Getting Healthy- Week 2

This week was a little easier. I'm finally feeling a little more energy and I'm feeling great about being down 6 pounds!

I've continued to substitute 1-2 meals a day with either a shake or a juice. I've continued to snack throughout the day and still having my 8-10 glasses of water and I feel great!

This week we watched "Forks Over Knives"  another Netflix documentary where Lee advocates how you can combat many diseases by eating a low fat plant based diet. You can read more about it HERE Yes, I'm a Netflix Junkie...I'm not sure how I ever survived without Netflix. 

Over the weekend we juiced for Breakfast and Lunch since we had plans to go out for dinner. I was surprised to see that the juices and snacks had held me up throughout the day and I didn't feel hungry at all.

I love love love red meat...the Hubs keeps it out of our diet as much possible...but Kussifay has the yummiest parillada in town. Kussifay is an Argentinian Restaurant located in Downtown Hollywood. Whenever the Hubs and I get a chance to, we go there an order a parillada for 2. But this meal can probably feed up to 4 people. I only eat the skirt steakand the salad while the hubs likes to eat all the other stuff on the platter.

This week, we exercised lightly this week 3 days nothing too crazy.  I've also started parking my car farther than usual. At work I park in the last spot on the other side of the building. At the supermarket or any other place we go we also park farther just to get in a little extra walking.
 

This is where I am today:
Weight Lost: 4 pounds

Total Weight Loss: 10 pounds

Measurements:
Hips: 51"                       L Bicep: 14.5"                  L Calf: 18"
Waist: 44"                    R Bicep: 13.5"                  R Calf: 18"
Neck: 14.5"                   L Thigh: 29"
Bust: 46.5"                   R Thigh: 27"

JUICING

 

I wanted to share with you some of the juices we've been having to substitute our meals.

 First I'll share with you our groceries...

 There's a little bit of everything in that pile... total costs for all you see $94.00
This should last us about 2 weeks or so.

"Fruity Punch with a Twist"

Recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

• Apples - 2 medium (3" dia)

• Kiwifruit - 4 fruit (2" dia)

• Lemon (with rind) - 1/4 fruit (2-3/8" dia)

• Lime (with rind) - 1/4 fruit (2" dia)

• Oranges (peeled) - 2 fruit (2-5/8" dia)

• Pineapple - 1 fruit

DIRECTIONS:
Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.
I added 2 tablespoons of Chai seeds after juice was blended.

 

"Full of Kale-Cium"

Recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

• Apple - 1 medium (3" dia)

• Carrots - 3 medium

• Cilantro - 1 handful

• Collard Greens - 1 cup, chopped

• Kale - 4 leaf (8-12")

• Pepper (sweet red) - 1 medium (approx 2-3/4" long, 2-1/2 dia.)

DIRECTIONS:

Process all ingredients in a juicer, shake or stir and serve.

 

*Kale has a very strong taste, I had to eat an apple after drinking this juice to clear the taste afterwards.

 

Happy Juicing!

Getting Healthy ~ Week 1

 Last week I began my path to becoming healthy. It hasn't been easy, but it hasn't been impossible to do. I've started by reducing my portion sizes and adding 2-3 snacks in-between my meals, drinking 8-10 cups of water daily and exercising a few times a week.

I wake up around 6:40am every morning, I jump out of bed and get ready, prepare breakfast, clean up, pack lunch and out the door to play in traffic. Of course there are days where I hit the snooze button, later get up in a rush leaving me with no time for breakfast. Since the first week of any diet is a little stressful, the Hubs and I tried going to bed by 10pm so we're able to get enough rest and not feel so tired in the morning. 

This week  I thought I should try having a protein shake for breakfast just to get in the habit of having breakfast every morning. Let me tell you this has worked perfectly, even when I'm running late, I'm able to have my breakfast while I sit in traffic.

