6 Months..Perseverance? I think yes!

Dear friend,

Today marks my 6 month anniversary living a plant strong life--come visit Spinach and Apples and hear my best tips for the same success.

And of course day 8 brought exercise in the form of a 1 hour service project--double awesome!

xo Viv

four, five and six, seven

Dear friend,

I am all about multitasking this week...I have had so much fun this last week--I have had two guests visiting both 12 years old and all the excitement that entails.  We got very creative this week with exercise...

April 13...2 hour Rec. Center visit-volleyball, jogging, basketball, tag, and walking
April 14...1 1/2 hours of dancing in a mosh pit to the Spazmatics {an 80's cover band}
April 15...Sunday rest.
April 16...A big red wagon walk/ jog with Izz and her silly friend Hads.

This may not be marathon training but I have decided balance and longevity is what I wish for...I want activity to be part of my life and not a scheduled hour.  I very rarely sit down in a day unless I am driving, I am always moving and multitasking is the only way for me to accomplish all the fun things I want to do so...I will feel great about it, especially because so much if it I share with my little Izz.  I know I will never regret that(:

xo Viv

Day 2: Walking backwards

Dear friend,

Today was, yes, the title is correct...walking backwards.  I took Izz on a blustery day walk...we took a crepe paper roll and made a kite and we were headed off to see the ducks in a nearby neighborhood.  Little did we know that the wind had other plans.  As I attempted to walk so that Izz did not endure the brunt of the bluster I had to walk backwards for at least 2 miles of our walk and my calves have never felt more sore.  Did I look silly?  Yes. But, the smiles on the face of the people driving by were hilarious and the adventure was fun, Izz thought is was so silly and giggled the whole way.  Oh, did I paint the picture vivid enough...Me a jogging stroller and giant backward strides.  I wish I could have seen that (:

xo Viv

Day 1: Birthday Countdown

Dear friend,

Day 1---today I jogged up red ledges by my house with Izz, my sweetie girl.  We jogged to a farm, visited with the moos, horsey's, and baa's and jogged back, yay!  Jogging...check!

xo Viv

New version of the calendar printable, click here!

Free Printable Calendar

Click here to print your calendar!

Dear friends,

As promised here is a fun calendar to mark your moving mayhem.  I made it blank so we can use it over and over as we put some strength into this year.

Have a happy day!

xoViv

A few numbers: 48--6--26--30

For this free print click here!

Dear friends,

48 is for 48 days. 48 days since my last post.
I have been MIA but I am back now, yay!  In February I was so excite to share a new series I was going to be writing called Plant-strong pregnancy but before I was ready to unveil it, things changed and I experienced my first miscarriage.  Read more about it here if you would like.  I learned so much and have come away from the experience with such an immense gratitude for life and the miracle that it is.  I believe in life we experience storms but those storms are only to steer us in the right direction, if they are accepted with humility and grace we are allowed the greatest opportunity for growth and learning and I am humbled by all I was allowed to learn.

6 is for weight lost-26 pounds down!
From a body standpoint my hormones caused a small weight fluctuation but within a month I was feeling better and not only dropped the little bit from the hormone craziness but lost another 6.  Yes I weighed myself this week and am down 6 more lbs. making that a total of 26 lbs. lost since becoming plant strong in November.  The amazing thing to me is if I had endured the same experiences I have gone through before becoming plant strong, not only would I be dealing with the storm of those experiences I would have forgotten about whatever diet I was on and I would have went into survival mode.  This time I felt that my health was part of that crucial life raft that was going to help me come out of it better than at the onset.

30 is for a birthday coming up in 30 days, my birthday!
I am so excited for this birthday, I am not totally sure what it is but I do know it is ushering in a year I will look back on with fondness forever, I can feel it.  There is a book I bought my hubby for Easter, a children's book, called A Good Day by Kevin Henke.  It begins with Squirrel losing her nut, Dog getting tangled up, Fox losing her mother, and Bird losing her feather.  And then it comes to a page filled with colorful stripes that says, "But then.."  I feel like my family right now is in that page, our life is in that precipice of what is to come.  There is so much hope and excitement here.   In the book the Squirrel finds a bigger nut, fox turns around and finds her mom, Dog untangles himself and romps through the dandelions and the bird forgets his lost feather and flies higher than he ever has before and a little girl finds the feather, tucks it behind her ear, and runs to her mother saying...what a good day it is.

