A healthy treat and my baby weight.

 

So I finally managed to take a step until loosing my pregnancy weight. I have lost about a stone so far and in general I feel a lot more energetic, even with the never ending sleepless nights. I was doing really well with my healthy eating until I caught a cold about month and a half ago and things well down hill from then. Mind you the healthy eating went a bit down hill but the weight loss actually kept on going, mainly because I still breastfeeding and that alone burns 500 calories a day so it is as if I've been eating naughty food but kept on exercising daily.

 

On the past week I finally managed to once again make the effort and get back into my healthy eating, that means cooking and bringing packed lunch as well as all the snacks for my day at the office.

 

I do work with a bunch of really nice people and working in the food and drinks industry means that a lot of us are big time foodies, that includes me. The majority of those really nice people are very skinny as well and tend to snack through the day.

 

I failed miserably on staying away from the treats draw in the office kitchen and just felt horrible and sluggish on the end of my working day, so off to the web I went to find a nice healthy treat that I couldn't bring with me to work as that way if I do loose control at least I'm not eating rubbish stuff that I don't know what is in it. Of course the idea is not to lose control but a backup plan is always good :-)

 

These no bake nut butter fudges are packed full of protein to keep you going through the day, a great pick me up for that afternoon energy low. It took me about 2 minutes to put it all together and I left it in the freezer overnight. Done!

 

Almond Butter Fudge
recipe from http://www.beyonddiet.com where I get lots of my healthy eating ideas from

 

Ingredients

1/3 cup coconut oil
2/3 cup almond butter
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup sifted cocoa powder

I didn't have enough almond
butter and cocoa powder so added an extra spoon of peanut butter and it came
out perfect.

 

Directions

In a bowl add almond butter, coconut oil and maple syrup. Stir together until creamy. Add sifted cocoa powder and stir in until mixed well. Spread fudge mixture into pan.
Place pan/mold into freezer and freeze for 3 hours. Cut into squares - I divided the squares in half, rolled each half into a ball and rolled the ball in dry unsweetened coconut...scrumptious!!!

 

I made a batch last night and took to work today, they are so indulgent I no longer envy the people who can feast on stuff from the treats draw.  

Sent from Samsung Mobile

Motivational Monday - looking after myself

jumping up and down

A quick one this week as part of my whole ME time thing is to try and go to bed early once in a while and since we had an early dinner, tonight seems like the perfect opportunity.
So January is gone and I have tried a few things, loads of ups and downs but in general I think things are improving.
This weekend we got Harry a jumperoo and it was just the ticket! While lill guy bounces up and down mummy can get on with doing her work - I'm working my Keep In Touch days from home and end up  stuck on the laptop every time he goes for a kip or in the evenings after dinner - do stuff around the house, get lunch done for the two of us or just lazy around enjoying a few minutes to herself. My aim s to work around that so I can organize my days a bit better to do some yoga and play with my Just Dance. I looove dancing and don't care for gym work outs so the Wii was my favorite work out tool until I got pregnant. It will also be really good if i can keep on working during his awake, I think I'll probably get a lot more done that way and may eventually have a kip myself on those hard mornings after sleepless nights.
Well this is all speculation but the one thing I done for myself this past week that got me really happy was to pop into the hairdressers with my other half Friday afternoon and get my long overdue haircut. Such a simple thing but with a baby seems to require a lot of logistics. I never got the fringe I wanted instead went for something simple and easy to look after. Once life is a bit more manageable I'll go back to stylish haircuts me thinks.
That's it, short and sweet but full of good achievements and plans.
What about you? How well are you doing on your New year's resolutions? Take part of this bloghop to share your thoughts and get/give some support!!

Motivational Monday - New Year is here

this time is all about number one.

as with many other things for the past month and a half I never found any time to right a Christmas or New Year post. I was particularly upset for not writing a Christmas one as it really is my favorite time of the year but I might still pop some pictures here at some point.

Now this year instead of coming up with loads of resolutions for 2013 I decided to focus on the one thing; looking after myself a bit better.

May that be:

-having a bit of me time: something: I haven't had much since Harry was born, he being exclusively breastfed and only falling asleep on me really doesn't give me much free time but by now lill guy loves spending time with his dad so when those moments are taking place I just need to get a move on and do something for myself. With time i would love for that to be going for a nice class in the gym or drinks with friends but for now i'm even happy with very basic things like playing Just Dance on the Wii or even relax in the bath; I haven't had a soak in the bath since the night when my waters broke and since that was one of the most uncomfortable baths I have ever taken it doesn't really count, it's been nothing but quick showers for 6 months. I know that's normal for a new mum but the time is now to change that.

