Four years ago…something big happened that changed my life forever!

I married this handsome guy.

Three years ago we moved into our house (yes, on our anniversary).

Two years ago, we went to dinner back at the place where we got married in Meredith, New Hampshire. My husband surprised me and had our cake lady deliver a mini version of our cake to the restaurant for dessert. (She was awesome…told us that it’s gross to freeze the top layer of your cake and that she always includes a mini cake on an anniversary in the package.)

One year ago we went to dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants, but I don’t have any pictures. I was very pregnant! A few weeks later (last June 4) we became a family of three.

This year we are both working on our anniversary, but we are training together this morning. We also celebrated our anniversary this past weekend at the same local restaurant we went to last year. We love it there, but it’s not really baby friendly so it’s our go-to when we have a nice dinner out (and a baby sitter).

Oh…and we also saw the Hunger Games. This is probably not going to be a popular comment, but I don’t get the hype. I think a movie about kids killing kids is just creepy. Really creepy.

Happy Anniversary to the best husband and father I could ask for.

I love you so much, Mike.

]]> http://www.sistasofstrength.com/2012/05/four-years-of-marriage.html/feed 20 http://www.sistasofstrength.com/2012/05/firsts-mothers-day-and-haircut.html http://www.sistasofstrength.com/2012/05/firsts-mothers-day-and-haircut.html#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 10:09:54 +0000 Amanda Perry http://www.sistasofstrength.com/?p=6307

I celebrated my first official Mother’s Day this year.

Last year around this time CJ weighed about a quarter of what he weighs now and was swimming around in my belly. Amazing how much changes in just one year!

Being a mom is certainly different than I would have imagined. It’s one of those things that you really can’t fully understand until it happens to you. Everything ‘they’ say is so true. Time speeds up. You love this baby more than you ever could have imagined. You wonder what you did with all of your free time before you were a mom. Oh, and that moms have super powers. Sometimes it really does feel that way (and sometimes it really does NOT  feel that way at all). When I have a productive day and a happy baby I really do feel like I have superpowers. Then there are the days where I just want to curl up in a ball because I am so tired and feel like I am doing everything wrong.

That said, not a day goes by where I don’t feel like the luckiest mom ever. I have a healthy, sweet, happy baby boy.

I appreciate my own mom a lot more now too. CJ is lucky to have her as a grandmother!

CJ had a big first this weekend too. I looked at him at dinner one night eating his berries and realized his hair was getting a little out of control.

That picture is a bit of a hot mess…so here’s another ‘before photo’ to prove that his hair was crazy, but we did our best to keep it at least a little under control.

We made an appointment with Sayda at The Salon at 142 in Westford. She was great with him!

He sat up like a big boy and wore a cape.

She showed him the buzzer first to get him comfortable with the noise and vibrations.

He thought it was kind of funny.

His haircut came out great and the hockey mullet is all gone. Momma just can’t believe she has a big boy now.

Hope all of you moms out there had a great Mother’s Day! Anyone else cut their baby’s hair before the first birthday?

]]> http://www.sistasofstrength.com/2012/05/firsts-mothers-day-and-haircut.html/feed 16 http://www.sistasofstrength.com/2012/05/kettlebell-class-with-athleta.html http://www.sistasofstrength.com/2012/05/kettlebell-class-with-athleta.html#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 10:33:24 +0000 Amanda Perry http://www.sistasofstrength.com/?p=6291

Guess what I did yesterday?

Yes, I taught my regular Tuesday night classes (MOVE. and IGNITE.) at Skill of Strength, but I also had the pleasure of training some of the lovely ladies who will be working at a new Athleta store (opening in Burlington, MA in June!) and a special guest, Robin, who blogs over at Westford Mommy!

Robin met with the Athleta girls a few weeks ago and they all decided they wanted to try kettlebell training so Robin said she knew just the place to go. (Thanks for recommending me, Robin!)

I had so much fun meeting Robin in person after talking to her on Twitter (@robinbn) forever! (Edited: Here is Robin’s post on her first kettlebell experience!)

Everyone was so nice and these ladies rocked their kettlebell swings today. Come to find out I also graduated high school with the manager of the Burlington Athleta store, but I hadn’t seen her since we graduated (quite a long time ago now). Such a small world.

Do you have any Athleta clothing? What do you think?

