Nurse Loves Farmer -

I’m Going To Do TurboFire! Who’s With Me?

May 23, 2013 by Sarah 5 Comments

What is TurboFire, you ask? Well…I’ll let Laura tell you all about it…

Hello everyone! I’m Sarah’s sister in-law, she married my brother Jay. Let me start off by telling you a bit about me. My name is Laura Nelson and I’ve been married for almost 6 years to Craig who is a heavy duty mechanic and we have 2 beautiful boys. Our oldest is Luke, he’ll be 5 years old in June and our youngest is Blake & he’s 9 months old. I’ve been an LPN (licensed practical nurse) for 6 years now and I’m currently on maternity leave. As much as I love nursing though, I want to stay at home with my boys & really have no interest in returning to work right now. My husband works out of town in Fort McMurray & is away a lot so it’s really difficult to find child care for shift work as well. Also seeing as my mother has 10 grandchildren, she’s stretched a little thin as it is!

Moving on… I’ve always struggled with my weight, but much more so since having children. After my first was born I gained a lot of weight, around 30 pounds. To clarify, that was AFTER he was born, not pregnancy weight. I don’t know if it was working night shifts or how it happened, but it happened. You know that feeling when one day you look in the mirror & think “OMG, how did I get here? How did this happen?” that’s how I felt. I didn’t ain much weight in my second pregnancy, but it definitely didn’t elp matters.

Me on 3 days overdue and Sarah at 27 weeks pregnant.

A few months after he was born I decided I’d had enough. I was SO SICK of wearing maternity clothes because nothing.else.fit. and dreading going into my closet because ¾ of the clothes didn’t it & even the ones that did looked awful. I resorted to maternity jeans & hoodies most of the time. It was time to stop complaining about it and DO something about it. I decided to make it a New Year’s resolution to do TurboFire & stick to the schedule starting January 1^st. If you’ve never heard of TurboFire, it’s a super fun, intense cardio-conditioning program that uses HIIT (high intensity interval training). It’s kind of a dancey version of kickboxing. Here’s an awesome short video about it:

The other thing I did was commit to drinking Shakeology every day. Shakeology is a very nutrient dense, super food packed shake. It has over 70 of the rarest natural ingredients on the planet. It is 100% natural, no fillers, just packed with pure nutrition. It eliminates toxins from your system, improves digestion & helps with weight loss. I have it every day for breakfast. I can’t even tell you how much it has helped me, especially with curbing cravings. When your body is truly being fed & getting the nutrition it needs from a reliable source, it doesn’t crave crap anymore. It also kicked my energy through the roof which helped me to put more into my workouts which equals better results. There’s 4 flavours: chocolate, greenberry, vegan chocolate & vegan tropical strawberry. The regular chocolate is my favourite. Some people can’t get past the price, but it’s worth every single penny. I think it’s actually under priced for what’s in it., it works out to about $4/shake. It just comes down to how much you value your health. A Starbucks is more than $4. Go to a fast food place, a burger is more than that. And you’re filling your body with junk and no nutrition. So why not take that money and invest it in your health instead? The money I spend on food has actually decreased because I’m not buying fast food or junk anymore. Anyway I’m getting off track! You can watch an informative video about Shakeology here.

Before (January 20, 2013) & During (May 19, 2013) TurboFire Pictures

SO with these two things, TurboFire & Shakeology, I saw immediate results. I have lost about 35 pounds since January first and feel AMAZING and my energy is through the roof. I can actually run around & play with my 4 year old without getting winded. I feel stronger and more confident, and I don’t dread going to my closet anymore because everything fits! Everything looks ok now! The maternity clothes are gone, baby! I’m only about 5 pounds away from where I was when we got married. And you know what? I’m not stopping here. I absolutely love how exercise makes me feel. I’m almost done the TurboFire program, and when I’m done, I’m picking a new one. And then I’ll pick another one. I’m in this for life. I’ve also taken the TurboKick training (the original gym version of TurboFire) & am certified to teach!

I’m at the bottom of the plank!

During this journey I have discovered that not only do I love fitness & nutrition, but I have a passion for helping other people (especially other moms) reach their health & fitness goals! There’s nothing that feels better than paying it forward & helping someone else. In order to do this, I became a Beachbody coach. Beachbody is the company that sells workout programs & does infomercials for TurboFire, P90X, Insanity, etc. Instead of using stores to sell their products, they decided to use what are called ‘coaches’ to do it. That way, instead of someone just buying a program & going on their merry way (and probably not doing it), when they buy a program through a coach, that coach checks in with them and helps them get through the program offering support and accountability. When you’re only accountable to yourself, it’s easy to give up on something. But when you have someone else to be accountable to and receive support, you’re much more likely to follow through. I’m very passionate about this company, it is changing my life (physically & financially) & making me a better person.

One of the things that I do is hold what is called ‘Challenge Groups’. Basically if someone is wanting to lose weight/get in shape etc, they buy a challenge pack, which is their choice of workout & Shakeology. I like to have about 5 – 10 people in a group. We have a private Facebook group that we post in everyday, share goals & support each other. My next group is TurboFire, and it starts June 3^rd. Sarah is going to join this one & I’m so proud of her for making the commitment! If any of you are interested in joining too or want some more information, please email me or connect with me on my Facebook page, I’d love to talk to you! Or if you are already into fitness and want to know more about the coaching opportunity & how it can benefit you, I’d love to talk to you about that as well.

