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Hey, guys! Hope you’re having a great Wednesday and doing all the things that make you happy.

I am in my blogging chair, with my Klean Kanteen full of fresh water, listening to the new AWESOME Blink-182 album and editing some photos from last week.

As I wrote in my last post about non-maternity maternity clothing, I have found a few maternity companies that made me think differently on the whole clothing situation during pregnancy. It’s easy to hate maternity clothes, exposed to the ordinary all-too-familiar brands when you’re used to buying clothes off of more obscure trendy online shops, so with some looking around I found a few places I liked.

So I want to start a series of posts, featuring certain maternity brands ( and maybe some giveaways) that I’ve tried out and approve of.  These will not be your run of the mill Gap, Old Navy, Target clothing. We all know about their maternity lines. It will be shops you might have never heard off that have either GREAT styles or offer unprecedented comfort. Because those are the only  two things that matter when it comes to maternity clothing.

When I got pregnant, I knew right away that when it came to exercising, I will have to get a whole new wardrobe. If boobs that grew two sizes weren’t enough to convince me of that, the ever expanding belly did. None of my stretchy tight sports bras fit anymore. My work out pants, while stretchy, pressed uncomfortably when I put them on mid-belly, and felt like they’d fall off if I roll them down.

It was very clear that if I wanted to continue exercising outside, I needed clothing designed specially for  pregnant bellies.

This brings me to THESE PANTS

3 in 1 Maternity Yoga pants by Oceanlily sold at MaternityActivewear.com

When I first put them on at home when they arrived, I refused to take them off. I spent hours wearing them around the house. The pants are made out of a thick and taut fabric, which made me think that I was going to die from Florida heat in them, but surprisingly enough, after about 30 minutes of taking pictures in the scorching sun, my upper body was wetter and hotter than my lower body. So apparently, they stay cool and dry better than my skin.

My favorite part, though, is that they are super versatile.

Everyone will tell you that the worst thing about buying maternity clothes is the understanding that you might never wear it again for the rest of your life, or if you do, it’ll be for a few months. So I’ve always LOVED the idea of maternity clothes that transitioned with you into mommyhood and beyond.

Not only can you wear them post-partum ( to hold that belly jiggle), but you can also position them 3 diffferent ways ( hence the 3 in 1) below the tummy, mid-tummy and over the tummy.

This  was my first pair of pants with the over-the-tummy option and it felt strangely comfortable and secure. When we went for a walk later that evening, I found myself pulling the band up over the tummy, even though it was still hot and humid. There’s something about the tautness of the material and the support that makes your belly feel secure. Do you, other preggos, ever find yourself holding onto your belly while walking, sort of to protect it for the movement? Well, I do and these pants totally do the job for me.

During the day though, I usually opt for the below the tummy option, especially if I am wearing a short top, which feels really good and firm too.

Another bonus is they come in 4 lengths: short, regular, tall and extra tall. Unfortunately, I got tall instead of extra tall, so they’re a bit short on me. But that’s a huge plus for tall girls like me, or shorter than average, since getting pants to fit right lengthwise is usually a big pain. You can get these yoga pants and other maternity activewear here

Maternity Activewear has quite a few retail locations in US and Canada, but if you’re an online shopper like me, feel free to check out their website: www.maternityactivewear.com for more maternity yoga pants, leggings, sport tanks, tees , shorts and more.

There’s no sales tax and free shipping over a certain amount.
And just for a limited time just for my readers,
you can use code 144698 to get 15% OFF at www.MaternityActivewear.com (valid till Sunday night, October 2nd)

And since we are on the fitness topic, I’d like to post something that I should have posted A LONG TIME AGO:
(Pre-) Pregnancy Fitness Test.
It’s a test I found in Pregnancy Fitness book and mentioned in one of my old pre-conception posts before I was even pregnant. I’ve had quite a few people ask me to publish that test, so here we go.

Basically, it’s a very simple, very basic flexibility and strength test to make sure that you’re at least in the minimal shape before getting pregnant. Or if you’re already pregnant, it might give you a clue as to what you should work on to prepare for future pregnancy challenges and labor. It really helped me identify my weak points ( ankles? lol) and motivated me to work on my Kegels more

CLICK TO VIEW THE FITNESS TEST HERE (PDF)

I’d also recommend buying the book. I’ve been doing their 1st trimester and 2nd trimester exercises and really enjoy them.

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RULES:

1. If you haven’t yet, join the challenge here: GET FIT and GET HEALTHY
2. Every Saturday come back to The Art of Making a Babyand ShutterMama to read the tips on how to be fitter, healthier and more confident.
3. Weekly write a post about your progress, following the questionnaire below, take a self-portrait (optional) and link up with us.
4. Don’t forget to grab the GET FIT challenge button on the sidebar and display it proudly on your blog or GET FIT post.
5. Link your post with Selfie Saturdays if you took your week’s self-portrait.

