I admit to falling off the wagon after my baby girl passed away two weeks ago. I've also been super busy with my best friends wedding (which was this past Friday, and beautiful). Now that life seems to be calming down I'm jumping back on the wagon.
I'm trying to find a good diet plan to follow. What I've been doing is just fine to start with, but for the long haul, I need something more formal (I now me, I need direction). So I started looking at the website Live Strong, and there are some helpful things on the site. For one, I'm looking at the Ketosis diet (which sounds really similar to Atkins or is it South Beach that limits carbs). But the diet seems more structured and strict in your carb intake, exercise and supplements. So we shall see.
BCAA, I have never heard of this before... but then again, I'm not exactly the most knowledgeable person in the health and wellness arena. Anywho, BCAA is Branched-Chain Amino Acids. Now this stuff is used to treat some hefty ailments (liver disease, diabetes, brain issues...), but it is also used to help burn fat rather than muscle. My research of Ketosis says that you need to take BCAA's to keep from burning muscle rather than the fat. I think this requires further research, but I'm really thinking about this.
Basically you have less than 20 grams of carbs a day, exercise (strength and cardio), eat high protein foods (chicken, beef, fish...) and take your dietary supplements; I guess doing this for 30 days is really supposed to jump start weight loss. Things that make you go hmmmm....
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
My New Obsession
Thanks to my wonderful co-workers, I have a new obsession!!! They kept talking about a phone app that someone here used to help lose weight. So I had to ask what the app was so I could download it, what a mistake (in a good way)... I can't put my phone down!!! The app is "My Fitness Pal". I'm not sure if this is an iPhone only app or if you can get it on Droid too. The app is free and is absolutely amazing! Try it out!
The app was the first one that came up when I typed in "my fitness pal" and to make it even sweeter... did I mention IT'S FREE!!!!! You heard me correctly boys and girls, a FREE iPhone app that is worth its weight in gold!
The app was the first one that came up when I typed in "my fitness pal" and to make it even sweeter... did I mention IT'S FREE!!!!! You heard me correctly boys and girls, a FREE iPhone app that is worth its weight in gold!
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
RIP Baby Girl
I took a blog vacation for the past week... not because I'm being lazy, but because I lost my very dear kitty cat, Bisquit. Bisquit and I (and the hubs) have been together since she was a kitten to the ripe old age of 18 (which is pretty old for a cat). She was my baby girl, the one and only cat I have ever met that I had a connection with. She wasn't the "typical" cat, she craved affection and was usually on my lap within five minutes of sitting down.
She died in our arms, in our home surrounded by her fur brother and sisters. It was very sad and bittersweet, and left me emotionally drained for the last week (I still think of her all the time). He had her cremated that night and brought her ashes home the next day, so we will always have our baby girl with us.
I'm proud that I didn't end up eating myself into oblivion, instead I opted for lot of alcohol. I maintained my smooth regiment and eating healthy... until the weekend. But considering the heartache I thought I'd never feel for the loss of my cat, I think I deserved a few drinks...
So with this, I say my final goodbye to my sweet baby girl... stay safe and have fun on the Rainbow Bridge and I'll see you again!
She died in our arms, in our home surrounded by her fur brother and sisters. It was very sad and bittersweet, and left me emotionally drained for the last week (I still think of her all the time). He had her cremated that night and brought her ashes home the next day, so we will always have our baby girl with us.
I'm proud that I didn't end up eating myself into oblivion, instead I opted for lot of alcohol. I maintained my smooth regiment and eating healthy... until the weekend. But considering the heartache I thought I'd never feel for the loss of my cat, I think I deserved a few drinks...
So with this, I say my final goodbye to my sweet baby girl... stay safe and have fun on the Rainbow Bridge and I'll see you again!
Bisquit
1995 - 2013
You left paw prints on my heart
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Sunday
I have to say, I truly hate "spring forward", it can bite me. The husband and I are so tired today and have been dragging since we got our butts out of bed.