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Thanks, Laura! Laura’s TurboFire results so far speak for themselves! I’m so proud of her for making such an important change in her life, she’s so inspiring to me!

So…I never really followed up with you after I did my 30 Day Shred. I had high hopes of continuing my work outs and doing them 4-5 times a week. The month after I completed my Shred…I worked out four times. Four times. That’s it. It’s wayyyyyyy too easy to make excuses and not work out. That’s why I loved blogging about my 30 Day Shred – because it held me accountable to you! This is the same with TurboFire. I will be blogging about my journey and taking pictures too. Laura, our TurboFire group, and YOU will keep me accountable! I hope you’ll join our TurboFire group!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links for TurboLizzy.com. I was not compensated in any way to post this, all opinions are my own.

Making Baby Food – Simple, Easy, Delicious!

May 21, 2013 by Sarah 8 Comments

I don’t know about you, but I prefer my food fresh rather than from a jar or a can. Of course I do also eat canned foods from time to time, especially in the winter, but I think most will agree that fresh is best! When I started Braden on solids in 2010, I was really excited to make my own food for him. I got a Kidco Electric Food Mill for a baby shower gift and some Baby Cubes to freeze the food I made in. I love both of these products as the Kidco Electric Food Mill processes any food to a really great consistency to start baby off on solid foods.

If you’re new to the baby food making game, or if you just needed a refresher like I did, it’s extremely simple and there’s lots of great recipes out there for baby!

Start off with any fresh fruit or veggie of your choice and wash them. Get a big pot with a steaming tray, or use a vegetable steamer or rice cooker if you prefer.

Peel fruit or veggie as needed.

Chop it up, doesn’t need to be too small, just small enough to fit in the processor of your choice. The type of fruit or veggie depends on steaming time. Apples only need about 5 minutes – just enough to get soft, whereas a sweet potato or butternut squash will require 15-20 minutes or more.

Next step is to puree to whatever consistency is right for your baby’s stage. To start off I like it really thin and for the first few weeks or batches of food I add breast milk to thin out the puree and it’s also a familiar taste. You can use formula too!

The next step is to freeze your food. As I said above, I like Baby Cubes but I also like the Kidco Freezer Trays. They have 1 oz sections to freeze in and once they’re frozen, you can pop out the sections, put them in a freezer bag and make more food! It’s important to label and date your food too, as frozen baby purees will expire after 6 weeks – you can use a dry erase marker. (I didn’t date this because I knew it would get eaten up fast!).

Et voila! Fresh, easy, delicious homemade baby food!

Here are another few other noteworthy items about the beginner stages of baby food:

No-Cook Baby Foods

These foods are easy to prepare and do not need to be cooked. Simply peel and mash with a fork or puree as needed.

Avocado
Banana
Papaya
Mango
Pear

Don’t Be Afraid To Combine Foods

When Ethan started solids he didn’t really care for carrots and butternut squash, but really like sweet potato. So, I started combining the first two foods with sweet potato and now he likes them all!

Sweet potato and squash
Apple/pear and squash
Broccoli and sweet potato
Sweet potato, carrot, and parsnip
Sweet potato, spinach, and peas

This is my favorite baby food book, it has a ton of great recipes that I will be using again for Ethan!

Did you make food for your baby?

This post contains affiliate links to offset the costs of running this blog.

Comfy Rumps Cloth Diapers Review + Giveaway

May 20, 2013 by Sarah 26 Comments

I am always up for trying out a new cloth diaper! When Comfy Rumps contacted me about doing a review on their cloth diapers I was excited to give it a try! I was sent one of their new Double Gusset Cloth Diapers in the Denim print. It’s a one-size diaper with adjustable snaps and retails for [...]

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1 Year Birthday Sale #SearsBabysRoom

May 18, 2013 by Sarah 2 Comments

I am so excited to be continuing on my role as a Sears Baby’s Room Ambassador! Sears will always and forever have a special place in my heart, and I’ll tell you why! Just a short 7 months ago, I was on a date with my husband in Calgary on my first blog assignment as [...]

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Coffee Date: T-Ball, Weather, & Blog Goodness

May 17, 2013 by Sarah 6 Comments

Wow, this week has been BUSY! I don’t know if I even would have had time to have coffee at all! BUT, if we did get together, our coffee date would go something like this… So to recap: My first Mother’s Day as a mommy of 2 amazing boys. Braden enjoyed his second T-ball [...]

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Chocolate + Cream Cheese + Breakfast in Bed #PhillyChocolate

May 17, 2013 by Sarah 2 Comments

Yes, yes, and YES! If I didn’t have you at chocolate, I certainly had you at cream cheese and breakfast in bed, amIright?! As a farmer’s wife, I kind of get ripped off at Mother’s Day as it’s seeding season on our grain farm – time to plant the crops in the ground. It means [...]

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