To begin this year the right way I am going to aim big in health...I am dedicating myself to 1 hour of different exercise each day until my birthday.  I am going to post a printable chart tomorrow if you want to follow along, with the exception of Sundays, I am going to post a candle with a description of the exercise each day--so that I hold myself to it.  Here is my list of exercises that I have so far but I need your help...

Jog
Walk
Hike
Bike
Long Board
Yoga
Zumba
Elliptical
Treadmill
Power Board
Kick Boxing
Spin
Soccer
Basketball
Wagon pulling
Swimming
Kenpo
Spinning


Okay...I am 12 short so if you have any ideas...please help me finish my list and...

if you see me skipping down the road you will know why, I am just getting creative.

Here's to 30!

Viv

Update: Here are the calendar posts-

PINKY VERSION

BRIGHT VERSION

Wait...this is what I meant.

Dear friend,

Well, I so loved this saying left on my facebook by a friend that  made it into a logo.  As I was sharing it on Pinterest and Facebook I noticed something.  Not everyone understood what I was trying to say.  So, I googled the saying to see if there was anything else out there similar to what I was thinking and here is what I found--people were using it in terms of rock hard abs strong is the new skinny, like to replace the Kate Moss version of skinny with Jillian Micheals skinny.

THIS IS NOT WHAT I MEANT.

In fact while we are on the Jillian point--I know she has motivated a lot of people to get fit but in an interview I saw on late night--that woman believes that if her fitness were taken away from her she would be nothing, I don't even think she would like the woman left over...she spoke very harshly of her former self with quite a bit of distain.  This is not what I was trying to express when I created this image.

I was trying to express what living a plant strong-whole foods life has given me.  A holistic acceptance of myself.  I am strong--not rock hard ab strong-- but strong in that I know who I am and no matter the size if I am doing my best I love myself.  I am strong from the inside out.

It's a mental clarity mixed with will power and motivation to continue forward in reaching my full potential.

Strong to me is achieving my optimal health not just physically but mentally and spiritually.

And the only way to do this is by accepting yourself, seeing your beauty without qualifiers, without comparisons, without criticism.

Be good to yourself with the gift of healthy fuel, invigorating exercise, kind words, and support...be your own best friend, don't belittle yourself or live your life as if your happiness must sit on the shelf until this is defined or that is slimmed down...just take care of yourself.

Keep harmful things out and put helpful things in and I promise, the peace of mind, the clarity, the kindness it allows you to give yourself is worth so much more than that image you have of the perfect physique.

If your self worth, your view of yourself hinges on the outward--what happens when you age, if, heaven forbid, your physical appearance is changed with illness, or an accident.  Love yourself for that deep beauty you possess and reach for the full potential inside of you.

A woman who can truly see her own beauty is priceless, that simple knowledge creates so much power.

I was 10 when I can first remember looking in the mirror and not liking what I saw... and it took me almost two decades to change that.

I can not remember the last time I said a negative comment to myself--and to me that is truly amazing.

It frees up so much of my time and energy to focus the things that really matter, I don't stand in my own way anymore...it makes me feel as if I can do anything.

And I can.

With love,
Viv

Reboot Days 2-7

Hey Y'all,

Soo, I'm sure you're eager to know how the reboot has been so far for me.  Well, to be honest, it's been a roller-coaster.  I decided to start my reboot when my husband was out of town and taking care of 3 kids under 5.  Yes, I'm certifiably crazy, but I couldn't wait and wanted to do this reboot immediately.  I'm still detoxing (Day 8) and so I haven't reached that happy place with this program yet.  Maybe I should watch Happy Gilmore again to find that 'happy place'.  All jokes aside, some days are good and I have a little more steam and exercising doesn't seem so much of a bear...and some days, I am literally pulling myself around from place to place, b/c my energy level is so low.

