Getting Honest!

Well!  It is time to get honest not only here with my readers but also with myself!

It's not easy to try and keep up my new healthy lifestyle change and keep up with a family of 6 kids and a husband.  It's been a whole month since my last work out.  Very bad!!!!  Also a lot of bad excuses as to why.

For the past month my family has been battling stomach virus', colds, sore throats and so on.  It's been a crazy 4 weeks of illnesses and me trying to sanitize and keep up with my regular cleaning and schedules.  After the kids are all tucked in bed I would be folding laundry and washing sheets and blankets to keep the house germ free to try and get everyone healthy.  So not an easy task with the amount of kids in my home and three of them attend public school.  You can imagine the germs they are carrying on them when they walk in the door.

Not only has husband been sick but so have I.  As soon as I am better another child is sick.  Once the kids are sick then I am yet again sick.  It's a vicious cycle that I have not figured out how to stop.  My new rule for the kids as they arrive home from school is they need to take shoes off in the garage before they enter the house and change their school uniforms into play clothes and wash hands.  Sure this causes a little more laundry but I would rather have a little more laundry then a house full of sick kids.

Now back to my fitness.  I am finally feeling better.  Still got a nasty cough but a cough should not stop me from my fitness goals.  Starting Friday I will be back in my fitness routine and back on track to reach my goals.  I pick Friday because I am trying to be honest with myself.  I know I will not have the energy to handle it tonight or tomorrow.  I have religious classes I am volunteering for tonight to help out with and tomorrow is football and well I just don't want to.  LOL!

So Friday!  Back on track to reach my goal!!!  I am gonna sit tonight on the computer and type out a workout routine and schedule so it is written out with my other schedule.  This will be part of my new weekly routines.  No more excuses.  And if I miss a day or two because of sick little children I will not beat myself up.  I love those extra snuggles with my babies and I will never regret having that extra time with them.

Good news is even though I have not worked out in over a month I still managed to lose 1.2 pounds.  I am now down to 154.8 pounds.  I have 14.2 pounds to go to reach my goal.  I am so excited.  I sat down and did the math the other day.  And since I have had the babies I have lost a total of 60.2 pounds in 16 months.  The twins are now 16 months now.  So I will take that!  Sure I wish it would have come off faster.  But I rather do it slow and steady and the healthy way.  Then starve myself and it all come right back after I start to eat again.

I have wanting to come and write and update.  It has been so crazy here.  Here is a reason why I am not on the computer.


Every time I have the computer on Christian pulls a chair up and starts typing away and pushing buttons.  So the computer is usually off.  lol.  And Sicilia has joined in the fun.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read!!
Before I say goodbye I would like to introduce to you my family!!  We just had family photos done.  That was an adventure all on it's own.  I was very thankful for our patient photographer at Target Portrait Studio's.

Super mom is back!!

Ok. Well. Christian is not 100%. But his fever is gone. But good news is this mommy is feeling better.

My bigs are done with their schools projects. Anthony had to make a 3D model of the atom Nickel. And Ally had to make a diagram of the parts of a flower but she couldn't draw it. We had to use scraps of things from around the house. Super proud of my kids and their imagination.

So now that the little one is almost better and school project are done I am able to catch up on the cleaning. Lots of catching up to do.

I am excited to start back on my exercise routines tonight. No matter how tired I am tonight I am doing at least one video no matter what. I am excited that even though i haven't done any kind of exercise routine I m down to 156 again!!! Yay. Now to keep it going. I am so happy to be back to my old self again. Ready to face any problem head on and still stay positive and get it done no matter what. Thank you to everyone who had messages me to motivate me and give me kind words to comfort me. It truly meant a lot. I have the greatest support system that many people can only dream of. Thank you. Now les get off our saggy rumps and do something!!!😝

Super mom Reality Check!!

