3 day refresh: Day 2

Day 2 can be summed up in 2 words.....Disappointing Disaster!

Mason woke up around 3:30am so I went in, picked him up & got him back to sleep. I really felt pretty good about that time. I was of course sleepy but I didn't feel hungry, weak, sick or have a headache. I felt like I would be able to tackle day 2.

Fast forward to my alarm at 6:15. Blake & I woke up and I felt awful! I was dizzy, nauseous, freezing cold but also sweating, and standing up took all the energy I had. I went in the bathroom & tried to start getting ready but just couldn't do it. I laid on the bathroom floor and prayed I would feel better but I just didn't. Blake brought me some peanut butter because we were thinking maybe I just didn't eat enough & my blood sugar was too low. It sadly didn't help. I messaged my coach and told her how I was feeling & said is this normal on the refresh? She said no, it isn't I'm worried about you!  I got myself ready & vowed that I would just add some more fruits and veggies each serving.

It took longer than normal to nurse, pump & get ready but I made it, barely. I ate strawberries and began to drink my shakeology but it wasn't helping.  Blake had me try a fiber one bar to see if it was my blood sugar but still didn't help. As a last resort I put an old mint in my mouth to try to see if I could raise my blood sugar & that was the last straw, it all came to a head &. I got very sick. Blake decided I wasn't going to school that day so he took Mason to the sitters and I made a pallet on the bathroom floor. It was obvious at this point it wasn't from the 3 day refresh but more from a stomach bug I must have picked up somewhere.

After my 3 hour nap on the bathroom floor I started to feel a little better. I wanted to keep trying it but I have the worst gag reflux & the thought of any food was making me sick. I've finally been able to keep some crackers & Gatorade down but that's all my stomach can handle for now.

I immediately had such disappointment in myself. While I know that I got sick & there was nothing I can do about it, I wanted so badly to succeed at this & instead I feel like I failed miserably. There have tears, frustration, disappointment, a little embarrassment to say I couldn't do it. But I know I have to take care of myself first. I have contemplated picking up tomorrow but once I have the stomach flu my stomach & gag reflux are not normal for about a week. So I am going to keep my last 2 days & try again another time.

Trying to find the positives in every situation, I'm taking this illness as a sign. My milk is the one thing giving Mason all of his vitamins and nutrients that he needs so rather than try to do another refresh or cleanse while I'm nursing I'm going to wait until I'm done. I know that I can still lose weight & get in great shape by following the nutrition & workout plans my programs provides while giving Mason as much of the good nutrients that he needs.

I am going to blog about my program and results I have each week because I feel like this keeps me accountable.

So my takeaways from 1 day of the refresh:
1. Stop eating out of habit or  boredom.
2. I'm going to continue drinking mother's milk tea 3x a day because I like it and it helped. I'm stopping the horrific lactation cookies though.
3. I'm vowing to be "sweet free" until our trip at thanksgiving.
4. Drink 1 gallon of water every day.

If you're wanting to try the refresh I do totally recommend it. I'm not going to recommend it to nursing moms though unless you increase your intake at each meal. Goal weight isn't as important as giving your baby enough of the nutrients your baby needs.

3 Day Refresh: Day 1

I'm basically planning to hold nothing back on my thoughts about the 3 day refresh.

If you know me or have read previous blogs you should know by now that I am a PICKY eater! I pretty much dislike all things veggie & lots of things fruit & love all things red meat, containing carbs or sugar or in a candy or donut form....so very healthy I know. I pray Mason doesn't inherit this from me! So I was a little worried while I chose to do this the thought of being strictly vegan & vegetarian for 3 days was very intimidating! So much so that after a not great day of eating yesterday I got into bed & had a moment of panic so I got up and made and embarrassing large peanut butter & honey sandwich, scarfed it down & went to sleep. (Sorry to my dentist no I did not rebrush my teeth 😬) 

So this morning I woke up & the first thing I thought was man I'm already a little hungry. Then I thought well crap what a way to start this off! Blake brought us 10 ounces of water & we gulped them down. Followed by 1 tablespoon of lemon juice & 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. I know this sounds disgusting but my hair dresser who is very big into fitness told me what a game changer it is so I've forced myself to just do it. I can say my appetite & sweets craving is totally different since starting this (Day 3 😕 Haha!) Every morning I would drink a diet Mountain Dew & the ACV has totally changed my love or want of that. Monday & Tuesday I didn't even finish a can of it. 

