Being a fit mom

So one of the biggest misconceptions I had before having Lucas was that when I stayed at home with him, I would have all this time. Babies sleep almost all their me when you bring them home- why wouldn't I be able to clean the house, work out, watch TV marathons and shower and eat.

I should have found this article a long time ago. 
http://www.scarymommy.com/to-my-friends-who-became-mothers-before-me/

Not only was I a complete jerk to all my friends with kids by the things I said and did (I still want to yell at people on Facebook without kids who post about being tired because they stayed up too late watching Netflix.... I stayed up too late with a teething baby. Boom- winner of the exhausted club!) but I seriously did not have a clue!

The #1 reason moms don't work out can't possibly be time. Because yes I can find 30 minutes of time after baby goes to bed and the house is picked up and maybe if I skip showering today I have time.... 

But I am exhausted! I don't want to go pound the treadmill with my fancy running shoes that Lucas loves to chew on.  I don't want to "push" myself and strength train. I want a good Tv show and a glass of wine.  Or a nap! 

I'm not sure I have an answer for us moms on how to push past this- maybe the good old "this too shall pass"? I did get 7 hours of sleep last night before Lucas woke up to eat at 5 and we've been cuddling ever since.... So maybe there is hope in the future. Of course there is also coffee... And sometimes that tastes like hope! 

My Jam

So I finally joined the bandwagon and watched Pitch Perfect. I never really saw the point but after hearing all the hype about Pitch Perfect 2, I decided to see what the big deal was.... And oh man, have I found my new favorite jam. Yes, it is the movie version of Glee and I am entirely too old to enjoy it this much. But I definitely downloaded the soundtrack, have been running to it all weekend, and am working on a Playlist inspired by it. Somebody stop me! 

In other news, things I am addicted to... 

Yes, they are worth the calories. 26th Street Hy-vee Sioux Falls friends. I just knew that I would love them... So I bought two packages. 80/20 rule right? 80% clean eating, 20% Oreos!

Good thing I have picked up the running- I ran every day this weekend and successfully completed week 1 of Couch to 5k and started week 2. And oh am I paying for it. Somehow I have developed old lady knees. Or weak knees as my husband calls them. Either way i deforest limped my way up the stairs after running last night.

For the mothers out there, do you ever stop being mad when your breastmilk gets spilled? Lost a bottle last night because Mike hiccuped and spilled it- augh!!!!! 

I've got another post in the works for you moms but I want to do it justice so I will finish it tomorrow! 

My latest addiction- overnight oats.

So I have joined the overnight oats train and become the person at work people give weird looks to when I carry around my peanut butter container full of yummy goodness... But let me back up to the beginning. 

I posted a few days ago about finding motivation and here are a few of my sources-

1) My friends! I seriously have some that kick @$$ and take names. Mother of two who runs half marathons and considers a 6 miler just another run- someone I look up to! Can't take a shower because I have blisters all over my hands from Crossfit friend- heck yes I can continue to strength train.

2) Chalene Johnson via podcasts. You listen to enough healthy tips and tricks from the experts and you will want to do it too! 

3) Social media- I have liked and followed the heck out of fitness and health celebrities lately so when I log in, that's all I see!

But despite all this motivation, this week has been rough. I had a horrible cold all weekend and husband is on overnights so it's just me and the baby.... Who is sleeping better but is also getting his top middle teeth my sleep is still interrupted several times a week. 

So I decided to hit pause on boarding the workout train and really get my nutrition down this week- they say abs are made in the kitchen anyways right? 

So step 1- meal plan. I told you guys I wanted to do the 21 day fix but it got way too overwhelming in the short time I had between that decision and getting groceries. So I decided to just stick to pretty much the same breakfast and lunch for the week and then supper would be either a protein and veggie  or a small portion of carbs. 

So step 1- pick a breakfast. I saw someone recommend overnight oats as their 21 day breakfast. I've been wanting to try them so I figured, why not! Best decision ever! 

I make mine with half a cup vanilla yogurt mixed with half a cup oats. Dump half a cup of fruit on top and refrigerate overnight. So easy and so yummy!

Morning snack had either been a banana and scoop of PB2 or a protein shake.

Lunch has been a salad (Dole chopped salad mix is the best!) with veggies and honey mustard sauce and whatever leftover protein we had from supper or cottage cheese if we didn't have anything. I put everything in containers onSunday  so I just have to grab it and put it in my bag.

Funny side- there was one container that just got carrots so I didn't have to open up a new bag of lettuce until mid- week... Guess which container I grabbed this morning? Thank god for friends who let me use their lunch code to buy a salad bar so I could get lettuce. Ugh! Blonde moment! 

Here is what my fridge looked like: 

My afternoon snack has been 1/3 cup nuts and an apple.

Although I am not a fan of mid week weighins due to my unhealthy relationship with the scale, I did hop on and I had already lost a pound. Which is good because I was up a pound and. A half lol probably mostly post- period detox but I feel fuller and better already filling my body with all this goodness.

Hoping this weekend I have a little more one to meal plan and can add some variety but I guarantee the oats are staying! 

January review

Well time to review my progress on my goals.

Sat down with my "health" calendar- ouch! So my plan was to drink 6 cups of water every day and strength train every other day. I met my water goal 23/31 days (74%) and worked out 11/16 planned days (69%). Ugh! So my plan is to keep those two goals but also add in some running. I don't have the highest hopes for working out 6 days a week since I failed so miserably this month but hey, try try again!

