Life of Erin

New Updates…New Changes Coming Soon!

Going into my 1st week of Body for Life I knew I was going to face some challenges. The most prevalent one would be it’s my 1st week back to work from maternity leave. Some smaller challenges would include getting a complete understanding of the nutrition portion and getting all my weight machines set up.

Sunday: When I woke up this morning, I was worried how the day was going to go, since I was a bit tired from baby duty and I’m no longer suppose to drink Monster Energy drinks anyway. Today was the 1st day of upper body weightlifting and I know that I’m going to feel it tomorrow. I kept on track with everything and I’m surprised at how good the Myloplex products taste.

Here is how my meals ended up panning out: 715AM- 2 whole wheat waffles, greek yogurt, black coffee. 10-1045AM- upper body weights. 11AM- Myloplex Lite Shake. 1230PM- Turkey sandwich on whole wheat with lettuce and tomato. 315PM- Myloplex bar. 5PM- chicken breast, small baked potato, salad. 8pm- while chocolate protein pudding.

Monday: Today is my first day to work from maternity leave and I also had baby duty last night. Surprisingly, I’m not too tired and not as sore as I thought I would be. Started out with a good breakfast and made it the three hours til I had the Myloplex bar, but I was hungry 2 hrs later. I think I need to have a higher calorie/protein breakfast to start out the day. For my workout today, I did a 1/4 miles warm up/cool down and a 1 mile run on the track on base.

Today’s Meals: 630AM- 2 whole wheat waffles, greek yogurt. 0930AM- Myloplex Lite Bar. 1200PM- Whole wheat pita, chicken breast, yellow onions, baby spinach. 230PM- Cardio workout. 3PM- Myloplex Lite Shake. 5PM- chicken breast, potato, salad. 7PM- Protein pudding.

Tuesday: I had to get up at 3AM this morning for work starting at 4AM. I knew that alone was going to be the challenge for the day. Today, I just felt hungry all day long, I didn’t cheat at all, but I felt miserable. Today’s workout for the lower body weights and overall that felt good.

Today’s Meals: 330AM- 2 whole wheat waffles, greek yogurt. 0630AM- Myloplex Lite Bar. 1000AM- Whole wheat pita, chicken breast, yellow onions, baby spinach. 1115AM- Lower Body Workout. 1215PM- Myloplex Lite Shake. 2PM- BFL Creamy Salsa Dip. 5PM- London Broil, potato, salad.

Wednesday: Today was just a rough day from the start. I felt lethargic, hungry, and overall depressed. Fortunately, today was my “Friday” from work, so I knew I would have the next two days at home. Today for cardio, I went to spin class. While I worked hard physically in the class, I wasn’t mentally into it. However, I continued to stick with the program, but I did have a 7th meal, since I was up since 3AM and didn’t go to bed until after 9PM.

Today’s Meals: 330AM- 2 whole wheat waffles, greek yogurt. 0630AM- Myloplex Lite Bar. 1000AM- Whole wheat pita, chicken breast, yellow onions, baby spinach. 1115AM- Spin Class. 1215PM- Myloplex Lite Shake. 2PM- BFL Creamy Salsa Dip. 5PM- London Broil, potato, salad.

Thursday: With all the drama of yesterday, I promised myself that today would be a new day. I was on baby duty last night, so I didn’t get that much sleep. However, today was probably the best day I’ve had on the program (at least mentally). I had a great upper body workout and wasn’t feeling as hungry as I have been the past several days. However, for dinner I did have a small slice of Papa Murphys deLite pizza, while healthy, but probably still not on the list….I didn’t have a 6th meal today either.

Today’s Meals: 745AM- BFL Chocolate Oatmeal. 1045AM- Myoplex Lite Bar. 1130-1215PM- Upper body workout. 1230PM- Myolplex Lite Shake. 3PM- whole wheat bread, turkey, lettuce, tomato. 6PM- Papa Murphys deLite pizza, salad w/ chicken.

Friday: Today was a good day for me all around. I have a great run in the morning, followed by a long walk in the park in the afternoon. However, with my busy day, I only got 4 meals in and had half of a beer a dinner. I am really looking forward to my free day.

Today’s Meals: 830AM- Cardio, 9AM- waffles and greek yogurt. 11AM- Papa Murphys deLite pizza, salad w/ chicken. 12-2PM- walk in the park. 230PM- protein shake w/ half a banana, two strawberries, skim milk, eas 100% whey chocolate. ice. 5PM- chicken breast, rice, and broccoli.

Saturday: FREE DAY! I had my typical breakfast of waffles and yogurt, went to Old Chicago for lunch where I had a chicken wrap and french fries, and Dominoes Memphis BBQ pizza for dinner. I also consumed a lot of beer, which wasn’t the best idea.

Recap: Overall, I think I did ok for week1 and I’m going to try a lot harder going into week 2. I’ve learned that I need to add more protein to my breakfast and need to try to eat every 2-2.5hrs instead of 3-4.

