1. Eating all the time. I typically eat at 6:00, 8:30, 10:30, 12:00, 2:30 and 5:00. Each mini-meal is between 150-300 calories. The only caloric items I consume after 5 pm is one Famous Amos cookie and a glass of red wine. Okay, maybe 2 glasses of wine if my husband and children have been grating on me.

2. Downsizing. The easiest way to enact portion control is to eat from smaller plates. We only eat off salad plates in my house. You naturally put smaller amounts of food on a tinier plate. *Tip: Unless you are hosting a dinner party anytime soon go ahead and pack your large plates away. Your only option becomes the small plate. You WILL eat less.

3.  Schedule, schedule, schedule. It’s simple physics, “a body at rest stays at rest a body in motion stays in motion.” I packed on a few pounds in August mainly due to the heat, and lack of activity during the long days of summer. Not so shocking is the fact that I lost those 3 pounds plus one more for good measure two weeks after the kids started school.  We are constantly on the move again and couldn’t be happier. Well, Tennison is actually still adjusting to the structure of VPK but mom couldn’t be happier.

4.  Dumping the conveniences. This is the old ‘take the stairs instead of the elevator’ scenario. I burn calories wherever possible. Whenever we are at the mall we all take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator. When we have lighter loads at the grocery store, I just grab a basket and fill it up. I give the kids each a bag and haul the rest of the groceries myself to the car which is usually parked far away. Putting the little monsters to work helps teach them that leading an active lifestyle encompasses more than just standard exercise.

5. Watching the liquids. This one is huge. It surprises me how many people still overload on sugary drinks. A big part of staying thin is drinking a ton of water every single day. Do not touch any sugared “vitamin” waters, creamed or whipped coffees and never let a soda hit your lips. I drink coffee in the morning with a little organic skim milk and water the rest of the day. Personally, I would rather preserve those precious calories for actual food versus a beverage.

Written by Lea Barlow • 1 Comment

While packing for our Labor Day mini-vacation last week, I noticed something slightly alarming.  The amount of facial products I use could warrant their own suitcase and I am not even including my make-up. Take a look at my daily regimen…

12 different products.

The only one I don’t use every single day is the apricot scrub. Funny, because that is one of the cheapest.

Here are the products I use in the morning. Granted, I do not use them all at once but all are utilized by 10 am.

I always begin with the Witch Hazel. The first thing I do when I roll out of bed is wipe the night time oil build-up off with my trusty and inexpensive witch hazel. It immediately refreshes me. I really don’t like to splash cold water on my face at 5:30 am.

Pre-workout and depending on greasiness factor, I will wash my face with Neutrogena Naturals. It’s a nice, gentle cleanser that doesn’t dry my face out. If the children made an appearance in my bed the night before I will gently pat (read: slather) on Zirh herbal eye cream to cut down on the puffiness.

After my workout, I will wash my face again and may use the apricot scrub. I then immediately apply my recently prescribed clindamycin phosphate topical gel because for the past several months I have been getting these super annoying cystic acnes. They are painful and unsightly. I don’t do unsightly so my dermatologist kindly found me a solution. So far, it’s been working out.

When that dries, I apply my Obagi Vitamin C serum on my forehead, crows feet, cheeks and neck. My absolute favorite product.

Lastly, I combine my Aveeno SPF 15 moisturizer with my Laura Mercier SPF 20 tinted moisturizer and start my day. Combined does that give me an SPF of 30? These are the things I ponder.

Now for my nightly ritual:

I take my time with my night products. I begin by washing my face. Because I am a greasy little creature, I end up washing my face 3 times a day. That is why the Neutrogena Naturals works well with my skin. Finding a good cleanser has been a long, hard road. I am also a fan of the Obagi cleanser but that’s not always in the budget.

Next, I apply a combination of Obagi Skin Bleaching Cream in Clear with Obagi Trtinoin Cream (Retin-A). These two products help reduce the appearance of freckles and uneven skin tones. I have been using this combo for a couple months and am very pleased. It’s not drying out my face or cracking my lips like other Retin-A’s have in the past.

I finish by applying Vivite Night Renewal and Vivite Revitalizing Eye Cream. Both are very thick so I only use small amounts. Vivite is expensive BUT it lasts forever. I have been using these two products for 6 months and I am only half way through the jars. Something to note is that I take the majority of all my products down into the neck area. Never neglect the neck!

So, that’s my routine. Is your’s more or less intensive?? I would love to hear what you do to stay beautiful.

Written by Lea Barlow • Leave a comment

by Alexis Novak

When I asked my former student and current babysitter Stephanie how she would grade my parenting she quickly replied, “B plus. Have to take off a few points for your oversharing”. I laughed though I’m still perplexed why my 20-year-old babysitters don’t want to know about the wonders of childbirth, specifically as it relates to new moms eating their placentas. I was trying to prep her for the gore. But OK. Fine. No more vulva-tearing jokes for you Steph.

