Some Tips I am Finding Helpful . . .

A few tips from the Skinny Rules that I am using today that are so awesome, I figured I'd share:

1. Writing everything down. From taking my vitamins, to eating a meal, to the exercise I write down the time I did it. Also helps to remind me to eat snacks and all that.

2. Set an alarm on my phone to remind me to eat meals and snacks. I am the worst about eating snacks especially and letting time lapse on meals so I am eating lunch at like 2:30 or 3:00 in the afternoon.

3. A great tip for making sure you drink enough water: I got a plastic pitcher with a tap on it from Walmart earlier this year (I actually bought two but one was Large and one was small) I used the small one, measured out the 8 1/2 ozs I needed to drink of water put it in, then sliced up a whole lemon into slices and threw those in, put it in the fridge and made a goal of drinking the whole thing by the end of the day. I don't know about you but I hate drinking so much water and unless it's cold it tastes gross to me, a little lemon for flavor and voila! If you are going to be out and about grab an empty water bottle and fill it from the tap and it's nice and cold.

4. Have snacks already made, pre-measure and make up snacks so that they are ready to grab and eat when your alarm goes off. Slice up fruit like strawberries and measure a cup. Ziploc has these fun litttle snack sized baggies that you can pre-measure and bag up those things so you can grab and go.

5. Make working out fun by calling it playtime. After breakfast this morning the boys and Corinne and I went on a walk with the stroller. Gavin rode his bike. We have a loop around a water catchment that is good for a dog park. I had Gavin ride behind me and play "chase" to see how fast he could go and keep me going at a good pace. I went around 3 times and then Gavin didn't want to ride anymore so we went and got my exercise balance ball and the boys rolled and kicked that in the field/catchment and we were out playing for an hour! I didn't even realize we had been outside that long until my alarm for snacktime went off. Making exercise fun helps you forget how long you're going for.

6. Taking prenatal vitamins and Flaxseed Oil capsules: ok so this isn't necessarily from the book but it's a good thing to practice. I have been breastfeeding and haven't taken prenatals despite the fact that my body really needs the extra vitamins to help with what Corinne is taking from me. I also have been researching that flaxseed or flaxseed oil is good for balancing your insulin levels. I have PCOS and insulin resistance so anything that can help with this is great for me. I also read that while breastfeeding taking flaxseed oil can add some much needed fat to your milk supply for your baby so it's a win/win situation with it. 

The Skinny Rules

So a friend of mine recommended a book to me called the flat belly diet book and I had looked up some stuff from it the other day and started making a list of foods I should be eating and snacks to get to replace my horrible habit of eating processed sugary snacks. I went grocery shopping yesterday with the intention of buying better and then picking up said book from Fred Meyers to find that they didn't have it and all they had was the diabetic's version in hard cover for way more then I wanted to spend. So I sat and stared at the books for a while and a book caught my eye called "The Skinny Rules, The 101 Secrets Every Skinny Girl Knows" I opened it up and instantly fell in love with the style of the book and it's no nonsense approach on how to do things a skinny girl would and lose weight and feel better. First rule "Believe you can be skinny" well that is pretty straight forward and funnily enough I hadn't even thought about doing that! The first rule talks about changing your attitude, if you have a defeatist's attitude you're going to defeat yourself. You have to believe you can be skinny before you will be. When I start looking back the reason I stopped working out and eating good was because I wasn't seeing the results I wanted and my attitude wasn't the greatest around the time I gave up. What's funny though is since I gave up I've actually lost a couple pounds eating like crap and not exercising as I predicted. I haven't really been eating THAT bad but I haven't been watching what I eat as closely and definitely am not breaking my back working out like I was and I'm seeing more results. I wonder why that is? Skip to skinny rule number 16: Splurge every day, reason: it helps to curb your cravings, making you less likely to let your craving build up to an uncontrollable binge. I know this is me! To a T! Plus it says think of it this way, if someone tells you that you can't have something, it makes you want it even more right? So those people who deprive themselves and say they can't have it want it more! Even if you really didn't want it at all in the first place, the junk foods or things you aren't supposed to eat become more desirable. I also like the rules: Get in the driver's seat and call on a co-pilot. Take control of your life, weight and health and get someone to help you (one person or a full on car full lol) Add family members and friends to your car as your co-pilots and call on them when you are having a tough time staying motivated when trying to lose weight. This is where you guys come in, you've seen my alter ego Negator. She is a mean old lady and turns everything into drama and makes me give up. When you see Negator slip in I need you guys to give me encouraging words, even if it's "don't give up! you can do this! I believe in you!" you have no idea how much that helps me when I get down in the dumps. Today is a new start, I'm going to follow rule number 28 "Play the pounds away" instead of thinking of exercise as I'm working out, I'm going to think of it as playing. Kids don't go to a playground or run around outside and go ok I'm going to workout for 30 mins, they just play. So this morning the game plan is to take the younger two kids and put them in a stroller and go for a walk with Gavin riding his bike and just enjoy being outside. It's just a walk, for fun! Because if I think of it as Work then I won't enjoy it right? Here's hoping changing the way I think about things will help me even more. Wish me luck!