So much for my on track and right direction.  Just as I am in the groove and getting back into my rhythm.  Motherhood snaps me out of it.  I can see why moms have so many issues and problems putting themselves first.  Especially me with 6 kids pulling me in 6 different ways I feel like I can never have that me time.  I was on a great roll for a week with my P90x and getting my workouts in.  Then all that came to a screeching holt after my weekend break.  I give myself the weekend with my family.  I do no workouts but still stay on track with my nutrition.  My poor Christian has been running a fever since Saturday.  I can't put him down even to use the bathroom.  He wants only mommy or daddy.  And if daddy is at work there is only mommy.  My house is a mess.  I have 6 loads of laundry waiting to be folded and put away.  Right now my children are diving for school uniforms in the morning because I haven't had a chance to sort.  The dishes are piled high by the end of the night from 3 meals and sometimes from the meals the day before.  And after having a hot baby from fever laying on me all day I am not in the mood to even start it all.  My sweet husband was nice to sweep and mop my floors for me on Sunday.  I have no idea when i did them last.  My bathrooms need to be scrubbed.  And now Christina has this contagious virus that can now be spread amongst the family and I need to kick myself into high gear and start bleaching and lysoling everything in site.  I am tempted to buy surgical masks for the kids to keep from them breathing on each other.

So amongst my poor sick 15 month old his twin is also starting to feel the neglect.  She is now super fussy and wants mama.  But I can't .  Christian is just so week from not eating since Saturday and wants to be snuggled.  This week while I play nurse.  I have to figure out how to get to the stores to shop for my 2 oldest.  They both have projects due Friday and we haven't even started them.  I told my oldest today we are going to have to skip football because now I am starting to get sick and I don't have the energy to drive or even fight with 6 kids to do homework and eat dinner and to make it out of the house by 5:30.   I wish I could.  I am feeling so overwhelmed and lazy now.

I want to just say that I am tougher then this.  Get off your lazy butt and workout and work through the pain.  But while I am working out all I can see is laundry that needs to be done, vacuuming, dishes, dusting and bathrooms.  I feel so lazy.  I want to stay on track and be healthy for my family but with so much going on and sick kids and a sick mommy I am going to have to put me on hold yet again.  I love my family and my children and wouldn't trade them for anything.  I am just now starting to feel the pressure and stress.  I normally don't.  I may be smiling on the outside but I am screaming on the inside from stress of trying to make everyone happy and trying to give everyone that special time with mommy.  Even this posts seems to be all over the place just like my thoughts right now.  I don't know where to go what to do next.  I just want my baby to feel better.  But now I am stressing over sanitizing the whole house to keep from everyone getting sick.  I was so excited about this Sunday!  We had our very first family picture session scheduled.  Now it looks like we may not be able to do this.

I hate this me.  I am not negative.  If anyone who reads this that knows me personally I am always happy and usually try to look on bright side and try to find the positive of any situation.  So I hate that I am being so down on myself.  So it's time for me get out of my rut and pick myself up.  Brush it off.  Because at the end of the day my family depends on me.  OK!  So the bright side of all this.  My pediatrician said whatever I am doing to keep Christian healthy to keep doing it.  He can't prescribe him anything and that it is OK if he drops a pound or two.  But to keep him hydrated.  He said he is still very hydrated just miserable and uncomfortable.  So yay for keeping my boy out of the hospital.  I talked to Anthony about football.  And he understands.  What a sweet boy.  I guess I am doing something right.  I even talked to my 2 oldest about their school projects and I promised them I will make it work.  I will get to the store no matter how I am feeling so we can do a jam pack session of school projects tomorrow and Thursday.  I really do have the most coolest kids.  :0)

Sorry about the long rant.  Us super moms have tough days too!

New Goals!

Here it is my new goal!  Since I have reached my first 90 day goal with 28 days to spare I thought this would be a good time to sit and think about a new goal and jot it down.  I will still continue the rest of my 28 days from my current challenge.  But I still would like to look ahead and see where I want to go with my goals and changes in my lifestyle!  The picture above was taken this morning in my size 10 jeans.  I would had to SUCK and TUCK myself into these babies!  You know when you lay flat on your back suck in your gut as much as you can trick to squeeze into a pair of jeans.  Yeah!  I did that.  Anyway.  I would like to be able to slide into these babies by Thanksgiving.  So on October 25, 2012 I will start my 3rd 90 day challenge achieving my next goal.  My next goal is not to only fit nicely into the jeans shown above but to also have no flabby flat hanging over the sides.  I want to be able to sit with out my belly overlapping my jeans.  I HATE THAT!!!   So by the end of my 90 day challenge on January 23, 2013 I will be looking great in the above jeans and also achieve my weight goal of 140 pounds!   I realize after twins and what those little babies did to my body that I may not ever squeeze into a size 8 or 6 again because they stretched out my bones and hips a lot more then when I was just having one.  I realize that.  I have to face reality that i can't move and shift my bones around but I can at least work on my muscles and achieve a reality.

