Can I lose 4 pounds by Saturday?

So that's the question. In general, I would say that's frowned upon. If you lose weight that fast it's because you're doing something wrong. Maybe starving yourself or over-exercising. Neither of which I am interested in doing.

I'm going to update this exact blog post for the next few days. I have the Santa Run on Saturday which I am utterly unprepared to do. But it'll be fun anyway. I don't have to run well; I just have to run.

This isn't a sponsored race. So if you want to sponsor me, instead just donate money to your favorite charity. I recommend Compassion International.

Back to me:
This morning the scale said 143.8. For Breakfast, I'm having Shakeology, but I made it differently. I used 4 oz of heavy whipping cream, 8 oz of water, a tsp of turmeric, a tsp of cinnamon, and half a tsp of ginger. It tastes amazing. Consider purchasing some from me through the link.


12:45- I have eaten about 2 ounces of rotisserie chicken and plan to make an actual meal. I'm baking cookies, my kryptonite,  and to keep from eating the dough I'm chewing a stick of gum.

2:00 - I had some salad with steak and avocado as well as a Bento box. I *may* have licked the spoon of the cookie batter...oops! I tried. Why does it have to taste so good? I feel like I shouldn't be held responsible for this. Whoever invented cookies should be to blame.

6:00- I had a large serving of something very similar to meatloaf.

Today I drank a little less than half a gallon of water. Some of it was carbonated.

So, that seems good to me. 4 "meals" throughout a very trying day. My kids didn't sleep well last night and, as all you mamas out there know, that means mama didn't sleep well either.

But we did decorate the tree!

He's saying "look it's so pretty" when dada got home he said the ornaments were "so cool."

A photo posted by Lauren Mulford (@happywifeandmama) on Dec 12, 2014 at 7:19pm PST

Friday morning 5:30AM - just wok-up. Weight is 142.8 Breakfast will be Shakeology, of course.  I need to drink more water today.

11:30 update - I had a Chik-fil-a chicken wrap with a few potato wedges and an unsweet ice tea. And one cookie. I can't believe I only had one cookie!

5:30PM - I had Shakeology mixed with 12 oz of water. It was delicious! And now I'll just be
drinking water until tomorrow morning. I'll be curious what impact Chik-fil-a had on my weight. One of my biggest bummers this week was that I did not exercise once and I have a race tomorrow. The kids were just out of control or sick the entire week. Then today we went on the North Pole Express (HUGE waste of money). I think the kids were just reacting to Thanksgiving week away from home. And who knows? Maybe I'll get some exercise in this evening. I did jump on the trampoline for a little while.


AND SATURDAY MORNING WEIGHT IS....... 141.8 That is only 2 pounds, which is great! Not the goal weight but in four days, I'll take it!

As for the race...it sucked. I don't want to talk about it ever. Seriously, don't ask. On the plus side, I am not in any physical discomfort at all!

>.< angry face >.<

We shall have calamari and pizza from Pellegrino's for dinner. Then back to smart eating on Sunday. 

Finished PiYo (this is very late)

I did it!

I finished PiYo a few weeks ago. While I only lost about 5 pounds, I've lost a lot of inches. Yay! But I also just feel better. I think that's thanks to the Shakeology forcing me to eat healthily!

Ready for a 5k!

After the 5k!

I turned in my stats to the PiYo success page. And they're sending me a shirt!

I started P90X with The Wolf Pack; affectionately named after Rose Tyler/Essay Hood and their Doctors. We're all too busy to do it with too many distractions, but together we will make it through it all!

Also this past month, I RAN A 5K!!!!! One weekend I saw a poster for a 5k around the lake the following weekend. So without any training, I decided to do it. I had ten days. That night I went out and walked a 5k while pushing a double stroller with baby on my back. Yep, I had all three kids with me. It took almost an hour! The next day it was 48 minutes. Once I was finally able to go without the kids, I got my time to be just over 40 minutes. And my official race time was 38:27.6.

