Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Just Be Supportive: a Shaklee 180™ post

There have been a lot of ups and downs in this weight loss adventure. I guess I could say that about life in general. I've come up with some unexpected (to me, at least) tips for how to be supportive of someone struggling with my same weight loss issues. Hopefully, people out in the world might find this helpful.




This is a sponsored post as part of the Shaklee Corporation blogger program.  I have received free products, online support and incentives for participating in the Shaklee Corporation blogger program. My opinions are my own.  I am also a Shaklee Independent Distributor.  


People following the weight-loss portion of the Shaklee 180™ Program can expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week.

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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

A Picnic with Early Intervention

A couple times a month, the families involved in the Columbia Regional hearing program are invited to get together for a playgroup. This month, there was a family picnic at Harper's Playground in Portland.


Harper's Playground is an awesome corner of Arbor Lodge Park in North Portland. There's a neat story that I didn't get to hear all of, but I did get to meet Harper's dad. He's the man who planned, organized, and raised the funds for this park. It's designed as all inclusive - a playground for kids of all abilities. 

Monday, July 22, 2013

Coping with HFMD... again

If you're like me, you think Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD) is like the chicken pox - a viral infection you (generally) only get once in your life if you get it at all. You would be wrong. Turns out, it's more like the flu - lots of different strains, lots of opportunities for you to contract it over and over again. Most adults will have developed an immunity after so much exposure, but little ones are still susceptible. Like N. And guess what time it is? Yup - summer and fall is HFMD season. Yay... and here we go again.
HFMD symptoms
via Baby Center

First of all, I will say it is much easier helping N cope with this when I'm not suffering from HFMD myself. It's also a little easier having some experience under my belt. Even before I finally accepted the fact that we were going through this all over again, I got out my anti-HFMD arsenal.

Thank goodness for Magic Mouthwash and children's liquid Advil. I hate keeping my kids medicated, but N has been responding really well to these. There really is no real medication for HFMD - in this way it is like the chickenpox. Your goal is just to keep your kids as comfortable as possible until the virus works its way through. I should say at this point that I am NOT a doctor, and you should call yours if you suspect you or your child has been infected with HFMD. Most the time HFMD will pass in about 7-10 days, but it can occasionally get pretty serious so you don't want to take a chance.

N's been a pretty tough little trooper these past few days, and we're almost through it. The sores seem confined to her mouth and her diaper area this time, so there's no painful blisters on her feet or hands. I'm hoping we don't deal with this virus again, but I guess I really have no guarantee. On top of all this, and before I was really sure what was wrong with N, I took the kids to a park where it went from overcast and mild weather to incredibly HOT. My poor little girl got a heat rash on her arms and legs (which she has never had before), which only added to her discomfort.

Fortunately, that cleared up within a few hours. The plan is to keep things low-key as we ride out the last few days of this virus and hope no one else in the house falls victim. I know I had a bit of a panic attack considering I might I have to go through this again myself. So far, no one else has shown any signs, though.

I hope you're all healthy! Let me live vicariously through you and tell me what fun plans you have for this week.

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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Let's Get Healthy Together! Giveaway and Linkup

If you've been following my posts as a Shaklee Blogger, or really any of my fitness/weight loss posts, you know I don't consider getting fit a very easy task. I love running and I try to keep up with that on a fairly regular basis, but I've told you before - running wasn't cutting it for weight loss (for me, at least). I wasn't eating right, and I was not including any other exercise. Thanks to this amazing opportunity I've been given with Shaklee, I've been able to correct BOTH those mistakes.
taking a walk with my kids

Being involved with the Shaklee 180™ program has set me on a healthier path, with healthier eating habits. I'm far more aware of what I put into my body for ALL my meals. Being accountable for my fitness (through sharing my goals and achievements with you) has pushed me beyond my comfort zone and away from the old rhetoric of excuses for my less than stellar choices. The past few months have definitely been a journey - one which is not quite done, but is coming to a close soon. Although, let's be honest, I'll probably continue to document my weight loss as I work on reaching my ultimate fitness goals.

