Wedding Talk: What I Eat, IIFYM lifestyle & Advocare 24 Day Challenge

Before I got pregnant with Tracen I weighed 95-100 pounds. I was eating like a normal college kid, my metabolism was just out of this world. When I was pregnant with Tracen the doctor told me I should gain more weight than the "average" 25-30 pounds most women do because I was actually underweight.

No problem I thought, I LOVE to eat, this will be fun!

I threw on weight like it was my job. I gained 24 pounds in a month. TWENTY FOUR POUNDS. That's gross dude, and it wasn't the healthy way either. Think Taco Bell, McDonalds, late night ice cream runs, anything I "craved" I ate. Moral of the story, I gained 50 pounds with Tracen and he came a MONTH early. Can you only imagine how much weight I would have gained in that last month. Please remember that 50 pounds may not seem like a lot to you but I'm a whole 5'2 so 50 pounds on my frame is a TON.

I lost about 20 pounds after having Tracen pretty fast. I was exclusively pumping, watching what I ate {kinda} and worked out {kinda}. I then lost the last 15 pounds by going on a juice cleanse before we went out to California since I was in my girlfriends wedding. So in total I lost about 35 out of the 50 pounds gained. I knew that I wanted to keep about 10 pounds of the weight I had gained with Tracen ON me because I realized being 95-100 pounds was not healthy, no matter my height.

When I got pregnant with Skylor I vowed to myself that I would not be slamming down 5 taco's from Taco Bell, there were no more late night Dairy Queen runs, I would be gaining weight the healthy way and staying active. FACT, it's almost IMPOSSIBLE to not be active whilst pregnant when you have a 2 year old, literally, I was ALWAYS moving and on the go. It was also the Spring/Summer time so I was constantly doing something with the boys, family or friends. With Skylor I had about 15 pounds still on me from Tracen and then I gained 17 pounds and had Skylor 3 weeks early, so 32 pounds heavier than my starting weight before being pregnant. 

After Skylor I lost all the baby weight VERY fast. Minutes after having Skylor I legit laughed as the nurse was cleaning him up and told the doctor, wow, my stomach looks almost flat! I was nursing and pumping and really watching what I ate afterwards. While the scale showed me a number I was okay with I got extremely frustrated because in my brain when you loose the numbers your body should reflect this and I didn't feel like it was at all.

Over the last year I've been trying to eat better, and work out more but I wasn't seeing dramatic changes, really any changes in the way my clothes were fitting. I've never really cared about the number on the scale, it's been more of HOW things fit me and how I feel when wearing clothes. For the last 5 months I developed a gym schedule and have really stuck to it. I warned Jerek that this is extremely important to me {wedding or not} and to not pressure me to eat fast food in bed, ice cream at 10pm or to skip the gym on the weekend. I wanted there to be a clear understanding that this was about me and only me {narcissistic, I know} but he's totally been on board, in fact when I go to the gym he workouts at home so it's a win, win!

Aside from working out what you put into your body is about 80% of the reason people fail at losing weight. I had been following Youtubers, Instagram accounts and fitness blogs for a while now and started doing research about IIFYM (If It Fits Your Macros.) I was a vegetarian for a while in high school and college, I've tried eating strictly Paleo and I've tried "clean eating" but nothing stuck, not long enough that is. Once I discovered IIFYM I got addicted to it! I downloaded My Fitness Pal, got my macro's figured out and started my journey. I knew that it might be hard at dinner with Jerek because he wasn't on the same plan as me and I wasn't going to force him to be either, this was my choice. Jerek's always been my number one supporter, my cheerleader and always on board to help me achieve my goals in anyway he can possible. One Saturday morning when he was making his famous egg bake and I had entered into My Fitness Pal and told him how many calories and macros there was in the one piece that I was having. He compared it with how many calories he should be eating for the day and it was almost half of his daily intake. Ever since then he has joined me on this new lifestyle, he downloaded the app and has been counting his macro's, calories and sodium intake. Some days he works out twice, he's drinking more water and his caffeine intake is far less. My changing my lifestyle I changed his without even nagging him to!

IIFYM is not a diet where you can't eat certain food groups, you don't need to drink shakes for all your meals or juice for days straight. People also ask if I'm "clean eating" but IIFYM doesn't dictate how "clean" you're eating, you can eat 100% whole foods, you could eat processed foods, you can eat Paleo or you can eat vegetarian, you can eat however you damn want! IIFYM just is saying these are the calories and macro perimeters you're going to eat with in, its not specifying what you're suppose to be eating but how MUCH you're suppose to be eating, hence the term flexible dieting. Make sense?? 

