Author: melodiealexander

Last week was the first week since having Tucker where I logged my food completely. From Sunday to Friday I lost 4.5 pounds, I’m looking forward to my 4 week measurements on March 3! I even enjoyed a glass or two of wine last week and that’s why I believe in “balance” not “you can’t have that!” That’s why I dislike the word “diet” to me it’s a lifestyle. If you want a slice of cake or pizza, or you really enjoy having a piece of chocolate, or a beer or two, do it but be smart about it. Moderation is key and you won’t feel deprived and you’ll still get those results. And at the end of the day it really always depends on what your goals are. Do you want someone to keep you accountable? I’d love to help guide you!

What I don’t feel:
Deprived of food. I’m eating between 1800-2200 calories a day. I’m not eating eating every 3-4 hours, I’m eating when I’m hungry. I have a bigger meal in the morning about two hours after my shake and then an afternoon meal, a couple snacks, and then dinner. Dinner has really been kept on track because of the HelloFresh meals. Those have been lifesavers. We also snack on things like; pork rinds, sesame stix, yogurt and chia seeds, almonds, walnuts and various other nut mixes!

What I do feel:
✅Energized; even when waking up every 2-3 hours to feed Tucker, he has had some nights of 4-5 hour stretches!
✅ Motivated, I’m blaming that on my routine of Ketones, Happy Coffee, coconut oil, other supplements and mostly clean eating.
✅ Happy and ready to keep killing 2019!

I’ve been able to:
Pump extra milk along with feeding Tucker. I was able to get my eyelash extensions filled and he successfully took his first bottle from Daddy. My milk supply is great and that’s my main focus when eating and making sure I’m fueled for my little man.

As always, your results are dependent on what you’re willing to put in to get the results. Here are my results from 3 days post Tucker to Monday.

I also put testimonials of what people had to say about the coffee and supplements they’ve been using.

1/31/19 to 2/25/19

Haley

I started this coffee my second trimester with our 5th baby. I didn’t want to admit it, but my mind was racing with negative thoughts and I was struggling with depression symptoms, PTSD + anxiety. I watched a friends video explaining what this coffee does, and said I gotta try this stuff!!
Thankful I did. Now my anxiety is pretty much non-existent!

I’m able to have enough energy all day long to play and chase my 4 kids at home.
My mental clarity + focus is on point and my food cravings are less than they were after the last delivery!
Um yeah, these nootropics in my coffee and the xanthohumol in my supplement?
CLEARLY.
They work.

Kelly
I haven’t done much besides adding this to my routine.. and yeah, I’m basically just as shocked as you are.

✔️more focus
✔️happier mood & more patience
✔️less brain fog aka mom brain
✔️sustained energy
✔️ less hashimoto thyroiditis flare ups
✔️ reduced inflammation
✔️ less cravings
✔️ down 40 freaking pounds 😳

THANK THE LORD I RAN INTO THIS STUFF. 😭🙌🏼

It sure has transformed my entire household in so, SO many ways.

Want info on the supplements or have questions on anything, message me on Facebook, Instagram or email me at melodiemariealexander@gmail.com

As always, thanks for following along!

Also, here’s a fun comparison of all three kiddos at 4 weeks old

We are adjusting to having two active girls and our baby boy! Right now, three has been a big adjustment, nothing bad, just a whole lot of busy! We’ve had interesting weather from the freezing polar vortex, an ice storm, to a snowstorm with SO MUCH SNOW, just wondering if it’s spring yet? The girls got a stomach bug two weeks ago and luckily that was the extent of it and now we seem to be in the clear!

So, life with Little Tucker. He’s been a great baby, he’s only upset when he needs something. I found out the hard way when we got home the difference between boys and girls and he peed on me our first night home so now when I change diapers, I make sure he’s always covered up! Mallorie and Makenzie have both adjusted well to being big sisters. Mallorie loves trying to soothe him and she just really cares, and it’s adorable. Makenzie is always concerned as to where he is and when I put him down in anything and she doesn’t see me do it, she comes back with “where dat baby go?” or “where baby Tucka?” Night time is when Makenzie has struggled a bit but has quickly become a major daddy’s girl for bed time. We’re all adjusting pretty well and we can’t imagine life without our little man! 🙂

Travis was featured in Word on the Street and it actually came out the morning Tucker was born and I was crying while reading it and it just reiterated how proud of him I am. He has literally taken me through each birth so amazingly, he knows me so well in those painful moments and it’s truly amazing. (Side note: I will share Tucker’s birth story in time but I want to spend time on each of the kids birth stories and share them all!) Travis amazes me everyday and is truly so dedicated to his work and family, he loves what he does and that is why he is so great at it! He works very hard and his dedication is admirable. I’m proud to be his wife, and his support system. We make a great team! Click here to read his straight talk with Bryan Cabell.