OMEGA-3S (fatty acids, DHA, EPA)

This week I paid more attention to my Omega-3 intake. It’s relatively hard to get enough Omega-3s in your diet especially if you are vegetarian and don’t eat fish.

The Daily RV for Omega-3s is about 2.5 grams and it needs to have a proportion of  no more than 1:3 with the Omega-6s ( which are abundant in American diets, due to processed food). Omega-3s reduce inflammation, Omega-6s promotes inflammation. So it’s very important to have a good balance between them ( 1:3), and consider that msot America diets have a 1:24 balance instead.

Omega-3s are crucial for brain development and growth ( our brain is made up of those fatty acids exclusively). It promotes good cardiovascular health and reduces inflammation. It is CRUCIAL during pregnancy, as children of pregnant women who didn’t get enough Omega-3s have a high risk of developing eye and nerve problems as well as brain development issues.

The problem is the body cannot make those fatty acids, we HAVE TO get them from foods alone. And very few foods contain enough DHA and EPA to make a difference.

I get half of my Omega-3 intake in my morning cereal and another half but having an ounce or two of walnuts. Walnuts and fatty fish ( sardines,salmon) are probably your best sources of Omega-3s. Aim for a 1/4 of a cup of walnuts or tale a fish oil supplement.

To read about ALL the benefits of Omega-3 supplementation, go here

 My entry for week 13

1. Height: 5’11″, weight: 134 lb

2. Your fitness challenge(s) for this week: 30 minutes of pilates every other day + 30 minutes of cardio ( rollerblading, running, swimming or treadmill) every other day+20 sit-ups every hour for 8 hours on cardio days. Special exercises designed for pregnancy to increase flexibility (daily) + Kegels (twice daily). A total of about an hour or more of physical activity a day.

3. Your health challenge(s) for this week: Continue eating whole grains, veggies and fruits only with a few servings of kefir,eggs or sardines daily (sardines are low in dioxins and mercury)

4. How well did it go:

• Fitness:I was pretty lazy this week and while I hit all my exercise goals, I felt I did them half-heartedly. 
• Water: I’m back to my KleenKanteen bottle and being hydrated.  When I don’t drink enough, I start getting sooo thirsty, almost like a withdrawal.
• Food: Food intake was perfect. Nothing to complain about.
  

5. Failures and slip-ups: I totally forgot about Kegels this week. I maybe did them for two or three days, but that sucks. I need to resume 100 Kegels a day.

6. Weekly challenge wisdom: I’m really proud of myself and those people who stuck with this challenge. It’s tough and it’s so easy to quit because I have no motivation, no weight to lose, but somehow I’ve been going. I feel guilty when I skip a day’s work out or eat more than I should ( never happens, but I can imagine I’d feel guilty). I love having this as a routine, as a part of my life.

7. Advice to fellow GET FIT members: Healthy weight, good nutrition and overall health is a lifestyle choice, not a temporary state. If you just want to lose a few pounds and go back to how you were eating before, then you might as well not try. It’s about being a healthy person, which means daily effort, make it a lifestyle, and your weight will come down as a result of that. It should not be about dieting, it should be about becoming a better person.

8. Self Portrait: FAMILY PORTRAIT (for more family portraits I took for this challenge, go to Selfie Saturdays)

LINK UP HERE

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RULES:

1. If you haven’t yet, join the challenge here: GET FIT and GET HEALTHY
2. Every Saturday come back to The Art of Making a Babyand ShutterMama to read the tips on how to be fitter, healthier and more confident.
3. Weekly write a post about your progress, following the questionnaire below, take a self-portrait (optional) and link up with us.
4. Don’t forget to grab the GET FIT challenge button on the sidebar and display it proudly on your blog or GET FIT post.
5. Link your post with Selfie Saturdays if you took your week’s self-portrait.

 My entry for week 13

1. Height: 5’11″, weight: 136 lb

2. Your fitness challenge(s) for this week: 30 minutes of pilates every other day + 30 minutes of cardio ( rollerblading, running, swimming or treadmill) every other day+20 sit-ups every hour for 8 hours on cardio days. Special exercises designed for pregnancy to increase flexibility (daily) + Kegels (twice daily). A total of about an hour or more of physical activity a day.

3. Your health challenge(s) for this week: Continue eating whole grains, veggies and fruits only with a few servings of kefir,eggs or sardines daily (sardines are low in dioxins and mercury)

4. How well did it go:

• Fitness: I was happy with my fitness this week, did pretty good and even worked out when I thought i couldn’t.
• Water: I’m back to my KleenKanteen bottle and being hydrated.
• Food: Food intake was perfect. Nothing to complain about.
   