And then, the dreaded happened on Sunday...I got this flu/cold thing and feel like junk.  But, I kept a mini-journal and here is how is goes:

day 2:  woke up and whole body hurt; face itchy-couple hives. light-headed in the morning but that seemed to subside; am following this blog http://meltdownreboot.blogspot.com/.  She had an ingredient list for this juice she bought at a juicebar called Jungle Juice.  I tinkered around and made my own version.  It is awesome.  Thanks meldownmomma!  I also started exercising-elliptical (30 minutes)-about killed me.  Fyi, I have been doing P90X, so doing the elliptical is usually not a problem, but not on the reboot....whole new animal.  You will feel like you weigh twice as much as you do and extremely out of breath.  It was tough.  But, I DID it.

JUNGLE JUICE
1 apple
3 carrots
1/4 pineapple
1 lime
1" ginger

day 3: horrible headache,  super sluggish and foggy headed.  Tried the Mean Green drink that they have on Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead-delicious...much better tasting than the normal Green Drink I have posted for day 1.  Elliptical for 30 minutes.

day 4:  Mornings are hard!  Woke up with headache and whole body hurt.   Wanted to stay in bed.  My juicer is acting psycho and it's taking me longer than normal to juice (like 30 minutes long).  It's killing me. Elliptical-breathing heavy, reduced my time to 20 minutes.  Did some ab exercises.  More energy around 10AM

day 5:  Had quite a bit of energy and cleaned the whole house.  Did lots of ab exercises. 

day 6: Felt AWFUL.  Came down with virus and lounged around a lot today.  Craving FOOD.

day 7:  Felt Junky from Flu and was zapped of energy.  Elliptical 20 minutes.  My food cravings are insane right now.  My dad sent me a new blade for my juicer to see if that would make a difference...it did a lot, but it still has it's psycho moments.  It's a really temperamental juicer.  I foresee a juicer purchase in the future.  I made my family a vegetable Penne for dinner and I almost cheated.  It looked so good.  I miss food.

Today is day 8 and I still feel awful.  I would vouch to say I feel worse, so I'm hoping this is going to end soon.  Juicing while sick has not been fun.  The pounds are melting off, though.  I have lost over 5 lbs. 

Do I think I can last 60 days?  I'm taking it 1 day at a time.  I am trying to listen to my body.  It's so hard to know what's typical, b/c I don't think there are any typical results...everyone is so different.  I am dealing with hypoglycemia, so I have to be really careful with the whole sugar intake (not too much carrot, beet or fruit juice).  I only do 1 meal in the morning of fruit and the rest veggie, which has seemed to work out okay.  The past 3 days, though, I have been hungrier, and the 3 quarts of juice that I'm drinking + the 100 oz. of water has just not been enough and I am hungry and light-headed.  So, I'm thinking I'm going to have to make more juice than I had intended. 

I am taking it day-by-day.  I know there are good benefits to me doing this, but taking care of 3 small kids and juicing and SICK is just crazy.  I wish I could go to sleep and have a juice i.v. and wake up 30 days later. 

I know, this doesn't seem like a very motivating post, so, okay, here's the motivating part----I JUST MADE A WEEK MILESTONE-YAY!!.  Quite frankly, I think 8 days without food is amazing.  My goal is another week and to take it from there.  I CAN DO IT!!!  I'm hoping by that time, I can feel an energy boost and some euphoria to push me through the next 2 weeks.

Tata for now!!

Another late post from Fifi

Hi ya'll.

Sorry, I'm late again this week.

I got together with the gals earlier this week and we had some amazing juice. I'm now watching "fat, sick and nearly dead" and I'm itching to start my first juice fast.

I'm going to try 10 days started February 15th.

As for this past week, I lost another 2 lbs, so that brings my weight loss to a total of 6 lbs.

Yay!

Fifi

MOVE and here is why...

Well hello there...


As you know if you have read previous posts, I am totally converted to a plant strong way of life.  I know the benefits, I have felt them, I cherish them, and I will never go back to the way I felt before.  It has changed my whole life.   I am ready for the next hurdle, the next challenge.  In my next series of posts I am going to convince myself of the importance of exercise--so much so that I will not go a day without it.  How am I going to do this?  Just as I have built the eating habit...education, information, knowledge and of course the action.  I am going to move as I learn and here is the first convincing piece of information, for me and for you...

