Military Cami Wreath

As the Spring Forward time change came, so did the Marine Corps uniform. My husband had to get his Desert Camis ready. While he was digging around in his military stash ( I am sure most military people know what I am talking about) he pulled out a whole bag of extra cami tops and bottoms. Most of them were older and faded and some were like new but just too small. He intended to take them to a shop to sell, but I decided to try out a new project with them instead.

DIY Military Cami Wreath!

A perfect addition to any military home. Great gift for moms, spouses and friends. So if you are like me and have a bunch of extras lying around the house, here is something you can do!

Supplies you will need: Scissors, Pliers, wire hanger, 2 cami blouses, hot glue gun, and chevrons/ ribbons that you want to add.

Start by cutting the seams of the blouse. I chose to cut the whole back piece, then folded it in half long ways then cut into strips. I also ended up cutting up some of the sleeves and front pieces to make the wreath extra full. The strips are about 2" wide by 10 to 12" long. I didn't cut these exact, I just eyed it. These would also look great if you were to use texturized scissors.

The wire hanger needs to be bent into a circle. I did this by hand and use the pliers at the top where the harsher corners where to round them out.

Once you get enough strips together, start tying them onto the hanger from the middle of the strip. Just a single knot will work.

As you add more, be sure to squeeze them tight together to one side of the hanger packing on as many strips as you can fit. If you don't do this, your wreath will look very thin and flat. Once you get towards the end you will see your knots. This is the time to start rotating the ties all around to hide them. Just fluffing and twisting until you reach a desired look.

I cut the name tape off of the blouse, as well as the USMC tape and the EGA off the pocket.

I made the bow from 2 of the button strips cut off the blouse, tied them together in the middle then tied the bow around the neck of the hanger. I chose to make the ribbon of the same material but you could also make it with a bigger yellow ribbon for a support the troops theme.

Here is where you can personalize your wreath. I found 2 older chipped chevrons to hold the name tape onto the bow. I then used hot glue for the EGA and the USMC tape at the bottom. I wanted to make this wreath with existing things in my home. But if you wanted to make yours nicer, you could get all new camis, chevrons and add the ribbons that your military member has as well.

I am happy with the outcome. It adds a nice touch to my front door.

My end of week 2 update.

I am now on week 3 of my body transformation. I am so excited for the next 10 weeks to go by. And honestly, even though I don't feel like I have accomplished anything yet (I don't notice any physical change), I am still motivated. These 2 weeks have flown by.

Update on me so far: 3 weeks ago when I first called Terry for help, I weighed in at 183lbs.  This last Saturday I weighed in at 172lbs even. WOOP. That is just 2 weeks of eating right and hitting the gym.

My daily routine includes going to the gym when I am off work about 6 times a week. My trainer Terry has me on a pretty intense cardio plan on top of weight training. I am so glad that I used to do the stairmaster before I signed up with him, because if I didn't I would sure be dying now haha. By the way, if you do cardio, you should really consider switching to the stairmaster. It is such a better use of your time in the gym.

The past 2 days I have been feeling sluggish at the gym. I am really really having to push myself through my cardio. I don't know if it is the carb cut that is getting me, or that I am going to the gym at the end of my 8 hour work day? I am not skipping any meals, am never hungry, and I haven't been craving food either. I don't know what is up, I hope I get through this energy slump quick.

But hey! My diet changes next week. And I get a cheat meal on Saturday :)

I eat 6 times a day, small meals. AND I am proud to say that I haven't cheated once! Not one bite. I measure everything and stick to the plan 100%.

On my days off I don't worry about meal prepping unless I am going out. If we are going somewhere, I just take my meal in a tupperware to eat at the time I am supposed to. When I am going to work, I prep my meals every morning. Will and I do bulk cooking once a week. It really helps having everything ready to go cooked up in the fridge.

I have been eating so much chicken lately, you have to get creative with the flavoring. Some of my favorite seasonings to use are lemon pepper, liquid smoke, and garlic powder.

So here is what my day of food looks like (measuring and weighing everything is key):

Egg whites, Grape Fruit, Oatmeal

Chicken and Rice

Chicken and Broccoli

Ground Turkey with Bell Peppers and Asparagus

Chicken Salad

Almond Butter

I don't know why I didn't start this sooner. I have had all of the resources for sometime now, I just always put it off. I would say oh, I can do this alone. I go to the gym often and read tons of fitness articles, I will see results soon. It never happened.

If you have been wanting to change something, lose weight whatever it be, why are you waiting around? Start it today, ASAP. You won't regret it.  Reach out, get motivated, find help, just DO IT. Life is too short.
If you do start something, don't half do it. You need to go in 100% dedicated. You won't see results if you don't and the only one you are cheating is yourself. I don't know about you, but I have cheated myself way to often when it comes to food and weight loss.

 I am so excited for the next 10 weeks, and after that.

And how I said I don't notice any changes yet, I should try to keep this in mind!

Coping with my 12 week program.

My body history: I have always been chubby. I have always thought about losing weight literally every single day of my life since I can remember, probably since around 3rd grade when I first got called fat by some girls at school. Which I am sure is relateable to majority of females out there. 


In 7th grade I blew up like a balloon and had the worst body image in my life. My grandma gave me her diabetic diet, which I followed along with exercise and I successfully dropped 20lbs on my summer break. I went into 8th grade feeling amazing. 


On comes high school, and on comes the slow creeping of weight gain. Crazy hormones, and birth control that made me gain 20lbls- talk about wanting to eat constantly. 


