YES! We are BIKINI Ready…………..SPEAK FOR YOUR SELF!

To Diet or not to Diet? To exercise or not to exercise? NOT! I’m allergic to exercise and I can’t give up food. I’m exhausted; I’m so tired; I just want to sleep and eat and sleep some more. Why are those Double Stuff Golden Oreos ® so good?! Ugh! Familiar?

Why is getting back into shape so hard? Before kids, I was working up to 3 jobs-sometimes all at the same time, a cheerleader in college and had no care in the world about what I ate and not a drop of body fat in site. Had all the energy in the world and functioned on 3-4 hours of sleep. Oh the early 20’s…I miss you so much. Years later, I was 9 months pregnant and tipped the scale over 200lbs. (not a lot of weight to some, but it was a big deal for me.) Oh man, it was tough to look at the scale the last few weeks of that pregnancy. My tiny 5’6”, B cup (or bra less), 130 lb body, stomach so flat you can see my 8-pack abs, will NEVER be the same again. The hubby tried to reassure me I was beautiful, but I was not trying to hear that. I didn’t feel beautiful. I didn’t feel sexy. I didn’t feel anything, except the joys of being a first time mom – greatest feeling ever – but I want to feel beautiful and sexy again. Not just for the hubby, but for me. I want to be that care free early 20 yr old again…

REALITY CHECK: Can’t go back in time and be 20something, but I can fix my muffin top now. You know…that pudgy stuff hanging over your jeans àMuffin Top. Not attractive at all. AND buying bigger size jeans to stuff it in there is also not attractive…and is costly. It took 2 years for me to wrap my mind around working out and getting back into shape. The weight took a big toll on my self esteem. I was in a size 14/16. Every part of my body and joints were aching. My doctor strongly advised I needed to get it together. And with kids around me, I don’t have a choice but to be active. So why not get in shape now and have fun chasing the kids around and tire them out FIRST! That being said, I have decided to get my butt and muffin top in gear. No I’m not dieting, I don’t believe in it. I love food too much to give it up. However I have disciplined myself to use portion control, calorie counting and exercise. Here is my routine. I hope it helps…it’s really worked for me.

Better Eating Habits:

· In the mornings I eat a strawberry or mango Chobani yogurt, or 2 hard boiled eggs, or ½ an omlette (save the other for the next day), with a glass of orange juice. My Snack is a banana, or a cup of fresh berries, or some turtle chex mix.

· For lunch, I have ½ a salad, or ½ a chicken salad and a side of sour cream and cheddar chips, or a meatless sandwich-preferably a caprese panini, or ½ sandwich and soup from the local deli near my job. Then my snack is either fruit, or more chex mix, or 1 cookie, or some kind of chocolate to kill that sweet tooth. However when we have luncheons at work and I know there will be a lot of tasty food, I normally forgo my snack between breakfast and lunch. I will say I have been eating a lot more fruit –natural sweet stuff– at work and drinking tons of water. (PS-I also think I’m allergic to water!)

· For dinner, I eat off of a dessert plate. I’ve found that because I’m snacking more throughout the day, I don’t need to pig out on dinner and over eat.

Calorie Intake:

COUNT YOUR CALORIES! There are so many calorie counters out there. I use Lose It. After I eat a meal, I track what I eat on my phone. Sometimes I even plan my meals in the morning with the calorie counter. When I know I am going to be drinking or having some take-out, I save my calories for the weekend. No, not by not eating, by working out!

Working it out:

I do Zumba. Only. I love Zumba. It’s dancing and having fun with a great group of women and occasional men that are there for one thing, to get healthy. I do Zumba at my local rec center and at home on the XBOX 360 Kinect. It’s fun and easy. Doesn’t matter if you can’t dance or can’t get the moves. Its all about moving your body, getting the heart rate up and burning those calories. I Zumba 3 times a week. I typically am an early morning rise and shine do everything before the kids and husband get up, but I take 2 classes during the week night and an early morning Saturday class. You don’t have to do Zumba by all means, just get out and do something. And don’t forget to put your exercise in Lose It or whatever calorie counter you prefer.

Quick Tips:

· Switch to wheat/whole grain pasta – Barilla is a good buy. · Switch to wheat/whole grain pasta –Nature’s Own Honey Wheat is pretty good. · Use extra virgin olive oil/canola oil or salted cream butter. Yes, butter! Believe it or not, I use about 80% less salt in food when I cook with butter. I normally coat the ban with a table spoon of butter and about 3 tablespoons of EVOO…depending on what I’m cooking. · Use turkey ground meat for any meal that calls for ground meat. I mostly cook with chicken. It’s very rare that I cook any pork or beef, unless its breakfast or breakfast for dinner. I gotta have my bacon and beef or turkey sausage.

As always, please consult your physician before doing any type of exercising and/or dieting. I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. I am just letting you know what works for me. It took me 9 months to get back into my size 8’s and I couldn’t be happier. I didn’t have to get a whole new wardrobe. I already had the stuff that I haven’t worn in over 6 years!!!

Even if it’s playing with the kids in the yard for an hour or so, do it! It’s sooo worth it.

What's In Your Basket ?????

Basket full of GRASS with Chocolate Covered Bunnies, Sweetarts, Bunny Shaped Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups, Jelly Beans, Colored Eggs, Toys and let’s not forget the HUNT! My mom and dad would create these wonderful baskets for my siblings and I filled with nothing. Then it was Easter Egg Hunt time this is where I got most of my candy but of course there was more where that came from INSIDE OF THE HOUSE! Easter has always been fun since I was a child I can remember going to church on Easter Sunday rushing home to change out of my pretty dress in preparation of decorating eggs. Everyone would come up with their own style of creating their "MASTERPIECE" egg. My brother's egg was messy, my sister maybe had 2 colors and of course I had a cleaver design. I guess you can call me an artist in the making. Now that I have children of my own it is a joy to see my children enjoy it as much as I did.

