21 Day Fix- nutrition

I wanted to take a little time to give you my thoughts on the nutrition part of the 21 Day fix program.

First, let me tell you how much I love this program- "I LOVE this program!"
I really do, it has changed the way I look at food, it has drastically changed my portions of the foods I was eating too much of, it has led me to try (and like) new foods, it has helped me and my family already!
But with that being said, let me tell you that it's not always easy.  

The whole premise of these little portion boxes is to show you just how much a portion really is, and to get you to eat the right foods throughout the day.  If you're like me and love  LOVE carbs then get ready for a rude awakening on how many carbs you'll be eating on this program.  I already knew I was eating too many carbs, they were the majority of my diet- I would eat them for each meal of the day as well as snacks in between.  So I'm thankful for the program, that it's helped me to get away from eating so many.  I'm still eating carbs- they're not off limits, but my portions are greatly reduced.

How about a little overview on this box system:
In your package you get 7 colored boxes of different sizes.

The purple box is for fruits, pretty much any fruit you can think of can go in here.  You just fill the fruit to the top (make sure you can close the lid) and voila! there's your portion.  Depending on what calorie category you're in, you get 2-4 of these each day.  2 if you're in the 1200-1499 calorie category, up to 4 if you're in the 2100-2300 category.

The green box holds the most veggies.   You get 3-6 of these each day, again depending on your calorie category.

The red box is for the proteins (meats, eggs, tuna, cottage cheese, shakeology and protein powders, etc).  You get 4-6 of these each day.

The yellow box is for carbs like oatmeal, breads, tortillas, sweet potatoes, rice, corn on the cob, pastas, pancakes, beans, etc.)  You get 2-4 of these.  I'm in the category where I get 2, and oh how I wish it was four, but it okay.

The blue container is for things like avocado, raw nuts, hummus, cheese, coconut milk, etc. You get just one of these a day.

You get two little orange containers that hold chopped raw nuts, raw seeds, olives, coconut, and 21 Day fix dressings.  You also get one of these a day.

And lastly there are "teaspoons" (you just use your own teaspoon for these measurements).  These are for EVOO, coconut oil and other healthy oils, nut and seed butters.  Depending on your calorie category, you get 2-6 of these each day.

So, like I said this has helped me so much limit the food I was eating too much of (carbs), but it also helped me eat more of the foods I wasn't getting enough of in my diet (veggies).   

My diet on the 21 Day fix is balanced now.

Can I also say that not every food you may be used to eating should you continue eating.  For example Doritos aren't considered a whole/real food (and that's what you ought to be eating is the whole and real foods).  So you won't be filling up your yellow container with Doritos (sorry).  

The following list helped me to buy the right kind of foods at the store:

You may have questions like, what about coffee? with my favorite creamer? or what about treats? what happens when I go out for dinner? how do I cook in this new way?
I had these same questions, plus more.  This is why I researched this program before I bought it, I wanted as few surprises as possible- I wanted to fully know and accept what I was getting into.  
You should do the same thing.

And keep in mind that everyone is different, so everyone will have different goals, and everyone will do things a little different.  That's okay!

For me, it wasn't necessarily about losing weight.  
I wanted to take part in something that:
         *helped my family eat healthier for the long run, 
         *I wanted to get my tummy toned, 
         *and I wanted to just feel better.
Already, after only a week I feel better, I'm eating healthier, and my tummy is on its way to get toned.

Having said that I will also tell you that I'm not perfect in this new endeavor.  Whether you call it cheating or not, there are things I allow in my new diet that others may not allow, but remember that I don't have a lot of weight to lose either.  If my main concern was losing weight then I would probably limit my "cheats", but for me I want to do this the way I will continue to do it for the long haul- which for me means drinking my coffee in the morning with my creamer.  I will tell you however, that my coffee consumption has gone way down.  I now drink about 1 1/2 cups of coffee in the morning, and sometimes a cup in the afternoon.  Whereas  we used to have our coffee pot going all day long- seriously.  I'm trying to decrease the amount of creamer I add to my coffee, slowly, and we'll see how that goes.
The other thing that I've done a few days this past week is allow myself one extra carb a day.  Instead of 2 yellow boxes, I've had 3.  To me, it's not the end of the world because before this program I would have triple, or even quadruple the amount of carbs I eat now- so I've decreased it by a lot.  And again, it's because I'm not doing this for the weight loss, if I was then I would stick with the 2 boxes a day like they suggest.

