Getting Fit Before Baby

[Fern81]

Love this week's challenge! I might not be able to do that after every bathroom break as I have students that pay me per hour... but I can definitely do it in between! I already did a mini 5 min workout about an hour after my 30min run today just to try and get rid of some stress. So I definitely would love to do the workout-all-day-long thing. Our blood circulation systems have to be stimulated all the time after all.

Geez I am so jealous of that shop where you get all that for free! DH and I'm still renovating and furnishing our new (really run-down) house (10-20 year slow project!)... I WISH a store in RSA would do that . I also love rearranging furniture so that everything makes "sense" and that space is utilized optimally hehe (according to me at least); my favorite room in the house is the library which we recently rearranged and now has 2 large bookcases, a nice comfy "lazyboy" style chair, a writing desk and chair, obv loads of books (I'm a bookworm), a rocking horse (because why not) AND a lot of Delft and other nostalgic wall hangings
I have no sense of style and my whole house is furnished with sentimental stuff that don't really fit but so what.

Ursaula - please post the recipe to your smoothies. I'm making 9 smoothies tonight to freeze and would love a recipe for something that will help me not lose more weight while at the same time be nutritious and NOT full of crap calories.

My smoothies for tonight contain: a bit of nut butter, pecan nuts, desiccated coconut, rooibos tea, full cream yogurt (with no additives or preservatives), fresh strawberries, lentil sprouts.

 

[Fern81]

IRYM - AND if IVF doesn't work I'm really taking on the progress challenge. For me it will be running (I'm really interested in becoming a marathon runner); so how long running vs walking, etc. Also planks, squats, lunges and pushups. I can do about 60 squats at a time atm (fortunate enough to not have serious knee/back problems) but would LOVE to get my legs and torso much stronger for marathons.

 

[BronteForever]

Fern - great job on the workouts and fitness routine. I really hope IVF works for you. If your levels were normal before, then I'm sure they will be normal again. Fingers crossed! Also, that's awesome you want to do marathons. My husband is a runner as well. He's done ultra marathons, duathlons, triathons, and every length of running and cycling race in between. If you have ideas about fitness, I'm happy to ask him. He's a fitness nut and listens to so many podcasts, etc. about running and triathlons. He's doing a race in Spain next month, which we are excited about. That's one reason we are waiting until June to do IVF, since we'll be traveling for it.

Ursaula - awesome job girl. Keep it up! Eating healthy definitely makes the biggest impact for me. I can workout as much as I want, but if I get off my healthy eating just a bit, I don't see any results. Keep at it. You are doing great!

IRYM - great challenge. Sounds fun! Your weekend sounds exhausting, but it probably felt very rewarding. I love clearing things out and getting new stuff. You'll have to post pictures of your new furniture if you can! Great job on maintaining this week. Water intake is hard for me as well.

Cupcake - great job on 2 pounds, especially during a sad and trying time for you this past week.

Miracle - I have weeks like that where I get so frustrated, especially after working so hard. Our bodies are just weird like that sometimes. Often mine doesn't show up as weight loss until a few weeks. Plus, your cycle can affect things as a women and you might be bloated which adds on weight.

AFM - I'm down 3 pounds this week. However, I didn't do great last week with workouts. I had a stressful week and failed miserably on finding motivation to workout. However, I did do fairly well on food intake, which for me makes much more of a difference in terms of actual weight loss. The only problem is that AF started and usually I lose weight during that time, so that might be why I'm down some and I might put some of it back on next week. We'll see.

 

[Ursaula]

For those wanting my smoothie recipe, it is from a website called "greenthickies.com". My favourite one so far is the healthy apple pie dessert smoothie. Here's the recipe!

Recipe:
2 cups Non-dairy milk (I use sweetened almond milk)
1 banana
2 apples
1/4 cup pecans
1/2 cup dates (or other dried fruit, I use raisins)
1 filler (I use 1 cup of oatmeal)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
Optional: 1 cup spinach or other mild green OR 1-2 scoops of green powder (I use 1 scoop VegeGreens, until my kale grows!)