5. Failures and slip-ups: I usually work out with my husband ( i get bored working out alone), and this week he was so busy he barely got out to work out towards the end of the week. I had to muster up the energy to do that without him which was hard. But i don’t feel I did as good as I could have, because I didn’t have the help.

6. Weekly challenge wisdom: I’m wisdom-ed out, to be honest! This has become a habit for me which is great. So there’s nothing new that I learned this week.

7. Advice to fellow GET FIT members: A few of you seemed to have fallen off the wagon. Whatever excuses you’re telling yourselves, they’re worth nothing. If you’re working out on your own - great! But if you’re not, then find the strength to start it again. Every little bit helps!

8. Self Portrait: JUMP

LINK UP HERE

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RULES:

1. If you haven’t yet, join the challenge here: GET FIT and GET HEALTHY
2. Every Saturday come back to The Art of Making a Babyand ShutterMama to read the tips on how to be fitter, healthier and more confident.
3. Weekly write a post about your progress, following the questionnaire below, take a self-portrait (optional) and link up with us.
4. Don’t forget to grab the GET FIT challenge button on the sidebar and display it proudly on your blog or GET FIT post.
5. Link your post with Selfie Saturdays if you took your week’s self-portrait.

Vitamin and Mineral Supplements.

In the course of my preparation for pregnancy, one of the topics I did extensive research on was vitamin and mineral supplements.

We all know the importance of taking daily vitamins, especially if our diet leaves something to be desired. Now supplementation it’s not as simple as pop a pill each morning if you want to do it right.

There’s vitamin toxicity to pay attention to, minerals mashing together in all the wrong ways and negating each other, proper absorption, etc etc…

Here’re a few important fact everyone taking a supplement needs to know. This is especially useful to pregnant women or those TTCing, because having proper nutrients in your body is crucial:

There are certain minerals and foods that prevent absoption of others and vitamins that aid in absoption. You need to know that to get the maximum  out of your vitamins.

• Pretty much anything interferes with iron absorption, so if your goal is to make sure you have plenty of iron in your stores, read the following:
            -do NOT mix calcium rich foods with iron rich foods, the same goes for supplements. Take iron and calcium supplement at least 2 hours apart.
            -do NOT drink tea after eating an iron rich food or taking an iron supplement.
            -the easiest way is to make sure you take an iron supplement completely separate with iron rich food
            – take vitamin C with iron for best absorption.If you’re a vegetarian, great sources of iron include: beans/lentils,some nuts, spinach, collard greens. Make sure to add some of those at every meal.
• If you’re taking an iron supplement, make sure to take zinc and copper with it. Iron supplements interfere with the absorption of copper, which in turn is very closely related to zinc. So if you’re taking copper, you need to supplement it with zinc and visa versa. Since excess of one will give you a deficiency of the other So since iron interferes with copper and copper interferes with zinc, you need to take all three to make sure you’re even. In nature it’s done automatically, most foods high in iron are also high in zinc and copper. Never exceed 100% of DV an any of these minerals, because of it’s close relation and intricate balance system.
• Calcium is best absorbed with Vitamins D. Most  Calcium supplements have vitamin D in it, just make sure it doesn’t exceed 50% DV, since vitamin D has a toxicity level.
• It’s hard to get enough DHA in a pill form and it’s pretty expensive so look for a morning cereal that is a good source of Omega-3s and load up on some avocado and walnuts.
• FOLIC ACID: TAKE IT!!!! Please please please, if you are of childbearing age and not infertile, please take a folic acid supplement, even if you’re not “planning” any more kids. Neural tube develops during the first 27 days of pregnancy, well before most women even know they’re pregnant. Folic acid can prevent most neural tube defects in a baby as long as you take it before and during the first month of pregnancy. Unless you’re like me and plan pregnancies that meticulously, the last thing you’d want is to get pregnant, not know it for a month and miss that 30 day window.

If you’re pregnant or planning to get pregnant:

NEVER EVER (unless advised by a doctor) exceed 100% of DV on any supplement. It’s hard because most over the counter prenatals stuff 200-300%DV of vitamins in it to appeal to the less educated women thinking they’re getting a better value. You are NOT! You should be getting plenty from food, so all you need to do is create a safety net.

Fat soluble vitamins get packed away in your fat thus making it possible to create a toxicity hardful to a fetus if you don’t know what you’re doing.

