Beachbody Update

So (as usual) I completely SUCK at this regular blogging thing...Eventually I will become better at it. I can't even tell you why I am so bad at it. I could make all sorts of excuses...full-time job, full-time grad student, mom to a VERY busy two year old, wife, etc...but the fact remains, I should be able to find more time to work on this thing...at least once per week...I'm really going to try to suck less and blog more.

Okay, enough of that shiz...

Here's a quick update on how the whole being fit and healthy thing is going. I am pleased to report that things are going very well. In fact, things are going way better than expected. I started my Turbo Fire challenge pack at 172 pounds on March 12 and as of May 24 I am down to 154 pounds, for a total of 18 pounds GONE FOREVER! I am also down over 30 inches and have gone from a size 10-12 to a size 6.

My challenge does not end for a couple more weeks, and I am excited to see what more I can accomplish in those final days. I have set a goal to be 150 pounds or less by the time my challenge ends on June 10th. Do you think I can do it? I DO and I'm going to try my hardest to get as close as I can to that goal.

But that's not my final goal. Ideally, I would like to be somewhere between 135-140 pounds wearing a size 4-6. And even more than those goals, I want to be happy with myself and the way I look. I want to wear my clothes with confidence knowing that I look good and thinking that others think that I look good. I want to wear shorts and not be concerned about the size of my thighs. And I really want to wear a bikini and not feel like a beached whale in it. But MOST IMPORTANTLY I want to learn to love myself...FINALLY!

The time is now and I am through making excuses. I can do this. I will do this. I AM DOING THIS! And since I've been having such great success with my Beachbody program I decided to become a Team Beachbody coach. Don't worry, there will be lots more info to come in my next post which will be SOON!

Okay, that's it for now. I've been up working all night and it's time for me to go home and go to bed. My patience is nearly gone and I need to get out of this place before I say something inappropriate...

It's Time to Make a Change...

Since getting pregnant and giving birth to my son nearly two years ago, my body has gone through some pretty drastic changes.  During my pregnancy I gained around 30 pounds, which wasn't too bad; however, I wasn't exactly a healthy weight prior to getting pregnant, so adding 30 pounds on top of that was, well, not so great...you get the picture...

One month prior to getting pregnant...dresses hide a lot, but seriously, look at those arms...

So anyways, I was overweight and knew that I needed to make a change, but then I got pregnant...Now I know what you're thinking, that isn't an excuse, and you're right. It isn't an excuse, or not a good one atleast. But at the time I told myself that I was pregnant and I was going to gain weight anyways so why bother trying to get into shape now. I told myself that after I had the baby I would lose the weight and get into shape...the best laid plans, right? 

So my pregnancy progressed...I gained 30 pounds...yadda, yadda, yadda...

38 weeks pregnant...Ryder was born less than a week after this was taken...notice the super baggy pants...

On May 22, 2011, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Ryder David Munsterman. He was the most amazing thing I had ever laid eyes on, and totally worth the 30 pound weight gain! I made the decision to breastfeed Ryder and within weeks the weight was falling off...literally. At my 8 week follow-up appointment I had lost more than the 30 pounds that I gained during my pregnancy...Wow! This breastfeeding thing was AWESOME!

8 weeks after giving birth to Ryder Roo...feeling pretty confident here, although that may have been the exhaustion...

As the first year of Ryder's life passed by, I continued to lose weight which was 100% because of breastfeeding. I think I only set foot in the gym a handful of times in that entire year...and sure I would go in spurts where I would do Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred for like 10 days, but no matter what I started, I always quit...I was losing weight from breastfeeding so why would I need to do anything else? I had convinced myself that the weight I lost from breastfeeding would be a permanent loss. Looking back, I'm pretty sure that I knew that it wouldn't be, but again, I didn't care enough about me...

Ryder's first birthday party - May 18, 2012 (wearing size 2s/4s at this point)...still breastfeeding...

