Fitness Friday: The Dreaded Stall

My weight chart with daily weigh-ins

Weight loss isn't linear. I know that. I expect that. However, it seems I've hit a stall. I haven't been logging my food on MyFitnessPal so I don't know if I have been keeping my carbs as low as I should. That's where I think things may have gone wrong. I may have inadvertently eaten too many carbs even though I was sticking to keto friendly foods. Yesterday I added the peanut butter cookies recipe onto MFP. Turns out I was eating about 16 grams of carbs a day in just those cookies. Oops!!! Oh well, I can fix this! I started logging on MFP again yesterday. I did decently keeping my carbs low but still could be a little lower. My protein and fat are slightly out of whack. Today I'll plan better. For accountability, I will be posting my macro pie chart in both the Ketogenics "Anonymous" Facebook group and on my Instagram.

 

Please comment below! I'd love to hear from you! 

© Mama Dani's Musings

Other places to find me:
Twitter: Made By Mama Dani
Instagram: MamaDani
Facebook: Made By Mama Dani
My Etsy Shop: Made By Mama Dani
Pinterest
Feedburner Or subscribe by email (on sidebar)

Fitness Friday: Finding What Works

I have blogged on this topic many times. When it comes to weight loss you just have to find what works for you. It's different for everyone....heck I think it's different for everyone at different points in your life. I have found something that works for me for now. Right now, that's the Ketogentic Diet, Keto for short. Keto is fairly simple. You keep your carbs under 20g a day. The rest of your diet is mostly fat with moderate protein. That's it! Simple. But Simple doesn't always mean easy. Giving up carbs is tough in this carb rich world we live in. The first week was hell but it has gotten easier....quite a bit easier. I started the Keto diet at the beginning of last November and in those 2 months I have lost 18 pounds and 2+ inches from my waist (plus because I didn’t measure till a month in)!! I'm pretty stoked about that! I have a Facebook group for anyone on the Keto diet or anyone interested in the Keto diet. Come join us if you'd like! Ketogenics "Anonymous"

Top: Nov. 2017 ~ Bottom: Jan. 2018

So, What do I eat??? I have been tracking my food on the You Ate app (the link brings you to my log). Most of the time I keep it simple. The first picture is breakfast recently: bacon, Gouda and coffee (with stevia, heavy whipping cream, and sugar free Starbucks vanilla syrup). Second picture is little smokies wrapped in bacon. Yum!!

As I got use to the diet I started trying recipes that made foods Keto friendly.

Flourless Avocado Brownies: These are just amazing. I added sugar free chocolate chips to mine.

Green Bean Casserole: I changed up the linked recipe. I took out the dried onions and the soy sauce. I added crumbled bacon and used more cheese.

Keto Pancakes: These are so simple and so good! 2 ingredients: egg and cream cheese....that's it!! One of the times I made these I added a splash of vanilla extract and a little ground cinnamon. Butter and Swerve confectioners sweetener is amazing on top!

Please comment below! I'd love to hear from you! 

© Mama Dani's Musings

Other places to find me:
Twitter: Made By Mama Dani
Instagram: MamaDani
Facebook: Made By Mama Dani
My Etsy Shop: Made By Mama Dani
Pinterest
Feedburner Or subscribe by email (on sidebar)

Fitness Friday {10.21.2016}

This week I failed with exercise. The only thing I managed to do was go to my dance classes. I did, however, stick to my diet very well. Because of that, I am down 2.4 pounds this week!! I'm almost back down to where I was when I started Eat to Perform (May 2015) and am down 12 pounds since leaving ETP (March 2016). I wish I hadn't wasted my time on that big fail!! 

My dance teacher is working on a workout plan for me...yay because she knows more about that than I do!! Once I get that I will add that to my plan. This weekend though, we are going camping with Sean's cub scout pack. I will do my best with eating but my choices will be more limited and I will not turn down s'mores!! On the other hand, I will be more active so maybe it will even out. We'll see how it goes next Friday! Hopefully I will have more to share then!

Please comment below! I'd love to hear from you! 

© Mama Dani's Musings

Other places to find me:
Twitter: Made By Mama Dani
Instagram: MamaDani
Facebook: Made By Mama Dani
YouTube: Dani's Family
My Etsy Shop: Made By Mama Dani
Pinterest
Feedburner Or subscribe by email (on sidebar)

Fitness Friday {10.14.2016}

Baby Sam doing his ab workout:

Isn't Sam a cutie!? Leg lifts and crunches are his new favorite thing to do. I wish I had his determination.

My fitness journey has been a rollercoaster. ...a rollercoaster that I am so ready to get off of. However, I still have another 15-25 pounds I'd like to lose, I've been trying through trial and error (lots of error it seems) to figure out what works. Unfortunately, diet wise, low carb seems to work the best for me. It sucks, It really does. Carbs are so tasty but I need to do what works, right? That's what I did this past week and today's weigh in revealed 1.6 pounds lost!! Yay!!

