"First" week...

So my "first" week was a big ol' FLOP! The day I planned to start my challenge was a terrible day at our shop and working out was the last thing from my mind. I was mentally exhausted. What should have been my second day was a half-assed first day. I didn't have hand weights, I didn't want to put on my sneakers or my heart rate monitor. I just wanted to start the DVD and see how bad Jillian was going to kick my butt! Writing the challenge in my blog did motivate me to at least start the DVD but then it all just went to crap the rest of the week. I started my period, so that was a motivation killer and work was just plain stressful and I never had a chance to run by the store and pick up some new hand weights. I would vow to do better this week but I know that won't happen because the shop will be crazy this week with the holiday. I will however promise to do better next week and get myself prepped to start Monday no hiccups! I will also try my hardest to at least get a walk or a run in this week, either by myself or with the girls. I will also try to keep on track with healthy food this week to the best of my ability.

Fingers crossed!

30 day challenge!

The numbers on the scale haven't changed in the last 2-3 months and I'm not happy. I have 20 pounds I want to lose. Every day is a struggle for me with a number of things. The shop, our house, our kids, myself, my relationship, etc, etc, etc. When it comes to my diet I have a good week, then I have a bad week. Time management and a very low budget are the number one killers of my diet, or shall I say healthy eating, diet sounds like a temporary solution and that's NOT what I'm going for. If it wasn't for Wawa's under 500 menu then my arteries would be clogged and my weight would be going up, the opposite of what I'm trying to do, from eating fast food on the go. I like my sweets but generally can avoid the craving if I have some healthy snacks on hand instead of sugary treats otherwise it's sugar city for me, especially if I had a bad day! I've dabbled in meal prepping and it is a saving grace but I need to commit to it more and have more money to do it. I miss running. I miss getting up at 5am like I did last year and having an hour to myself with my music blaring, up bright and early before anyone in the neighborhood or being the first one on the trails. I can't do that anymore, I'm too tired and it's not fair to ask my significant other to watch the baby at that time when he got home just a few hours earlier.  I was getting into hot yoga but again exhausted and having other things planned on the weekends with school being out now. But want to get back into some form of yoga. I'm depleted on all levels, maxed out, emotionally, physically, and mentally. I'm envious of anyone that has the time and help with theirs kids so that they can achieve their workout goals. I know eventually I will get there, but until then I need to make due with what I have. I can't have a set schedule of when I can run but I can have a schedule of when I can do a workout DVD, especially one that is only 30 minutes. While I would love the new T25, I'm not paying that ridiculous price! I will however find my Jillian Michaels DVD (which I did last night!) and dust it off and challenge myself to do it for one month!

I searched 30 day shred pictures last night on Google to help motivate me, I also have looked back at my progress pictures from last year for motivation as well. I am making a promise to myself and my family to provide better food with our crazy life in mind. It is doable, I see others doing it, not having the consistent help I need should challenge me, not beat me down. I need to not let it get to me, overcoming that will make me stronger. And to hold myself accountable I will post once a week my progress, I'll give an update on how I'm doing, measurements not pictures, sorry I'm not that brave (maybe at the end I will if the results are really good!). You can either congratulate me for good progress or motivate me if I am struggling (in a positive way of course!). And this challenge is two-fold. Not only will it keep me on track but it will also get me into posting more on the blog which I always want to do but just never seem to have the time. But by golly I'm going to make the time somehow now!

So today I am starting my 30 day challenge, wish me luck!

Confession

So I have a confession....

 I have never dieted before in my life. Now let me stop there for a moment and say this. If you are into thin/skinny shaming stop reading this post. Well stop reading my blog altogether actually. Women of all different shapes and sizes have body issues, no thanks to society. And I have them more than I ever did when I was younger thanks to Crohns.

So my back story on eating habits and my body is I was always petite. I never had to watch what I ate but I also didn't always eat junk nor was I a health nut.  Growing up I was fed decently. Dinner almost always consisted of a meat, a starch, and a vegetable, and while we usually had desert, sometimes our desert was a fruit (a concept my oldest doesn't really like lol!). Fast food or pizza was a treat. Kraft macaroni and cheese and chef boyardee were our lunches like most. As a young adult I partook in drinking as any normal young adult and sometimes ate fast food on the go. I wasn't big on candy but ice cream was my kryptonite! Every once in awhile a friend and I would vow to eat salads all week for lunch and attempt working out when we thought we looked a bit bloated from our weekend excursions. It never lasted for very long although we definitely gave it a gallant effort! 

