First Time Mom and Losing It

I can not believe how fast eight months have flown by on this weight loss journey. I remember how hard it was when I first started and how I had to adjust to my new way of eating. I started with small changes and eight months in I am down 70 pounds! I feel so much healthier, happier and can do so much more.


Now that the weather is warmer and I want to go out more I am taking my healthy lifestyle on-the-go. It is so much easier to live a healthy lifestyle at home when you have access to healthy food and exercise equipment. These are the steps I am taking to continue my healthy lifestyle when I am out of my controlled environment. Download and print out my Healthy and Active On-The-Go guide to have the following tips right in your bag for easy access.


Stay Hydrated: I always carry my water bottle full of filtered water. I love taking my water bottle because it's 32 ounces so I know when I drink a whole one I just have to drink one more to get in at least 64 ounces of water.

Track Activity: I love wearing my fitness tracker because it motivates me to stay active. My tracker gives me reminders to walk around when I am sitting down for too long.

Food Log: Whenever I am out for a long time and have to eat out for a meal I try to plan ahead. I always have my go-to meals that I can quickly log into my smartphone.

Stay Active: I try to find ways to keep active and burn extra calories. I like to walk up and down the outside steps of my apartment a few times to warm up. I then take my walks and try to take routes that has hills. When I go to the park with my daughter I use parts of the park to strength train like doing tricep dips on benches.


On-The-Go Snacks: Since I am on a ketogenic diet it is sometimes hard to find foods to snack on at my local convenience store so I always bring my own. When I was at my local Walmart (check out the giveaway below to win a gift card). I forgot to get myself some snacks and was already walking to the checkout. I quickly scanned what was near me and noticed the Lorissa's Kitchen Protein Snacks. The Korean Barbecue grabbed my attention and I quickly looked at the back for the macros. I was happy to see that it was just 6g of carbs per serving. I looked for other flavors and picked up the Szechuan Peppercorn and Sweet Chili Pork.





Since starting this way of eating we have made the move to eating more grass fed beef and avoiding nitrates and things with MSG. I love that the Lorissa's Kitchen Beef and Pork Strips are made with simple ingredients and no preservatives. Since the strips have a higher moisture content they are really tender and delicious.


Enter the #SavvySnackingSweepstakes for your chance to win a $100 Walmart Gift Card.

How do you stay healthy and active on-the-go? 

Thank you Del Monte for sponsoring today's post.


Now that the holidays are over, it is time to focus on getting healthy and starting the new year right. My family has been on a weight loss journey since August 31 so we ended 2015 with success! We want to continue with losing weight, getting active and giving our preschooler healthy foods. One of the meals we always struggled with was lunch because she is so picky. It is a new year and a new us so I wanted to make her lunches more creative and nutritious with the help of my favorite brands.


Young children are visual little people so it helps to make their lunches fun and colorful. Instead of a boring sandwich I took the Pepperidge Farm® Swirl Bread and made little cream cheese roll ups with them. All you have to do is take a slice of bread and roll is flat with a rolling pin (or cup). Then you spread a thin layer of cream cheese and roll it up.


My daughter loves all kinds of fruit which I am pretty proud of but sometimes it is out of season and really expensive. I am glad I have the option of the high quality fruit cups from Del Monte. Now with the Del Monte® Fruit & Veggie Fusions not only is she getting nutrients from the fruits but she is getting nutrients from the vegetable juice. Since the vegetable juice is infused with the fruit juice she doesn't even know it. To decorate the top of the fruit cup I love to add a special little note attached with a sticker.


Frigo® CheeseHeads® Cheese Snacks are one of my daughter's all time favorite snacks. I love that they are packed with calcium and protein and in a single serving package.  I like to wrap the napkin and utensil onto the cheese snack with a couple of pipe cleaners. After she is finished with her lunch she can entertain herself with the pipe cleaners.



What do you do to make your kid's lunch boxes fun? 

I have been on the Atkins 40 plan for over 3 weeks now and am still loving the food I get to eat. It is pretty amazing when you lose 4 pounds in one week while still eating bacon, cheese and add a little cream in your coffee.


It is extremely easy for me to stay on track when I am home. I have all of my veggies and salads on hand to chop up whenever I need a meal or snack. I also have my Atkins frozen meals in the freezer when I don't feel like cooking or don't have the time to. The problem for me comes when I am on the go and will be away from home. When I don't have the right things available to me my bad cravings kick in and I tend to give in and have something I am not supposed to.


I got the opportunity to attend this amazing all day micro-conference. It began at 9 .AM. and ended at 5 P.M. It was chock full of learning sessions so I didn't want to miss any of them. When I was on my way out to the conference I threw in a couple of my Atkins meal bars in my purse just in case I didn't have any options.


As soon as I walked into the first session they directed me to enjoy some breakfast. It was the standard bagels, spreads and coffee. The bagels looked good but as a huge Atkins no-no I just thanked them, got myself a bottle of water and sat down. I whipped out my Atkins Blueberry Greek Yogurt Bar and thought it was a perfect breakfast with the yogurt, almonds and blueberries in it.


The Blueberry Greek Yogurt Bar is so good! First you get the taste of a rich, creamy and sweet yogurt. Then you get the crunch from the almonds with a burst of blueberry flavor. This bar has 14g protein, 3g sugar, 200 calories, and only 3g net carbs. All of that protein kept me satisfied until lunch time where I went out and got a salad. I was glad I was prepared with my atkins bar because I know hunger would have crept in and I would have given in to the bagels.


Atkins also makes a lot of other amazing flavors of meal bars like Cinnamon Bun Bar and Mudslide Bun! Yum! You can get more information on the other Atkins products and Atkins Plan and create your own meal plans by going to http://www.atkins.com. Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter to get all of the latest information.

What are your favorite go to healthy snacks?

This post is sponsored by FitFluential on behalf of Atkins.