Sunday's are our shopping day. We do all our grocery shopping and special running. I was really impressed by the healthy factor going on in our cart today! We are going into week two so I did some stocking up. We got apples, pears, pineapple, oranges, bananas, spinach, cucumbers, brussel sprouts, spring salad mix, and a bunch of other yummy stuff. I also sucked it up and bought some almond milk. We got home and cleaned, peeled and cut stuff up... invested in some freezer bags and put all the fresh fruit into the freezer (this keeps it fresh for use later and is also good for smoothies to keep them slushy and icy cold).
My smoothie today was pretty darn tasty and I got to use some almond milk for the first time. The husband even liked it, which was shocking because he doesn't like anything remotely "diety" (he's one of those people we love to hate, tall, slender, toned with a metabolism that's in overdrive). The smoothie was chocolate peanut butter.
2tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2tbsp peanut butter
1/2 frozen banana
ice cubes
3/4c almond milk
I added milled flax seed (I'm adding that crap to everything, it really has no flavor to it, but packs a punch for sure!).
I didn't use my elliptical today, instead we took the puppy out for a nice walk. She's passed out in her bed now.
Sunday's are our shopping day. We do all our grocery shopping and special running. I was really impressed by the healthy factor going on in our cart today! We are going into week two so I did some stocking up. We got apples, pears, pineapple, oranges, bananas, spinach, cucumbers, brussel sprouts, spring salad mix, and a bunch of other yummy stuff. I also sucked it up and bought some almond milk. We got home and cleaned, peeled and cut stuff up... invested in some freezer bags and put all the fresh fruit into the freezer (this keeps it fresh for use later and is also good for smoothies to keep them slushy and icy cold).
My smoothie today was pretty darn tasty and I got to use some almond milk for the first time. The husband even liked it, which was shocking because he doesn't like anything remotely "diety" (he's one of those people we love to hate, tall, slender, toned with a metabolism that's in overdrive). The smoothie was chocolate peanut butter.
2tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2tbsp peanut butter
1/2 frozen banana
ice cubes
3/4c almond milk
I added milled flax seed (I'm adding that crap to everything, it really has no flavor to it, but packs a punch for sure!).
I didn't use my elliptical today, instead we took the puppy out for a nice walk. She's passed out in her bed now.
I'm a Bad Girl
I'm a couple days behind! Well, it HAS been a busy weekend!!!
Friday I think my green smoothies finally started kicking in. I found a recipe for a "belly burner" green smoothie that, when made right, is actually pretty darn good! So, Friday morning comes around and the husband leaves for work at about 5am. I swear, at 5:01 I couldn't sit down, I had so much energy, I literally cleaned my entire house in an hour. I was a mad woman around this joint, dripping in sweat by time I stopped to go work out. Of course, 2 days later my house is a wreck again.
I had my 13 year old niece at my house overnight on Friday. She's a beautiful girl, and I cannot help but support any idea she has. Her recent obsession is dancing. We talked at lengths about it, and I showed her some stretches and stuff that she can do to keep limber (things I found on Pinterest). We also talked about food and things she can do. I told her, she needs to start getting in a routine now before its too late. She's a size 7 and I want for her to remain that, I told her not to get lazy like me... its always easier to keep it off and stay fit than get lazy and fat and have to shed the weight later in life when you're older and its harder to do. It was a good talk and after that we had a nice workout together. It was a lot of fun and we both laughed a lot.
I got her to try my smoothie Saturday morning, her face was PRICELESS!!! She ended up spitting it out, I chugged it down and enjoyed every ounce. :)
Belly Burner Smoothie
3oz vanilla fat-free Greek yogurt
1tbsp almond butter (expensive but yummy)
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup frozen pineapple
1c kale
3/4 cup water
This was very yummy, I've had it 2 days in a row now. Delicious!
