October Book Club

New month new books! Actually I am still finishing up my second choice for last month so I am adding it back to the list. And I have a second book for this month that I am excited to read about too. Why do I read these books? BECAUSE THEY HELP ME STAY POSITIVE! I am naturally a positive person but I have days where I just want to curl up in a ball and stay in bed all day. And thanks to these uplifting books those bad days are now few and far between! Want to feel better about yourself and pretty much any situation you are in. READ THESE BOOKS! Feel like you already have everything all figured out? READ THESE BOOKS! They are seriously for everyone! And it won't hurt you to enjoy some great advice. Check them out!

Book 1:

BrenÉ Brown: Rising Strong: If you are brave enough, often you will fail. This is a book about what it takes to get back up.  Need help getting through a rough patch? This is the book for you. You will learn how to take a negative experience and turn it around as a life lesson to help you get back out there and be brave enough to try again!

Book 2:

Alexis Jones: I Am That Girl: How to speak your truth, discover your purpose and #bethatgirl.  From Amazon: In a crazy, media distracted world the important questions often get lost like: What’s your passion? What’s your purpose? Who do you want to be? Alexis Jones has built a career listening to and helping girls around the world figure out those questions in order to inspire them to think for themselves, to speak their truth, to discover their purpose, and to dream HUGE! Alexis believes that you’re not broken nor do you need to be fixed. You already are that girl who creates magic wherever she goes, who lives fearlessly, who inspires those around her to dream bigger, and who will leave the world better, just for having been in it. 

Stop listening to that voice inside your head that tells you you’re not good enough. Stop worrying that you don’t have the perfect body, perfect job, perfect relationship, or perfect anything for that matter. Stop letting other people draw boundaries and limits around your life. And start living the life that you truly want (now!), the one you didn’t think you had the courage to imagine, but the one that’s absolutely possible! Including stories from thirty incredible women, Alexis has compiled everything she’s learned into one complete guide to being That Girl, the best version of you.

Comment below or send me an email that you are joining this month's book club! I would love to hear from you!


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Your Journey

Your journey has led you to this point! Are you looking for motivation? Are you looking for support? Are you looking to see if someone like you has been through it too? I was right where you are a few years ago. Looking for someone who was starting over and got through it. Who decided that they were ready to change their life. And I found them. It changed my life.

Whatever your journey, being overweight, miscarriages, infertility, chocoholic. You are NOT alone. I have tried every diet plan, I have had an eating disorder. I suffer from depression. I have suffered from suicidal thoughts. I have wanted to give up and just not try. I have made excuses. I have stopped. I have quit.

BUT I got back up and kept trying. I decided I was worth it. I decided I wasn't ready to quit. That I was ready to take on this day. And I take it one day at a time. Working on me. Bettering myself. Trying. Take a look around. Know that you are in like company. We can do this together. Thanks for reading along and I hope you too can learn how special you are and that it is ok to start over. It just takes that one choice to decide you are ready to change and then to just DO IT!


And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

After Arms Workout Stretches

So you just finished doing your 28 day push up challenge workout for the day. MAKE SURE that you stretch out those muscles or you are going to be sore, sore, SORE! Sometimes I catch myself at the end of a workout and just walk off without doing my stretches but that is not the safe thing to do. The muscles get tight when we work them and we want them to be lengthened and lose when we are done. Hold each stretch for at least 30 seconds. I like to hold stretches for a long time because they feel sooooo good! So go on take a few minutes to stretch out your body! Check out my 3 faves below!

The stretches you want to do after an arm workout are just like the ones you did in PE back in the days!

The tricep pull pictured at the top is great!

The cross body arm stretch is another oldie but goodie!

 And my 3rd favorite is the Chest and Bicep Doorway stretch.

And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

It's OCTOBER!

I love October so much! Growing up it was the month that we could start wearing sweatshirts in the mornings because it was actually a little chilly. In high school it was also the month where in marching band we actually opted to keep our band jackets on because it was a little cold at the football games.