This is really why I like this program so much, they've given these guidelines for you to follow, but you know what you can take and what you shouldn't.  I've drastically changed my diet, and this program has helped!  Let me also say that if you're doing this for weight loss, then once you've reached your weight loss goal you will then go to a maintenance calorie category, which may up your box portions.  
This program is really a life-changer, because it's truly changed my life.  But the nutrition portion goes hand in hand with the exercise portion, and that's why this works so well.  

If you have any questions about the 21 day fix then please feel free to ask!  
Next time I'll show you some of the things that have helped me in this endeavor, so check back soon!

First week on the 21 Day Fix

Good morning!!

It's 9:00 am, and I've been up for 4 hours already!  That alone boggles my mind.  Let me tell you why.
I. am. not. a. morning. person.
However, since starting the 21 Day fix my sleeping habits have completely changed.
Anyone else out there a night owl like me?
My old routine had me staying up until sometimes 1:00 am (or even later once or twice a week), and getting up around 6:30 am to get the kids up for school.
My morning routine was a hard one on all of us (myself and the kids).  My children definitely suffered from this routine: I was grumpy in the morning, I was rushed in the morning, I would end up not getting up early enough to do my morning devotions, and I'd be tired all day- sometimes taking a nap by 10:00 am and leaving my poor 3 year old to fend for himself.

Definitely not getting mom of the year here.
But now, things are completely different and it's not even been a full week yet.  
I feel so much better already, and I'm starting to get a better routine going.
I have my alarm set for 5:09 am (don't you just love that odd time?), I hit snooze once but usually get up before the alarm buzzes again.
I'm in the living room by 5:20 to do my 30 minute workout.  I just love that it's only 30 minutes!!
By 6:00 am I'm getting my 3 oldest kids up to go work with their 4-H goats before school.
6:45 am and all the kids are back in the house eating breakfast or finishing getting ready for school.
7:00 am I do a little devotion with them and pray before the bus picks them up.
7:20ish I'm at the table doing my own morning devotion- praying and reading my Bible.
By 8:00 am I'm checking email, Facebook, etc.  My little one loves watching Daniel Tiger on PBS so he's watching that while I get to drink my coffee and do my own thing.
And by 9:00 I'm feeling ready to tackle the daily chores.
Lately by 9:00 PM, I'm starting to feel tired and usually now by 10:00 PM I'm heading to bed.
So you see, since this 21 Day fix started my routine is so much better!  

I'm feeling better physically, emotionally, spiritually!

The workouts have definitely made a difference in how I'm feeling.  I love that they are short, but they are tough- especially in the beginning when you haven't worked out in a while, or even if you have they are varied that you feel like you're getting a real workout!
Because of the workouts I feel like I have more energy- even though they leave me exhausted when I'm done.  And by the time I go to bed I sleep better than I have in a long time.

If you're looking for something new in the workout and nutrition area then please check this program out, you won't regret it!
Next time I'll talk about the nutrition part and how it's been working for me.
Stay tuned!

http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com

My 21 Day Fix Journey

There's a lot going on around here, let me tell ya!
My kids have less than 2 weeks of school, so excitement is at an all time high right now.
My kids (3 of them anyway) just got their goats last week for 4-H this year.  They go out every morning before school and every afternoon when they get home from school, and then sometimes in the evening to work with them.
We're also in the beginning stages of getting a new house built, so we (actually mostly my husband) have been busy uprooting and moving trees, taking apart a deck, taking down and moving fences, moving a shed, having a new driveway put in- it's crazy!!!