Before we walked out the door I grabbed my vegan chocolate shakeology & 12 strawberries for breakfast. I chowed down on that on the way to drop Mason off & was actually feeling pretty great! 

About 9:00 I made myself some Mother's Milk Tea (which is actually growing on me) and started to sip on that. About 9:30 I realized I had to wait an hour after the tea to go on to the next thing so I stopped sipping and gulped it down. 

While my class was at counselor I had a thought of man I'm actually feeling skinny I wonder if I've lost weight yet! I then brought myself to the reality of its only been a whole 4 hours. 😂 I then texted this out to my group texts I chat in often because really.....that's me.

At 11:00 it was time for fiber sweep. I've heard you should drink this immediately or it will gelatinize. I made the mistake of pouring the mix in before the water so It was all stuck to the bottom. I mixed it and chatted a bit while I mixed it. MISTAKE #1 of the refresh. When I drank it it was the consistently of jello that had been shaken up. I literally had to choke it down with my eyes watering and prayers going through my head. Tomorrow I will be drinking pretty much while shaking. 😝

By 12:05 when I could eat lunch I was feeling quite frankly a little hangry! I had 1 vanilla fresh shake, 1 Apple (the serving is half but I'm increasing by half an apple because I'm nursing & I mean it's HALF AN APPLE! What does one do with the other half? Trash it? Give it away to friends? Save it and it's brown? Nope I ate it & enjoyed every bite!) with the apple I had 1.5 tsp of unsweetened and unsalted almond butter & 3/4 cup of broccoli. Not the biggest fan of broccoli but it's never tasted as good as it did today. After finishing my lunch I realized I wasn't really hungry. My stomach wasn't hurting, rumbling, no headache, nothing. What I then realized my problem was.....I eat out of habit & boredom. Every day after lunch I have a snack while my kids take a 15 minute brain break & I eat an after lunch snack like crackers or a kind bar. Not out of hunger but boredom. That was a big eye opener for me. 

Snack was 1.5 tsp of almond butter & 3/4 cup of broccoli. Yes you will see lots of repeats as I'm ok with repeats and don't like a big variety of veggies. Followed by a terrible lactation cookie. Seriously so terrible I have to hold my nose to finish eating it.

When I got home I had a cup of my Mother's milk tea. And by that time I was actually physically hungry. My tummy was growling, I was kind of grumpy, my head hurt & I was exhausted! I know the headache is from detoxing and the hunger is from over eating & well drastically reducing my calories. I may have had a hangry meltdown to Blake about how I felt I was about to starve to death, what had I gotten myself into, were we crazy?! Yes, I'm a bit irrational at times. 😂 He took that as a hint to start dinner and right he was! 

For dinner we had 6oz of lemon green beans and a vanilla fresh shake. The green beans....so delicious. We will eat this all the time. 😋 I wasn't a fan of the vanilla fresh shake because I'm just so picky so I added some cinnamon and pure vanilla extract & it was so much better. I ate my dinner incredibly slow as to savor every bite! Then went though about 5 pieces of gum to busy my mouth & get rid of my sweet tooth. As I sit here typing I'm finishing some water & drinking my mother's milk tea.

My normal milk supply: 28-36 ounces a day. However lately it has been much lower. 

Today's milk supply: 25 ounces. 

While my milk supply is down a little today I will say I didn't finish my entire gallon of water 😔 So that could be part of it. Also, as long as I am able to continue producing enough to feed him each day I'm ok with it being a little low. I know I can boost it right back up after I'm done. I'm praying literally all day long it continues to be stable. I love nursing too much to lose it! 

Today's take away: 

1. I am a habitual & boredom eater so I need to be more aware of checking my hunger signals.

2. I need to do a better job drinking my water.

3. You're colder when drinking a lot of water so dress warmer if you classroom is cold. Tomorrow's outfit is a hoodie sweater with fleece lined leggings and boots. It may be 79 outside but it felt like 30 in my classroom. 