By the time Ryder's first birthday rolled around I was the smalled I'd been in YEARS! I officially weighed 30 pounds less than when I got pregnant and was fitting into size 2s and 4s. I felt and looked great...with clothes on that is, underneath the clothes it still wasn't that pretty, I was one of those fat, skinny girls, you know the girls who are thin but have no tone to their boy, yeah, I was one of those...but I was still the thinnest I'd been, probably since high school. I knew that my days of breastfeeding would be soon coming to an end. Looking back on it now, I wish that I was still doing it...I kid, I kid...kind of. I knew that deciding to stop breastfeeding would most likely lead to some degree of weight gain, but I was determined to maintain that weight. Here's the problem, I didn't really do anything to accomplish that goal. Sure I would do 10 days of the 30 Day Shred here and there, but I never stuck to any program or plan. As the next few months passed by I started to gain back weight, little by little, and before I knew it I was only 10 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight again. WHAT THE HELL? I even tried Weight Watchers for a period and managed to lose 7 pounds in the first month...that I quickly gained back over the holidays...I continued using weight watchers until earlier this month and did not lose a single pound. Now don't get me wrong, I know that weight watchers works, I've seen it work for people I know. In fact, one of my co-workers has lost over 30 pounds since doing it, so this isn't me bashing weight watchers. I'm just saying that it didn't work for me. And I think that the reason it didn't work is because I didn't really need to modify my diet that much. I tend to eat fairly healthy. What I really need to do is get my big butt moving!


Christmas 2012

As the first of the year...can you believe it's already 2013...I knew it was time to make a change. It was time to start putting ME first insted of last. I was so concerned with making everyone else happy, but what about me? When was it going to be my time to be happy. More importantly, I needed to be healthy for my adorable little boy. I want to be a good role model for him. I want to encourage him to lead a healthy and active lifestyle. I don't want him to grow up with a mom who is a couch-potato. And most importantly I want to teach him that loving yourself is the most important thing. Do I love myself? NO! Do I even like myself most day? NO! In fact, most days I HATE myself. I hate what I've let myself become. I hate that I have let myself go to the point where I hate myself. I want to learn to love myself. I deserve to love myself. And as shallow as it sounds, I know that I won't love myself until I finally lose weight, get in shape, and look/feel better.

I made a decision to start using Beach Body. They are the geniuses behind workouts like P90X and Insanity and a little gem I have chosen called Turbo Fire. It is a high intensity interval training style workout that combines aerobics and kick boxing, and it is FUN! It has also been scientifically proven to burn 9x more fat than traditional cariovascular exercises. To help improve my chances of improvement I am also taking once daily meal replacement shakes. These are also from Beach Body and are called Shakeology. I take one Shakeology shake every morning in place of breakfast and so far...I'm only on day 4...I have been amazed at how much my cravings have decreased. I no longer want to snack all day long. The shakes are also designed to improve digestive health and regularity, and they are loaded with protein and all other sorts of good for you things. I'm happy to say that I'm feeling the effects on my digestive system already, too! So far, Beach Body and Shakeology get 2 big thumbs up from this busy, working mom.

So, the journey starts now. I will lose weight. I will get in shape. And I will learn to love myself...It's about time! I know that it will be a long journey. I know that results don't and won't come overnight. I know that what I need to do is make a lifestyle change. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to be blogging throughout the entire process of my transformation with a goal of inspiring others to make a change. Please contact me with any questions about my workouts, Shakeology, or Beach Body in general...I may even become a coach/distributor...that's how much I believe in these products! I want to thank you all for joining me in this journey, and I hope that you can all gain something from this blog. Much Love - Danielle

A Little Home Makeover

When Jason and I purchased our home back in April of 2008 we originally planned to stay there for a maximum of 5 years, and we truly viewed our house as a starter house and nothing more than that.  Well, here we are nearly 5 years later and we have NO plans to go anywhere any time soon.  When we first moved into our house I knew that we would have a LOT of changes to make, mainly cosmetic but still necessary if we were going to be truly happy here.  Shortly after moving in we began minor renovations in the form of paint and accessories.  These updates snowballed into new wood flooring and carpet throughout the house, repainted trim, new trim, a new upstairs bathroom, all new appliances, a garden, etc., etc....  In fact, more than one room in our house has been painted more than once since moving in!  Basically, it has been a labor of love to make our house into a home, and I think we are finally, almost, there.

