new things are happening here!

Hey friends!  I am so excited to let you know about some new features we have here at Sweet Anna’s!

We have been working with ZipList lately to make things a little more user-friendly around here.  (Have you heard of ZipList yet?  They are a great company that is making is easier for blogs like this one to have easy-to-use recipe boxes, grocery lists, meal-planners and more!)

My favorite feature is definitely the recipe box, where you can save your favorite recipes from Sweet Anna’s and from all over the web into one handy place!  From there, you can add ingredients to a grocery list, easily access it from the ZipList mobile app, and you can plan out your menu’s (if you’re a planner like that!)…

How handy is all that!  And the best part – it’s all FREE!  Yay ZipList!

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I am Mom.

I have always wanted kids.  Ever since I was a little girl, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, the answer was always… a mom.  ”I want to be a mom.”

As I grew, I learned that I shouldn’t answer the question that way and I would make up some quick flippant response, but in my heart I always cried out “All I really want is to be a mom!”

I dreamt of my babies, my children, even to the extreme of dreams so vivid of pregnancy (and oddly enough, miscarriage) that I would wake up weeping in my bed as a teenager.  I never understood my longings, but I knew they were there.  And I believe they were, and are, from God.

     

But somewhere along this beautiful and very difficult journey of becoming exactly what I have always wanted, dreamed of, longed for…  a seed of discontent was planted.

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We tried The Fast Metabolism Diet, and it worked!

Disclosure:  This is a sponsored post, but the review is absolutely my own.  Questions?  Ask me!!

Ok, I am not a dieter by nature.  I am too much of a food-lover.  (Obviously!)  But after having 3 babies in under 4 years, my body had pretty much given up on ‘bouncing back’.

It didn’t matter what I ate, or didn’t eat…  my body stayed the same and seemed to get more uncomfortable every day.  I did’t feel like me anymore, but rather a miserable shadow of me, trapped in someone else’s body.

So, when I was offered the chance to try out Haylie Pomroy’s new book, The Fast Metabolism Diet, I was happy to try something new.  I wasn’t very optimistic, that’s for sure, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try, and the Hubs was on board, so we jumped right in!

(If you follow me on instagram at all, you probably had an inclination something was going on!)

I read the book, and loved it right away.  Haylie has a very scientific but understandable approach to nutrition and dieting.  She explains things well, so that I understood them, instead of just saying “do this because I said so”.

I was pleasantly surprised when I started losing weight right away!  But much more importantly…  I lost inches!!

Lots of inches actually, and all from the right places!  We are a few days from being done with the diet, but Andrew has lost 12 pounds and 3 inches off his waist (and other places too!) already and I have lost 14 pounds and 4 inches off my waist (and lots of inches from other places!!).

My waist is smaller, my thighs are smaller, the fat just felt like it was melting off my frame.  Even though the scale didn’t change that much (not 20 lbs, anyways, but I’m definitely not complaining!), the measuring tape proved much more important.

I will take inches lost over pounds any day!  (We all know muscle weighs more than fat anyways, right?)

Ok, so the bottom line is:  I am happy with the diet.  I am glad we did it.  I will happily recommend it, and I will probably do it again someday (even soon)!

But you don’t just want the bottom line, do you?  You want the nitty-gritty.  So, here it is, pro/con style:

Pros:  It worked for me!  I lost inches & pounds, dropped lots of bad eating habits, learned to love some new-to-me healthy foods and good habits, and just feel better overall.

Cons:  It’s hard.  Ok. it’s not the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s definitely hard.  This diet requires lots of planning.  If you don’t plan, you will probably fail.  But, if you do a little planning, you will do great!

*There is an iPhone app that you can buy to go with the diet and I’ve gotta say, that was the best $1.99 I’ve spent in a long time!  I don’t think I could have done the diet without it.  And on the topic of money…

The only other real con I had with this diet is the cost.  Now, to be fair, that is not Haylie or this diet’s problem.  That is just the unfortunate cost of eating fresh veggies and real food.

That said, if you garden, wait until peak harvesting season to do this diet!  And for the rest of us…  late spring and summer, with their abundant farmer’s markets, farmshares and produce stands will make the cost of eating this healthy that much more bearable!

My husband’s hardest thing, besides just going through the pain of breaking bad eating habits (serious sugar cravings for that guy!), was drinking enough water everyday.

Water is a biggie on this diet, and you need to drink half your body weight in ounces every day (which we really should be doing anyway!).  I drink a lot of water so that wasn’t a big deal for me, but for my husband…  he felt like he was drowning a bit!  ;o)  But, he has definitely learned to be better about drinking water!

And as Haylie puts it…  if you don’t drink all your water so that the fat and toxins can be flushed out of your body, you’re basically taking fat off one thigh and putting it back on the other, because it has no way out!  Yuck!!

So, what do you think?  Do you think I’m a quack?  Or do you think you might give this a try?

 

life…

My goodness, life is kicking my butt lately!

I can’t even begin to explain to you all that has been overwhelming me (ok, that’s not true…  I totally could, but I’m pretty sure you don’t need all the gritty details!).

Don’t worry…  there have been plenty of beautiful moments too…  but more often than not, I have been overwhelmed, exhausted, emotional, and just plain tired.

No, I’m not pregnant!

There has not been much cooking and baking going on in the Sweet Anna’s Kitchen lately, but I’m dreaming of fun things and can’t wait to get to a place where I can share them with you again.

While you wait, here are some glimpses of the beautiful parts of my life for your viewing pleasure:

what makes life easier…

I have so many good things to say about my new Maytag Kitchen.  I could really go on and on about all the things I love about my new appliances…  but the bottom line is, my life is that much easier now than it was 6 months ago, and I am so grateful to Maytag for that! As a busy, overwhelmed mom, I am all about making life easier.  But do you want to know what I have loved the most about Maytag?  The amazing customer service I have received! We have had a few very minor issues, and they were handled so well and so quickly I could hardly believe it!  I was seriously in shock at how fast and well our glitches were resolved.  10 gold starts Maytag!! There is not one of our new appliances that is not used every single day. I bake or cook something on our range every day.  I reheat my coffee in the microwave multiple times a day.  :o)  We run the dishwasher at least once a day!  And obviously…  the fridge is well loved and used! I have never been much of a microwave user, but I have to say, it is so nice to be able to reheat two plates at once in this gigantic beautiful microwave.  When I do need it, I am so grateful that it’s there…  if you have little kids close in age, you know how hard it is for one of them to wait there turn for the other.  Two plates of mac & cheese heated up at once = happy kids and happy mama! The fridge has still not worn off its novelty…  the littles love opening the middle drawer and getting their own apples/carrots/string cheeses out for a snack.  I love that they can grab something healthy, without me having to do it for them!  And I have yet to run out of room in the fridge, even after major Costco-stockup trips! The dishwasher is… well…  a dream.  I barely ever remember to rinse any dishes and have yet to have one dish come out less than perfectly clean.  My kids think it’s the funnest game to load and unload the dishwasher, and you know what?  After not having a working dishwasher at all for about 6+ months…  I think it’s a pretty fun game too!!  (My other favorite feature of our dishwasher?  The “extra dry” function!  No more drippy dishes or leaving the door open for an hour before you can put stuff away!)

Check out Maytag’s website, Twitter and/or Facebookfor more information and reviews from other moms in the Maytag Moms program!

“I wrote this post participating in an Maytag Moms Dependable Kitchen Ambassador program by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Maytag. I was provided with a Maytag kitchen appliances set, including a refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher, and range to facilitate my post”

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