How I Lost My Postpartum Weight In 8 Weeks

So, if you are curious on how to lose your stubborn weight, this blog post will help you, but I'm warning you, it's not an easy way out..there's no pills, shakes, weird diet plans. It took me hard work, self-control, and accountability.
This was me 8 weeks ago on the left and today on the right! 12 lbs. and TONS of inches lost!

These pictures are super embarrassing! But, they definitely show how much weight I lost!

I still have about 7 lbs until I am at my pre-pregnancy weight, but I am able to fit into all my pre-pregnancy clothes again!
I have some friends who did the same thing as I did and lost 20+ lbs. Just depends on how hard you want it! I will admit, I didn't try as hard as I could, but I still got GREAT results. Ok, so here's what I did to lose 12 lbs. in 8 weeks.
Every day I followed this checklist:
___Contact with accountability partner
___Drink 64 oz water
___No food after 9 pm
___1/2 cup fresh or frozen fruit
___2 cups veggies (or 3 cups leafy greens)
___MyFitnessPal food journal
___No sweets
___45 minutes exercise

This is all from the 8-week FIT challenge a friend of mine made on Facebook. If you are interested, the next challenge starts after the Holidays. If you give me your email, I will add you when the next challenge starts! In the group, we have teammates that you contact daily to share your successes or struggles with.

The first thing I did to prepare for the challenge was went to Wal-Mart and bought a big insulated cup so I could keep my water cold to drink all day. I struggled the most with drinking 64 oz. of water every day (exercising helps to get more water in though!) Also, I bought Organic Spinach, frozen sliced strawberries, and bananas for my daily breakfast green smoothie. It tastes AMAZING! I just put 2 handfuls of spinach, 6 oz of water, blend, then add a big handful of frozen strawberries, and one banana, and blend until it's all mixed well. That was the easiest way to make sure I got my veggies/fruit in everyday. One tip my mom taught me, was to make a big salad on Sunday night and eat on it all week! I love salads! I put spinach, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, and some red onion in my salad. I have it pre-made, so for lunch I just throw some of that salad in a low-carb wrap, add some chicken and some ranch, Ta-da! Quick, low-calorie lunch! I also like Boca chicken patties! They are high in protein, and taste great on those thin sandwich buns with a little mayo!


Also, I kept track of every thing I ate with the MyFitnessPal app. It's a great tool to show you the nutritional value of your food! The next hardest thing for me was the "no sweets!" I never noticed how much sugar I ate! I used to eat granola bars, yogurt, or some other sugar filled item for breakfast, no wonder I couldn't lose weight! I cut out sugary snacks, desserts, sodas (diet or regular), pretty much anything that you could sit down and indulge a bowl of! This didn't count bread, crackers, or similar items that aren't considered "desserts." That was a big boost in my weight loss! There is ONE cheat day a week, where you can eat sugary items. :) I learned to replace my sugar crave with an apple or some almonds.

The last, and most important key to losing weight is exercise! I started this challenge at 9 weeks postpartum, and I hadn't done any exercising since I had my son. So needless to say, I was out of shape! I started walking a mile 4-5 times a week, pushing my son in the stroller. Then I slowly increased my walking time, and started jogging closer to the end of the 8 weeks! I can now walk/jog 3 miles like nothing! :) I learned to love walking, it's a great way to relieve stress as well! I also use the Nike+ running app to keep track of how far I walk/jog.

It's all things I already knew I needed to do, but when I had a checklist to do every day, it helped me get it done! I feel SO much better about myself now that I lost 12 lbs. and plan on keep going and following this checklist! Being fit is hard, but so is being fat! Pick your HARD!

Remember ladies, your body is a temple, it's not yours, you are bought with a price! (I Corinthians 6:20) Just as you believe it's wrong to smoke, drink, do drugs because they destroy your temple, eating JUNK is just as wrong! God only gives us ONE body to serve Him with. The better you take care of it, the better you can serve him! I hope this post encourages someone to get fit! I promise you, you will feel so much better physically, emotionally, mentally, and you will look better in and out ;) of your clothes!

Now, here's the week of my outfits!

Fall Color Combo Series Week 6

I am so excited for this guest post! Pong is a beautiful stay-at-home Mom of four little cuties! She is a huge inspiration to me and many other ladies, that it is possible to be put together even when you are a Mom!
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Hello again ladies!! I feel so honored to be doing another blog for the fall color series for our lovely Lauren!!

Fall is one of my favorite seasons! I love the changing of leaves, cooler weather and all the fun fall activities that I get to do with my family and of course the fun fall styles I get to wear! One style in particular that I love to wear in fall are boots, and boots in Michigan are a MUST because of all the snow we get in the winter! ❄️

Today I wanted to share some of my different fall looks in different style boots. If you don't own a pair, it is a wise investment to get a pair. A very popular style boot which I would recommend for everyone wanting to try to start wearing boots are riding boots. These boots typically fall a few inches below the knee and have a flat heel. They can be pricey, but I bought mine on sale on Black Friday for 50% off and they are a great investment. These look great with maxis, pencil skirts and a-line skirts or dresses. Many ladies have asked about wearing maxis with boots, and riding boots work so good with this particular skirt.
Here is my maxi skirt with my riding boots:

Another great boot to have are some pull on boots! And they do just that, they are so simple to wear, you literally just pull them on! They do not have a zipper like the riding boots, I have big calves, I know, I'm so sad about it! :( So, for me these are tricky to find. The top part of the boot, should be loose enough to pull up without your calves feeling like they are suffocating or you getting calf rolls! (lol) I looked around for a few months before I found the perfect pair for me at Yonkers and got them for 40% off! I literally wear these all the time, they look great with jean skirts, pencil skirts and dresses as well.
Here are my outfits with my pull on boots:

