My Journey to Health, While Pregnant- Part 3

Ok so I TOTALLY feel inadequate to write this post because I am about to reveal to all of you how little I know about healthy food/eating.  BUT I am having SO much fun learning and experimenting with everything that I can't help but share.  This part of my journey has been hard and challenging, but I have loved it because it has given me a topic to focus on and think about OTHER than the mundane tasks of life like cleaning and laundry (oh and that I am STILL pregnant).  I am still so far from where I eventually want to be food wise but I have taken a few baby steps that have really helped me feel healthier and lose some inches.

In the past I have been terrible at diets.  I love to eat a lot of food and I never could stick to anything that forced me to feel like I was hungry all the time.  So for my journey I started researching healthy food on the Internet and of course looking up the word of wisdom in the Bible and Book of Mormon.  I finally found the solution to my problem that worked with my personality and lifestyle.  I honestly don't remember exactly how I came up with my game plan/goal, but I remember feeling pretty scared for a few weeks before I started because I wanted to try it, yet it was so different than what I was used to eating/cooking that I didn't know if I could actually do it.

But guess what... I am doing it (or at least working on it) and I am seeing some results as mentioned in my previous post.  I realized that to reach my healthy weight I needed to eat healthy food that my body needed, and guess what... I didn't have to starve anymore! :)  I also learned in my research that healthy foods do not include anything that says low fat, fat free, or sugar free.  Some other basic things that I learned were that fats are good (the right ones), if I ate protein my body would feel satisfied longer and I would not have to eat as much, and even though I get to eat more than my other diets allowed in the past I still needed to listen to my body and STOP eating once I felt satisfied not stuffed.

So here is the simple/basic version of my food goal... cut out all processed foods and only eat the natural ones.  Sometimes this approach to food is called "clean eating".  Instead of eating lots of processed man made foods loaded with chemicals and things my body doesn't need I am trying to focus on eating fruits, veggies, meats, dairy, grains and other natural foods/spices that people have been eating and growing for thousands of years.  Basically if the ingredients list on a food includes some weird thing that I don't recognize I won't eat it because it probably isn't very good for my body. (how is that for an elementary school answer)    

So how am I doing so far?  Pretty well, but I still "mess up" daily.  At the beginning of my journey I thought that I would just search and find all the healthy/natural alternatives to all the bad stuff and substitute those things in.  Then I wouldn't really have to change all the meals that we were already eating, just change the ingredients (if that makes sense).  But I soon realized that some things just don't really have a "clean" substitute because they are things that our bodies just don't need to be eating at all.

So what things have I cut out/changed already?
These are foods that I no longer eat:
-Cream of (fill in the blank) This was the first thing I cut out.  No more creamy casseroles for us.  Surprisingly I don't miss it at ALL and the thought of eating it kind of makes me sick now.
-Cream cheese
-Sour Cream
-White flour
-White Sugar
-Frozen prepared foods (frozen burritos, pizzas, etc.)
-Crackers
-Chips
-Soda pop
-Store bought bread items (unless it is from the bakery and I only get it when I am feeling lazy)
-Cereal (except I do sneak some corn Chexs every now and then)
-Anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup
-Vegetable oil (still working on cutting out Canola Oil and switching it for coconut oil and olive oil)

Before I started this journey I cooked with A LOT of processed foods so unfortunately I had to do quite a bit of changing to reach my goal.  I basically do not cook any of the dinner meals that I used to (remember how I had created a two month menu with grocery lists a few months ago?  Well we maybe only eat one or two of those meals today.  All of the other meals involved processed foods and I had to cut them out.) and I also changed most of our breakfast and lunch menus.

So what do we eat now?
Breakfast:
Lots of eggs, turkey bacon and oatmeal for breakfast.  I have a few muffin and oatmeal dishes that I like to throw in occasionally and for special breakfasts we have whole wheat waffles and real maple syrup.

Lunch:
Some sandwiches (without the processed deli meats and peanut butter with only peanuts in it), Salads (haven't given up my salad dressing yet, just use less at this point), and leftovers from dinner.  Lunch is the hardest meal for me because McKay usually takes the leftovers and I get tired of coming up with things.  Sadly I still miss my Mac and Cheese that used to be a staple at our house.  But this week I started doing smoothies at lunch time and they have been a fun change for the normal. 

Dinner:
Basically a new meal every night since I haven't gathered tons of ideas yet.  But I LOVE experimenting so it has been fun.  When we have meat we focus on lean meats like chicken and turkey.  Someday we will try fish (McKay wants to, but I am not really a fish lover so we will see).  This is the meal that I really focus on getting the veggies in and so we will usually have at least two different ones with each meal.  Pinterest has been a lifesaver with dinners and I have found LOTS of delicious "clean" meals on there.

