I won times 2!

So....


When I posted my last blog in March, my husband and I found out just how effective getting healthy can be! We found out right before I posted my last blog that I am pregnant! This has been a very, very long road for us. We tried fertility and that certainly didn't work and then we tried prayer. Good old fashioned, "When God wants it, it will happen." And that is exactly when we got pregnant!


So needless to say the first trimester is over now and that is why I am posting. Not because we were keeping it a deep secret as all of our friends and family already know. But because I was just so tired and out of it for those few months that my day consisted of work, nap, make dinner, eat dinner, lay on the couch and go to sleep again. This interrupted by Church stuff and going out when necessary. That was about it.


So now, I am in my thirteenth week. We have seen the baby on ultrasound twice! And heard it's little heart beat! I am full of energy again--so much so that Saturday I prepped my veggie garde, planted 13 tomato plants, two squash plants, 6 green peppers, 6 japanese eggplants and watered all 5 gardens. Plus a trip to the garden fest, Home Depot, and CVS. I did then take a 2 hour nap, but it was necessary as we then went out with our friends for dinner in Waltham!


I am down to barely any naps during the week but still going to sleep at a reasonable hour as before baby, I was a night owl and midnigh was my usual bedtime!


We have yet to make changes to the house but once we get going on baby room plans, I will keep you posted!!!

Our little munchkin (9 weeks)

I won!

So after everything has been said and done, I won the fitness challenge! I get to split the money with one other person and the real prize is the fact that I'm actually in good shape! It has been a few years since I could say that!

Last week while we experienced record high temps for New England, I raked and cleaned my yard with my husband for four hours! I couldn't have done that last year! And I hiked Purgatory with one of my 12 year old students--I had to slow down for him! Then we went to the Zoo on Friday and all three of the kids in my group kept having to remind me to slow down! It is a very exciting thing when you are in better shape than your teenage students--and a little sad for them...but maybe their teacher being in good shape will inspire them to be as well!

I haven't lost a ton of weight--just five pounds and I'm in between sizes so my jeans fit really well when they are first washed then by the end of the day they are a bit saggy, but I can live with that!
A ton of people say my body shape has changed, and I think that is just as important as any weight loss. So here is to continuing to live a healthy lifestyle and keeping active!

Healthy Living Update

So I am almost done my month long healthy living cleanse and I am three and a half weeks into my workout challenge! I thought I'd offer an update to the few out there who read this (not because all of the others don't care, but because I am so horrible at updating my blog!)

Anyway here goes.
Healthy Living Cleanse:
Things have gone well. I was not crazy psycho about everything with this cleanse. I knowingly and willingly ate cake on three birthdays (bro-in-law, mother-in-law and newphew), and ate cheesecake because I went to The Cheesecake Factory and will not refrain from cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory! And I ate pizza once because I was out with my students and was not going to deal with their short attention spans while I ate a salad (real food definitely takes longer to eat!) I did subsequently find out that even though I have been in denial for years, gluten and I are not friends--not at all. Four of the five times I ate it, I distinctly remember a sinus headache coming on within the half hour. Antihistamines worked, but maybe my environmental allergies are all to blame for the pounding of my sinuses at least twice a week!  So even when I go back to eating more foods on Thursday (I'm almost there!), I will refrain from gluten as much as possible and be prepared with antihistamines just in case!

Workout Challenge:
Now this is amazing even for me! I have worked out 6/7 days a week for the last 3 and a half weeks! I am in the lead with a few others who are keeping up with this challenge as much as I am! I'm psyched! I am not always the most competitive person, but with this I will absolutely not miss a day!

So this New Year, New Me stuff is working out pretty good and I am not stopping!

Great new Blog

This is my cousin's blog! She is a sweet, wonderful, fun and talented woman who I am proud to advertise here!
www.joselinlinder.com

My new focus for 2012

     Right now, I am focusing on some things I neglected in 2011 and I need to get back into them! These are not resolutions. Because resolutions absolutely do not work. These are motivations, life-style changes, things to focus on for my life.     Because of the big changes at work, I got overwhelmed, overtired and stressed. I stopped focusing on healthy eating (although it didn't get too too bad) and stopped even attempting to work out. We were a little active in NH, but the day we planned for a big hike was rainy and the next day was too wet to do the trip we had planned. Anyway, a few years ago, I discovered that I do very well with waking up at 5:30 in the morning a few days a week (2-3) and working out, I also make it a point to work out at least once on the weekend. I get in a great work out, rev my metabolism and start the day off right. I did this for 5 or 6 months and lost 30 pounds! Then I got the dreaded summer cold which killed all attempts at healthy living for a month and I lost my momentum. I maintained my healthy eating habits even though I didn't use weight watchers online religiously though and even lost another 5-10 pounds the following year and was keeping active (not as active, but pretty good). The thing was, I worked with a lot of health conscious people and my co-teacher for most of that year eats healthy and we held each other accountable. (Danielle is still a dear friend and I miss not working with her!) That year I also started a two year Master's Degree program which took up any free time I had (my husband used to joke with me--when I was on my way home or calling him to talk he'd say "Ahhh...my long lost wife). So I switched careers in 2009 and went from teaching little ones to teaching teenagers with emotional and behavioral disabilities. BIG CHANGE. I became the boss in the room, not the co-teacher and even though I adore my co-workers at my school, the support system of women you spend 8 hours a day with every day was lost. So I gained ten pounds, which I took off by doing Jenny Craig (with out exercise so it didn't really stick, but I looked great as a bridesmaid in a friend's wedding!)
 