-Do not take vitamin A in any form but beta-carotene, that includes milk and animal products that have a decent amount of vitamin A in retinoid form. High doses of vitamin A causes birth defect and it’s easy to go over board if you’re a meat eater and take supplements
-Watch your vitamin D intake.
- Vitamin E has been linked with heart defects at birth. That is even vitamin E taken before pregnancy at as low as 2/3 of recommended daily value (DV). Now since, oil has lot of vitamin E, I suspect those finding might have had something to do with women who ate lots of oily foods that are already bad for the baby. But we can’t know for sure, and these are my personal speculations. I am not taking any vitamin E supplement, since we get plenty through oil use and nuts.

Folic acid is a MUST before you’re even pregnant.
Supplemental iron is helpful taken before pregnancy so that you go into it with your stores full of iron.
Unless you eat lots of fruits and veggies ( and I do mean lots and varied, making up most of your meals), you might not need to supplement A,C or K vitamins, since you get plenty from fruits and veggies.

Since everything tend to interfere with everything and you can’t take more than 100% of the certain type of vitamin..bla bla bla… I found the best way to make it easy is to buy each supplement separately and take them in batches:

iron+C+zinc+copper= 1st batch
Calcium+D= 2nd batch
Folic+ B+DHA+other= 3rd batch

So there you have it!

Now, my entry for week 12

1. Height: 5’11″, weight: 134 lb

2. Your fitness challenge(s) for this week: 30 minutes of pilates every other day + 30 minutes of cardio ( rollerblading, running, swimming or treadmill) every other day+20 sit-ups every hour for 8 hours on cardio days. Special exercises designed for pregnancy to increase flexibility (daily) + Kegels (twice daily). A total of about an hour or more of physical activity a day.

3. Your health challenge(s) for this week: My eating habits are close to perfect, however I could improve on my water intake. My goal will be 8 glasses of water daily + continue eating the way I do now. Start snacking more during the day to prepare for the first trimester of morning sickness.

• Fitness: It was awesome. I did everything I set out to do. Worked out daily. I feel it’s starting to become a habit, one that I will not want to give up. Yesterday, hubby and I even did both strength and cardio and abs in one day, even though we’re supposed to do cardio/strength every other day.
• Water: I’m back to my KleenKanteen bottle and being hydrated.
• Food:Food intake was perfect. Nothing to complain about.
  5. Failures and slip-ups: Can’t say anything here. I’m getting in the groove and getting stronger.

6. Weekly challenge wisdom: It’s true that they say it takes a while to form a habit, but once that habit forms it becomes a joy to do the most mundane things.
 
7. Advice to fellow GET FIT members: Stick with it! It will get better But if you give up now, it’ll NEVER get better. You will always start and stop and start and stop and get nowhere, or give up and continue living unhealthy and overweight.

{for more shots, go to my photography blog, Selfie Magic}

LINK UP:

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Rules:

1. If you haven’t yet, join the challenge here: GET FIT and GET HEALTHY
2. Every Saturday come back to The Art of Making a Baby and ShutterMama to read the tips on how to be fitter, healthier and more confident.
3. Weekly write a post about your progress, following the questionnaire below, take a self-portrait (optional) and link up with us.
4. Don’t forget to grab the GET FIT challenge button on the sidebar and display it proudly on your blog or GET FIT post.
5.  Link your post with Selfie Saturdays if you took your week’s self-portrait.  

My week 3 entry 

1.  Height: 5’11″, weight: 133 lb  

2. Your  fitness challenge(s) for this week:  30 minutes of pilates every other day + 30 minutes of cardio ( rollerblading, running, swimming or treadmill) every other day. Special exercises designed for pregnancy to increase flexibility (daily) + Kegels (twice daily). A total of about an hour of physical activity a day.

3. Your health challenge(s) for this week: My eating habits are close to perfect,  however I could improve on my water intake. My goal will be 8 glasses of water daily + continue eating the way I do now.

4. How well did it go: Since I bought this Clean Kanteen bottle, I’ve been doing a lot better with my water intake. It houses 27 ounces of water, so it only take about 2 and a half bottles to fullfill my requirement. What I love about it, besides the look and colors, is that it’s free of anything harmful is stainless steel AND doesn’t taste like metal at all. I had used quite a few drinking bottles in the past and you could always taste the metal, especially if it sat out overnight. This one- NOTHING! Just the taste of water. Love it!

5. Failures and slip-ups: I was out of town for 3 days and wasn’t able to exercise. I did walk for 10 hours non-stop one day, so I guess that does count as a work out.
Foodwise, I did as good as one can do while eating outside of home, by buying from Whole Foods, but still not as good as i would have ate at home. 

6. Weekly challenge wisdom:  Don’t make excuses. Even if you’re not in a position to work out, don’t use it as a way of getting out of your work out. I could have done some exercises at my hotel room during those 3 days, but I didn’t. I regret that now.

