If You've Got 'Em Milk 'Em

Breastfeeding has got to be the easiest way on Earth to burn a ton of calories (up to 500 with a single birth) just sitting there. If you have a baby and you don’t nurse you are giving yourself a double wammy. Formula costs a fortune AND doesn’t burn any calories. If for whatever wackadoodle reason you decide not to nurse at least pump and feed or pump and donate the milk. Choosing not to breastfeed is a dietary shot in the foot. The body natural removes the weight with the help of breastfeeding. I’m mean really, if you aren’t going to breastfeed give up the diet now, because anyone serious about getting skinny would milk the boobs to all get out.
Breastfeeding mothers have lower rates of certain cancers (breast, ovarian, uterine, and endometrial) as well as a reduced risk of osteoporosis. Also, "Women who were breastfed as infants, even if only for a short time, showed an approximate 25% lower risk of developing premenopausal or postmenopausal breast cancer, compared to women who were bottle-fed as an infant." (Freudenheim, J. "Exposure to breast milk in infancy and the risk of breast cancer." Epidemiology 1994 5:324-331)
Breastfeeding encourages uterine contractions after childbirth, returning the uterus to it's pre-pregnancy size much faster. It has been shown that the uteruses of formula feeding mothers sometimes never return to the pre-pregnancy state.
Breastfeeding also: Boosts prolactin (a hormone that enhances feelings of nurturing and contentment) levels, speeds up post-partum weight loss and helps child spacing.
Breastfeeding is easier and less time consuming. There is no preparation involved, and you don't have to prepare, warm, or transport bottles.
Breastfeeding is your BFF!

I Swear by Carnation Instant Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I wouldn’t miss is for the world. When you don’t eat breakfast your body goes into starvation mode and when you do eat your body turns more of the calories to fat to save up.
I may sound like a commercial. Sorry. I’m don’t mean to. I just have to get kids up and dressed and to school. I don’t have a lot of time to make breakfast, so for the last seven years I have started my morning with a cold glass of Chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast. I don’t like it just mixed with a 8 oz glass of milk; I take my mini hand mixer whip it in 12 oz. until it’s foamy. Then I like to drink it from a straw as I chase the kids around getting them ready.
The calories are minimal, it has lots of great vitamins and starvation mode is nixed! Hooray for Carnation Instant Breakfast!

Pop is only for Football Games

Water, juice and milk are the only drinks I keep in my house. Pop is the absolute worst. When was the last time you saw a skinny girl order a Diet Coke? It doesn’t happen. Pop (This also includes beer and what not) is full of calories but fill you up no more than a glass of water from the tap. There is no such thing as a free lunch, ie I don’t know what it is about diet pop that makes people fat, but it DOES! Diet Pop=Fat People.
That doesn’t mean that there is not a time and a place to drink pop. It’s okay to drink it at football games or birthday parties. If you were trying to get skinny you wouldn’t bake a cake and leave it on your counter, so don’t allow pop in your home and indulge only at special functions (never more than one can, half a can would be better).
This is one of the easiest ways to keep calories down without affecting your level of hunger.
Water is a wonderful thing! Drink it all day long. I drink it all day long, unfiltered, practically free from the tap. At first it will taste strange because we are so used to bottled water, but soon you will forget and the water will taste just perfect. Plus it has fluoride that will help strengthen your teeth as a free bonus. Fill your old water bottles with tap water and go forth and be skinny!

Embrace Chocolate

Okay so we want to get skinny again, but we want chocolate too! So we don’t eat it right? WRONG! Think of someone craving a cigarette that is trying to quit. They stuff everything in their mouth from chips to cupcakes to try to fight the craving, and they often get super fat in the process.
Don’t fight the craving and cut out the middleman (filler-food). If you want chocolate just eat it. Not Reece’s Butter cups or truffles, just some plain milk chocolate like Hershey Kisses or M&Ms. Don’t completely gorge yourself, but keep chocolate around and eat a piece or two when you crave it. Don’t fight the craving and eat two full sheet cakes and a bag of chips to stave off your longing for chocolate!
“Chocolate and cocoa powder are derived from beans that contain hefty quantities of natural antioxidants called flavonoids. The researchers found natural cocoa contains the highest capacity of the antioxidant procyanidin. Antioxidants are thought to be effective in helping to prevent cancer, heart disease, and stroke.” -ScienceDaily.com
So it’s official. Eating chocolate, in moderation of course, is GOOD for you!
I’m not a nutritionist or a doctor, just a skinny housewife who has lost the baby weight 3 times. I wish you the best of luck and home that my strategies are helpful to you.

Skinny Housewife Diet

The question I am asked more than any other is how I have lost the baby weight after each baby. I have a specific method that I use that has effectively worked for me three times after 3 babies. This being a new year and so many of my fellow housewives are struggling with weight I have decided to share my secret method. I will share my 6 step method (One Blog at a Time) to skinny housewifeness! : )

A Scary Bat and the LSAT

Juliet got her first hair cut and pretended to be a very scary bat the whole time. Speaking of scary. I got a crazy notion in my head that when we moved to Knoxville it would be a good idea to go to law school. As I have studied for the LSAT it has become clear to me that I am not ready to go back to school. I don’t want to study! Want to play with my kids not tell them to be quiet. Even though I am not going to apply to law school at this time, I took the test because I had studied, prepared and paid for the stupid thing. It was horrible and crazy, but it’s DONE!!!!

Pure Exhaustion

The exhaustion of having a little baby has kicked in. In the night I get up at 10pm, 12am, 3am, 4am (with Chad when he gets up for work) 6am and 7am to get Cougar to school. I have finally just given up trying to catch up with an afternoon nap and am just going back to bed after taking Cougar to school. I feed Juliet and put her in front of the TV. I feed Brock and put him in there with her and I conk out for a little extra sleep. This is the ONLY thing that is keeping me functioning. I am almost starting to feel a little normal. It has been a month since I had the desire to make a YouTube video or any other kind of video, but I may have enough energy here soon to make another, who knows!