As far as post partum eating, I’m focusing on whole foods, and easy foods as sometimes it’s hard to prep food when you have a baby who needs to feed often. Breastfeeding can be tricky because right when you’re done feeding, I get crazy hungry so grabbing cheese is easy or nuts are a great go to! As far as workouts, I obviously haven’t been cleared to normal activity yet but I have been doing non weight bearing things to just move, also doing foam rolling and stretching, which feels good.

The company I promote with has come out with some new products that aren’t yet for sale. They now are offering KetoUp which is ketones in a can and it’s apple flavor. They are also offering MitoPlex which is upgraded electrolytes.

With that, as I use all of the Pruvit products daily and I’ve continued to use them throughout pregnancy and now on my postpartum journey. I’m currently doing one caffeine free Keto pack a day, one 143 MCT oil and one bone broth. I also want to tell you about another company I recently started using their products because well, I blogged a while back about replacing my coffee with one Keto Max charged(caffeinated) pack and it was a game changer for my morning but after about two months, I missed the coffee taste to start my morning. So, with that I decided to….switch over to caffeine free ketones AND add in Smart Coffee who a friend I follow on Instagram introduced me to. They have amazing products with what I’ve used so far. I LOVE coffee and great supplements of course!

These are the products they offer below. Click here to see descriptions, prices and ordering options! Any questions, let me know.

I hope all of you are having great results and success with your fitness and nutrition journey. Remember, it’s not always about if you’re doing it all completely 100%, it’s about if you’re making better choices to make your life better. Life throws many unexpected things at us and when we learn to adapt and still make better choices that is when we’re going to see those results. Did you do a little movement today? Did you make healthier choices today? If so, keep doing it. Life is what YOU make it. As always, thank you for following along and I always appreciate people reaching out saying they enjoy my blog or with questions. I’m no expert but I like to think I have a few things figured out!! Again, thank you for following along.

Here are all of our maternity pictures!

What have you got to lose? This 60 hour Keto Reboot will assist you to reset your metabolism by reprogramming your genes to run on fat for fuel. By conquering a 60 hour Keto reboot, you engage your body to use fat as an energy source while gradually shifting into Keto Adaptation.

Other benefits:
Control cravings
Protect lean muscle mass
Maximize energy
Stay accountable

Who is in for February? Order by today! For every person who purchases a keto reboot and does it from February 10-13 and makes sure to share their results with me, I will enter you in a drawing to win a 5 day Keto experience and accountability after the reboot!

Here are some real results from the reboot! Order by clicking here!

Ketone supplements, why you ask? They have changed my morning and day for the even better. I am such a must HAVE coffee, like, NEED COFFEE, for the taste and for the energy. My Keto pack I always was doing in the afternoon for a pick me up. But about a month ago I decided to push the coffee to the side for a week and do the Keto pack in the morning instead. Well, let me tell you, I haven’t went back, it’s changed my whole day. Energy for my workout: AMAZING! Mid morning lull: NON EXISTENT! Afternoon pick me up: I mean let’s be honest, I’m almost 39 weeks pregnant with a baby who doesn’t seem to have much room in there anymore, kicking all things, so there’s aches and pains and there’s also exhaustion that I don’t think can be helped! Good news though: looking forward to post baby keto packs too! I thought I would miss the taste of coffee right away in the morning but now I look forward to the cold or warm keto pack that makes a HUGE difference. If you need the coffee taste, there are flavors that you can most definitely add to a cup of decaf or even regular as long as your staying in the moderate caffeine intake. I still have 1 cup of coffee a day but that’s not generally until 11:30 or noon, which has been bizarre. So that’s a little bit more on WHY I love Pruvit ketones. To check out the flavors and all the benefits, click here.

Update on pregnancy. Like I said above, baby is very active, generally all over the place before I go to bed at night. I’ve still been sleeping 8-9 hours with generally 1-2 potty breaks. I really can’t complain. I’m anxious but mostly excited! I’m not nervous for labor, I like to think that when it starts I’m going to embrace it, I see no need to be scared or nervous because well, I know I’m in great hands and everything happens as it’s meant to. Looking forward to sharing with you all when this new bundle makes his or her debut! And, my next blog post I will share the rest of our maternity photo shoot session!

