Eat Clean to Stay Lean

These are the words I so often forget. I do well for awhile and then start up again, then fall off the health wagon. Planning a trip with a bestie for end of May may have encouraged me to start up again, but I don't want that being my main motivation.

I want to be able to run from my basement to upstairs without losing some breath. Go for a run without coughing up a lung. Or running through the snow with the dogs. That stuff is more difficult now.

My biggest issue is meal planning... which I DON'T DO. I don't drink enough water or some days almost none at all. I feel like I need to set a time every hour to drink water, otherwise I have a headache at the end of the day. Coffee and diet soda cannot be my only form of fluid intake!

I tried going on a low carb/no bread/gluten diet with a friend, and it hasn't been a week yet. That was hard! I feel like I do need some form of bread, and if it's only once a day, at least I'll stay sane!

I had a great salad for lunch with spinach, quinoa, mandarins, pecans and shredded cheese. For my snack I premade plain greek yogurt with a mix of berries, flax seed powder and sliced almonds. My difficulty is after 4-5 pm when one gets home and wants to JUST rest. Here we go, it's a Tuesday, but it's day ONE officially today. There's not much I can change about my life, whether it's struggling to get back into hospital or getting more hours to work, or people in my life, but changing lifestyle is something we do have control over. EAT LEAN TO STAY LEAN. Otherwise you're wasting your time! 55 days til Vegas. It's a decent time to shed some fat, gain some muscle and discover my confidence all over again!

I started craving/often making Miso Soup and eating those Seaweed snacks. I'm looking for articles, see what kind of nutritional value seaweed has. Wikipedia (which is the most reliable source out there) claims that Wakame "seaweed" helps burn fatty tissue. It's also high in Calcium, Iodine, Niacine and Thiamine. In Oriental medicine it has been used for blood purification, intestinal strength, skin, hair, reproductive organs and menstrual regularity. Saweet! Only a few bucks at the asian supermarkets!



Doggy walk with my loving fur babies, and perhaps the gym? Baby steps!

More like "mountain-day" than Hump-day!

So here I am posting DAYS after I start a blog, which does not surprise me since I never really stuck to writing in a journal/diary daily as a kid. If you're anything like me, you start a new project all excited and looking forward to it, but it never gets complete.

As a kid, mom signed me up for: Ballet, gymnastics, swimming, piano, art classes. Only the art classes survived my short attention span. Which brings me to my next complain about myself: I don't paint/sketch anymore. It's difficult to do so when one doesn't have the space to it. I was never allowed to convert the guest room into an art room, even though we rarely have guests. How stupid, and then there's the basement which lacks the natural light to even enjoy creating art. Some current pending projects I have is to paint paintings for various friends and start that damn scrapbook (all supplies filled in a big shoe box).

So here's my current goal: Remove the useless but beautiful desk in my room and make an art corner and finally put up my easel. That desk was originally bought for studying but all it has does is gather dust. Writing is a great emotional outlet, but painting is better! Wish me luck!

I recently went to an Arbonne party and bought a few supplies for a crazy amount of money, that most sane people would not spend on. I think I've been highly influenced by my aunt who is a wonderful esthetician, and it has always been important for one to take care of their body and most definetely their skin. Yes, I'd love to maintain my youth, but I also want to be very conscious of not only what I put into my body (by ingestion) but also what I put ONTO my skin. It is our largest organ afterall, and it's common sense. You can see how quick lotion can be absorbed into skin, so who knows what we're truly putting into our bodies via our skin. Arbonne is supposed to be a great product, and I'm thrilled to start using it, but no, I will not be posting before-after pictures of my face. No one should be subjected to that.

I say I want to be aware of what i put into my body, well, unfortunately I have not worked out for almost a week now. Being on-call for a whole long weekend kind of limits what you're able to do or where to go. Not only that, stress from applying to new jobs and praying I will get a phonecall to book an interview. There is nothing more important right now. Finally, I am one of those people that can easily stress when their friends stress. For the past few days, I feel as though the stress has manifested into physical symptoms. Nothing hot baths and wine can't cure right?!