A friend on facebook shared the following quote and I think it is perfect for the beginning of this journey:  


"We should all be as fit as we can be—that’s good Word of Wisdom doctrine. That means eating right and exercising and helping our bodies function at their optimum strength. We could probably all do better in that regard. But I speak here of optimum health; there is no universal optimum size.
(Elder Jeffery Holland)"

I love it when I exercise, the goal is just to make the time for it and to miss it, to love it and value it so much that a day without it doesn't feel right.

Let's give it a go.

Viv

PS Thanks Trish

A New ME! Day 1

SOOoooo, I have been keeping a little secret.  Eating the P90X diet was not making me feel the greatest.  In fact, I may have been losing weight, but I was super sick a lot and just drained of energy.  There were some underlying health concerns that needed to be addressed.  I'm still exercising, but I have a slightly new direction.  I have really been feeling the need to do a juice fast...simply b/c there are lots of health things going on that I know need to be healed from the inside. 

I watched a documentary on Netflix called 'Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead' on Sunday.  Thanks Viv!  It changed my life.  It changed my way of thinking.  We as a whole are not eating the way we were meant to eat.  Just thinking about only getting 5-10% of nutrition out of our processed food is just amazing.  No wonder we're starving and wanting more and more all of the time.  We are starving ourselves fat!!! 

It just opened my eyes and starting today folks, yes, today, I started the beginning of my 60 day juice reboot.  If you're not familiar with the reboot, it's a product of the above documentary.  The link to their site is:  http://www.jointhereboot.com/index.php?lang=en 

I'm not posting pix of myself until the reboot is over.  However, my beginning stats are 132.4 pounds; my goal is to just start a new lifestyle.  I want to eat healthy for life.  I want to eat more veggies.  I want to follow this great food pyramid that they talk about on "F,S,&ND' by Dr. Fuhrman:

So, on to some great pix.  I was blown away by how many veggies I got to 'drink' today.  Here is Breakfast:
I did the 'Green Juice' that Joe does on the documentary.  It yields about 4 cups.  Here is what it looks life before going into my wonderful 25 year old Omega Juicer...which still to this day juices like a champ.  Nothing beats an Omega.  Love that monster.

Green Juice  

2 cups Kale

2 cups Spinach

1/2 cucumber

4 stalks celery

2 Green apples (I used what I had on hand)

1" Ginger root

For lunch, I had my own little concoction, we'll call 'The Red Bullet'.  It also yielded about 4 cups and wasn't quite as tasty as the Green Juice, but still okay. 

The Red Bullet

12 carrots/8 large carrots

1 apple

1 beet

4 cups spinach

And for dinner, I repeated the Green Juice.  In between juicing, I had appx. 100 oz. of filtered water.  In the morning I had hot lime water and the remainder of the day, just normal temp.  A side-effect from all this juicing that is not all that snazzy was having literally about 12 bowel movements today--all diarrhea.  I know, it's TMI, but I'm here to tell you, you may not have results like mine, but expect some changes in the bowel department.  I'm hoping that will stabilize by tomorrow, or my tushy is going to be really really hurting.

As far as hunger...yeah, there were times I was hungry.  In the morning I was a tad light-headed, but it seemed to go away.  My stomach growled, but I can do this.  I'm in it for the long haul!  Yippee.  Now, I'm going to bed.

Sorry - I missed a week!

Hey guys,


Fifi here. Guess what? By eating right and 'sticking to it' I have lost 4.6 pounds (total).


So, since we started, I am down 4.6 and I am happy with that (for sure!).


Really the only thing I've been doing is working out consistently and not eating after dinner. Also, I feel like I've been eating much more clean. More fruits and veggies, less starches and processed food.


Yay!


And that's it for me this week.


Good luck,
Fifi

My New Mantra...I want T-shirts.

See this post for details.

Love, Viv

To WEIGH, OR NOT to Weigh

Love this picture-KEEP IT UP!

Dear friend,

I came home from my weekend a little tired:) Why do vacations always do that?  You go to get rejuvenated and come home with wonderful memories and heavy eyelids.  Eating was awesome,  I brought:

• a big batch of fajita pasta salad for everyone 
• a gallon size bag of cut up veggies
• a bag of grapes
• a few oranges, bananas, and apples
• a quart of Almond milk
• 2 bottles of nutty spread and two bottles of fruit spread
• a hearty loaf of wheat bread 
• plus a bar of dark chocolate 

We had a little kitchen in one of the rooms so I was able to eat my food when we ate in.  Bed and Breakfast morning times consisted of egg casserole, loads of bacon and sausage, french toast strata, yogurt and fruit.  I loaded up on the fruit, added a piece of wheat bread smeared with nutty and fruit spread and a nice cup of lemon tea sweetened with agave.  