7. Advice to fellow GET FIT members: Don’t lose sight of what’s important, which is your health, your fitness level and your lifestyle. Such things don’t only impact us, but our kids and families as well. It’s easy to get discouraged, or get tired, or lose sight of things, but you need to dig deep on keep on keeping on.

 8. Self Portrait, Couple’s Valentine Day Photo:

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I can’t believe it’s already the 2nd week of our New Fitness and Health challenge: GET FIT and GET HEALTHY.  

Rules:

1. If you haven’t yet, join the challenge here: GET FIT and GET HEALTHY
2. Every Saturday come back to The Art of Making a Baby and ShutterMama to read the tips on how to be fitter, healthier and more confident.
3. Weekly write a post about your progress, following the questionnaire below, take a self-portrait (optional) and link up with us.
4. Don’t forget to grab the GET FIT challenge button on the sidebar and display it proudly on your blog or GET FIT post.
5.  Link your post with Selfie Saturdays if you took your week’s self-portrait.  

{Shutter}Mama and I are so excited about the turnout last week. We knew that it would take a few weeks to pick up, due to the fact that it’s a pretty ambitious challenge.
However, what we didn’t expect was that a good number of people would join in immediately. That’s very encouraging and uplifting, because what this challenge needs is as many supporters as possible. Great results and motivation  are not possible to sustain without some kind of support, and we were hoping that the virtual support of other bloggers participating in our challenge will serve as just that. I’m expecting that this week we will do even better with new members checking in and reporting on their progress. I cannot wait to hear how you all did and what challenges you had during the week.
Be sure to stop by the other members of the GET FIT challenge for support and motivation. There’s nothing that motivates me better than seeing other people work hard and reach their goals. 

This week I’d like to talk about gym-less exercising.

I have noticed a lot of members and bloggers mentioning that they don’t like going to gyms or have  no time to make the trip. I totally understand that. I’ve never been a “class” person, I like learning things on my own and I tend to be lazy about getting out of the house, so those two things made me a perfect  candidate for working out at home. Believe it or not, there are a lot of choices for that, and they don’t have to be boring push-ups, sit-ups or squats. Two of my all-time favorite exercises for home use are PILATES and STEP-AEROBICS. Those were my buddies when I needed to get into terrific shape for modeling and they still support me to this day. I went through many different pilates DVDs until I found the perfect one that’s good for beginners, yet really tones you and gets your heart rate up and is still challenging 2 years down the road.   

It’s called 10 Minute Solutions: Rapid Results Pilates(with Lara Hudson). First of all, she’s the most pleasant pilates instructor. Secondly, the workouts that she picked really fit together well, make sense and are a true pleasure to do while still being very challenging. 
The DVD is  broken into 5 categories: Buns and Thighs, Abs, Arms and Shoulders, Body Blast ( cardio pilates) and Stretch. For busy moms and working girls ( not that type), it’s perfect. Every exercise takes 10 minutes and you are truly surprised to see how fast they go. Do 3 sections and you’ve already achieved your mandatory 30 minutes a day of moderate exercise.
This work out routine is so good, my husband does it with me ( and follows it up with additional weight lifting). That’s right – he converted to pilates after he felt how much they do to your whole body. No gym targets the kinds of muscles pilates seem to work out. So 30 minutes a day every other day paired with a cardio work out on alternate days will slowly get you to a nice tone without you even noticing that you’re working out.
That’s all it takes. You don’t need to go hardcore if you don’t want to or can’t. All you have to do is 30 minutes a day of something that really works all your muscles.   

I will post a video for you to follow right here. It’s the first section: Buns and Thighs. Do 10 minutes of it and tell me if it’s not easy, yet challenging.   

You can buy the full DVD from Amazon for only $10. Make sure it’s the right DVD ( link below), because there’re quite a few similar titles. What I love about this DVD compared to others, no props required. You could use dumbells, but who doesn’t own them already. Otherwise, no bands, no balls, nothing- just you and Lara Hudson :)  

NEED MOTIVATION?

So those of you out there who are still on the sidelines watching this challenge with a sigh and a “I want to do it, but I’m not sure I am ready”, Join us NOW! I challenge you to add 3 ten  minute a day sessions of pilates. That’s all I am asking for. Type up that blog announcing that you’ll be joining and getting in shape and in your fitness challenge put: “3 ten minute sessions of pilates daily” or “3 ten minutes pilates sessions every other day alternating with a 30 minutes  run/walk/roller blade/bike session”. DO IT!   

