I started this campaign with a list and I am going to end it with a list.

10 things I learned about myself during Mamavation Couples Campaign 10

1. Losing weight takes work but it makes it worth it.
2. Having a clean house makes life easier.
3. Thank goodness for editing my random ramblings.
4. 60 minutes of my time equals 3 miles.
5. I am the queen of Squat challenges.
6. Social Media took up a lot of time that I never realized.
7. Nursing a baby required a lot of sitting time for me.
8. Back Fusion Surgery only made me stronger
9. Food isn’t my only reason for living, haha.
10. Support of my friends helped so much!

Before 10/10/2011

After 11/22/2011

I know I have said this before, but I honestly had given up. I had told Megan I would die young and I believed it. I feel positive I can do this. I have decided to resist shaving until I reach my goal weight or 185lbs. I’m hoping I make it soon because my face is itchy. I’ve lost 17lbs since Megan convinced me to be apart of this.

Before 10/10/2011

After 11/22/2011

Being a Mamavation Mom/Couple is something that I will never forget. I now know that it is always going to take work and being idle is only an opportunity to keep moving. I have lost a total since joining Mamavation…(drum roll)…38lbs (not counting baby pregnancy weight). During the past seven weeks I have lost 13lbs.

The next campaign will be opening to moms soon and if you are thinking about applying, I urge you to do it. Don’t just think about it because thinking doesn’t yield results. Get up, grab your pedometer and walk until you hit 10,000 steps. The sooner you do it the easier things are. Build your team of supporters. Announce that you want to make a lifestyle change.

I started this with a newborn and a back fusion. I wanted this, I needed this, and I did this!  You can too!!

Thank you to our sponsors EAS Sports Active and Omron Fitness
And Special thanks to Leah @BookieBoo, Alysa @InspiredRD, Pete @PeteCohn_, Drill Sergeant Alairk @gruntstyle, and all of you in the the Sistahood and those thinking of joining!

You are what you eat…Are you really though? Tomorrow write down everything that you put into your mouth. Then step back and look at it. Are you getting a picture of health? Is it more like a picture of the perfect chocolate candy bar? Is it an empty canvas because nothing passed those ruby red lips?

I was nervous that I would have a huge struggle with adjusting my nutritional habits becoming a Mamavation mom. Alysa @InspiredRD made things simple to look at and I realized I had some practice with this plan already when I was pregnant and was told I had gestational diabetes.  She uses exchanges/choices for meals. Here is a look at our breakdown.

I realized that cooking has been something that I had given up when I stopped doing cooking demos for people back in 2010. I couldn’t even remember the last time that I had really cooked anything from scratch besides Creamy Chicken Taquitos. I decided that this was the perfect time to get creative with my food again. Just because I was watching my food didn’t mean my food had to suck the fun out of it. I just needed to learn the exchanges to make nutrition work (plus fun names, exciting salad sized plates, and fearlessness helped too).

We have eaten & will be eating:

Megan 11lbs Morgan 16lbs

Gingerbread pancakes with apples and walnuts, Chicken Tangine with squash, Aloha pork tenderloin, Tandoori inspired 30 min chicken (greek yogurt and cucumbers), Bean and Veggie sliders, Breakfast Quinoa with avacado, The Elvis (whole wheat bread, peanut butter, sliced banana, and melted dark chocolate), Mongolian Flank steak…is your mouth watering yet? Lifestyle changing food is delicious! We practice moderation and portion control, along with a change of attitude. Keeping an open mind has helped open up a lot of food options and choices for us.

I have a corn allergy. If you have never seriously looked at labels then you probably don’t realize that corn is in everything…seriously, everything. The biggest nutritional change I had was finally giving up soda. Megan told me I had to give up soda to participate with her. I was drinking 4 Mt Dews a day, well, night to stay alert. I didn’t realize that the corn in the ingredients were doing as much damage to my body or holding me back with my weight loss. I thought I would die giving the soda/caffeine up because I had huge withdrawals. But my stomach was flat for the first time that I can remember. The bloating was gone. I’ll never go back to soda again, not even the throw back. I’m finding it easier to eat right and slim down. Its a great feeling to fit into your cloths the way you were meant to. Because we have this allergy to deal with it has opened my mind to foods I had sworn I would never eat. Not sure if it’s just the fact I’m allergic to corn, but food tastes much better without corn  and corn product added.

Thank you to our sponsors EAS Sports Active and Omron Fitness
And Special thanks to Leah @BookieBoo, Alysa @InspiredRD, Pete @PeteCohn_, Drill Sergeant Alairk @gruntstyle, and all of you in the the Sistahood and those thinking of joining!

So far during this Campaign I’ve lost 9.4lbs, but 33lbs since having this baby…WooHoo!!! My husband, who had given up the thought that he would ever lose any weight is down to 211lbs, that is 14lbs!

It’s important to give ourselves props about losing weight. No matter how little, big it is, a loss is a loss. If you throw yourself a party for every ounce then you look forward to every single ounce.

This week I am focusing on Fitness. Fitness is huge! Okay..so are Nutrition, Sleep, Support, Water…there is a huge list. But right now it’s fitness I’m talking about.

I was sick last week, I had dental work, it was rough. But I kept up with my workouts. I tried to make every activity count. A few weeks ago I tweeted that it took me 2000 steps to clean my bathroom. The reason I was able to rack up so many steps is because I purposely tried. I made trips back and forth between my laundry room and the bathroom, I did the dishes, I went to the basement several times, I sorted a load or two of laundry…I am usually the person that goes from point A to point B, not the one that hits point C and point F before coming back to point B. I’ve been working on retraining my thought process.

