Week 22, Day 4 - 7th day Raw -- Good day today

Even though today was extremely trying at times, I have to say that looking back, it was a good day overall. I am so happy and actually amazed, at how calm & collected I am during times of stress - mainly meaning when the kids are flipping out and crying and I definitely FEEL overwhelmed. But I can totally tell the difference between having junky food in my system vs. having raw food. I LOVE it!

I feel like I've found that place where things just kind of go smoothly with exercise & diet - it's just where I am, and I am not "fighting" it (as in, wanting so badly to do a certain thing, yet sooo tempted to just eat other things!!!). That place. I am so happy to be here and am going to ride this wave as long as I can!

Today started out strong with an excellent workout - I decided to find the Fit Yummy Mummy workout I'd saved a year or so ago, that only requires body weight. I chose that because I felt like doing my workout in my room, vs the very active computer room where all the kids were (it was 10am before I was able to actually start). Also, my room has an air conditioner so that was an added bonus, even though it wasn't really that hot out - but I do get hot while exercising so it was nice!

I'd love to do this for 4 weeks, and during part of that (the end) I will be at our church's retreat center so that gives me the option to continue with my workouts *if* I want to, without having to drag weights out with me. Which I wouldn't do, actually, I would probably just not do ANY workouts if it came down to it - if I had to bring weights in order to do them.

I really, really enjoyed it. It was challenging, yet felt great - I was able to do 3 sets of each exercise even though I was fatigued and wanted to quit or do less some of the time. I just kept thinking about how I AM changing my body even though I might not be able to see it as well as if I wasn't pregnant. I know that if I continue to eat raw, especially not high fat raw, then the extra body fat (or at least some of it!) will melt off and then my hard work toning will shine through. I am hoping for *some* and that is enough to keep me enduring through a grueling workout!

One of the exercises involved something similar to crunches, and while I do think working my core is important, because of the separation of stomach muscles that I have from so many babies...I don't do crunches or any type of torso twisting while pregnant especially. So instead I just did normal planks for 30s which was plenty hard enough! I can tell my tummy is heavier than normal and that made it more challenging.

There was one exercise which involved going from a side plank to a pushup plank and then back down to the side - that counts as 1 rep, and I had to do 8 reps PER SIDE! 3 times! Yowza! That was probably the hardest one for me - but it had nothing to do with being pregnant, it had to do with my lack of upper arm strength since mostly what I've been doing is running. So that felt amazing JUST because I really love toned arms and miss them =(. So even if my arms never really lose the extra flab they've aquired and show the tone, at least I'll feel stronger in my upper body and once the baby comes, hopefully it'll melt off fairly quickly.

After my workout, because it was so late, I had to rush to the store for toilet paper and other things, then basically rushed home to unpack groceries and then take the kids to school for lunch. After that we went to the Dollar Tree so each of the kids could pick out a present for Harmony who turned 2 a few days ago - we celebrated it tonight. So cute!

But the point of that paragraph, lol, was to say that I always juice first thing in the morning - I have not missed that, not once. And I wanted that to be the first thing I had to eat - it really sets the tone for the rest of the day for me, for some reason. So I ended up drinking that first meal of the day, at 1:45pm. Didn't really mean to take that long, but evidently fasting for this morning was in the plan.

Tomorrow I plan to do intervals here at home, 20m total including warmup, which will be nice & short. But then, dreaded shower, blah. But it's weird, it's like I can't wait for tomorrow to come just so I can complete day 2 of my good old plan that I used to do, that worked SO amazingly well for me back in the good old days. It's nice to be doing something I know worked, and to have those high hopes that it'll work again.

I feel like I'm starting to see really tiny little changes in my body already from eating 98% raw for the past 7 days - I've gotten a comment or two that I look radiant (maybe preggo glow? Or maybe the green juice is working?) and also it seems like the shape of my body looks better in clothes. But I don't know...it's hard to tell if it's all in my head or not, lol. I'm looking forward to day 14, though - it seems like having 2 weeks raw under my belt PLUS exercising religiously, hard, and regularly should bring about some magical results! Ha ha... or at least, I can HOPE and that is what will fuel my fire anyway. =)

Eats today:

25oz green juice (zucchini, carrots, apple, celery, spinach, & beets)
chocolate shake (walnuts, bananas, nutmeg, cinnamon, honey, cocoa powder, water)
64oz green smoothie (spinach, bananas, water, strawberries, vanilla extract, & honey)
1 cup stir fried veggies
1/2 cup salad

I feel really good about my intake of greens - it seems like every day except maybe 1, I've been able to either have a huge salad OR 64oz of green smoothie. That + the juiced veggies. I love the nutrients those things bring, but most of all that I'm getting in veggies instead of JUST fruit. I do have some nuts though, but in the end my days usually do end up being lower fat as opposed to high fat - but not NO fat, so I think it's a good even mix.

I've also been able to do my skin brushing just about every day - I do it before I take a shower so every day that I take one, I do it. That amounts to about 5 out of the last 7 days - I'm happy about that! It helps with getting toxins out of my system AND with cellulite over the long term.

Tonight I was tempted to eat the last half of a donut from Harmony's party....and popcorn while I ate the movie...and the chocolate bar sitting on top of the fridge...and the remaining 5 pieces of corn bread...and some of the pasta dish we had for dinner.

So it's not like I'm not tempted!!!!! BUT - I am finding that the cravings or temptations are pretty darn mild compared to what they normally are! I am super duper thankful for that, I feel very satiated and satisfied over all, with what I am eating now.