Fast forward a few years to my post baby body from my first daughter. I can honestly say I can't remember ever dieting. Of course this is due mainly because I was sick from Crohns, I just didn't know at first what was wrong with me. Over the next year and a half of my life I progressively got worse. And if you read my earlier blog post you know what happened (If you didn't its that I finally got to the doctors and confirmed my suspicions that I had Crohns). 

Ever since then my weight has fluctuated quite a bit. I would do good for awhile and be my normal weight and then start to get sick again and lose a lot of weight and then get on steroids and gain a bit of weight back past my normal weight. I literally have clothes that range from size 3 up to size 11! Craziness I tell you and I had no experience like that previous to having Crohns. Luckily I never stayed heavier for too long. 

So now fast forward to currently and I am faced with something new. The meds I have been on have allowed me to not have a flare up for awhile, even through my pregnancy. And guess what? I have baby weight to get rid of lol! Wow let me tell you that not only is dieting hard, but it's confusing! I'm not talking the diet fads, but natural versus organic, and GMO's, and if you have Crohns you should try this diet. And you have to take in a certain amount if you're burning calories, etc etc etc. I literally thought my head was going to explode from it all a couple of weeks ago! I tried tracking my foods and exercise but really who has time for that when you have two kids and are helping to run a business? And because of our hectic lives eating on the go sometimes happens more than I care for. I started following a blog that has given me some great tips on meal planning and recipes. Someone told me they didn't own a scale and at first I thought that was crazy. How do you track anything? Turns out it's probably a really good idea. Pay more attention to your body and how your clothes fit instead of some numbers. 

I've resolved to not tracking and watching my weight constantly. And instead of "dieting" I'm eating healthy and making better food choices for not just myself but my family. And working out has become ME time and I try to stay motivated to do it when I plan to, but I don't beat myself up if I can't get it done. I'm back into doing my 5k's and by the end of the year hope to actually run a whole one. I've also taken up hot yoga. I love it! And I've stopped tracking, the app wasn't working properly and I just didn't have the time for it. So far I have lost a good portion of my baby weight and I look and feel skinnier and healthier and that's all that matters, more than some numbers. I really just need to keep up with the meal prepping, not only is it healthier for us but will really help with our busy lives. 

If you have any tips or advice please feel free to comment! Till next time....

Post baby

Our little bundle of joy will be two months next week! Time is flying already and I'm trying to take in every precious moment as much as I can. We could not have asked for a better baby either! Aside from some issues with formula within the first week or two she has been amazing! Part of me is thinking she will get us back though when she's a toddler or a teenager LOL!

As for mama, I'm doing well! Taking my meds regularly and trying to have a healthy diet. I'm working on us having a more clean lifestyle when it comes to food. It's challenging with how busy our life is but I've started to dabble in meal prepping and it's definitely helped. I know that once you have a family the only way to make a healthy lifestyle change is to involve the whole family. So I'm not "dieting" or "working out", we are just eating healthier and trying to be more active.

During my pregnancy I did 5k's ,which we will start up again once the weather gets nice (go away snow! #sorryimnotsorry). Today we went to a family yoga class and my oldest enjoyed it, so we will continue to do that since it's only every other weekend. And because of my Crohn's we didn't have a terrible diet before, but we did eat alot of processed foods. We have two good reasons to eat clean. I have Crohn's and my oldest daughter has ADHD, so we can all benefit from clean eating! I'm not gonna lie, it can be really confusing and a lot to take in so we're taking baby steps at this point. I'm finding a lot of great tips from this website a friend recommended. I know there are many other moms (and people in general) out there that are just as busy as I am and can really benefit from the great tips I have gotten so I'll share the website with you guys.  :)

http://www.organizeyourselfskinny.com/

As usual thanks for reading my blog and please feel free to share with anyone you know that might benefit from this blog. Please message me if you have a question or there's something you'd like to know more about. I'm also open to any suggestions or ideas for posts! Till next time!

