Enjoying Your Body

It's no secret that I've had a love hate relationship with my body. I was a chunky child, a thin teen with unhealthy eating habits,  and since becoming a mother I've found it increasingly harder to love my body. I often roll my eyes when Karl compliments me, he gets so frustrated that I don't see myself the same way he does.

It has been 2 years now since Karl and I transformed our bodies, eating clean for the whole family,  and completely healing my IBS/GERD.

I still struggle loving my body, but I find myself not being scared to try on clothes,  being able to accurately assess my size (at first I would grab a size 12, then a 10, the finally try an 8/6 because I didn't see a reflection that much smaller than the size 16 I was.), and the most impactful change is not having the self loathing after eating a meal.

Don't measure your self worth in your waist size or a scale number,  but please remember that you are worth the extra effort to eat healthy, your future is dependent on what you put in your body, and often times the emotional rollercoaster that you may feel like it will never end can end when you start respecting yourself and loving yourself enough to make a life long change and never turn back. Don't do it for what others see, do it for how you will feel. My quality of life is so much better, my husband's quality of life is so much better and my children now have a mommy and daddy that are teaching healthy body image along with emotional wellness.

I want to say thank you to all of you that are on this journey with us.  To those of you who roll your eyes when I ask if there's gluten in something I hope some day you'll understand that this isn't a fad this has been a life changing experience that has brought so much happiness to our family and no amount of eye rolls or jokes can ever change that.

Wishing you all much love,
More food blog posts to come on my off weekend ;)
-Danielle

What we've been up to

It's been a while since we've done a progress update.  Karl and I officially started our lifestyle change 2 years ago! What?! How has time flown by so fast? A year and a half ago we moved 300 miles away from family and were truly tested on our newly acquired eating and activity lifestyle. I'm pleased to inform you all that even though we have endured a stressful move, deaths in the family,  and a traumatic injury to Danielle's leg we've maintained our slenderiiz results. Admittedly, post injury Danielle is working on building up strength and endurance to be back to a fully active lifestyle but I don't know how many people could go through 3 months of being of their feet and not gain the weight back. We're proud of ourselves for not falling back in to our stress eating habits,  and proud to be a healthy family.  This week Danielle returned back to work after being off for 3 months, feels like a new chapter in our lives so we're taking the opportunity to do an 8 week challenge to get fit. Wish us luck, and pray for our journey as we start a new chapter in this process and get Danielle back to where she can be hiking and active again. We're flushing fat, building muscle and starting the slenderiiz program again to get to our full potential.

Karl's commitment to fitness for the next 28 days - Day 1

I wasn't always a big guy, as a child, teen and young adult I lived-breathed-and died for basketball. When you eat like a teenager and stop playing ball like one it turns out... you gain 40 lbs in 2 months. Ouch. Then, add a broken hand, and a second child in and you gain another 20 lbs. OK so maybe you didn't gain 60 lbs but I did. 

In the last 4 months while adhering to the Slenderiiz program (you can read more about that HERE} I have lost 50 lbs, primarily by taking some quality supplements, incorporating clean eating at a 1250 calorie intake (more on days when I work out) and 20 minutes of light cardio 4 days a week. I have come to a point where I want to tone up my newly exposed muscles and gain the strength and agility back that I need in order to safely play basketball again. 

My friend Brock, who I have known since elementary school had killer results in his commitment to fitness where he blogged about reducing his body fat from 21% to 11% in 28 days by using the same supplements but a higher intensity work out regimen than my previous 20 minutes of light cardio. You can read about Brock's 28 days HERE.

Friday July 19th was my first of the Next 28 days, where I am committing to following the work out regimen I will be posting from Brock's blog as well as continuing to eat clean - we are dairy free, gluten free, sugar free, soy free, and low glycemic. This is the first time I have attempted intense work outs baring weight on my left hand that's had 2 reconstructive surgeries since a car wreck in October of 2010.

                           It is a lot easier to bare weight on my hand now that I'm 50 lbs lighter!
I really was intimidated by this work out routine because it pushes me to bare weight on my hand and use my lower back in ways that I haven't done since completing physical therapy. Did I mention I have degenerative disk disease? I have moderate to severe arthritis in my lower back at the ripe age of 32 years old. My doctor has been very frank in telling me that if I don't lose the weight around my belly than I'm going to end up having the back of a 90 year old by the time I am 40 years old.

I'm not a writer, or a body builder or a nutrition expert but I have been inspired. I want people to see that even if you have health issues, or insecurities there's no reason to settle and give in to accepting the weight, the lack of strength. I refuse to give in anymore, I will be healthy and I will be fit. You better believe I will be playing basketball again some day soon too.

 Upper Body/Core  

Curls: 4 sets, 10-15 reps.  

Push-ups: 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Crunches: 4 sets, 25 each

----- 

Tricep Extension: 4 sets, 10-15 reps

                                           Incline Push-ups: 4 sets, 12-15 reps

Tri-Plank: 4 sets, 1:00 minute each. 20 seconds left side, 20 seconds right side 20 seconds center

----- 

Bent Shoulder Row: 4 sets, 12-15 reps

Decline Push-ups: 4 sets, 10-15 reps

Leg Lifts 4 sets, 25 reps

Lower Body/Core

Squats: 4 sets, 12-15 reps

Sit-backs: 4 sets, 8-12 reps

Toe Raises: 4 sets, 12-15 reps

----- 

Lunges 4 sets, 10-20 reps

Weighted Side-Bends 4 sets 12 reps per side

Wall-sits 4 sets 30-45 seconds

----- 

Split-Squat: 4 sets, 10 reps

Sit-ups: 4 sets, 25 each

Toe Raises: 4 sets, 25 each

My plan is to do 3 days of upper body/core followed by 2 days of lower body/core then a rest day from lifting but used for 40 minutes of cardio and day 7 will be stretching and some Yoga. -I've never tried Yoga before but Danielle's mom teaches it and we've been googling videos on You Tube to figure out what will work best for stretching out and strengthening my problem areas.