Snacks:
As mentioned previously I have chosen to eat lots of small meals throughout the day instead of three big ones.  Since I am pregnant I have been eating about 6 meals a day and plan to cut it back to 4 meals a day after the pregnancy.  I have found this to be best for me and my situation so that I don't eat too much.  Before changing my diet and trying to listen to my body more I honestly believe that the "full" feeling/signal that our body sends us when we are full was not working with me.  I had ignored it too much and so it stopped sending it.  Happily I have slowed down and focused on not eating too much and the signal has returned.  :)  Some of the snacks that I eat are plain yogurt with berries and honey, string cheese, toast, fruit (we each lots of bananas around here), egg sandwich, and cucumbers.

What do we drink?
Water and milk (good thing we love them both so much) Soda has never been a temptation so that wasn't hard.  I try and drink between 8-12 glasses of water a day and then basically spend the rest of my day in the bathroom. lol Good thing I am right by one most of the day :)

How do I motivate myself to stay on track:
So even though I feel better and have more energy when I eat this way, I am still often tempted to go back and eat the way that I used to because it is easy and tastes good in the moment.  Luckily there are a few things that I have helped me focus and stay (mostly) on track.
-Tell people about my goal.  Hence why I am sharing it with all of you.  :) It is very motivating for me if I have people who are expecting me to stay on track.  McKay especially has helped encourage me to keep going and supports me with each step.  Never once has he complained about the *strange* food that we were eating.  (probably mostly because his dad is more of a health nut than I am so he is used to it)
-Remove temptations from my house.  I will talk about desserts in a minute, but basically I don't allow the junk food to stick around my house very long so when a craving hits I can't just go to the pantry and eat some chips.  There is nothing there for me to eat.
-Enjoy the results.  Yep I congratulate myself on every little success that I have even if it is just a pat on the back.
-Have realistic expectations.  Don't expect to loose all the weight in one month.  The slower it comes off the slower it will go back on. This has been a big one for me.  I truly did not believe I would see ANY changes in how I felt or looked until after I was pregnant.  So actually being able to see a difference (even if it is so small that no one else can see it) has really given me motivation to keep going.
-Know WHY you are eating this way.  I have learned that I am not just eating this way because I want to lose weight , but because it is better for us.  I have learned more about the chemicals and preservatives in the junk food and I don't WANT to be eating that stuff.
-Make it a life style change.  It has taken me 6+ months to purge my pantry and get rid of most of the junk.  That is a LONG time!  But it is now a part of us.  I am not stressed that I will give up these changes tomorrow or next month.  We might have some bad weeks here and there where we order a pizza or eat some white pasta but we will get back on track quickly because these changes are our new normal.

Desserts:
This is one category that I haven't touched at all.  I haven't tried to make "healthy" ones or change what I was already doing.  We just eat the same things that we always have.  But I have changed my mind set on them.  Before changing the normal food we eat I had this mind set that in order to be a good wife/mother I NEEDED to have treats/desserts for my family to enjoy on a regular basis.  I would try and keep things around the house and available for McKay to eat.  Well guess who usually ate them...me (McKay isn't a very good dessert eater).  So I stopped making them and now we NEVER have dessert around unless I am taking it to a party or a neighbors house.  I will enjoy the treats while we are at the event, but once we get home I am coming up with all sorts of creative ways to get them OUT of my house.  They are WAY too much of a temptation for me.

My food goals for the future:
To keep from boring you I will just give quick bullet points of things that I am still working on
-Switch from Canola oil to Coconut oil
-Avoid processed baby foods with baby boy
-Get Adalyn off of her addiction to nutragrain bars. :)
-Buy more organic things such as organic meats
-Make our own tortillas (excited to buy a tortilla press someday)
-Make my own pasta sauce and salad dressings
-Buy spelt and other grains and experiment making things with them
-Cut out brown sugar (I still use it in/on my oatmeal because I love it)


Well we have now reached the end of my VERY long story.  Telling it has probably helped me more than any of you, but thanks for reading anyways.  I am excited to see what the future holds and continue to learn more about health and nutrition.  Sorry there aren't too many facts or details included in my story.  I am no expert, just wanted to share a few things that have worked for me.  Since this is obviously a topic that I enjoy discussing feel free to tell me your successes, finds, ideas or ask questions.  I always love learning new things. :)  Hope you are all having a great day!

My Journey to Health, While Pregnant- Part 2

Previous to reaching my "breaking point" I had discovered that for MY body, I could not just start exercising or exercising more and expect to lose weight.  I had already tried that when I ran the marathon.  I was exercising a ton, but I changed nothing when it came to my eating habits.  In the end I STILL wasn't where I wanted to be.  So I knew that this time I would have to include both food and fitness in order to get the results that I wanted.

So although I have included both food and fitness in my journey to health I am just going to focus on the fitness aspect of things today.

