FFF Featured Blogger (chosen from your comments): Keeping Slim and Getting Stylish – I think the title says it all! Laura blogs about excellent healthy dining ideas and has fun fashion favorites mixed in here and there. She had a great post earlier today about food choices too.

Today I have really just gone with the flow. It all started after Power class. I had a sudden urge to come up with workout split ideas for after the baby comes. I know I still have around 12 weeks left, but I couldn’t help it! I sat down at my computer and typed up the splits I found myself brainstorming during Power class.

I cannot wait to get back to my favorite workouts and plans! And please note that this is just a random list of rotations and plans I have used before of varying difficulty and set-up. I have no order whatsoever to the above. I simply felt inspired to jot down possibilities of things I’ve done before that I enjoyed for me to pull from when I get back in the gym after this pregnancy. You will just have to wait with me to see how these play out in my future workouts. 😉

Moving on. I maintained that go with the flow attitude for my food today as well. At lunch I felt a tad bit of nausea again, which leads me to think its just a part of this pregnancy. I craved a simple lunch and a few things leftover from the birthday party this weekend. I had a throwback to school days with a PBJ sandwich, sliced apple, handful of chips, and a soda.

Then, a few hours later I craved something sweet. Dang you artificial sweeteners! Luckily, I still had my small square of pumpkin bread from the pumpkin patch on Saturday. Who am I to have saved such a delectable treat for 4 days?!

And who am I to have only eaten half because I realized I wasn’t really hungry and wanted to save some for later?

Lastly, I felt inspired to go with the flow on a topic tonight as well. Quite…literally. Meghann posted about not having her cycle for the past year on her blog today. It really touches close to home for me because I didn’t have my cycle for awhile as well, thanks to nursing and then jumping right into the intense training for my fitness competition. It bothered me greatly that my body did not function properly, especially knowing we wanted to conceive another child.

As soon as my competition ended, I took steps to try to bring my cycle back. For me, that meant not working out at all for a month and then limited workouts for awhile after that. I had to gain weight, which I would have done regardless coming off of show weight. It went further than that, though. Due to wanting to conceive right away, I had to gain weight to get back to the size I was when I got pregnant with Makenzie. A huge mental battle ensued, but I now feel so blessed that I took care of the problem sooner rather than later. Only a few months of competition training affecting my cycle caused a lot more trouble conceiving the little man than we likely would have faced otherwise.

I leaped for joy when my cycle returned. In my opinion,a functioning menstrual cycle is an immense blessing and something we should not ignore or gloss over. Also, we should not wait to consider it an issue until trying to conceive. I can tell you right now that waiting that long is waiting too long. I have many friends who have been through so much to figure out their fertility and the thought that some women out there simply don’t care about it breaks my heart. Also, fertility is not the only reason to be aware of our cycles. They can signal a hormonal imbalance or other issues that affect so much more.

I do not intend to share the steps I took to regain my cycle as advice, because different people face different issues with different remedies. Nor do I post this as a way to say Meghann isn’t doing enough. I commend and admire her for sharing her struggles and can tell she whole heartedly wants to resolve them. I desired to post my experience and thoughts on this topic simply because I want to declare the importance of this aspect of our health as women. If you face this, please work hard and act proactively for an important part of your health. You don’t ever want to wish you had done something sooner.

• Do you consider your visits from Auntie Flo a blessing? Have you ever seriously thought about your cycle or considered reading books like Taking Charge of Your Fertility?
• Do you like creating workouts or does it stress you out? It’s one of my biggest hobbies. I love it!
• Don’t forget to ASK ME ANYTHING for the Q + A series I’m doing in Nov!

FFF Featured Blogger (chosen from your comments): Eat Drink Breathe Sweat – Jess is a fellow Kick lover (and certified!). She also loves to run. I always love her posts because they truly show heart.

So, it’s time for me to be real again. Although, when am I ever not on this blog? I sometimes think I’m physically incapable of fudging the truth in the slightest. A good thing, I suppose. Or bad, if you’re sick of hearing me talk about the ramblings from my head and the randomness of my life.

I had another moody day today. Score for it having been almost three weeks since my last one though! That may earn a new pregnancy-hormone-moody-day related record.  I just felt in a funk all day long. I’ve already harped on the many ways I don’t feel fully like myself during pregnancy – change of tastes, missing fitness goals, less energy, more pain to complain about, blah blah blah. Those all bothered me today along with just a sense of not caring. About anything. I had thoughts like why do I even bother to blog because it doesn’t mean anything? / do I really have to get up out of bed and care for a needy two year old today? / what good will trying to accomplish anything today have?

Those thoughts bother me more than anything else in the world. If you’ve read my blog for awhile, you know that I battled some depression and suicidal thoughts back in college. Depression and anxiety run in my family, so I never feel that I have completely broken free from this struggle. Fortunately, though, I can recognize those thought processes and stop them before they get too deep.

In the midst of today, I had an empowering moment. I had no desire to turn to food for comfort. My old coping mechanism always came in the form of a binge and stress/emotional eating. I still turn to other outlets to just get lost from my emotions for awhile, but they certainly aren’t near as detrimental. I now simply keep myself occupied. Today, I got in a workout, did laundry, washed dishes, cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed, read kiddy books, read blogs, and anything else to keep my mind off the bombs flying in my head. Then, once I calmed down, I took a deep breath and sat down to reflect on the thoughts.

I honestly do not know what triggered today. I didn’t face a stressful situation. I didn’t feel run down or exhausted since I have done my fair share of sleep in the past 72 hours. I didn’t feel unloved or emotional about any one particular thing. I believe it was just one of those days. The moments where old demons try to find their way back into my heart and mind to discourage me and make me lose sight of the blessings and new life I have in my faith.

It sucked, but at the same time, it rocked. I don’t have to fear myself anymore. I hold more than enough power to overcome these moments, thanks to the strength of God in me showing me hope and mercy. I can hold on tight and find my way through unscathed. I don’t need to doubt my life or my worth because I can look around me and witness the many ways I do have value – to myself and others. (Hence, all the apparently random pictures.) So instead of hating on life and wishing I could be anywhere but here, I can enjoy the fact that I’m already at a better place. A beautiful place.

• What ways do you “get lost” when facing tough emotions? Or do you grab the bull by the horns so to speak?
• Don’t forget to ASK ME ANYTHING for a Q + A series I hope to begin in November. 🙂