Party of Six

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Final Summer Fling

We promised the kids we'd take them to the beach one more time before the weather got too chilly.

So here are some photos from Santa Monica.

PJ climbed that rope like a pro!!

Check out those muscles!!

For all of the insanity that living in LA brings, it's nice to be able to go to the beach with the fam.

Friday, September 9, 2011

First Day of Kindergarten

How on earth did my baby girl get to be old enough to go to kindergarten?

These pictures were taken on Monday, August 29, her first day of school

She goes to a magnet school nearby where she's doing Spanish immersion. She has learned so much already and she absolutely loves it! I love that she's challenged at school academically and she's making friends and learning to BE QUIET in class! (Don't know where she gets her chattiness....couldn't be from ME!)

She has to wear a uniform to school: navy blue and white. At first I didn't know how I felt about that, but it's working out well.

What a grown up girl with a big, beautiful backpack!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Live the Life

A few weeks ago I decided to do something about my health. I needed a plan that would help me eath healthily and I really needed someone to tell me what to eat and how to exercise. That's when I read a blog post by a friend who had tried the FREE 7-Day Challenge from Kristi Approved, or Live the Life. I had heard of this program before but didn't try it out at that time. I decided to give it a whirl. I LOVED LOVED LOVED it!

Basically they give you meal plans for 6 meals a day, and you eat the same meals all week long. That means you just prepare them on Sunday and then they take like 5 minutes to put together at mealtimes. So easy. And the food is all stuff I like and would willingly eat. There was more protein and vegetables and less carbs than I was used to (which is a good thing because I'm a bit of a carb-aholic) and no added sugar. I was surprised that I NEVER felt hungry. I seriously looked at my watch and said, "TIME TO EAT AGAIN" all day long.

Along with the meal plans they include resistance training that you do 5 days and cardio for 6 days. They include the specific exercises and there are videos describing how to execute them. The weights takes about 20-30 minutes, followed by 20-40 of cardio, depending on how much time I have. You can modify any exercise to fit your fitness level, of course, so I felt like I was completely in control. I've been a cardio girl for the past 8-9 years or so, but never very consistent with weights. This plan made weights a real possibility for me and I've been successful in keeping up with them since I began.

After the first 7 days, I lost 6 lbs! Crazy. I think part of it may have to do with the fact that I'm still nursing, so I'm burning calories through that as well. The second week was a 2 lbs loss, which is more what I expect. But the great thing is that the program is all about speeding up your metabolism using the 7 keys of : nutrition, water, resistance training, cardio, supplements (which I haven't really explored yet), sleep, and accountability. I decided I loved living this way and feeling this way, so I went ahead and bought Phase I of the program, which is 12 weeks worth of meal plans and exercise plans and online support. Speaking of support, the day after I bought the program, I received a phone call from one of the two founding ladies of Kristi Approved. They are SOOO willing to call or email or support you in any way possible. I felt a real personal connection and strong level of support from them. I receive motivational emails on a daily basis, and I log my results online every week.

I truly hope that this is a forever lifestyle change. I have known for some years now that I have food addiction problems, so I'm trying to re-wire my brain and eating habits into something healthy and sustainable. I want to have my health for a LONG time, so I can be around for my children to grow up and have kids of their own. I feel like I am finally learning how to take good stewardship of my body and I'm positive and energized like never before.

So this post is not meant to be a sales pitch, but I just have to share my positive experience and give everyone the opportunity to check it out for themselves. Their website can be found here and they have programs for men, women, and couples too.