New Month and Different Focus

The eve of December brings such glad tidings for me! First off, the end of my semester is next week as I have mentioned before and I am SO happy about that. Second, in a previous post I explained how the next month will be daycare free (i.e. no baby playmates for Rocket) well I am glad to say that we have just be accepted into a playgroup in Fayetteville area- so YAYYY for him and for me :-) Those were the two most important changes or happenings that December will bring.

"And now for something completely different"- I love Monty Python and the Flying Circus; I am currently losing weight and have been since I gave birth nearly 11 months ago. This weight lost is a concerted effort to not only get to my goal weight of 125lbs- I am currently 152lbs, but also become much better at eating a healthy plant based diet. Although I know the things needed to make that work I like many others have my slip ups that sometimes only last for a meal or other times a week. Not that I want this to be a weight loss blog but I wanted to give myself another reason to be accountable to the things I eat by sharing on the interweb my goal weight and how I intend to get there. And because I love lists so much here are the three ways that I will continue to lose the extra weight I have:

(1) eat a plant based diet- no diary,no meat, natural occurring oils only (avocados, nuts and seeds). Most days this is not a problem and now I am finding it easier to not to eat processed foods and foods containing diary and meat.

(2) do a combination of moderate intensity cardio and interval cardio as well as full body circuit training. Overall my goal has been to be active 5-6 days a week. Most weeks I easily achieve this.

(3) be kind to myself and if I stray from my plan not to lose control and completely forget why I want to eat a more natural and wholesome diet and why I want to strengthen my body.

Well that is enough for now. By the way because I did not mention this before I have lost 82lbs since the birth of my son.

End of November

I am going to credit the overall success of accomplishing (in various degrees) all of my November goals by blogging about them. I was able to recall my goals and make an effort to actually accomplishing them, which is much better than before when the goals would be forgotten and never thought of again.

Today was a day for getting things done and Rocket was a sport about getting in and out if his car seat which is always a relief.

I tried my hand at a vegan pound cake tonight and despite my initial taste which I thought was a little weird, I know love it. Funny how that happens.

Perhaps I will post that recipe and more recipes on here. Still not sure what kind of blog I want this to be. My favorites to read are vegan food blogs.

The end of my semester and No daycare for Rocket for a month

With just a few more weeks (including finals) left in my fall semester, I find that although I am overly elated at it's end (more so than any semester before because being a parent to a baby and a student is HARD); I am also a little forlorn. The daycare I take my son to is pretty awesome and the babies that he interacts with three times a week are pretty special guys and girls. Not only with Rocket miss them but I am going to miss them too for that month break.

Back story: I live in Hope Mills, NC and UNC at Pembroke is about 40 minutes away and I commute back and forth about 4 times a week. In between my morning classes and early evening classes I have a two hour block and I visit my son at daycare. I nurse and play with him and then also play with other 4 babies during that time.

So when I say I will miss them it is because I will as I also interact with them. In addition to my sadness of missing the babies, I am also aware that I will be depriving Rocket of his companions that he is used to during the week. I know that Rocket enjoys the other babies and that they all benefit from each others company.

That is the problem: Rocket's daycare although convenient during the semester is not so convenient at semesters end.

Lee and I are still trying to come up with a solution to this problem that allows Rocket to have some baby companions time and me some "me" time. There are options but in my opinion just not very good options.

Not sure what I want to do but I do know I have only a few weeks to figure this out.

November Goals, Ect..

I know that it is not the middle of the month yet but I wanted to assess my goals at the week in a half marker just so that I know where I am and what I can do to reach my goals each week.

(1) Running 3 times a week. Last week I ran two times a week so I am still going to count that as a win because two is better than one.  This week I am not going to flake out on my Friday run like I did last week!  I have already run once this week on Monday. It was a hill workout on the treadmill and it was only 1 mile, but I can promise you that 1 mile was TOUGH. My max incline was 17% which is killer.

(2) Meditate once (+) a week.  Last week I really did not meditate but I did have a couple of quiet moments to myself while I did yoga. Rocket was clinging to me while I was in Mountain pose but I did have a moment of reflection so I am going to count that as a kind of win.

(3) Reading Martin's "A Dance...":  I did read a few chapters so another win for me.

(4)  Read to my son everyday.  I read to Rocket 3 times last week. I think I am not picking the right times to read to him because he usually crawls out of my lap after just a few pages.  So I am going to count that as a lost because it is really imperative that I read to him everyday. Monday I did read to him even it was only a for a few minutes. 

(5) Turn in quality paper...I added the (...) because next week is when my first paper is due.  I have checked out three books to assist me with my paper on "Eastern Religions Influence on the Western Society".  Boring title, I know but the content should be fairly interesting. 

(6) Declare November a "no meat month".  I ate meat three days in a row over the weekend. So another lose for me.  Monday was a meatless day and so is Tuesday so far ((thumbs ups)). I am looking forward to the rest of the week also being meatless.

(7) Getting Rocket to sleep in the crib regularly. The opposite has happened these last 5 days as Rocket is still sleeping peacefully and cozily next to me and Lee in our bed. Another lose ((disappointed sigh)) I need to resist my desire to have Rocket sleep with us. 

and finally

(8) Washing the dishes at night rather than in the morning.  I have washed the dishes at about a half and half rate each night/morning.  This is a higher ratio than before so I am going to say that I am kind of winning at this. 

I hope to do this again sometime next week because this definitely holds me accountable to the goals that I make for myself! 

Green Smoothie and Granola

Here is a recipe for a smoothie sip or you can eat in a bowl with some yummy granola mixed in :-).

2 handfuls of spinach
1/2 cup of So Delicious coconut yogurt plain
3/4 cup of non dairy milk
3 frozen whole organic strawberries
1/2 cup frozen mango
1/2 frozen banana

Blend until smooth

This can be served in a glass and sipped through a straw or served in a bowl with granola stirred in. I use Cascadian Farms Fruit and Nut Granola :-)

I wish I could say this wonderfully yummy concoction was from my own brilliant mind but I will sight inspiration from the following vegan blog Oh She Glows

As the weather is turning from cool to cold I know that my smoothie days will come far and few as my soup and stews days will dominate until Spring.

Last night Lee made a delicious and hearty vegan Potato and Leek soup that I am looking forward to eating the next couple of days.

Until next time...

I added a picture of Rocket enjoying the smoothie :-)