This Week's Healthy Lunch

My plan is to make a list of healthy meals that I can just rotate through so I can be on auto-pilot. It's the only way I'm able to fit in all the things I want in my life: time for exercise, time with family, healthy eating, downtime, adequate sleep, meaningful week, parenting, conversations with friends and family, time with Matt--the list seems endless! 

This week's lunch:

• Bean dip (0 points)
• 16 crackers (3 points)
• 3 pieces of mozzarella cheese (3 points)
• Baby carrots (0 points)
• Bell pepper
• Cucumbers
• Snap peas

I'm really excited! I'll make five of these meals on Sunday and then eat them the whole week. Then the next week I will rotate through something else. Healthy variety without much thought! Sounds great! 

Share |

Weight Watchers: Week One Update

Week one is done! I lost two pounds and already feel a difference in my body. My clothes fit a tiny bit better, and running is easier because I'm not jiggling as much (sorry for the mental movie). 

Let's first rewind and talk about why the heck I'm even doing Weight Watchers. While listening to the Friendlier podcast this weekend, I heard Abby talking about how she wants to have a very body-positive approach to life and doesn't want to kowtow (okay, she did not use that word, but it seems to capture her sentiment) to warped societal pressures about what bodies are supposed to look like. 

For me, joining Weight Watchers isn't about a negative body image or conforming to societal expectations. It's literally just about my self and what feels good to me. I don't feel good when I'm carrying around an extra ten pounds. It makes it harder for me to exercise, and if exercise is harder, then I'm less likely to do it. And when I do it less, I'm not able to adequately release all my stress and foster all the good kinds of chemicals I want flowing through my body. I'm not self-critical when I gain extra weight. Instead, it's more of the Proactive Problem Solver who comes out. She asks kindly, "So what do you want to do about it?"

My general approach to maintaining my weight has been:

• Always eat a healthy breakfast
• Eat healthy lunches Monday-Friday
• Eat healthy dinners Sunday-Thursday
• Splurge at dinner on Friday and Saturday
• Eat a moderately healthy lunch on Saturday and Sunday
• Eat one treat during the week
• Run two times a week for ~40 minutes around the lake

This worked for me for a long time. And then it wasn't working. Doing Weight Watchers this week has helped me understand why: I've recently started eating too much for lunch and dinner during my "healthy" meals. 

I've been eating frozen cheese enchiladas from Whole Foods (they are cheap and tasty!). But they are 10 out of my 23 daily points. For dinner I've been eating a very tiny Udi's gluten-free pizza (with thin crust!) once a week. Guess how many points that was? 22. For one meal! 

So following the Weight Watchers guidelines for a week has helped me understand what I need to do to lose my extra weight and then maintain my ideal weight. I need to identify lunches that are in the 6-point range, and I need to build a cadre of more healthy dinners. For example, I can still eat my super-easy Modern Meal pasta, but I can only eat a cup of it and I need to fill myself up by adding a ton of steamed broccoli to it. When I get home from work and am starving, I need to snack on bell peppers, strawberries, hard-boiled eggs, etc. (all of which are 0 points!). And I need to hold myself to my "one treat during the week rule." If I'm going to want to eat the dips, cupcakes, bundt cakes, and donuts that show up at school nearly every day, I'm going to have to pick only one or I'm going to have to limit myself to a bite of each. 

If it's going to be a crazy week (family in town, night-time meetings at restaurants, etc.), then I'll need to think about fitting in more exercise. 

All of that feels really doable! 

Share |

Back on Track: The Art of Tuning in and Not Doing Too Much

Aaahh...

As I write this, it's a Saturday morning (I typically write my posts during the weekend and schedule them to run during the week). I just got back from my first run in a long time. I drank a smoothie. I listened to a Podcast while I showered (Friendlier), and all of my boys are out of the house together while I have a couple hours of free time. I'm sitting on our outdoor couch. It feels like Spring, and I can even hear the creek rambling. 

[insert contented sigh]

I've had to work really hard to get to this place. I had to start eating healthier food again. I had to start exercising again. Both of those things impact how I feel emotionally and mentally. I had to tell my leadership coach that I needed to slow down what we were working on. We were forging ahead on new goals, and I realized that I was losing my grip on the goal I had worked on and "accomplished" the previous year: living my life in a way that enabled me to sustain the energy I need to be a better leader, colleague, mother, friend. I put quotes around accomplished because I can be such a box-checker. And the most important goals aren't those that can just be checked off and left behind. They require consistent maintenance. I like the analogy of stretching every day to become a flexible person. Once you achieve the pinnacle of flexibility, you can't just stop stretching. 

