Workout

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I have started to work out nightly since September 1st every night I have been adding more and more to it which is probably why I am no longer down 8lbs but, am now down 14lbs. I am pretty stoked on that to say the least.

Tonight though I wanted to talk about what got me started and that is a little 30 day challenge to do with squats. I thought okay I want to tone up my thighs cause I am really unhappy with them and always have been. I started doing the challenge featured on the left with a corresponding link. The first day I was like cool this is great then I hurt a bit the next morning. I did day 2 and could barely walk I wanted to cry and stop. I took a day off to stop from hurting so much then went to day 3 OMG the pain was back with a vengeance. At this point I wanted to stop I didn't want to go any further with the challenge and I wanted to give up. Here comes Day 4 (which was day 5 since I took that day off)and I tried to do a few and it started to ache and I wanted to cry. I stood up thinking I

am just going to rest today and pick it up again. As I was thinking this my son came over and started doing squats and pulled my hand and said "Mommy do. ***** do." That is when I realized my whole reason for starting this journey again was not only for myself to be healthier but, for my son to have a healthy Mommy so, he would make healthy choices in his own life. Needless to say I kept going and today day 19 I can tell you I have not only lost those 14lbs but, I have lost 2 inches on my thunder thighs. I have 10 days to go on this challenge and I have picked another leg challenge to do starting October 1st.

At the end of the day I have not only been doing this squat challenge but, I have been doing some
stuff with hand weights as well as at least 15 minutes a day on my elliptical. I have been making myself walk more and just making all together healthier choices. I can't wait to do my update photos in December to show how much I have changed in 3 months. I am hoping to keep my momentum up and get this pesky fat gone so, that my son will have a wonderful role model to look up to because as he proved to me with his baby squats he is always watching me.

8 lbs...

Me before I got pregnant. 40lbs from my goal.

From September 1st to September 10th I lost 8lbs. I have gained almost 80lbs from when I was pregnant and the 2 years since my son was born that I have been slightly ashamed of myself which is why that 8lbs means so much to me. I have been eating better and working out every single day since September 1st and to see that much weight come off the scale was a shock and I didn't believe it until I weighed myself 3 times and it was the same each and every time. That 8lbs has given me the will power to keep going every single night because I have a goal in mind of where I want to be this time next year and I know I am going to have to fight myself to get to it.

My goal is simple I want to lose between 5 and 10lbs a month until I am down to my goal weight. That would put my weight from 60-120lbs down if I lose the full 120 I will be at my goal weight by the end of the year and that would mean all I would need to do is maintain my weight which is going to be easy once I get myself back onto my schedule like I was before I got pregnant.

I am not using my pregnancy as an excuse in this but, I know it contributed to my weight gain. Not
because I was pregnant and thought I could eat everything because I really couldn't hold down food while I was pregnant. It actually was me being so sickly while pregnant that I feel helped me to become so lazy. Add in the whole I missed food and tended to overeat because I was getting over practically starving myself because of having morning sickness my whole pregnancy. Then just adding in the injuries my body sustained through carrying my son to term and giving birth to him when my body was just unable to support labor. It all helped me to mentally put things off to allow myself to become lazy.


Also being a single mom helped to contribute and not in the way that I think people believe being a

September 1, 2015

single mom contributes to it. I was sad all the time because I always hear about my friends kids Dad's doing this or that with their children and while I was happy for them it made me realize more and more how my son would never have that. Yes, his Dad is sort of back in the picture now but, he is still not a Dad seeing how he is 1,000 miles away. That means I still have all those sorrowful feelings for my son and I blame myself deep down for it because I chose his Dad in a way and I chose poorly .

Don't take that last line as I think he is a sorry human being or something because I don't think that I think he made the best choice for all of us at the time. He wasn't ready to be a family he was in a bad place and there was no need for him to be in our lives when he was not ready because it would have led to him hating us and all 3 of us didn't deserve that. I have always and will always respect him for his choice to leave even though it has hurt our family (yes, we have always been a family even separated) in a way that we will always have scar tissue. However, that scar depending on where we go from here will either make us a stronger family or always cause an ache for all of us it is up to us to choose how our scar tissue will heal. I am betting on stronger because we are Scottish and Irish which makes us indomitable. 