And in the midst of all of this I'm starting the 21 Day Fix program.
If you haven't heard about this then let me tell you about it now.
It's not your typical diet or exercise program, but it combines both to give you the lasting results you want/need.

First let me tell you "my story" :)
I've always been a petite person, I'm 5'2" and usually weigh between 105-115.  Post high school I was probably more like 115-120.  
After my first baby was born the weight came off pretty quickly (around 4 months) due to breast-feeding (Loved it!!).  Same thing with my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th babies.  I would usually bounce back to around 115 within 4-5 months because of breastfeeding.  My stomach wasn't always the same after having kids, but within about 9-12 months of having a baby my stomach looked fairly alright and I could hide pretty much any lumps/bumps with clothing.
My fifth baby was another story though, I was 36 years old when I had him and my body didn't bounce back like with the others.  My stomach just wouldn't go back like it had with the first four.  But I wasn't too concerned because for the most part I could cover it up with the right kind of clothes.

But within the past 2 years my body was doing things that I didn't like too well.  
For one, I would have high blood pressure problems off and on (I had high blood pressure as well during my 5th pregnancy). 
Realizing that my aging body was beginning to have issues like this was a bit of a wake-up call.
My skin was worse than it was in my teens too.  I would break out more often now, whereas in my teens and 20's my skin was flawless.
My stomach pretty much always looked like I was at least 2-3 months pregnant because I had no muscle tone left in my abdominals.
So all these changes were happening in me that I didn't like- something had to change!

Last year I got a gym membership which I loved!  I actually enjoyed going to a weekly class, and I even started running (actually jogging) on the treadmill.  I felt better than I had in a long time.
At that same time I was hearing more about clean eating, and real foods.  I started reading more about what that meant, and trying to incorporate that kind of healthy eating into our diet.

As a side note, my husband has suffered from Ulcerative Colitis for 10 years and incorporating real foods into his diet was important for us.

After about 6 months of having a gym membership my husband's schedule at work changed so getting into the gym was not as easy since I didn't have him to watch our littlest one, so I let my gym membership lapse.
About 3 months ago I decided to try exercising at home.  I have a Gilad workout video that I bought awhile back.  Gilad had a regular 30 minute workout show about 5 years ago that I loved, where every day the workout was different so you wouldn't get bored.  Unfortunately the exercise channel was canceled and so were my workouts, the video I bought was good, but start to finish it was over an hour and I just didn't have that much time.
Last month I renewed my gym membership in hopes of going more often, but unfortunately the same problem occurred, I couldn't really figure out a good time to go unless it was when my husband woke up around 3-4 in the afternoon from his graveyard shift, which was also right before dinnertime.  So I would try to go on his days off, which didn't happen all the time.  In the month I had the gym membership I think I only went 7 times- just not enough for me to pay $30 a month.

So here I was thinking, "what am I going to do now??".
(Cue trumpet horn)

21 Day Fix!  
It was a weekend and we were all working outside, coming in and out of the house to get this and that, and there was an infomercial for 21 Day Fix on TV.  It instantly caught my eye.

What hooked me was the fact that this isn't a diet, and this isn't an extreme exercise program.  But it incorporates both the nutrition aspect and the fitness aspect.  
Hmmm...sounded good to me.

The nutrition part is all about real foods, whole foods, nothing processed- nothing fake.  This is what I was trying to do anyway for myself and my family, but 21 Day Fix is also about eating the right foods in the right portions.  Everyone knows that portion control in America is way off- look at all the super-sized foods we're offered!  
The program includes 9 boxes to help you with the correct portions of each kind of food. This was perfect for me because I knew I was eating way too many carbs- breads and pastas are my weakness.  This program doesn't cut those foods out, it just helps you with the right portions.
So I loved the nutrition aspect of this program!

The other part was the exercise portion.  
Remember how much I loved my Gilad workout shows on TV.  Well these 21 Day Fix exercise videos were exactly what I needed!  There are 8 workouts on the dvd's, seven 30 minute workouts and a 10-minute abs workout.  The workouts include a total body cardio fix, upper fix, lower fix, pilates, cardio, yoga, and a dirty 30 workout.  You just can't get bored with this- and that's exactly what I wanted!