This first one is seriously the best shot of my body during the wedding--The ten pounds I lost actually came off from my waist and back which really helped the dress fit beautifully! My legs have always been heavier and I've never liked wearing short things because it it. I am hoping exercising will thin my calves out a bit.
     I also started a 30-day cleanse for healthy living. I started on January 2, so it will last until January 31st. You cut out dairy, wheat, gluten, soy, sugar, peanuts and simple carbs like white potatoes, corn and white rice. In exchange, you eat whole foods, such as eggs, lean protein, brown rice, sweet potatoes, almonds (almond milk), etc... You are supposed to buy a shake from the company but I couldn't see spending $60 on a shake for one month so I bought a Hemp Protein shake and it is pretty good. I'm one and half days in and its actually doable. When I think about things I can't have I remind myself that it is only for 30 days and I can handle it. That's a pretty good way of looking at it. Anyone can do something for 30 days.
     After the thirty day I will eat healthy: three meals and two snacks. One of those snacks will be at 8 p.m. and I call it my planned snack. It keeps me from grazing and snacking all evening long. Right now that planned snack has been my protein shake made with almond milk. With the berries I put in it, it is only about 200 calories. Much less than most shakes like that and the perfect amount of calories for a snack (according to my nutritionist!) The worst thing about the 8 p.m. snack used to be when my husband would say "Are you supposed to be eating that?" Not a very supportive way of supporting his wife. This would just make me grumpy and make me feel like a rebellious child, so I would eat more when he went to sleep. So I'm punishing him, but hurting myself...that works. So now he and I have come up with language that doesn't upset me. If he's going to ask about what I eat in the evening (out of love and support) he will say "Is that you planned snack?" If it is, I can honestly and happily answer, "Yes it is" and if it isn't, he has adressed my eating in a healthy way. Maybe it isn't my planned snack, but I didn't eat enough during the day and I'm hungry. So maybe if he asks me in this way, I can make a smart choice instead of eating junk!
    Anyway, I've done it before, so I know I can do it now. I'm going to try to keep track of what I eat. I use a Nutrition tracker online and I know I don't need to be psycho about it like I used to with Weight Watchers because it was getting unhealthy to the point where I'd say, "How much can I eat for as little points as possible." I wasn't getting any nutrition per say, so it wasn't really great. Last night I had brown and wild rice, asparagus and 3 oz of pork loin and didn't finish the meat. I was full. It was enough and I got a little hungry around 7:45 so I had my shake at 8...I put it off by finishing the dinner dishes, getting in my pj's and putting out the dogs. Then I have a cup of decaf green tea. And when I went to bed, my stomach was telling me it was a little hungry, but to me, that's ok, because that means that my stomach is empty and the energy my body used to put into digesting food at night and making that food into fat can burn calories of the fat I already have! Now isn't that a new concept!
Here's to a healthier 2012!

Here are the links to different things mentioned in this article:
http://sandratillinghast.com/28daycleanseprogram.pdf This isn't the exact program I'm using, mine isn't quite as strict, but this is close!
https://www.arbonne.com/shop_online/showCatalog.asp?category=265 If you do want to use the Arbonne shakes and extras.
http://nutivahempshake.com/index.htm This is the shake I'm using!
http://www.weightwatchers.com/index.aspx This is how I lost 30 pounds the first go round. It works if you can be that disciplined to write ALL of your food down.
www.sparkpeople.com This is the free nutrition tracker I use. It can set up a diet program for you or you can put in your numbers yourself (this is the route I went since I got them from my nutritionist!)

It is a New Year!

    Well, we made it through 2011! I can't believe the year went by so quickly! There were a
few changes during 2011 in my life:

                       We completely gutted and refinished our bathroom (well, hubby and his buddy did.) It went from this:

To this!!!! Ta-da! It is still yellow but every wall was ripped out, insulated and re-dry walled!
     

           Our dear Pastor resigned, we started the process of setting up a search and then we were introduced to the concept of an Intentional, Interim Pastor. Pastor Ron will be joining Belmont St. Baptist Church as we start the New Year and a new chapter!
            My dear McGrath Educational Center became You Inc. Educational Day Academy as we combined out two locations! With that change I went from teaching High School English to Middle School (all four subjects!!!!). What a transition but after the combining of the schools, staffs and students and getting used to a new way of doing things, the school year is going as well as can expected for a Emotional/Behavior Disability population! And I'm having fun! I actually couldn't wait to get back to school!


     I think that is it for changes....but two of those are pretty monumental transitions and I made it through!
     So now, it is a New Year and there is much to look forward to. We plan on refinishing the big mudroom in our house. Taking a big vacation (we only went to NH in 2011). Maybe someday soon we'll be able to announce that we're having a baby--but that is up to God. Hmmm...I'm sure there will be much more happening in 2012, but that is to be determined.