I have been hearing so much about Tatiana from Loving Fit that I decided to give her workouts a try. I went to her site and tried the “I Dream of Power Jeannie” workout:
I had to modify it a ton because I’m not in good shape right now. I just started working out postpartum and I’m a weakling! That will change though. This is an intense workout even if you modify.
I love that Tatiana really emphasizes proper form. I can’t wait t do more of her workouts. 🙂
I was perusing the Target grocery aisles the other day and came upon this yoghurt. I had tried most of the premium brands, Fage, Siggi’s, Chobani, etc… but I had never seen this brand, or never paid much attention. The container stated that it was an Australian culture made in a farm in Colorado with happy cows. The ingredients were all natural. That intrigued me enough to buy a container each of the passion fruit and strawberry rhubarb flavors.
This yoghurt is very addictive. It is of the fruit on the bottom variety and has a very creamy consistency. It reminds me of traditional yoghurt, with the mouthfeel of Greek yoghurt. The passion fruit flavor actually contains real passion fruit, with seeds and everything! I want to eat a whole stub of this stuff.
If you see this yogurt in your grocery store, please give it a try!
I feel bad for ignoring this blog. I was derailed by life. My pregnancy was rough. Early on, I was diagnosed with thrombophilia and was told that I needed to inject blood thinner daily or I could die… Or the baby could die. That’s quite a startling piece of information to hear, but I managed my best.
My OB visits always started with him scolding me for my weight gain. I was gaining fast, but not eating poorly. We figured out it was due to carbohydrate intolerance. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes that ended up being very difficult to control. I was now injecting insulin twice a day and blood thinners twice a day. Yet I managed and remained pretty calm.
One day before my baby shower and one week before I was going to start maternity leave, my mother suffered a massive stroke. I wasn’t sure she was going to make it. She was in a coma for weeks. Now, almost 4 months later, I’m still not sure if she is going to recover. I went to my baby shower pretty shaken up, but I managed my best and people admired my strength.
The day my daughter was born. It was wonderful to see her for the first time, but not so wonderful that I started to massively hemorrhage soon after. I didn’t see her for 10 hours while I was operated on and given a blood transfusion. Then, when I thought I was on the mend a couple days later, I hemorrhaged again requiring another surgery and transfusion.
This is when the panic set in and I didn’t realize it. I was trying to care for my kids and my body was aching. I felt scared to be with both of them alone while my husband was working. My shoulders felt like bricks and I started feeling burning sensations up and down my spine. I started feeling my face going numb and tingling sensations everywhere. I was convinced that something was really wrong with me and I was at the doctor nearly everyday. They couldn’t find anything medically wrong and tried telling me that it was stress. The symptoms kept getting worse and I couldn’t believe that stress would do this to me. I think I lost it when the dizziness set in. I was feeling dizzy all day long. I emailed my neurologist and he basically told me to see a therapist. This is when reality set in.
I noticed my symptoms were worse when I would talk to my dad about my mom. I would get back pain when talking about child are for my newborn daughter. The room would spin when I talked to my boss about my work from home options (please Lord let this happen). My anxiety manifested itself into physical symptoms.
All those moments I thought I was being stoic and “strong,” my body was just consuming my emotions and panic, only to manifest them later in a worse way. I’m sure that postpartum hormones don’t help either.
Now I need to find my balance. I am on medication now to help. I’m also seeing a therapist and telling myself that I’m okay and I can relax. Mind over matter. I’m taking vitamin d3 and b-complex and I feel like they help as well. I can get past this.
I’ve been a big supporter of bodyrock.tv for the past couple of years. I would recommend them to anyone I knew that was beginning a fitness routine, for weight loss, health, or just for fun. There was always a voyeuristic element to the site, but I didn’t mind it, because the workouts were great and the underlying message behind the site, to get healthy outside and inside, was something I could get behind.
Somehow, in the last few months, that has all changed. There is a superficially about it that I find unappealing. Initially, it started with Lisa-Marie’s underwear workouts. Underwear tend to be a bit more revealing than bikini bottoms and track shorts, due to their breathability factor. If you are just working out at home in undies, more power to you, been there done that. 😉 However, if you are posing for a workout photoshoot…maybe not the best choice, but it does get people talking….
Not a good look! (courtesy of http://www.bodyrock.tv)
I liked the fact that bodyrock started utilizing social media, but I didn’t like the fact that they started posting vapid updates. I would see status after status linking to gossip magazines showing celebrities with “unflattering” figures with a title of “What do you think of this?” The whole concept of bodyrock became image related. I didn’t want to bring Zuzana up, but when she would offer up recipes, it would actually be a recipe…that you can make :), and she would explain why the ingredients were good for you. Now you are offered a picture of a salad with the caption “This is what I ate today”…which on a certain level, isn’t bad, but it only touches the surface on what it takes to commit to a healthy lifestyle. There seems to be more of a focus on “getting skinny” over at Bodyrock over actually “getting healthy.”
Then there is the cosmetic surgery. I’m not against cosmetic surgery, so when Lisa-Marie blogged about getting new boobs, I said more power to her. But soon after the boobs came the hair extensions, then the fuller lips, and then what appears to be botox around the cheeks/eyebrows. What startled me is that this happened so quickly, what also grabs my attention is that Lisa-Marie doesn’t seem like herself anymore. I know that this is just my own opinion, but it’s like all her insecurities are on full display. Her eyes look sad.
I found this image on a Pet Rock Studios blog post and it sums up this commentary perfectly.
courtesy of http://petrockstudios.com
There is also a major focus on the part of Freddie Light to highlight the new implants in most of the teaser photos…If it’s not the implants, it’s the crotch region. I don’t mind a touch of provocative, but bleh, I’m not really digging the new direction. I’m not going to get into the whole new “Flow” section, because I just don’t like the direction they’ve taken with it either.
