Does this Sound Familiar?
Each morning, the same routine would begin. As a mom who works from home, I’d usually wake up around 7am having only 5-6 hours of sleep from the night before. My boys are almost always awake and crawling into my bed or begging to be taken out of the crib before my body has even comprehended the time. I’m not a coffee person, but I’ve learned to survive on the caffeine from Dr. Pepper and one would usually accompany my morning breakfast…or was my morning breakfast.
My boys always come first, so while I’m juggling glasses of milk, bowls of cereal or making muffins, it never occurs to me to stop and eat for myself. If I am able to grab breakfast, it’s usually a stop at Starbucks for pastries while out running errands. For whatever reason, motherhood makes me more hungry than nursing. I’m constantly snacking and while I try to make it somewhat healthy, I’d be lying if I said cookies, left over Halloween candy, and another Dr. Pepper weren’t easily accessible at all times.
Several times a week, we’re rolling through the drive thru for lunch. While I know it’s not ideal, I always struggle around lunch time with our schedule. My oldest gets out of school all the way across town right at 11:45am, and it just seems easier to grab food from one of the 4 fast food stops on our way home than worry about racing around making lunch. Which of course means another soft drink or iced tea and something fried (or greasy) for me.
Dinners are probably the healthiest thing on my menu as I always try and provide a balanced meal, but what I notice is that I’m starving by dinner time and frequently help myself to seconds of my favorites–sides, breads, entrees, whatever is left! And of course, a meal is never complete without some kind of dessert! And maybe a glass of wine or two to end the day.
I was stuck in a routine rut.
I wasn’t gaining weight, but I definitely wasn’t losing it with this “diet” either. Since I started my Utopia Food & Fitness Journey six weeks ago, my once-usual routine has been shaken to its core.
While I’d love to tell you (for the sake of a good story) that an intense personal trainer whipped me into shape five times a week and my diet consisted mostly of protein shakes and soybeans…that’s just not true. After having tried numerous food and fitness programs in the past, it’s almost embarrassing how easy it all was. Utopia Food & Fitness made it so simple to work within my mommy lifestyle that all the excuses were gone.
My 6 Weeks Utopia Routine
When I began the program, I met with a personal trainer who took all my measurements. (Which I embarrassingly shared here in my first post.) From there we established a “new” routine that would fit in with my busy “mom” schedule.
For six weeks, I stopped in on Wednesdays when my boys were in school and on Saturday’s when my husband was home and completed a 15-20 minute circuit on their weight machines — supervised and guided by one of Utopia’s friendly fitness trainers. After my workout I’d pick up enough food to last until my next session, and go about my day.
While the workouts sometimes left me feeling a little shaky from pushing my muscles to the max … I’d never once broke a sweat.
As the pounds began to come off, I realized I’d leave each time feeling like I was a part of some secret club. Those poor souls jogging their hearts out on an elliptical while I was losing weight and leaving “the gym” without even having to grab a shower before running my errands.
The best part…that was all the effort that was required of me. My food was completely prepared for me. 3 solid meals + 2 snacks per day, every day for 6 weeks. During that time, they fluctuated my plan to ensure that I was still burning calories and not storing body fat. Again, with other programs, a calorie change would often result in the loss of a snack or significant portion of a meal, but there were times I hardly even noticed the change-up. The meals and snacks remained the same–the portions just changed slightly from an meal label “A” (400 calories) to “B” (350 calories) or “B” to a “C” (300 calories).
The MOST difficult part about my journey was giving up the caffeine and increasing my water intake. And sadly, Utopia Food & Fitness didn’t ask anything of me that I shouldn’t already be doing. Each day I was required to drink 80 ounces of water (or 4 water bottles). I could have included 1 diet soda into my daily routine if I drank an equivalent amount of water afterwards but rather than start another habit just to make up for the one I was giving up, I decided to not go there. So I said goodbye to Dr. Pepper, sweetened tea, and wine (gulp!) and kept my water bottle by my side–counting each refill.
Let’s Be Honest. . .
Did I cheat? Maybe.
Were there times a glass of wine was needed or a french fry was carefully stolen off a plate? Possibly.
But after a few weeks of really committing, I was surprised by how satisfied I felt without my old foods sneaking into my diet. My body no longer craved the caffeine. Sweet treats lost their luster (I survived Halloween without a single Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup!). Utopia’s food was so good, I sometimes even preferred it to what I was making my family for dinner! My personal favorites were the Grilled Sirloin with Roasted Red Pepper Chutney, Latin American Beef Picadillo, Bunless Patty Melt with Sweet Potato fries, and Fish & Chips!
So without further ado…I’m once again putting my weight on display to show my true results. . . (And I promise, I never once swallowed a Pure Garcinia pill!)
If you’d like to learn more about Utopia Food & Fitness, visit their website or locations.
Let them know you heard about them through Dallas Moms Blog & receive $50 off any membership option!
Disclosure: This post was written in November so that I could share my posts with you consecutively. While I did receive a reduced price for the program and food, all opinions are 100% my own.