4. While I joked about being hangry with my coworkers today I may not have been as peppy or energized as normal but I didn't really feel hangry until tonight. 

Tomorrows goals: 

Finish my gallon of water & start drinking it earlier

Drink my fiber sweep immediately

Try not to have an irrational pre dinner meltdown.

Before pictures (sadly a little regression since finishing hard corps)

The 3 Day Refresh Prep

This summer my diet and exercise routine was great! There was nothing that was going to stop me, not even when I went back to work. Then I went back to work and I allowed myself to stop making myself a priority. My weight stalled and my food choices weren't great. I've still been working out but not on the weekends when I'm home. I struggled to balance myself, my job, my husband, my son sadly I let myself fall into last place when I'm always encouraging other to take care of themselves. My goal was to get to my goal weight of 125 by Thanksgiving & sadly I am still 11 pounds away from that. When I realized I wasn't going to reach it on time I think I just gave into temptation.

Blake and I finally decided that enough was enough and decided to do Beachbody's 3 Day Refresh. Blake has done it before but I have not so I am entering into this not knowing what to expect. I am nervous that I'm going to lose my milk supply or honestly a little worried about being hangry. HAHA! I have set a few guidelines for myself before starting.

1. I will be drinking Mother's Milk Tea for my herbal tea every day
2. I will be eating a Mother's Milk Cookie every day (Trust me this is no reward, I bought them at sprouts and it literally tastes like a bar of soap, I have to hold my nose while eating it haha! I hear homemade tastes better but I don't trust myself)
3. If my milk supply drops too low I will first add chicken or some protein in
4. If my milk supply doesn't increase I am going to stop. It is more important to me to be able to nurse Mason until he is a year than it is to reach my goal weight. Nursing is a short amount of time that I will never get back and I will always be able to lose weight.

With those guidelines in place here is what each day will look like for me:

1. Wake up and drink 8-12 ounces of water (I will also keep taking my "morning shot" 1TBSP of apple cider vinegar, 1 TBSP lemon juice & 1 dash of cayenne pepper)

2. Within an hour of waking drink 1 serving of shakeology mixed with water

3. At least an hour later: Mother's Milk Tea

4. At least an hour later: Fiber Sweep drink

5. At least an hour later: Vanilla Fresh Shake, 1 fruit serving, 1 veggie serving, 1 serving of healthy fat

6. At least an hour later: 1 serving of veggies and 1 serving of healthy fat

7. At least an hour later Mother's Milk Tea

8. At least an hour later: Vanilla Fresh Shake, 1 serving of a dinner recipe (veggies only) 1 cup organic veggie broth, mother's Milk Cookie

9. Bedtime: Mother's Milk Tea

Throughout the day my water goal is 1 gallon of water & I will not be doing a workout program during the next 3 days. For exercise I will go for a walk. :)

Wish me luck & stay tuned to see how tomorrow goes!

Dear Mason: 7 month edition

Dear Mason,
Happy 7 months my sweet boy! This month has flown by & month 7 has snuck up on us. You've reached a lot of milestones this past month!

You had a very big growth spurt on us! You grew from 24.75 inches to 26.25 inches & moved from the 1st percentile to the 12th percentile! You also are weighing in at 19.2 pounds. (67th percentile)You are still wearing 6 months clothes & pants and starting to fit in some of your 9 month clothes. You transitioned this month to 9 month sleepers. You are still wearing size 3 diapers. This month we had to make the transition from Pampers to Huggies. We are hoping we finally have found a good fit for you.

 

This month we decided to do away with the pureed baby food because you hated it so much & we gave baby led weaning (BLW) a try. This has been so much better for you & easier for momma! We decided to just relax and let you lead us with what & how much you want and not worry too much until you are 1. We want you to learn healthy eating habits and to stop when your full not just to clean your plate. You prefer to eat exactly what we eat, when we eat & with the utensils we use to eat. So far you have tried and like:  Chicken (rotisserie is your favorite), peanut butter, pear, carrots, peas, green beans & chicken pot pie. You are still on the fence about bananas, sweet potatoes, beef stew & avocado. You absolutely do not like: eggs, spaghetti or apples.You prefer to eat each of them when we put it on a real metal fork or spoon and you feed it to yourself.