While following the IIFYM lifestyle I started looking into other things to mix into my routine to help me really see the results I'd been craving. In comes Advocare! I had been following girls for years that had done the 24 day challenge time and time again and the results were amazing, I can't lie. I do really well when things are laid out and structured for me, there's a plan and I follow it. Over the last three years I knew that when the time came I was going to go all in and just do it, no coffee, booze or sugar, just me and 24 days of supplements, healthy eating and major working out. Next week I will be baring it all for you and showing you my final before and after pictures in a bathing suit, something I haven't been comfortable in in almost 5 years but it's one of my May goals and it will be done! Until then above is a little progress picture before the gym yesterday, I'm down 9 pounds, my abs seem to slowly but surely be coming together and not having coffee hasn't bothered me one bit, and we ALL know how bad my Starbucks addiction is! Here are a few iphone pictures of what we've been eating. Next Wednesday we will get into more so stay tuned for that!

{1 egg, 2 egg whites, 2 pc Turkey Bacon, 1 bagel thin}       {Egg white bake w/lots of veggies}

• Oatmeal w/granola
• Hard boiled eggs
• Lit & Fit Greek yogurt {80 calories, 12 grams of protein!}
• Granola w/almond milk
• Whole grain wraps with 1 egg, 2 egg whites & turkey bacon
• Egg white scrambles with any veggies I want
• Whole grain muffins
• Protein shakes {when I'm on the go}

{Tuna on lettuce, 1 cup carrots, fruit H20}        {3pc deli lean turkey w/mustard, lettuce on bagel                                 thin, 1/2 blue berries, babybel light

• Salads: loaded with veggies, fruit, nuts, beans, & low fat dressing {or a apple cider vinegar/mustard mixture}
• Mixed veggies & bean salads with apple cider vinegar as dressing
• Sandwich's: whole grain bread or bagel thin, lean turkey lunch meat, w/veggies, mustard
• Left overs from dinner: ground turkey/chicken, veggies, brown rice or Quinoa
• Avocado, bean and salsa salads
• Mexican bowls: ground turkey/chicken, avocado, black beans, brown rice, lettuce in a bowl {no tortilla, no chips!!!}
• Tuna mixed with seeds, celery mixed in on lettuce with Mrs. Dash's seasoning on top

{4oz chicken, 2 cups cucumber noodles, 3 tbsp red sauce}

{Turkey burger on lettuce wrap w/mustard, onion and pickles}

• Turkey burgers on lettuce {or whole grain bread}, w/onions, veggies and mustard
• Chicken {grilled in vegetable broth-makes it SO juicy and very low sodium!} topped over a bed of zoodles! {this is the one I have, it's amazing & takes up no space!} {Pic above}
• Fish or steak w/ veggies and zoodles 
• Any meat and veggie in a lettuce wrap!
• Tempe or tofu sauteed with mixed veggies (stir fry basically!)

SNACKS|| 

• Nuts! Peanuts, seeds, a mixture of it all, good in the healthy fats and protein
• Avocado cut up with pepper {high in healthy fats}
• Granola bars {look at packaging to find ones not full of sugars!!!}
• Smoothies/juices! When I'm home on the weekends, I will make a green juice/smoothie and I usually have to fight Skylor off from drinking it all!
• SPARK!!!-My two favorites are Grape and Mango Strawberry- blended with some ice and a lime, it's ALMOST like you're having a cocktail!!! AMAZING!
• Lit & Fit Greek yogurt {put in freeze for a few hours then eat!} My favorite is this and this!
• Babybel light < <and ^^ are the only dairy products I eat.
• Peanut butter on celery or whole wheat bread
• Protein shakes- shaken or for dessert, blend in blender with peanut butter and almond milk

By following IIFYM and taking my Advocare supplements I've dropped weight and inches. I sleep better and crazy enough I haven't even "needed" my obsessive coffee consumption; thanks to Spark & my MNS 3 supplements! For more information on IIFYM here, here and here are a few links and here is my favorite Youtuber, Nikki Blackketter. She shows amazing workouts and is the queen at IIFYM in my opinion and her bod is on point! For more information on Advocare you can find it here or message me if you have any questions at {eastwillowgrove@gmail.com}