Back on Track

One way people can succeed with weight loss and health goals is by having accountability.  Taking pictures and using this as a food journal can help me be successful!  So I'm working on the food journal again!

Breakfast consisted of eggs and a cutie. 

Lunch was a big salad

Snack included trying a Mochi ice cream and pickles.  No I'm not pregnant and no it wasn't together.

Dinner was a burger, a few tator tots, roasted cauliflower, and fresh pineapple!

Loaded up on my water all day, took my supplements all day....and I hate the day after daylight savings times- I'm ready for bed at 7pm!!!!

Blessings in Health and Happiness-

Finding motivation

As always, you can always determine how busy life is and how on or off track I feel based on my blog posts, and this break has been no different.

Many doctors appointments, ups and downs with eating and exercise, new job with odd schedule, all lead to the blog being on the back burner.

But this got me to thinking- what many of us have trouble with is motivation. 

How many times have I thought or said If I just had enough motivation or will power something would be easy?  And it's true.  I mean, think about it.  If it were easy- we'd all do it. 

Working smarter and harder
Being more successful
Exercising more
Eating healthy and clean

We'd all do it if it were just that easy.  So why isn't it?

A lot is our habits and the way we've wired ourselves.  I believe humans are generally lazy creatures- we're always trying to find ways to do things easier.  The easier it is, the more likely to do it with the exception of basic survival.  However, thanks to technology it's easiest to sit on our couch, eat a microwave meal or freezer pizza and drink things that make us feel good instead of nourishing our bodies. 

It takes effort to get off the couch.  It takes time and planning to make a healthy meal.  It takes a whole lot of effort to be successful in a field.  How do we get this?

Well, I'll tell you I wish I had the magic.  I want the special thing that does this and I don't.   But I can tell you that when I had many of these boxes ticking well it was due to some motivational reading, podcasts, and listening.   

My advice while just trying to be the best you possible is to read, listen, and find someone who lights you on fire.  I personally love Rachel Hollis- but she's not everyone's cup of tea.  Listen and read from many and find someone who speaks to you and in you.  Find someone who can help you through the journey with advice, tips and cheer leading. 

Find a motivational speaker or book to help change your mind, which can help you move in the direction that motivates you to put forth the effort for change, and start working on the best you possible.

Blessings in Health and Happiness-

Naps and Moods

Like my title?   So, if you haven't already noticed, when things are going well in the LeMaster household, you get daily posts!  When things are stressful, my posts decrease.

Depression and anxiety are strange creatures.  I mean, they aren't creatures at all.  They're brain chemicals messing up your whole body.  They interact throughout life and change moment to moment. 

I have never napped as much as I have the last 2 weeks of January and first week of February.  I can't decide if it's all the anxiety and depression, or partially because of working less so I had the opportunity? 

I seriously wonder if there's something else going on other than moods and stress.  Kind of hard to tell when it's all stress all the time. 

We now have insurance- which means time to set up a lot of appointments.  Dermatology, Allergist, Eye doctor, Psychiatrist, Neuropsychiatrist, Counseling, bloodwork and normal check ups.   Some of these now have to change due to insurance benefits.  Then we think we find someone covered, and they don't actually take the insurance.  Not to mention the costs- copays, deductibles, not covered services. 

I have a job, but don't have set hours.  We have money in savings, but not much coming in.  We don't qualify for aide.  So while we aren't in any danger right now, it's a constant worry in the back of my head.

Eli's school work is possibly taking another turn.  We have been struggling and researching different options including non-traditional routes.  I know I'll get flack for doing what I'm really leaning towards right now, but I also think it's probably the best route.  So I'm digging, looking into programs, looking at research, thinking outside of the box and the whole time knowing in the back of my head people will judge me and think I'm doing the wrong thing.  And I'm worried about them being right. 

My exercise and eating healthy is a roller coaster.  Good days, bad days, just get through it all days, just screw it all days. 

Overall I'm doing much better this week.   Smoothies almost every day for breakfast, salads for most lunches, lots of fresh fruits and veggies for snacks.  Dinners mostly meats and veggies.  For valentines day we splurged with a nice meal- poor man's steak with onion/mushroom gravy (a hamburger patty with gravy and caramelized onions and mushrooms on it), roasted broccoli, roasted yellow potatoes, and sweet Hawaiian Rolls.  Cheesecake for dessert.  So good and a nice dinner at home. 