Instructions:
Blend dry ingredients and liquid together first.
Add and blend greens.
Blend fruit and any other ingredients last.

It is gluten free, raw, vegetarian, vegan, dairy free, egg free, refined sugar free, wheat free, soya free, salt free, and can be nut free if nuts are replaced with sunflower or pumpkin seeds.

It makes 2 servings.

I usually put it in a bottle and drink about 1/4 of the bottle whenever I'm hungry. I usually last 4-6 hours on 1/4 of the bottle. It's super filling! For supper I add 1-2 servings of meat/protein just to make sure I get enough and that's all I eat in a day! Hope this helps you gals and make sure to check out the website. It's amazing!!

 

[ireadyermind]

Wow, Urs. Sounds pretty good! And thanks for sharing the site where you found your recipe.

 

[mrs.green2015]

Hey ladies! Sounds like you all are doing so well!!
Congrats for all the weight loss!! That's fantastic! And extra congrats to urs with 11 pounds! Holy cow girl! You're on fire!
Sorry I don't have better responses. The allergies here are pretty bad and has give me a migraine.

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone for your kinds words an thoughts. I have my appointment tomorrow and may or may not be starting clomid again. DH is having a rough day with another loss.

 

[tulip110]

Mrs. Green - I'm so sorry you had that happen. Sending warm thoughts your way.

Ursaula - WOW! That is fantastic! Good job! DH and I have actually tried a few of those shakes in the past. They were good. I'm not sure why we stopped.

IRYM - That was an awesome deal you guys got! I, too, did some cleaning this weekend. We have been emptying the garage out to prepare it for our home gym. This weeks challenge sounds good. With all the extra water I've been drinking I should definitely get in a bit more workout time.

AFM - I worked out everyday last week with only one day off. I did 30 minutes everyday after work and on my days off from work I did 1 hour. Usually running on the treadmill but every other day I did a work out dvd. I did my best to control my portions and tried my best to eat green foods everyday and 64 ounces of water everyday (ONLY water all week - that was probably the hardest for me since I hate water) Sooo I'm down 4.9 pounds and I'm very happy about it.

Congrats to everyone and good luck with next week!

 

[swimmyj1]

Fern - i hope you get to do IVF this month that would be so crappy if you had to wait! my fingers are crossed

mrs. green - im so sorry for your loss let us know how your appointment goes, do you think they will do any further testing?

urs - keep up the good work! holy cow!!!

drjo - hope your delivery goes smoothly cant wait to see some pictures

cupcake - im so sorry about your calf, I hated when animals didn't make it growing up on the farm. One thing i don't look forward to during lambing season every year. there is always one little one that struggles, fingers crossed with a smaller group pregnant and no first time moms we don't get that this year.

BronteForever - fingers crossed those pounds stay off!

AFM - trying to do better with my fruits and veggies. Thanks to this wonderful weather I was able to grill out the other night, did some yummy chicken and lots of grilled veggies. Got my new kayak out the other day yay!! Working a ton this week so fingers crossed I don't go crazy by sunday from lack of sleep, or worse give into my ice cream addiction with the new soft serve machine in our caf at work. my DH is doing better with not bringing so many goodies home so thats helping

 

[cupcakestoy]

Congrats to all our Losers this week! LOL You guys are killing it!

 

[Fern81]

Congrats to all our Losers this week! LOL You guys are killing it!

Bwhahahahaaa, this is the ONE place we all want to be called Losers!

Urs - thanks for sharing the recipe. I love smoothies because they are so easy to eat and convenient (open up and sip!) and no meal preparation that takes hours and hours. I now have 10 smoothies in the freezer and will make some more that contain oat bran or something more filling than the ones I currently have, for during IVF. Thanks for sharing the website too. And so many different nutrients in one bottle. Very impressed with you.

I'm actually very impressed that so many of you ladies lost so much! It was a good week, congrats, keep up the good work

https://natural-fertility-info.com/fertility-diet sharing - I found this interesting and informative.

