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.