I have to admit, I’ve been a bit MIA, especially from your blogs. I haven’t been able to comment or post much here, because it’s tax season, so I have been busy working on all kinds of taxes for our companies as well as personal returns. I use a tax calculator so it isn’t a nightmare, but it does keep me extraordinarily busy.
Friday and Saturday I am away in Orlando to meet one of my bloggy friends, Teagan, from Echoes of a Soul. We’re both super pumped about it. I have met some of the best people online, who later turned to be some of my best friends when I met them in real life, so i consider it part of my life. Of course, we’ll take lots of pictures so you, guys, will get to enjoy our meeting as well 🙂
So since I spent 12 hours a day working on taxes the whole past week and will be missing Friday/Saturday, this week there will be no nutritional information, but feel free to go over to Sonya’s blog to see what she can tell you about fitness.
RULES:
1. If you haven’t yet, join the challenge here: GET FIT and GET HEALTHY
2. Every Saturday come back to The Art of Making a Baby and ShutterMama to read the tips on how to be fitter, healthier and more confident.
3. Weekly write a post about your progress, following the questionnaire below, take a self-portrait (optional) and link up with us.
4. Don’t forget to grab the GET FIT challenge button on the sidebar and display it proudly on your blog or GET FIT post.
5. Link your post with Selfie Saturdays if you took your week’s self-portrait.
MY WEEK 11
1. Height: 5’11″, weight: 135 lb (YAY)
2. Your fitness challenge(s) for this week: 30 minutes of pilates every other day + 30 minutes of cardio ( rollerblading, running, swimming or treadmill) every other day. Special exercises designed for pregnancy to increase flexibility (daily) + Kegels (twice daily). A total of about an hour of physical activity a day. I decided to pick up the pace and work more on my abs more, inspired to go into pregnancy as fit as I can possibly be.
3. Your health challenge(s) for this week: Start snacking more during the day to prepare for the first trimester of morning sickness.
4. How well did it go:
WEIGHT: I finally gained some. To be honest with you, I hate it. I hate being what BMI says is on the lower side of normal for me. I was much happier with my body at 131lb ( BMI’s underweight) . I feel like a cow now. You might argue that 4 pounds don’t make much of a difference, but in me they do, because those four pounds don’t go to my boobs, or my abs, or even my ass- they go straight to my legs. BIG FAT Legs.
I’d love to drop those 4 pounds right back, but I think it’s more important to be at normal BMI than underweight when it comes to trying to get pregnant, so I’ll survive. But I’m telling ya, as soon as I get pregnant and the baby is OUT, I am back at 131 lb no matter how hard it is. Also I don’t have a problem with pregnancy weight. the idea of getting a belly or gaining weight due to a pregnancy doesn’t bug me at all. What bothers me is having to gain a few extra pounds even before I get pregnant. That just seems counter-intuitive.
- Fitness: I rocked it! Worked out every day no matter how tired I was from my tax duty. It was super refreshing to get out and rollerblade every other day, because I was so sick of sitting couped up in my office. Also, to add an additional work out to my abs on my cardio days, I started what we call “10 an hour”, it’s a “work out program” hubby and I devised back when we were so busy we couldn’t get to the gym or have the energy to work out after work. Basically, every hour, you get off you butt and do 10 sit-ups and 10 push-ups. By the end of an 8 hour day, you’ve done 80 sit-ups and 80 push ups. So I revived that tradition, increased the sit-ups to 20 an hour + 10 oblique exercises + stretches + 20 Kegels. Hours go by super fast, but I love the burn after a day of working out and the metabolism kick is amazing.
- Water: I’m back to my KleenKanteen bottle and being hydrated.
- Food: Great! I’ve been eating well as usual. This week I attempted to try adding more little snacks throughout the day to make sure I get my body and habits ready for possible morning sickness when I get pregnant. I don’t LIKE eating so much and so often, but I did it. I also noticed that the more you eat, the more you want to eat. So i’m very glad that I have not been “taste/calorie- dependent” for a while now. My body was perfectly happy on 1600 calories and maintained its shape and i was never hungry, or munchy-hungry or craved sweets.
5. Failures and slip-ups: Not much really. I mean I really did what I was supposed to do this week and more. I am very happy. I just wish this was about losing weight, rather than gaining it 🙂
6. Weekly challenge wisdom: Getting your metabolism up throughout the day helps burn more calories and also stay hungrier. It really helps you with how you feel during the day. Small exercises or stretches every hour are very beneficial.
7. Advice to fellow GET FIT members: Adopt our 10-an-hour routine. Pick 2 or 3 of your favorite exercises and do 10 sets of each every hour. It will burn more calories by raising your metabolism throughout the day and will get an extra muscle work for you without much effort. It’s a perfect routine if you’re always busy.
8. Self Portrait: No magic tricks this week. I tried really hard to get time to take a magic trick self portrait, but there was just no way with me leaving on Friday and the whole tax thing. I will, however, do one once I get back and will definitely post it. I have the concept in my head, I know what I am doing and it’s going to be awesome! So here’s just a mirrored selfie for now 🙂
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Glad you got your weight back up. Sorry you aren’t thrilled about it…at least you are practical about it and know it’s for a good reason! I think I’ll try your 10 and hour idea this week. I’m bummed about the selfie. I was sooo looking forward to seeing what you did. I suppose I’ll live. haha.
I’m soooooo waiting for the day you announce that you’re pregnant!!!