How To Stay Healthy On Vacation

Mid April I went away on a work trip for a training.  I called it my "Mommy Work Vacation".  Even though I was in class all day, it was nice to have a little freedom and relaxation.  I missed my family, but after 9 months of my husband being deployed, I needed that break!

Being away from a home for a week can seem like it would be difficult to continue a healthy lifestyle.  None of my meals were being provided for me.  I also didn't have a mini kitchen in my hotel.  This could have definitely been my excuse to say, "forget it, I'm just going to eat what I want, and forget working out".  That would be the easy way out, but a great way to beat myself up when I return home and my jeans be too tight.
I came up with a plan before leaving for my trip.  I didn't expect to continue to loose weight that week, but didn't want to completely ruin all my months of hard work either.  I first requested from the hotel a room with a mini fridge and microwave.  After I checked in, I hit up the nearest Wal-Mart to grab some healthy snacks.  I picked up foods that I could have for breakfast, lunch, and snacks.  That added up to less meals I would have to eat out.  I also got a case of water.  I figured I could buy two overly expensive hotel/airport bottles of water, or a whole case at Wal-Mart for the week.  I got paper bowls, plastic utensils, and clorox wipes (hotel germs ewww).  I was pretty much set.  Dinner was a free for all.  I could enjoy eating out.  Most of the time I would choose salads, lean protein, and vegetables.  A few times I would have something I really wanted because it's all about moderation and balance.

I was also able to continue working out that week while I'm away.  If the hotel does not have have a fitness center, or a good one, it's very easy to bring workout DVD's from home, as long as there is a laptop or portable DVD player if the hotel does not have a DVD player in the room.  I utilized the hotel fitness center.  It was equipped with an elliptical, bicycle, treadmill, free weights, and area for floor exercises.  That's pretty much all that's needed for a good workout.  If there is a great outside space, that can be utilized for running and walking as well.  I made sure to plan my workouts much like I would do at home.  I would get up earlier to workout or do so after class.

The keys to continuing a healthy lifestyle while being away from home are as follows:
1.  Research ahead of time the hotel accommodations for a kitchenette, mini fridge, microwave, fitness                center, etc.

2.  Pack your workout clothes and DVDs and DVD player (if needed).

3.  Upon arrival, find a store to purchase healthy snacks and meals.

4.  Scope the area for surrounding restaurants to plan your eating out meal options.  You can even view              restaurant menus online.

5.  Plan your workouts like you would do at home.

6.  Enjoy some foods that you like, but in moderation.  Remember you do not want to ruin all of your hard          work, or have extra work to do when you return home.

Salad, shrimp kabobs, spinach, and a roll

Breast Augmentation 2 Months Post-Op

*Deep sigh of relief*

I finally feel normal!  I can move completely normal now.  I can lift things, and I don't feel the implants anymore.  They feel apart of my body and as if I have always had them.

The girls have dropped significantly.  The PS was right about, "what goes up, must come down" without any help.  He told me that I didn't have to do any massaging to help my breasts soften and drop.  He was right.  I only massaged the girls early on to soothe the discomfort, and to occasionally grope myself (hey they are mine!).  They of course still have more dropping to do, but are at a nice placement at this point.

Like I mentioned before, I can no longer feel the implant in my body.  It doesn't feel like a foreign object.  Before, I could feel it more so when lying down and trying to get up from lying flat.  I am now able to sleep on my side and don't feel the implant that much.  I'm not quite comfortable sleeping on my stomach yet.  I am also able to sleep bra less, but most of the time I feel comfortable sleeping in my zip up sports bras.  I like for the girls to be contained.

My Before pic, the night before surgery

Speaking of bras, bra shopping is fun now.  I never thought much about it in the past.  In fact, most of the bras I had, my Mom bought.  Yes, well into my adult life, my Mom has bought most of my bras.  My Mom works for a department store and often catch great bras on sale.  When she do, she would scoop all of them up in my size.  Now I have to start from scratch with bras, and it's been fun to build my collection.  I went back to Victoria's Secret and tried on the Body By Victoria bras.  They are so comfortable that I ended up buying a t-shirt bra and a demi bra in a 32DD.  Both have underwire, which my PS says is safe for me to wear now.  Now I gravitate to the bra racks in stores, but quality bras.  It didn't matter where I bought a bra from before due to me not having much to support.  Now it's all about support and comfort.

