Health Quest Update

Healthy living update.

So I have been keeping up the discipline on eating...whahoo.  Well I did go a little off the ranch with candy over Easter, but all in all I am doing good.  I have a vegetable juice for breakfast and a snack throughout the day.  This really does great things for my energy.

I haven’t found a really great way to incorporate exercise now that I am back at work.  I am not getting 3 runs in a week.  When I am off work, all I want to do is spend time with my son.  Then when he is asleep, it is 8pm or later and I don’t want to go for a run.  So I have started just doing push-ups and situps and the strength training routine.  I have to do something, but right now I can’t figure out how to get carido in.  I could do it in the morning, however Remy is not sleeping all the way through the night so I need every last minute in the morning that I can get.

However I am still making progress.  Slow progress, but progress nonetheless.  Since the middle of February I have lost 7lbs, three inches off of my waist and 1 inch off of my thighs.  A little bit more exercise and activity and I think I can speed up the pounds per week.  (Can you tell I have no patience!!!)

Anyone out there have their own tricks of the trade when it comes to losing weight while breastfeeding a four month old?

Compartmentalize!!

Keeping your cool and keeping the right attitude.

Compartmentalize!!  My husband and I chat all the time about how we want our son to perceive us.  How will he view us as parents and people and how will he feel we treated him.  Just like every parent out there, we want him to be proud we are his parents, we want him to to feel loved, and feel that we were full of joy when we were with him.  However life has a way of getting in the way.

A bad day at work, getting your teeth pulled, argument with friends/family, etc etc.  Anything can turn a positive attitude into a negative one.  But what do we do to prevent that negative attitude from seeping into our relationships with our childern?  The same thing that keeps it from seeping into other relationships, compartmentalize.

When we have a burned, say a bad day at work, treat it almost like a thing and living entity.  When we come home, take that burden and put it down for a while.  Don’t forget it, just set it down for a couple hours.  Even put a time limit, I will smile play and forget for 1 hour.  I then can pick up the issues of the bad day, share with my husband etc.  I try to make sure when my son sees me, he sees a smile.  My husband has a great technique.

Whenever Rudy is feeling down, but needs to provide care and love for our son, he just smiles.  It starts out as a creepy forced smile and then turns into a genuine smile.  FAKE IT WILL YOU MAKE IT!!

I don’t ever try to forget my problems or negative feelings.  I just do my best to remember that I don’t always have to feel bad, sad, frustrated etc.  When I am with my son that is the perfect time to put down the burden of negative feelings just for a moment.  Share a smile with him, play and laugh.  Then, after some time, I can pick up my burden again.  Sometimes I feel that I can leave that burden and don’t have to come back to it which is great.  Other times, I do have to come back to it pick it up and address.  The most important part is that it becomes my option and my baby will always look at me and see a smile.

Health Quest Update: Juicing!!!

Juice juice juice!  My health quest is still under way.  In total I  have lost  40 lbs.  Just another 12 to go and I will be at my weight prior to getting pregnant.  Yeah.  It isn’t happening as fast as I would like but it is rolling along and I can see progress every week.  This week I want to see if I can give my weight lost a  little bit of a boost and am doing a juice fast.  Hold the negative thinking, I am only going to do it for 3 days, and I am going to be getting nuts to make sure I am getting all the essential fatty acids  that I need for good milk production.  We purchased a Cuisinart Juicer from Best Buy and so far have been extremely happy with it.  We messed around with it last night and today.  After I use it a bit longer I will do a review.

Well I took off a pound in 3 days.  I did need to supplement my diet with nuts, however I felt great.  All those vegetables boosted my energy through the roof.  I would recommend it to anyone and will continue juicing myself!

 

The Cuisinart is working great.  I do think it isn't going to last a year with regular juicing.  I don't think that it was built for daily juicing over a long period of time.  I think this because even now, every now and again it struggles with some of the vegetables.  However, for the price and the performance we are getting out of it right now, I couldn't be happier!

 

Pack-n-Play Review

Handy tools for traveling!!

As I had said before, we took our first family adventure this past weekend.  One tool we couldn’t live without is our Pack & Play:

This is our exact version.  The Pack-n-Play breaks down into a handy duffle bag size.  It easily compresses and the internal parts act as the carrying case.  You can carry it with one hand.  It disassembles and assembles quickly.  It cleans up easily, the sides wipe down and you can put a sheet over the bassinet part.  Finally, there is a diaper changing station.  I don’t like using that though.  Remy doesn’t fit comfortably in that portion.  I prefer just to change Remy on a bed or on the floor.  The sleeping portion is awesome though!

This was exceptionally handy for us because Remy slept well and comfortably.  I would recommend the Pack-nPlay to all new moms.