So I will keep up with my 2 shakes a day.  The shakes help contribute to my muscles.  I lost a lot of muscle tone with 5 pregnancies (6 babies) and years of just not taking care of myself.  The ViSalus shakes help to recover and replenish the loss of muscle so I can gain lean muscle instead of me trying to workout mush!  I just started my first series of P90x videos yesterday.  I worked on back and legs and my legs are like jello today.  But well worth it.  I will do p90x 4 times a week and Cardin 2 times a week and I will give myself my one cheat day lazy day.  That day is usually every Sunday.  Sunday is family day in our house and we just eat and have fun!

So now you know my goals!  I need your help to help keep me accountable and motivated!  Thank you so much for stopping by!  Now lets get off our rumps and have some fun today!  Play with your kids!  Now that is a great workout! And fun too!!

I'm on my way!!!

I just posted some updated pictures of me. I haven't lost too much extra weight but I have been losing inches in my waist line!! I am so excited in the direction I am going. These pictures only motivate me more to keep up with my exercise and drinking my shakes. By next summer this mom of 6 will be bikini ready. That's it I said. That means it will and must happen. I will be bikini ready for the summer of 2013!!! My 2nd 90 day challenge is coming too an end in 28 days. And as I reach the end of my goal. I have started to an a new goal to reach with yet a 3rd 90 day challenge. I will be changing my kit from the shape kit to the transformation kit to help me reach my goal of gaining lean muscle and firming up this body of mine. So if anyone is interesting in joining me on my next 90 day challenge you have 28 days to decide and let me know. It's always more fun and your chances of success increase if you have friends making the same lifestyle change with you!!

It hasn't been easy. With 6 kids in the house you can only imagine the temptations in my house of food. But what I have done is put my children on a healthy lifestyle too. Our whole house is now eating healthier. We have our cheats every so often. But you can't completely deprive yourself of goodies.

I was a bad girl for the past 2 weeks. I have been a bit sick and just haven't had the ambition to workout and keep going. But now after seeing these pictures I realize I can do it. And the change is happening. That I need to keep at it and don't give up just because the numbers are not what I want it to say. It will get there!!!! Thanks for stopping in!! Now let's get up and move move move!!!

The right sports bra

I have come to realize that sports bras are not nice.  As if I did not feel fat enough already.  Lets try and squeeze into a spandex bra.  Then trying to get if off after sweating from your workout is a workout on it's own.  So I have been looking around trying to find a sports bra that is easy to take on and off.  I can not seem to find one that snaps or buckles like a regular bra but I did find one that has a zipper on Amazon.  I think I maybe ordering this one.

http://www.amazon.com/Champion-Womens-Tech-White-Medium/dp/B0015BKKC6/ref=sr_1_95?s=apparel&ie=UTF8&qid=1345080820&sr=1-95

The right sports bra is important.  You don't want it so tight that your tatas are losing circulation or too loose fitting where they are not secure and jumping all over the place.  I will keep you posted on the cozy tata's.  Thanks for reading!

Back in the saddle again!

Ok!  I am back!  After dealing with hurricane Isaac and a wonderful sinus infection that knocked me off the saddle of my "lifestyle" change.  Oh yes.  That is my new term.  The word DIET is a very bad four letter word.  So, instead of using that bad four letter word I am now saying I am having a "lifestyle change".  

Ok back to the subject at hand.  Thank you for all the prayers and messages.  My family and I made it out of the hurricane with no problems.  Even managed to keep our power the whole time.  The kids school was cancelled for that week so it was nice to have them home and all be stuck in the house together and focus on family time again.  We played Wii, board games, and just hung out!  It was so great!