I was pretty well hooked, though believe it or not I didn't order it at that time.  
I researched it for about a week, I went online and read reviews, I researched more about clean eating and real foods, and I found a ton of good links on pinterest.  The more I read about it, the more I liked it.  

So I ordered it.

While I was waiting for it to arrive I went grocery shopping for more real foods (the outside aisles of the grocery store mainly) and pinned all sorts of recipes.  I even found a friend who is a beach body coach, she helped me out a bunch too by sending me emails full of information.

Here's my package!  This picture doesn't include all the little pamphlets that came with it,
or the workout dvd's which I set by my TV.

So here I am on Day 2 and I'm feeling motivated.  Of course anything you just start you feel motivated about, but I really feel like this is a real life change, not just a temporary fix.

I'm going to stop this post here now, but I'll be giving regular daily or weekly updates on how this is going, and perhaps you'll decide this is a good program for you too.
Check back regularly for updates!  :)

To read how my first week went, click here.

Our Lexar Home Journey blog

About a month and a half ago my husband called me from work and dropped a bomb on me.
"Let's build a house".  Or maybe what he said was more like "You know how we had decided to stay in this house awhile longer, what if we just built a new house now instead?"

I was floored, to say the least.  First let me tell you why.

Our wonderful, cozy home!

We currently live in a double wide manufactured home on 20 acres.  It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath home that we had placed out here in 1998.  In 1998 we had no kids and the house was plenty big enough for us.  Fast forward to 2011 when I'm pregnant with our 5th child.  We already had 2 girls sharing a room, and 2 boys sharing a room- and we were managing just fine.  Of course having a little extra space would be nice, but it wasn't necessary.  We always had the mind set that our little house kept us close as a family, so getting into a bigger house was a want, not a need.  But we thought we'd try selling our house anyway (the house and shop on our 20 acres), and build a house next door on a separate 20 acres that we already owned.  
So that's what we decided to do in 2011, we put our house on the market and waited, and waited, and waited.  We had a lot of interest, but no offers.  This wasn't the best time to sell, the housing market wasn't great, but we thought we would try anyway.  We had our house on the market for that entire spring and summer without any offers.  We dropped the price during that time, had a lot of interest but no offers.  I was pretty discouraged.  We took our house off the market at the end of summer.
The next spring we did it again, and the spring after that too.
For three years we had our house on the market during the spring and summer months.  No offers.
Yes, we have a manufactured home and you may think that was the problem, but I don't know about that.  It's a nice home, we've updated things inside, we've landscaped over the years, we have a spectacular view of Mt Adams, it's in a great school district, we have a huge shop as well, the list could go on.

So why wasn't it selling??
I truly believe now that it was not in God's plan for us.  He had other plans.

The last summer we had our house on the market, I actually didn't want to put it on the market.  I was tired of trying, and the more I thought about it the more I realized I did not want to move off the land we were on.  You have to understand that when we first bought our 40 acres there was absolutely nothing here.  Not one tree, not one bush, nothing.  Since we moved on the property we have worked our tails off getting trees, working on landscaping, etc. 

I love it here! 

Our amazing front yard with the beautiful Mt. view!

The yard is perfect and big, enough space for all our kids to run around it.  We have huge trees now, the trees we planted 15 years ago tower over us now, and over the house as well.  We have lots of green grass that was once just a field of alfalfa.  The kids have their play set, their trampoline, the huge shop that they can ride bikes and scooters in, we have an awesome drive way for bike riding and basketball.  If we were to move next door on the bare 20 acres we would have none of that.  No green grass, no yard, no trees, no shop, nothing.
So I wasn't excited to try and sell again, and luckily we didn't.  Another summer and no offers on our house, even with repeated drops in price.  
God knew!
Two years ago was the first year we didn't put our house on the market, for once I enjoyed my spring and summer, I wasn't stressed about keeping our house picture-perfect clean 24/7.  It was nice.
We came to terms with living in the house forever (or at least for quite awhile).
I was okay with what we had, actually I was thankful for what we had.
Oh sure it would've been nice to get into something bigger, now 3 boys were in one room, but we made it work.   We continued to do some updates in our house, we re-did our kitchen cabinets, we replaced carpeting, added laminate flooring, painted and redecorated.