At the end of the day though the only person I have to blame for my dramatic weight gain is myself. I am ashamed of myself on a deep level for allowing it to get so out of hand. I am not going to sit here and beat myself up over it though I am just going to move forward from this and make my future better than it would be if I didn't get up off my butt and change these poor habits!
 

Facebook

I deactivated my Facebook tonight. It will automatically reactivate on the 26th of September. I feel that I need to take some time away from the social media network because it was just upsetting me and taking time away from what I really need to be focusing on right now. I found that Facebook was making me more upset that it needed to and it wasn't really adding to my day to day life however I was still checking it mostly out of boredom. I feel that I need to make another habit to help elevate my boredom because I have so, much to be done that I shouldn't be bored ever.

Harry Potter...

Picture credit

We decided to watch ALL 8 Harry Potter Movies this week. I have never seen movie 7 part 2 which is kind of hilarious in a way because we watch all the movies about twice a year but, somehow I have missed out on seeing 7.2.

Anyways... It was nice to sit as a family (my toddler included) watching movies and eat snacks and just have a nice time of it.  My son loved the magic parts of the movie and every time it was scary he ROARED at the Telly as loud as he could to scare the scary things away. He loved the dragons as well; he is a dragon lover. All in all great family fun.

We had planned to start another series of movies (I voted for The Hobbit followed by The Lord of the Rings) however, we were all so emotional over the end of Harry Potter we have decided to wait to put ourselves through another emotionally wrenching marathon.

With all the nice things being said about the togetherness of watching the movies I can now say why I am happy we only watch them 2 times a year. I am an avid reader I love to read. I have read all of the Harry Potter books more than once (I am probably going to start them over here in a minute too) because I love them so much. That is why the movies are slightly painful for me to watch. I understand fully that they will always have to leave things out of the book when they make a movie but, to leave out so many key points and then to blatantly change things so that they don't even match the book makes my blood boil.

Pretty much all of The Deathly Hollows part 2 annoyed me to my core. Yes, there were several things that were exactly as they were in the book but as a whole I found there to be more discrepancies than any of the others and maybe it is because the scenes that they changed were some of my favorites that I noticed so much. I do not understand why they have to fundamentally change the movie from the books from about Movie 3 on up they had stayed so close to the books for the first 2 movies I expected that from the remaining 6.

I love the movies for what they are and try to take them at face value but, sometimes it just irks me that they seemed to have never read the book before creating the script.    

Iced Lemon Cookies

Cookies
½ cup 1 tbsp Coconut flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp lemon zest
½  cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg
¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp White chia seeds flour*
3 Tbsp water


Icing
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Instructions

1.     Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2.     In a small bowl combine Chia seeds and water. Stirring slightly until a gel forms. Should look like the consistency of an egg. Set aside
3.     Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Set aside.
4.     With clean fingers, rub the sugar and lemon zest together until fully incorporated. Combine with the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer, and cream together on medium-high until light and fluffy (4-6 minutes), scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5.     Add the egg, mixing until incorporated, then the lemon juice, chia mixture, and vanilla.
6.     Combine the wet and dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.
7.     Chill the dough for 30 minutes before rolling into slightly flattened 1oz balls and baking on a parchment-lined cookie sheet for 20-22 minutes. The edges will be set but the tops of the cookies should not brown.
8.     Let the cookies fully cool before whisking the powdered sugar and lemon juice together for the icing. Dip each cookie into the glaze. Set aside till the icing is set

    Serve and enjoy.

*If you can’t find white Chia flour you can use black Chia flour instead it will just change the coloring of the cookie. Also if you can just find the seeds in either white or black you can either use the seeds as is or grind them into a flour.

*Instead of Chia you can use unflavored gelatin and you would just mix 1 Tbsp into the lemon juice and wait for it to gel. Or you can add another egg.