In the preparation for the storm I lost all motivation to exercise.  I know bad excuse.  If anything with being trapped in the house for a week I should of been able to exercise more.  Shortly after the hurricane I was blessed with a lovely sinus infection.  I couldn't move my head with out a sneeze attack or feeling dizzy.  I missed a whole 7 days of workout time.  I felt so lazy.  And then this weekend we had friends over so i bake my amazing chocolate chip cookies and of course i had to taste some.  Right?  My friend made some delicious chicken tacos that she brought over.  And I also made a delicious homemade cinnamon coffee cake!  Oh My Gosh!!  AMAZING!!!  

After my 7 days of no workouts and eating delicious garbage I gained back 4 pounds!!!!  AAAAHHH!!  Serves me right!  I finally got down to 156 pounds but that lasted a whole day.  I was weak and that won't happen again.  I am back in the saddle again and will continue to stay on track!  When I started my lifestyle change my starting weight was 185 pounds and I refuse to be that size again.  

After my pitty party I gave myself over gaining that 4 pounds I picked myself back up and got back on track!  Monday I started my strength exercises and yoga again and continued it again on Tuesday and have also been great at eating and taking my shakes again!  Yay me!  I am happy to report I have lost 2 out of the 4 pounds I gained that week and I know the rest will be gone real soon.  I just need to keep looking forward and stick to my plan so I can reach me goal of 140 pounds by November 1st!

That's it.  I have now held myself accountable and put a date on it so you can help me stay on track.  That gives me 8 weeks to reach my goal.  I Can Do It!!!  Thanks for stopping by!  Now get off your tush and get moving!!!

Slacking!! I need motivation again!

The last time I worked out was Friday.  Which is not that bad.  I wanted to take off Saturday because that is my off day.  But then Sunday rolled around and Carlos had the day off and it was raining outside.  I just did not have the drive and ambition to change my clothes and get up and do something.  It also did not help that I started a migraine about 2:00 and it did not want to go away.  My wonderful husband was sweet enough to let me nap.  I fell asleep after cleaning up a delicious dinner I made.  Took a good 2 hour nap.  By the time I woke up it was time to put the babies to bed.  I felt so bad I slept through 2 hours of playtime.  But obviously my body needed it.

I am doing a change too in my diet.  It turns out I have been starving myself.  Not on purpose but I have been starving my body.  I was burning all the calories I was eating in a day and was wondering why I had stopped losing weight and started losing energy.  I had a text conversation with my brother.  He is a big health nut and workout guru.  He told me since it is hard for me to eat all those calories in a day to help balance my diet I need to start having more then just a cheat snack once a week.  He told me to start working in a cheat day.  A whole day of no exercise and eating more calories.  Not going too crazy.  He had given me some good ideas of healthy calories to eat.  And slowly add a meal each sunday.  Sunday is the day I chose for my food cheat day.  I started yesterday with my dinner.  I made a delicious bake ziti and garlic bread for dinner.  I had made myself a kids size portion too and did not go back for seconds.  It seems to have helped.  I woke up this morning after my cheat dinner day and weighed myself.  I did not lose any weight but I also did not gain any weight.

So my new goal is to eat from 1400-1800 calories and then I can continue my workouts burning 400-600 calories.  I want to have at least 1000 calories left at the end of the day for fuel for my body so it does not go into reserve mode.  Wish me luck!  I find it hard to eat.  I barely have time.  If I am not running after a twin or helping a child wipe their butt or brush hair.  I am cleaning something or trying to keep with my goal of exercising at least one hour a day monday to friday and at least 30 minutes of Yoga on sunday.  Between all of that I am homeschooling my 4 year old and my the time I sit to eat my food is either cold or I don't have an appetite anymore.

To help with my motivation and energy I recently started taking vitamins to help with my metabolism.  It is definitely helping in the digestion area (sorry TMI).  But I really needed that.  Because I am not good at eating enough of the proteins and vitamins I take these metabolism vitamins and squish them up and add them to my shakes 2 times a day.  I have been doing it for about 4 days now and I am hoping it kick starts my new workout system and eating system and help me reach my goal faster.