Mid- P90X video

jogging jacket I love

At first I thought I had twisted my ankle slightly while running but shrugged it off thinking I was just looking for an excuse to slack-off. Turns out, I full-on sprained my ankle complete with cramps, swelling, and bruising. Bummer. I think it was the shoes. I was using Vibrams. I'm just going to use regular running shoes next time.

Find PiYo and P90X (AND P90) here. By purchasing through this link you support me and my endeavors.

You know you do.

3 Day Fix

So Over the weekend I decided I needed a little kick to get in the right direction with eating again. So I did a quick Shakeology Fix:

I lost those 5 pounds that have been hanging around me all week!

oh! I forgot to take a pic of the scale. But it said 142.0 and I'm aiming for 140 even this coming Saturday. Clean eating Challenge group starts TODAY!

******UPCOMING*****
P90X Challenge Group
I'll be finishing PiYo the first week of September. You'll get to see my results and then there will be 3 weeks before I start my favorite P90X. NINETY DAYS of extreme fitness! I'm psyched!

September 29th is the start of P90X. Join me! Grab a bag of Shakeology and get off your bum! It is for you. It isn't for some better fit person. It is for you. You do what you can and work your way to being that person that others think "oh this comes easy to you" and you know that you have to sweat to see results! It's work and it's hard. And it's worth it. Also, in my opinion, IT'S FUN!!!

Here's my instagram sweaty selfie post-piyo yesterday:

If I Could Plagiarize For A Moment...

This week to keep me on track for not eating excessively or anything that does not add to my temple, I'm going to use myfitnesspal to keep track of my food in-take. I had a lot of friends suggest I do this and come along side me to keep me accountable; so, shout-out to all you guys who are awesome! I love you all! I have the best friends! I hope you don't mind me calling you out: Meaghan, Kate, Jennifer, Eileen, Ryan, Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Shaye, and Bri. Thanks, friends. Your support gets me through the rough times!

Shakeology has been awesome! I've been getting the kids to drink it even. I accidentally got Felipe to drink it. I didn't realize he was drinking it and we went one day without any Shakeology because I didn't order it quickly enough. It has been the best step we've taken as a family toward health.

And if I could plagiarize a couple paragraphs I would, but since I can't in good conscience, I'll just share them:

"Perhaps from my vantage point of 55 years of age, one willingly accepts that there is more to fitness than pornography. Somehow the butt-baring image just doesn't work after a time. So what then is the new direction of fitness? If you ask me, the key to fitness is being able to move your body in the way it was meant to move.
It means you can run, jump, swim, play, bend, walk and lift with all parts of your body from joints, muscles and bones to hands and feet, all body parts working in unison. It means that if you had to run 5K to get away from danger, if you had to swim for 20 minutes to save yourself in a flood, if you had to lift a heavy weight out of the way to free yourself, something or someone else, you could do it."

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/tosca-reno/bikini-fitness_b_5610782.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000046&ir=Women

http://www.spartan.com//

If you made it this far down, I want to do a race. Spartan? Seems too intense? Ideas? How do I pick? http://www.dfwraces.com/ Help me!

Saturday STATurday

Today's stats are brought to you in part by Shakeology, which has been my favorite part of the day. It sets me up for a great day and keeps the sugar cravings away. Today's stats are also brought to you in part by Charlene through PiYo - does she love me or hate me? Why are such simple moves so difficult? I'm very sweaty, every day. Here's the scale this morning:

It's in b&w so you don't notice how weird my ballerina feet look. I started the week at 152.0 even. Subtract 148.3. Weight loss since Monday = 3.7 lbs! Alright! That might not be statistically relevant enough for some of you. Stick with me as I stick with this and I hope to show you better and better results!

Meanwhile, I've ben starting a community group including Saturday morning exercise on the basketball courts...which were flooded by the city's 12" of rainfall this week. So....no exercise group today. Hopefully next week!

Not Quite A Week, But Kinda Weak

What. Just. Happened.
I am so sore. But it feels so good.

