One Week Of What I Ate For Breakfast Trim Healthy Mama Style.

October 26, 2017October 26, 2017 / 2punkshadabunchofkids / 1 Comment

Should I lose another 2 or so kilograms? I’ve reached the point in my postpartum weight loss where I’m happy with my weight. I’m at a healthy weight. I’m fitting into all my size 10 jeans with room to move. But 4 years ago I was even lighter than I am now by around 4kgs. It was after I had removed gluten and dairy from my diet because of a whole heap of digestive issues I was having. My body responded to the diet change with a rapid weight loss. I could even pull on size 8 jeans quite easily which is thinner than I was in high school! My hubby thinks I look great the way I am! Yet sometimes I wish I could just lose a few more kilos and put those size eights back on!

I’m back doing Trim Healthy Mama again for the next month or so to see what happens. If my weight wont budge then I will officially continue maintaining my weight and continue being happy. But if I lose a kilo or two I will also be happy!

Here is what I ate for breakfast over the past week in no particular order:

breakfast 1 breakfast 2 breaky 3 breaky 4 breaky 5 breaky 6 breaky 7 First image is of an omelette with spinach and a little goat cheese.

Second image is of a smoothie with collagen, banana, coconut oil, almond milk and frozen strawberries.

Third image is of muesli (store bought and not on plan but I hadn’t been shopping yet and was out of most ingredients) Bonus points for making my own almond milk. And a green tea. I have a green tea with breakfast every morning. I’m not a coffee drinker and green tea is great for metabolism and waking me up.

Fourth image is of scrambled eggs with some walnuts and goat cheese.

Fifth image is of pancakes from the Trim Healthy Mama cook book with some nectarine jam and a few slices of rock melon.

Sixth image is of leftover THM pancakes with maple syrup. (Maple syrup is not on plan but sometimes I just have to live a little!! I would have had some banana on top too but was all out)

Last image is two gluten and sugar free boysenberry muffins balancing on my knees in the car on the way to church! And my green tea.

My favorite healthy breakfast is definitely pancakes. Eating pancakes while losing weight and being healthy is my cup if tea!

I created my own nourishing pancakes recipe which will be included in my new ebook ‘Yes You Can Lose Your Pregnancy Weight’ which is being released early next year. Stay tuned for it and keep checking back on the blog for the release date announcement.

What is your favourite healthy breakfast at the moment?

Blessings, Peta

I lost all my pregnancy weight for the 5th time!!

June 28, 2017 / 2punkshadabunchofkids / Leave a comment

Announcement…

I have finally reached my pre-pregnancy weight!

Yay!

It has taken me the longest this time – about 14 months. But I stuck at it and here I am 16kg lighter and at the same weight I was before I became pregnant with Willow.

that pic

I’m also feeling the fittest I’ve felt in a long time. I’ve been running and cycling outdoors 3-4 times a week and walking on the other days. The exercise has benefited me in more ways than one. I was prescribed exercise as part of my treatment for the anxiety attacks that I had been having and it has helped a lot. Not only does exercise release serotonin, the ‘happy’ hormone. It also gets rid of stored up adrenaline in the body that contributes to anxiety. I always exercise outdoors which gives me a boost of fresh air and sunshine, which are both great mood enhancers and give me an energy burst.

This may be a good time to make another announcement…

I have been writing a book on postpartum weight loss.

The content is 3 quarters of the way finished. Then I am getting some photography and graphic design done to bring it all together.

The release date of this book – which doesn’t have an official name yet- is mid 2018.

I will give you more information as the time of release gets closer.

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So what did I do exactly to lose all the weight again? I mainly followed the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating. Sometimes strictly and at times pretty loosely. That may explain why it took me so long this time. Over time as I began to learn more about nutrition and what foods help me lose weight I began to write my own detailed weekly eating plans. The plans include a weeks worth of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, drinks – everything. I am including these plans for you to see in my new book.

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It feels great to be able to pull out some clothes that have been packed away for so long in my ‘too small’ clothes bag. Trying on new clothes is exciting again because I am enjoying the size I am. It hasn’t been a smooth weight loss journey either. For the first three months postpartum I lost nothing. I wasn’t really being very strict with my eating at first though. In the past I would lose weight initially without even trying much then later on I would have to work harder to lose the last 10kg. This time was different. I had to be strict with what I ate if I wanted to lose any weight at all. I had to say no to comfort eating. I also reached a plateau when I only had 1kg to go and I stayed that weight for several weeks.

I almost gave up and decided that I feel okay at leaving my weight where it was. It was a healthy weight for me and that would have been fine. But I took a look at some of the pre pregnancy weight clothes that still didn’t quite fit and thought – I’m not going to give up!

I revved up my exercise sessions to 45 minutes each instead of 20-30 and I followed the eating plans I designed for myself more strictly and was extra careful about what I ate after tea.

And…I did it!

Now it’s time to enjoy and maintain and set some new goals.

Blessings, Peta xo

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Postpartum weight loss update

January 15, 2017October 22, 2017 / 2punkshadabunchofkids / Leave a comment

Our first zucchini and tomato in our new little veggie patch!

I am now 8 and a half months postpartum after the birth of Willow our 5th precious bundle. I have been slowly losing weight. At first, when I was still breastfeeding her, I lost nothing, then just a little here and there. Now that Willow is fully weaned and drinking from a bottle my weight loss has sped up. I have trouble feeding my babies past six months old (except for my first who fed for 13 months). My milk supply, no matter how hard I try, just isn’t enough for my hungry babies when they get older. But that’s another story.