I feel like I am back in a rut, and I'm exhausted and tired and extremely lazy. 7K walk with 3 dogs totalling 130 lbs should get me back into the game! It's just so difficult because for me weight loss has been harder than for others, main reason being my thyroid. It has been a hormonal rollercoaster for almost a decade now, and now that i think my thyroid hormones have balanced out, I'd assume weight would start shedding, but it's a battle. Ya'll skinny bitches who have always been skinny always have a lot to say/opinions about weight loss. Frankly, their opinions are irrelevant. Until you've been in a fat-girls shoes, you've got nothing to say. I guess all we can do is focus on what we can do today and not mope about what we did/not do.

My Valentine's <3

Sara, Kira, Folly and our friend Kyah

This primer feels like silk on the face! 

Anyways, Goal of the day: Drink more water and go for that LOOOONG walk with the fur-babies. And just for you, pictures of my babies.
-M <3

First picture is of my busy and furry household.
Second is of the tea I bought.

Almost...

My days always start out better when it comes to diet and then go downhill as the day passes. It's usually the 4-5 pm curse where I crave any form of chocolate and no one can stand in my way.

Breakfast: Egg white with salsa, cup of fat free cottage cheese and some blueberries
Snack: Protein shake (which by the way they are fabulous, cheap, low sugar and low carb, 30g protein and delicious!)
Lunch: Self-made tuna with some celery, spices and a little bit of fat free miracle whip.
Then it goes downhill! Shopping turns into finding cheap chocolate and buying food on the way home! 

Anyways, I have started hot yoga but I wouldn't technically consider it "Bikram-hot" since it is in the 30 something Celsius temperatures. I feel I improve each time I do it and I feel great, minus the soaked clothes. And if there's one thing I loathe, it is sweat and lots of it there is! I even found non-grip socks/gloves for my yoga sessions. Every Tuesday/Thursday is my goal!

I'd say it was quite a non-productive day and the way it's ending, I rather just go to sleep! The list goes on, and you know what they say, when it rains it pours. Everyday is a struggle when it comes to figuring out current events. I LOVE my current jobs and ADORE my bosses and employees. As much as I do respect and enjoy each and every one of them, I go on with my days with a major void inside of me. I unlike perhaps others knew exactly what I wanted to do since I was little, and it was to work in a hospital. Perhaps to others, it's just another paycheque or another job, but it took me literally SEVEN years to find this career path and love it and pursue it. And to have worked so hard for it, graduate with honors and to not achieve what I wanted... well let's just say you're spirit gets crushed. Flat. Can't even see it anymore.

I haven't given up yet. There are good days. There are bad days. The bad days, I think to myself... what could I have done better? Should I have sucked up more? Why did I fail? What's wrong with me? Then there are good days, and those usually involve the support of my family, my babies (4 legged kind) and friends. Those friends who stuck around when my attitude wasn't so great, who knew that that negativity truly isn't ME. Others have come and gone, the ones that left when my spirit and optimism disappeared, the ones who didn't want to be around that so-called "negativity". It's difficult to explain, but I felt as though I had to be on my best behavior otherwise I would be closely watched to make sure I was bubbly and not a loose canon. It makes me quite sad because I could never have been myself. The disappointment over that is overwhelming but it is not outweighed by the friends that I have in my life now. So here's to you guys, the love and support is 100% mutual and will always be reciprocated.

On a lighter note, I bought this wonderful tea that's basically white tea, cinnamon and sage, and tastes wonderful. I will be taking a note from a fellow friend/blogger and trying to drink it (replace it with coffee) in the morning.

Tomorrow: Tea, Resume drop offs, visit with friends perhaps, and yoga! Plus it's a big TV night.  Thursday rocks ya'll.

-M <3

Where do I start?

I wanted to start blogging after I saw a friend do it and felt inspired. I feel as though there are many aspects in my life that I want to discuss, and I don't want to limit it toeither: my goal to lose weight, my passion to rescue dogs, or achieve my career goals.

Each day will be unexpected. I will post current photography, talk about recipes I've found delicious and helpful in changing my lifestyle, or barriers I'm trying to overcome in order to reach my ultimate goal-- work in the hospital. It's been tough but here it goes!

Stay tuned!

In the meantime, here's a picture of me and a current photo of my trip to Banff, one of the loveliest cities in Canada!