So there's my update for now.  Crazy time, crazy life, blessed but stressed.  Sums it up.

Blessings in Health and Happiness-

Panem et Circenses

What does this phrase mean?  Bread and Circuses.  Attributed to Juvenal in ancient Rome, the phrase is widely fitting for our society today in more ways than one.

So my blog posting frequency is often directly related to my mental health and the business that comes with life.  My mental health is related to several things- my world in my house, the world outside of my house, my relationship with my Creator, my physical health and more. 

The world outside of my house has been exhaustingly dual-sided in the last few weeks, at least in my social media feed.  To the point of my interaction with social media has decreased and I'm sure if there's someone spying on my activity they wonder what's going on. 

Right now, I feel like our world is a circus.  Media, entertainment, news, healthcare, and politics.  All just a show for people to pick sides and yell their opinion for the crowd to listen to.

Real people are dying, from both the flu and the novel coronavirus emerging from China.  Some people are quick to share all the news about the new virus, while others are yelling to worry about the flu that is rapidly spreading through our country.  The stories that stem from this- death threats to mother's whose child has died from the flu, cheers and jeers to the doctor from china for being a whistleblower, to people blowing off the coronavirus as nothing because it's listed on Lysol wipes.  The misinformation abounds and trying to correct the masses is a futile exercise.

The Superbowl halftime show immediately blew up the internet.  I'm sure all the media people were very happy to hear it talked about nonstop- positive or negative.  I don't know about everyone else, but everyone I saw on Facebook either loved it- go girl power, Latinas rock, look at those smoking bodies, or hated it- why political, why a pole, look at those smoking bodies. Some people lost friends over whether or not they liked the show or agreed/disagreed with it.  Crazy.  Especially since everyone is right.  It was a political show with strong Latin themes with two over 40 women with smoking hot bodies wearing costumes reminiscent of ice skating with dancing including a pole (which isn't just used by strippers BTW).   My thought after the show was it was what I expected of a J-Lo/Shakira concert and thought it was good.  If I had small children would I have let them watch it?  Not sure, but I also wouldn't take them to a J-lo or Shakira concert, so......  but the circus is why do we start hating people and blocking people over whether or not they liked a show?

About 24 hours after the circus of SuperBowl was in full swing, the State of the Union speech happened.  And my newsfeed blew up again.  And once again people hating, fighting, unfriending, unable to have an adult conversation.   I only kind of jokingly remarked to my family that I wish the Illuminati- or whoever actually runs the country- could stop putting clowns in office because we look dumb.  Both sides waving and screaming why their politician is justified in the way they acted or was portrayed, but I would have been embarrassed if I were standing up there.  If it was a family member acting that way.  If it were a good friend up there.  All politics aside, do we want our leaders to be name-calling, disrespectful and hateful?  Whatever happened to the high road?  What happened to being the better person?  Is it impossible to get into office with these qualities now?  I know there is no such thing as bad press, but there should be.

But every story has three sides- person A's view, person B's view, and the truth which typically lies between.

Instead, we focus on the circus act and keep juggling.  Voluntarily keeping ourselves ignorant on subjects and focusing all our eyes on ridiculous entertainment.  Dividing ourselves into camps that are so radical that once emotionally invested in one side, it becomes difficult to even reason with the person on a minor issue.

Can't you see for the SuperBowl both camps are right and that's okay?  Entertainment is an individual's preference and there's nothing wrong with liking or not liking entertainment?

Can't you see both sides of the State of the Union fiasco are wrong?  Political leaders being rude and disrespectful on both sides is ridiculous and should be ashamed.

Can't you see that the flu/coronavirus isn't about one being worse than the other, but understanding that life is fragile and we need to be aware of how the world is connected and keeping healthy and sharing resources is important and valuable?

I don't have all the answers.  I don't know all the right and wrong.  My view isn't always the best view.

But I do know it's right to have an open mind, to be respectful, and to have a conversation (and no, it doesn't have to be online- actually offline is better.  Face to face best).  It doesn't mean you can't post something- but read it, understand it, and be open to different opinions.  If you comment on something you have a different opinion on, be respectful, courteous. 

