*This post is brought to you by Sara Lee®

Christmas is in SEVEN days. Holy cow. Are you ready for it? New Year’s Day is FOURTEEN days away. Are you ready for that?

I am.

I am really ready to kick off this new year and focus on getting healthy again. I’m not just talking about losing baby weight, either. I have been sick so much this year and I am SO over it. Pregnancy and child-birth really do a number on your body. I’m ready to have my body forget that it was pregnant and then sliced open.

However, I’ll still be breastfeeding in the new year–probably for another six months. So I can’t do anything super crazy with diet (and this is actually a good thing). I thought long and hard about what my body really needs to kick this annoying sick pattern, AND lose weight.

I came up with three things.

1.) Rest

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha! Rest?! What’s that? I saw a girl at Disneyland wearing a teeshirt that read: “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” and my first thought was, oh, that sounds nice. Yah. I’m so tired that I’ve turned morbid. Ok, I’ve always been a little morbid, but exhaustion makes me more so.

Sleep is crucial to health. I’m so overtired all. the. time. I know this is why I cannot get rid of this annoying cold that has plagued me for two months. Not to mention, sleep helps you burn more calories throughout the day and helps with actual fat loss.

Say no more! I’m going to bed.

If only it were that easy. Being a mom to three littles means that sleep is sometimes as elusive as a rainbow. It’s beautiful, but intangible. I know that if I want more sleep I need to start WAY earlier in the evening with getting myself to bed.

2.) Drink more water

We all know the benefits of water, right? I don’t need to rehash them. Our bodies are 60% water. What’s crazy though is how little we can get away with drinking it.

I’m not a huge Cameron Diaz fan, but when she came out with The Body Book folks learned that she is like a camel when it comes to water. She drinks a liter of water as soon as she wakes up.

Yikes! A liter of coffee, maybe, but water? Who wants water first thing in the morning?

Welp, as Diaz points out (with the help of sciency people), we actually wake up dehydrated from a night’s sleep and the best thing we can do for our body is give it the water it needs.

So I’ve been trying it. I wake up each morning, shake my fist at Diaz, and then chug some water. It’s hard. But guess what? I actually DO feel better.

Huh.

Funny enough, drinking that much water first thing in the day makes me want water more throughout the day. I don’t know why that is, but it’s a good thing.

3.) Eat more veggies

Again, I don’t need to dish out the reasons why we all need more veggies, do I? I personally just feel so much better when I eat veggies throughout the day. I try to incorporate them into each meal in simple ways:

Breakfast: throw mushrooms, spinach, and peppers into an omelette.

Lunch: put cucumbers, lettuce, and bell peppers on my sandwich.

Dinner: steam broccoli, zucchini, or brussel sprouts.

Now remember, I’m a breastfeeding mama. I need to eat a little more than the average girl, so having healthy snacks is really important.

I’ve come up with a delicious, healthy, and energy-boosting snack for myself: cheese and veggie sandwich with Sara Lee® Delightful Breads.

Did you know this bread is only 45 calories per slice? But it doesn’t taste all airy or flimsy like other lower calorie breads.

It has a really great texture and taste. Also, Sara Lee® Delightful Breads are free of corn-syrup and artificial colors or flavors. The Delightful line is available in supermarkets nationwide and has an average price of $3.29 per 20 oz. package.

Right now, Sara Lee® is celebrating healthy transformations. I’m hoping that by incorporating a few much needed changes in my lifestyle that I will transformed into a better version of myself. Enter their Delightful Person contest for a chance to win $4,500!

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sara Lee®.