Easter is fast approaching for many of us who celebrate this wonderful holiday. How many of us parents have actually sat down and talked to our children about the true meaning of Easter? Well that's where we come to help, keep reading this post to find creative ways of introducing the importance of celebrating Easter.

Easter this year will be celebrated on April 8, 2012. Easter is not about the bunnies, candy and hunts. Although we enjoy and have fun putting baskets together for our little ones it's more than just that. This is the time to discuss with our children all that Jesus has done for us and what he did on the cross.

Eater is one of the most sacred Christian Holiday's. Easter is the celebration of Jesus Christ's rising from the dead (resurrection) after he was crucified. Jesus was crucified on the cross on what we know it as today "Good Friday". God sent his only son Jesus to die for our sins. Even though Jesus died he did not stay dead, he rose from the dead on Easter Sunday. This is why we celebrate Easter it is the celebration of New Life.

Here is the link to a great movie that will help you explain the True Meaning of Easter.

Please check out our "Let's Get Crafty Page" for cool Easter ideas. Here is a little sneek peek:

Happy First Day of Spring….Cleaning!

If you live in the DMV (DC, MD & VA) area, you know we never really had a winter season and spring has been in full effect for several weeks. The kids were looking forward to wearing their new snow suits. We’ve had no snow. It actually hasn’t even been cold enough for them to wear the typical winter gear. Now don’t get us wrong, we are definitely not a fan of the winter ice mix, school delays and closings and worst of all the traffic (Ranked #2 in the top 10 of worst cities for traffic), but this winter was just not the same without the 3ft of snow. We’ve had up to 80°weather, a little rain and overcast, but still able to wear shorts, tanks/tees and flip flops…ummm YES please! It’s actually been kind of tough to dress the kids because it’s still cold in the morning then warms up by mid afternoon. Do we dress them in shorts anticipating it will be warm, or do we still keep them in pants with a short sleeve short and light jacket and a pack a pair of shorts for them for later? But if we send them to school/daycare in shorts they may catch a cold because the weather is so bi-polar. But if they’re in pants, will they be comfortable? Too hot? What to do, what to do?

Spring cleaning anyone? Winter is officially over…time to for spring cleaning. Do we have to? Yes, yes we do. But why? (Doesn’t this sound familiar-It’s funny how most of will resort to the 4 yr old or teen for that matter when it comes to cleaning) Honestly, who likes to clean? I’m sure we all feel spring cleaning just snuck up on us, out of nowhere. As much as we are procrastinating and kicking and screaming we really got to get it done. It’s going to help you and your sanity in the long run. We’ve found that when we do take the time to do a thorough Spring Cleaning, it’s easier to for us parents and kids to keep up with our day to day tasks, activities and most important, stay organized.

Everyone lives in the house, so everyone is responsible for cleaning it up and making sure it stays clean. Yes, even the little ones. Get them started EARLY! Be sure to check out our checklist to help get you started (Can be found under the 1 For Fun 2 Get it Done! Page). By all means please use your discretion for the little ones.

Depending on how much change the kids found in the couches and cars, take the family out for some ice cream and take a stroll in the park. By the time you get home, the kids should be exhausted. You probably will be exhausted too, but at least you don’t have to clean ANYTHING when you get home!

Making A Change!

National Nutrition Month

Way back when, our parents and grand-parents day, they had no video games, cable TV, and no computers. FAST FOOD restaurants, you gotta be kidding me! There were few of those around and they sure did not have 1 on every corner.

Most of their time was spent outdoors riding bikes, creating outdoor games, climbing trees and eating from the family garden. We surly cannot say that for the kids growing up today. Kids today watch an average of 20-30 hours of T.V. a week; we can average that out to the amount of time spent in school learning. Kids that eat fast food consume an average of 187 more calories a day. Childhood Obesity does exist! Let’s start changing the numbers NOW not LATER.

Parents we have to be a role model for our kids. Get out and get fit! Start with small steps take the kids from in front of the T.V. and do a learning activity, get them involved in the kitchen as you prepare meals, take them outside for at least 20-30 minutes a day 5 days a week. With this, we are creating an environment of taking care of your mind, body and health. Who said rewards were a bad thing?? Encourage and reward your kid’s physical activity with outings, games, and or equipment related to different activities.

Where Did My Hour GO?????

It’s that time of year again! On Sunday, March 11^th at 2AM, we will Spring Forward one hour. This means we lose an hour of sleep, but gain an hour of PLAY! This also means summer is right around the corner! This is the time that you may want to start preparing your minds for Spring Cleaning-but that’s a whole other blog…coming soon! J

Here is a link where you can keep track of the different time zones http://www.timeanddate.com/ and time changes around the world. This will be a great way to teach the kids about the different time zones and 4 seasons. If you have family in different states, have the kids call them to see what time is where they live. The kids can also learn what the different temperatures are, sunrise and sunset, and moonrise and moonset where your families are.

When you get up Sunday morning, before breakfast, go around the house and have the kids change all of the clocks. The kids will have fun running around the house and your toddlers are now learning their numbers and how to tell time. Have fun!

Much Love! T & K

Welcome

Toni & Karesa would like to welcome you to our blog!!!!!!!!!