My Fit Pregnancy Journey.. Second Time Around

Here comes baby #2..

I was really excited this time around!  I had worked really hard on my body and was at a place I was comfortable at getting pregnant again.  I was actually in the best shape I had ever been in.  Was I at my high school weight?  Not at all!  In fact I was 8 lbs above that but now with adding weight lifting, interval training, and clean eating… I was seeing the beginnings of a six pack and muscle definition.

This was a great place to be at to get pregnant but also going to be my toughest mentally.  There is nothing more challenging than watching your body transform after all your hard work.  Yes, I knew I could get it back and I knew it was worth it… but it was still hard to watch it change!  I had never been a scale watcher.  In fact, I wanted the scale to go up before pregnancy because that meant I was gaining muscle!  In the 1st trimester I gained 7 lbs!  I was still working out and eating pretty clean, but had the  addition of extra carbs and some cheats due to nausea.  Didn't help that when I went to a Dr. appt the nurse said I needed to slow down the weight gain.  I only needed to gain 20-25 lbs.  She said to make sure I drank lots of water, which I replied that I drank a gallon.  She then said to get some exercise in, which I replied I work out at least 5 days a week and I eat a pretty clean diet.

I definitely worked out longer and harder this pregnancy.  I had placenta previa with my daughter and it left me with doing just yoga and pilates and I worked out until about 7 months preggo.  This time I worked out until 39 weeks (had Ian on his due date) and weight trained with little cardio.  With both pregnancies I gained the same weight.  37 lbs!!  What I have learned is, your body knows what to do and what it wants.  I did much more this time around as far as exercise and diet and I still gained the same amount of weight.  It was out of my control!

As long as you eat clean and stay active.. your body will take care of what it needs!  Don't get caught up in the weight gain.  Concentrate on being healthy for you and the baby.  Your body will do what it needs to do!

 

 
As far as what I did with my workout routine, check out www.Busymomgetsfit.com .  She has a pregnancy workout routine for the gym and at home.  I got the gym version and followed that 3 days a week.  The other 2 days I did Beachbody programs alternating between Chalean Extreme and Combat. I stayed consistent with my clean eating with the help of my Challenge groups.  They helped me stay accountable throughout the whole pregnancy.  I also drank Shakeology every day!  On November 16, 2013 I gave birth to a healthy 8 lb 9 ounce 22.5 inches baby boy!! :)

 

Gingerbread and Fruitcakes

What comes to mind when I say "fruitcake"??

Im guessing probably.. gross, hard, disgusting, brick, and the list goes on!  Im here to change your mind about fruitcake!

 In our family we make a "fruitcake" recipe every year that was passed down from my great grandma.  Although Im pretty sure a good way to describe this cake is that of a "harvest cake" than fruitcake.  There are no real candied fruits like that of a fruitcake, except the maraschino cherries.  Instead it is filled with raisins, dates, cherries, and walnuts.  With the addition of cloves and cinnamon, the house smells amazing when it is baking.  Today was the first round of fruitcake baking, and I can finally say it smells like Christmas!

I took it upon myself this year to "clean up" the recipe.  Not that the original was horribly bad, but I could do a couple things to make it healthier.  Then I wouldn't feel so bad when I eat a whole loaf of it! :)

Now beware … this "fruitcake" is addicting!!

First, here is the original recipe..  and yes I asked permission to leak this to the public!  We even have the recipe framed on the wall in my great grandma's handwriting!

Amazing Fruitcake

1.5 c. Raisins
1.5 c. Dates, chopped
2 c.  Sugar
2 c. Water
5 Tb. Shortening
3 c. All purpose flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 tsp.  Cinnamon
2 tsp.  Cloves
1 tsp.  Salt
1 c.  chopped nuts
1 c. maraschino cherries, drained, cut in half

Directions:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees
1.  Combine raisins, dates, sugar, water, and shortening in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Stir until sugar and shortening have melted and then turn off heat and remove saucepan.  Allow mixture to cool

2.  While fruit mixture is cooling combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl.  When the fruit mixture has cooled stir into flour mix.

3.  Pour into a greased loaf pan
4.  Bake for about 1 hour and 15 min, until knife comes out clean when stuck into the center

Pretty easy right??

There are only a few things that I had to change up.  I changed the flour to whole wheat flour ( used a combo of whole wheat and AP so that it would not be too dense.  If you have whole wheat pastry flour you can use that instead of the combo)  and for the sugar I used a combo of honey and coconut sugar.  My next feat will be trying to do it with almond flour.  I chose to leave out nuts (not a huge fan of nuts in my sweet things) and the cherries since that are not that clean of a food.  I did use shortening but I used an organic kind of palm oil shortening.

"Cleaned Up" Fruitcake 

1.5 c. Raisins
1.5 c.  Mejdool Dates, chopped
1 c. Honey
1 c. Coconut sugar
2 c. Water
5 Tb.  Organic Palm oil Shortening
1.5 c.  Whole wheat flour
1.5 c.  All purpose flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 tsp. Cinnamon
2 tsp. Cloves
1 tsp. Salt
1 c.  Chopped walnuts

Same instructions as above!

 As I speak it is being devoured!! Must be a hit :)

Of course while it is baking it gives you time to do some gingerbread house making.  I have to say this is the first time we got it to stand up!  lol  Usually it ends up falling down at some
point!