I just spent $150 on protein shake powder and I’m just a little bit scared they won’t taste good or work for me. The other 90% of me is pretty excited. This is not me promoting some new fad, I promise. I’m going to explain why shakes seem to be the answer for me personally in this post. I’m not doing Herbalife, Shakeology, or anything MLM. I won’t be selling or making commission off of this. I am also not going to buy supplements or use the detox tea they offer but that goes against my thoughts on weight loss.

If you remember, my word for the year is “Devoted” and to be pretty freaking honest, I’ve done a shitty job living up to that. My schedule is off track. I’m not where I wanted to be halfway through this year. I’ve enjoyed lots of off plan meals, I’ve lost most of my motivation to cook, and I feel overwhelmed and haven’t been faithful to working out.

My home life is changing a bit, and adding another member to the house means less space in general and one more schedule to work around in the kitchen. Somehow in the last 2 years I’ve lost that joy in making food. I think in the back of my mind, cooking 90% of my meals has always been physically taxing. It takes A LOT of time and money and commitment to shop, prep, cook, and consume a special diet.  When I had my own place, I was wasn’t working around other people’s messes and trying to shove all my groceries where they’d fit. I actually had the space and peace and didn’t have the distractions. Now I come home from work and there’s three pans full of food sitting on the stove cooling/needing to be put away, or I forget I have ingredients because it is shoved where I can fit them or someone uses up what I planned to cook with since a lot of the food I buy technically is up for grabs and communal.

I used to be adamant about not using shakes as food but I get it. Our lives are busy and it’s better to fuel up on a shake with nutritious items added then get a refined, greasy, overpriced drive thru meal. I see them in a new light.

I have always used protein shakes as part of my eating plan. The difference is that it was a whey protein isolate and sometimes that gave me migraines or made my tummy hurt. I also didn’t feel like I needed THAT much protein each shake, so I’d never do 2 shakes with the other powders in one day. My Quest protein powder packed a whopping 24g in one serving and I am not an athlete or body builder that needs that much! The THM one had 20g. This new shake has 15g which I think is perfect. I did the math and with the buy 2 get one free deal, each serving of the protein powder is about 1.62. It’ll roughly cost $2-3 with add-ins like almond milk and fruit/oats/etc. It’s got protein and probiotics and is actually plant based, not whey based, so it’s less animal sourced protein and a smaller carbon footprint which I’m excited about. It’s only 90 calories, which means I can pad it with adding fruits and veggies or oats, etc to get it to 300-400. I can still follow Trim Healthy Mama basics with this, it’ll just be way less meal prep. If I throw a 1/2 banana or oats in, I’ll have an E. If I throw MCT oil, berries, avocado, or nuts in there, I’ll have an S.

So here are the pros and cons:

Pro:
Less decision fatigue
Portable
Easier to track macros/calories
Less groceries to store/cook
Takes less space
Eliminates half the time I used to cook/grocery shop
Clean eating and ingredients
THM friendly
Harder to cheat/go overboard
No sugar in protein power
I can customize add ins
Plant based
Less attachment to food
Less costly than a food service
Less costly than eating out

Cons:
Not as fun as food lol
Still have to add ingredients to shake to get enough calories in
Buying a new flavor for variety is a $68 commitment
Might get tired of “drinking a meal”
Won’t taste as good if just shaking in blender bottle and not blending
If I get lazy and don’t add items to it I’ll have too large of a calorie deficit daily.

I just blocked out my schedule and have it worked out so that most days I use a shake to replace one meal, and 2 days out of the week when I have less control over my meals/are more likely to eat out since they are date nights I’ll have 2 shakes that day to replace 2 meals. I’m hoping that it makes me feel less rushed since it only takes a minute or 2 to throw together and that it works for my crazy life.

My current goals are to finally be faithful to taking vitamins, working on getting my gym schedule back on track, getting into groove of blocking my time daily, and using less mental and physical energy on meal planning. I bought enough protein powder for 3 months, so if I don’t find it working out, I can create a new game plan in September. Wish me luck!

After seeing the big bold resurrection flowers adorn many Easter images and celebrations in late April, I got to meet quite a special Lily on May 2nd. My beautiful niece raced into this world – literally, Mama had a 10-15 minute labor!

Since my SIL is a midwife she didn’t give many details except that baby #2 was expected to arrive some time in May. To our surprise, 2 days into the month I got a call at dinner that asked me to come soon, the baby will probably come tonight. My friend and I rushed to finish dinner and I promptly headed over.

I called and walked into the door and heard…crying. Little sweet shrills of a newborn. That’s when my brother told me the baby was already here. Before the midwife even made it. My SIL settled into the bathtub after her water broke and my brother caught the baby minutes later. Thankfully the midwife was only 10 minutes away and came quickly after that!

Kai was a patient little dude, happily watching an episode of Sesame Street while all the commotion happened around him. My brother told me he really wanted to make a cake for his sister. When I came up to him and said hello he excitedly exclaimed, “Baby come out! Not in Mommy’s tummy!”

We got out all the supplies and found out they were out of eggs. Ha! So we headed to the store and he held out 4 fingers and reminded me we needed “three eggs!” I let him pick out a bouquet for Mommy and we grabbed a carton of eggs. He was singing happy birthday baby as we paced the aisles for supplies and all the way home. He helped stir and crack the eggs in, and when the cake cooled, he proceeded to help frost the cake and eat half the container of frosting. 😉

I can’t remember when I got there, maybe 7:30pm? But the birth photographer and midwife didn’t pack up and leave until around midnight. Because of the precipitous birth they had to give her some coaxing to get her active and thriving but Lily is very healthy and a good eater and sleeper.

Now that she’s nearly 2 months old, she’s beginning to react more to people’s words and facial expressions. Her little smiles are so cute – they start on one end and then slowly widen. She loves to scrunch her lips and furrow her eyebrows. I happen to think she looks a lot like her Momma, and her mom thinks she resembles her grandma.

Kai is both helplessly in love with Lily and jealous of the time she gets with Mommy. We’ve all given him extra love and attention to help him understand he’s still very important to us and we love them both.

When Kai was born, I felt much more prepared and conscious of his arrival and presence. I also spent many weekends over there helping since it was freshly after my brother’s accident. With Lily, the first time I held her it all felt a little alien. That’s not to say I wasn’t excited or think less of her. It just felt less real? I don’t even know how to put that into words. But she is absolutely precious and my brain finally connected that she’s here. Haha. I think when Kai was born we paused the world around us a little bit but when Lily came everything was still whirling around us. I guess that is the plight of a second child. I can’t wait to see the two of them interact more with each other as they grow, but I’m perfectly happy soaking in these baby days again and hoping the time she is little doesn’t speed by.  Auntie life is the best.