I have a limited pipeline and only so much can fit in. I have to be incredibly intentional about what I let in (and be intentional about leaving space so that when something unexpected pops up, there's room to fit that in, too). 

So my leadership coach and I paused the other goals we were working on and starting focusing back on last year's goal. I really worked on stopping work by 8pm so I could relax for two hours before bed (I sound like a scratched CD talking about my 8pm goal, but it takes constant focus!). 

And so here I am feeling so much better. Phew! It's crazy how much I do need exercise and healthy food in my life to feel good. Well, it actually makes perfect sense. I guess the crazy part is how hard it is to try and fit in those things! 

Share |

A Little Cleansing

Oy. I have had the hardest time upholding the health and wellness prong of my life this year. It's such a predictable pattern in my life. Something happens and I stop running (this time it was our trip to Australia and then I threw out my back). When I'm not running, I start eating a lot more unhealthy things. Then I start gaining weight, my clothes don't fit, and I feel more sluggish/fatigued. 

Meanwhile, Tate has a parasite in his gut and an overgrowth of Candida. (We took him to a pediatric functional medicine doctor, and she ordered a stool analysis on him). So he needs to kill the Candida in his gut (which thrives on sugar). It made me realize it's the perfect time to healthify our eating habits a little (especially while he's taking the medicine to eradicate the Candida).

So for the next week or so I'm going to do the Clean program: smoothie for breakfast, veggies and grains for lunch, and soup for dinner. Here's a little more explanation. I roasted two trays of vegetables with chickpeas and made a big pot of quinoa. I'm excited!

Share |

Nightly Relaxation Ritual

I've been feeling a lot of anxiety at night (work-related stuff), and it's impacting my sleep. Simultaneously, we're working through a round of Purposeful Conception: Preparing Your Mind, Body, and Life for Pregnancy, and it's reminding me of what a conscious effort I made to relax and de-stress my life when I was pregnant with Henry. Every night I would shut down by a certain time, do yoga, and then relax. Here's what I said about it:

During my pre-conception phase, I developed a nightly Relaxation Ritual for myself. At 8:15 every night, I would spend 15 minutes picking up the clutter that had accumulated around our house during the day. Then I would do 15 minutes of yoga. Finally, I would read or chat with my husband before going to bed at 9:30 (so I could get eight hours of sleep before my 5:30am alarm).

I'm wondering if  I want to try something similar. I've been working so hard to shut my computer by 8pm. Then I could set it aside (versus opening it and starting on another computer-centered project), head into my bedroom, put on some soothing music and do yoga. It could be a nice transition into whatever I want to do with the rest of my time: ukulele, Netflix, games with Matt, reading, etc. 

Share |

Take Control of Your Health: Order Your Own Blood Work

For those of you who are new to this saga, here's the quick recap: Henry was struggling with self-regulation. We took him to therapy (and still do), had him tested by a neuro-behavioralist, had food sensitivity testing done (he should steer clear of gluten), and had a genetic test done by a child psychiatrist. His genetic testing reveals that he has MTHFR issues and his body doesn't process folic acid the way it's supposed to, which means he doesn't produce dopamine and serotonin the way he is supposed to (which means he can only self-regulate about 70% of the time). 

And since it's genetic, it means I have issues, too! MTHFR is connected to anxiety, depression, addiction, thyroid issues, and heart issues. So I had a 23andme report done and took it to the functional medicine doctor to have her decipher it. The functional medicine doctor wants me to make dietary changes and start on certain supplements, but I want to have baseline blood work done first so I can make sure that the changes she is recommending are really necessary. 

I tried to have blood work done back at my regular doctor's office, but she didn't think many of the tests were necessary. I didn't want to have them done through the functional medicine doctor because I worried they would be more expensive. 

So I discovered that you can order relatively inexpensive labs from the internet! I know it sounds crazy, but I tried it, had a great experience, and can now recommend it. 

I used Direct Labs to order a bunch of things that my functional medicine doctor wanted to see. For the celiac panel, the test kit was mailed to my house, I did a finger prick collect, and sent the sample back to the lab. For the other tests, I printed a requisition off the internet and then took it to my nearest Quest Diagnostic (which happened to be in a grocery store). Then the results show up in my dashboard online. 

