Getting Back to Blogging

So I know it has been a while since my last post.  I'll admit it I fell off the blogging wagon for a bit,  life gets a little busy when your child starts walking and teething!

I'm still committed to weight loss especially since I'm standing in my friends wedding in August and there cannot be a back fat situation in the gorgeous dress that I'm wearing.
For me I find counting calories to be annoying and never accurate, so I looked into intermittent fasting, you can either fast for a 24hr period once a week or do it daily for a shorter amount of time. It needs to be at least 14-15hrs to be effective, currently I do not eat past 5pm and try to eat breakfast between 8-9am I have lost 7 pounds since starting the 2nd week of January without doing anything but not eating past a certain hour, it doesn't get much easier than this!  It also helps to workout during the fast so my evening pump classes are helping things along.

Another change I made was adding coconut oil to my coffee. Brew your coffee add a tablespoon of coconut oil and blend for 20 secs and you end up with a creamy frothy latte. I know some people may think this is nuts but it is amazing, once you get past the thought of putting oil in your coffee and having nicely moisturized lips from your morning cup of joe, you will see it really does taste good and the health benefits of coconut oil are endless, plus this doesn't break the fast and boosts your metabolism.  I have 30 more pounds of baby weight to lose before getting back to my "normal" state here's hoping I can do this by the summer!

 

Below are a few links to pages I have read about fasting and coconut oil.
http://www.theiflife.com/intermittent-fasting-101-how-to-start-part-i/
http://www.theiflife.com/2-meal-coconut-oil-coffee/

A New workout-HIIT

I have started back at goodlife this past month and have been doing body pump and body combat classes at least 3 times a week.
My cardio is not back to where it was or needs to be, so looking to improve this I googled workout information and came across HIIT .

HIIT is a training idea in which low to moderate intensity intervals are alternated with high intensity intervals.
HIIT can be applied to running or to exercises such as squatting. HIIT is considered to be much more effective than normal cardio because the intensity is higher and you are able to increase both your aerobic and anaerobic endurance while burning more fat than ever before.
"In research, HIIT has been shown to burn adipose tissue more effectively than low-intensity exercise - up to 50% more efficiently." It has also been shown to speed up your metabolism which helps you burn more calories throughout the day. (www.musclemedia.com)
HIIT improves both energy systems for endurance:

Anaerobic Energy System

Anaerobic literally means "Without oxygen." The anaerobic energy system is what provides energy in all out efforts of up to 1 minute. For the first 10-15 seconds, the phosphate pool is used up and after that, glycolysis and lactic acid are involved in the effort.
During 10-15 second bursts, there is a very small amount of lactic acid produced. Rest periods of 30 seconds to a minute will provide complete recovery of the Adenosine Triphosphate-Creatine Phosphate (ATP-CP) system. During efforts of more than 10-15 seconds, a large amount of lactic acid is produced and such efforts are extremely taxing on both the athlete's muscles and their Central Nervous System (CNS).

Aerobic Energy System

Aerobic literally means "with oxygen." This energy system is utilized during prolonged exercise over a period of at least 3-4 minutes. As long as there is enough oxygen to provide energy, the fatigue that you experience will remain at a low level.
This is the reason why many track and field athletes train at higher altitudes where there is less oxygen. By training at high altitudes, they can increase the number of red blood cells which will help them to perform for a longer period of time with little to no fatigue throughout.

The one I chose consisted of sprinting, burpees, skipping, push ups, squats, abs, and dead lifts.

I cannot seem to find where I found it on the internet but basically you go as fast/hard as you can for 20 seconds and have 10 seconds of rest and for each movement you do this 8 times per movement.

I did not finish the first workout because I was dying! So lets hope this is key to helping boost the weight loss and work on this mama's cardio.

In memory of Bubba

I have had my pug since I was around 17 ( I think). When I moved to Halifax I left him with my mom and his pug brother.
Bubba was a great dog and snored like a champ! To this day I cannot see a pug without smiling I love those smooshy faces!
Today Bubba had to be put down due to health issues so I thought I would use my blog as a bit of a tribute to one great Pug!

Here is a cute little poem I found:

Pug Morning

 I woke
up this morning and what did I see?

A wrinkled up Pug face

Just staring at me!

He had big black eyes

And a short little nose.

Soft velvet ears

folded up like a rose.

Just inches away

He gave a big wheeze,

Sucked in some air,

Let out a giant sneeze!

