Category: Weightloss

Zumba Incredible Slimdown – First Impression

Hello guys!

Again I have a Zumba blog for you, but this time it is on a review for a product. I had been bothering Ryan to let me borrow his moms Zumba videos (dvd’s??) because I have been in a mood to dance as a workout. Although I have YouTube sometimes the quality is not as good as I want, so I went out and purchased the Zumba Incredible Slimdown.

Some nights before I purchased the DVD set, my co-worker and I had agreed to workout nightly after our shifts. The day before we had done Turbo Jam Cardio Party and although it made us burn many calories it was not as fun as Zumba.

The first DVD that we worked out to was the Latin Bursts, and oh my goodness did that make us sweat. What I really liked about the DVD was the fact that the instructor includes you in their dialogue, you feel like they are there to help you out.

The only thing that I wish was that the music was louder. One thing that I like about working out at the gym to Zumba is the fact that the music takes over the room, it was a little hard to get used to low music on the DVD.

Today I decided to try out the 20 minute express during my lunch time, and I was a little disappointed. Maybe my Zumba instructors were great, but that DVD seemed incredibly bland. I didn’t feel the excitement to dance and party.

I’m hoping that the last two DVD will be high impact and high intensity. I have also yet to download the guides and nutritional information but I will do that next week so that I can try out their meal guide and of course keep you updated.

So far I am 50/50 on this set, keep checking back for more updates, I should be doing the Super Cardio Dance Party on Tuesday with some ladies from work.

 

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Thursday Workout : Watch “1 Mile In Home Walk!” on YouTube

Just did this workout because I wanted to start off slow and then get to the calorie burning workouts by next week. It actually made me sweat! Feeling good this morning.

Make sure you try it out if you’re trying to slowly get into working out again. This is literally just walking but it makes your heart rate go up.Try it out.

Today is my Day 1

What is binge eating?

I do not remember the last time that I didn’t crave food. Hungry is not a mood or feeling anymore, hunger for me is an all time state. Do not get me wrong, I do get “full” as you all say, but 30 min later i’m thinking about food again.

Usually I control it, I tell myself that I am not hungry that I am just bored or thirsty. I drink water, go online but then the feeling comes again telling me that I should eat. I eat a snack, maybe if I eat a snack I will feel better. I eat a snack. Now I am back at thinking about food. I disguise myself as a normal human being, “oh she’s eating a string cheese… that is so normal that will calm her hunger until lunch”. Nope. I am still hungry.

When lunch time finally hits I am the happiest girl in the world, I get to eat without people thinking it’s weird. I can eat as much as I want without feeling judged. Thank the heavens for lunch. I control my hunger knowing that when I get home I get to eat more food. I count the hours until I am off of work. My life consists of counting down to when I get to eat.

Now for the binge. I don’t plan on it happening, one does not plan a binge, the binge takes over. I walk into the house after dodging all the fast food places around town and I go straight for the refrigerator. I try to store healthy foods, but even then I eat copious amounts of these “healthy foods” I never feel full. The only thing that makes me stop is realizing that I have consumed a day’s worth of food in 30 minutes.

Then comes the guilt. Why the heck did I eat all that food, I was not even hungry. I usually become upset and promise myself that it will not happen again. It may not happen the next day, or even a week from today, but it will eventually happen. It is something that I have no control over.

No one knows that I struggle with binge eating, it is something that I have kept from my family, my closest friends and even my boyfriend. I’m not proud of it, I am actually very disgusted at the fact that I have this terrible habit. There have been times where I leave my boyfriend’s house late at night and stop by a fast food place and order 2 burgers, or three tacos, or whatever the heck I feel like that night.  I don’t even eat inside the house, I always eat in my car becasue I am ashamed. I am ashamed of being this person that binges.

I have told myself so many empty promises about me not doing it again. I am ready to fight back. I know it will not be easy, but maybe telling those closest to me might help in order for them to help me fight back.

For now adios, tomorrow will be another day.

The worst day of the week

As I am laying in bed sipping some cold water out of my bottle I’m reflecting on a weekend that i wish could have lasted longer. Ya feel me? Have you ever had a weekend, or even just a day that you wished never ended? Let me back up a little bit and explain my week.

My weeks always start the same, on a Monday morning laying in bed waiting for my alarm to go off.