At four weeks post-op, I went back to exercising.  The one difference that I noticed was that I have to wear a very supportive sports bra.  One morning I grabbed an old sports bra of mine and quickly learned that I can only wear maximum support sports bra.  That old bra did nothing for me!  It proved that I had nothing to support before.  As far as exercise, my PS said start slow and do what is comfortable to me.  The first day I did upper body weights with 5 and 10lbs weights.  I walked and did the elliptical.  The more I worked out and got back in my groove, the more comfortable I felt lifting and then running.  There were some upper body and ab movements that were still uncomfortable, but I'm already getting back to where I was pre-op.  I still can't do push ups, pull ups, and a few other upper body exercises as good yet.  I have started back lifting heavy and is doing great with it.

AFTER!

My incision continues to be healed.  I have been using Vitamin E oil on the scar and coco butter on my breasts.  The scar is smooth and the coloration appears to be ligthening a little.  I am thinking about using a scar strip called Scar Away.

All in all, I am quite pleased with my results so far.  My girls look great and they look very proportionate to my body.  I love that they look natural and if you didn't know, you wouldn't think I had a boob job.

Pantry Organization

If you don't know by now, I'm a bit OCD when it comes to my house being clean.  The good thing is that I'm married to a clean freak as well.  Most people that come to our house think that its immaculate, but Hubby and I constantly feel anxious because we feel like our house is in disarray.  A few months ago, my pantry was giving me high anxiety.  I cringed every time I opened it.  I felt like I couldn't find anything, and never knew what I already had.  So after being fed up with it, and getting inspiration from my sisterger's blog on her pantry renovation. I decided to do something about my own.

So one Friday after work, I hit up Ross to start my own pantry renovation project.  Here are the items that I picked up.

The baskets were from Ross and between $10 and $15.  The tall container was from Ross and around $10-$15.  The cereal containers were from Ross and less than $10.  I got the box of sealed jars from Ross for $10.

This is definitely not my proudest moment.  You guys get to see my dirty...pantry!  I guess you can see why this was causing me so much anxiety.  I started to take everything out and go through what we needed and didn't need.  I threw away foods that have been in the pantry forever.  I mean if we haven't used it in the past three months or more, we definitely don't need to be eating it now!  Clean eating tip!

After clearing everything out, I felt overwhelmed thinking...geez now what do I do with all of this stuff!  I just took it item by item, shelf by shelf.  Hours later I was able to come up with what is below.

My husband was shocked when I sent him the "after" picture.  I even looked in my pantry thinking, "where did my food go?"  I felt that I needed to go buy more items to fill it up, but I really did have all that we needed.

The organizer on the door is just an old shoe organizer.  We have had it for years.  It works great for the kids snacks and other odds and ends items.

These baskets work great to hold single items that are not boxed.  Overall, I was very pleased with the pantry and happy that I only needed a few inexpensive items to get the job done.  I ended up getting a few more of the cereal containers to put on the top shelf.  Organizing the pantry gave me peace of mind and lowered my blood pressure! Yes it sure did!  I was able to easily find things to cook and make grocery lists for what I needed.  I have even been able to maintain this quite well.  Why spend a lot of money on organizing your pantry when you can just work with what you got! Now if only I can get my refrigerator to look this nice! I think I will be better off just purchasing another fridge!

Deployment Months 6 and 7

I am super late posting these, but here are my videos on months six and seven of deployment!

Sick Dog, Sick Kids & Murphy's Law-Month 6

Homestretch and Stripper Name-Month 7

Breast Augmentation 4 Weeks Post-Op Appt

Happy 1 month birthday to my girls!  Yes it's been a month! Not much has happened in the past week, but it sure feels good to be one month post op!  Yesterday I went to my 1 month post op appointment and it was very quick.  My PS looked at my incision and was prepared to take out any lingering stitches.  One of my boobs had healed perfectly and there were no stitches to take out.  He only had to take 2 out of the other boob.  He answered my questions about exercise, bras, swimming, and incision care.  He said everything looked good and he will see me in 2 months!