1. I’m tired. I got in bed on Friday night at around 8:30, read for a little bit and then passed out. Apparently I woke up screaming about getting stung by a bee? I don’t remember that at all…and no I was not drinking on Friday night.
2. Teaching kids how to drink out of sippy cups is much harder than teaching them out to drink out of a bottle (at least in my experience!).
   
3. I stink at shopping these days. I used to be so much better at it. I knew what I liked and was great at finding deals. These days when I shop I find myself feeling so lost. I don’t even know what stores to start at unless I’m looking for t-shirts or workout gear. I was dress shopping for a few hours on Saturday and must have tried on 100 dresses. You know what I came home with? Salsa from Target. Yes, that’s it.
4. Toys are great, but sometimes kids just want to play with paper or napkins.



5. Connor loves the gym. We took him there on Sunday morning while we worked out for a little bit. He loves having extra space to crawl around. You can see a quick video here on facebook

   …but we missed the best part when he was holding onto the back of my calves and walking with me! Too cute.

What was the best part of your weekend?

PS…if you haven’t seen it yet, Sistas of Strength is now on Facebook. Come say hi!

I finally took the leap and created a Facebook page for my blog.

We have a page for our company (Skill of Strength), but I’m pretty sure some of our male members don’t want to hear about my adventures in mommy-hood every single week.

Come check out the page. Let’s make this a great community where we can motivate and help each other with information on fitness, nutrition, pregnancy and motherhood.

For now, I’ll still be posting my blogs on my personal page (and obviously on Sistas of Strength too), but soon I’ll switch to only posting on the Sistas of Strength Facebook page with an occasional mention on my personal page.

OH…and ummm…this guy is 11 months old today. Let’s not think about what that is going to mean one month from now. How does a year go this fast? I took a few pictures yesterday that express this kid’s personality and its awesomeness.

Just playin with my truck…

What? I would never eat a piece of my playroom floor? That’s just gross.

Really want to be held now. Pick me up mom.

I’m still cute though, see??

Stop on by Sistas of Strength on Facebook and wish CJ a happy 11 months.

I mentioned that we had some fellow members of the RKC community in town this past weekend for the HKC. We got to chatting about nutrition and each of our different daily habits.

One of our friends does the Warrior Diet. Details aside, he drinks water and coffee and might eat an apple or a handful of almonds during the day, but otherwise he eats one meal every day. It works for him. His energy levels are good and he likes not having to think about preparing or bringing food with him all day. His wife tried this for a year and a half. Although she liked the time-saving aspects of this diet and her energy levels were good, her body didn’t respond as well. She gained a bit of weight in the beginning and had a more difficult time staying lean.

Intermittent fasting has become all the rage these days. People are fasting for 16 hours, eating a few meals over the next 6-8 hours and then fasting again. Some people take it further and fast for 24 or 36 hours once a week or just every so often. I have fasted for 24 hours a few times after a particularly indulgent vacation or just getting off track for a few weeks. It helps me to refocus and start eating clean again. That said, while I find fasting helpful every once in awhile, I don’t think The Warrior Diet or Intermittent Fasting would work well for me, at least not long term.

Honestly, the Warrior Diet sounds like punishment to me. I’m not happy when I’m hungry and not ‘allowed’ to eat. I think I would scare people around me.

I love food and I look forward to each meal and snack. As far as time commitment goes, yes, I spend a decent amount of time thinking about what I’m going to eat, preparing the food and eating it. However, I don’t mind because it’s something I truly enjoy. Food is absolutely fuel for the body, but it can also be enjoyment.

This is just one example of how what works for some may not work for others. I love hearing other people’s approaches to their nutrition and fitness regimes. I truly feel that if something works for you (you’re happy, have energy, and are moving towards your goals) you should keep it up. If it ain’t broke don’t try to fix it.

Personally, I’m sticking with smaller meals 4-5 times each day. That’s what I currently recommend for most clients and will continue to recommend the majority of the time. In my opinion, it’s easiest for most people to stick to long term, but there are always exceptions.

I’m really simplifying things here and only touching the tip of the iceberg. I’m not even talking about what to eat…only how often. I’ll get to the what and different diet choices/types in another post.

What about you? Do you fast? Do you eat lots of small meals?

We hosted an HKC this past weekend at SOS with Senior RKC, Doug Nepodal. Him and his wife, Laura (also an RKC) came and stayed with us on Friday night. It was great having dinner with them and catching up. They also got to meet CJ for the first time. Last time they were here I was pregnant!

I took the HKC this past September. As you all know I just got back from taking my RKC as well.