I thought we had all become immune to oversharing in our social-media-obsessed culture, tweeting and Facebooking every mundane detail of our daily lives. “Eating a grilled cheese, dipping it in tomato soup. Yummo.” On any given day, I know who went for a run, who has diarrhea from bad Mexican food, who is hung over, who is composting and who got a new hairdo. Thanks Facebook!

The problem might be that I am overly logged into my Facebook account, but still, I’m constantly stunned by the cringe-y overshares. Nowhere is there a better stage for acting out one’s inner middle schooler.

The top five offenders that surely bug the hell out of you too:

5. Chicken Littles- These people write cryptic cry-for-help messages to illicit response, making you feel emotionally manipulated. Chicken-Little-Drama-Queens say things like “I can’t go through this all over again; never going to make it” or “I do not deserve this”. Then everyone says, “Are you ok? Worried about you. Call me later.” It’s a private convo made visible that should stay invisible. (I swear whole mood disorders could be diagnosed based on people’s statuses alone.) If you play Chicken Little I will ask you only the first five times you post suicidal-sounding statuses if you are alright. After that, another sap will have to give you their attention. Please understand, “I have asses to wipe.”

4. Paris Hiltons- “Cannes was so boring this time of year. Rained all three weeks we were there”. Seriously? We feel terribly for you that you don’t know how to spend your inheritance/can’t find a Neiman’s/your Range Rover is two years old. We are in an effing recession; show some sensitivity to the common folk.

3. Status Stabs- “Some people know how to be a REAL friend. You know who I am talking about!” Passive-aggressive status stabs for the world to see. How clever. I wish I could say that my former students in their twenties are the vengeful culprits but I have seen many a mom write these posts too.

2. Low Jacks- I am private; I do not want people to know where I am until I’ve left for fear of being stalked. Other people “check-in” everywhere. This is an especially good weapon following a break-up or divorce to show your ex how many cool bars you frequent now that you’re single and on the prowl. Or to paint your life Fabulous to people who you went to high school with who thought you were a loser; another type of social media revenge. Which brings me to the point that a whole carefully edited existence can be marketed and sold, your Facebook life, which may not be anything like your actual life at all.

But by far the worst oversharers are The Breeders, a.k.a,

1. Mommy Bloggers- Suddenly, social media has made everyone a writer and anything new moms have to say about their children must then be relevant, right? Stay-at-Homes vs. Working Moms, breast-feeders vs. formula givers, cloth diapering tips, homemade baby food ideas, minivans, vaccines, and Mother-In-Law tirades. New moms either blog about sewing, or their new photography biz, or hair bows they make in their living rooms and sell on etsy.com. But there are only so many baby-centric topics to discuss before it gets stale. OH. Wait a sec.*

*Alexis doesn’t consider herself a Mommy Blogger per se, even though other people may define her that way. She does have an actual writing degree from an accredited university and considers her real self pretty Fabulous even if she has selected her Facebook pics to include only those featuring her former, pre-children bod when she was actually quite hot. Also, she understands very little about mothering, as evidenced by the fact that she has been bribing her toddlers with multiple cups of mini marshmallows for the duration of the time it took her to write this piece.

Written by Alexis Novak • 6 Comments

I have run into my first obstacle of the new school year. Breakfast. Over the summer, breakfast wasn’t an issue because our mornings were long and unstructured. Breakfast was served when they were hungry and they had a solid hour to finish it. Now we have to be out the door at 8:25 and they conveniently do not want to eat until 8:15. So what’s a mom to do? Skipping the most important meal of the day is not an option unless I want my children acting like Linda Blair from the Exorcist at school pick-up. That makes a 5 minute drive home seem more like a 5 hour drive home. Below is what I have stocked up on for quick, easy and healthy breakfasts. No recipes. I’ll save the fancy cooking for the weekend. *Prep time is based on serving 2 toddlers*

Breakfast #1

2 hard boiled or scrambled eggs

Fresh fruit like strawberries, grapes or watermelon

1 piece of toast

Glass of orange juice

Prep Time: 5 minutes (Make sure to hard boil the eggs the night before)

Breakfast #2

Triangle toasts with Almond Butter

Top with sliced bananas, strawberries or apples

2 microwavable links of Applegate Farms sausage

Glass of low-fat milk

Prep Time: 7 minutes

Breakfast #3

Fruit Smoothie

Half a bag of frozen fruit (I use the berry combos)

Stoneyfield Organic Vanilla Yogurt

A splash of apple juice

Add a little ice and blend

You may notice I do not use any real measurements. I wing it on the smoothies. It’s not like I am being reviewed by Bon Appetit.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Breakfast #4

Fresh Muesli

Plain low-fat yogurt

Organic granola

Fresh blueberries

Prep Time: 3 minutes

When the weather gets less suffocating I will be re-introducing Organic Instant Oatmeal with Flax combined with fresh fruit. Oatmeal is a fantastic breakfast option. Just stay away from all of the ones with added sugar. Hope these ideas help your own hectic mornings!

Written by Lea Barlow • Leave a comment