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Finishing the 30 Day Challenge
Woot! I finished the 30 days to Healthy Living and Beyond challenge! Here are my results and thoughts, this time around:
This was my third or fourth (Can’t keep track) time doing the challenge. The first time was BC: Before Child. I lost 9 pounds and lotsa inches. The second time I did it, I found out in the same month that I was pregnant. 🙂 Hey, at least I was eating super healthy. I believe I did it again sometime after having Juniper, but loosely followed it.
So, this time around, I followed the plan *pretty* well. For those of you not familiar, the 30 day challenge is an elimination-style diet. You eliminate common trigger foods and addictive foods for 30 days, then add them back in one by one to see how your body reacts to them. This includes dairy, soy, gluten, refined sugar, and alcohol.
Aside from the week where we were all sick, I stuck with it fairly well.
Results this time around were that I lost around 4 pounds. I’m happy with that, as healthy and sustainable weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week, so I’m right in that target. Also, my weight hasn’t budged from 180 in a long time!
What I learned this time around is that I snack on Juni’s leftovers a lot. She eats a lot of what we eat too, so it’s pretty healthy, but for lunch she will sometimes have mac and cheese, quesadillas, or chicken nuggets and “dip dip” (ketchup). She also loves snacks like cereal bars, saltines, and goldfish crackers. These bites here and there add up over time.
As far as my reaction to different allergenic or addictive foods, I already knew that I’m sensitive to gluten and dairy. Too much of it and I feel sluggish, tired, and bloated.
Conclusion: The 30 day challenge helped me realize when I was having those extra foods and also helped me cut down on how much bread I was eating each day. I will still have gluten and dairy, but in moderation and when it’s really worth it.
Questions? Ask in the comments!
This week was bananas
Welllll, this week has been a doozy.
I had a migraine from Friday-Monday, which I wrote about last week. Then, a sore throat on Sunday that turned into laryngitis and I lost my voice. THEN, Robert and I got food poisoning from a salad we shared when we went out to eat on Tuesday night. Lastly, on Friday I had a procedure done to surgically remove a mole on my face because it’s been causing me pain lately.
I was basically out of commission for an entire week, which was really hard for me. I love having a lot of different tasks to do, I need to get out of the house at least once a day, and I’d prefer to not be laying on the couch letting Juniper binge watch Season 2 of Daniel Tiger.
As far as the 30 day eating clean challenge, I had to suspend it. The nausea was so bad, it reminded me of when I was pregnant. Ugh. By mid-week I was so sick that all that appealed to me was Sierra Mist and plain potato chips. No joke!
While it wasn’t ideal to suspend the 30 day challenge for a week and go back to consuming whatever I wanted, I felt like I needed to eat what I knew wouldn’t make me feel even more nauseated and sick, if that makes sense. From my six years exploring raw foods to doing this 30 day challenge for the fourth time, at this point I’m pretty aware of what foods I can handle and what I cannot. For me, it’s moderation. I know which foods are my trigger foods (gluten and dairy), and if I have too much of either, I feel puffy and lethargic. Now that I’m feeling human again, I plan to finish out the challenge this week and continue to explore how to get my energy levels back up.
Why did I share all that with you? Because we all feel guilty from time to time about one thing or another. We feel guilty and anxious about eating the “wrong” things, not working on the things we want to work on, parenting the way we feel like we should. We feel guilty about not doing enough or being enough.
Yeah, I feel totally guilty eating junk food when my passion is promoting a healthy lifestyle. I’m not perfect, and I don’t want you to think my eating habits are flawless 100% of the time. Perfection is not ideal–it’s about moderation and persistence. Sometimes life happens and we have to just succumb to the couch and kids shows. That’s what they’re made for, right?
Maybe that resonates with you and maybe it doesn’t, but thank you for reading if you made it to the end. 🙂
Motivation Monday
It’s hard for me to feel motivated when I’ve had a migraine since Friday, and a sore throat since yesterday. Ugh! I went to Sands Chiropractic for an adjustment and acupuncture, so I’m hoping I can kick this today.
Wins for this week:
I stayed around the same weight, and my clothes are feeling looser. Taken today (176.8):
I went to the gym 3 times last week! Zumba, Body Pump, and Yoga. I’ve found that Juniper sleeps a lot better if she gets out of the house every day, so it’s been motivating me to get her to childcare at the YMCA.
I’ve stuck with the 30 day challenge, except for a cup of coffee with almond milk each day since Saturday. I wondered if my headache was lack-of-caffeine related, but it doesn’t seem to make a big difference.
Today is my organizational day, but depending on how I feel I may take it easy.
What are your plans for the week?
Motivation Monday
In celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. day, here is one of my favorite quotes from him:
It can be really hard to take those first few steps when you don’t know if you’ll succeed or not. With anything new, like setting a goal, building up your business, eating better, or taking on a new fitness regimen, it takes time to get there and faith to get started.
I’ve finished the first week of the Arbonne 30 days to Healthy Living and Beyond program. We’ve been trying out new recipes like cauliflower pizza crust with Daiya cheese and Beyond Beef (Turned out more like a pizza casserole, but yummy), kale chips (Too salty, but got the texture right), and spaghetti squash with homemade pesto (Perfect!).
I’ve lost roughly 3-ish pounds, which is exciting because I have hovered at 180-ish for quite a while now post-baby. Taken last week:
Taken today:
Sorry, my phone’s camera is pretty bad these days. I think I’ve dropped it one too many times. 🙂
I don’t feel like I have much more energy yet BUT I have been off coffee for a week now, so I expect it to level out and increase soon!
Since today is my organizational day, I will be working on clearing out some things in storage before heading to the gym for Zumba!