It's such an easy and empowering system, although I am a bit freaked out. One of the tests (CRP-hs) shows that I have elevated levels and am at increased risk for cardiac issues (which is definitely connected to MTHFR). I'm not going to let my hypochondriac brain get too out of control; I'll let you know what the functional medicine doctor says as soon as I hear!

For updates in between blog posts, check out Instagram! 

----------------------------------------------

JOIN US!: Registration is currently open for the next Purposeful Conception Course: Preparing Your Mind, Body, and Life for Pregnancy, which starts on January 8! Register now! We'd love to have you join us!

Share |

B-12 Deficiency

I've been continuing down my health and wellness journey. It's a slow journey but a steady one! 

After visiting with a functional medicine doctor (I am in love with functional medicine, which focuses on the whole human and tries to incorporate research way more quickly than mainstream medicine), I decided to get some baseline blood work done. My functional medicine doctor wanted me to start a whole host of supplements and dietary changes (like no gluten), so I wanted to get baseline data to see if her recommendations actually had any impact. 

It was way more difficult than I thought to order blood work from my general physician. My general physician thinks my functional medicine doctor is a quack. 

I ordered as much as I could from my general practitioner, such as B-12, lipids, and some hormone stuff. 

My general practitioner reported everything back to me as "Normal." I found it odd that the normal range for B-12 was anything from 193-986. Honestly, it's counterintuitive that a range that large could all be normal. I did some quick research that seemed to indicate that the normal range for B-12 in Europe and Japan is much smaller than the range in the U.S. and that those countries/continents treat B-12 deficiency very seriously. 

My own level is 288, which is uncomfortably close to the bottom end of the range. So I am definitely going to start a B-12 supplement. Honestly, it made me very glad that Matt and I decided to let our sons eat meat from a young age (since they really wanted to), even though we are both vegetarians. 

I remember that one of you mentioned B-12 a very long time ago. I'm sorry I wasn't ready to hear you at the time! 

Share |

My Genetic Testing Update

We’ve been on a journey in our family to get to the root of some of the issues we’ve been having. The first issue we started addressing was Henry’s struggle with self-regulation. It’s something we heard from teachers for multiple years before we finally took action. When he was five years-old, we started him in a play-based therapy. When his issues didn’t resolve themselves, we had him get tested by a neuro-behavioralist (recommended by the therapist). Those results came back pretty inconclusive. He said Henry might have ADHD in a few years but for now it just looks like anxiety.

He didn’t have any solid answers about why a five year-old would have anxiety, but he mentioned genetic testing and food sensitivity testing. Both of those tests (both administered by different people at different places) revealed issues that are linked to anxiety: a gluten-sensitivity which means his gut is malfunctioning and he’s not producing dopamine and serotonin well and issues with his MTHFR gene (which means he doesn’t process folic acid well, which means he doesn’t produce dopamine and serotonin well). Overall, the assessment was that he only had control of 70% of his behavior.

The psychiatrist who did the genetic testing prescribed a mega-dose of folic acid, and we have seen huge changes in his behavior because of it. We also took him off gluten.

Meanwhile, Matt and I used 23andme to get our genetics tested. I shared my report with a functional medicine doctor in my town, and it was a fascinating experience. It was similar to having tarot cards read! She would ask things like, “It looks like you might be particularly sensitive to strong smells. Is that true?” Check. “It looks like you might have had some trouble with pregnancy. Like a miscarriage. Is that true?” Check.

Basically, she shared the following things:

• My body doesn't methylate well. The link explains what that means better than I can! My body's ability to methylate is compromised by about 40% (Henry's is about 30%). 
• I am compound heterozygous with MTHFR and have both the A problem and the C problem. 
• Out of the 26 genes related to methylation that my doctor looked at, I have issues with 11 or 12 of them. 
• My body has a hard time absorbing B-12.
• I have a strong need for cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower. 
• I have a double mutation in DAO so I should avoid high histamine foods. 
• I have a double mutation in HLADQA2, which apparently means I should not eat gluten. 

Which led her to the following recommendations:

• I should stop eating gluten.
• I need a diet with more vegetables and fewer grains.
• I need to take Vitamin D with K2.
• I need to be on close to 1,000mg of B12, if not higher. I need it to be methylated and it should be in the form of a lozenge or cream. 
• I should go on a mitochondrial support like PQQ.
• I should drink green tea and matcha.
• I should start taking a fish oil pill.  