I have a huge support system between my wife, kids, friends at the gym, and the whole Next 28 Days contributors and audience and am looking forward to the remaining 27 days!

You can also follow my blog
posts at 
http://thenext28days.com/karl28

4 Month Progress Update

The 3rd of July marked 4 months on the Slenderiiz program for us. Karl met and beat his original goal and is now shooting to lose 10 lbs of fat and then start building muscle. Soon he will be participating in "The Next 28 days" and working on really getting "cut". I'm so excited for him and he is thrilled to be on the next leg of this journey so quickly! I originally wanted to get down to my pre-2nd child weight and now I'm on board for getting to my pre-children weight! Here's our before and after pictures for 4 months. We still have work to do!

I have lost 40 lbs in 4 months and went from a size 34 pant waist to 28 or in standard sizes I went from a 14 to an 8 (almost 6!).  My goal is to lose another 20 lbs which will put me at 125 lbs. I've added 15lbs to my weight loss goal because it came off faster than expected!

Karl has lost 50 lbs in 4 months! Doesn't he look amazing?! He's added an additional 10lbs to  his weight loss goals and then is going to follow in our friend Brock's foot steps on getting cut in 28 days and journaling everyday on how he's doing, what he ate, his work out routine and how he's feeling. We're both really excited for this new phase!!!

Together we have lost 90 lbs in 4 months! that's an average of 22.5 lbs a month! We're so thrilled with the results we have seen and are really looking forward to reaching our best potential physique and celebrating with a little photo shoot to replace the family pictures in our home from Christmas that really showed us how unhealthy we had become!!

If you would like to learn more about the complete Slenderiiz program visit Slenderiiz.com/complete 

Danielle's progress update

Here is my most recent update I posted on instagram today. Feeling pretty good! 15lbs to my goal weight and officially at a healthy BMI !

P.s. if you're on instagram or Twitter you can find me under the username Daniczec.

Karl's individual update is coming soon!

Long Over Due Progress Update- 90 days

 90 days ago Karl and I along with our friend Jeff decided we were ready to commit to a healthier lifestyle, to hold each other accountable and to not stop until we hit our goals. We're not done yet but the 3 of us have come a long way and have a ton of over-sized clothes to show for it.

                                                 Then

Jeff - 270 lbs
Karl - 285 lbs
Danielle - 176 lbs

Now

Jeff - 228 lbs (down 42 lbs!)
Karl - 245 lbs (down 40 lbs!)
Danielle - 146 lbs (down 30 lbs!)

Collectively we have lost 112 lbs in 90 days

As you can see from the picture, our clothes are baggy. We were all laughing at how ill fit our wardrobes were and how we need to buy some skinny clothes and re-take this picture. There's some fun outtakes I will post, because these men are silly and fun to be around.

Karl's and my relationship has grown stronger (I didn't know that was even possible) through this journey and we are constantly building each other up. I love that our children have had a noticeable change in their eating desires too. Yesterday Nadine requested asparagus in her lunch for school and today she was eating raw bell peppers as a snack. I feel so proud to know that we are teaching our children the skills to eat well, and have a healthy relationship with food.
Jeff and his wife, Tiffany, are two of our dearest friends and through this experience I think we've grown closer as well. It's definitely a perk to have people who understand and live through the same accomplishments and obstacles. We are eternally grateful for their friendship and their part in sharing this journey.
As two family's on this journey together Karl and I are particularly excited to celebrate when we all 3 have met our goal weight! Tiffany and I have talked about a cruise, I think the boys might go for that!

What we've been doing:
We have been on a set eating program for 90 days called Slenderiiz its an all natural, organic supplement that is taken under the tongue  before each of your 2 largest meals a day for 90 days (or shorter if you reach your goal before then) which helps flush fat and boost your metabolism while reducing cravings for sugar and oils. This combined with a food plan of 1200 calories and eating guide to help train our bodies to crave REAL food, that is going to fuel our bodies instead of weigh it down has propelled our weight loss in to over drive. This program has a 2 year clinical trial and we are participating in a beta testing of the product for the Oregon area. 

We have successfully transitioned in to a healthy relationship with which is low-glycemic, no refined sugar, gluten free, dairy free (primarily due to my allergies) and only eating lean proteins. Karl and Jeff are done using the drops and will continue their 1200 calorie food plan until they have reached their goal weights and then will adjust the calories accordingly to maintain. I plan on doing another 30 days of the slenderiiz system since I still have 20 lbs to go until my goal weight.

This has been such a positive experience, I am excited to continue to develop new recipes, share our story and hopefully with in the next 60 days be celebrating reaching our goal weights. Stay tuned for more progress updates and recipes.

Outtakes ;)

This one is my favorite! oh those silly men...

Jeff's progress at 70 days!

I have an update on our good friend Jeff's progress.  After 70 days Jeff is down a whopping 40lbs. We have an update coming for all three of us coming soon!
Congratulations Jeff!

Slenderiiz.com/Oregon