Don’t like exercises and need more cardio? Try step-aerobics. It’s one of the best way to get your legs toned and burn calories without leaving your home. All you need is an Aerobic Stepwhich you can buy at the nearest Target or Walmart next time you go food shopping or order on Amazon. It’s a lot of fun because it’s like a dance routine, but it doesn’t require any type of balance or coordination ( at least in the beginning). Any fun step-aerobics DVD will do: Netflix it, buy it, borrow it, rent it- I don’t care! Just try it!  

Next week I will try to post some tips about how to fit work outs into a busy day schedule.   

My week 2 entry 

1.  Height: 5’11″, weight: 133 lb

2. Your  fitness challenge(s) for this week:  30 minutes of pilates every other day + 30 minutes of cardio ( rollerblading, running, swimming or treadmill) every other day. Special exercises designed for pregnancy to increase flexibility (daily) + Kegels (twice daily). A total of about an hour of physical activity a day.

3. Your health challenge(s) for this week: My eating habits are close to perfect,  however I could improve on my water intake. My goal will be 8 glasses of water daily + continue eating the way I do now.

4. How well did it go: I couldn’t do much Saturday since I was gone all day (8 am to 3am) on a yacht trip, however I did eat like I usually do and definitely got my 8 glasses of water, since it was all I was drinking.
The rest of the week went well fitness wise. I almost skipped my rollerblading run on Tuesday because it was cold (-er), but the thought of having to disclose  on my blog that I chicken out because of some cold Florida night made me get on the stepper at home while watching an Argentinian soap opera in Spanish and do my mandatory 30 minutes. Pilates days were good because I had recruited my neighbor to come and do them with me. This challenge is Definitely making me approach the work outs more seriously. As far as Kegels and pre-pregnancy exercises, I did them every time I remembered, since they haven’t not been a part of my routine. I think I might have forgotten to do those once or so.  Will do better next week.
Food challenge went without a hitch. I did have 3 little cookies after dinner once instead of 1, but considering how well I eat otherwise, i’m not too worried about it. Plus I’m out of cookies.  lol.
8 glasses of water has been a lot more difficult than I thought. It’s a LOT OF water! I got up to 6 glasses daily , but never to actualy 8. Will keep working on it.

5. Failures and slip-ups: Sweets after dinner: once. Forgot kegels: once, 6 glasses of water instead of 8.

6. Weekly challenge wisdom:  It’s really a lot easier to be motivated if you do it with a buddy. When you don’t feel like it, they’re there to pump you up and when they try to skip the work out, you have the will power to make them do it. Schedule a work out with someone and it’ll be harder to cancel on it. Blog buddies work the same way. Pair up with someone and give each other support and motivation. Check in with each other daily to make sure the goals are fulfilled. 

7. Advice to fellow GET FIT members: Make a reminder! It’s easier to feel motivated if we have something to remind us constantly of the goal and the challenge. I had failures only when I simply forgot about the challenges. Print the 2 challenges on a piece of paper ( make it pretty if you want) and tape it to the place you frequent most: refrigerator, vanity mirror, baby’s room. This constant reminder will propel you to get it over with  

  8. Your self-portrait ( optional but strongly encouraged) : Ok, so I feel very very weird about the self-portrait I am about to post. The purpose of it for me was to have a record of what I looked like going into that challenge. I am hoping to tone a few parts of my body more and post a similar selfie in a few months to see the difference. I have to say I feel a bit self conscious about this image. Not because I think I look bad, but because …well.. I’m in my undies :) I picked out the least sexy underwear set I had, because the point of this is not to look sexy, but to look real. I don’t expect many of you to post a similar portrait, however that IS the point of our first full body shot.

I know this is going to be a tough one for most women, but it’s important to have a full body shot of where you started in order to see ( and show) progress when we do another full body shot in a few months. Again, there’s no motivation unless you see results, right? And the scale doesn’t always show results, because muscle weighs more than fat, therefore your scale won’t show the progress if you’re working out and building muscle. The only way to see progress is to compare the before and after. And since we see ourselves every day, our naked eye can’t pick up on changes that well. A full body photo will be the best way of judging your progress. Now it’s up to you how “honest” you want to be. If you’re not “there” yet, then take one fully clothed full body photo following my tips at last week’s Selfie Magic and post it with your blog post, but also one that will show your true shape and keep it for you records.   

Now, don’t forget to head over to ShutterMama and check out this week’s tips on exercise and nutrition from her, and link up with your self portrait at Selfie Saturdays. 

It’s also important to visit our participants. They need your support and isn’t it fun to see how other people did on their challenge, read about the lessons they learned and take in their advice to fellow members. Keeping up with other GET FIT participants and encouraging each other is a big part of the GET FIT challenge.   Can’t wait to see how you all did this week!