Does anyone have a goal they want to reach but you’re not sure where to start? I think the biggest misconception is that you completely have to change your life to lead a healthier lifestyle. By making small changes through your daily habits, it will make big changes to your health. Like for instance, switching from coffee with sugary cream to switching to a healthier option.   I’m a person who likes my coffee black but sometimes enjoys that cup of a sweeter option in the afternoon. Click here to check out what I use in my coffee! Click *Keto Kreme* once you get to my site.

Have you ever written down your food? When you eat, what you eat and how much you eat? That’s how we’ve found the most success. I designed a food and exercise journal that does just this; I’ve posted a picture below of a couple of my days. If you want to purchase a journal, click here.

So, as I mentioned in my New Year post I started a subscription of Hello Fresh. So far we’ve done three meals and I’m thoroughly impressed. Our order for this week came in yesterday and we tried one of the recipes and it was the BEST so far! It was called “Cheesy Mexican Beef and Rice Skillet”. There is a lot to some of the recipes but it’s a good a lot because it adds healthy ingredients like vegetables, fruits and spices that I wouldn’t always add into my recipes and on the positive side Mallorie has been eating while we’re prepping and cooking. So far she’s added red peppers and pineapple to her like list! The part I love the most is the time we spend together in the kitchen talking and listening to music. We got the Amazon Echo from our friends for Christmas so it has been quite entertaining for all of us to have Alexa play music! Mallorie gets a British like accent when she asks her to play something and Makenzie gets frustrated because she says “Awexa!” and sometimes she doesn’t stop and listen. Most of the time Makenzie’s request is “Awexa, baby shark, turn it up!”  If you want to get $40 off a Hello Fresh order, click here!

I also made this dip recipe this week, which was delicious. It’s a keto friendly recipe but everyone will love it:

4 tbsp acvocado
1 tbsp cream cheese
Sprinkle with some salt and pepper
Cut up some cucumber and put it on top or dip it
Simple but delicious!

Calories are for 1 whole cucumber with all of the dip

180 Cals, 14 Fat, 6 Net Carbs, 3 Protein

Have you had a good start to your new year? I’ve had quite a few particpants get one of my cleanse or detox options to kick the healthy habits into gear! If you’re interested in a 3, 5 or 10-day option, let me know!! I can ship anywhere or drop off if you’re in the Marquette area!

As I sit in bed with my hands reached out kind of far to reach the computer to type, as the belly has gotten too big to rest the computer on, two little girls and a sleeping husband, I’m reflecting back on 2018. What a year it’s been. Quite honestly, one of our best, but I have a strong feeling, a sense of happiness and many goals that 2019 is going to top this year!  A new job at the YMCA for Travis proved to give us a new and grateful community to be a part of. A month into his new job we found out we were expecting baby number three, just about a month shy of when I was running my FIRST marathon. This year, I will take on that challenge again at five months post partum and at 30 years old (I turn 30 in May!) I’m excited, I love challenges, and I can’t wait to take you on this adventure with us as we BOTH are signed up to run Grandma’s Marathon in June. Three kids, two marathoners, we’ve got this!

Let’s be honest though right now, I’m 35 weeks pregnant, soon to be 36 on Friday! I’m most anxious to meet our new baby and find out if we will have three girls or two girls and a boy! We put away all of the Christmas décor this past weekend and as much as I love Christmas and the lights, it’s nice to have the house set as we need to bring baby items up from the basement so we’re ready for the arrival. I’ve been wanting a changing table that will be able to turn into a décor table after baby and all of the tables I found were either the wrong dimensions or $500 so I asked Travis a final time what I should do and I told him I found a DIY changing table on Pinterest and he said he would make it,not sure he had a choice!! We went out on a dinner date Saturday and after we went to Lowe’s and he got all the wood to make it! I’ll post pictures when it’s all done. This part of my blog post was written on Sunday night and I will continue tomorrow.

What I did today, (NYE) I took the girls to breakfast. Then we came home and cleaned out the pantry, cleaned the cupboards, cleaned junk drawers, and cleaned the fridge out! The garbage men will indeed get a workout tomorrow morning when they pick up our garbage but boy do I feel amazing going into 2019 with a little less clutter! I also created our monthly budget sheet for groceries, miscellaneous, and gas.   Does anyone else have a monthly budget sheet they follow?

