Day 1...finally

Today I started my workout. It's hard to choose what to do, what to wear, if I have the right foods for the rest of the day, etc. But if I don't start, I never will. Things aren't always perfect for me to go to bed. Or shopping. Actually, nothing is ever perfect in life to really do anything. But I needed to start somewhere!

Working out at my house makes it easy to NOT do it. But on the other hand, it makes it easy to do as well. No sitters/day care (no germs for my kiddos to bring home), no set time so I can move the laundry over I have forgotten about for days. No one else to compare my physical appearance to. There are times when needing someone to push me is necessary. But not right now. I have a coach that checks in with me and other friends on my fitness journey.

I am doing a workout that is lifting weights. Lean, tone, speed up that metabolism. I have done the cardio thing. I wanted to change it up a bit. I did the before/after pics and measurements. We won't share those. Yeesh! But it was a good start! My toddler even enjoyed an early afternoon snack of apples and pb with me.

Here's to a great one tomorrow!

Breakfast

After feeling all icky yesterday with a headache that turned into a nauseating migraine, I woke up and had a great breakfast. I had Shakeology. It tasted so good! I usually drink it every day. It fills in the gaps I miss in my diet. The creators of it actually aren't big on veggies either. This is a great way to get the nutrition I miss.

Immediately I felt better. I was hesitant of someone telling me I needed to buy an expensive shake. I had protein shakes. I would order and then return it if I saw no difference (it's a 30 day money back guarantee). I used it a few times to really get a taste. Then I went back to my other shakes. Oh. My. WORD! The difference it made was night and day. My stomach felt better. And I wasn't hungry for 4 hours after. That was amazing to me. I told Jake all about it. We knew we needed to adjust the grocery budget to include this shake since it was a meal replacement and we usually spent more than that on a Jimmy John's sandwich (without a drink or chips!).

To make it even better, I signed up as a "coach" where I never had to do anything but I got a discount on my shakes and it made it more affordable! And my kids love it!

So I am definitely not going to skip on my shakes again. I miss out on so much when I do!

Keeping it real

I had cinnamon roll bites for breakfast. We were needing to be at a soccer game but I wanted to make something fun for the kids without spending a ton of time in the kitchen. And I had a headache. Easy it was. Then I packed them up and headed out the door so we could eat them on the field.

On the way home my bead wasn't feeling any better so I grabbed a drink. I have been against meds since I usually have rebound headaches every time I do. So Jake decided to help and got pizza for the kids. Since my head still wasn't better, I had a piece thinking it would help.

It didn't.

Now I have a headache AND I ate pizza. Not a good combo. I can't wait to start over with my nutrition and workout. Why don't I just start today? I didn't prep. Yep, it's an excuse but I feel if I don't meal plan and schedule it all out I am setting myself up to fail. And I don't want to do that. I know how great it feels to work out and eat right.

I'm starting over with getting into the habits of it all again. I know I can.

~Sarah

What Am I Thinking?

I have been a blogger in the past. I have a private one. I have a public one that follows my husbands health journey (more on that later) and now this one. And so I repeat, what am I thinking? It definitely isn't that I have too much time on my hands. Ha!

I am a mother to 3 great kids. Each has their own trials. Each one is different than the others. And we do the best we can. I have been married for 13 years to my sweetie, Jake. We had the dreams and hopes that many couples starting out did. I dreamed of falling asleep watching movies and my husband carrying all the blonde soccer player kids to bed as I cleaned up the kitchen. (Really, I have the note that I wrote to him about our blonde soccer playing kids before we had any!) Not a big extravagant dream, but one that could happen all the time and I thought would make me truly happy and feel like a family. But 11 years ago we got news that Jake might live for 10 more. Talk about a shocker! We discovered some weird things that were happening were all related to Friedreich's Ataxia (FA) and no one knew much about it. It is a neuromuscular disease that is progressive and will get worse. And then they said something along the lines of we'll see ya later cause we don't know much more than that. Every dr appt became Jake teaching them more about it. It was hard to watch him get so frustrated. No one had answers! No one knew if what he was going through at that moment was related to FA or not. We started reaching out more and more and found researchers and people who DID know more.

Jake was lucky enough to get into a study at UCLA last July ('13) with a researcher he had been talking to for years. I say lucky enough because there were only 20 slots and Jake was #17. We were there when they filled their last slot and had to turn others away. You can read more about that whole journey here (http://jakesfa.blogspot.com/)

But it was about this time I realized how miserable I was. I was a happy wife. I was a fun mom. But I didn't feel good about me. I didn't have a lot of energy and I realized I needed to! I needed to be at my best for my kids. I needed to be able to care for my husband and be there for what he needs. Even if it's only for traveling to and from studies. I needed to be healthy and happy! And I had NO IDEA where to start.

Enter Beachbody. I had this stigma about it and I don't know where that came from. But I was willing to try anything. The words "tummy tuck" had entered my vocabulary but I knew even that wouldn't help if I had no idea how to maintain my health and weight. I had always been that short skinny kid. No body issues whatsoever growing up. I even loved being short! My parents taught me well that my weight was a number and didn't define me and I never noticed when others were heavy either. It didn't define anyone. But I wasn't happy with how I FELT and that was the point.

I signed up to coach cause it was cheaper to do that for the program and meal replacement I wanted. And it was guaranteed and I could cancel anytime at no fee. Not gonna lie, I once signed up for those wraps and they didn't work at all for me. I did the 3 mo thing and had to get all 3 months and they sent 4 in a box but suggested to wear 6 or some crazy thing. I still have them sitting there, in the box. But it was a charge to cancel. I didn't want to do that again. It's all ridiculous. $25 for ONE wrap? Wow. So I wanted to make sure with Beachbody. So I became a coach. I started my programs. I had my meal replacement which was yummy and my body liked and noticed if I stopped drinking. And I didn't shed a million pounds. I got muscle. I became more lean. And I had more energy. I was more HAPPY than I had been. I loved it! I have found knowledge that I never paid attention to growing up. I still hate veggies. But I live with it and find nutrition in other ways too.

I am going public to share my fitness journey. I have done it on my own, I have challenge groups run through Facebook, I have shared tips through Instagram (@soccerfitmom), but I feel most days I have too much to say to fit in this little paragraph where people turn off if it goes too long. I know I do! So I am here now.  This will be my everything rolled into one. You'll get family info, you'll get my hubby's info, you'll get my stresses and what makes me happy. Because it is all what makes me, ME and it all takes its toll on me overall. Just like your day is effected by the same things. If we are stressed are we gonna go grab carrots? Probably not.

This last month my dr instructed me to not work out and lift much or even do mush ups or sit ups. I think he is trying to sabotage me ;) So I will be starting fresh on Mon to eat more clean and follow my workout program. I am more "squishy" than I have been in a long time so I will be starting fresh and making myself get up and do my workouts and drink all my water and just in time for the holidays. No pressure there!

So join me if you wish. I will be adding pics next week when I take them.

~Sarah