I've started doing squats, situps, planks, and pushups. I found training plans for all these things, so I'm perpetually improving and striving to be stronger. I know some women get scared of bulking up, but isolating those areas with such basic PE/Gym class moves has really made a marked difference in my inches lost. The month I took up a situps plan? I lost 2" in my waist! 
runtastic push ups

When I first started doing squats, it was satisfying and felt good. Now that I'm up to doing over 100 squats at each session - I hate them, but they're still satisfying. I'm still early enough in on my push-up program to still love-hate those. What I'm really loving is seeing my arms firm up. I'd like to lose a couple more inches, but holy cow - I can see the difference already! And now I've added in bike rides, so let's see what that does for me.
borrowed from my generous mother-in-law until I can commit to my own

So while I'm working on getting more active and continuing to improve my eating habits, I am super excited to share with you the opportunity to try out the Shaklee 180™ program for yourself - for free! Just enter using the Rafflecopter form below to win your very own Turnaround Kit worth $396.95 srp. The kit includes EVERYTHING I've been using to lose weight as a Shaklee Blogger (minus the exercise, of course!).
Shaklee 180™ Turnaround Kit
the Shaklee 180™ Turnaround Kit
a Rafflecopter giveaway


Be sure to check out these other awesome posts on getting healthy and add your own!

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This is a sponsored post as part of the Shaklee Corporation blogger program.  I have received free products, online support and incentives for participating in the Shaklee Corporation blogger program. My opinions are my own.  I am also a Shaklee Independent Distributor.  


People following the weight-loss portion of the Shaklee 180™ Program can expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week.

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

And, I'm back.

I'm back from camping, and trying to slowly get back into blogging regularly.

It took a bit longer to pack the car... and the car was a little more full than usual, but look at these happy campers! Right... at least it wasn't too long of a drive.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Still Working on Things, Still Working Things Out: Month 5 on Shaklee180™

Remember my first Shaklee post where I talked about my sister-in-law? Well, she came to visit last month for the first time since then. I had lost over 15lbs and 12" since the last time I had seen her. I don't know why, but I hoped and somewhat expected to hear her notice and compliment me on what I'd achieved. She didn't. To be fair, it was a super busy, super short visit, and she had just finished a 10k that morning. Even so, I felt disappointed and deflated. If you've ever read the book The Happiness Project - I am that person who desires a gold star for everything. I just want you to notice that I've done it. Well, on some level at least.

It was kind of an eye-opening, ah-ha type experience for me. All this time I've been saying I'm doing this for my health, I'm doing this for my kids, I'm doing this for my family. Of course, all that is true, but I don't seem to be doing it for myself. Or at least, I don't seem to be enjoying the fruit of all my hard work the way I should. I look in the mirror and I KNOW that I look different. When I work out, I KNOW that I feel healthier. I enjoy clothes shopping more now because I do't hate the way the clothes hang on me. So why am I still holding out for other people to tell me I'm doing enough?

These pictures are from Easter, but this is how I still view myself, and I view myself as frumpy and overweight. 
I didn't think I was, but then this. So how do I get past it? First, recognize the problem (which makes up the first half of this post). Next, I guess I work on accepting all the good that I've done. I accept how good it feels and that's it's okay to be proud of my accomplishments with or without someone giving me permission. It's oddly far harder than it should be. It might be harder than losing the actual weight. And like making healthier choices to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle, being happier with myself and with my accomplishments is going to be a lifelong change. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen. Just another way I can be a better example for my kids, right?

Okay, and now for the fun part:
My starting numbers March 1st:
Weight: 170lbs

Bust: 41"
Waist: 36"
Hips: 43"
Arms: left: 14"           
          right: 14"

And my current numbers:
Weight: 153lbs
Bust: 37"
Waist: 31"
Hips: 39"
Arms: Left: 12"
         Right: 12"
I know - I need some more recent pictures, but all-in-all this one's not too bad, right?
How do you fight the voices in your head when you're not being nice to yourself? And how do you reinforce the good thoughts? Also, how long do you go in between family pictures - because it's been almost two years for us!
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This is a sponsored post as part of the Shaklee Corporation blogger program.  I have received free products, online support and incentives for participating in the Shaklee Corporation blogger program. My opinions are my own.  I am also a Shaklee Independent Distributor.  

People following the weight-loss portion of the Shaklee 180™ Program can expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Where I've Been Hiding

So I've sort of been MIA for a while. That stockpile of blog posts I had saved up burned through pretty quickly. I haven't felt much like blogging. I didn't really feel like being online much in general, to be honest. Two weeks ago, my grandma passed away. She moved to this country and into our home when I was 3. Her death didn't really come as much of a surprise, but knowing it's going to happen and actually experiencing it are two very different things, as it turns out. I have a lot of fond memories of my grandma, watching her last breath is not one of them, but I'm glad I was with her. She'd been bed-ridden for over 20 years and suffered Alzheimer's for over half that time. Her health made a pretty steady decline in her last week, and we knew it was the end.