Weight

My Scale

I have lost 6 pounds in the last two weeks which is shocking to say the least. All I have done is start keeping track of what I eat and walking with a few other little exercises. I weigh myself every Friday which is supposed to be the day we weigh the least according to some article I read lol. I just started doing it on Friday because I started my food journal on a Friday because I was feeling particularly yucky and said "This has got to stop." I know most people start a diet on a Monday but, I just have to be different what can I say lol.I have started walking around the block .66 miles to be exact then I also have been doing at lest 30 minutes on my elliptical when I can. I also have done my Wall Sit challenge daily this month. I am trying to tone up my thighs I hate how they look and I want them to look good by at least next summer so, they are a focus of mine.

Anyways I am really happy about losing weight again I am hoping to lose at least 20 pounds before I have to have surgery to remove my tumor which I am hoping to do this May. I really need to get this thing gone it is so painful I just want to cry some days.I have a pedunculated fibroid on the outside of my uterus that goes from the side up and over my fallopian tube on my right side to the top of my uterus. You can see that in the picture to the right sort of. It is the same size as my son was at 7 months in my pregnancy which is quite large it estimated weight is about 20-30 pounds. This tumor makes me look like I am still pregnant and it really upsets me. The tumor is the reason my son and I almost died when I was giving birth and it is why I may never be able to have another child. If I get it removed it won't guarantee that I will ever have another child but, it will make the likelihood of that event a bit larger. Not to mention the pain will be gone from it plus it should fix some of the other problems I have been having with my hormones since it secretes hormones randomly into my system because of its size is what I was told.

In the end I am just trying to make myself healthier so, that my son hopefully has many years to spend with his Mama.

Lent

I am participating in Lent this year which means I am giving something up that seems to be taking up my time and removing my focus from God or in my case my family. This is a time to not only focus more of my attention on my God but, also on my family. I have not practiced lent since I was very small and I already messed up today by forgetting to Fast. However, considering my sugar still going low randomly I think I fall into the "Not safe" section. That just means I guess I will be dieting and eating very humble meals for the next 40 days so I can get my feast on for Easter weekend! =) I am really hoping that by the end of this Easter season I will have a better insight into myself and my family. I will admit it has been incredibly hard to not check my facebook randomly throughout the day but, I am hoping that it will get easier as times goes by and that I learn something about myself through my sacrifice of food and Facebook.

Food Journal...

 I am writing this while I finish off a bowl of coco roos just thought everyone should know that lol. 

Anyway to my point I have started up my food journal again. I actually started a new one because I forgot the password on my old one but that is beside the point. I want to lose weight and get back into shape and I don't mean round. I have this beautiful son who needs his mom to be able to run and play with him because he doesn't have a dad to do that. I know so many people hate doing a food journal or counting calories but, really with some of the apps they have out there these days it is so easy. I have tried Fooducate and MyFitnessPal I like both quite a lot. I just really enjoy myfitnesspal better and I think that is because it links to my workout app MapMyFitness. I still use fooducate though but, not for the actual journal I use it to look up foods to see how good they are for me since they do rate the food that they have in their database. Both of these food journals are able to scan a barcode and tell you the food and both will ask you to input information if the bar-code isn't in their system. If you don't feel like putting in all that information you can just do a search for the food and look through what has already been put in the database and see which entry matches what you have. It does all the math for me for my workouts (Calories burned) and how many calories I take in. MyFitnessPal tells me how much weight I will lose in 5 weeks at the end of each day when I complete my diary which I like too. I don't care if I actually do lose that amount but, it is nice to see that I am on the right track with what I am doing.

Junk Food...

I have been eating junk food for months now and my stomach is just mad. I feel sick all the time and my body is actually craving vegetables. I have been drinking way too much soda and eating too many sweets. I swear my body is revolting against this diet of junk and I have been sick and in pain for the last week or so.Which is why starting March 1st my whole family is going to start eating better. I am going to make a meal plan for us all to follow and then buy those foods for the month. I figure it is time for my whole family to start eating better because we have been eating like crap.

