November 18th...Taking the Week Off Of Bloggjng.

Isn't blog tomorrow, but as of now, I am taking a little break. If you haven't downloaded Lose It from the App Store, so it! It works! I am down 6.2 lbs as of today. 

Until next week,

Angela 

November 13th...My Health Is My Job!

Today I decided that I don't deserve to have cheat days. I've had enough cheat days in my life, which is why I am 85 lbs heavier then I want to be today. I do not like living like this. I want to be healthy. I want to be able to exercise at will. I want to spring out of bed in the morning excited for the day, not trying to figure out when I will be able to crawl back in.  I don't want to have pains in my feet or worry about boob sweat. I don't want to overheat constantly or get up from sitting with a sweaty back (summer sucks for this issue). 

This is for everything in life, not just exercise. 

I have to be honest with myself. I have cooked healthy, but my portions haven't been good and my slip ups have been more than not. Lots of drinking and with that comes poor choices. I have been trying to really reduce my drinking, so far, I have been good. But, then again, it is only Day 2. Tomorrow will be a challenging day for me as I will be going out and enjoying the first VHS playoff game. Knowing the challenges are coming just means that I will need to plan ahead, not give in to the challenge and let it all go to hell.

It was another good day.

Today, I was invited to give a testimonial about my experience with my favorite podiatrist, Dr. Justin Franson, at the University, Foot & Ankle Institute. I felt honored to do this interview and I took it seriously. I got myself put together, had a cup of coffee and a banana and headed out for my day. In addition to this interview, it was also a minimum day at VHS. This morning Mackenzie decided that she would make it work to be able to get over to Dr. Franson's office to give a testimonial too. She loves Dr. Franson, he is the reason she loves medicine and wants to be in the medical field. Babble, Babble, Babble!

ANYWAY, after my interview, I picked up Mikey and met Mackenzie at Franson's office for her testimonial. She did it and we were off to lunch at Island's. I love having time with my two babies. They both make me so proud, not always when they are together (taunting and arguing), but everyday of their lives. 

While at Island's, I asked for a nutritional menu and chose their No-Blame Veggie Tacos. It was a total of 480 calories for the entire plate of food. It was filling and very yummy. I was extremely proud of my choice, especially since the kids were eating cheddar fries in front of me. I was good, not one fry! My drink was passion fruit unsweetened iced tea.

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little more hungry today, but I stayed with it and continued to drink iced tea with no sweetener. I recently found myself addicted to raspberry iced tea and that is pretty sweet. No more!

I was excited to get home at a decent hour and get into some comfy clothes. I haven't been napping and have only been getting about 5.5 hours of sleep at night, so I was a bit tired. Why am I still up?

For dinner I had leftover white chicken chili and some boy scout popcorn for my snack. I'm under with my calories, but I really don't want to eat just to eat. I will just plan differently tomorrow.  Speaking of tomorrow, I will be up super early to take Brian to Thousand Oaks for his nail bed surgery for his broken finger. I'll spare you a picture of that club looking mess. I hope he will let me mother him just a little. He isn't your typical helpless man, in fact, quite the opposite. My mothering nature kicks into high gear in these situations though. 

Enjoy the rest of your night and stay strong. We deserve to feel good, but we also have to earn it. We have to work for it and it has to matter...each and every day.

Until tomorrow,

Angela

P.S. I know tonight's blog sounds a bit preachy, but I wrote it so that I can read it again later should I ever need to regain my current strength. Thank you for reading. 

November 12th...Lose It!

No more BULLSHIT!

It is time! I am sick of my own bullshit and I am making some serious changes. I need to do this for me, for my kids, for my husband and for my health. I need to lose weight, but I have to do it right and  I have to understand that it is not going to happen overnight. There is no quick fix. There is no magic diet. It is calories in & calories out. I am focusing on that now. Of course, eating clean makes that very easy to do. I just need to remember to go back to that when I am feeling overwhelmed. 

I downloaded the app Lose It! and it is awesome. It tracks everything and makes it so easy to do that it will be easy to track my food, my calories, my exercise and has it all at my finger tips. It also uses the iPhone as a pedometer to tell me how many calories I burned walking today. I took Tommy for a little walk while I was waiting for the groomer and burned 35 calories. It isn't a lot, but it as recorded because the phone tracked it. Then, it gave those calories back to me. My goal is to lose 2 lbs a week, so it gives me the calories that I can take in to achieve that goal. 

