exercise

Things I’m loving/not loving in my life this week.

/ 2punkshadabunchofkids / 2 Comments

Hi lovely readers,

I thought it would be fun to write a recap of my week! Here goes!

What I’m Loving this week:

The school holidays. The relaxed mornings are what I love the most about the holidays. Every morning this week after breakfast, we all head out for a morning walk for an hour or so. The house is left, dishes undone, hair unbrushed. All that can wait until we get back. If I got all the stuff done before we left we would never leave! After our walk we have a warm cup of tea and something to eat and I notice the children play really happily for the rest of the morning into the afternoon because they are feeling refreshed from the fresh air and sunshine and relaxed from getting out excess energy.

Today is Willow’s 2nd Birthday! Wow I can’t believe my baby is two! Yesterday we had a fun day out in the city eating lunch and buying presents and celebrating Willow! Of course, everything she wanted was Peppa Pig! We had lunch at the mall and afternoon tea at the botanical gardens.

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Botanical gardens vege patch

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Listening to a busker while eating lunch

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The girls found some friends in Toy World!

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Peppa pig birthday girl!

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What I’m reading:

Fast Food Genocide by Joel Fuhrman. M.D

A book I borrowed off of my parents. It certainly makes you want to stay away from fast food!! It’s scary to learn about what processed food can do to your brain!

Fast Food Genocide : How Processed Food Is Killing Us and What We Can Do about It - Dr Joel Fuhrman

What I’m Watching:

I can’t put down Sarah’s YouTube vidoes from ‘Our Tribe Of Ten.’ Her channel is my absolute favourite! I’m learning so much mum wisdom from her and am enjoying watching her beautiful family.

What I’m Eating:

This week I turned a Dahl soup recipe into a casserole type thing by adding sweet potatoes, white potatoes, broccoli and spinach to the original recipe. It was so yum! I didn’t take any photos though!

Image result for sweet potato brownie

I also made my fav sweet potato and apple brownie recipe this week. Most of my children love this too and it didn’t last long.

The recipe for this brownie is in my ebook Yes You Can Lose Your Pregnancy Weight

Challenges I’m facing:

Luke’s back keeps getting hurt at work. Eight years working in Aged care have really taken it’s toll on his body (lots of lifting people and rolling large uncooperative people around in bed). His back is getting worse and it’s looking like a career change will possibly be necessary. He does graphic design and web design on the side but the business is very slow. If you have a website you need designed he has a very unique style CLICK HERE to be taken to his website. CLICK HERE TO GO TO HIS AWESOME FACEBOOK PAGE!!

I have also gained a couple of kilograms slowly over the past month or so. I like food and in general I think I have just been eating too much. It’s enough gain to make my jeans feel really tight, so I will be trying to lose this weight again in the upcoming week.

Coming up…

Term two of the school year is coming up on Monday for us. This term I have Arrow at home homeschooling. I’m very pleased to have him home again. He is studying grade 2 and doing really well. We have a good plan worked out and a gentle approach to home education so not to get overloaded. Francis and Savannah are still in school for a while longer before we work out the right time to begin home educating them again too.

I hope to film a home school day this week and put it up on our YouTube channel.

Thanks for reading!

Leave a comment and don’t forget to like our Facebook page and follow us on Instagram.

Blessings, Peta xo

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My top 5 ways to motivate yourself to finish losing weight

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Have you lost some weight but still have a bit to go? Did you begin your weight loss program with enthusiasm but now you just ‘can’t be bothered’? Do you find yourself finding 100 excuses why you can’t keep going and lose the rest of the weight?

I’ve done this. Here’s my top ways for keeping myself motivated to reach my final weight loss goal.

  1. You need to do it for yourself. You can have many reasons for wanting to lose weight but what motivates me the most is the fact that I wanted it. I really wanted it. You have to want to be slim so much that you are willing to pay the price it takes to get there.

2. Get some inspiration. Read a pretty weight loss book. Buy a fitness magazine. Read a weight loss blog. Find something that triggers your motivation to keep going. Other people’s weight loss success can be inspiring.

3. Get out some clothes that don’t fit you yet that you hope to fit into once you  lose weight. If you just keep going these clothes will fit you again.

4. Get some air. Do some exercise outdoors. Go for a walk, run or bike ride. While you are out think about why you really want to lose the rest of your weight and imagine yourself as the new slimmer you.

5. Change your program. If you can’t be bothered to keep going with your weight loss program but you were enthusiastic at the beginning, chances are that if you begin a different program you will get excited and motivated again.

All the best with your weight loss!

Blessings, Peta

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

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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.

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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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The Metabolic Clock – book review

/ 2punkshadabunchofkids / 2 Comments

The Metabolic Clock: Speed Up Your Metabolism and Lose Weight Easily by [Rennie, Julie]

I first stumbled upon the book ‘The Metabolic Clock by Julie Rennie’ on my mum’s bookshelf. While I was over at her house, I couldn’t stop reading it and when I left I took it home. I stole borrowed it. Since then I have read this book over and over again. After we moved mum just gave it to me!

It has helped me set some good habits – like not going to bed past 10pm. And it has inspired me to be the healthiest version of myself I can.

I love this book!

What it’s about:

It teaches you how to speed up you metabolism to help you lose weight based on the metabolic clock. It shows you how to change lifelong patterns that have been preventing you from living life to the full.

What I love:

The gluten free flourless chocolate cake recipe in the back of the book is yum! I use coconut oil instead of butter to make it dairy free too and it turns out great. It has the consistency of a mud cake and it makes a great treat. I’ve made the spicy bean stew many times too and it makes for a hearty filling vegetarian meal. Sometimes I don’t like to eat too much meat and it’s good to have a few vegetarian recipes up my sleeve.

The pictures in this book are beautiful – I love inspiring photography and nourishing food photography.

It teaches you how to think positively and how a negative view of yourself can impact your health and weight loss.

The 21 day lifestyle challenge has helped to go to bed before 10pm. I have struggled in the past with disciplining myself to get to bed at a decent hour. And with babies still waking me in the middle of the night – an early bedtime is essential to my well being and ability to function and think clearly throughout the day.

A few things I don’t agree with:

The book briefly mentions yoga and meditation. I choose not to do these things as they are associated with eastern evil religious practices. As a Christian I don’t want any part in stirring up the wrong spirits.

All in all – it’s a great read and the best thing is that it inspires me to keep up with my health regime. I’ve been riding my bike weekly and going for at least 3 power walks a week. Plus I’m always looking for ways to improve my diet.

Blessings, Peta

*I thought I’d do a review of a few of my favourite books. There’s no affiliate links.