Nobody loves Mondays, you might like them,  but no one loves them. I prepare my lunch, prepare my outfit and I head out the door. Same routine every day, every day except Friday. This Friday was special, I had breakfast with Ryan, he made me French Toast… oh so yummy…but I’ll get to that.

Last Tuesday I started Weight Watchers for the 4th time. This time I feel different, I feel like I actually want to give a shit. My sister is getting married next April and that is one of the major reasons why I joined. Last Saturday we went out dress shopping. I absolutely hated the way I looked in every single dress. I knew I had it in me to try Weight Watchers one more time, but this time I was not going to allow myself to fail. I did perfect all week, and by perfect I mean I kept within my points all week. I even have a few weeklies left.

Wednesday and Thursday  were a blur, all but the fact that I stayed over at Ryan’s house. I was not going to be able to have our usual hangout on Friday night since I was going to go out with the girlies, so we decided on breakfast Friday morning.

On Friday morning I woke up to the smell of French Toast. The night before I let him know that my new eating plan required me to log everything, one by one he read me a list of ingredients and I proceeded to figure out the points. They weren’t too heavy on points, I promise! They were delicious, so sweet and flavourful. I had to leave to work unfortunately so I kissed my love goodbye and drove to work.

Night time came quickly, I got ready to meet with my sister and her lady friends at a new local club. My co-worker let me know about this place and it ended up being such a fun night. I drank 4 beers! Because of my weekly points I was able to drink those and still be within my points. Had a blast!

Saturday, I cleaned, cooked and did laundry. I cooked a really amazing dinner for Ryan. I bought some spare ribs, chicken, potatoes, and baked beans. I made the ultimate BBQ dinner. Still with all that food, I did not go over my points. WOOHOO! Anyway, after dinner we went to the 99 cent store nearby to grab some snacks and supplies for our next day trip to Disneyland! We prepped our bags and had a good nights rest.

So, as some of you may know I absolutely love Disneyland. It is more of a love of the memories that one makes at that place. I am an annual passholder and for the first time in a while Ryan and I were blocked most of the summer, almost three months! We ended up going today although it was hot and crowded we had a really good time. We tried a new place to eat which was the Cove Bar in California Adventures. We shared lobster nachos, a trio slider plate (which I only had one slider), and a Wild Cherry drink (so yummy). It was really good as a lunch, the nachos were gigantic and spicy! After we ate, we ended up meeting up with Ryan’s niece Rilley which works at the park.  She had a few hours to kill because she was waiting for her beau to arrive to have dinner with him . We tried to stay indoors since it felt really warm outside. We walked and talked and finally we each parted ways.

We came home showered and relaxed. I was exhausted, the sun and the people really made me tired, but I was also very hungry. Ryan and I decided on Subway for dinner, he had his Italian Trio and I had my Double Chicken Salad with no dressing just oil and vinegar. We hit the grocery store and as soon as we got home we fell into bed to watch some Netflix.

This is why my weekend was terrific, this is why I did not want it to end. As soon as I lay in bed my head rested on his chest, his arm went around to my shoulder and he kissed my forehead. This is where I always want to be, in the arms of the man that I am crazy for, in the arms of the man that makes me forget everything that causes me pain, stress, or grief.

I hate saying goodbye to him on Sundays. Soon we won’t have to, until then, Sunday nights will always be the worst day of the week.

Disneyland – Full Meal Diary

This weekend Ryan and I went to Disneyland after a 2 week hiatus. We wanted to do the whole day and I was worried about the food intake. Luckily I was able to stay on track and actually had a good amount of calories left.
As I mentioned before I am a part-time vegan. On weekends I tend to splurge a little more which is why every meal contained an animal product. I do try to stay away from dairy so not much dairy is in my meal. So here we go I will go over my food intake for the day.
Breakfast:wpid-wp-1421097255986.jpeg

Ryan and I always hit up Danny’s before our Disney trips, it has become our Sunday ritual. There are only two things that I order for breakfast and this skillet is one of them. I absolutely love this breakfast, it is very filling and very delicious. I add an extra egg white and a side of toast. I do not use the salsa that comes with it because I prefer to add Cholula to it. 500cals

Snack:

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Venti Sugar Free Vanilla Soy Cappuccino

Ryan and I usually take snacks in our bag to make sure we don’t have to spend a lot of money at the parks. One thing that we do get is Starbucks because we usually run out of energy mid day. This time around I had a Venti Soy Cappuccino with two pumps of Sugar-free Vanilla. It came out to 120 cals. It was delicious. 120cals

Lunch/Dinner:

I completely forgot to take a picture of my meal 😦  but we always get the fried chicken from Plaza Inn. In the past we would have a plate each but this time around we tried something different.  We ordered one plate and added an extra chicken breast. I got one of those side house salads with the fat free Ken’s Italian and it was not too bad in calories. 502 cals

Overall it was a good day. I had a few cinnamon Pringles for dessert and we walked about 4 miles so I had about 500 cals left over for the day. We had a great time and I didn’t feel so stressed out about what I was eating. Below I will post a few pictures about our trip!