For lunch on Saturday everyone had Subway and I had a veggie version with dijon and salt and pepper on the wheatiest bread they had.  And the last night we ate out at Carlos & Harley's--if ever in Eden--eat there! Delicious food for everyone.  I had corn tortilla tacos stuffed with portabellos, poblanos, cabbage, rice, black beans and salsa.  I am craving these already, I am totally going to remake these little yummies.    I did not eat anything I would not have at home other than the leafy greens were a little hard to come by.  

On return I stepped onto the scale and...well nothing happened the scale had not budged.  As I stood there staring at that number I realized something, my goal of toning, because of my weekly "Weigh-ins" has turned to losing weight.  Over the last 12 weeks since this plant strong journey began I have lost 22 lbs.  I used to plateau in weight loss at 178 or so, now it is at 158--that's big, but all I can think about is that it's not coming off anymore.  If I were on a regular "diet"  I can tell you what already would have happened I would have jumped ship for a few days and thought to myself, 

"If it's not working then I am going to eat what I want."  

Because of plant strong living my perspective has entirely changed there are more important things to me than losing weight.  I believe that not only has our eating habits as Americans created our "sickness" but also our dieting habits.  We have tunnel vision, there is no grand ideal of health and wholeness, we care about size and shape.  

In protest of this perpetuation I am throwing out my scale.

Yes, you heard me right-I am throwing it out.

I am going to measure every 3 weeks and gauge my progress by how I feel- lean, strong, healthy then A for me.  As I exercise and give the best fuel to my body I will achieve my goal of toning up and feeling great and that has nothing to do with weight and that monster scale.  Because of my thyroid I need to keep a tab on my weight periodically but my Drs office has told me I may slip in once in a while to weigh--so GOODBYE scale and HELLO health.

We need to stop and realize how much we have to GAIN not how much weight there is left to lose--Health, Energy, Strength, Quality of life, the list is endless--our bodies are the vehicles by which we carry out our purpose here on Earth.  I don't know about you but I want mine to be a Bentley.

Here is to strength without scales--whew I feel better already!

Viv

P90X Day 30-Small Progress

So, as I have reviewed this past month, I am disappointed in myself.  Not so much in the weight lost/inches lost, but in my ability to not be committed.  I noticed that as time went on, if a little bump in the road came up, it would almost paralyze me and make it so hard for me to pick myself back up the next day and inadvertently, I didn't.  It was a spiritual lesson for me that I hope to always remember....

As with anything in life, when bad things happen, or when we are de-motivated, the thing that we should do and the thing that would help the most, is usually the last thing that we want to do.  This weekend has been a rich learning experience for me...because I learned a lesson that applies to everyone, everywhere both spiritually and every other way.  I read a talk yesterday by President Thomas S. Monson (The President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).  It's entitled "Living the Abundant Life".  It was awesome.  I had read it before, but this time got so much more out of it. 

First of all, have a positive ATTITUDE, secondly, BELIEVE in yourself and others.  He goes on to say, "Don’t limit yourself and don’t let others convince you that you are limited in what you can do. Believe in yourself and then live so as to reach your possibilities.  You can achieve what you believe you can. Trust and believe and have faith." and thirdly, have COURAGE.  "Courage is required to make an initial thrust toward one’s coveted goal, but even greater courage is called for when one stumbles and must make a second effort to achieve.  Have the determination to make the effort, the single-mindedness to work toward a worthy goal, and the courage not only to face the challenges that inevitably come but also to make a second effort, should such be required. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, “I’ll try again tomorrow.”

Like Tony Horton says, "Keep pushing play...keep pushing play"  It's so true.  In order for us to reach that goal we have so desired, we need to keep moving forward.  We can fall down, but we need to have the courage to get back up....and we will, in time, reach that much desired station in life.

