Weight Loss Rut

I have been sticking to working out, changing it up a little, a previous knee injury has made it a little tough for me to do hip hop abs… I have to take it out and reincorporate slowly, to see if that what is causing the knee pain.
I also, changed it up a bit so that way my body doesn’t get too used to it… But my scale moved up 5pounds and will NOT move…..

I have been under calories or close to everyday except Saturday and Sundays. I am working out everyday, drinking plenty of water and eating my protein. I’m kinda at a loss. I’m hoping that I can figure this out, because I got really really happy when I bought shorts that were 3, yes 3 dress sizes smaller!

I finally feel better about the way I look and feel about myself! It feels like I have my mojo/sexy/happy back! (Not that I wasn’t happy before… It’s just a different happy, a happy to be me again!)

I’m not going to give up! I can’t I need to be healthy and look healthy!  I do still see a change from last month to this month, even if scale doesn’t show it! 

Here are up to date progress photos with dates: (I forgot inches…next time!)

Update(5/29/15): since last post April 22, I have lost 0 pounds. Inches lost: arms 0, legs 0, waist .5

I am happy about the half inch in the waist, but frustrated at no loss anywhere else. 

  
Till next time!

Natural Beauty

I so want to have vegan, organic, and animal cruelty and paraben free, etc makeup and face wash. 

However, I am having a hard time with the prices. I know that they are better and healthier for me, but I also want to make sure I’m not breaking the bank. I WISH, like really wish I could just go to the store and buy all the makeup and face care items I want; but then I wake and realize this is real life… Haha! 

I am however making better decisions when my “bad” items run out. I am replacing them with new. I have also come to the realization that my makeup lasts FOREVER… I do not wear it as often as I used too, staying home. Which for real is real natural beauty.. Haha! 

Pretty much my everyday look!

But my face & body wash, and lotions go a lot faster! Those are the things I use everyday… Or every other… Haha! Depending on if I can squeeze in a shower… 😛

So here is what I have been able to replace:

Love this face wash! even my husband likes it, because it isnt girly smelling.

Here is my face lotion and toner,. same company as face wash! when i made the switch iI did breakout a bit(but thats common for me-especially when switching to new)

  

Toothpaste. i had been reading some bad things about glycerin and floride, so i wanted to find alternatives. im not sure im completly settled on this one, but its not bad.

  

I love this for my crows feet. I feel like it works. I just have to remeber to put it on !

  

Oh! What don’t I use this for?! Haha! Coconut oil is great! I use it EVERYDAY! This is my hair gel, deep conditioning and hair growth routine. LOVE LOVE LOVE COCONUT OIL!

  

Another eye cream. I use this on occasion., im not sure how I feel about it.

  

LOVE THIS! Best shaving gel! smells good!

   

Of course i use my doTERRA oils to make my own concotions. (i sell)

These are most of the items I have changed too over time. I’m sure there are more in my house and of course there are other items not pictured that I tried and just stopped using. but I can’t think right now… Haha! Plus, the kiddies are now calling for me! 

I just keep reminding myself “don’t buy the same chemical laced product when it runs out, buy a vegan, organic, and animal cruelty and paraben free, etc product to replace! 

I want to talk about a clay mask I use too! Next post! 

Till next time! 😄

*i am in no way associated with any company or product mentioned in post except doTERRA. I am an independent wellness advocate. 

Never Ending Stomach Flu…

So for some reason this year, my family was hit hard, really hard by the stomach flu. When it first showed up 4 weeks ago, we thought it was just a 24 hour strain. Boy oh boy! Were we mistaken. *A heads up about post, slightly graphic descriptions of vomit and diarrhea. If you don’t have a strong stomach stop reading now!*

It all began with our daughter(a Thursday night 4 weeks ago). She vomited once and was just upset. The next day, was our son. He vomited a few times and was uncomfortable. Then it hit me, for a literal 24 hours and then my husband. We were happy it had run its course thru us all and we were on our way back to normal life. Then the following Saturday, it started all over again with my son. 

This time there was more vomit and it was like poltergeist projectile. My husband and I had never seen puke like that before. This was a two day, I could totally tell my son was sick. We did everything to keep our daughter in the clear, but to no avail, she got it a few days later. However, she was a one vomit and fussy for a day then better. Luckily, it passed my husband and I this time.