Autoimmune Disease Awareness

March is Autoimmune Disease Awareness month (say that five times fast lol!). If you have some spare time and want to understand Crohn's and other autoimmune diseases visit http://www.aarda.org/ for information.

In the beginning of finally being diagnosed I found it hard to explain my disease, I didn't even know it was an autoimmune disease. Lots of goggling changed that though! And now years later there is more awareness even from just a couple years back. I'm glad because I'm not so embarrassed to talk about it anymore. I find now when I tell someone I have it they say oh yeah my neighbor, co-worker, uncle, etc. has it. Not that I would wish this disease on anyone but it is reassuring to know I'm not the only one out there. Hopefully one day there will be a cure but luckily it's manageable for me and currently my quality of life isn't suffering!

Figures the awareness ribbon for my disease is purple! Purple has been my favorite color since I was a little kid! 

She's here!

OK, well she was here 6 weeks ago, haha! As usual I have been too busy to write this post but have been mentally preparing it...

Yes our little one has finally arrived! Last post I said she was due in three weeks and in true Angel fashion she was late. And just like her sister she did not want to come out. The week of my due date my doctor kept checking me and I never dilated past one cm so she said that if the baby wasn't there by my due date she was going to induce me a few days later. Of course nothing changed and our daughter was not going to be rushed or on time for that matter. It was very interesting with her due date too. She was due January 18th which happened to be my uncle's birthday. The 19th was David's late grandfather's birthday and the 20th is my dad's birthday. Needless to say my dad won the birthday lottery and now has a birthday buddy!

In my last post I had mentioned how the specialist had suggested that I possibly had Crohn's prior to my first daughter's birth and that the delivery of her could have caused me to flare up and made my condition worse. Also stating that the same thing could happen again with this delivery. Luckily that did not happen and I am still doing well! I did notice my stomach acting up just a little bit but that was because I was behind on my meds and was eating junk. I took my shot and laid off the fast food and soda and I'm doing fine now.

Baby and momma are doing well so far, getting into a routine and slowly back to normal, with the exception of momma's hips. I certainly wasn't expecting an eight pound baby but that's what we got. Regardless she is the most beautiful eight pounds of baby I have ever seen with the exception of our first daughter! In fact she is her sister's twin, seven years later, LOL! Stay tune for more on post pregnancy...

Hello! Remember me??

Hello!

So yeah first things first, I suck at blogging. I was so into it but then lost steam and got really busy and never made it back, I suck. I have been wanting to blog for the past several months but just haven't had the time! In a funny way Crohn's can very much be like my blogging. If there are no issues you sometimes forget about having Crohn's, until bam! You get a flare up. Also the fact that it's an invisible disease makes a lot of people forget you have it too. I have heard many times before "oh that's right you have Crohn's, I forgot".

Anyways just thought I would give a quick update on how I was doing and then there will probably be another few months more hiatus but I swear I am making it a new years resolution to get better at blogging!

So health wise, I feel great! I have been on Humira consistently since I left the hospital. As you may have remembered my doctor was so gracious enough to give me a few months supply. Of course that was months ago and my supply is out, but as luck has it I was able to Medicaid. Technically my situation didn't really qualify me for it, the system is so screwed up but that's another blog! Exciting news, that's really not news anymore to those that are close to us, we are expecting our second child, in oh about three weeks! LOL! Luckily being knocked up and getting laid off around the same time, was able to qualify me for Medicaid and I have been on my meds continually.

Although unexpected, we were definitely happy and excited! I briefly worried about how my pregnancy was going to go with Crohn's, but I really have had nothing to worry about! I have had absolutely no flare ups or other complications. I have been seeing a perenatologist on top of my OBGYN and everything has come back normal! No funny cravings I'm sad to report, just my normal cravings for ice, but it hasn't been as bad as the first time and same thing with heart burn. This pregnancy has been fairly decent considering all that we have going on.

Even though this pregnancy was a good one considering my Crohn's, I'm not out of the clearing yet. There is still a possibility to flare up after the delivery, so fingers crossed! In a few short weeks we will be welcoming our second daughter and we are very excited! Thanks again for reading my blog and stay tune in 2014 for hopefully more blogging!

Happy New Years!