Bottom line – While bodyrock.tv still has some great workouts to choose from, their direction into “Thinspo” has driven me away from recommending them and following the site in the future.
Honestly, I don’t deal with morning sickness well at all. I’m not sure why I’m even posting about it, but there are a few things that have helped me ease my suffering and I thought I would share them here. Always consult with your doctor before introducing anything new to your diet if you are pregnant.
Coconut water
I’ve been having a hard time drinking water. I love water, but my body wasn’t loving it back. I’m queasy and thirsty all day long and all water would manage to do is spread around my stomach acid and make me feel worse. I tried drinking flavored water, but anything artificially sweet made the feeling worse. Soda helped, but I wasn’t crazy about consuming so much sugar and calories, but what else was I going to do? Seltzer water with juice didn’t help. Juice straight up helped for about 5 minutes and then the sugar eventually made me feel sick.
Cue in Coconut water. My housekeeper suggested it. She said the fresher the better. She was right. I went to my local ethnic foods store (and even Whole Foods) for fresh young coconuts. It helped. Alot. I wanted too buy several fresh coconuts, but they are bulky and won’t fit in my refrigerator, so I decided to try the canned stuff. It doesn’t help with the nausea as much as the fresh, but it still does the trick. Before I was pregnant, I preferred the Amy & Brian’s brand. It had a decent amount of sweetness without being overly sweet. Now that I’m pregnant, it’s too sweet, I prefer the Zico brand. It is mildly sweet and great over ice.
My guess is that they high potassium content of the coconut water helps counteract the nausea. Or maybe it’s all in my head.
Lemon Tea
Very simple. Boil water and stick wedges of lemon in it. Let it sit for a couple of minutes. I don’t had an sweetener.
Avocado
I would eat this with a bit of brown rice, or crackers and it really seemed to helped even me out. I believe the B-vitamins in the fruit help, but also the added fat slowed down any sugar spikes that contributed to my nausea.
If you are currently suffering from monring sickness. I hope these small little tips help you like they helped me.
I haven’t posted here in a long while, mainly because I’ve been exhausted. Work has also kept me busy. Suffice to say, it’s been a life-altering time for me.
Last month, I was feeling quite good about myself. I was figuring out my body, lost approximately 7 pounds despite my inability to lose weight for a number of years. I still struggled with IBS, but I finally felt like I had control. Then I found out I was pregnant.
This didn’t take me completely by surprise. My husband and I were trying for another child. I felt I was mentally prepared for this, but I wasn’t. I went from feeling in control of my body to not having any control at all. My daily workout routine fell apart due to morning sickness and dizziness and dwindled down to nothing. Instead of losing weight, I had to feel comfortable with gaining weight. My diet also took hit, since many of the foods I had been eating started causing me to be sick. This really made me feel down, still does, but I know my hormones are running haywire.
I’m still in the early stages of pregnancy, almost 10 weeks along. In the last week, I’ve been able to walk daily for about 20 minutes. My IBS exasperates my “morning sickness,” but I’ll need to stick to my diet as best as I can to manage it. I’m happy to be pregnant, but I need to come to terms with it. I’m not fully in control anymore and that’s okay.
There is nothing more that I love than free workouts. I do have a gym membership, but fitness doesn’t need to cost you money. All you need is the desire to get yourself into shape in the comfort of your own home, on the track, pool, or great outdoors.
However, sometimes it’s great to have someone to push you. That is one of the main reasons that exercise DVD’s are so popular. You have someone to guide you and motivate you into shape. The downside is that these videos can get pricey, many of the Beach Body programs are over $100, which is cost effective if you use them religiously, but $100 is still $100. After a while though, you get used to doing the same old routine, you’ve memorized Shaun T’s lines, get bored and slack off. That is why YouTube is so great for fitness, you can get a fresh workout everyday. 😉
Avoiding spending money is what led my to bodyrock.tv and Zuzka Light, but it also introduced me to a bunch of other awesome online fitness personalities. One of these is Hang Tight with MarC.
What I like about MarC is her abilty to breakdown each workout, spending time on going over proper form and offering variations for different workout levels. For this reason I think that she is GREAT for beginners at interval workouts. Both Bodyrock and Zuzana can be a bit much for someone starting out without already knowing proper form. MarC’s workouts can be equally challenging if you make them so. She offers new workouts on an almost daily basis, so please check out for videos when you get the chance.
Everything has been going well. My insides seems to be happy and working at almost full capacity. 😉 I decided to ditch the medication, lower my water intake to 6 glasses a day, and start drinking kombucha tea daily. This seems to be working well for me so far. I just have to start making my own kombucha because it is pricey stuff.
I have another obstacle which might inhibit my digestive and exercise progress, but it’s not IBS related.
I have a GI appointment tomorrow, do we’ll see how that goes.
Sometimes even I need help with it. I bet you didn’t think so, did you? Yes, it’s true! Let’s take today for instance. It’s dreary & raining outside, which is tough even for a normal person I think (been a long time since I’d consider myself “normal” so I’m only guessing) 😉 For me though, rain flares up my rheumatoid arthritis, making all my joints ache & scream. The very LAST thing I want to do on a rainy day is get out of a warm bed. Add to that today is Day 1 of my competition “diet” (I hate that word, gotta come up with something else to call it. It’s really just eating clean. No sugar, no salt, no dairy, no breads, yadda yadda yadda… can’t give you guys the full details otherwise how will I ever make a living?) 😉 So anyway, yeah today is Day 1…
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