Thank you for reading!

My Top 5 Vegan Food Items – Transitioning Vegan

I had been thinking about becoming vegan for a while before my best friend convinced me to make the move. I had been a vegetarian before, but I was still eating cheese and drinking milk. To be honest,  I was on the fence because I thought that leaving dairy would be a very hard thing to do, I love my cheese, but in reality it was not as tough as I thought.

Of course I still consider myself a transitioning vegan but I have taken great effort into consuming less animal products.

I have compiled a list of items that have made my transition easy and effective.

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  1. Avocados – This is the fruit of the Gods. If I ever won an award for being a vegan (which will never happen) avocados would be at the top of my acceptance speech. You can throw this on any dish and it adds so much flavor and nutrients. According to www.avocadocentral.com half of an avocado is 2.5 servings. This serving contains 130 cal 12 g of Fat (good fat) and 1 g of protein. This serving size also contains 8 different types of Vitamins and 7 different minerals, including 10 g of Calcium.
  2. Cucumbers – Cucumbers are another super food that not only tastes amazing but also contributes to a healthy lifestyle. Cucumbers can be eaten by themselves or they could be thrown into sandwiches. My favorite thing to do is slice them up with the skin sprinkle on some lime and Tajin and presto, a delicious snack! Cucumbers help with weight loss, and also help with hangovers (good to know).
  3. Beans – If there is something that I absolutely love is beans. Any kind of beans, garbanzo, pinto, black, kidneybeans, you name,  it I love it. Beans are an awesome source of protein which vegans need in lieu of meat. One of the questions that I get asked the most is “Where do you get your protein from?” to which I shout “BEANS!”
  4. Tofu – Some people are not fond of Tofu and I completely understand. The thing with Tofu you need to really know how to cook it. I remember 8 years ago when I first became a vegetarian my mom and I decided to buy a pack of Tofu to try it out. She sliced it up like cheese and put it on bread and we both looked disgusted when we realized that it tasted really really gross.  The good this about Tofu is the fact that whatever you season it with or flavor it with, it picks up the flavor really quick.  There are many ways in which you can cook it just search it up on Pintrest https://www.pinterest.com/explore/tofu-recipes/
  5. Almond Milk- The last item on the list is also an essential for me, almond milk is great to drink on its own or to add to recipies. My favorite flavor is vanilla and Almond Breeze has some great options that include reduced sugar, unsweetened and different flavors like chocolate and coconut milk blends. almond milk is a great source of calcium and it contains let fat and calories than regular milk.

 

2015

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NYE and I was trying to look all cute.

So far 2015 has been… well, sick. I spent the first 5 days of my year in bed with a terrible sinus infection.  Everyday I felt like it was getting worse and I was at the point where I thought the whole year I would be spending in bed. With the help of anti-biotics and my lovely boyfriend who nursed me back to health I am at  90% as I write this.

This year I would like to focus on a few things. First off, I would like to focus on my career. I would like to take all necessary steps to start graduate school. Second, I would  like to focus on a healthier lifestyle along with my boyfriend I want us both to live long and healthy lives and our first step should be to be more active and eat better than what we are used to. Lastly, I would like to focus on writing at least once  a week on my blog. I constantly complain about not having time, but I have an hour lunch every day and I will take that time to write.

Ryan trying to get away from my germs.
Ryan trying to get away from my germs.

This week:
– I will focus on one chapter of the CBEST book that I have been putting off studying. By March I should be ready to take the CBEST.

– I will eat a Vegan Before 6 Diet (VB6) and since I am still recovering I will focus on doing only 2 days of cardio. Also, I have joined a Diet bet which should help with motivation.

– I will encourage my boyfriend to eat healthy and exercise at least twice this week.

I hope you all keep reading and let’s work towards encouraging each other to live
better lives