In high school I was always self conscious, always wanting to lose weight but never understanding the right way to do things. I would make my lunches smaller, but never lost weight. Senior year I started getting interested in weight lifting but was to embarrassed to be around the high school sports guys in the workout area that was there.


So freshman year of college I decided it was time to try something. I joined Weight Watchers with my mom. I got a gym membership to 24hr fitness. I followed the diet plan everyday, eating whatever I wanted as long as I staying in the point range. And I went to the gym everyday, knowing absolutely nothing about working out. 


I lost 20lbs on weight watchers. Then I stopped. Then I gained about 35lbs back.
So in college was a never ending desire for more knowledge of eating and working out. I subscribed to and joined almost every gym and nutrition related site out there. Reading articles everyday, and trying to learn more about weight lifting, I slowly started to understand things. 


I took a body building and nutrition class in my sophomore year and found out about the world of competitive figure/bikini/ and body building people. I got interested in the sport and how they changed their bodies so drastically.


 For about a year, I have had all these competitors, diet book writers, paleo cross fit people, you name it subscribed on my facebook. Everyday I would read updates on their bodies, or what they were eating and I would think, man how awesome would it be to do that. To have people I used to know look me up online and be like dang, she looks better now. 


I would always be in shock when I saw old friends that had gained a lot of weight. I would always say I never want to be that person where people look at my pictures saying, WOW look at how much weight Danielle has gained!


Which brings me to 2 weeks ago, in the doctors office.


I stepped on the scale and it read 183lbs. at 5"2, this is ridiculous for my frame size.  The heaviest I have ever been in my life. 


Something in my mind clicked. I got depressed for a minute. Then decided it was time to do something. ASAP. 


So I went through my facebook contacts, found a person on Camp Pendleton into the bodybuilding sport and asked for help.


SO Here we go. 1st update on my 12 week start to a better me. 




Monday, July 2nd, marked the first day of my 12 week nutrition and training program. 


It has been one week now, and I am feeling great besides the scheduled once a week cheat meal for today. My leg workout on the first day was slightly too intense and I seriously couldn't really even get out of bed until a day ago. So my scheduled cardio really didn't happen like it should've. But my legs are feeling much better now, so bring it on stairmaster!


The diet isn't that bad. As a matter of fact, I am constantly full as long as I don't miss a meal time. I eat within an hour of waking up, and every 3 hours after that for 5 meals total and 1 snack. 


The meals are small, and mostly chicken, like chicken and rice, chicken and broccoli, or chicken salad.


And let me say that I am very proud of myself for not cheating my diet once this week :)


Although, I did go on a road trip with husband to LA and I did not pack my meals. I didn't go over my daily calorie count, but I really really got sick/ light headed/ dizzy from not eating. The 3 hour meal frequency of clean eating, no added sugars really does help balance out your insulin levels, but I didn't think missing a meal would've made me feel that bad. 


 I figure most people would get tired of eating the same thing everyday, but it isn't that bad. I have been trying to find unique ways to eat certain things. 


In the mornings, I am supposed to eat 1/2 cup of oatmeal. I use the quick oats and usually add some cinnamon and a dash of splenda to it.  However, recently it hasn't been tasting so good. So this morning I decided to try baked oatmeal. I looked everywhere online and couldn't find a recipe that didn't involve large amounts of butter and added sugar. 


So I decided to improvise. It turned out great, and husband actually ate the other half! :)
I looked at most recipes, replaced all the liquids it called for and just substituted with water instead. It worked out for me, I think this will be my new breakfast soft/cake/cookie/oatmeal bar.


1 cup quick oats
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup, slightly less than this, Splenda
1 cup water
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


I added all ingredients together into a mixing bowl and mixed until blended. I put parchment paper on a baking sheet and poured the mixture on and put it in the oven for 15 minutes at 350.










So included in the weekly diet is 1 scheduled cheat meal. It was time for that today, so I got to have a cheeseburger and fries. I felt really bad ordering it, like I really shouldn't be doing it even though it is on the plan. There are all sorts of reasons for cheat meals; Helping you stay on track with your diet and looking forward to the one meal you can choose, or replenishing your body of things it is missing from dieting to cut fat, or in my case, make you so sick that you don't crave it at all anymore because it isn't worth eating.
1 hour after I had my meal I felt so nauseous. Here it is a few hours later and I still feel bad. I am really not looking forward to anther cheat meal. It is funny, I have experienced this before and just forgot about it.


When Will and I moved in together, we changed our eating habits. We looked into clean eating, skipping processed junk and we started that at about 90% of the time. Then we took it a step further and made our clean diet slightly primal by about 80%. But once in awhile, we aren't strict and if we want to go out, we do. I think it helps keep life sane. So after a good solid year of doing great on eating, we decided to go out the the buffet. We ate everything we hadn't had in so long. Fried chicken, fried shrimp, cheesy everything, a million desserts, you name it. However, no alcohol was involved.


The next day we both felt terrible. Absolutely drained of energy, we were grouchy and just felt sluggish and horrible. A food hang over. It is just totally crazy experiencing something like that. How processed junky food really affects your body once you have detoxed yourself from it for so long. 

And that is the same feeling I have from my cheat meal today.  I am hoping that next week doesn't go over the same haha. I guess we will see. BUT I am welcoming Monday, clean eating, hopefully a better feeling.


End of week 1: -3.2lbs






 And oh yeah, this week I will be doing 1 million arts and crafts projects with 15  7 year olds. Maybe I can share some how to stuff on some awesome kids crafts and my experience.