Clarity

I have been really mad at someone for a long time. I just didn't realize it until the other day. This person has spent the last three years of their life making people believe they are this kind, caring, loving individual in public. However, when it has come to me in private they have been hateful. I just kept getting more and more angry with them until the other day when I read a blog from someone else who stated everything they were feeling and somewhere in my reading it hit me that is why I am mad. Hell it made me realize that I was mad and about what I was mad about. This person when I lost 200 pounds congratulated me in public but, in private questioned me in a way that made it quite clear they were calling me a liar.This happened in other situations as well but, the one that stung me the most was when I lost 200 pounds that was a great accomplishment for me. I was proud of myself for coming that far I still had more weight to lose but, considering how far I had come I felt great until this person for months questioned/ attacked me over my weight loss. I actually didn't even realize it until the other day but, I stopped working out and eating really well because of this person treating me like they did. My subconscious just kept telling me "It doesn't matter how hard you work no one will believe you." This person made me stop wanting to do things I loved because of their own insecurities with them self. I know I worked my ass off to hit that 200 pounds lost mark and I am going to get down to my goal because I don't have to prove myself to any of you I only have to answer to me at the end of the day.
If you ever have someone in your life holding you back from what you love and what you want I hope you will remember these words. "I only have to answer to myself at the end of the day." It's the truth at the end of the day you answer to you. "Was I a good mom?" "Did I make the right choice?" if you answer yes awesome if you answer no you say I am going to change this and do better. You only have to answer to yourself because you have to live in your body and your head don't let someone else hold you back with their insecurities or hate let them fight their demons while you make yourself the best person you can be. That is how I am moving forward from here. I have to live here they don't so they have no say.

Vocation or Calling

 I have to write a paper for school where I am asked to write why my chosen profession is my calling and not just a vocation.

 This is my free write that I need to fix for the paper but I wanted to share:

picture from

I never even thought of becoming a Dietitian it was never even in my sights. I started school in 2000 with the goal of being a chef that did not work out. While I am an excellent cook and I was able to do anything that was asked of me in the classes; I am short. Most of the people in my classes were considerably taller than I am and they would burn me with their pans near my face or on my face. I am not vain but, I also did not want to become disfigured for something that I didn’t really love doing as a job. Fast forward a little and I got married and started teaching preschool in the beautiful state of Tennessee. After 5 years I divorced and moved back home to California where I was told that I would have to go back to school to be a preschool teacher again. I decided to go back and become an elementary school teacher. While in my first semester I took a few education courses and realized I really hated parents. I know that sounds really bad but, its true kids are great; parents on the other hand are not so great because they never believe their kid is anything other than an angel. This left me lost for about a semester where I continued to just work on my general education requirements. I worked at a college campus under an educational advisor and because of that I had to go over so many different degrees making sure that she had all the information she needed to give the students coming in for her to advise that is when I said “I want to be a nurse.” Fast forward to February 2013 I was with a wonderful man we were planning on getting married until I found out I was pregnant with my beautiful son. Long story short I was never supposed to have kids and it came to a shock to the both of us. He decided he couldn’t be a husband or a father leaving me to become a single mom. I decided to change my major to nutrition which may sound really strange but, it made sense my GPA is not at a 3.0 for the nursing program and becoming a single mom I knew I needed to finish school sooner and I would have the option of an entry level masters in nursing. Seemed like a win, win until I realized in one of those crazy eureka moments nutrition is where I was always meant to be. Remember how I said I was married then divorced well he was a very abusive man and throughout our marriage he forced me to gain weight. When we split I weighed 380 pounds on my tiny 5 foot frame. I left my marriage with my life but, I was by no means healthy so, I decided to lose weight. What an easy task? This decision is what started me down a very long road to learning my calling. I started researching online everything about nutrition, exercise, and weight loss. I made small changes then big changes and slowly changed my whole life around I lost 200 pounds from October 2009 to November 2012. I gained muscle and a new outlook on life. I became a better me and I would always share my story of weight loss and my secrets to keeping the foods I love in my diet while making better choices. I had chosen every profession or vocation before nutrition because I have a deep need to help people. I have always wanted to help people but, I never in a million years would have thought that nutrition would be where my heart lies. It took such a weird string of events for God to get me to listen to him about where I was supposed to be. I think somewhere deep down I always knew that this was my calling since I started out with wanting to make food for people but, I never could have come to the conclusion of being a dietitian without first having to live the life I have lead until this point. Now that I know where I am supposed to be nothing is ever going to stop me from doing my calling.     