What are you doing with your Monday?
Gluten Free, Vegan “Pad Thai” recipe!
I was feeling some noodles on this cold day, so I combined my raw vegan recipe for pad thai with rice noodles! We didn’t have mung bean sprouts on hand this time, but really you could add any veggies you like to this. This serves 2-4 people, depending on how much you thin out the almond butter sauce and how much pasta you use.
Here ya go:
Rice noodles or spiralized zucchini (Tonight I used 1/2 a package of millet and brown rice ramen noodles)
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1 carrot, chopped
Handful of sugar snap peas, chopped
Handful mung bean sprouts
6 TB almond butter
1 TB tamari sauce or Bragg’s Aminos (Can omit and add more water and sea salt instead)
1 TB agave nectar
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp sea salt
a few TB water to desired consistency
Prepare noodles as directed. Toss all vegetables together into a bowl, and add the noodles.
Chop the cashews and set aside.
In a food processor, puree all other sauce ingredients until very creamy. Be aware that the almond butter can get hot quickly. Pour over noodles and veggies, toss lightly, top with cashews, and serve.
Enjoy!
Motivation Monday
I’ve penned in my calendar “organizational day” for the next four Mondays. I think that will be a good time for me to get organized for the week and give myself permission to catch up on anything that may be lagging.
Behold: My email is at ZERO and EMPTY. This has never happened in my life!
I started the 30 Days to Healthy Living Arbonne challenge today! I’m excited to be doing it, but to be honest, it was a rough start. My sleep schedule is always off, and I’ve had little energy. Juni woke up with a bad cold today, and I’m not feeling great either.
My main goal with this 30 day challenge is to gain energy and losing weight as a secondary benefit. While it would be a bonus to be able to fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes again, it is not the main focus. If I get around to taking a “before” photo, I will. I didn’t weigh myself today, but I’m currently around 180 pounds and a size 12 (I am 5’9″, for reference).
Besides sticking with the plan for the first day, I made a big green smoothie to give me a boost, and Juni liked it too.
I had planned on going to Zumba in the evening, but when Juni decided to take a second nap, I did too.
Tomorrow is a new day! Hopefully we’ll all be feeling better and will be able to tackle the day!
Motivation Monday
I received this email today:
“Hi Kelsey. I wanted to wish you well and thanks for asking me to start the New Year with the Arbonne cleanse. Since starting last January 5 with the cleanse I have lost 30 lbs!!”
THIS is why I love our Arbonne challenge!!! It’s something that can be a catalyst for a lifestyle change. This person did just one Arbonne challenge last January, and it flipped a switch to help them be healthier.
It’s not a fad, not “drink 2 shakes a day and call it good”…my goal is not to have you on nutrition products for the rest of your life. My goal is to help you find that “good, better, best” in your lifestyle, help you learn how to properly eat, and find what works best for you. 
In other news today, I went to Zumba for the first time in the new year and the instructor kicked my butt. I can’t follow every step, but as long as I keep moving, I’m happy!
A reflection on 2015
While I am a firm believer that ANY time is the right time to make a resolution, you can’t deny the feeling that the new year brings. The calendars turn. The days start to get longer. Everyone is wishing you a “Happy New Year”. Personally, things are feeling like they are turning around for us too (more on that in the next paragraph), so while I do like to set goals whenever I feel like setting them, this New Years is a good time to reflect, adjust, and move forward.
2015 was hard. Not bad, but not easy, either. Juniper had physical therapy once a week and had her helmet appointments as well for most of the year. She also had audiology appointments, developmental appointments because she was a preemie, and saw an allergist–all on top of her regular doctor appointments. It was rather exhausting to keep it all straight. Thankfully, everything has checked out and she’s doing really well. In the second half of the year, she developed a bad cough and began vomiting every night in the middle of the night. We were running on very little sleep and too much laundry. Finally, we cut milk completely out of her diet a few weeks ago and she is not vomiting anymore. (Fingers crossed!) She is also close to graduating physical therapy and discontinued her helmet in September. I feel an overall relief that the major things are winding down.
2015 was full of good, too! Robert quit his day job early in January of last year and found an awesome part time gig at Kyle’s Bikes. I continued to build my Arbonne business and finished the majority of my studies for my Public Health degree. We were able to travel a lot and went to Arizona, South Africa, and North Carolina to visit family. We also went to Duluth for Robert’s first trail marathon.
The word I had in mind for the year 2015 was “Abundance”. Not in the sense of financial wealth, but in the sense of an abundance of everything. I feel that was accomplished and despite the bad, we had an overabundance of good. I’m so grateful for the time that Arbonne has given back to us as a family. We didn’t foresee Juniper’s medical complications, but she is thriving now and I’m thankful we were able to be the ones involved in her care every day. Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to take Juniper to all of her appointments, work/study from home, spend time together every day, and travel as much as we did. Even with accumulating PTO, our former jobs would not have allowed us to do all of that.
We celebrated Juniper’s first birthday. We got to walk with lions, clothe and feed children in South Africa, be a unicorns for a day, and spend valuable time with friends and family.
Sometimes it’s easy to find and focus on the negative, difficult, or exhausting parts of life but hard to find the positive. So what is in store for us in 2016? I’ll fill ya in with my next post.
How did your 2015 go? Was it the way you planned or a total surprise? Comment below!
Motivation Monday
This image is of a friend and Arbonne consultant I know in Des Moines, Iowa. She recently set a goal to lose 30 pounds before her 30th birthday and she crushed it by following Arbonne’s healthy living program and working out. The key is consistency!!
Amanda, you are a motivation to me!
happyavo 