If you're keeping up with me on instagram you've seen some cute kids and sweaty selfies. PiYo is more challenging than I initially thought it would be. My glutes and hamstrings need a good stretch - that reminds me, after a workout try to not just sit around because that'll tightened everything and make it much worse. Get up and move around. Stretch a bit. Eat a banana. Drink Shakeology.

Ryan Le got his cholesterol down!

So Shakeology. It's been good! Not chalking tasting like the other shakes I've tried. It actually helps me not want other sweets. So I'm saving those calories (and money from buying those sweets) and using them on carrots, celery, chicken, [brown] rice, and other good foods.

A cyber friend shared his story about getting his bad cholesterol down to the point that it was undetectable after he started Shakeology. Way to go Ryan! I've heard other people share how it helped them with their [Type II] diabetes. I don't have diabetes, but it is genetic in my paternal side and I've heard some experts say that what you did 15-20 years in the past is what sets you up for diabetes. So, I'm hoping to combat that NOW instead of trying to fix it later.

I made a video for my first taste of Shakeology. I hope you find it amusing and educational.


I did a sneak-peak at the scale this morning. The results are good. Very good. I'll share more STATurday ;)

With that, I'll leave you with this one thought: Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value. (Albert Einstein) For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Mark 8:36ESV

Before/After Pics...Not the Right Way OR "The Beginning of a New Chapter"

Let's watch a cycle:

I don't have a lot of photos of myself because no one else I know takes photos. And my computer crashed awhile back so I don't have any good full length "before" photos. I'll see if a friend has one.

It wasn't great, not horrible though. 130lbs after 2 kids:

I participated in a Beachbody's coach's "get well" competition:

109 lbs and 15% BF!


After that, this happened:

(I was actually in the middle of P90X when suddenly I was unusually sleepy and then suddenly nauseated which made me think to take a pg test! lol!) That photo was almost exactly 7 months ago. 173 lbs

This is me today. My shorts can't even go on and I'm so embarrassed. Yes, that's me. I'm the heaviest I've ever been. 154lbs. I was recently diagnosed with depression. There's so much stress in my life right now: I have a husband who works 75 hours a week [my husband wishes for me to point out that he only works 65 hours a week. I was including drive time - the time he is not at home] and can't help out at home, three kids, the oldest isn't speaking, the second is going through "terrible twos", and the youngest is teething, I work part-time doing data entry from home, I home-school my two pre-kindergarteners, and somehow I'm expected to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner for everyone, clean the entire house, do the laundry, put the kids to bed, and do it all without losing my sanity.

It can be done. And you can do it too.

Beachbody is important to me. Health and fitness is a passion of mine and I WILL make the time to succeed.

You're welcome to come alongside and watch me discipline myself into my old clothes. I'm not accepting excuses, and you shouldn't either. Shakeology will help. It'll free up my time while ensuring that I get all the necessary vitamins and nutrients I need.

If you're interested in joining me with a Challenge Pack, I have a Facebook group just for you! Contact me and I'll get you started!


So, why have this picture at all? It's MY motivation!

...And it's the TARDIS! What's better than a Beachbody coach that also speaks Whovian?!

FINALLY! It Came!

What seems like a rather long time ago, but in actuality was June 30, I ordered my first CHALLENGE PACK from Beachbody. It FINALLY came in today's mail. I want to pop in that first DVD right now!

http://www.beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/laurenmulford

To order your own challenge pack, just click on this pic and follow the "Challenge Pack" link. Select which one you want and I'll start working with you! So easy! And with the Challenge Pack, you get the DVD, an ENTIRE month of Shakeology, and a free gift. My free gift, which I totally wasn't even expecting, was this nifty recipe book. Nice! Thanks, Beachbody!

You can see on the far right the double red circle indicates where you can see the entire selection of Challenge Packs, or if you just want the same Pack I got, select the bottom right link (indicated by the big red arrow) for the PiYo Challenge Pack!

I will support you through any program you select. And you can watch me as I continue on my own journey too!

Here's the box that came

 and the contents

and the special gift

OKAY! Be sure to join my Clean Eating Challenge Group on facebook. Stay tuned later this week for my story and my before pic!