Remember how I didn't really exercise when I was pregnant with Adalyn?  Well that was the very first thing that I changed with this pregnancy.  I stepped away from the myth that you shouldn't exercise while you are pregnant and made a goal that I was going to at least do SOMETHING active this whole pregnancy.           

At the beginning of my journey (this past June) all I was doing for exercise was walking/running 1-2 miles about four days a week.  It was summer and Adalyn and I were enjoying the weather.  I kept telling myself that I was going to pick up the pace/ start going farther/ working out more days but it just was not clicking.  Our walks were nice, but definitely not helping me with my "get Healthier goals".  My body needed more I just did not know what "more" was.

Luckily a week or so later when I was 14 weeks pregnant I had a friend invite me to come to a Zumba class with her.  Oh man!  I loved it!  I know many of you have heard me talk about Zumba before, but it is truly a blessing in my life on so many levels.  1. I used to love to dance and so this type of exercise is actually fun for me.  2. I get out of the house a few times a week and do something for me.  As a mom I really enjoy this "me" time.  3. The Zumba class that I go to is at a school with 50-100 other women from around the community and many from our old ward that we used to go to when we lived in the apartment.  I am enjoying making new friends and keeping contact with old ones.  4. The workout is cardio (which I love).  Not many crunches or push ups are involved (thought you still work your arms and abs) so I am able to do it throughout my entire pregnancy.

I feel very blessed to have found a workout program that fits me so well and that I enjoy doing it.  The only downside to zumba is that they only teach the class three times a week and I found that it is best if I work out about 6 times a week so I still needed to come up with other things to do.  So on the off zumba days I continued to go to the park and walk or run (I ran my last mile at 17 weeks this pregnancy...my bladder just couldn't handle it after that).  Along with my walks I would come home and do some strength training with weights and a home video.

Then came the cold weather and was stumped at what I was going to do since our walks outside would have to be canceled for a few months.  I had done SO well all summer, but I soon realized that I had NO motivation to workout when I had to stay inside and do a home video all by myself (no fun!).  At first I was tempted to just quit exercising for the last 10 weeks of my pregnancy.  I tried it for about a week, but half way through trying it out my body was dying to be active.  It was so weird and I guess good all at the same time.

So last weekend I brainstormed a few options that I could do through the winter months such as get a gym membership or just bucking up and just doing the home videos.  After talking my schedule dilemma over with McKay I formed the plan that I am using today.  My hope with this plan is that I can still continue use it after the baby is born too so that I won't have any excuses about not being able to exercise. ;) 

Here is the plan...

Zumba 3 times a week and a workout video 3 times a week.
On the days that I do my workout video I have McKay wake me up before he leaves for work at 5:15 am.  I find that I won't get up on my own BUT some how having someone else do it for me I am able to get up and motivate myself to do it.

Yes it is super early.  I have found that it is hard to workout when Adalyn is awake so I prefer to do it before she wakes up.  Also I still babysit twice a week and the little man comes at 6:30am so I have to be done before he gets there.  But you better believe that I am napping right along with the little ones in the afternoon. :)

The workout videos at this point are just random ones that I have along with whatever ones I pick up from the library.  I have a few weight sets and exercise equipment, but I am hoping in the future months/years to expand my collection of both videos and equipment.  Any suggestions of what to get?

I decided against the gym membership because I didn't really want to be away from my house that much (I would only have been able to go when McKay is home at nights and on weekends) and the cost of it would have not allowed me to continue doing Zumba (and that would just be sad) :(

My Results

With just doing these mild forms of exercise, but staying consistent (that was the key for me) I have had some nice results this pregnancy.

-No swelling.  I swelled SO much with Adalyn and it was very uncomfortable by the end.  But since I have stayed active this pregnancy I have not swelled at all.  My wedding ring fits better today at 33 weeks pregnant than it has in a few YEARS. 

-I have lots more energy.  The second trimester was a dream.  Seriously loved it!  I did not even feel like I was pregnant.  And it has only been in the last week or so that I feel like I have less energy than normal.  This has truly helped a ton while I have been chasing after Adalyn.

-This one is a result that I *hope* to have.  An easier recovery from giving birth.  I have heard and seen that women who were active through their pregnancies bounce back faster... we will see. :)

-Less weight gain.  Without going into too much detail I have had a lot less weight gain with this pregnancy than with my last.  The first time I gained 35 + lbs over all (honestly don't even know the exact number) and this time I will actually leave the hosptial with my new baby, weighing less than I did when I got pregnant.

In conclusion today (sorry about the long post) I am very happy with how things are going.  I am enjoying exercising each day and I feel really good over all. :)  My goals for the future are to increase my endurance level (after pregnancy) and STAY consistent.  

Up next my food health journey which has been just as challenging as I thought it would be, but surprisingly very enjoyable for me.