And as my mom always told me, if you don't have something nice to say, you don't have to say anything at all.  Just scroll by.  It doesn't hurt a bit.

Blessings-

Great week so far

The last few days have been great with my willpower and new routine.  I've been doing 18/6 intermittent fasting along with continuing to make better choices. 

Starting with Wednesday- got up and exercised- ran intervals with Ella and did the Wednesday exercises but Coco kept trying to wrestle with me while I did crunches! 

So first thing I ate was macaroni salad- not pictured because Eli was using my phone.  Second thing I tried was some fruit snacks- these have no artificial dyes or colors so as a family we wanted to try them out.  Jury is still out.  

Eli had some popcorn and I had some too.  

Then I hadn't had enough veggies, so I made me a broccoli salad.  It was going to be a 7 layer salad before I realized I had no lettuce.  Whoops. 

And before my fast ended- I had some cheese stuffed pretzels.  

Through all of that lots of water, still took all my Plexus stuff per normal routine.  

Today I woke up better.  Didn't exercise first thing because of the other lazy people in the house.   Had my morning routine of Slim, Active, Metaburn, X-factor and antidepressant.  

Then had my Lean and collagen smoothie.

Then I had a blueberry muffin.  Because yum!

Made a chicken curry stew with carrots, mushrooms, onions and roasted cauliflower.  

Had another muffin.  It was good.

During all that time water, water, water.  Had my BioCleanse mid morning.  Had another Active around 3 with my last dose of BioCleanse.  

AND FOR THE FIRST DAY ALL WEEK DIDN'T NEED A NAP!

I also know my waistline is down and bloating is down.  Can't wait to weigh in actually!  

Exercised with Ella and Lyle today too!

So I had my Probio5, Mega-X, Ease and watching Grey's before bed!

Blessings in Health and Happiness!

Exhaustion

My brain.  Today is a day where everything is just swirling inside.  Good thoughts, bad thoughts, exhaustion (mentally and emotionally, not physically). 

Fear.  Fear of things happening in the world.  Coronavirus, natural disasters, political crap.

Hope.  Hope for future things.  Ella duel enrollment, Eli possible services or change in school or both.

Trying to get things checked off the list.  But one or two things get done and then I don't want to anymore. 

Eli didn't feel like doing school.  Me neither.  We do it.  Then I don't want to do my stuff.  Brain is done. 

I'm sure this might not make sense.  If your brain hasn't been done before you got up for the day, you may not understand.  Someone posted this.  It spoke to me.  Don't mind the language. 

Sorry.  Kind of.

So this morning I got up despite not wanting to.  Worked out with husband.  I was happy about it. 

Then I did this little workout thing and walked on the treadmill. 

Drank water, took my vitalbiome, drank my Slim, and more water.  

Late breakfast had my Lean with collagen smoothie.  I was a little better right then.  Eli also had a smoothie which made me feel like a winning mom.

I took my x-factor, Metaburn, and antidepressant with it.  Considering upping the dose.

Water, water, water, BioCleanse.  Big ole salad for lunch. 

Water, Water, a Few Peanut M&Ms, water. BioCleanse, then Active.  Then I resumed my fast except water.  

Evening is weird for me.  If I don't eat, I'm not hungry. But I know from experience if I eat ONE thing even it'll turn it all on and I'll want to eat it all!  For better fasting I should have had extra protein, but didn't feel like it. 

So before bed I'll have Probio5, Mega-x and Ease.  

Water, water, water. 

Grace needs to be on the menu too I think.

Blessings in health and happiness-

I'm tired of coming up with titles

...so that's the title.

That's what I got today.  Low energy and motivation.

However, Ella got my out of bed this morning and we ran intervals and did a little extra!

Had some water, my Vitalbiome, and Slim.  

For breakfast was my smoothie with Lean and Collagen, X-factor, Metaburn and antidepressant. 

More water, water, water, BioCleanse, a few girl scout cookies (what?!) and water.  I decided that January didn't count.  It's been such a crazy roller coaster. What I post isn't even half of it, and I'm pretty dang transparent.  I also am just so tired.  I don't know if it's the meds, the crazy sleep schedules off and on because of races and changes in routine, or what.  But it's nuts. 