Friday I think my green smoothies finally started kicking in. I found a recipe for a "belly burner" green smoothie that, when made right, is actually pretty darn good! So, Friday morning comes around and the husband leaves for work at about 5am. I swear, at 5:01 I couldn't sit down, I had so much energy, I literally cleaned my entire house in an hour. I was a mad woman around this joint, dripping in sweat by time I stopped to go work out. Of course, 2 days later my house is a wreck again.
I had my 13 year old niece at my house overnight on Friday. She's a beautiful girl, and I cannot help but support any idea she has. Her recent obsession is dancing. We talked at lengths about it, and I showed her some stretches and stuff that she can do to keep limber (things I found on Pinterest). We also talked about food and things she can do. I told her, she needs to start getting in a routine now before its too late. She's a size 7 and I want for her to remain that, I told her not to get lazy like me... its always easier to keep it off and stay fit than get lazy and fat and have to shed the weight later in life when you're older and its harder to do. It was a good talk and after that we had a nice workout together. It was a lot of fun and we both laughed a lot.
I got her to try my smoothie Saturday morning, her face was PRICELESS!!! She ended up spitting it out, I chugged it down and enjoyed every ounce. :)
Belly Burner Smoothie
3oz vanilla fat-free Greek yogurt
1tbsp almond butter (expensive but yummy)
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup frozen pineapple
1c kale
3/4 cup water
This was very yummy, I've had it 2 days in a row now. Delicious!
Friday, March 8, 2013
Day Four
Sweet almighty, what was I thinking?!?!
I decided as I was halfway through my elliptical workout that I would push myself a little harder... a few sayings came to mind... "no pain, no gain", "your legs are not giving out, your head is giving up". I kept saying that to myself and pushed to a 15 minute workout (which to some doesn't seem like long, but when your a larger girl, 15 minutes is an eternity). My heartrate was up, sweat was dripping in places I didn't think I could sweat and afterword, I felt good about myself for the first time in a long time. I'm a bit sore, but I can live through it, the feeling I had made every sore muscle worth it!
I decided on another green smoothie, but decided to do a protein green smoothie I saw... on Pinterest... surprised? I wasn't overly jazzed about it and could only get half of it down. The recipe called for baby spinach, but my spinach was getting a touch funky so I used straight up kale. Maybe that was the problem, kale is very distinct.
Recipe:
2 handfuls baby spinach
some frozen banana
1/2 cup vanilla non-fat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup peanut butter
Flaxseed
Some milk (skim, almond, soy...)
Throw it all in your blender, mix it up, put it in a cup and enjoy.
Now I realize this is basically the same recipe from a previous post. I was TOTALLY in love with the smoothie last weekend, but yesterday... not so much. Maybe I put too much peanut butter in it, or maybe it was the kale that totally threw it off. Has to be the kale, there is no such thing as too much peanut butter!!!
My spell checker has decided not to work, so if I misspelled something, move on it will be OK.
I decided as I was halfway through my elliptical workout that I would push myself a little harder... a few sayings came to mind... "no pain, no gain", "your legs are not giving out, your head is giving up". I kept saying that to myself and pushed to a 15 minute workout (which to some doesn't seem like long, but when your a larger girl, 15 minutes is an eternity). My heartrate was up, sweat was dripping in places I didn't think I could sweat and afterword, I felt good about myself for the first time in a long time. I'm a bit sore, but I can live through it, the feeling I had made every sore muscle worth it!
I decided on another green smoothie, but decided to do a protein green smoothie I saw... on Pinterest... surprised? I wasn't overly jazzed about it and could only get half of it down. The recipe called for baby spinach, but my spinach was getting a touch funky so I used straight up kale. Maybe that was the problem, kale is very distinct.
Recipe:
2 handfuls baby spinach
some frozen banana
1/2 cup vanilla non-fat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup peanut butter
Flaxseed
Some milk (skim, almond, soy...)