I've also started snacking. At 10:30am I have an apple, or a banana, or a 1/4 cup of almonds, or an orange, 1 cup of grapes. Since I started snacking this week, I find that I'm not as starving when lunch time comes around making me want to eat everything in sight. 

Also drinking water throughout the day has kept me feeling full. By lunch time, this 33.8 fl oz bottle of water is gone.

 I figure if you're supposed to drink 8 glasses of 8 oz of water daily, this bottle equals to a little over 4 glasses, so if I have 2 bottles that makes 8. And it's not stressful to see 3 empty bottles of bottles of water and think shoot I still have another 4 bottles to drink.

At lunch I usually have salads, or chicken and vegetables, some days I'll have tuna with 2 MultiGrain CrispBreads by Wasa. The Hubs say they taste like cardboard.

I'm also substituting my dinner with another shake. What ever was prepared for dinner that evening I have for lunch the next day. 

Before bed time, I have a 4 oz glass of orange juice and mix 1 tablespoons of Chia & 1 tablespoon of Flax Seeds in it. Chia seeds is a great source of healthy Omega 3-fats and Fiber.  Flaxseeds are also a great source of healthy Omega 3's, Fiber and Lignans. I gotta warn you...when you wake up in the morning, you'll poop like 10 lbs. TMI I know. :)
You can pick a bag of either for a few bucks at Whole Foods. 

A few weeks before I started,  The Hubs and I did a lot of research on healthy eating, exercising, and all kinds of healthy stuff. We came across this documentary on Netflix called "Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead".  Where this guy named Joe started a juice fast for 60 days and lost 100 pounds. You can read more about it HERE In the past, the Hubs had always talked to me about juicing but we never really took it seriously and after watching this documentary we've included juicing into our meals. We substitute one or two meals with a juice, usually at dinner time. I've found a bunch of juicing recipes HERE.

I'm sure there are people like me who are very antsy and find it hard to wait to weigh in. For me weigh ins are on Sundays. There were times where I would weigh myself every 2 days, until it back fired on me. One day the number on the scale had increased and I freaked out! Thankfully when Sunday came around the number I was looking for was there.

I haven't done any exercising this week as I didn't want to push myself since I've reduced my portions and have replaced my meals with shakes or juicing.

Here's where I am today...

Weight Lost: 6 pounds

Measurements:
Hips: 53"                      L Bicep: 14.5"                L Calf: 17"
Waist: 42"                    R Bicep: 14.5"                R Calf: 18"
Neck: 14.5"                   L Thigh: 28"
Bust: 47"                       R Thigh: 30"

All About Me From A-Z Challenge: F is for "FAVORITE"

 

Here's this week's All About Me... Letter F

these are a few of my FAVORITE people and things...

FAVORITE COLOR: Red

FAVORITE LITTLE PEOPLE: My Nieces and the Hubs little cousins

FAVORITE PERSON: The Hubs

FAVORITE FRUIT: Watermelon

 

FAVORITE FLOWER: Daisies

FAVORITE PLACE TO BE: Disney World

That's all I got for you this week.



What are something things with the letter F that you like or do?

Check back in next week as the challenge continues and get to know more

All About Me with the "Letter "G".

ReadAll About Me: A-Z Challenge- "Letter A"

ReadAll About Me: A-Z Challenge- "Letter B"

Read All About Me: A-Z Challenge- "Letter C"

Read All About Me: A-Z Challenge- "Letter D"

Read All About Me: A-Z Challenge- "Letter E"

Getting Healthy

Into my late teens I was always very thin. I'm 5'7 and the most I ever weighed was 115lbs wearing a size 0 until I turned 21. Sure, those are the years where you can eat everything and anything and your metabolism is running on overdrive and can burn every last calorie intake in your body. Those years quickly went by and before I knew it I had grown into a size 12 then with a blink of an eye into a size 22 and 100 lbs extra. If I recall correctly the increase of weight was between 2001 and 2006. A lot was going on in my life through those years and I counted on food to comfort me.