We were fortunate in the fact that our home only needed those types of minor changes to change it from drab to fab.  The previous owners had completed some of the major updates the year before selling, which included a brand new kitchen, new siding, a new driveway, and new shingles.  We were very happy to not have to worry about those things, as they tend to be the most costly of home projects.  All that being said, there was one major improvement that was left undone...the windows!

Our home, which was built in 1978, still had all of its original windows and let me tell ya, they needed to go!  They were drafty and ugly.  Some of them didn't even open anymore either because the weights were broken or the wood had swollen from years of moisture.  And did I mention they were ugly?!?!  Now I would like to say that my main motivator in updating our windows was the cost savings that would come along with having more energy efficient windows, but who am I kidding, I wanted pretty windows!

That's where American Exteriors comes into the picture.  Last summer we were approached by a very nice man who was walking around our neighborhood talking to people about updating their windows and siding.  We had a very short conversation with this man as we did not have the funds to think about updating windows at that time.  So we gave the man our information and sent him on his way wishing that we could have said "yes" to new windows at that time.  Now let's fast forward a few months... I received a phone call from another very nice man from American Exteriors who, basically, was calling to tell us about an exciting promotional incentive for homeowners wanting to get new windows.  I decided that we should set up a meeting with one of the sales reps to find out more about these windows and see if it was something we could make work.  After all, I was sick and tired of paying upwards of $250+ per month for heating and air conditioning.  It was time for a change - and it helps that Jason had accidentally broken a window in our living room the night before they called!

The infamous broken window thanks to Jason's shoulder...nice, huh?

Long story short, the salesman came and we said "yes" to new windows.  Our salesman, Dan, is the biggest reason for our decision.  He was polite, knowledgeable, trustworthy, and patient.  Not once did he try to persuade us; in fact, several times he offered to let us think on it for a few days, but Jason and tend to be impulse people.  We knew we needed them, the price and financing was right, the timing (see broken window) was right.  We were going to get new windows!  So, measurements were taken and our custom replacement windows were in production and would be arriving in approximately 30 days.

The day of installation came.  I got up early that morning to take Ryder to daycare and get home to remove blinds, take down curtains, and move furniture away from the windows. That morning felt comparable to Christmas morning. I was so excited to be getting our new windows and I couldn't wait for the process to begin. As I waited for the installation crew, I took a few pictures of our lovely 1978 windows, put on some DVR'd episodes of Sex and the City, and made myself a latte. Here are a few pictures of our before windows:

outside before

outside of our bedroom before

outside of kitchen before

outside before

living room before

our bedroom before

family room before

guest room before

 Seriously, I think we won the award for ugliest windows. They just didn't go with the look of our home.  And I previously mentioned they barely opened, and don't  even get me started on cleaning   They were HORRIBLE and nearly impossible to clean. I'm SO glad they're gone... And now, without further ado, here are our new, pretty windows...

Ryder's room after

our room after

kitchen after (plus a new sink!)

living room after 

family room after

guest room after

outside our room after

outside after

outside after

outside after

 So there you have it. The story of how American Exteriors took our house from ugly to beautiful. And now we wait for spring to come. I can't wait to see what our house will look like with a plush, green lawn, bright flowers, leaves on the trees, and sunshine in the sky. The future, and our house, is looking promising!

Check American Exteriors out for yourself...you'll be glad you did!

Don't the new windows look great? We think so!

Please feel free to contact me with any questions about our window project and how you can get pretty new windows for your house, too.