Throw it all in your blender, mix it up, put it in a cup and enjoy.
Now I realize this is basically the same recipe from a previous post. I was TOTALLY in love with the smoothie last weekend, but yesterday... not so much. Maybe I put too much peanut butter in it, or maybe it was the kale that totally threw it off. Has to be the kale, there is no such thing as too much peanut butter!!!
My spell checker has decided not to work, so if I misspelled something, move on it will be OK.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Randomness Part Uno
So my plan to lose some weight and generally increase my feeling of self worth began a couple of weeks ago (see my original starter post). BUT it FINALLY became a true reality this past weekend.
I woke up for some crazy ass reason at 5am on March 2. I went out into my living room so as to not disturb my sleeping husband (I'm so nice). As I sat on the couch drinking coffee I flipped stations and was sucked into an Infomercial! I'm a sucker! The infomercial was for the NutriBullet (by MagicBullet). The infomercial talked about this wonderful gadget some person invented to make smoothies! They showed how to make this smoothie and that smoothie, and I got inspired.
I have a friend that is HUGE into green smoothies, she bought the Vitamixer a couple years back for like $500... now I live on Planet Earth, so there is no way I'mma spend $500 on a kitchen gadget (that may or may not end up a dust collector)... the NutriBullet... $99. I had a 20% off coupon for Bed, Bath and Beyond, so I decided to save shipping costs and drag my lazy ass to the nearest BB&B to buy this wonder gadget.
After my quickest trip to BB&B EVER, I dragged the husband to the nearest produce market to start buying all these wonderful fruits and veggies (now I love the healthy stuff, but I like the unhealthy stuff too... hey, if I can't be honest with you, who is left to be honest to?). I started pinning all these great smoothie recipes on Pinterest, so when I got home I busted out my iPad, found a recipe and got to work.
I was SHOCKED, I mean fall on the floor shocked, that this smoothie actually tasted good... I was expecting "foot-n-ass" flavored (not that I know what THAT tastes like you sick-o's), but it was actually decent! I was sold from that moment on the smoothies!
The recipe...... Green Monster Smoothie (there are many recipes)
1 handful of kale (cleaned and chopped)
1 handful of baby spinach (cleaned)
1 frozen banana (chopped)
1/2 cup plain, fat-free Greek yogurt
1/4 cup peanut butter (low fat)
3 tbsp of flaxseed (ground)
top it off with milk (the recipe suggested almond milk, but I'm not about to spend $5 on a half gallon of milk I don't know that I'll like, so I used the horrible whole milk we had and cut it with water)
Put everything into your Vitamixer or NutriBullet and blend until smooth.
I did find that there is still a slight grainy texture, but I got over it quickly.
--------------------------------
The next day, March 3rd, my husband and I took a trip to the local Costco to buy this fantastic elliptical machine. We saw it a couple weeks ago, and time didn't permit us to buy it until now. It was worth the wait though... 2 weeks ago it was $599... this week it was $499! It's by Nordick Track and came with all the bells and whistles. We loaded the box into the husbands Ass-Crack (Aztek) and drove our new prize home with the hatch open. 4 hours later, after lugging it piece by piece up a flight of death stairs, it was assembled and ready to use. So pretty and shiny and un-touched. Its my new love obsession.
This isn't "our" new toy, but similar (stock image from Costco)...
I woke up for some crazy ass reason at 5am on March 2. I went out into my living room so as to not disturb my sleeping husband (I'm so nice). As I sat on the couch drinking coffee I flipped stations and was sucked into an Infomercial! I'm a sucker! The infomercial was for the NutriBullet (by MagicBullet). The infomercial talked about this wonderful gadget some person invented to make smoothies! They showed how to make this smoothie and that smoothie, and I got inspired.