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I am super duper excited! I am absolutely STOKED! And I think you, guys, are going to LOVE IT!

The beautiful {shutter}mama and I, The Art of Making a Baby, would love to present to you a NEW CHALLENGE that will change your life! It will teach you to LOVE yourself and your body, to be strong mentally and physically, to be confident and to learn how to shoot self-portraits at the same time :) And all you have to do is join the PARTY!

I have not been in the blogging word for long, but one thing I have noticed almost right away is lack of self-confidence in women here. We all take photos, beautiful inspiring photos, and yet most of us complain that they can barely find one or two good pictures of themselves or their families. Virtually every single blogger, to some extent, struggles with weight and EVERYONE wants to eat healthier, be healthier, be FIT and love themselves. A lot of women here are in their postpartum period and need motivation and help in getting over the  hump that “extra 5 pregnancy pounds/diapers/feedings” is.

It’s time to stop complaining and feeling guilty and take matters into our own hands! Let’s be FIT! Let’s be HEALTHY! Let’s be CONFIDENT!

The idea of a GET FIT challenge was pioneered by Sonya from {shutter}mama. When I found out about it, I had to partner up with her. I am way to passionate about health and helping people be a better version of themselves, not to take this on with Sonya.

The goal is to get you to move, to give up bad eating habits and to take more pictures of yourself!

If you want some “girlfriend” help in getting fit, getting healthy and feeling good about your body, then YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE.

So here is how it’s going to work:

1. Go ahead and join in the linky below. Even if you’re hesitant about it, still try it out. I know we’re all busy and we all barely have time to exercise and eat well. But we’re talking about our health! AND our kids’ health, because our kids learn from us. The pace of the challenge will be determined by you and you only! So take the plunge to your new BETTER self!

2. Every Saturday {shutter}mama and I will be hosting this challenge on both our blogs, with tips on how to exercise, eat better and  help you stay motivated. In addition to that, we’ll be hosting a SELFIE SATURDAY photo challenge on my new photography blog, Selfie Magic, as a part of this effort to help women with their body image. We will go over methods of doing self portraiture and flattering angles while shooting yourself, weekly themes, as well link up with our weekly Self Portrait and a Get Fit posts.

3. Your job is to check in every Saturday with a post about your current weight (if you choose to measure and share it), your progress with food and exercise and a self portrait. They key is to be completely honest about your achivements and failures. We’re all in the same boat here, some better off than other, but we all need support. You are free to modify any part of the challenge to fit your life. Everyone is different and we don’t expect things to work the same for everyone. That is why we’ll be posting a list of fitness and food habits challenges for the first week, that you can pick from or create your own. It’ll be your first step to being a healthier you!

Be sure to check with The Art of Making a Baby and {Shutter}Mama each week since we’ll be doing separate posts every Saturday about both food and exercise,and then head on over to Selfie Magic for a Self Portrait lesson and link up.

Now onto the goals. We realize that everyone is in a different situation and has different strengths and weaknesses and  amounts of time to devote to their own well-being. Therefore you’re encouraged to set your own goals. But to get you started, here are some sample health challenges/goals that you could use.  Afterward you’ve picked a health goal  head over to {Shutter}Mama to view the fitness part of this challenge.

What you could do to improve your eating habits (suggestions):

1.  Eliminate  soft drinks/sodas.
{I am sure I do not need to list the reasons for why soft drinks are bad, but in any case, here we go: empty sugar, extra caffeine dependence, tooth decay, bone weakening ( from an ingredient in sodas) and tons and tons of chemicals.}
2.  Drink 8 glasses of water a day.
{Hydration is one of the most important things that can keep us young and healthy. Helps skin elasticity too, so drop those wrinkle creams and drink up. There’s an iPhone app for that, too.}
3. Eat at least 1 salad a day
{There’s only 8 calories in a cup of romaine lettuce, yet it contains 80% of DV for Vitamin A , 19% Vitamin C, 60% Vitamin K and 16% of Folate.}
4. Cut down fatty and/or processed meat consumption to at most once a week
{How meat is killing you}
5. DROP THAT POTATO CHIPS BAG!
6. Make only whole grain meals instead of refined grains
7. Use less salt.
8.  Start writing down every calorie you eat {recording everything you eat and counting calories helps you realize the nutritional mistakes you make throughout the day and keeps you from pigging out those cookies at 10 pm}
9. Eat no more than 1 sweet treat a day
10. Eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily
11. Make a home cooked meal using the healthiest ingredients and no oil at least 3 times a week ( mac and cheese or potatoes and steak do not count as a healthy meal)

You can pick just one challenge, or as many as you’d like. If you feel you’re disciplined enough to handle a few challenges, go for it! You can come up with your own challenge that fits your life better and share it with everyone.