 My son woke up for the next few days complaining of stomach pain. My first thought is immediately appendicitis(strong family history on bit sides)… So we went to the docs. Felt like I wasted my $25 co-pay to hear the doc say the same thing I’ve been doing, but it helped my son(he loves Doc Mcstuffins and he knows docs make you feel better). He was fine after this.  

   He did not like wearing “sick” mask at dr.s office

 Seemed to feel better after visit. 

Three days after that doctor visit, we were back I there with our daughter, because she was inconsolable. I could tell her stomach hurt. She was so uncomfortable.  Just crying and crying. Not nursing, I felt terrible. 

 This was only way comfortable. Around 3 AM

So we were back at the doctors office with her a few days later. Her inconsolable self lasted 3 days. On third day we went to docs. They gave her some Zantac to calm her stomach and it seemed to work. 

Then about a week later, my son began to act sick. Sluggish, sleepy, not active, just not himself. I was thinking he was just playing it up since he was getting a little spoiled while sick. I mean really, my husband and  I felt bad for the kid. He wasn’t himself. He just laid around all day (no fever). We went to bed at our normal time and then at 3:30AM, I am a woken to a blood curtailing scream from my son. I walk into his room and he is covered in vomit. He puked in the middle of the night, and slept in it, then woke up when he couldn’t open his eye because it was dry. It looked like war paint. I almost threw up just from the sight. 

So at 3:35AM there I was giving my son a shower, getting him  dressed and then snuggling him in bed with us. I did not have the patience to clean his bed up at the moment. Luckily, my husband went in and stripped it. My son took a little while to fall back to sleep, but when he did he slept in a bit which was nice. Amazingly enough, somehow our daughter slept thru all this! 

When everyone woke up, it seemed like a regular morning. We were eating breakfast, my son was eating a bowl of cereal. I got up from the table and my son screamed I turned around and he said in a whiny screammy cry voice, “it coming out of my butt!” I picked him up and ran him to the bathroom. At first I was upset? Thinking how could you poop your pants, but then I thought about his morning could tell he had no control over this at all. He definitely just sharted. So I changed him and told him next time you feel that you have to go tell mommy. He shook his head and went back to eating, he even apologized! I told him it’s ok, accidents happen! Not even 10 minutes later, the same scream. He did it again! So we started over. Then again10-20 minutes later! 

Thank goodness I had some extra disposable training pants. We just went thru 4 outfits in less than an hour. I put in his training pants, and explained to him that he needed tot ell me when he had to go. He proceeded to poo his pants 4-5 more times. Then that afternoon, my daughters poo changed from solid to mush and both of them  lost their appetite. This was not a good day… 

I called the doctor and explained what was going on. They recommended probiotics and pedialyte. They said this seems like the tail end of the stomach flu and there really isn’t much more to do. Within 24-36 hours there seemed to be a calm in our house! FINALLY! This was this past Wednesday. 

Then on Friday, I woke up, not feeling well. I felt dizzy and nauseous. This is hard to handle when I have to take care of my children. I did the best that I could…. And thankfully it was the time of day when my hubby came home. He let me go take a nap. I napped hard almost two hours. Saturday morning, I woke up feeling better, not 100% but better. We went about our day and had fun! Went and took our Easter Bunny photo! We even went to a hockey game at night! It was a great day! 

  

Sunday morning, we wake up, I still feel good, but not 100%, we go to church. When we come home and eat brunch! After I ate, I didn’t feel good. It was nap time for the kids, so it was nap time for me too! A good two hour nap! It may have been good, but I woke up not feeling good. Not at all! 

That was the end of me. It hit me and it hit me hard.  I was so angry! What have I or my family done to deserve a month of the stomach bug?!

I took the advice for the kids from the pediatrician and had my hubby go get probiotics and electrolyte water and Gatorade. 

 

Thankfully, my husband was able to stay home from work and take care of me and more importantly the kids. While he was home he was able to clean and sanitize things. Once I’m in the clear, I plan on sanitizing everything. 

I thought I was doing a good job. I was washing hands untilmraw(from washing so much), using paper towels to dry, changing the kids sheets, had them sleep in seperate rooms, Clorox wipe everything, using bath towels once, Lysoling everything, airing out the house, diffusing cleansing essential oils…etc. 

Hopefully, the weather here is finally going to balance out and I can open all the windows and bleach everything! 

Anyone have any other advice? I would love to hear it. 

Till next time! 