On the plus side I am kicking butt on te budget end. I will be paying off two student loans next week- yes, that is about $17,000 I will be taking out of savings.  We looked at some of the things we were saving for and decided we could do without for a year and pay off loans instead. Part of my motivation? We are in this house until those loans are paid off ;) 

One reason I blew off my workout tonight was to spend some time meal planning for the week. I've decided that I REALLY need to clean up my diet.... I haven't had to look at it in almost two years between being pregnant and pumping but it's time if I ever want to see results from all my working out. Plus I want to make it a healthy habit so that Lucas grows up eating healthy too!! He devoured a container of carrots today- that's my boy.

I was going to follow the 21 day fix but be cheap about it and just look it all up on Pinterest- holy overwhelming! So I tasked my husband wih helping me :)

I hope there is room to include this new yogurt!

The vanilla cupcake is even better. Seriously- buy a lot! Delicious for 100 calories.

One thing I decided I won't be giving up- pop. Sorry. It's my one vice in life and I am enjoying it.

Ok time to feed baby, chug cough syrup, and call it a day. It's snowing out so probably going to cuddle up with Lucas Tomorrow and try to stay warm! 

When your workout DVD makes you cry...

....it's time to find a new workout.  Or give in to the fact that you have a serious case of PMS.  My husband apologized to me the other day for being moody saying "I must be on my man period."  Guess that makes two of us-ha!

I honestly sat on the floor for 10 minutes in near tears because I SO didn't want to do it.



Seriously...it looks so innocent!  But I sincerely hate Level 2!  I think that's part of the reason that I've been avoiding working out for a week.  But I did get it done last night... with the "loving" support of my husband. I asked him to look at my form and tell me if I was doing some of the moves correctly because I wasn't sure... his idea of helping my form was to make it harder for me and yelling "Push yourself".  So the opposite of helpful!

I thought about throwing in the towel on the strength training program and going back to just running...but then I looked down while in plank and saw my belly fat..UGH.  If you ever feel good about yourself, avoid any form of plank or pushup...it will keep you sane.  Trust me!

So I am taking recommendations for a good strength training program :)

In other random news, on the side of life that probably only mothers can understand, I have finally found bras that fit.  ALLELUIA.  Non-moms, you don't even know.  While you are pregnant, you have to find new bras.  Post-pregnancy, you have to find new bras (and good luck finding a comfortable nursing bra...and when you DO find said comfortable bra that fits, they will discontinue it leaving you with three that your mother has to sew multiple times because the underwire pops out).... and THEN, you finally quit nursing and guess what...yup, new bras again!  I went through about 8 at Aerie before I found one that fit.  Sorry, Victoria's Secret, your bras aren't meant for certain ladies.

And that is my overshare of the evening... yup, PMS all the way!

Motivate me!

I have skipped 3 workouts in the last week- I need someone to come poke me in the *** with a cattle prod!

Here are my excuses- I am emotionally drained. Yestersay there was something physically wrong with me- I got super dizzy at work and didn't think I was going to make the hour long drive home from work. I did but there was no way I was going to work out- making it through my shower was a moment wirh celebrating to me.

So I'm going to dig deep and find some motivation for my workout tomorrow- any tips and tricks will be shared! No promises haha

Sometimes you feel like a workout....sometimes you don't!

Just in case you don't remember where the "Sometimes you feel like a nut....sometimes you don't" song came from, I Googled it for you (because I couldn't remember either!).  Apparently it used to be part of a song for Almond Joy/Mound candy bars...don't worry, I didn't remember that either.  Just the catchy one liner.

So I have skipped working out not once but TWICE in the past week.....GASP!  And I feel pretty okay with it.  I used to beat myself up about it and feel so guilty but now I have to tell myself that it is OKAY. Last Thursday was an emotionally exhausting day.... we are in the process of talking about some big life-changing events that may or may not come to fruition but just TALKING about them is stressing me out.  I'm going to keep the details hidden for now since it's a lot of "what ifs" but just know that I am a sleep deprived, stressed out working mom who will yell or cry at the drop of a hat.

Yesterday I skipped my workout because I had to get up at 5:30 to have Lucas at daycare by 6:30 so I could go to a workshop 2 hours away...except the roads were glare ice and I saw 8 cars in the ditch so it took me 2.5 hours to get there.  So by the time I got home and got Lucas to bed, I could barely get myself out of my own bed to shower, let alone tackle Level 2 of Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30..

Speaking of (yes this is a random post--this is how my brain is working today!)....Level 2 is NOT a joke.  I thought Level 1 was difficult... HA.  Now I know why I have never progressed to Level 2.  The strength training and abs part are actually pretty decent if you aren't a wuss and use the appropriate level of weights (the second time I did it, I did grab my 5 pounders instead of my 3 pounders) but the CARDIO is crazy!  She's screaming "push yourself, it's just starting to get tough!" and I've already collapsed on the floor.  So it doesn't take much of a reason for me to skip doing it.  But my best guy friend asked me to do a half marathon with him in June (he is going to train for a full marathon) so I have to carefully consider that and get my butt back into running one way or another...

And to end this on my random "things I want to blog about" list.... For those of you who think I am hard core with my budget, I just hired a cleaning lady today.  It is going to make my marriage a lot more stress-free because I won't be nagging my husband to get the house cleaned and I'm going to be happier because I don't have to worry about cleaning.  So where is that money coming from because I still have my mind set on being dept free by April 2016?  Well I will tell you... $20 from gas, $50 from food, $10 from home budget, and $20 from myself and Mike from our fun money for a grand total of $120 a month.  Yes it means we won't be eating out EVER and yes it means less shopping for me, but it will be worth it.

And that's all I have for you tonight... sorry for the lack of pictures.  I had Day 2 of yesterday's workshop so another long day which is my excuse for not walking around the house right now to snap corresponding pics.... love me or hate me... just keep reading!