Today no matter how I am feeling I will be working out.  I will start by changing right now into my workout clothes and just wear them for the rest of the day so I will have no excuses later.  I will already be dressed and ready for action.  I need to pick myself up and get back on track!  I have been doing great and nothing is gonna stop me from reaching my goal of 140 pounds by October 31st!!!  I intend to lose all this weight before the holidays and before all the holiday food.  I don't want to add to the problem and make it that much difficult!  So now is the time!  It is crunch time!  Literally, I have to do crunches.  My twin tummy is not a pretty picture!  Why is it when I am pregnant all my pregnant weight goes to my hips, thighs and butt.  Why can't I be like those other skinny pregnant ladies who gain in their belly and just look so cute pregnant.  Be i get wider and larger all over!  Ick!

Sorry about that back to reality!  I am done with the pregnant boat!  I had my last 2 June 19, 2011.  It is time for me to get in shape and get healthy and enjoy my children!  Enjoy my life!  And enjoy my husband!!  It's time to stop feeling self conscience about the way I look and go out into the world with my head held high and be proud for looking great!!  I don't want to look great for having 6 kids.  I want to look great!!!!  Thank you my readers!  Now get off your rump and motivate!!!

keeping fit when you have your monthly visitor

Not sure if you ladies are all like me.  It seems when I get my monthly visitor I lose all ambition and all self control.  I have no drive to workout or to even stick to my meal plans.  I crave chocolate and I am cramping so bad now since the twins. All I want to do is lay on the couch or my bed in my sweats and t-shirt and do nothing.  During this week I wind up gaining weight back that is not welcomed to come back and after my 5-7 days of rest I need to play catch up and lose what I had gained back.  It drives me crazy. I have been like this since I started exercising and eating right since the babies were 6 months old.  I am tired of it.  So I decided to do some research and see if there are some exercises that is recommended while I have my visitor for a week.
I learned something new when a woman is on her period and continues to exercise she increases her risk of injuring her ACL.  Who knew?  With proper training and strength training on the knees you can reduce those chances drastically.  One exercise recommended is jump rope.  That ought to be a site to see.  I don't think I have jump roped since Jr. high or elementary school days.  Not to mention a whole lot more jiggle to the jump too. The site mentions the QUALITY of the movements and work out your are doing. Not the QUANTITY!
Check out this website that I found out this information on and educate yourself so you can too keep up with your success and goals even though your visitor decides to hang out uninvited.
http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/exercise-and-your-menstrual-cycle-what-your-period-means-your-workout-schedu

Now that I am at least aware of what I need to do to keep up with all my progress, now I have no excuse for back tracking and falling back into old habits. At least I hope not!  I will be buying a jump rope this weekend.  I am already taking out a #1 excuse most woman with children use. That I am tired from work or from being home with the kids all day. Now I am ridding of another excuse from most woman. The dreaded PERIOD!!  Thanks for listening!  Now get off your butt and get fit! 😝

A very productive day!

Today was great!  I started a blog! Yahoo!!

 My 4 year old (Louis) and I did some preschool work.  It was great we learned about the letter B and the number 2.  I am so blessed and lucky that I have the opportunity to teach my son and watch the excitement in his eyes as he learns and remembers things that I had showed him.  Not all mom's get to witness this milestone.  I used to be a preschool teacher a few years back.  I would get so much joy to watch these children grow and learn and just change right before my eyes.  Now as I teach Louis I get to experience all that again but it is even more special now because it is my child. :)

My children had a great day at school.  As soon as they get off the bus it was snacks and then HOMEWORK!  FUN FUN!  How fair is it that I already graduated and did my time with school and homework and now through parenthood us as parents get to experience the joys of homework, studying and projects all over again!  We were able to get all the homework done with no screaming or crying (from me or the kids).  Then it was dinner and off to football.  Thankfully my saint of a husband was able to pick up Anthony from school today.

Amongst all the normal craziness of a typical day in my house (busted bleeding lips, unexpected amount of poop diapers and runny noses) I was able to squeeze in some time to get some laundry started (not finished) and I am so proud of myself I swept and mopped the floors!  I still managed to have some energy too after all this and did a great strength and core exercise for 40 minutes.  So proud. Every ounce of my body was screaming at me the whole time saying "Just take the night off, it was a crazy day,  you mopped the floors that counts as your workout".  But I kept going.  I am not listening to those voices of excuses in my head any longer.  It is because of those voices that I am the weight I am.  Another great excuse is "Your body is the way it is because you have all those beautiful babies, Hey you just had twins".  These excuses are just that "Excuses".  I will no longer settle.  I want a healthy body not only for me but for my family.  I want to be around for years to come to embarrass my children and nag my husband.  Today I also stepped on the scale.  I am down 4 pounds and 1 inch in the waist line since starting my 90 day challenge 16 days ago.  11 more pounds to go to my goal!  We can do it girls!  We can stop settling and giving in or giving up and strive for something better.  You deserve it.  And that is all!  Thank you for reading!

