Healthy BMI For The Win

Three things.

First, I want to promise (particularly to my family who are waiting for updates) that my next post will have Nicole in it. Actually, Nicole will be "taking over" my blog in my next post, so stay tuned for that. Meanwhile, enjoy a cute picture of her walking with her daddy. (Insert all the heart-eye emojis!)

Second, the Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook (a companion to the handbook I mentioned in my last post) arrived on my doorstep a week and a half ago, and I don't think I've been this excited about food in quite a while!

I've been eating according to the Trim Healthy Mama plan for over a week now and have been pleased with the recipes so far. A good chunk of them don't require "special ingredients" to make, or have suggestions for substitutions you can make if you don't want to buy things like whey protein and collogen.

The food pictures are gorgeous, the cookbook is written in the same friendly tone as the handbook (which makes it fun to just read the cookbook to see what Barrett and Allison will say), and I particularly love how there's a combination of single-serve and family-serve recipes, and that some recipes have instructions for both single- and family-serve so you don't have to do the math yourself! I can't wait to share my THM journey with you guys in a month or two once I've been able to get the feel of this new lifestyle.

^^^Plus... I get to eat stuff like this. Without feeling guilty. I put a couple strawberries in it, so it tastes like a Chocolate Moo'd from Jamba Juice, only waaaaaay healthier. Heaven in a jar!

Third... joining me on my THM journey is a brand new bathroom scale. This was a long time coming because our old scale was a little sketch, and it turns out that it displayed my weight as a couple pounds higher than it actually was. NOT a good feeling, people. It was also so annoying to assume that Nicole was a very robust weight, only to go to the doctor and be told that she was a pound or two lighter than we thought.

^^^Nicole checking out one of my body weight percentages ;)

The Precision BODYCHECK Digital Body Fat Scale (which, by the way, looks way too fancy to be sitting in our dingy, dark little apartment bathroom) is much more accurate. It also measures your BMI, body fat, body water, body muscle, and bone mass. It can save weight profiles for up to 8 people, and takes into consideration your height, age, and activity level.

^^^Sorry if you have a weird deal with seeing people's feet. Also, Nicole has taken over profiles 6 and 8. According to how she's programmed profile 6, she's an athletic 27-year-old man. This is where I insert several laughing-with-tears emojis. ;)

Nothing made me happier than to step on the scale, see a weight that was 3 pounds lighter than what our old scale displayed, and be told that my BMI was in a perfectly healthy range. One of the main reasons I've come to terms with my new post-baby weight is because I'm still a perfectly healthy BMI for my height and age. I don't think I'll ever weigh the same as I did pre-baby, but as long as I'm active and feeling healthy (and now, thanks to THM, eating healthy) then the weight doesn't matter.

Although I must say... stepping on the scale today to see my weight the lowest it has been in the past year+ was a pretty good feeling! I'm excited to see where Trim Healthy Mama takes me.

I received a copy of Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook from Blogging For Books and the BODYCHECK Scale from Tomoson in exchange for a review. All thoughts and opinions are completely my own!

Trim Healthy Mama Plan // Book Review

If book reviews ain't yo thing... sorry! Come back later! :P I'll be doing mini reviews for this awesome little book program I'm a part of. The first one up is a book called Trim Healthy Mama Plan by Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison! (You can read what the back cover says here.) This review ended up being a little longer than what my reviews will usually be, but hey, I'm excited to put what I've read into action.

Trim Healthy Mama kind of reminds me of the sugar detox I did about half a year ago and how I realized that it's better to eat to feel healthy than to eat to lose weight. The gist of the THM Plan is that you get to eat foods from every food group, and you don't have to count calories or measure portions; you just get to eat! The trick is balancing what you eat, and knowing how to combine the foods in a way that makes you lose weight, feel satisfied and healthy, and still allows you to eat cheesecake and chocolate! Score!

I could write a whole separate post about that plan itself because I love it, but this is a book review so... in regards to the book itself: (what do you say about a health book, anyways??!? I'm used to fiction books...)

BIGGEST POSITIVE: It was very informative. In order to eat right, you have to know how your body functions and why certain eating habits are helpful or harmful for your body; the book describes functions such as insulin production, fat storage, blood sugar levels, etc. in relation to what you eat. Knowledge is power! The book also goes into detail about the qualities of different types of food, and how to combine them in ways that promote good health (and as a result, weight-loss). I feel like an expert now, and it was nice to read an explanation that wasn't tied up in a bunch of scientific/academic jargon. The style of the book makes it easy to follow along and keep up with all this nutritional info.

A close runner-up in the positive category is that the authors provide several week-long meal plans for you. I hate meal planning, so I was happy to see that they did a bit of thinking for me. They even include the websites of several bloggers who have tons and tons of meal plans and recipes on their websites. I have a feeling I'll be visiting those blogs a lot!

THE BIGGEST NEGATIVE: It was often too wordy. The authors published the original version of this book a couple years ago as a 600+ page monster... so they just barely released this shorter, simplified version last fall. Sure, it's shorter than the original, but I still think it could have been shortened even more... but Barrett and Allison really love their banter and repetition. Their jokes and anecdotes kept the tone of the book witty and conversational, but I think they could have reigned it in. I found myself skipping some explanations that seemed repetitive or unnecessary.

The only other negative is... the cookbook comes separately. Just a heads up, for people wanting to try the plan... a lot of the recipes they mention in this book come from the companion cookbook. Sure, you can use your own recipes, but then you'll have to figure out how to tweak those recipes to make them "on-plan" and whatnot. Or... just comb through Pinterest. There are lots of THM recipes on there.

I'm actually going to jump right into this plan next week, so I'll let you guys know how it goes. The THM cookbook should be arriving on my doorstep any day now, so I'll also make a little post about that in a day or two, and then you can expect a follow-up post in a month or so on how the plan is working for me.

The THM movement has really exploded over the past couple years, and there are many women testifying of it's benefits. The biggest thing holding me back is that I don't want to have to think about my food and my meals... can't I just destroy my arteries and metabolism in peace?! ;)

**I received this book from the Blogging for Books program for review. All thoughts and opinions are completely my own!

All pictures belong to the Trim Healthy Mama website.