The other part of this equation is working out. I actually have not lifted weights in a few weeks. Mostly b/c I'm having a hard time with motivation to get my butt to the gym in the time I have with our crazy schedule. But also because I'm not sure what I should be doing....bodyweight, light weights, or heavy weights....low reps or high reps...mostly weight lifting or mostly cardio...etc. What I have been doing is practicing yoga regularly and doing more cardio (running and walking)....and of course 2 dance classes a week.

This week's plan:
-Continue with the low carb (with a cheat meal once a week)
-Do something active each day: dance class, run, walk, and/or yoga
-Figure out a workout plan

Lastly, check in again here next Friday. See you then!

Please comment below! I'd love to hear from you! 

© Mama Dani's Musings

Other places to find me:
Twitter: Made By Mama Dani
Instagram: MamaDani
Facebook: Made By Mama Dani
YouTube: Dani's Family
My Etsy Shop: Made By Mama Dani
Pinterest
Feedburner Or subscribe by email (on sidebar)

Good Bye 2014, Hello 2015!!

It's that time again! Time to say goodbye to the old year and hello to the new year. I like to say goodbye to the old year by reminiscing.

In 2014:

• We begun the new year will lots of new life in our little suburban homestead ...and more in February! ...and more later in the year that I didn't blog about, including hatching eggs under a broody hen for the first time.
• I focused on my crafty side and opened up my Etsy shop: Made by Mama Dani
• I started the year having just lost a few daycare kiddos but have ended the year with a full house and a nice wait list for my home daycare.
• We said goodbye to our beloved Dachshund Annabelle.
• And said hello to a little firecracker Boomer.
• We started a new school year with Sean in the 1st grade and Maddy in kindergarten.
• I brought back Fun Lunches for the kids.
• The kids had a fun and busy year with Maddy continuing dance, Sean continuing soccer, and Sean starting scouts, and we all started going swimming at the ymca: update post #1 and update post #2
• Maddy turned 5, Sean turned 7 and Emily turned 3 this year. ...my my have they been growing!
• Richard and I celebrated 8 years of marriage! 
• I became serious about bettering myself. I logged my food and made better choices. I worked out regularly with cardio, weight lifting, swimming, and yoga. I've lost about 14 lbs!

Onto the new year! My intentions for 2015:

• As cliche as this is, I plan to continue working at bettering myself. I will work on the last 20-30 lbs I want to lose. I will continue to make good food choices. I will continue to work on making exercise part of my routine. I plan to lift weights 2-3 times a week, have regular swim time with the family, and regularly practice yoga. Join me on my facebook group Girls Rule {Boys Drool} Fitness and/or on MyFitnessPal
• I will be beginning the year with 30 days of Yoga with Yoga with Adriene. I'm going to give morning yoga a shot, wake up and get on the mat before I do anything.
• I will find more time to read. I am working on Wicked and then plan to read the other 3 books in the series.
• I will learn more sign language and share it with the children I care for. I will start this with one of my Christmas gifts this year: Sign to Learn: American Sign Language in the Early Childhood Classroom
• I will expand my butterfly garden this spring. I need to add more nectar plants to attract more butterflies and need to replenish the Milkweed that did not return this year.
• I need to remember to write down all the cute kid moments I want to remember years from now: with my Kids Say series
• And lastly, I will continue with my creative outlet: knitting and crocheting. I have started a stack of crocheted granny squares. My goal is to continue at least 1 square a day until I have enough for a patchwork blanket for myself.

© Mama Dani's Musings

Other places to find me:
Facebook: Mama Dani's Musings ~ Twitter: Mama Dani Blog ~ Pinterest
Feedburner Or subscribe by email (on sidebar)
My Etsy Shop: Made By Mama Dani

Don't forget to leave a comment below. ;)

No More Excuses

One week ago I decided to quit making excuses about exercising. Time was my biggest excuse so getting up early to exercise made sense...just hard to do. I decided that I would start first thing the next morning b/c there was no reason not to. So, I set my alarm and set out my clothes, shoes, phone/headphones, and dog leash....might as well walk the dog at the same time, right? I had no problem getting up the next morning; I was pumped. I walked about 1.5 miles in about 30 minutes. I felt great!! I had a few hiccups the rest of the week: being sore, baby toddler wanting to nurse when alarm went off, being tired, warm bed seeming better than the chilly outside... but I did it anyways. My excuses didn't seem to be as big once I got outside and once it was all done, I felt amazing! The biggest obstacle was getting up and out the door. As I mentioned earlier, I was also bringing the dog, our pug, Gizmo. She's a crazy dog that has way too much energy. Another bonus is she's starting to be a little calmer and behave a little better! She gets so excited when she sees the leash.

I've been using an app called RunKeeper to track my walks...maybe one day I will actually run. RunKeeper is pretty neat. It uses GPS to map my walk and keeps track of my time. It then calculates my pace and how many calories I burned. I have it let me know when every 10 minutes passes. That helps me keep my pace up. Once I'm done it reads my stats to me and I share it on Facebook. There I've received lots of likes and comments and that has helped motivate me. If you're one that's liked my posts or commented on them, thank you and please keep clicking that "like" button! I'm motivated right now but I know my own motivation will eventually start fading.