Below is the format you can use to track your progress and share with our GET FIT participants in your weekly posts.

So for this week, publish a post with your “Fitness and Health Goals, a picture of your “DREAM SELF” and our Challenge buttons below, join up in our linkies {GET FIT Challenge(below) and Selfie Saturday} using the post’s URL, and get ready to GET FIT.
Your initial post and first check-in is due this Saturday, Feb 5th!

Don’t forget to display the GET FIT GET HEALTHY buttons ( code on the sidebar)!

1. All is Bright 2. Branson 3. Darlin' Mommy & Wife 4. young and restless 5. GET FIT 6. Kristin's Notes 7. Kristin's Notes 8. LipstickLoveLetters 9. Hot Coffee Mama 10. Getting Fit

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I spent half the day today watching this amazing man Jim live and play in a real lion’s den. This guy, who owns (???) a wildlife refuge and rehabilitates wild animals that were injured or are unwanted, is running out of money and is holding  sort of an unconventional  ”fundraiser”. He will spend the whole month of January living, sleeping and playing in a cage with two 250 pound  lions, 1 year old Ed and 2 year old Lea. This man is amazing , because he has such a rapport going with the animals. He plays with them, feeds them, wrestles with them, pats them on the back, kisses them all over their face and mouth. It’s really adorable to watch.  He’s doing a live video stream for the whole month while he’s in the cage for people to watch and hopefully donate money. His teenage daughter Chelsey brings him food and helps around the refuge, feeding other animals. She’s not allowed in the cage with the lions because they’re too big now. But up until recently she was caring for them too. Little Ed is really missing her. So this evening I actually saw him feeding the lions. The cats were roaring and growling waiting for food. It’s such a sight, so humbling! I recommend you go and watch them play  on his website, where you can also donate some money. The lions love him to death and it’s just adorable to see them interact. An article and a TV spot about it here.{this picture is not of the lions mentioned above}

Also, we assembled my new drum set and I’ve been killing it playing along to Green Day’s “21 Guns” and Pink’s “Who Knew”, solely because they’re the easiest songs to play to and I semi-knew the beat from my Rock Band drums days. Pretty cool I gotta tell you, pretty cool!

Aside from lion watching and drum playing, I started my new exercise program (in addition to my daily pilates), designed specifically to increase strength and endurance of the muscles necessary for pregnancy, labor and recovery. I did a fitness test to see where my muscles are at and everything was above par ( abs, lower back, upper back, shoulders, legs, thighs, arms), except for ankles (whaaaat?) and PC muscles ( the figure eight that encompasses your urethra,vagina and anus- excuse my bluntness). In order to have strong PC muscles, that would be very beneficial in labor and recovery, you’d have to be able to “hold” it for at least 10 seconds. I’ve never done kegels before and I guess it shows. The good news is that  the muscle is easy to train. So there I go, squeezing my vageygey any chance I get.

…….
It was kind of funny, because DH and I were working out and while he was doing some man arm exercises, I stood on my hands and knees and started doing my kegels. After a while, I look at him with a smirk and ask: “Hey, do you know what I am doing?”, cuz really it didn’t look like I was doing anything besides standing on my hands and knees. How would he know that I am working my vagina muscles??? :)
And he goes:” Squeezing IT?”
We both burst out laughing! I guess there will be a lot more grosser things we’ll be going through during pregnancy than my husband “guessing” that I’m working out his favorite part of my body.
…….

Ok, here’s a test for ya’ll fit ladies out there. Apparently I have weak (-er?) ankles, the punishment for which will be me tripping and spraying my ankles when I get as big as a hippopotamus on fast food. I want to know if it’s just my weak spot or if it’s really something most of us seem to  have in an underdeveloped state ( my hubby couldn’t do it either). Would you all please squat for me?  No, I won’t make you squeeze your lady parts. We’re talking about ankles here. Squat if you can and then sit in the squatting position for at least 15 seconds while ( and THIS IS KEY!) making sure that your HEELS are flat on the floor. So, you cannot be on your toes! That doesn’t count. Only flat on your heels for 15 seconds. Can anyone do it? Anyone?

If you can, I envy your flexible strong ankles

For those who are interested ( whether you are or are not planning on having a baby in the next year or two), I will attempt to post a scan of the pre-pregnancy strength and flexibility test. I wish I had read this book, like, a year ago, and now I’d be walking around with a strong crotch that could suffocate an elephant and ankles that  allow me to sit in a squatting position for hours….you know…in case I have to take a dump in the middle of the road and I’m experiencing some pregnancy induced “blockage”.

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Please don’t forget to VOTE daily!