I'm one of those people who has read every health/workout book, tried about every single diet, workout video, in the market and failed.  In 2006 I went to see an Endocrinologist who put me on a 1200 calorie diet, which was easy to do as I wasn't restricted to all my favorite foods. He taught me how to read my food labels, and how to eat the correct portions and included light exercise. On his program I lost 57 lbs in a little over than 8 months. Sadly, a year later I went through a small depression and gained the weight back and then some. In 2011 I went back to see him and he suggested I try the HCG diet. This diet became very popular in the last few years, where you ate 500 calories a day and the pounds would just shed away. Yea, I tried it too and lost about 40 lbs and when I later could not afford to continue the plan I put those 40 lbs back on and added another 20.

Throughout the past few years I've struggled with weight loss, my weight would come off and then right back on plus a few. I have no one else to blame but myself for putting on and keeping on the weight for all those years. 

This weekend we went on our final Disney trip of the year and after reviewing our pictures, I was so disappointed at myself and decided that it was time to stop making excuses, and get with the program. 

I'm in a place where my life is starting to make sense, my goals and dreams are starting to become a little more reachable,  I'm happier than I've ever been, and I'm ready to take on the WORLD! Today I say my GOODBYES to my un-healthy WEIGHT, my FAT, and my BAD EATING HABITS forever! It's not going to be easy, "NOTHING GREAT IS EASY" but it's NOT impossible, plus I'm lucky to have the BEST support out there by my side, My Hubs!

This is where I am today...

Measurements:
Hips: 54"                      L Bicep: 15.5"                L Calf: 20"
Waist: 45"                     R Bicep: 15"                  R Calf: 19.5"
Neck: 16"                       L Thigh: 30"
Bust: 49"                        R Thigh: 31"

My goal weight loss: -65 pounds

August 2013

IRON MAN 3

Wow! I know this post is a little late, but better late than never and I still wanted to share with you, my High of that day!

So anywho, I'm sure many of you Marvel, Tony Stark, Iron Man fans went out to see Iron Man 3, what you guys think of it?

Of all the movies, Iron Man is totally one of my favorites, and you know I couldn't miss out on the Iron Man Marathon AMC was hosting. 10 hours of Iron Man, I was definitely on a Tony Stark high.

The Marathon began with Iron Man, followed by Iron Man 2, The Avengers, and finishing with Iron Man 3. I can't say I can compare it to The Ultimate Marvel Marathon back in May of 2012. Where we sat through 6 movies, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep when The Avengers began; this time around it was a little easier and I got to enjoy all the films. And I got to wear my new cool Iron Man t-shirt the Huns got me. :)

My thoughts...I loved all the new suits...pretty cool how they all came out at the end. I also Looooveddd that Penny got to wear it for protection at the beginning.

 My super cool Iron Man 3 t-shirt, compliments of the Hubs.

 The Hubs went out and bought me the 3 lunch totes from Subway for my special event. And AMC gave us these cool lanyards and 3D glasses.

Did any of you watch the movie? How did you like it?

All About Me: A-Z Challenge- Letter "E"

This week's letter is E...I couldn't think of many things that I do or like with the letter E.

Entertain
I love entertaining...I dream of one day owning a house with a huge dining area and yard so I can entertain my family and friends.

Eggs

I'll take my eggs scrambled with extra cheese any day everyday.

E.T.
From what I hear...
I am the ONLY person in the world that has not yet watched the movie ET.
::rolls my eyes at those who are thinking that I've been living under a rock::

My argument: As a kid I preferred to play outside in the dirt than sit in front of the tv.


That's all I got for you this week.



What are something things with the letter E that you like or do?

Check back in next week as the challenge continues and get to know more
All About Me with the "Letter "F".

ReadAll About Me: A-Z Challenge- "Letter A"

ReadAll About Me: A-Z Challenge- "Letter B" 

Read All About Me: A-Z Challenge- "Letter C"
Read All About Me: A-Z Challenge- "Letter D"