Before I take any of the supplements, however, I’m going to go to my general physician and request a bunch of lab work. This is what she recommended:

• Homocysteine levels
• Vitamin D levels
• Check HSCRP
• Hemoglobin HGA1C
• Full thyroid panel: TSH, Free T3, Free T4, TPO, TG Antibodies, Reverse T3
• Celiac panel (because I have a propensity for celiac disease)
• Lipids
• Iron: CBC, Ferritin, Iron study

Then I’m going to e-mail it to the functional medicine doctor and do a phone consult with her to see if my baseline results cause her to recommend anything different.

I’m also going to do a stool test and a urinary analysis through her.

Then after we have all the baseline data, I’m going to start the supplements and make the dietary changes. Then we will do the lab work again and see if there’s been any change!

She recommended that I take Henry to a pediatric functional medicine physician to switch him off his prescription folic acid because it’s full of artificial coloring and other fillers.

All of this is so out of my comfort zone and so new to me! I’ve never know much about functional medicine. Here’s the definition:

Functional medicine addresses the underlying causes of disease, using a systems-oriented approach and engaging both patient and practioner in a therapeutic partnership…It addresses the whole person, not just an isolated set of symptoms…Functional medicine practitioners spend time with their patients, listening to their histories and looking at the interactions among genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that can influence long-term health and complex, chronic disease.

As I write all this, I'm metacognitive about how obsessive I sound in this quest to optimize our bodies and our lives. Maybe my "striving" is related to my MTHFR issues? Honestly, I'm perfectly content with the path we are on because I believe that our modern day food production system is pretty terrible and we aren't getting the nutrients we need. I believe our bodies are a system that need proper nutrients to function well. 

I look forward to getting my lab results back, taking some supplements, and making our diet as healthy as possible. 

Share |

My New Favorite Sunscreen

Considering that my children are pretty much naked nearly all of the time while at home, we invest in a lot of sunscreen. 

I use the Environmental Working Group database to analyze how toxic sunscreens are because it has never made sense to me to try to protect your skin from cancer by slathering on known-carcinogens. 

And yet the more natural the sunscreen, the more impractical it tends to be. The healthiest kinds (those with a rating of 1) are so thick, so pasty, and so frustrating. Then you don't want to put on the sunscreen at all. And then you are back to the original cancer. 

So I've finally landed on a compromise. I use Sun Bum, which has an okay rating at 5. It's so light and easy to put on. It rubs in fairly well for less toxic kinds of sunscreen. Heads-up: It does smell of coconut, which may not appeal to some people. I tend to get put off by strong smells, but this one is really light to me. 

We feel ready for the summer! 

Share |

My New Favorite Snack

Stocking our pantry with gluten-free, vegan, and dairy-free treats is no easy feat. It helps that we found Larabar: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. Here are the ingredients: cashews, dates, chocolate chips, sea salt. 

It takes so indulgent! 

I'm probably one of the last people to discover these bars (I really shouldn't be a blogger--I'm not trendy at all!), but if there are any of you who haven't discovered them yet, I highly recommend them! 

Share |

Detoxing for a Couple Days

Last year, my overarching focus for the year was "Health & Wellness." I started the year with a 21-day cleanse, which felt amazing. I did yoga and ran twice a week all the way until April. 

This year, I've been running twice a week (I haven't picked up the yoga again yet). I'm feeling proud that we are almost through April and I'm still regularly running! But I'm also feeling like I want to kick up the healthy eating a notch. 

I'm going to do a couple days of this cleanse. It's so simple and it doesn't feel like a cleanse at all. It just feels like healthy eating. 

Breakfast is a smoothie. Lunch is usually some form of rice, beans/lentils, and vegetables. And dinner is soup. 

I'm going to try Daily Harvest for a delivery of smoothie ingredients and soups. It will help me break out of my one-kind-of-smoothie rut and perhaps help me actually like soup. I'm excited! 

Share |

Facing the Food Insensitivities

A post shared by Matthew Bradford (@mattyrunrun) on Mar 6, 2017 at 3:17pm PST

I'm finally getting to a place where I think I can tackle all the food sensitivities around here. Between my three guys, we are trying to minimize gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, and citrus. 