*i am not associated with Zantac, Clorox, Lysol, Gatorade, or any other brand mentioned. Just a mom trying to get a clean home and healthy again! 

Seriously?!

i seriously think we have the plague… Not really the plague but definitely one of our own. We can not seem to shake the stomach flu! It’s been in our house for like 2 weeks. 😡😤 I am beyond frustrated! 

I am so over it! I don’t want to clean anymore poop or puke! 😪

   

Not feeling good! 

  

The only way she was comfortable… I felt so bad for her!  

Poor guy! 

Well, hopefully we are on our way to recovery! Ethan wanted to do school today! Eva seems a bit happier! Essential oils blasting in diffuser… Fingers crossed! 

Till next time! 

Stomach Bug!

Yuck! I hate this! 😷😰😞

I have basically been sleeping all day… Thank goodness the hubs was able to take the kids out! It felt like I actually had a sick day! I am so appreciative of him for doing that…. 

The things that stinks the most about stomach bugs are the fact that you can’t really do anything except roll with it. I was able to eat some saltines, drink unfixed ginger ale, drink water and my nursing support tea. That’s pretty much all I ate and drank when I woke up from my many naps. I won’t go into details of what the stomach bug caused me to do, but I’m sure most of you can feel my pain! 

When my hubby and kids got home… He brought me soup and some cookies(for some odd Eason I wanted cookies… And I was able to keep them down) We then got the kids to bed and now … He’s got it 😔Poor hubby! 

On a side not, thank goodness for dōTERRA’s Digest-Zen and Peppermint essential oils. They are helping us out a bunch! 



Till Next Time! 

*Image found through Google search

So cool!

Primal Pit Paste Tweeted me!

It means they read my post and liked it! (I think!)

Yay!

I’m a Thug…Well in the Kitchen!

Holy F*cking Cookbook!…Oops, pardon my language, I’ve just been enjoying the Thug Kitchen Cookbook! 😄

If you haven’t heard about it, please watch this video….Mind you it contains explicit language.

Thug Kitchen Cookbook Trailer(explicit)

I laughed so hard, I almost peed myself…after all the laughs, it made me really think. They were absolutely correct.

Luckily for Christmas, my mother gave us the book.

This cookbook has helped my family make healthier food decisions and realize what good vegan/vegetarian food is.

I’m not going to lie, going from a meat family to making vegan/vegetarian choices is overwhelming. I really thought we would get bored with flavors and items. However, we are not! It has also made us explore flavors and items we have never before. For example, vegan ricotta for lasagna.

My favorite part of this cookbook is how it is written. No, I’m not just talking about the foul language…However, I do have a mouth of a truck driver (no offense) can relate to it , and enjoy reading it. What I mean is that the book is written in a way to make it sound like your best friend is telling you how to cook these amazing recipes. It doesn’t read as if it were condescending and making you feel overwhelmed.

It’s real and down to earth. It also gives a great description of how the food should look, feel and taste. I also like that if there is an item in the recipe that can be hard to find or substituted they name the alternative.

We made the White Bean Balls with Kale Wedding soup. Which was delish! From the recipe we were able to adapt it to a previous dish, zucchini noodle pasta. This time, we made the zucchini noodles, the bean balls and sauce.

Here is the bean ball recipe:
“BEAN BALLS
Cooking spray
3 cups cooked kidney beans*
¼ cup chopped onion**
½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup nutritional yeast*** or flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce or tamari
2 teaspoons no-salt, all-purpose seasoning blend
1 teaspoon each dried thyme, basil, and oregano
½ teaspoon grated lemon zest” -taken from Thug Kitchen online.

Like I said this book has helped my family make conscious healthier decisions. I highly recommend it to anyone!

Check out their website:Thug Kitchen

*I am in no way affiliated with Thug Kitchen. I am just a huge fan of their cookbook and had to share! If you want tasty dinners, go buy the f*cking book! Hahaha!

I Went Primal!

Sweat! I know, not the most glamorous thing to talk about, but we all do it! Even though in high school someone tried to tell me “Boys sweat, girls perspire!” I laughed it off and in my head thought “yeah, right! I sweat… A lot actually.”