But for now, I feel energized, happy, proud, and just all around great...and that is quite motivating!

Check out my stats for this week!

I know I haven't blogged in forever. I guess I need to make a no more excuse promise on that too. I'll work on getting a few update post up soon!

© Mama Dani's Musings
Other places to find me:

Weight Loss Update: 2 Months

Check out that picture! I keep looking at it because it makes me so happy. The last time I wrote about my fitness goals and weight loss I was a month into Weight Watchers and had lost about 10 lbs. The picture on the left at the top is from then. The shorts I'm wearing in both pictures fit perfectly when I started. Between the two pictures I only lost about 3 lbs but I wouldn't think that was true if I went by how my pants fit. I would think I had lost more than I did the first month. I'm still another 10 lbs or so from my goal but I'm very happy with my progress. I still need to start working out though...

Since I hope to be packing up my shorts and bringing out the fall attire, I'm creating a new starting point with my jeans that I couldn't button at the beginning of my weight loss journey. 

Other places to find me:
Facebook: Mama Dani's Musings, Twitter @MamaDaniBlog, Instagram: MamaDani, Pinterest: MamaDani
© Mama Dani's Musings

Fitness Goals Revisited

Back in February I wrote about my fitness goals. I was happy with the numbers on the scale then. They really weren't bad for just having my third baby! My goal was to get healthier and fitter just by eating good and exercising. It went well...for a week or two. The exercising was a huge fail. It just stopped happening. I felt I was eating ok when in reality, I wasn't. I would forget about the little bite here, or finishing the last little bit of the kids' sandwiches so they wouldn't go to waste, etc. It all added up and the number on the scale started to go up! I had to come up with a better plan. After talking to hubby, we decided to sign up for Weight Watchers. I had done WW before and knew it was easy to follow and it worked. We did our initial weigh in on July 7th. I weighed in at 156.2; about a pound heavier than I was the day before Emily was born. Not good! We signed up under a promotional offer and paid for 3 months. Maybe the money will make us stick with it! So far so good. We've had 4 weigh ins since then and I've lost 10.2 lbs putting me at 146. My ultimate goal is to get down to 130-135. I have not taken measurements but my jeans that I use to have to suck in to get them on, fit comfortably. I hope that they are too big by the time I need to start wearing them again. I want to go jean shopping this fall! If the summer wasn't already half over, I'd go shorts shopping. My shorts that I bought at the beginning of the summer use to fit perfectly. Now I need a belt.

I now have the eating right down and it's working. The next thing is I need to make exercise a habit. This will be the difficult part; finding the time, forgetting the excuses and finding something I love. I will update again.

Other places to find me:
Facebook: Mama Dani's Musings, Twitter @MamaDaniBlog, Instagram: MamaDani, Pinterest: MamaDani
© Mama Dani's Musings

Fitness Goals

I almost put this on my new year's resolution list but it seems so cliche. I want to work on a healthier lifestyle: healthier eating and exercising. I'm not doing this to lose weight because I'm pretty happy with the numbers on the scale. What I'm not happy about is the fluff around my middle.

I'm nursing so I don't want to limit what I eat by "dieting". I just want to make better food choices and I'm off to a good start. I made some changes while pregnant like replacing soda with water and cutting back on coffee. Then immediately postpartum I craved a lot of healthy foods. I'm determined not to let these changes revert back to what I use to be. I'm not stopping there; I want to make my eating even healthier. What I'm working on now is healthier snacks. I'm doing good at the moment; my favorite snacks right now are yogurt, bananas, cucumbers, salads, dry cereal (kid size bowl of honey nut cheerios), hard boiled eggs and peanut butter crackers. I try to ignore the cookies and such that hubby insists on having in the house for snacks and avoid buying the things I know I will snack on before the healthy stuff (chocolate!!!). I do great during the day, not so much between dinner and bedtime.

Exercise is sadly pretty nonexistent. I've tried in the past to workout regularly (usually a new year's resolution). I start off really strong and slowly slack off. I'm not really sure what happens other than I just get lazy. I need to figure out how to prevent this from happening this time around. I'm going to make ab work outs and cardio part of my everyday routine. I need to just find the motivation and a way to keep the motivation. Last night on Facebook I asked, "Do you exercise regularly? How do you stay motivated?". I heard two things that I think could help me stay motivate: find a workout buddy and do something I enjoy. The first thing that comes to mind is dance. I love to dance! I took dance lessons from the age of 4 until I was 5 months pregnant with Sean...yes, I was the one tapping on the stage at recital with a preggo belly. :) Some sort of dance workout would probably be great for cardio. Now to find one (preferably cheap/free and can be done at home) and to find a workout buddy.

My Fitness/Motivation pin board

Just for fun, my first dance recital:

Stay up to date by following me on twitter @MamaDaniBlog or "liking" my Facebook page. New followers: Welcome! Please leave a comment to let me know how you found my blog so that I can follow you back!
© Mama Dani's Musings