Well, I just took my measurement and my before photo for my Body for Life Challenge starting on Sunday, June 26, 2011. At this time I’m not going to share this information with everyone. I know I just had a baby six weeks ago, but I’m still shy. However, I will share them around my 4 week point of the challenge to show the improve I have made.

Today, I got the “Eating for Life” book from the library and it has excited me more for the next 12 weeks. It goes more in-depth to the eating portion and provides 150 recipes for me to try. At first, I thought I was going to be hungry or stuck eating terrible healthy food, but the book has a bunch of recipes that even Scott will enjoy.

I’m ready to get this starting……T-1 day….

~Erin

The Body for Life program strongly suggests that you plan your meals and workouts in advance for best results, which I agree with. How many times has it been a long day, it’s 5PM, and you’re hungry? It’s so much easier to have a pizza delivered than it is to cook a healthy meal for your family.

So here I am, 5 days from starting, and I’m already beginning to get the wheels turning for next week. I’m also doing this so far in advance because this is my last week off work before I return from an 9 week absence post-baby and my mother in law is coming in on Saturday, so there is some preparation to do.

Food Plan (I’m still working this one out, but my entire week will be planned out by Saturday night):

5-6 small meals a day, At least a gallon of water, two meals will be either meal bars or shakes, Saturday is my free day.

Breakfast: Oatmeal, Pancakes, Cereal, Bagel

Mid-Morning: Bar/Shake

Lunch: Sandwich, Soup, Salads, Frozen healthy meals

Mid Afternoon Bar/Shake

Dinner: Beef, Chicken, Seafood, Pasta, Vegetables, rice/potatoes

Evening: Pudding, Yogurt, Fruit

Exercise Plan:

3X a week strength training, 3X a week cardio (2X a week running, 1X other), workout either prior to or after work dependent on shift, Saturday is an off day

Weeks: 1/3/5/7/9/11:

Sunday: Upper body

Monday: Cardio

Tuesday: Lower body

Wednesday: Cardio

Thursday: Upper body

Friday: Cardio

Saturday: OFF

Weeks 2/4/6/8/10/12:

Sunday: Lower body

Monday: Cardio

Tuesday: Upper body

Wednesday: Cardio

Thursday: Lower body

Friday: Cardio

Saturday: OFF

Starting next week on June 26th I will be starting the Body for Life 12 week program/challenge. While I do like using this site to count calories/workouts to track my weight loss, I want to use a program that will help me reach my goals. However, I will continue to track everything here as well.

I really like this program, since it’s not a fad diet, it’s what the title implies, it showing how to make your body healthier for life. The premise behind the program is that you’re eating 5-6 meals a day, while incorporating at least one EAS product in there, and by doing cardio 3 times a week for 20 mins and strength training three days a week. The program runs for 6 days on and one day off where you can eat what you want. I am going to be using the EAS Myloplex Lite bars and shakes for my products and will be taking Saturday as my off day.

As part of the program, there is also a challenge you can enter. You will out the general entry form, take before/after photo, filling out essays, and generally writing about the experience. When it’s all done you submit it and winners are chosen from there. While I planned on doing this program to get lose weight and get in shape, I like the idea of a contest as motivation for me.

I plan on blogging the journey, not only for me, but for others that maybe interested in it also. While I plan on updating it occasionally here, it will mainly be on http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Chowder_17

I promised myself that after having Lillian I was going to stop procrastinating and lose the weight that I gained after basic training. I started the process about two weeks after having her and the reality is astounding, 47.2 lbs to lose….

The one thing that got myself in this predicament was eating the wrong foods and far too much in general. For starters, I will be tracking everything that goes into my mouth using My Fitness Pal. They have nearly every food imaginable and they have a long term plan to help me reach my goals, all for free!

If you want, you can follow my journey at: My Fitness Pal Diary and also my weight loss tracker at the bottom of the blog.

I waited until the 4 week post-partum point to start the workouts, prior to them I was going on slow walks when the weather and myself co-operated. Obviously, it’s going to take awhile to get back into it. I plan on running a few times a week and once I’m back to work (7 weeks post-partum) I’m going to be doing spin class and some weights as well.

Right now, I’ve set my goals to losing 1.5lbs a week, so the whole process should take 32 weeks (8 months). I take my 1st PT test about 5 months after I started, so I should be at a good place.

I’m excited for this journey. I know it’s going to be rough getting back in shape and the temptation of bad eating habits will be there, but it’s time….

~Erin

In my almost 25 years here on this earth I can honestly say that I’ve never been more happy. I have a wonderful husband, we have two beautiful healthy children, we have a lovely home that we built and own, two nice vehicles, two great careers, and we are (will be) college educated. I think I can officially say that the Harvaneks’ have achieved the American Dream.

Lillian is overall doing well. We were having a hard time getting her to switch her days and nights and she was having some issues with fussiness and gas. We were trying everything from forcing her to stay awake during the day, switching formula, car rides in the middle of the night, etc. I think we finally found a solution, the nipple she was using was too small for her, so she was sucking in too much air and not getting enough food. So we bought the next size up nipple and the past 24hrs have been great.