A joy? A pleasure? A thrill?

It IS not!

To be waked in the morning

By a spray of Pug snot!

Rest in Peace Bubba, You will be missed.

 

Breaking the Network Marketing Stigma

I think it’s time to get real about this “terrifying” topic of Network Marketing. I will be using Arbonne as my example because that is my only frame of reference that I have experience with.

I was just like all of you saying “oh no I could never sell anything to my friends and family” and “there is no way this can work”. That is until I sat in front of two women who are actually making it work. They are making money, a lot of it, so much so that they’ve surpassed their teaching incomes. I’ve also met two nurses from the IWK who have surpassed their incomes by selling Arbonne. So I ask you, if they can do it why can’t I, or in fact why can’t you? The other night I sat in a room of over 20 women who are making it work and that is just in this one network, it doesn’t seem like that impossible of a mission.

Everyone takes a shower and I know everyone uses at least one product before leaving the house, so here is my question, why pay Walmart for these products when you can pay yourself? Seems pretty logical doesn’t it, one would think.

A company like Arbonne is able to take all the money other more traditional companies spend on massive marketing campaigns and instead invest in research and development to continuously produce amazing products. They’re able to offer extremely generous compensation plans for their consultants because there is no overhead of maintaining a chain of store fronts. They’re able to allow regular people like you and I to jump in with both feet and take control of our own financial future.

Imagine if you could spend your days talking to people and going out for coffees instead of sitting behind a desk hating your job? I challenge you to really think about this and take a risk on yourself to see what you are made of.

Yes of course there is a relatively small cost to get started, but what new business venture doesn’t have that requirement? You need to spend money to make money and as far as I’m concerned, what’s a couple hundred dollars out of pocket for the potential to make thousands and maybe even completely replace your day job.  The icing on the cake is that the initial capital you invest actually gets you product you can use yourself and since you’re an independent business you can claim these expenses as tax deductions. When it all boils down this is a great opportunity to make a lot of money, earn free trips and never have to answer to someone again.

People say why network marketing? I say Why not network marketing? Warren Buffet is the 3^rd richest man in the world and bought The Pampered Chef, he liked it so much he became involved in 6 more network marketing companies. It’s hard to argue that a man like that isn’t able to see a good opportunity for an exciting new business model when he sees one…

I believe in this product and business and I am going as far as I can with this, I suggest you hop on this gravy train before it passes you by!

Food Stuff

This is going to be a quick and easy post, I recently made Kale chips and Feta and Vegetable Frittatas on the weekend and thought I would share them with you, they were quite tasty!

 

This is a weight watchers recipe only 2 pts per serving

 

Ingredients:

4 spray(s) cooking spray 6 Large Eggs      4 Large egg white ½ cup of water ¼ tsp of salt ¼ tsp fresh ground pepper 2 cups of fresh spinach, baby leaves, coarsely chopped 1 cup of canned artichoke hearts without oil, cut into chunks 1 cup of crumbled feta cheese ½ cup of roasted red peppers (packed in water) ½ cup of uncooked scallions (sliced) ¼ cup of low fat cream cheese (room temperature)
Directions: Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Coat two 8-hole muffin pans with cooking spray (or use one 12-hole pan and four holes from another muffin pan). In a medium bowl, beat eggs, egg whites, water, salt and pepper until blended. Stir in spinach, artichoke hearts, feta, roasted peppers, scallions and cream cheese; mix well. Spoon about 60 ml (¼ cup) egg mixture into each prepared muffin hole. Bake until just set, about 18 to 22 minutes. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Loosen edges of frittatas with a rubber spatula, sliding spatula underneath frittatas to loosen bottoms and lift frittatas out of pans; serve. Yields 1 frittata per serving. **Note: these stick to the pans even with cooking spray I recommend using muffin/cupcake papers to save on the clean up!       Kale Chips These are super easy to make and you can flavor them with whatever you want. Take your kale and remove all the leaves, place them in a large bowl add some olive oil on them to help the flavor stick and toss in whatever seasoning you wish. For this most recent batch I used seasoning salt and man were they good! Put them in the oven at 350 for about 10-15 mins, until they feel crispy. **Note: only use a small amount of olive oil, adding to much can make them soggy.