Today is day 1 of this challenge and I have succeeded. 

Calories in!

I started my day with 2 cups of coffee with sugar free peppermint mocha creamer. Ran around a bit. Had a banana. Took my packages to the post office that I wanted to ship to my friend, Kevin. Had a clif bar. Drank some crystal light raspberry iced tea and tracked that too. 

For dinner, I made my white chicken chili. The Lose It! app allowed me to create the recipe in it by scanning or adding the ingredients. Then, I divided the total by 4 servings, divided it up into 4 different containers and enjoyed my dinner. It was really good. 

The recipe consisted of canned white beans, monterey jack cheese, verde salsa and southwestern chicken. All was mixed together and simmered until the cheese was melted and soup-like. It was tasty. I normally make this in the crockpot, but today I made it on the stove and it was super fast, easy and not too bad calorie-wise. I'm a happy girl.

White Chicken Chili

During the day, I added my chocolate/banana shakeology shake to my calorie count so I knew that at the end of the night I was going to be able to have a very healthy and tasty shake that I made with a banana, a scoop of chocolate shakeology mix and 1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  

Almost finished Chocolate/Banana Shakeology shake

That is all for today. I am very happy with Day 1 of my new challenge. Have you started a new challenge lately? What are your hardest obstacles? Please share!

Until tomorrow,

Angela

November 11th...Happy Veteran's Day

Veteran's day! This is a wonderful day. A day to recognize our military and all that keep us safe and living in our country of freedom. I am thankful for all that served, are serving or are considering serving.  Thank you! 

Today, the kids had the day off from school. Mackenzie and I spent the day gathering goodies for a care package we are sending to my dear friend, Kevin who is serving and has been serving since he graduated college in 1988. He is amazing and I am so proud and honored to know him. Unfortunately, we didn't plan ahead and were unable to actually mail it today because it is Veteran's Day and the post office was closed. It will have to go out tomorrow. 

Food-wise, Mackenzie and I went to Dink's by VHS and I had an omelette with meat and veggies and some potatoes and half of a bagel with cream cheese and an iced tea. I also had coffee this morning while I was getting ready, actually, Mackenzie made me coffee to get me out of bed. After all, it was a sleep-in day, my bed was comfy cozy and the clouds were out. 

After breakfast, Mackenzie and I went shopping for our care package. It was bee fun and nothing was too good for Kevin. 

For the rest of the day, I didn't eat anything except for an In & Out double-double with an iced tea. 

Brian was at the doctor and stopped on his way home and bought eclairs. What? I'm trying to be good here. Guess what? I was good!!! No eclair for me! Nope! When I got the craving for something sweet, I made a chocolate shakeology shake with a banana, peanut butter and fat free milk.  

That is it. That is all I had to eat and drink today. I am really trying to cut my calories.  Yesterday, I learned while talking to my docto, I am allergic to sulfates. The reaction is asthma and it has gotten worse in the past couple of months. When I drink I cough like a smoker. I really have to watch my alcohol. That's actually a good thing. I should take this as a positive, right?  Not such an issue with beer, but wine and mixed drinks give me a hard time at first sip. Changes have to be made. Now is the time. 

Until tomorrow,

Angela

 

November 10th...I'm Sick.

Unfortunately, since I have a fever and a horrible asthma type cough; I'm going to bow out again. I haven't eaten much and I just made a smoothie so that the meds don't crush my stomach. Otherwise, I had a egg sandwich from Starbucks this morning with a pumpkin spice latte #PSL and for lunch I had a fuze iced tea with a stuffed chicken and avocado quesadilla from El Pollo Loco. I tried to have a slice of pie, but that upset my reflux, so I am hoping that the smoothie will go down without any ill effects and tomorrow will be a new day. 

My doctor told me today that I am allergic to alcohol. Don't know how I feel about that but it may just help spring board me into an even healthier eating way of life. I love my wine, beer and fun drinks, but they all give me an asthma type of reaction which causes me to cough every time I laugh for the rest of the night. I begin to sounds like a smoker or SARS patient. No fun. Beer doesn't seem to give me the horrible reactions so that may just be my football season beverage of choice. 