Late afternoon I had a salad (and lets be honest, a couple more thin mints and a handful of M&Ms) and not pictured some ham with it.  

Water, water, water, BioCleanse.  

I skipped dinner because I wanted to fast a little and I know hormonal speaking evening is best, and I've had a little too much junk food (all day Saturday at Epcot) so my stomach is wondering what the heck I'm doing to it.  

So much more water, Probio5, Mega-X, and Ease and going to bed soon. 

Going to get up and drag my husband out of bed for workout tomorrow!

Blessings in Health and Happiness-

Push the wagon back on the road again...

You know when I go quiet awhile something has happened.  Usually something stressful- like crazy work hours, doctors appointments or something like that.

In this case, it was a combination.  A social security phone call, work training, a doctors appointment that was VERY stressful, and helping someone out that was a huge strain. 

So once again, I feel like I'm starting over.  The amazing news is it didn't take weeks to get back!  That's a win!  When you don't go months between getting back to it, then you're progressing!

So today I did a thing- I used my Disney pass for the first time!  Yay! 

I had myself a fun day at Animal Kingdom all by myself.  I was debating going by myself, but then decided self care is needed!!!

So after I had my slim and Active, my smoothie (not pictured) and morning supplements, I took the kids to their respected areas and took off for Disney!

Oh, rewind a minute- I did exercise this morning with Ella too! 

And I met a friend for lunch at a restaurant in Pandora area and it was sooo good and pretty healthy too!

The restaurant was Satu'li Canteen and this was Combination Bowl: Grilled Beef and Chicken over noodles with herb dressing. 

After I was done wondering and riding rides, I headed home and grabbed a chocolate bar.  Whoops.  

Dinner was lowish-carb pizzas on tortillas with veggies on top and salad on the side. 

Sorry it's sideways. I'm too lazy to fix it today. 

Oh, and I had my BioCleanse between each meal and took 5 bottles of water with me to the parks and had more when I got home.

So overall, not too shabby.  I'll take it considering what life has been.  If someone can just gift me around $50k it would help decrease my stress a lot and it would be easier to focus on healthy habits. Just saying.

I'll take my Probio5, Mega-X and Ease and go to bed soon!

Blessings in Health and Happiness!

No to stress eating....okay cheesecake is fine.

Sooooo... last night I had a little headache and wasn't feeling awesome emotionally, so I didn't do my food journal- so this will cover today and yesterday. 

So yesterday I got up, had my Vitalbiome, Slim and Active, then went on an interval run with Ella.

Breakfast was my Lean and Collagen smoothie with my X-factor, Ease and Metaburn

Then I took Eli in for his testing. Drank lots of water, had my BioCleanse.  Eli needed a snack and came out and we shared some strawberries. 

Then lunch was a hodge podge of stuff I could pack.  Boiled eggs, turkey meat, grapes, and carrots. 

More water, some BioCleanse, and water.  When we got home, I made BBQ chicken pizzas on low-carb flat breads and had it with Caesar Salad.  

Honestly, I also ate some skittles.  The truth.  Mentally it was a very rough day for me.....so there.  Had my Probio5, Mega-X, Ease, and antidepressant and went to bed.  

I didn't get up to work out with my husband, but he was good and did his workout. I had my Vitalbiome, Slim and Active.  Then I ran a mile then did a Plexus beginner workout from the Facebook page.  

Then I had my Lean and Collagen smoothie with x-factor and Metaburn.  Some dingbat ran out of Ease.  Whoops.  

Water, Water, Water, BioCleanse, cheese stick.  

Then a banana....

Lunch was supposed to be a low carb spinach wrap but I maybe only ate 5 bites.  Didn't taste good. 

I had another cheese stick (not pictured) and lots of water, more BioCleanse and then dinner was mexican rice, turkey smoked sausage, and green beans.  It really hit the spot.  

So since emotionally it has been a rough day, my mom brought over cheesecake.  Definitely enabling, but I'm okay with some self medication for today, since I did actually workout.  

So now I'm satisfied although still in the dumps.  I haven't had this rough of an emotional time since starting on medications.  I know why- Eli's testing and subsequent fight on school work since restarting school.  The worry of if I'm doing the right things.  All of that.  

So Probio5, Mega-X and some antidepressants and off to bed. 

Blessings in Health and Happiness-