I tried brainstorming different categories of food, with the idea that the categories would help me search for recipes. Here are the categories I came up with:

1. Rice and beans
2. Curry
3. Tostadas
4. Tacos
5. Enchiladas
6. Veggie burgers
7. Pasta
8. Chili
9. Sushi
10. Fried rice

So for this week, here are the five recipes we are going to try: 

• Rice & Beans: Braised Coconut Spinach and Chickpeas with Lemon
• Tostadas: Black bean with quick pickles and soft-cooked eggs
• Pasta: Creamy Avocado pasta
• Veggie Burgers: Quinoa and White Bean
• Curry: Golden Red Lentil Dal

Fortunately I'm feeling excited and optimistic about the challenge! I've been wanting to minimize gluten and dairy in my own life anyway. 

It definitely takes a lot of time to find recipes, but my hope is that we will build up a good reserve over time and it will get easier.

----------------------------------------------

JOIN US!: Registration is currently open for the next Purposeful Conception Course: Preparing Your Mind, Body, and Life for Pregnancy, which starts on April 3! Register now! We'd love to have you join us!

Share |

Some Good News and Bad News

I finally made an appointment to hear the results from my food sensitivity testing. I'll admit: ignorance was bliss. I honestly didn't want to know. If I knew that something was causing an immune response in my body, then I would have to do something about it. 

The good news is that my test was pretty clear. Nothing was in the 4 or higher range. The things that got the highest were milk, whey, and brewers' yeast. 

On the other hand, Matt's results were terrible. He is sensitive to most of the staples of an American diet, including many different forms of gluten and dairy. 

I know lots of people are skeptical about the validity of this kind of testing, but we are four for four when it comes to results matching up to issues. Matt has lots of stomach sensitivity, so his diagnosis makes sense. Tate's sensitivities match up to his eczema issues, and Henry's gluten issue matches up to his self-regulation issues. It's been an interesting journey for us! 

I'm honestly not sure what the future holds for our how we are going to meet our dietary needs. For a while I tried eating meat through our Sunbasket meals, but I just couldn't stomach it. Then I started pulling together really fast meals for the boys (pre-prepared meat, frozen peas, and applesauce) while Matt and I went back to the vegetarian Sunbasket meals (our favorite). But now that doesn't work for Matt. 

We'll see what we do!

----------------------------------------------

JOIN US!: Registration is about to close for the next Purposeful Conception Course: Preparing Your Mind, Body, and Life for Pregnancy, which starts today! Register now! We'd love to have you join us!

Share |

My Life Work: Genetic Testing, Therapy, Etc.

At the end of the year, I want to be able to say that I feel balanced, connected, full of vitality, and at peace. I want to make sure my own bucket is full so I can interact with others from a place of patience, love, and joy. 

To work toward that end, I've started working with a leadership coach every other week. I'm also about to start working with a therapist on the alternate weeks. I'm going to do it via Skype so I don't feel like I have one more commitment outside of the home. 

Through my work so far, I'm learning how I have to be more intentional and vigilant about prioritization in my life. I'm also learning about how to use my strengths to grow in the areas I want to grow, instead of constantly focusing on the things that need to change. 

I'm also seeing the need to develop a self-compassion practice. 

I'm also getting genetic testing through 23andme. I'm going to submit the raw data via this website to get a fuller report. If I have an MTHFR mutation that means I would benefit from prescription folic acid, then I'm going to start taking that. There's a history of anxiety and depression in my family. While I don't feel like I have the symptoms of depression, I do wonder if my constant "striving" is connected to anxiety. 

And--as if this list weren't already long enough--I'm going to get the results of my food insensitivity testing this week. I really do believe that the body is a complex system and things like nutrition have a huge impact on our brain. 

As I write all of this, I'm aware of how crazy I sound. Honestly, I'm feeling balanced, full of vitality, and at peace right now! And it's because I'm doing this work. I feel good when I feel like I'm growing and evolving as a person. I know, though, that my striving needs to be tempered with self-compassion and appreciation. I'm excited to be on this journey called Life!

Share |

It's Time for a Change

Now that we are using Sunbasket for three meals a week, I hardly ever have leftovers for lunch. I've been resorting to grabbing a protein bar and a piece of fruit. That was bad enough. Then I stopped having time to make my green smoothies for breakfast and starting grabbing the same kind of protein bar for breakfast. What?!?

