Mamavation Monday 1/24/10

My first week as a Mamavation Mom is coming to an end. The first few days were kind of a whirl wind. I was able to meet with our Dietitian, Alysa Bajenaru, RD over skype and she gave me some great information regarding my meal plan and ways to keep from feeling really hungry between meals and snacks. Since starting and following my meal plan it was easy for me to see that my biggest struggle diet-wise was snacking too much during the day. I realized that between about 1:00pm and 6:00pm I would head to the fridge or pantry 3 or 4 times a day. Even if it was a healthy snack like greek yogurt, string cheese, or fruit, it was more about the quantity.

I also want to talk about my first Kickboxing class with Leah and my fellow L.A. Mom, Kate yesterday. I'm not the kind of person who enjoys exercising. In fact, I really didn't like it at all before starting this campaign. I had ever only been to one fitness class, and it was a pilates class that I went to with a friend. I had intentions to do the class a couple of times a week, but I didn't go without my friend, and because our schedules didn't really match up I didn't go at all.

When something is too tough, it's not uncommon for me to just quit. I've tried exercise videos in the past, without much success. Imagine being alone in your living room, you're moving along to a video and you get lost. You can't figure out what the heck they're doing. You give up, you turn the video off and sit down to watch TV. You're not hurting anyone, right? But you are hurting someone. You're hurting yourself.

So I'm getting a little off track. Yesterday Leah had Kate and I drive up to her gym and take her favorite kick boxing class with her. It was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life. There was more than one point that I just wanted to give up and lay down on the floor. Had I been alone in my living room, it would have been very easy to just quit. But then I would just be hurting myself again. I nearly passed out, I almost threw up and I even cried during the workout. My legs were burning, and at one point they were shaking so hard that I truly thought they were going to give out on me. But they didn't!

I finished an hour long class of intense cardio and i survived it. But most of all, I pushed myself further than I ever have before. It set the bar for my future workouts. If you're running along with your EA Sports Active and you feel like your legs are burning and shaking and about to give up on you, keep running! You might hate it for a very short moment, but when you finish, you will have gotten so much more out of it than just a few extra calories burned.

I also want to congratulate our first Sista of the Week this year, @elenka29. She is consistently on Twitter each morning reminding and motivating the other moms to eat a healthy breakfast with her #breakfastclub tweets. She continues to have a positive attitude and great motivation despite not being chosen as a Mamavation Mom. She is an amazing inspiration, and if you're not already a friend of hers, I suggest becoming one! Congrats, Lena!

This week's Mamavation sponsor and question comes from Kellogg's Fiber Plus. They're question is:

How are you getting more fiber in your diet this New Year?
I'm not sucking up or anything, but I often eat the Fiber Plus Cinnamon Oat Crunch Cereal for breakfast. One and a half cups of the cereal with one cup of almond milk and a small banana has about 22 grams of fiber! The recommended daily amount of fiber is 25 grams, so that breakfast gets me pretty darn close! For the rest of the day I try to sneak in a few more foods that are fiber rich, an apple for a snack (3-4 grams), a half a cup of black beans on my salad (over 9 grams!), or a cup of fresh steamed broccoli with dinner (8 grams). That gives me well over the recommended amount, and none of it tastes like cardboard.

Thank you again to the Mamavation coaching team, Alysa Bajenaru, RD, Tracy Mallett, and Pete Cohen and thank you to our wonderful sponsors Earth Footwear, EA Sports Active, Chefs Requested, and last but definitely not least, Sears Fitness!

Disclaimer: I’m writing this post as an entry to a blogging carnival sponsored by Fiber Plus. I will be receiving free product in return, and a chance to win a gift card as well.