Early To Bed

Can I just say that I am totally loving the fact that Collin is sleeping in his own room! Maybe my friend has it right that she starts the kid in their own room from the day the baby comes home from the hospital, because this sleeping through the night thing is AMAZING! (awe man, another $1 in the jar!)

I have been sleeping so well at night. Thanks to my Fitbit charge I can actually see how much sleep I am getting and right now, especially the last 4 days has been AWESOME! (avoided using the other word!)

So, now my goal is to be in bed and asleep by 10pm every night. That allows me some time to blog, and check my social media stuff and chit chat with the hubs, maybe even catch an episode of something together before having to head off to bed. I think I have done pretty well with this so far this week. And since the sun doesn't come up till a little bit later, I am even able to sleep in for a little while longer before Mason yells at me to open the door. (Mason wakes with the sun. So in the winter he sleeps in and in the summer he is up and at 'em by 5am.) This has been so nice for me since working out super early just doesn't work for me. I tried it, see my post here about how I was going to try it. I failed at it and realized that I am just not an early morning waking up kind of person to work out! And that is ok! I am getting it done in the morning and I am ok with that!

There are some good reason why to go to bed early though and get a good night sleep: It can help with losing weight, keep your appetite under control, improve your memory, make you more nice, less grumpy, clear thinking, less chronic pain and inflammation. Give it a try for a week and see what it does for you!

So far though I am doing pretty well with the sleeping. I am just hoping that I can keep it up.

What time do yo go to bed?

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What I am LOVING

Coconut Oil! I LOVE THIS STUFF! It is amazing! (oops, $1 goes in the jar!) I have been using coconut oil for everything right now it seems. I cook with it, feed my baby it and use it as lotion. Let me count the ways I love it!

1. It is a healthy fat! As I have mentioned Collin is not gaining as much weight as he should be. He is a super active baby and started crawling at 5.5 months and hasn't stopped yet. And I didn't supplement his solid foods diet with healthy fats. He was just getting super low calorie purees. So this month I have been fattening him up with FATS. No doughnuts or ice cream for him (although he has tried cake and ice cream and loves them) but I want him to have healthy fats. He dislikes avocados, and can stand egg yolks if they are mixed with bananas but the one fat that he will gobble down is coconut oil! I add 1/2 a teaspoon in his solid foods about 1-2 times a day. Like last night, he had prunes and 1/2 a teaspoon of melted coconut oil. (Coconut oil is actually solid until it reaches body temp, then it melts.) He loves the stuff and he smells so good afterwards when his face is covered with coconut oil! I wonder if he remembers the stuff from when he was just a tiny little baby. I used it to help my nipples when I started nursing him to avoid cracking and such. It totally worked!

2. Cooking with it! Matt loves stir fry and so I have been trying my hand at it. So I have been using coconut oil to coat my pan. Really anytime I use my pans on the stove I add coconut oil. I also use coconut oil spray to spray down my pan right before I cook my eggs. Mason loves the taste of coconut oil eggs and so do I. I know I am giving him good fats and not just empty calories and bad fats like from other spray cans.

3. Winter is hard on my skin. Really hard. I drink so much water but my hands and lips always get so chapped during the winter. So I have been using some coconut oil on my hands and lips to help them not be so bad. I apply at night so it has plenty of time to soak into my skin without me washing it off during the day and such and I will say that my hands look great! But it is not a quick fix. By the end of the day my hands are dry and ready for another coat of oil.

If you haven't tried coconut oil yet, GET ON THE BANDWAGON and try it! You will not be disappointed. It has so many good things for your body. You can add it in anything and not really taste it, unless you want to taste it, then you just use more. It is so clean tasting and it is just an amazing product that is like windex and can help almost anything.

What brands?: I use Trader Joe's Organic Virgin Coconut oil and also Trader Joe's Coconut Oil spray can. I also love Spectrums Organic Virgin Coconut oil but it is more expensive.