It is all about warm cozy fires, apple picking, corn maze fun having, pumpkin everything (though I am not a pumpkin fan, the hubs sure is!), changing leaves, foggy mornings, hot apple cider, tricks and treats and of course my favorite thing of all, HALLOWEEN! It's my second favorite holiday next to Christmas. It is the day that I can be anyone I want to be! A princess, a pirate, a maiden. Anyone! You all probably know by now that I love to dress up every year, and finally we are doing family themed costumes! (Thanks to Mason joining the family!)

2 years ago we announced our pregnancy with this...

Last year we were a family of pirates! Isn't that parrot cute?!?

And this year...we are already in charge of a small herd of dinosaurs might as well make the kids dress the part! I am so excited and Mason CAN NOT WAIT for his costume to get here. Every day he asks, "is my costume here yet???" Collin's arrived last week so Mason is super jealous!

What fun halloween things do you do as a family?

Also if you are ready to get fit before the holidays even start and want to join me for the October health and fitness support group, fill out this form HERE! I am going to have fall specific clean eating recipes, fun Halloween activities to help you stay healthy before the hoards of ghouls and goblins knock on your door this year! Let's slim down before the holidays together!


And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

PCOS Awareness Month

I have been so hesitant to share what the actual cause of my infertility really is. I don't know why, considering I know so many women that are plagued with this syndrome and honestly I am just kicking myself right now. September was PCOS awareness month. That is the whole reason why I suffer from infertility. And it sucks. There are different types of PCOS infertility because trust me, talking with my friends we only one or two things in common with our infertility problems.

So my specific problem is that I do have polycystic ovaries. The docs call it a "ring of pearls" around both ovaries. Which make it difficult for me to get pregnant. I basically don't ovulate. At least I never did before I got pregnant with Mason. Hence why it took 8 years to get pregnant with him. Through fertility drugs. I also don't produce the hormones to tell my body, "HEY IT IS TIME TO MAKE AN EGG!" and "Hey it is time to release an egg!" Again this was all before Mason came around. What is interesting about pregnancies and PCOS is that pregnancies can jump start the system to functioning properly again. Which is what it did for me. But I have still had problems along the way with 3 miscarriages now.

Some facts I know about PCOS:

~Women with PCOS often have excess facial hair. Only because we have a hormone imbalance. Oh yeah, I have that too! I produce too much testosterone. Hence why I can squat my husband's weight easily! I am one strong cookie! and why I can build muscle easier than women without the syndrome.

~Worldwide, PCOS affects 6% to 10% of women, making it the most common eddocrinopathy in women of childbearing age.

~PCOS is the most common cause of ovulatory infertility.

~There is a lack of evidence that supports a very low carb or gluten free diet as an effective eating plan over other diets for women with PCOS.

~Regular exercise is an effective way to improve insulin levels in PCOS. Also docs have told me that if I just lose 10% of my body weight it will help increase the chances of getting pregnant naturally.

~Women with PCOS have a higher incidence of gestational diabetes, miscarriages, preterm deliveries, and stillbirths.

~It is estimated that 50-70% of women with PCOS have insulin resistance.

~The optimal treatment for PCOS is a multifactorial approach involving diet and lifestyle modifications and medications. ( I am not on any meds, and I won't go back on them cause they didn't help me one bit.)

These are just a few of the reason why I am doing what I am doing now to get healthy. Why I work so darn hard at trying to lose weight. Because I am already pre-disposed to being overweight, and PCOS makes it more difficult to lose weight because of the insulin resistance. I have how many of my friends are struggling with this same issue. It breaks my heart how common this syndrome is and left untreated it can get worse and lead to other diseases. I will not let that happen to me. I am fighting every day to win this battle. But it is a fight that I must take every single day of my life. Especially if we are to get our little girl here..

The news about this should get out! I wanted to share this with you and should have done more during the month of September. But I didn't. But I am asking now that you show your support of PCOS by commenting and sharing this post with your friends and family. Help other females know that they are not alone in this battle. That there are others just like them. And together we can kick some PCOS ASS! Help spread the word!

More information about PCOS can be found here. Show your support! Thanks!


And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.