Aiden is doing great as well (I’ll do a recap of his 2nd birthday shortly). He just had his two year doctor appointment yesterday and he’s 36.25 inches tall and 30lbs, he also will be moving up to the toddler room at the CDC in about 3 weeks. He’s talking up a storm and is becoming more and more independent each day.

Life is going well for the Harvanek family!

~Erin

Lillian Grace Harvanek was born on May 9, 2011 at 10:04AM at Evans US Army Community Hospital. She weighed in at 8lbs and was 21 inches long.

I started having contractions on Mother’s Day (May 8th) in the morning, but they didn’t become regular (20 min apart) until around 1PM. They started getting closer and stronger as the day progressed. We called the labor & delivery ward around midnight on the 9th and got to the hospital around 12:30AM. They checked me out and at the time I was only 3cm dilated and 75% effaced. They don’t admit you until your 4cm dilated (start of active labor). Since I was pretty close the mid-wife did a membrane sweep. They gave me the option of going home or walk around for about an hour, we opted to walk around. We ended up walking around/driving around in the truck for about an hour and a half. We got back to the hospital around 2:20AM at I was 4cm dilated, so I got admitted officially around 3:10AM. Since I am Strep B positive, I had to get started on a penicillin IV, spaced about 4hrs apart. I also wasn’t allowed to get an epidural until the IV was running for an hour. About 4:30AM I received my epidural. For the next several hours I tried to get some sleep. After the 2nd penicillin IV was done, the mid-wife broke my water at 8:30AM. With the military care, although they try to have you see the same mid-wife through out the pregnancy, it’s not likely that they would be the one to deliver the baby. However, I lucked out and my mid-wife was the one on call Well, breaking my water really got things going. Around 9:45AM I started feeling strong pressure and it felt like me epidural was starting to wear off. I contacted the nurse and they said that it was time to start pushing. Well, after 2.5 sets of pushing Lillian was here! Overall, labor and delivery was a cake walk compared to Aiden.

Lillian was doing so well that they kept here on my chest the whole time that they were getting me cleaned up. Shortly after, they got all her vital signs and I had to wait around until I was able to walk and use the restroom. Around 12:30PM I got to move to the mother/baby unit, where I will be spending the next two days. I had some lunch and afterwards I got out of bed to use the restroom. However, when I stood up a whole bunch of blood fell on to the floor. To make a long story short, I was hemorrhaging, so I had to have the doc remove the large blood clots and had to have an IV for the next several hours to help. Because of the hemorrhage and the fact that Lillian had a high risk of jaundice, we were going to stay at the hospital for the full 48hrs.

The rest of the visit was uneventful. Dad and Aiden stopped up to meet her, as did Heather. Lillian was thriving and I was surprisingly doing well. After a bunch of tests and paperwork, we were discharged on Wednesday (11th) around 10AM.

Overall, everything is going well and dare I say easier than Aiden?

More to come….

~Erin

Today, we had another doctor’s appointment for Lillian (they will be weekly now until she is born) and everything is still looking good. The only slight complication is the fact that I have Strep B again (I did with Aiden as well), so I have to have 4 hrs of antibiotics (penicillin) before she is born, or I run the risk of her being born with an illness.

She is still head down and I am currently almost 2cm dilated and 50% effaced. They are also predicting her to be smaller than Aiden.

Otherwise, everything else is going well. I went in on Monday for the personal issues I’ve been having, but it is now under control enough that I won’t be miserable.

Anyways, that’s all for now! Any day now!!!

~Erin

Well, I’m officially full term (Well, I was yesterday, but it was Easter, so I’m posting now )! So, any day to any week now I will have my baby girl in my arms. While I wish she would arrive soon, to relieve some personal discomfort issues I am having, I know the longer she stays in the healthier she will be. Plus, it would be easier with Aiden and everything if she comes after my dad gets here next week.

This week is also my last week of real work. I will still have to go work up until she is born, but I will be working more of an admin schedule, instead of having responsibilities.

We also had a wonderful Easter! We had Emilee and David down from Boulder and my friend Heather join us for dinner. We made far too much food! The day before Easter we took Aiden to the “Easter Extravaganza” at the base. There was suppose to be an Easter egg hunt outside, but the weather was far too cool with rain/snow mix falling. So, they moved everything inside and had a little carnival instead. They also had the Easter bunny there, but Aiden was a bit afraid, so we didn’t get a picture.

This weekend we also went and looked at some cars. We went to the car show in town last weekend, but they didn’t have the Dodge vehicles that I wanted to look at. So, after seeing nearly every mid-sized SUV on the market, we are going to go with a Dodge Nitro. I’m still undecided on the color, but I don’t have to order it til June, so I can have it by August.

Well, that all for now. I’ll probably post an update after my appointment on Wednesday.

~Erin