QOTD: What are you favorite things to use coconut oil in? Also I referenced 2 shows, 1 current TV show and 1 older movie in this blog post. Do you know what shows I am talking about???

January Week 3 Recap

Sorry this is 2 days late...again! This week we have been hit with a puking baby and a potty training toddler who thinks he needs to sit on the potty every 5 seconds. It is good that Mason is so dedicated to going potty but he requires me to be with him at all times. So it has been a pretty crazy few days here in the Allen home.

I am super happy with how last week went. I have been doing more for me. I have made it a goal to do squats every day to help build my leg strength and get some PiYo into my exercise routine as well. The gym attendance wasn't all that great but I still took care of me as much as I could. Life with 2 is challenging that is for sure!

Oh and an update on my running shoes. My coach is the owner of the running shoe store here in town. I stopped on the track to tell him on Saturday I was going to be in soon and if it was safe for me to go out on my run in the shoes or not. I showed him and he said that I need to get them replaced very soon and the way the shoes are could cause a stress fracture in my foot if I run too much longer in them. So new shoes it is. Just getting down there with 2 kids, almost impossible. Hoping this weekend to get my shoes taken care of.

Mason: Mason is learning more and more dinosaur names. And one thing that I have really noticed this past week is his growth in imagination. He is playing more with his toys. Making sounds for them to do things and using his toys to talk with each other. He makes his T-Rex eat other dinosaurs or the other dinos eat his T-Rex. But it just isn't with his dinos he does this with. He has a little Mickey and Goofy toy and they talk to each other and drive the car. It is really cool to watch him play with his toys now.

Collin: Collin is doing more crawling and standing. He is trying to stand at every moment he can find. We have been concerned about his weight. He has lost about half a pound since his 4 month appointment. So I have been trying to fatten him up with healthy fats and eating more solid foods in general. His main goal these days is to play with whatever toy brother is playing or grabbing mommy or daddy's tablet away. And sucking on any chord he can find! No teeth yet just lots of toothless grins for this momma!

Workout: 
Sunday: rest
Monday: 1 mile slow walk
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: PiYo lower define
Thursday: 30 min speed walk 30 min elliptical
Friday: 2.5 mile slow walk
Saturday: 6.13 mile run/walk. 15:10 min/mile pace. Super happy with this because it was on the 10 miler course and I just kept a consistent run a little walk a little pace.

Plus 30-40 squats every day.

Fitbit: 
Total Steps: 63,333 equal to 29.01 miles
Total Stairs: 54 (not including the hills from my 6.13 miles. I had to charge the thing. It died!)

Retiring My Running Shoes

Well, it looks like that time has come upon me. Time to retire my running shoes for a fresh, and spotless new pair. Over the last month I have been dealing with shin splints. I spoke with one of the captains of my training program about it and she suggested that I replace my running shoes with those that have more support. I was thinking that my shoes didn't have that much mileage on them to warrant that. I had heard that running shoes need to be replaced every 600 miles and surely I have not run that many miles.

Yesterday I picked  up my shoes to put them on to go to the gym and I noticed the underside of my left shoes was, different. There is like NO tread at the ball of the foot. I remember that it used to grip so much better. And it felt a little soft. I will say since I am back into running regularly my shin splints have gone away for the most part, as I thought they would, now to get the knot gone completely, but that still doesn't explain the pain in my left foot around the outer arch that I would get after runs.

Now I know. My shoes don't have enough support on them. They are worn out and I am now in the market to get new running shoes. And running shoes are not cheap! So time to save up the bones and head on down to my running shoes store and get fitted with a new pair. But why my shoes? Why did they wear down so quickly? Here are some thoughts I have on why mine wore down.

~I checked my mileage and I have done a total of 360 miles on these shoes with walking and running. I do not wear these shoes as my everyday shoes. I have been very good about that. I have been very diligent about logging all my runs or walks for training purposes and I am glad that I did but that number still seemed low to me. I have heard people replace their shoes at 300 miles, and some at 2,000 miles.