 

I feel very blessed that you are still nursing and taking momma's milk from a bottle while you are at the sitter's. It's so funny how the first month I absolutely hated nursing and wanted to quit, now I love those moments with you.

Last month we had taken you off of your reflux medicine which was needless to say was a disaster! It went well at first but you stopped sleeping well, stopped eating well & were just very fussy! Dr. Alka said to start it back up and then wean you off of it slowly. We tried that too & it was the same result so for now we have decided to go back to what we know works for you & we will wean you off when you are ready. Momma is still off of dairy but has been able to add a little bit of tomato back in here and there. I keep reminding myself this is just a short time in your life & it has also made me healthier!

We think you are starting to get your first tooth or teeth. Quite honestly we have no clue because we have thought this in the past and have been wrong. However, you aren't eating as well, you're a little congested, you've always been really drooley but seem to be more lately, everything is going into your mouth (again more than normal) and ibuprofen and orajel have been the only source of comfort to you lately. Your gums aren't really swollen but Dr. Alka said they don't always get swollen so we will just have to see.

Sleeping this month.....well child to be quite frank it has been a disaster here lately!!! We have learned that once we start to figure you out well you just go and change on us. We know you had a big growth spurt, your reflux was bothering you, your learning all kinds of new skills & we also believe you are teething. So we know these all have a huge impact on your sleep. You have also been back and forth between sitters a little more this month because Miss Tiffany's littles have been under the weather a few times so we know it has thrown you off schedule a little bit. You have transitioned to a nap in the car to and from school and then a morning and afternoon nap. You are waking up maybe 1-2 times a night again. We are tired but trying to remind ourselves that this won't last forever. You also still like to start your day at 5am, you definitely do not get this from your momma rather your daddy!  You are so much like your daddy in your early to bed early to rise, independence & interest in how things work.

 

 You have mastered crawling....just not forward. You are a professional backward crawler. You will reach for something and then crawl towards it only to get further away then get distracted by something that is closer to you. The past couple of days you have started scooting forward to get things that you really want.

Your favorite toys make us laugh because not one of them is an actual toy. An unopened can of diet mountain dew, the real remote, your monitor, our phones & a spatula. It is these things that have encouraged you to scoot forward to get. You also have really started to love books! You will lay on your back beside daddy or I & let us read 6-7 books to you. We love this!

You can still take or leave your paci. If we give it to you it will of course go in your mouth but if we take it away you aren't really too concerned with it. You prefer it more when you sleep but still spit it out the majority of the time before you fall asleep. You have seemed to forget all about your thumb too.

At the beginning of the month dad got you to start saying dada. Not that you knew what it meant but it was your first "word" that you imitated from us. I was a little sad because you've been such a momma's boy. However one day you just started saying mamama & that's the word that you have stuck with. Again we know you don't know what it means yet but it sure is adorable and makes my day! Dad has been at it with you trying to get you to say dada again but every time he tries you just say mamama. Needless to say, you are still all momma's boy!

Exciting happenings this month:
*You said mama and dada

*You are crawling backward and scooting forward (we have yet to capture this on video)

*You started eating solid food & drinking from a sippy cup

 

*You had your first high school sitter & did great!

*You went to your first school carnival

*We had a cousin's slumber party

 

*Nana & Avery stayed the night

*We visited the pumpkin patch

*We carved pumpkins

We are so glad every day that God blessed us to be your mommy and daddy! You are the best addition to our little family & make us smile every day! We joke every day about how we feel like we just love you an unhealthy amount! We can't wait to see what new fun things next month will bring. We love you Mason!

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Pumpkin Patch

(Picture overload ahead!) Over Fall Break we were lucky enough to have Avery & Nana come stay the night with us too. The following day we all loaded up and went to the Pumpkin Patch.
We decided to give your umbrella stroller a shot because it was less bulky & you actually seemed to really like it!

 

  

 We walked around, looked at the animals, picked out our pumpkins & while you slept Avery rode a horse. All in all it was a really fun & successful trip! 

  

 

 

 When we got home we carved our big pumpkin & had a little photo shoot.