We were happy.

Then my husband dropped the bomb.
I'm thinking to myself, "where is this coming from??"  I thought we had decided to stay where we're at?  We had some bigger projects on our list, and had made some decisions about getting our mortgage paid off within the next 8 years or so.  So why was he thinking about building a new home now?  But my husband had a different plan this time.
He wanted to build the house on the same 20 acres that we are on now instead of the 20 acres next to us.  We would still have the yard, the shop, everything.

We prayed.
We wanted to do what was right.

This is where we'll have the new home built, right where we park our cars,
directly in front of our current home and next to our shop.

This is the model Lexar home in Kennewick, WA.
The same house that we've chosen to build.

And now here we are, in the early stages of getting a Lexar home built.  And when I say early stages, I mean early stages.
But it's exciting, really exciting.
It's funny how plans can change when it's God's perfect timing.  Our timing wasn't right, but God's is always right.
He's always right!

My next post I'll explain what stage we're in (I tell you it's early), but I'll chronicle the stages which will be helpful to anyone else thinking about doing this same thing.

Summertime routine for your kids

Summertime means saying Goodbye to a routine for some.  Even in our home I allowed our routine to go by the wayside for the first few weeks of summer vacation.  But Alas- our routine is being reinstated, the reason??  Chaos, utter chaos rules and reigns in our home when there is a lack of routine.

One morning two weeks ago, after having my quiet time and feeling guilty for the chaos around the house lately, I decided to write out a summertime routine.  We followed (fairly closely) the routine for the day and guess what?  Less chaos!  I am now going to be following a routine for the rest of the summer.  I don't want to be so very strict to this routine that spontaneity is not allowed.  I do welcome some spontaneous changes if the day calls for it, but while at home I do plan on sticking with the following routine:

6:30am-   wake up in time to say goodbye to husband as he goes off to work
7:00am-   quiet time for prayer, Bible reading, and verse memorization
7:45am-   start breakfast for children (they love oatmeal with brown sugar and maple syrup)
8:00am-   wake up children, if not already awake
8:30am-   after breakfast, children to brush teeth, make beds and straighten rooms if needed, and get dressed
9:00am-   Bible time with children:  Bible story or passage, verse memorization, prayer request list (children to each pray for one prayer request)  At the end of this time remind children of house rules and consequences (for my young children when they are reminded daily they are more apt to follow the rules)
9:30am-   chore time for each child
10:00am-  Buddy time (I have 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls, so each day they will have a different buddy, during this time they pick one or two board games and play together- I believe this helps them to learn to play nicely with each sibling and not to have favorites)
10:30am-  play outside if nice- riding bikes, playing on swing set, etc.  If it's raining or too cold to play outside then I have a bowl with a different activity on separate slips of paper, every 15-20 minutes we pick from the bowl and do a different activity.
11:30am-  quick clean-up if needed in the house, or clean up outside toys
12:00pm-  lunch, then clean up dishes and table, and brush teeth
12:30pm-  story time on couch, short storybooks for all the kids
1:00pm-   nap time for the two youngest, reading time for the two oldest (they are to read quietly from a chapter book)
1:30pm-  quiet time for the two oldest while the other two are napping

I'll stop there for now, it's a bit harder to stick to an afternoon/evening routine because my husband gets home around 3:30-4:00pm and we go with the flow when he's home.  He likes to let them ride their 4-wheelers/motorcycles, or they work around the house/farm with him, or just play outside.

So this routine is when we plan on being home for the day.  I do have things planned during the summer that will take us away from the house, and I'll talk about those fun outings later.

Do any other ladies follow a routine during the summer?  What works for your family, and what doesn't? 
I'm interested in hearing!