)

If you truly want to see if all the work you are doing is making any difference, then PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE measure along with weighing. Yes, weighing matters too, but as you are working out you are gaining muscle. And muscle weighs more than fat. See image below (I apologize, I know it is gross looking!)


This picture speaks volumes.

Let the tape measure be your cheerleader. If I can see a dramatic drop in inches in just 2 weeks, I know you can too!! My husband lost a total of 11.75 inches these past 2 weeks!

I will share my before and after pictures next Monday since that will be day 21. Looking forward to sharing my results!

Health Problems Holding You Back?

I have several health problems that have made life a little more of a struggle for many years. Nothing super horrible, but still it wears on me. I have had endometriosis since I was about 14. I have had 4 surgeries for it. It has caused me daily pain for almost 20 years. My most recent surgery did dramatically help reduce that, thankfully, but I have pain from the internal scar tissue still.

I have hypothyroid, which just this week has been found to be due to Hashimotos disease. I am on a daily medication, but still have a lot of the symptoms.

I also have gastroparesis (among a few other things, that I won't bore you with).

Gastroparesis is "paralysis of the stomach." The washboard like part inside the stomach that is supposed to move and agitate to break down the food is much, much slower than it should be. It causes me a lot of discomfort. The food sits in my stomach and causes bloating, pain, nausea, gas, belching, and just downright feeling miserable. I have days where I do a lot better and then some days where it is really bad. Certain foods aggravate it; meat (unless ground up) and raw veggies. These foods take a lot more work to digest. Well, the past 2 weeks I have been eating a lot more meat (because I wasn't eating enough protein before) and a LOT more raw veggies. I eat a salad or 2 a day now. So the past couple days I have been miserable. Today I have been so nauseated that I didn't want to even eat. Worse yet, I didn't want to exercise. I mean, would YOU want to exercise if it made you feel like you were going to throw up all over the floor??

I actually considered skipping my workout today. Then I realized that I can't keep letting my health problems slow me down. Too often I haven't done things or put off exercised because of my endometriosis pain or my gastroparesis symptoms. I don't want to use them as excuses any more. Obviously if the pain were to increase during exercise then I would slow it down...or if I did actually throw up all over, then I would stop... but I won't let the fear of what could happen stop me.

It was 10 pm tonight.... I thought real hard about just doing a double workout tomorrow instead, but I decided it was best to just push through it. It helped that my husband needed to get his workout in also and that our 8 year old daughter was begging to workout with us. So reluctantly, I did the 30 minute Cardio Fix.

I pushed myself hard. Harder than I have the past 2 weeks! It felt great! Sure I felt like I was going to throw up...but I still felt good.

I am not saying that all health problems should just be pushed through. I know from speaking with my doctors that it is safe for me. So always consult a doctor first to make sure it is safe for you! I think back to the season of Biggest Loser where the theme was, "No more excuses!" I am not going to use my excuses any more.

I have a Spartan Race to prep for! I can't let anything get in my way! Plus, I want to be healthy for my husband and kids. I want to be around for as long as possible.

I know it isn't easy to workout with health problems, but there are ways to modify and do some for of exercise to just get your body moving. And it is possible to adjust your diet no matter what. Nutrition is the most important part. No more excuses. Your health is too important. Make small steps to eating healthier and it will soon get easier. Plus, eating healthy can actually cure some ailments or at least reduce the problems associated with the disease. The effort is so worth it.

What Is Holding You Back?

We all have a reason for not being fit and healthy. Every single one of us.

Not everyone has the same reasons. The reasons can vary quite a bit. But we all have our reasons.

The important thing is to not let our reasons be an excuse! Because no matter what, there are things we can do to be healthier.

I have struggled with quite a few reasons and find that as I work on pushing aside my excuses that I find new ones. I have never really liked to exercise. As a teen I struggled with knee pain and asthma. I was already very skinny, so why exercise? It didn't matter what I ate, I still wouldn't gain anything; so why eat healthy? I didn't get a good routine set up then and it is much harder now that I am very set in my ways.

I LOVE donuts, cake, chocolate, cookies...Like I would be happy eating them for every meal and snack. I am addicted. They emotionally make me feel "better." I have always felt crummy after eating them, but my brain was happy and so I kept eating them. Addiction to junk food- my first main reason.

Figuring out that I am quite gluten intolerant forced me to change that. It is a lot more expensive to buy pre-made gluten free junk food. And making them was time consuming and I couldn't do it without my kids knowing; which meant that I would have to share! haha So I slowly phased out a lot of that food.