ETA: Urs, once you feel that you are used to eating less sugar/carbs and don't crave it too much anymore, maybe you can even leave out the dried fruit which is full of sugar. Just a suggestion xx

 

[miracleworker]

thank you all for encouragement, i had so many questions.

Fern: finger crossed for ur IVF and try to relax as much as you can sometimes our worries get the best of us and hinder our progress. good luck

Urs: woow that is a good loss, i wanna be you right now lol,congratulation and keep up the good work. I love smoothies i think i just dont know many that i can be taking so thank you for sharing i will definitely start taking this.

Irym: i love that part of renovating and ding some interior designing, please share a picture when you finish if you dont mind.

Bonte: conrats on your loss every pound lost counts for something.

mrs.green: am so sorry for what you are going through i hope ur DH will get better

tulip: congrats girl wow that is so good for a week loss.

AFM: Am stuck with the same weight for two weeks havent dropped a pound, so this week i have decided to do some crush diet for a week and workout for 1 hour to 1 hour and a half depends with my routine. i hope this helps with dropping them pounds. i hope it works as not dropping weight for the past two weeks really got into me and i almost wanted to give up.
am proud of me for trying more, i said i wanna be different by 27th June on my birthday,so by any means i wanna get there.

 

[mrs.green2015]

Morning ladies!

Miracle- sometimes you just need to fix things up to get off a plateau. Good luck!

Swimmy- glad DH is doing better about goodies! And ooo grilled veggies sounds so good.


Afm- appointment was fine and boring. Nothing cool happened. Started clomid again last night. Hopefully this is it!

 

[ireadyermind]

Miracle - I will try to remember to take pictures! I always forget to do it and then I regret it later. Haha


AFM - I did pretty well with this week's challenge yesterday. I forgot to do it a couple of times, but for the most part I did 60 seconds or more of cardio with every bathroom break. It seemed like a lot, but I was keeping track of it and only racked up 6 total minutes.

I didn't do the quick workouts before bed, because that would have made it harder for me to sleep, but all of the rest of the day, I did.

How are you gals liking it? I am somewhat enjoying it! Once or twice I even went over the 60 secs and did 2 minutes worth instead. It certainly kept me from falling into a slump in the morning, too.


I'm a little excited about TTC this month. AF was a day and a half-ish longer than normal -- which for me is a good thing, because normally AF is only two days and very scant. I was always afraid that meant there wasn't enough lining in there for an egg to implant into, so I'm hoping that whatever the issue was has resolved itself or is on its way to resolving itself.

After last month's slightly longer AF, and then getting all of that EWCM I'm really optimistic for this month! I hope the EWCM shows up again, and that we get our sticky bean this month!

 

[mrs.green2015]

Irym- glad your excited about ttc! Hopefully this is your month!

I am going to go back and read the challenge so I can get involved! I did however challenge myself to go 75 miles before early June. So walk, run, whatever! But inhale to complete 75 miles in just over 5 weeks. I hope I stick to it.
In other news started eating well again today. And man o man I am hungry (it's almost lunch time) so that means I was eating way too much before.

 

[cupcakestoy]

Ladies! YOur motivating me to behave! I did crappy yesterday & ate Chic Filet....Counted that as my cheat day....I had a sweet friend lose her baby at 15 weeks yesterday & another gal at work got a 3 pound 11oz little grandbaby today! So its been a roller coaster of emotions so far! Really buckling down for the rest of the week as I feel the Clomid "bloat" coming on! UGH....My least favorite part!!! Cd 11.....nothing happening yet lol

 

[Ursaula]

Hello gals

I'm glad you're all excited for the smoothies!

Miracle: I find that "shocking" my body for about a week helps me to lose weight again. When I'm in a plateau I might do a week of detox (or this time for me it was smoothies) and then my body gets back in the kick and I continue my plan normally the next week. I don't know if this will help you or not.

Mrs. G: Fx'd for you!! 75 miles is a LOT! I can go about 1 mile in 30 minutes (I can't run due to injury and weight), so I wish you the best for this goal.