I didn't really plan on typing much today, so this is a surprise. I didn't cook or go out of my way to feed anyone. Tomorrow is Veteran's Day. There are so many men and woman that deserve our thanks and remembrance. Mackenzie and I will be sending a care package to my good friend, Kevin Green, that has been serving since he graduated in 1988 and still serves today. I can't wait for him to open all that we can cram into that box. 

Love your family, love your friends like family and love each other. 

And just remember...

Until tomorrow,

Angela

November 5th...I Didn't Cook

I sure have been a cooking slacker lately. I haven't cooked dinner in a few days. With Brian on Nutrisystem, I find that it is much easier to feed Mackenzie and Mikey. Mikey is with me and eats a big late lunch and no dinner and Mackenzie will eat anything. Super easy.

Today, I had an appointment to get my hair did. I am having a great deal of fun cutting my hair. It keeps getting shorter and shorter. But, that's OK because it grows super fast.

After I got the kids ready and off to school, I came home and guess what I did? Yep, folded more laundry. So. Much. Laundry! I swear it breeds!

After my hair appointment, I met my friend, Tammie, at Islands for a yummy lunch. We shared some cheddar fries with bacon and ranch. Well, she had some and I had half. I was starving since I only had coffee up until that point in the day. I also had a Mai Tai and a Longboarder Burger with bacon. It was all good, but the conversation was better. I really enjoy my time with Tammie. We were in such a  deep conversation that I was late to pick up Mikey. Yikes! He's a big kid and he was fine!

After I picked up Mikey, we went to Walgreens to get Mikey some tylenol for his sore, newly rubber banded mouth. After we left, we got home and I started vacuuming the Spencer hair off of the floor. As soon as I sat down, Brian texted me to meet him at Las Rocas for a drink. It is nice to sit with just my honey, so I met him. We sat at the bar. I had beer, chips & salsa and their Tropical Chicken Salad on romaine lettuce. Normally, they serve it with iceberg lettuce (ew!), but they made the substitution and it was great!

Do you see the grilled pineapple soaked in ranch dressing? Yummy!

That was all for the day. Not much, huh? I didn't eat great, but I didn't eat horribly. Eh. That's about how I feel about it. Both time I sat down to eat, I was with someone that is special to me. It was a good day! I hope you enjoyed your day too!

Until tomorrow,

Angela

November 4th...Sushi With My Boy!

Today was a pretty boring day. I was awoken at 5am because my pup, Spencer, who has a hard time adjusting to the fact that time changed. He sits on the bed and cries until we wake up. It wasn't an issue when it was almost 6am, but when it is 5am, it makes me bitter. Silly puppy! 

Spencer knows my morning routine. Gotta make Mackenzie's lunch and breakfast. I made it all up and had a cup of coffee. Sent Maxkenzie off to school and then went upstairs to wake up the boy.  Woke Mikey up and sat down with my coffee. 

Once Mikey was ready to go, I snuck Tommy out to the car and strapped her into her seatbelt. Good thing I did too because some guy driving toward me almost hit me by coming into my lane on our way to school. So scary. 

Dropped Mikey off and came home to fold some laundry. I made myself an egg over toast with a slice of mild cheddar cheese. 

I was able to some an appointment for my nails and toes. Yay. Much needed. You know it is bad when you start dragging around dryer sheets that are stuck to the calluses on your heels.

More laundry and then off to Castaic Nails. I went with grey in my fingers and toes. I love it! I've been painting my acrylics with gel paint. It really lasts a long time and doesn't chip or wear off. Yay!

Before it was time to get Mikey, I went to the Dollar Tree to kill some time. I was starving and made the mistake of buying some lays stacker chips (sour cream and onion). I ate the whole thing. Bad move. Not proud of it. 

Mikey had an orthodontist appointment an hour after he got out of school so we went to Sushi One for a late lunch. It was nice to eat with my boy. They give you a scoop of ice cream with your check. I only had 2 bites.

After the orthodontist, I took Mikey to Active for a new jacket. He had a great deal of work done at the ortho. I always feel bad about his pain. He had a turbo put in along with new stronger wires and rubber bands. We are trying to expedite his time.  We shall see if he sticks with it and wears his rubber bands. The sooner he does that, the sooner he gets his braces off!!!  

That was all I had to eat today. Eating the chips were enough calories to last me the rest of the night. 

Now I am in bed with Mackenzie next to me while she types up her career paperwork for school. Life is good!

Have a great night, my friends!

Until tomorrow,

Angela