What else do we have going on beginning tomorrow? Well, we both have our food and exercise journals out and ready to conquer goals! Of course, my goals are a little different with being pregnant. We will be:

1. Eating whole food, no more processed carbs like Christmas cookies and treats. I most definitely will still be eating gelato or a more whole dessert once in a while to finish my pregnancy, because, well, it’s all about moderation!
2. Refraining from alcohol, (which, of course I haven’t for 8, almost 9 months already anyway) but Travis will have no alcohol all of January and maybe into February as well.
3. Logging our exercise calories.
4. Staying away from our no no’s from our DNA test results. Mine being high carbs, and Travis’ being high carbs and gluten.
5. Making sure we’re all taking our daily vitamins.
6. Making sure Mallorie keeps trying new foods, we’ve struggled with her trying new things, but when she finally tries something she really likes, she doesn’t want to stop eating it. Her staples are, peanut butter sandwiches, pizza with the topping scraped off, macaroni and cheese, cucumbers, apples, (must be peeled), watermelon and cantaloupe.

I did do three meals a week on HelloFresh with a coupon code and our first delivery is expected Thursday, so I will keep you all updated as far as that goes! I think Mallorie will enjoy helping me make the food.  Our little Makenzie eats and tries anything so there’s no problem there.  If any of you want to take $40 off you first order, click here.

I also have meal plans and our food and exercise journal available for sale through my site if you want to take a look at the options, click here. As always, if you have ANY questions, let me know.  What better way to kick off the New Year?! I also have cleanse and reboot options available, just send me a message on Facebook, Instagram or send me an email to melodiemariealexander@gmail.com

I hope the rest of 2018 treats you all well! I’m looking forward to this next month and sharing our new baby news and life with three kids with you all!! Thank you for following along! 🙂

With the upcoming arrival of Baby Alexander #3 coming, of course being the person I am, one of the most exciting things about the journey is the post baby body and getting back into pre baby shape. I understand that there’s always this stigma about moms who look good “too soon” or she just “bounced back” but I am confident that moms probably don’t feel that they just bounce back (at least I don’t) and that they may just appear that way. There are so many changes that happen from the beginning to end of your pregnancy and beyond and it’s a truly amazing experience.

First off, I think there is such a misconception on what moms “should” do. As a mom who has breastfed both girls, Mallorie was beyond two and Makenzie was a couple months shy of her 2^nd birthday. Your body doesn’t really belong solely to you for all that time and if you’re wanting to get back into shape and make sure you’re still nourishing your baby, that is key. Here’s what I do know. Just because you’re pregnant or breastfeeding it doesn’t mean it’s a free for all for the things bad, sugar, complex carbs, processed foods. All those things are not good for you or your baby and will definitely not help get you back to feeling great. I just think there’s so much of the, “you’re pregnant, or you’re breastfeeding, you can eat whatever you want.” It really is powerful how much food dictates how you feel both mentally and physically. My health and baby’s health is top priority and of course, is it okay to balance and splurge once in a while? Yes, we’re all human!

I’m excited to bring you along on this journey of getting back into pre baby shape. As far as this pregnancy goes, I can’t believe how close we are to the end. Also,’ am I the only mom who gets pregnant and then wonders all through the pregnancy is this my last baby?” Today marks 33 weeks, 7ish weeks to go, I’m officially at the roll over or help me up out of bed stage. My stair climber workouts ended this week as it has just become too complicated. This baby seems to be sitting a LOT lower than the girls as I’ve had to adjust my seat for driving and I don’t really sit anymore, I more else lounge. Picking things up off the floor is done in a deep squat position in hopes that I can get up. Travis has taken good care of me though, this morning, he did a roll and movement session on me and I feel like a million bucks so moving definitely helps. Mallorie loves up on the belly and Makenzie does once in while but mostly just says “you’re big!” and she will also say there’s no baby but we talk about it a lot and I figure once baby is here she’ll be like, “oh, this is what they were talking about.” We’ve had many conversations about how baby is going to drink “mommy’s milk” I can’t wait for them to meet the new baby as it’ll be so exciting to see if they have a brother or a sister! We’ve been watching Christmas movies with the girls at night and it’s been such a blast. Any good suggestions on Christmas movies? We’ve done some baking and Mallorie is always my helper, this weekend we will be making the gluten free kiss cookies, which Mallorie is super excited about! I just added the recipe to the top of my recipe page if you’re interested, click here to see the recipe. I hope you all are enjoying the Holiday Season!