IRYM: I noticed with this week's challenge that I don't use the washroom enough (twice a day). It helped me also realize I need to drink more water so I would go to the bathroom more! Fx'd for you TTC this month! Sounding really hopeful

Cupcake: I'm sorry to hear about the rollercoaster of emotions and what has been going on for you. I am glad to hear you're finding motivation and getting things back in track again this week, good luck!

Fern: Any news on IVF?

AFM: I'm letting my body catch-up with the weight loss so I've stopped my smoothies since Monday. I'm still hoping to lose a few pounds but nothing like last week. Next week though...GET READY! It's smoothie time next week! My goal is to lose 25lbs before my next gyn appointment. So, 8lbs to go! (I lost a pound today).

TTC wise I have 6 more nights of provera, I'm really on the count down with it because I can't wait!!! I bought more material for diapers. I'll post a few pictures of the newborn size I finished (inserts aren't done yet).

 

[miracleworker]

Urs: yeah that is the point i decided to do it this week then am going to continue with my other plans. quick question do you do smoothie everyday? thank you that is very helpful

IRYM: sorry dear i couldnt get into the challenge as i have had a busy week also i drink alot of water when am at work like 3ltrs so i pee all the time but they r quick ones so as i can get back to work. but i will try to do it coming week.

MRS.GREEN: Thank you lets see if this diet will do the magic

AFM: Still going on with the diet at the same time i have to prepare for the exams that will be on next week. i also workout in the morning but today it was hard i just did 50 minutes which in a normal day i do 75 to 90 minutes and on weekend i do two hours. could be two things the diet is driving me crazy lol but also AF showed her face yesterday. I dont know am still learning about my body

Since AF is here i got myself an appointment for HSG test which i will be doing coming Wednesday and am somehow scared. your prayers please

 

[mrs.green2015]

Miracle- the hsg isn't nearly as bad as they make it sound mine was super quick and not painful at all. Just be sure to take something a couple hours before because it might cause cramping.

 

[cupcakestoy]

Miracle-My HSG wasn't bad at all....mild cramps afterwards....I forgot to take anything both times & honestly didn't need any thing for pain at all! Good luck!

I've been outside, working in my beds this morning....2 done, 1 huge 1 to go, then I plan on separating lillies & planting them along with some cannas & other assorted fillers...I figure if I get my beds full enough maybe the grass wont be as bad lol

I knew I felt bloated! Weighed this morning & up 2 pounds so far, despite doing well other than Chic-fil-a :/ Grrrrr....I KNEW the clomid would cause this tho, so I'm not too worried! I do plan to really work hard until Monday so I at least dont have to show a gain! lol

Mrs' G- Have you noticed any side effects from the clomid?

 

[BronteForever]

Miracle - I'm going to be the mean one and give the other possibility about the HSG test, since I wish I'd have been more prepared for mine. I didn't take nearly enough meds. Don't skip the Advil or whatever meds they prescribe (I had to get something to help soften the cervix the second time). Mine were horribly painful and I passed out due to the pain the second time. However, the good news is you will likely be fine and have no issues with pain if you don't have known problems with your tubes (I have a missing one and other found out is blocked), or cervix (mine they couldn't get through and the first doctor had to stop, even after dilating the cervix because of issues - said it's only happened 5 times in 10 years, so the odds are certainly in your favor. And the second doctor a month later shoved the catheter through after dilating the cervix again because they were determined for it to work the second time around. That's when I passed out from pain). Despite it being horrible and myself not being prepared, it was over quickly. So even if you don't have an ideal situation (and we all really hope you do - the vast majority of people are fine and have no issues, even if they do have problem areas with the tubes or cervix), then it will still be over quickly if it's bad. You can totally do this. You got it and will be fine!!

cupcake - I've heard that about Clomid. Not a fun side affect. But try not to let any weight gain get to you, especially since it's just being bloated. The pluses of what it can bring to you outweigh that. I'm fully prepared to gain weight on IVF meds as well. It's frustrating, but necessary.