My incisions are healing good.  They are completely closed and I have been using vitamin E oil on them day and night.  I finally stopped covering them with the tape and gauze.  My PS said they are fine to be uncovered as long as I am comfortable.  The vitamin E oil seem to be already smoothing the incision out and I have only been using it a week.  I also use cocoa butter on my boobs and on the rash that I got from the neosporin.  I have not seen any stretch marks, and the rash is clearing up.

The doctor cleared me for exercise.  He said I can start out slow with my comfort level.  I am so used to doing hard core workouts that it's very difficult for me to just walk.  I went to the gym for the first time today to workout and felt really good.  I was able to do the eliptical, bike, and walk a few laps with no problems.  I feel like it will take me forever to get back on my P90x3 status!  I am going to try my Focus T25 workout dvd and just do the modified moves that are for beginners.  I can't wait until I am able to lift weights again.  My goal is to in a few months start cross fit training.  I'm so ready to be back in beast mode!

Me after my workout

After my appointment yesterday I went to Sports Authority to get some good sports bras.  All I pretty much own right now are sports bras, but none that can withstand my type of workouts.  Hubby helped me to find medium and maximum hold sports bras to keep these girls confined!  He was great in the dressing room helping me to decide which sizes would be best for my workouts.  He even had me to slightly run in place to see if they were holding these girls down.  I ended up getting two bras on sale that could have been the price of one of these type of bras.  Both bras came out to be around $53 total.  I got a size medium in one, and a 34C in the other.  They actually didn't have a 34D to try on, but the 34C ended up giving me great hold and support.  It's funny because pre-op I really didn't have to wear a bra to workout if I didn't want to.  For a matter of fact, I would wear the most padded bra I owned to wear to the gym to not look like a little boy in the sports bra. My PS also said that I can wear any type of bra I want to wear now.  He also said that if I wanted to go bra-less I could as well.  Tonight I am trying that out as I go to bed.

The girls are actually feeling more apart of me now.  They aren't sore as much anymore and I don't feel them moving around so much.  I only feel them when I lean down, or when I am lying down and have to sit up.  They have dropped a lot and don't look like torpedoes.  They are very perky and cute now!  I often can't believe they are all mine! All in all, I feel more normal with movements.  I can stretch and move around more comfortably.  I'm finally not afraid that I am going to break the incision.  I can also lift small things without feeling that it's super heavy.  I also don't feel as tired and winded all the time any more.

I asked about swimming due to Hubby and I going on vacation in a few weeks, and the PS said that I can swim in about 3 weeks.  Right on schedule with Vegas!  I didn't buy all those cute bikinis to just sit in my suitcase. He did suggest that I get in the pool or hot tub and see how my incisions react, and make sure that I clean my body as soon as I get out.

Bikini shopping brings me to how clothes fit.  I mentioned before that I feel that clothes fit me better now.  I like everything on me which is not cool when I want to buy everything I try on.  Surprisingly, I had a moment last week when for a day or two I felt my boobs were not big enough.  I had tried on my old pink bikini which is a medium and was disappointed I wasn't popping out of it.  It fit nicely.  When I went shopping this past weekend, I tried on more bikinis and definitely had to get a Large in them.  I also got a bandeau top in a large.  All my other clothes are still my regular size in shirts which was a small.  Now they just fit better.  Today I put on a dress that I would always wear bulky scarves with, because I could not fill out the top part of it.  It was always very baggy, but not today.  It fit perfectly and I filled it all the way out!

Lastly, this brings me to sleeping.  I have been sleeping on my back just fine.  A few days ago I tried sleeping on my side, since that is my usual sleep side of choice.  I am able to do it for a few hours at a time.  I am also able to sleep without all the pillows surrounding me.

Overall, things are feeling and looking good!