Weight:  132.2 (-4.4 LBS)
Arms:  12"
Waist: 29.5" (-.5)
Navel: 32" (-5.5)
Hips: 38 (-1.5)
Top Thigh: 22.5" (-1)
Top Knee: 14"
Chest-32" (-.5)
Calves: 13, 13.25"

P90X Day what?! What just happened?

Looks like the 'failure' moment has finally come to a head.  I am so ready to move on and be better--really...promise...pinky promise. 

Soooo, what went wrong, you ask? 

Well, Saturday night was welcomed by the worst stomach virus EVER for me and my 3 kids---all at the same time.  It went on for days and by the time Monday rolled around (the start of day 21), I was down to 128 pounds---yes folks, that's over 5 lbs. of fluid loss.  When I was looking at myself in the mirror on Monday, I was like, hey, lookin' good (aside from the ashy gray appearance).  I thought it unfair to post on Monday, or Tuesday for that matter, b/c I was still gaining water weight that was lost.  Now, that it's Friday, I think I am pretty much back to normal, but I was not able to exercise until Thursday. 

So, long story-short, I have stabilized to 132.4.  So, I was able to lose 2 lbs. this week--hoorah!  I'm really excited to post measurement results---I am so excited for you to see what has happened just in a month.  Exciting stuff. 

Not a stellar week, however, we have to make room for life that happens to get in the way of what we perceive as perfection.  Next week, I'm gonna bring it! 

Off to Eden

...Eden, Utah that is.

I am postponing my weigh in to Monday due to a family vacation in the lovely little town of Eden.

Pros: family time, hot tub in the snow, carriage ride with the elk herd, kiddie sledding hill, beautiful surroundings

Cons: exercise is questionable, only two restaurant options, and I don't want to be odd man out but I do want to stick to my guns and eat healthy

Solution:  I am armed with my cooler full of fruit and veggies, my blender, Amy's Organic Soups, Nutty spread and some homemade {DELICIOUS, might I add} spicy fruit butter and some whole wheat bread.  I am going to take notes about traveling plant strong especially to two horse towns and share my lovely results next week.

Wish me luck!
Viv

Week 2: The grades are coming up?!

Dear friend,

Okay here's the rundown--I feel good I have been kind to myself but had a flash today of self consciousness...why you ask?

Because of that silly scale-we should send them all into outer space if you ask me.

I haven't regularly been weighing myself and so this is something I am not liking but it does give me some insight to share with those wishing to lose weight eating a plant strong diet.  This week I did not juice so I had a sweet tooth:)  I only ate good for me food like instant cookie dough (see the recipe here) and dark chocolate and these delicious little soy based coconut bars my hubby brought me but moderation is still key and I may have got a D in moderation if it was one of my classes included on the report card.

So what am I going to do this week?

For one CELEBRATE that even on a week where I gain a little I am happy and doing good things for my body, even when I have something to refine diet wise I still know this week I have combated cancer, osteoporosis, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, and I love that!

But for the plan-keep up the good fight in getting more exercise for my body, focus on the veggies and fruit, I swear it's the little secret of weight loss, and be kind to myself.

Also, I have been eating quickly this week without preping my food, which means more grains and less fruits and veggies, grains (whole grains) are not bad but when aiming at weight loss it is important to outweigh them with the produce...so more prep and more variety for me this week.

How about you, did you fight the good fight? Were you kind to yourself? Tell me about it...

Viv

What's on the Menu?

Dear friend,

This is a photo of everything I put into my mouth on Tuesday.  Come on over to Spinach and Apples for a rundown and recipes!

Yummy,

Viv

PS Report card to follow...

Resolve

Do you know what I love?


I love being inspired.


My friend Fifi inspired me with her last post.  I love having inspiring friends, people around you that make you reach higher, press forward, and become more. I am blessed in this area...I have many I can look to, to help me become my more and Fifi and Evey are two of these beautiful people.


When I am inspired it usually leads to something I can share because my inspiration usually leads to something visual.  So...in honor of Fifi and her sweet mom's poem, which I can hear in the voice of my grandma, I have some free printables for you.


I made one for myself to hang next to the mirror in my bathroom but depending on your resolve for 2012 perhaps you might hang it by the treadmill or the fridge or in the treat cupboard next to the chocolate chips;}  


Sleep tight and stick to it...
Viv


Just click and print...


{Resolve Mini Poster in Gradient and Grey}