My last boot is the ankle boot, this boot is really just your preference in taste! Some ladies love the look and some don't. I personally didn't know if I would like them or look good in them, so what I did was buy them used. I got my ankle boots for $3 and figured if they didn't work on me, it was ok because they were cheap. But I personally love the look, they can be worn for a dressier look and I'm short, so I love the extra height it adds on my short frame :) They look great with pencil skirts, a-line skirts, dresses and pencil jean skirts.
Here is my outfit with my ankle boots:

Another fun thing about boots is you can accessorize them with cute leg warmers. They can be pricey, so I wanted to share how I made these easy leg warmers out of an old sweater I got for $3.99 at Goodwill!

1. Cut a straight line and cut sleeves off of sweater


2. Take a button, these ones I got at Hobby Lobby for 40% off with a coupon, I love coupons and saving money! I'm Baptist, what can I say! (lol) Sew the buttons onto one side of the sleeve, repeat on the other sleeve with other button.


3. Sew ribbon on the end of the sweater you cut off to keep from fraying! Let me be honest, I didn't since I was too lazy lol but if you ladies wanted too you can :) and viola you have cheap easy leg warmers!


Hope all you ladies have a wonderful day getting your boots out and making some leg warmers!!! :)
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Yay! Oh my gosh, I LOVED those DIY leg warmers! Definitely going to try that! Hope you ladies enjoyed the Fall Color Combo Series! God Bless! ♥

How to Have a Remixable Wardrobe

I have had so many ladies ask me what are some essential pieces needed to have a great, remixable wardrobe. I hope this post will help you ladies know what are some staple pieces that you need! (in my opinion!) Disclaimer, you may not agree with me on all the essential pieces I choose, but I feel like I have a VERY remixable closet, since I try to never wear the same thing twice, (but life happens & sometimes I do) but I don't buy new things very often! :)
What is a remixable wardrobe?
A remixable wardrobe means you can mix-and-match your current clothes and create many different outfits. Not just having one piece that goes with another specific piece. Back before I started Modern Modesty, I was not so great at mixing and matching. I was very one-track minded with outfits and repeated the same ones a lot. When I starting studying my closet and doing a lot of fashion challenges, I learned to make so many different outfits with my current pieces. So, here are some things I've learned on my journey.
Build your wardrobe with pieces that are versatile.
Skirts

For example, this floral pencil skirt is adorable, but unless it was very cheap ($10 or less)..I would pass on it, because it is not a very versatile piece. There might be 2 or 3 different ways you could wear it, but it's a bold memorable piece, so you couldn't wear it very often anyways.

But instead, a more versatile piece would be a solid, classic pencil, like below. You could literally wear this skirt with a thousand different colored/patterned tops, cardigans, blazers, etc.

I have over 75 skirts..but I probably on a regular basis wear about 10-15 of them. The ones I wear the most are my remixable pieces, because I am constantly thinking of ways to stretch my closet. Of course, the remixable pieces get used the most, because they go with so many different colors and patterns!

Here are my most worn and remixable skirts. I think every woman needs a black, navy, gray, and an assortment of other colored skirts to have a remixable wardrobe.

Also, some great classic printed skirts are great assets to have in a remixable wardrobe. These are a few of my classic prints I wear a lot.

Tops

I think tops (cardigans, blouses, sweaters, blazers, etc.) are easier and cheaper to buy in your trendier prints, colors, and patterns. I usually buy a shirt if I can think of 3-4 different ways to wear it, and it's below $15. I will spend up to $20 on a solid or classic printed cardigan, because I know I will wear it hundreds of different ways.

So the moral is, buy items that you can create TONS of other outfits with. Think solids and classic prints. Classic prints would be polka dots, stripes, leopard, and houndstooth.
Learn where to find versatile pieces.
I just did a blog post on this last week. Look at the above list of solid and classic patterned skirts, and decide what you need to have a more remixable closet, then, make a list and shop only for those items! Now, remember, you aren't going to find all these skirts in one shopping trip, it might takes months or years to re-build your wardrobe. I suggest to ALWAYS look at thrift stores or consignment shops first. In those two pictures of my remixable skirts, 5 out of the 11 came from JCPenney. Their Worthington brand skirts fit me perfectly, and they go on sale a lot!
Learn how to remix your pieces once you have them.
One thing I always do is search on Pinterest for outfit ideas with a specific piece, for example, if I wanted to know what outfits I could make with a pink cardigan, I would search "pink cardigan outfits" on Pinterest and then my imagination goes wild!
I could do this with tons of different pieces, but since I don't have all day...(and I have a baby that I'm playing with as I write this)...I'll just show you some different ways I've remixed my hot pink cardigan.






There's just SOME of the ways I've worn my pink cardigan!:)

I hope that helped! If you have any more questions, just comment...I'd be glad to help!
Today, I was a leopard lover for the #modmodfallchallenge, and I wore one of my all-time favorite dresses! I haven't gotten to wear this since before I was pregnant, so I've missed it! :)


Now on to my week of outfits! We had a great week of the #modmodfallchallenge! I love how many ladies are participating!
Here's my Pinned it & Did it outfit!

My Belt-it Outfit

My Thrifty Thursday Outfit

My Pattern-Mixing Outfit

Stay tuned for Wednesday, when Pong writes the last blog post for the Fall Color Combo Series!
God Bless ♥