If you’re catching up, here are my recent posts on my RKC experience:

• RKC Weekend Part 1: Getting There
• RKC Weekend Part 2: The Certification
• What I Learned Training for RKC (Part 1)
• What I Learned Training for RKC (Part 2)

This weekend, instead of taking a certification, my husband and I were hosting and helping out with the certification at our new SOS location in Chelmsford, MA. There were no butterflies the night before or morning of. Heck, I even enjoyed a glass of wine the night before.

I’m sad because I didn’t get a chance to take many pictures (and we completely forgot to take a group photo which was a major #fail), but in summary it was a great event. Doug is an amazing instructor and I love the fact that he cares so much and genuinely wants to help people become better instructors.

We had 25 HKC candidates and they all worked their butts off. It was great to hear so many of them talking about signing up for the RKC and taking their training to the next level. I loved being able to help correct the candidates technique and answer their questions.

Here’s one of Doug and Laura doing a demo.

And one other of the group listening and learning.

This weekend reinforced that I love the direction my life is heading. I love being a mom. I love being a trainer and an RKC. I love owning a gym with my husband. Life is good.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

If you missed part 1 yesterday, check out the first few things I learned while training for the RKC.

Here’s a few more things I learned while training for the RKC…

I don’t NEED dessert.

I admitted my love for wine and graham crackers mixed with dark chocolate chips in my 3 month post-baby update. I slowly cut down on eating dessert after dinner and found that I really don’t crave it anymore. When I have a sweet tooth now I’ll have a piece or two of dark chocolate, some cocoa almonds or some fruit and that usually does the trick. It really is true that when you remove most processed foods and sugars from your diet you don’t want them. I promise. (Wine is another story…)

The scale isn’t all that scary. It can be quite useful.

You can read my full thoughts on the scale in a previous post, but basically I used the scale as one of several tools to monitor my post-baby weight loss progress. I wasn’t weighing myself as much right after I had Connor (maybe once or twice a week), but as the RKC got closer and I decided to try to get my weight below the cutoff of 123.5 lbs I was weighing myself daily. This isn’t something I want to keep up for the rest of my life (in fact I haven’t weighed myself since the RKC), but it was really interesting to see how my weight fluctuated based on what I was eating, what time of the month it was, etc.

I am incredibly dedicated an determined (okay, even obsessed) once I commit to something.

I have written myself training programs for a few years now, but once my husband started writing programs for me that were specifically designed to get me stronger and more ready for the RKC I was obsessed with doing the right workouts on the right days. I would get upset if I had a few bad workouts in a row or if I wasn’t making the progress I wanted to make. I had to learn to take things one day a time and that sometimes when you’re not making progress for awhile, you’re really about to breakthrough and make some great strength gains. (Or…maybe you’re just overtraining and need a few rest days.)

I have an amazing baby, a wonderfully supportive husband and great friends.

I was able to train pretty regularly in the early mornings because Connor has been an easy-going baby for the most part. He’s a great sleeper (and usually somewhat predictable) so I was able to plan ahead. (Not ALWAYS…he’s still a baby.)

I am so lucky that I have a supportive husband. Towards the beginning of my training I was on maternity leave and Mike would come home between clients and give me a break to train baby-free. Towards the end of my training I was working out early on Saturday and Sunday mornings. My husband was working most of those days, but he would take Connor in the mornings before he left for work so that I had 2 days where I knew I could finish my workout without getting interrupted by a baby ready to get up and start his day. Look at how cute these two are. (My husband probably hates this picture because he’s squinting, but my boys looked so cute on Easter!)

I got tons of emails, phone calls, texts, and even old school cards in the mail wishing me luck at the RKC and congratulating me when I passed. I am blessed to be surround by so many amazing people.

Phew..okay. That’s it for now on what I learned, but I’m sure there is so much more!

What’s the coolest thing you have learned about yourself while training for an event, certification, etc.?

I meant to write this post before I actually left for RKC, but never got around to finishing it. I was thinking for a few weeks before I went about just how much training for this certification taught me. Just like the actual weekend, the training/preparation was challenging mentally and physically.

I started training for the RKC soon after having Connor, at some point in July, around one month postpartum. I only really took a few weeks completely off from working out after giving birth because I trained through my entire pregnancy (and I start going a little stir crazy when I don’t exercise). I took it slow the first few weeks and worked on improving my general fitness, but then dove into training for the RKC, following specific programs my husband helped me to develop with my goals in mind.