Introducing me!

Hi blog world.  This is my first official post.  Not sure how this goes but I am certain I will eventually get the hang of it!
 Hi!  I am Amanda.  I am a stay at home mom of 6 kids.  My oldest Anthony is 11 and will be 12 this December.  He started his first year of middle school.  This was a very emotional school year for me because my baby is officially no longer a baby.  He's a good kid so I only expect great things from him!  Next is my daughter Ally.  She is 9 years old and will be 10 this November and just started the 4th grade.  She is the heart of the family.  She is a minnie mommy in training and makes sure everyone is following rules and that they are happy ( my 11 year old is not a fan of her little mommy personality).  Next is my Nicholas.  He is 7 years old and just started 2nd grade.  At the age of 3 he was diagnosed with aspergers syndrome.  A form of autism.  I am proud to say that he is considered high functioning autistic and is doing great in school.  He is now included in the regular classrooms rather then in the special education classes.  He has come such a long way and is now communicating and socializing!  I am so proud of him and of what he has accomplished.  Next is my Louis.  He is 4 years old and I (brave soul that I am) have decided to take on homeschooling him for preschool.  Our family just recently moved to a new state and I was not happy with what programs were offered in the neighborhood.  We have already have had 2 lessons and he is doing great!  I am having so much fun watching him learn and have fun doing it too.  And last but not least are my twins. Yup TWINS!  My crazy husband and I figured it would be fun to try and have one more baby.  Let's go for #5!!!  Only God had us fooled and decided that I would be the family member on my side to carry the fraternal twin gene.  But that's ok.  I trust God and know he would not have blessed me to be one of a few who get the joy of having twins.  And I am so glad HE did.  Our family is now complete.  Sicilia and Christian just turned 1 on June 19th and are accomplished walkers and house destroyers!  Last but not least the man in my life.  The reason why I am blessed with my 6 wonderful babies.  Is my husband Carlos.  He is amazing.  Works hard so I can stay home with my babies and not have to leave them everyday.  I have gotten to see all their first walks, and rolls and words and so much more.  All because he has sacrificed his time to work hard and provide for us.  We met at 18, pregnant at 19, our first child at 20, married at 20 and bought our first house at 20 years old.  Here we are married 11 years later and 5 kids more.  You can say we have been busy!

The reason why I wanted to start blogging has to do with my husband.  He tells me that I need to share my life and what I do with the world or to whomever actually reads this.  He is too sweet.  He says I am an inspiration to so many moms and young girls.  I not seeing that.  I just think I do what needs to be done for my family to make sure that they grow up grounded and well rounded people.

I just started a new goal for not only me but for my family.  Since having my twins I had an extra 45 pounds that decided to stick around.  I have started eating right and exercising and taking some shakes that have helped me "Get My Skinny On".  I have already lost 30 pounds and I have 15 pounds left to go!  I figured by me posting my goals and accomplishments of getting in shape and healthy for my family that I hope to inspire someone out there in blog country.  If I (mom of 6 kids) can make time to take care of her health and find ways to exercise then there should be no excuses for others.  Did I mention I have a son in football (practices 3 times a week), then we have religion classes every Wednesday, my 9 year old wants to do dance and plus football games start and that is every Saturday.  So I say again.  If I can do it!  You can do it!!  I promise future blog posts will be shorter.  Thanks for taking time out of your day to read!! <3



P.S. The picture posted is a picture of my before and my current after.  That weight loss was from changing my diet with no exercise.  I just started taking these shakes in place of 2 meals and started eating a healthy dinner and healthy snacks.  I am excited about my new goal of a weight loss of 15 pounds and strengthen my core and tighten my body back up.  And for those moms who have had twins know that is not a easy task.