I’m here to happily say that I’m almost there – 5.5kg away from my pre pregnancy weight. I have lost 10.5kg since coming home from hospital and have gone down a few dress sizes. The weight is coming off slower than previous postpartum times but I’m getting there. Progress, no matter how small, keeps me motivated. I gained a little weight over Christmas – whoops! But thankfully lost it again within a few weeks of being extra careful with what I ate.

How am I doing it? Trim Healthy Mama. This program is my go-to whenever I have weight to lose. I’ve used it after my last 3 babies to lose weight and it has been effective every time. I am learning to practice mindful eating and not just shoving food into my mouth whenever I feel like. I try to think before I eat.

As for exercise, I have a half hour slot in my schedule that I allow for exercise. I am loving taking my bike out for a ride. I find it really calming and it clears my head. I walk too, and sometimes run for a few minutes during my walk. My aim is to exercise 5 times a week – but usually I get in 3 half hour sessions.

I’m really thankful to have been successful so far in losing my postpartum weight. But I know that many of you haven’t been so successful. Yet.

I want to give you a big hug. Your body is beautiful, it has bore a precious child. Don’t be hard on yourself, your body changes SO much after you have a baby. Give yourself some time and you too can lose weight if you want to. Feel free to have a chat in the comments if you have any postpartum weight loss related questions. I’m happy to help or have a chat.

Blessings, Peta

Managing your home and using a schedule.

January 5, 2017January 5, 2017 / 2punkshadabunchofkids / Leave a comment

Miss Savannah

I was first introduced to the concept of scheduling my family a few years back when my first three were all little from reading Erika Shupe’s blog Large Families On Purpose. Over the past few years I have tried a few different schedules but if they are run by the clock, it hasn’t gone well for me. I have a very loose schedule written up now. Well, it’s more or less a routine than a schedule because it doesn’t have any times on it – except for meals and bedtime. It works somewhat but it’s perhaps a bit too loose. There are moments in my day that aren’t working. And some things that I consider important are getting missed. I’ve been scratching my head for a while wondering and praying about how to order my home life so every thing works. I love the idea of the home running like a well oiled machine. Everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing and when and everyone working to help each other reach a common goal. My home doesn’t look like a well oiled machine…it looks more like 2 parts of the machine (me and Luke) trying our hardest to keep order in the home while the other parts of the machine cause chaos. It’s time to get every thing and everyone running smoothly.

Will you join me on my journey into scheduling? I have almost completed my first day of following my new schedule from start to finish. In fact; the only reason I am even writing this right now is because my schedule said

7:30pm – Blog.

I am amazed at how much I have accomplished today! The best thing about a schedule for me is that it ‘thinks’ for me. My mind is often a jumbled mess as I go about my day – especially in the mornings. This is because I have so much I need to do and all of it is reasonably urgent (change the toddlers nappy before it explodes, feed the baby, shower etc) and I often go running from one thing to the next trying to decide on the fly which thing is more urgent and needs to be done first. My schedule eliminates the stress of making 100 decisions because the decisions I need to make – such as feeding my baby her breakfast and when to put on the first load of laundry – have been made for me ahead of time. It makes me more efficient at getting these things done because I can work on the task at hand more wholeheartedly knowing that all the other things on my mind will get done when my schedule says so.

*Edit – I wrote the above in the last week of term 4 2016 – so around 4 weeks ago. I decided to make a schedule for myself for the summer school holidays too. The schedule has really taken the lethargy out of the holidays that I often feel after Christmas. Often I will sleep in (as long as I can) in the holidays and sluggishly go about my day. My mind would be a jumbled mess, full of things that I knew I needed to get done but I struggled to decide which task was most urgent. My school holiday days are going better and I feel like I’m living with much more intention. I also am making sure that I don’t get so busy with the urgent tasks and I allow time for things I feel are important. Like reading a story to one of my children. And exercising. I haven’t followed my schedule 100% of the time but overall I feel I am achieving more in my days then I was before.

Making a ginger bread house with all the cousins

We have begun a 10 minute ‘power clean.’ Just before the children’s bed time too. I set the timer on my phone and we all rush around and see how much stuff we can put away before the timer goes. After wards I am amazed at how much tidier the house can look in such a short amount of time!

My eldest two children have been busy this week with swimming lessons, so I tweak the schedule to work around us going out too. A home schedule doesn’t mean I am always home, I work it around our outings. But also I find a happy balance so I am not going out so much that my home responsibilities are not getting done.

Do you run your days with a schedule or do you use a looser routine? Let me know in the comments. Do you follow a schedule during the school holidays?

Holiday fun – we spent a week on my parents farm before Christmas.

Blessings, Peta

New years resolutions

December 31, 2016 / 2punkshadabunchofkids / Leave a comment

I’m big on making new years resolutions. In fact I get giddy with excitement every time the new year comes rolling along. I think and dream about how amazing the new year is going to be and all the great things I want to accomplish. Even since I was a teenager I would sit down and write a whole page, or three, of new years resolutions. But in the last two years I’ve begun to feel a little different. I noticed that most of the resolutions I made were way too ambitious for the season of life I’m currently in. My goals weren’t getting done and I was getting frustrated about all the things I wasn’t getting done.

This year instead of a page or two of ambitious goals I’m going to make a list of prayer points instead. I hope to take the focus off myself and my own plans and focus on God instead. Having an eternal focus, I believe, is a great start to the new year.

I’ll leave you with some photos of our Christmas photo shoot 🙂