I have a friend that is HUGE into green smoothies, she bought the Vitamixer a couple years back for like $500... now I live on Planet Earth, so there is no way I'mma spend $500 on a kitchen gadget (that may or may not end up a dust collector)... the NutriBullet... $99. I had a 20% off coupon for Bed, Bath and Beyond, so I decided to save shipping costs and drag my lazy ass to the nearest BB&B to buy this wonder gadget.
After my quickest trip to BB&B EVER, I dragged the husband to the nearest produce market to start buying all these wonderful fruits and veggies (now I love the healthy stuff, but I like the unhealthy stuff too... hey, if I can't be honest with you, who is left to be honest to?). I started pinning all these great smoothie recipes on Pinterest, so when I got home I busted out my iPad, found a recipe and got to work.
I was SHOCKED, I mean fall on the floor shocked, that this smoothie actually tasted good... I was expecting "foot-n-ass" flavored (not that I know what THAT tastes like you sick-o's), but it was actually decent! I was sold from that moment on the smoothies!
The recipe...... Green Monster Smoothie (there are many recipes)
1 handful of kale (cleaned and chopped)
1 handful of baby spinach (cleaned)
1 frozen banana (chopped)
1/2 cup plain, fat-free Greek yogurt
1/4 cup peanut butter (low fat)
3 tbsp of flaxseed (ground)
top it off with milk (the recipe suggested almond milk, but I'm not about to spend $5 on a half gallon of milk I don't know that I'll like, so I used the horrible whole milk we had and cut it with water)
Put everything into your Vitamixer or NutriBullet and blend until smooth.
I did find that there is still a slight grainy texture, but I got over it quickly.
--------------------------------
The next day, March 3rd, my husband and I took a trip to the local Costco to buy this fantastic elliptical machine. We saw it a couple weeks ago, and time didn't permit us to buy it until now. It was worth the wait though... 2 weeks ago it was $599... this week it was $499! It's by Nordick Track and came with all the bells and whistles. We loaded the box into the husbands Ass-Crack (Aztek) and drove our new prize home with the hatch open. 4 hours later, after lugging it piece by piece up a flight of death stairs, it was assembled and ready to use. So pretty and shiny and un-touched. Its my new love obsession.
This isn't "our" new toy, but similar (stock image from Costco)...
Day One - Three
So, as you can see, I just mustered up the energy to post.
I decided that my goal, using this blog as a diary, is to attempt to post daily. I have the WORST memory, so I can't make the promise that I will remember to post (you know the saying, the worst promise I made to myself was to promise to remember... LOL). I have a e-card somewhere with this saying, it cracks me up because its so true!
I do, however, promise to try my very best to be the best I can be. Now that's a great promise!
I decided that my goal, using this blog as a diary, is to attempt to post daily. I have the WORST memory, so I can't make the promise that I will remember to post (you know the saying, the worst promise I made to myself was to promise to remember... LOL). I have a e-card somewhere with this saying, it cracks me up because its so true!
I do, however, promise to try my very best to be the best I can be. Now that's a great promise!
Pre-Day One
One day, not too long ago, I was shopping with my best friend, her step daughter and my niece. I was in desperate need of a new pair of blue jeans, so I wandered into the "fat-girl" store. As I was browsing the racks, it became abundantly clear that there was nothing, and I mean NOTHING in the store that I liked or wanted. I was also informed that the store was scaling back their jean selection, and the only thing in the store... skinny jeans or jeggings. Well, I don't know about you, but there is no way in H-E-L-L I am going to be caught dead in skinny jeans or jeggings... fat girls shouldn't wear things like that!!!
So, we continued to walk around the mall, and I continued to feel depressed about myself because the only store with clothes I can fit into has a selection of clothes meant for skinny girls. We browsed other stores, and I saw all these great clothes that I could wear if I was only skinnier...
So, we continued to walk around the mall, and I continued to feel depressed about myself because the only store with clothes I can fit into has a selection of clothes meant for skinny girls. We browsed other stores, and I saw all these great clothes that I could wear if I was only skinnier...
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