In my head runs a continuous stream of “Make those steps Count” and “Walk with Purpose”. If I’m on the treadmill I try to go further, faster, and work harder. If I’m doing squats and lunges I add weights because they are easier if I don’t. We might think that because we are moms that we just don’t have time, but we do, it’s just a matter of prioritizing. I can get my 10,000 steps a day in 60 minutes of purposeful walking and doing my every day stuff. It is almost like a game for me now to see how fast I can do it or if I can get all my steps in as aerobic steps.

That is how I fit my fitness in. How do you fit it in?

I work in an office for almost 13 hours a day. My office has no windows and I don’t leave my office area. I’m actually locked in, well the door is locked on the outside so no one can get in. When I get home my health and fitness is the last thing I am thinking about. I’m actually thinking sleep. This week I have 40 hours overtime and it sucks. I have to workout in my down time. I have a treadmill in my office and I am finally using it. I’m past that funk where I was just tired all the time and didn’t want to do jack squat. Now I have energy, drive, goals, ambition.

Thank you to our sponsors EAS Sports Active and Omron Fitness
And Special thanks to Leah @BookieBoo, Alysa @InspiredRD, Pete @PeteCohn_, Drill Sergeant Alairk @gruntstyle, and all of you in the the Sistahood and those thinking of joining!

As I take my place on the treadmill I glance back to make sure the swing is still swinging. I’ve finished nursing the baby and placed him in the swing, I’ve started a movie for the toddler and I am ready to go.
I put my headset on, turn on motivational movies on my phone and crank up the speed to race through my hour long walk/jog. I know that I have about one hour to get my 10,000 steps in a day. I can’t rely on anyone but myself to get those steps in. I know the only way I can get them in is to do it all at once.

Being a Mamavation Mom has taught me that I have to change my way of thinking and manage my time, even if that means cutting back on my social media time. It is all about finding a balance. As a mom that is nursing I find myself sitting a lot so I have to make my workouts count and that is why I love GruntStyle workouts, EA Sports Active and my Treadmill. Focus is really my key to success. Today I was able to push my Aerobic steps up from 6,000 to 9,000+ thanks to Omron Fitness and proper placement of my pedometer now that my pants don’t fit anymore.

Halloween is over and I wasn’t tempted by the candy, partly because I had some dental work gone awry that day, but why throw all my hard work down the drain for some candy. I’m working hard, I am making some big changes and I am looking like a whole new woman.

I had given up on losing any weight a long time ago. I was so set on remaining this size that I tossed all my smaller sized clothes about a month ago. I will admit I was not excited to have to workout, change my eating habits or get 10,000 steps in a day. I still fill really worn out doing most of these things, but I also haven’t been feeling well since this campaign started. I am however, reaping the benefits and enjoying the energy and happiness that Megan is experiencing. It feels good knowing she notices things changing as much as I have. I’ve been looking at photos from just a few months ago and I don’t even recognize myself. I’m finally excited and very glad I gave up my soda habit to do this.

Thank you to our sponsors EAS Sports Active and Omron Fitness
And Special thanks to Leah @BookieBoo, Alysa @InspiredRD, Pete @PeteCohn_, Drill Sergeant Alairk @gruntstyle, and all of you in the the Sistahood and those thinking of joining!

What drives you to take this moment to seize your life back? How do you know this is the right time? What is your game plan? Is there ever the right time to do anything? All serious questions that I had to ask myself before considering Campaign 10 as my time.

It is no secret that I have a lot on my plate as a mom of four with a husband that doesn’t have any rhyme or reason to his 13 hour shift work schedule. We just moved, had a baby and my back fused, but if not now then when?

Just like with any new project there is chaos as you try to settle in. I knew this campaign wouldn’t be easy, but since when have I ever taken the easy route?

I actually did a lot of preparation before applying for the campaign.

• I knew that if I couldn’t do the exercise then I couldn’t even consider this an option. I took the Grunt Style workouts to my Physical Therapist and told her I had to be able to do it…then I told her to secretly prepare my husband, who was also her patient.
• I used the same nutrition exchange program during the last 3 weeks of my pregnancy that this campaign uses, although it is more detailed now.
• I pushed my steps up by walking 1hr a day hitting 10,000 steps a day most days
• I consulted my husband because he needed to be on board.

I new this would be hard, but I push myself hard. In June and July I couldn’t walk. My husband pushed me in a wheelchair for weeks. It is so humbling to have him selflessly do things for me to help me get better. Now I push myself to walk 3miles on the treadmill. I consciously make and eat healthy meals and I am learning to plan ahead…something that I have never been good at.

Total loss Megan 7.6lbs Morgan 11lbs

Morgan: Its been hard to get into a grove for me because I am working so many nights. I’ve learned that sleep is a key component for my weight loss. I simply weigh more when I haven’t slept. I can’t wait to test out my new skills in a daytime setting for a change. I didn’t have time to be filmed this week so Megan came up with the best idea she could have short of driving all the kids across state lines to film me.

Thank you to our sponsors EAS Sports Active and Omron Fitness
And Special thanks to Leah @BookieBoo, Alysa @InspiredRD, Pete @PeteCohn_, Drill Sergeant Alairk @gruntstyle, and all of you in the the Sistahood and those thinking of joining!