Now for the Babies

For anyone that has a child or has been around people and their babies you know there is an endless supply of poop, diapers, feeding and sleep talk. Now for me I was like oh I’m not going to be one of “those” moms. Well let me tell you, whether it’s the sleep deprivation or the fact that this child stole any brain cells I may have had left, I’m not sure but some of my best days are when her bio-liner catches the poop and I do not have to spray off her diaper.

Yes, we decided to go the cloth diaper route and I am so glad we did. There is a bit of an upfront cost, but then once you have your stash that is all you need.  That is if you can control yourself when it comes to the cutest diaper patterns ever.There’s so many fun options it starts to become a bit of an obsession!

If you use disposables the average cost is about $4000.00 for the entire time your child is in diapers. The average cost for cloth diapering is around $2000.00. Personally we haven’t even hit the $1000.00 mark yet and have 30 diapers which gives us at least 2 days before having to wash which is pretty good.

If you are like me the thought of cloth diapering was very overwhelming. All the different brands and types, I am just now figuring out what a pre-fold, flip and pocket are. To make our lives a bit easier we went to a local business that offered a cloth diapering workshop to help explain all options and styles. In our house the 2 main favorites are Freetimes, which are as about as easy as a disposable and Tots Bots which require a bit of prep but still very easy and have velcro, which I thought was going to be super until she learned how to undo them!

 Now if you are planning on cloth I highly recommend a diaper sprayer, this is a handy little sprayer that attaches to the side of your toilet that makes the cleanup WAAY easier. If you’re breastfeeding you don’t need to spray your diapers until you start solids, however if you are formula feeding you will need that bad boy from the get go because having to swish a poopy diaper in the toilet will ruin anyone’s day!

Overall it’s really not that much additional work vs. disposables, especially once you get the hang of it. Another awesome benefit cloth diapering has over disposables is you don’t need to store dozens of used stinky diapers in the garbage waiting for the next garbage day! I’ve heard a number of my fellow moms complaining about that hassle.

Resources:

http://www.nurtured.ca/

http://www.fluffybottombabies.ca/

http://well.ca/  this is an amazing website for everything and always has great deals!

http://www.theluvyourbaby.com/

Also check out your local facebook groups for Co-ops and Local Moms making diapers.

 

Arbonne as a Business

Recently I was approached by my best friend regarding Arbonne. At the time I had never heard of this company or what it did but I agreed to go to with her and meet two Arbonne reps to hear a little more about the business. I went into this meeting thinking “This is a scam, just another pyramid scheme” but I came out of that meeting completely pumped and ready to “Arbonize my home”!

The business was presented to us as “Why not get paid to do something you do every day?”. What they mean by this is everyone takes a shower and on average people use 25 products before leaving the house in the morning, so instead of paying Walmart or other big box stores why not pay yourself?

The Arbonne business model is different from more traditional companies in that rather than distributing through typical brick and mortar stores, they offer a generous commission package for anyone who wants to sell it on their own. This vastly reduces the overhead costs for the company while providing regular people like me the opportunity to share a great quality product with everyone who will listen.

In order start selling Arbonne products you just need to sign up as an Independent Consultant which costs less than $100. From there it’s just a question of how you want to approach growing your business. Some people host parties to introduce their friends and family to the products, some purchase a stockpile of product to use on their own or lend out to potential customers to evaluate and some focus solely on the business side of things and building a network of people who work together to sell the products.

Now how you get “paid” for doing this is:

1. This is your own business so many things become tax write offs

2. You make commission on all of your own sales and also make money when people in your network sell product

Many people confuse this compensation method as some sort of pyramid scheme, which couldn’t be further from the truth… A pyramid scheme is defined as an unsustainable business model that requires a constant influx of new ‘marks’ to keep afloat. When there are no longer any new people signing onto the scheme the entire thing falls apart.

The Arbonne model doesn’t have any such need for new naïve people to constantly sign up. Arbonne sells actual product (quality product at that!) and just follows a less traditional marketing and distribution model. I personally know regular women just like me who are making a great living selling Arbonne and whose lives have been changed for the better as a result.

Obviously I have just started with the company but I am so excited for my future potential. What is great about me being new is I can share my excitement with others and I have an experienced sponsor to meet with people and explain the business. My sponsor is very successful within the company and I know she’s going to be an incredible asset to me and to anyone else who is interested in learning more about this opportunity. Hopefully in the near future I’ll be able to do the same for new people interested in Arbonne as well!

Arbonne Opportunity video