I have to stop. I need more veggies and more fiber. Enter the work day salad...

Inspired by Kelsey, I am going to start making a work day salad the night before. Here's what I'm aiming for:

• Crunchy lettuce
• Farro
• Boiled egg
• Peas
• Carrots
• Cucumber
• Red pepper

I'm going to try her strategy of salad dressing at the bottom, then grain. I'm excited! 

Share |

My Big Failure

Last year was supposed to be my year of "Health & Wellness." While I do have a lot to celebrate, I have to officially call my year a failure with regard to those goals.

I started out really strong with a 21-day cleanse, and I was the most regular participant in my yoga class for a solid four months. I used the Pact app to make sure I was running twice a week, and I was always planning ahead to make sure I could fit in my runs, no matter how busy my week was going to be. And all of this lasted for a third of the year! And I felt great.

And then performance review season hit (where I have to write detailed reviews for every employee), and I started feeling too busy. And then I wasn't exercising (because I was too busy) and that made me more tired. So then even when I wasn't as busy, I was then too tired. And then if I'm not exercising, why not eat whatever I want? And then it was a downward spiral from there.

I'm not one to wallow in negative feelings, so I'm here asking myself, "What can I do to make it different this year?"

Here are my ideas:

1. I have to commit to weighing myself every week. Even when I'm not exercising and I'm eating crappily.  I need that accountability--that honest look at where I'm at. I know weight isn't an indicator of health and wellness for everyone, but it is for me. My weight is an honest reflection of whether I've been skipping exercise and stress eating. I already have a little notebook that I keep in the bathroom, so I can record my weight. It's really helpful. 
2. I'm going to use a little tracking sheet to paste inside my notebook, so while the shower is heating up I can reflect on how I'm doing with regard to running, yoga, drinking water, and eating healthy. I know there are apps for this, but I am more of a paper and pen kind of gal. 

I believe in the old Chinese adage that we should be healthy 80% of the time. Broken down mathematically, that means we can be unhealthy for a little more than four meals. Matt and I eat out on Friday and Saturday nights, and then we eat out for lunch (something light like breakfast tacos or sandwiches) on Saturday and Sunday. That's about 20% of my meals. And then I'm going to aim for only one more random treat at any point during the week (a donut at school, a mini-blizzard from Dairy Queen, etc.). 

There's really not much more I need to do. I already bought a treadmill so I could run during the week if the weekend gets too busy for running. I already know the day and time of my yoga class. I just need to stick to my goals! Stay tuned for my check-in at the beginning of February (and then March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December--please ask me about it if I stop mentioning it during my monthly reflections!). 

----------------------------------------------

JOIN US! Last day to sign up for Purposeful Parenthood course, which started today! Register now! We'd love to have you join us!

Share |

Holding Yourself to the Fire

I don't want to get to the end of the year and have to report back that I failed to meet my goal of being able to describe my life as "full of vitality" like I did last year. But, let's face it, most New Year's Resolutions are doomed to failure! Kelsey says this book is good for figuring out what kind of person you are when it comes to forging new habits. You can also take the online quiz here. 

I'm the kind of person who needs:

• A really concrete goal
• An extremely clear vision of the specific actions that will lead to the end goal
• A plan for how and when to do the actions I need to do (so I can go on auto-pilot)
• A system for tracking my actions toward the goal
• A system for publicly sharing my progress (or lack thereof) on the actions

Last year I made a little notebook for my bathroom, so I could weigh myself each week and hold myself accountable for whether or not I was able to maintain my ideal weight. This year, I wanted to better track the specific actions that are aligned with my goal. My specific actions are aligned with trying to live an 80/20 lifestyle. (There's an old Chinese adage that you only have to eat healthy 80% of the time). So this tracker helps me pay attention to how many unhealthy meals I eat (it should stay at about four) and how many "extra" treats I eat during the week (like a donut or cookie at work). I'm trying to keep those at about one per week. I also want to run twice a week and go to yoga once a week. 

I complete the tracker from the previous week on Saturday and then text a picture of it to my mom, aunt, and cousins for that extra layer of accountability. I have asked them to please text me if I don't send it on Saturday! I will also report on it during my monthly "Reflection & Rejuvenation" posts.

----------------------------------------------

JOIN US! Registration is now open for the next Purposeful Parenthood course, which starts on February 6. Register today! We'd love to have you join us!

Share |