Are you waiting for the New Year to make better choices for yourself and your family? Don’t gain an extra 10-15 pounds before the New Year. Balance your lifestyle and still stay on track and lose some weight through the Holidays.

Pruvit came out with this amazing offer for the 60-hour keto reboot PLUS 30 days of metabolic optimization to follow.

Check out the flyer below and if you have any questions, message me or to place your order, click here

Update on my pregnancy, not much to update besides I’m getting bigger, I have 8ish weeks to go, I’m not feeling nearly as agile as I was about a month ago! I’m really looking forward to finding out if it’s a boy or a girl. I’m embracing this pregnancy but I’m also getting the point of “ok, I just want to meet you!” But of course, we want baby to go to term and I’m going to just enjoy all the fun things that come along with Christmas time and with Mallorie & Makenzie. Hoping to share some recipes through the Holidays as well. 🙂

So, I want to share again on how the Keto Products work that I use. Do I still eat carbs? YES, and you can. Right now I have been because mostly in my pregnancy, that’s what sounds good. I try and eat my meats and veggies at least once a day and I always have eggs a couple times per week but generally when I’ve been pregnant I am more prone to reach for that bowl of cereal, banana, apple or other carbs! I am generally around 50 carbs when I’m not pregnant but in pregnancy I’m more around 100 to 120(probably 150 some days 😉  I also drink a shake once a day with my fruits and greens supplement(to find out more info on this if you’re interested, let me know!) and a Ketogenic shake because that’s what I’ve been having for months but instead of doing almond or coconut milk I’ve been having whole milk for more calories because I’m always really hungry in the mornings and between getting the girls up and ready, dogs out, coffee in hand, a shake is my go to and has been for many years!

So, why have the carbs and still do the keto max packs? This is why….

If you are interested in more information, please don’t hesitate to ask. Not only are ketones great for your body inside but the mental and physical effects are great as well. If you are interested in getting in on the last REBOOT of 2018, let me know. It goes on sale on December 1st and kicks off on December 16th as a group. As always, it can be done at any time and I will guide you along the way! 🙂  My particpants last month lost 40.5 pounds!

As always, thank you for reading!

So at almost 30 weeks pregnant, I went to “hop” on my bike and do cardio this morning. First of all, I don’t know what made me think that was going to work out but needless to say I may have lasted 30 seconds and had to get off. I’m happy though that I still feel agile enough that I thought I was going to just be able to do it! I then did BodyAttack for 30 minutes from my LesMills OnDemand, which was a lot better choice and was able to get a good workout with Makenzie. I had a baby appointment today and baby is measuring right on and it’s always neat to listen to that heartbeat! I’m 70 days away from my due date, which is so crazy as time has flown by so fast.

A couple funny things that have happened in our household is my jacket no longer zips and with the winter we are having I had to go on the search for a new one because there is just something about that cold belly while running around that doesn’t feel good! I ordered it from the maternity section from Gap and it’s supposed to be here Friday so here’s to hoping that one zips.

Also, I feel like there’s always the debate on toilet paper rolls being under or over and I’m one of the people who could care less but I can tell you I do have a peeve of the toilet paper rolls having to be changed once a day so I was adamant when we bought our last rolls that they were giant rolls. Travis had bought the right toilet paper just not the right size rolls and it drove me nuts as I was having to change the toilet paper rolls all too often!

I am beyond excited to share the Reboot results with you all. I have a couple people who opted to do theirs after Thanksgiving and are starting on Sunday so I will give you the total weight loss then but so far we are at 30 pounds. If you are interested in getting the December reboot, message me! 🙂

A couple tips for not over doing it on Thanksgiving. Go for small portions if you enjoy everything. I enjoy the pecan pie and sweet potato the most so I generally do smaller portions of everything else and take a little more of the things I love. I generally am all in for the wine but this year I will make up for the sweet wine and maybe try another dessert or two! 😉

So, also I know Black Friday is coming and I am not one of those people who goes out and shops because I can’t handle the madness. Although, I did do a little Target online shopping today from my phone and if you are a RedCard Holder (Debit or Credit, doesn’t matter which one) you get the deals before! Go check them out by clicking here.

If you need to sign up for a RedCard click here. I have the debit card that is directly linked to your checking account, which I love!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, all!