~I am not 120 lbs. When I run there is a lot more pounds of pressure applied to my shoes than say someone who weighs 120, or even 160 lbs. It does make a difference. So my tread literally got worn down faster because of my weight.

~Feet changes. I purchased these shoes in June 2013 just before I started training for my first 4 miler race. My old shoes weren't cutting it. Well I got pregnant with Collin in August 2014. I continued to run and train while pregnant. And during pregnancy my feet great little and the arch changed thanks in part to the hormone relaxin. Then after I had Collin and got back in my running shoes, my feet have shrunk and my arches lifted back up for the most part. So my feet have been changing during the whole time I have had these shoes.

~Stride changes. Also with being pregnant I have had to alter my stride to accommodate my changing body. Hence why the tread on my left foot is more worn down. Even now, since I still have excess fat between my legs from being pregnant (yes when pregnant you will get fat on your thighs, hips and butt, even the skinniest person will!) I have had to alter my stride again to accommodate my new body. Man, it is hard making babies!

I really have enjoyed my Brooks Adrenaline GTS 13. They have served me quite well. I have trained for and completed many races in these shoes. Time to save them for a mud race or foam fest where they can get totally trashed and be ok with it! Now to look for new shoes. What are your favorite running shoes? 

Survival Guide For The Gym In January: Home Gym

Welcome to part 3 of my survival guide for the gym in January. If you missed part 1 or part 2 check them out!

Let's say you have been weighing your options about a gym membership. You haven't been able to wrap your head around all the fees and the overall cost of the gym and it doesn't work for your budget. Or have you been going to the gym for the last 2 weeks and now that it is the middle of the month you might have decided that they gym just might not be for you. You tried it out and, well it didn't quite fit you. Well, This post is for you!

Have you ever thought about making a home gym in your house? A home gym? I bet you are thinking, I don't have the space, or a separate room, or the money? I'm not talking about having a ton of equipment but just getting the essentials for your house and what you personally need. The basics might be a set of dumbbells, a treadmill or elliptical, resistance bands, really that's it! You don't need all that fancy equipment to get a great workout. Here are some ideas below to help you out!

Let's say you just go to the gym and use the treadmill. No classes, no pool, no kids zone. You just go for the treadmill. Compare the costs of a gym membership for a year and the cost of the treadmill. If you have a corner space in your room you might have some space in your house for a treadmill. This can save you money over the long run and you will be able to do your workouts at your own time. Not the gym's scheduled. Same goes for an elliptical.

LifeSpan Folding Treadmill 

If you just use free weights, what about getting a free weights set. That have free weights that you can select the weight and with just a move of a button you can change the weight setting and they take up very little space. Or just get a standard 10-25 lbs set of weights. Or even a resistance band you can get a pretty good workout with!

Bowflex Select Tech Adjustable Dumbbells

Another great investment are at home workout DVD's. These are not like your mom's jazzercise workouts of the days of old. There are some major butt kicking workouts that will, WILL get you into shape as long as you follow their eating plan and exercise routines. A lot of workouts nowadays are 30 minutes or less. The makers are realizing that people don't want to spend hours at the gym. They want to get the same results in as little time as possible. The 30 minute workouts make you go, go, go for the entire time, and then you can rest. 21 Day Fix, Insanity Max: 30, P90X3, and T25, are all through Beachbody, and are all 30 minute or less workout programs. And if you want to get bulked up too, there are workouts for you too. But they are longer dvd lengths and program lengths. You can pretty much customize what kind of workout program you want to do. There is a DVD for you and whatever you want to do.

As with any workout regime if you want to lose weight you HAVE to incorporate healthy eating into your daily lives because you will not see the results you want unless you cut the crap food and eat clean. Abs are Made in the KITCHEN!