Ok, now I don't have that excuse... so why do I fight being fit and healthy?

I won't bore you with each and every thing that has arisen, but the most recent one that I have realized, which I think is the root of it, is this:

I don't feel worthy of having self esteem.

If I feel good physically, am strong, have a great body from working out, great skin from eating healthy....then the natural thing would be to feel good about myself and my looks- therefore having self esteem. I have never felt worthy of that. I have many past memories of my looks being made fun of embedded into my mind. So whenever I have felt like I look good I will hear those voices telling me I am ugly, my chin is too big, my nose is huge, etc. I hear a voice saying, "How can YOU have self esteem?? You are too ugly to have self esteem!"

And this is where I am stuck. In this horrible mindset. I am afraid of looking good. I am terrified of actually thinking that I look good. And this is a crummy place to be stuck.

Am I going to let this hold me back anymore?! NO! Ok...so on the inside I am really doubting my abilities to fight this mindset... But I think the first step is to recognize what I need to work on- check! Next thing to do is to fake it till I believe it- check! I am going to say I won't let it get in my way any more. Then I will remind myself of it again in a few minutes...and then again and again until I do finally believe I am strong enough AND WORTH IT to believe I deserve self esteem. I have to do this. For me, for my husband, and for my kids. They deserve the best me that I can possibly be. And until I feel good about myself, I can't be my best.

What is holding you back? It is time to peel back the layers and work on them one by one until you finally allow yourself to get healthy!

5 Tips To Get Motivated

Some days it is just really hard to get going. Today is very much one of those days.

My 4 year old woke up because of a "sad dream" at 4 am. I had only been asleep for almost 4 hours so I just climbed into her bed so I could just go back to sleep and still have her be able to easily go back to sleep. But I don't sleep well in her bed, especially next to her- she moves constantly. So as you can imagine- I'm so very tired today that I just want to be napping.

My youngest is napping, so really I could get away with taking a nap. But then I think of all the many things that have to be done today and all the appointments and running around; and I know that this is my only chance to workout today.

After a while I was able to convince myself to get up off my bum and do the 21 Day Fix upper body workout. Doing the 30 minute workout- though exhausting and a hard workout- gave me some energy. When I was done, I wanted to burn some more calories so I got out the treadmill I bought a couple weeks ago, but hadn't actually used it.

This treadmill is a manual one that is inclined, so is a very hard workout. I lasted 10 minutes and that was with pushing it hard! I wanted to give up after only 3 minutes; which had felt like 20 haha.

My normal mindset over the years would be- I'm too tired, I'll work out tomorrow instead. Then the next day would come and I would say the same thing... It was a horrible pattern I got stuck in. I refuse to get back into that pattern again.

I have noticed this past week and a half that if I am tired and don't want to exercise, that if I just make myself get started then I will gain the energy to keep going.

If you find yourself not wanting to workout, try these tips:

#1- Start with something small- even just doing a warm-up. That should get your body and mind ready for a full workout. So don't focus on doing a 30 minute workout, just focus on a few short minutes at a time, then add another minute or 2 as you go. Soon you will be at 30!

#2- Workout with a video- I find that if I am just trying to come up with exercises to do rather than following someone's routine, then I don't do as much or work as hard.

#3- Make a list of the reason why you want to workout and refer to it as a motivator for pushing yourself to workout. (my biggest motivator is that my brother is driving over 12 hours to come do the Spartan Race with me this summer, so I HAVE to get in shape for it!)

#4- Bribe yourself!! Pick a treat that you will reward yourself with if you workout- "If I workout 30 minutes then I can sit and watch a tv show for 30 minutes." or "If I workout 3 times this week then I get to have a frozen yogurt." I am sure you can come up with some great motivators. Bribery works for kids, I think all parents are guilty of bribery to some degree haha, so why not use it on ourselves?!?! Just make sure to go for healthy rewards so that you don't undo all your hard work. (a little chocolate here and there is fine...and GOOD in my opinion haha, but not a bag full of chocolate!)

#5- Join a team that you check in with. There are so many different online resources for this. My husband and I are part of the Beach Body community. We have a coach who motivates us. There are challenges we can be a part of to win prizes and be held accountable for exercising and eating right. That has been helping both of us a lot!

Have you found something that helps get you motivated to get your workout in? Leave a comment below. I would love to hear your tips too!