Years down the road…

I happen to be a heavy sweater. However, I wasn’t always a heavy sweater…I think it happened when I moved to a warmer climate. I was struggling to find a deodorant that actually worked. I would use Secret, Dove, or Degree.when one stopped working for me, I would change it up, be good for a bit and then I would have to switch. I began to get really tired of this cycle. Then I fell for the “prescription strength” throw your wallet in the door deodorants from this brands. I decided that I wasn’t going to go broke buying deodorant. One day I went to the deodorant aisle and looked at their ingredients. Turns out, the clinical strength only had one…ONE percent more of the antiperspirant than the regular deodorant….Oh! I was mad!

I needed to do something. Around this same time, a Whole Foods opened in my neighborhood. I went to the whole body section and began to look at their natural deodorant section. I tried a couple…none of them worked, and one of them I has a reaction too…that was not fun! So, I sadly went back to my routine…

Two years pass…about three weeks ago, I heard about Primal Pit Paste! At first I was a little hesitant to try since I had a bad reaction to one of the other natural deodorants. So, I took the time to research the company and product. The information on their site it great! It really helped answer all the questions I had. I also love love love that it is free of aluminum (means no yellowing of your shirts pits) and parabens. I also love that most of the ingredients are organic and it contains essential oils.

Their deodorant comes in two forms. The first form is a paste. To apply the paste, you use your fingers. The second form is a stick. This is easier to take to the gym or travel with. Also, if you don’t want to touch the deodorant.

So, three weeks ago, I purchased the lavender scented stick at my local Whole Foods. I was so excited…a little nervous, but excited! Thank goodness I read all the FAQs…

“Pit Detox- After years of wearing conventional chemical and aluminum laden deodorants it is possible to need to detox your pits from this build up.” – excerpt taken from http://primalpitpaste.com/faq.html

Luckily, I had no irritation from the baking soda, I was able to shave without a problem, and I understood that the stick could melt. Being a cloth diaperer it’s the same as my daughter’s butt butter.

When I purchased this new deodorant, I just began my workout routine, it was perfect because, Primal Pit Paste recommends that you sweat. Honestly, I never knew how bad I could smell. All I thought about was, “Yes, I am ridding my body of these nasty chemicals!!”

My deodorant routine:
Day 1- put on in morning
Shower after workout, put on in evening.
Day 2- go about my day, workout, shower, put on. (Repeat)

This is all I have done for the last three weeks. This deodorant is the best deodorant I have ever used! It totally withstands my sweatiest workouts, handles my stress, and any nervous situations. I’m in love with it!

Oh, this might be strange, but I have noticed that my pit hair, when it grows back, is growing back smoother and softer.

I highly recommend this product! I am working on getting my husband and my good friends to to turn primal!

For more information about Primal Pit Paste and their many other products (that I am excited to try) please visit their website at:
http://primalpitpaste.com/

*I am not affiliated with Primal Pit Paste, the opinions in above post are mine and mine alone, but I highly recommend you try the stuff!

dōTERRA and Me!

I finally pulled the trigger and signed up to be a independent Product Consultant (IPC). I’m so pumped!

This is a step that is helping me make major changes in my family and my life! Making healthier choices for our mind, body, and spirit!

Here is a link to my page… PLEASE like it and a link to my website!

https://www.facebook.com/Kschiffer1585684

http://www.mydoterra.com/kerryschiffer

Thank you for liking!

And please share with someone you know who may be interested!

Working Out SAHM Style

This one has been a tough one for me to get a grasp on. I unfortunately, was putting excercise off, I’m not exactly sure why?! I know that when I do it I feel better about myself, sleep better and have more energy (surprisingly since I just worked my booty off)…

I got into a workout routine about 4 months ago and yeah, that lasted about a month, if that. I would wake up when my husband woke for work, nurse baby, she’d fall asleep and then I would workout. So then it started to not work. For some reason I began making excuses for myself and not doing it.

It was kind of easy to make excuses that my husband and even myself began to believe, especially since Eva wasn’t sleeping well. From birth to about 2 weeks ago (she’s almost 11 months old), she was still sleeping in our room (I think as a result of my fear of her waking Ethan, I didn’t want to move her into their room until I knew she slept thru the night) she would fluctuate sleeping a wide range anywhere from 7, 5,2,4,7,2,3,1 hours at a time. Some nights were torture as you can see.

Then one day we were getting ready to go out somewhere and I pulled out a pair of my favorite jeans, which I hadn’t worn since before Eva was born. I was like, “Oh I will so wear these!” And boom, they don’t fit. I felt like I looked like a stuffed sausage. My first reaction was being frustrated. Frustrated they didn’t fit and frustrated I let them not fit. Then I felt depressed. How did I do this to myself? Why did I let it go on this long? I know when I had my son I was back in regular pants a lot sooner. Then I got upset and challenged myself.

