Baggage: My Postpartum Weight Loss Journey

In the seven months since Joshua Jr was born I have managed to slowly but surely drop my pregnancy weight with only 10 pounds left to lose. I gained almost 50 pounds during my pregnancy and I’m not gonna lie, I had moments of sheer panic that I’d never be able to lose it all. I had hoped to only gain 25-30 pounds like my mother during her pregnancies but found that just wasn’t possible for me. Despite starting my gestation out on a pregnancy friendly meal plan and hiking my butt off 5 days a week my weight kept creeping up. At a certain point, probably around 4 months I gave up the struggle and tried instead to respect my body’s needs and trust my instincts. About ten days after Joshua Jr’s birth I got back on the scale to see where I was at and how far I had to go.Continue Reading

Family Friendly Smoothies

To be totally honest I’ve had a love/hate relationship with smoothies for years now. I love the idea of them, but hate that an hour after I’ve downed one I’m starving again. Then there was the summer that I thought I would easily drop a few extra pounds by using my Ninja blender to whip up a smoothie every morning for breakfast, but I wasn’t following any particular recipe for low cal options and didn’t realize that adding a cup of cashews, almonds or walnuts was jacking up the calorie count on the smoothie to well over a thousand. Yeah, I actually put weight on that summer. But when the warm weather rolls around I find myself craving their cool, silky deliciousness, and so do my girls. With a determined heart I set about searching for a few satisfying, low cal, easy recipes and low and behold, I found em! So I guess smoothies and I are officially back together…for the summer at least.Continue Reading