- look after my appearance a bit better - and I'm not just on about loosing baby weight- although I am working on going back to the healthier lifestyle I used to have before becoming pregnant - but simple things such as having my hair cut and browns down, two things that haven't happened since my mum left to Brasil about 5 months ago. Also going back to do my nails every now and then, i used to love doing that, even contributed to a blog about cosmetics, fashion and beauty so that is a nice thing to do for myself.

- make sure our little guy always get plenty of time with mum and dad. He is only young now but already it makes a difference when the other half and I manage to go out together with him on a weekend so although daddy is a lot more indoorsy than mummy wished for I want to make sure we go out often enough to have family time together outdoors (or indoors but somewhere other than our home :-) )

The 3rd one might not sound like LOOKING AFTER MYSELF to you but since I love being out and hubby likes staying in, finding a good balance on that field is something I have always wished for.

So this is it, it took me a while to learn taking care of myself the way I deserve and for a while i dropped everything to learn how to look after my gorgeous son. Now is the next step, to be a mummy and myself too.

This post is on a very nice blog hop; click on the link below to read more and join the Google Motivation Community.

Sweet thing

I wrote this post about a week ago on my mobile when out and about with Harry as was finding impossible using the computer at all - little guy is going through hard times with his sleeping so mummy doesn't really do much more than look after him and once he is in bed I very much have dinner and am down for the night myself! Since the below I have already felt the difference, lost 2 lbs and didn't even have the headaches, or the cravings so if you're also struggling shifting your pregnancy weight, or any weight for that matter keep on reading, this might help you!

for a while now I've been a bit unhappy with my post natal figure. I know the celeb's baby slim type of body that we see on magazines aren't exactly an easy reality except for those that were born with exceptionally slim bodies. The big problem is that little guy is almost 4 months and in order to stop wearing my maternity clothes I had to buy a pair of jean 2 sizes bigger than i usually would. Energy levels is also a problem as I can't rely on a good nights sleep to recharge my batteries.

I've been trying to cut down on rubbish foods since Harry was born as i found that was specially important for breastfeeding but on a hard day  it can be tricky to go to the kitchen once he is down for the night
 and ordering a take away is only just too easy.

On the top of it all, I got myself into this habit of buying something sweet every day. It wouldn't be too bad if it was just "that little sweet" everyday but I end up over overindulgence and comfort eating. two old habits that I know only too well and that i fought hard to lose.

For the past few weeks I've been eating tons of chocolates and ice cream  a day that really got me down but the horrible stomach pains that hit me a few days ago really were the last straw. 

I knew I had to start from somewhere. I cant exactly diet and - for the record - i don't really believe in diets but in healthy eating habits. I had to be careful not too give myself too big of a challenge because, lets face it, who has the energy? So I picked two things that i know I'm "addicted to" and that really causes me to comfort eat and banished from my menu for the next two weeks. sugar and gluten. yap those are my big villains and hopefully, as I've seen happening before , my body will get used to it. Without the gluten to give me inflammations and the sugar to make me feel sluggish i should have a bit less of a hard time sticking to healthier foods and maybe start to gradually loosing my pregnancy weight.

now as i say my body is addicted to sugar n gluten, the second one is easier to get rid of by eating brown rice and loads of protein that keep me fuller for longer. The sugar can be a bit trickier - specially for the first few days when you could get headaches and bad cravings. With a little crying machine waking you up at night and demanding attention during the day headaches are definitely an issue but i know to keep my insulin levels balance to avoid that. Now the cravings..that is another issue all together. I have always been the one to crave all sorts of foods at all times of day and night and when you find yourself stuck at home all day or worse, becoming regular at lovely bakeries and cafes - for a cuppa and a chat with other mums - the craving bit can be hassle to deal with.

to help me through the next couple of weeks i made myself these delicious sugar free treats and was pleasantly surprised this morning when i found out how creamy and indulgent they feel!

choc-banana lollies

1/2 cup of coconut milk

2 ripped bananas

1 tbsp good quality cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla

raw honey or maple syrup to taste (quantity will depend on how sweet the bananas are)

put it all in a blender until all liquidized then pour into lolly mould and freeze. Is that simple!