I spoke to myself in the third person, “Kerry, you are still wearing maternity pants!!! Yoga pants don’t count as regular pants! You need to get your act together! Start making healthier food choices and start moving!”

This was around the beginning of December, which meant we were going to be leaving for our family Christmas vacation. This also meant that our diets wouldn’t be that great…while on the vacation I was talking to friends about making changes and we decided to partake in a “couples biggest loser” competition.

I think that this was the fire I needed lit under my hiney! We began the competition on January 12. We weighed in and blah… I am the second heaviest person out of the 6 of us. When I saw the numbers, I kinda wanted to cry, but then I told myself “No. Make it motivation!” So, here I am a little over 2 weeks in and I’m doing/feeling great!

My first priority was setting up my work out space. It is a shared space with my sons “classroom” or as he calls it his school. I moved a TV and cable out to the room, purchased a DVD player (both of which can be used for school stuff too), and put all my “gym” equipment in one place. I began working out slowly. I began with a nice warmup and stretches, jumping jacks, 10 minutes a day on my elliptical, light weights for my arms, then crunches and planks. I did this for a week, 5 days. Took the weekend off and then got sick, some kind of virus with a sore throat, wiped me and my appetite out. Pretty much all I ate was smoothies and milkshakes. I had absolutely no energy to work out. I started to get nervous about my focus and determination, but then I thought about the new me and the prize at the end!

While I was resting on the couch, I decided to purchase two DVD workouts Hip Hop Abs and a set of Yoga(for flexibility, weight loss and relaxation). This is the first week of beginning a new routine! I have to say I am in love with the Hip Hop Abs, it’s so nice to have the program laid out for me. Plus, I love dancing (I danced from 3 to 19yo). It has a workout chart that tells you what to do everyday. The first day I did it, I burnt over 1200 calories! (I am eating and drinking correct calories for breastfeeding, I have a huge fear of losing my milk, I just know I have to make changes). The yoga DVDs are really helping my balance and flexibility. I somewhere lost a lot of my flexibility over the years, I used to be able to drop a split no questions asked. I am very happy with my purchases! I’ll keep everyone posted about my progress with the DVDs and my physical changes!

One of the hardest things about working out as a SAHM is finding the time to work out. Really from the moment I wake up I am doing something for myself, the house, or possibly entertaining an early awoken baby. Once the kids are awake, my focus is mainly on them trying to squeeze in some laundry and cleaning. So on a regular day there are diaper changes, breakfast, school time, snack time, nursing in between all this, lunch, then naptime! The key word-Naptime!

Some days I get really lucky and both, YES, both babies are sleeping at the same time! When it does happen, it’s amazing! There are so many things I can get done. Now that I have decided to make excercise an important part of my day, this double nap time is the perfect opportunity. However, some days I don’t get lucky.

Sometimes Eva falls asleep a little sooner than Ethan or she may not nap at all. The first time that this happened, while I was trying to work out, I got frustrated and gave up on working out for that day. The next day, it was playing out the same way, one napping, one not. I thought about it and said “Kerry, you’re making excuses… You need to work out!” This is where I had to grab the bull by the horns and bring the kid(s) out to the workout/school room and they can play, while I work out.

Now, this was an experience. My 2 1/2 year old was a non-issue. He would just play with the toys, puzzles, and learning stations. Eva on the other hand wants to crawl to me, crawl on me, and be held. I found that it is much easier to bring the excersaucer out in the room. She can be happy in there for a bit. It also helps that she can see me. If she gets super fussy, I have to stop and nurse her…

I really REALLY try to get my workout in while Eva is sleeping, it is much easier to keep my son occupied and he understands to stay on his side of the room.

This week I got my routine on lockdown! It still needs a little work, but I’m getting there and today I had to totally move it all around, but I still got it in! That’s the important thing! I am super motivated and proud of myself!

It may be tricky to find the time to get a workout in there or you may feel like you’re too exhausted too! Squeeze it in there! Trust me, it’s worth it! You’re worth it!

While writing this, I am hoping if there is someone who is in the same rut I was in, they can read my
Story and get motivated to make positive changes too!

Here are pics of my workout/school room:

Till next time!

*I am in no way affiliated with Hip Hop Abs or Beach Body. I just love their workout DVD!