Here are some things I learned while training for the RKC.
Some of these are probably pretty obvious, but others might catch you by surprise. I am apparently very long winded on this topic because I had to divide this into another 2 part post!

It is possible to love your body MORE after you have a baby. (And not all that long after you have a baby.)

By the end of 10 months of training hard I was (am) as fit and strong as I have been in my entire life. I’m really proud of myself for obtaining my RKC so soon after having a baby, especially since we also started a business and I work a full time job as a marketing manager. Was this easy? No. Did this feel great? Yes.

There doesn’t always have to be a ton of variety in your training. ‘Boring’ is okay sometimes (and by the way…boring works).

I posted the other day on the FitFluential blog about these 5 exercises that YOU should be doing. I meant it and I know some people probably read this and thought, “there’s no way that I can get fit just doing 5 exercises, especially if none of them are running.” Go ahead and doubt me, but I promise you that I did not do anything super fancy to train for the RKC and I did very, very little running this past year. There were months where I really only did 3 exercises. I was working out 3-4 times a week (and then doing an additional day or two of conditioning) so things could get a little ‘boring’, but this type of training worked. I got strong and lean.

Rest days are important.

I was pushing my body quite hard and the workouts I was doing were similar to what I have done for the last few years in some ways, but much harder and heavier. A few years back I used to ‘workout’ 7 days a week, but I did plenty of junk miles (as you runners would say) and I wasted plenty of time at the gym trucking away on cardio machines or lifting lighter weights. Now I realize that I didn’t need a day off during that time because although I was working long, I was not working nearly as hard as I could have been. Towards the end of my training for the RKC I was working really hard. Bring on the rest/recovery day!

Excuses have no place when you have a real goal you’re chasing (think time and money committed).

Saying “I’m tired and don’t feel like waking up at 5am” doesn’t fly when you have a baby and/or job that’s going to need your attention the rest of the day. If you don’t get up, you don’t train. If you don’t train you don’t get stronger. If you don’t get stronger, you don’t pass the RKC. If you don’t pass the RKC you waste a lot of time and money. You also disappoint all of your blog readers as well as your husband (and business partner).

…part 2 coming up tomorrow (guess I learned a lot)!

Have you ever trained for something and found that you learned some unexpected lessons?

Lots of good stuff for you all today! Head on over to the FitFluential Blog where my guest post is up today on 5 Exercises You Should be Doing.

As a trainer and recently at the RKC, I am always trying to learn more about how to train effectively and efficiently. In my FitFluential post I share some of that with you. It’s not necessary to do anything fancy to get fit; keep it simple and consistent for great results!

And now….to talk about shakes made with protein powder as post-workout snacks, meal replacements or just anytime deliciousness and nutriousness. I know some people feel strongly about staying away from protein powders and focusing on ‘real food’ all of the time. For me, as a super busy working mom and new business owner, that isn’t always realistic. Sometimes I need extra calories (and especially extra protein) and I need it in a form that’s easy/fast to make.

I’ve written about protein shakes a few times before (these are old posts and it’s nice to see my blogging skills have improved since then.)

• Are you Pro-Protein?
• Post Workout Protein Shakes (2 of my favorite shake recipes here)
• 7 More Reasons to Drink Post Workout Protein Shakes

A few reasons I love protein shakes:

1. They taste like milkshakes. Really…they do.
2. They’re portable and make a great breakfast for the drive to work or a great snack when out running errands.
3. They’re quick…if I have to take CJ to daycare or head to work right after a workout I can still refuel even with limited time.
4. I can toss some spinach in there along with fruit and almond milk and I can create a pretty diesel snack or meal filled with tons of nutrients.
5. There are so many different options you can make. Even if I have a shake every day I don’t really get sick of them because I mix up the flavors, add-ins, etc.

I got something fun in the mail a few weeks ago! I half-opened it and got distracted, but someone thought it was a really fun toy!

The great folks over at Nutrition Fix sent me some chocolate protein (my favorite flavor) to try – Muscle Milk Naturals.

There are other options for those of you who do not eat dairy at all! I use vegan protein powders most of the time (pea and hemp protein) and they do seem to work best for me personally with my whacked out stomach issues.

If you’re looking for a new protein to try, check out some of the protein supplements on the Nutrition Fix website.

Do you like protein shakes? What’s your favorite brand? If you have any good shake recipes, link ‘em up below so we can all share!

Disclaimer: I was sent this product free of charge and was compensated for this review. All opinions expressed are my own.