Long time no write

Well I haven't written in here much since September not much has really changed with my life except that I was accepted to the University I wanted to go to. I am pushing forward with my goals to become a dietician and nurse. I haven't been working out much because I was having some trouble with my health mostly just burn out I think. To the left you can see my progress over 2012 only down 50pounds between pictures making it the year I lost the least amount of weight since I started out but, I am still happy about it.

With that being said below on the right you can see that I rearranged my room to make it easier for me to work out. I am also really excited to say that the new school has a rec center where I can swim. I am hoping will help me even more with my weight-loss/fitness goals. We all know my first love is the ocean and anything that gets me closer to surfing is my happy place.

I hope that everyone else is having an start to their years. I am going to try and post more nutrition type posts on here since I am now just a student without a job. With tons of time to kill between classes on Tuesday's 10:30 am until 6pm to be exact. I make no promises to write more often but, I do promise to try at least.

Pinterest....

I absolutely love this site. I have found so many recipes that sounds super yummy and the natural cleaning recipes are awesome that I have tried. However, those are not the things I am going to talk about tonight or this morning rather. I was asleep but, finding a hanger digging into my side woke me up and not in the happiest of moods lol. Anyways on pinterest they have a fitness section which is for the most part very informative. I have found LOADS of workouts that I like doing that are really easy even for beginners no weights etc. I have also found some of my favorite foods made healthy. Like Baked Buffalo Chicken OMG so freaking yummy. Also if any of you know me you know my love of things like Buffalo Chicken it is bordering on an addiction 'a wonderfully savory and spicy melt in your mouth with an ice cold beer to wash it down' addiction. Anyways I have also found other recipes that I really like made healthier which really does help me with my journey being able to eat what I love but, in a better way. Looking through the exercises on their also helps me to keep motivated in my journey because well I get bored like everyone else. I have barely worked out in months because of being sick and trying to start back at where I was before getting sick yeah not working out for me so well.  So, finding easier things to do that look fun helps get me back to where I was and also helps to keep me motivated to hit my goal.

So, check out pinterest if you are looking for new ideas for your health. It helps and if you don't find anything there look at people's funnies boards cause Laughter is and always will be the best medicine and it burns a TON of calories =)

Slacking

I have been slacking off on keeping up with this blog thing but, to be honest I have been a bit of a stress case with things in my life that are a bit more important.

I have been sick a bit with some stomach issues then school started back. I also signed up for a craft swap which has taken whatever free time I have from doing school work.

This semester I am taking Anatomy 1 and Organic Chemistry 2. If you are thinking hard classes you are right. Lots of memorization and lots of homework. I am tired and cranky most days because of lack of sleep because I have to study so much. So, yes I am slacking on documenting the things I had plans of documenting here but, in the things that I need to do now. Well unless you count eating that has been taking a slight back burner which btw is not good for anyone's health.

I am still working out and when I remember to eating right. Which to means I am not slacking in what matters. I am daily trying to improve myself and make myself better. I want to be the best me I can be and right now that means actually focusing on my classes and trying to transfer so, that I can finally be done with school. 

Football Season.

September 2011                       August 2012

I am a Redskins fan and I love football season. I don't care that I am mocked all the time for my love of a team that has constant set backs when it comes to making it to the Super Bowl. Yes, I said set backs because they are a good team damn it and you can't change my mind on that fact. Anyways I digress to the left you will see a picture of me in my retro Skins shirt I really don't notice much of a difference but, my friends all seem to I have lost about 70 pounds between pictures. I will be taking a better picture of me in this shirt or one of my other Redskins shirts to show my support around Friday when I am done with the liquid diet I am on. No, I am not trying to lose weight this way my stomach has been messed up so, my "doctor" put me on a liquid diet. It seems to be working I have lost 2 inches in my middle from this morning until tonight so here is hoping the weird bloat will go bye bye =)

Work out

To prove you should like worse after a good workout.

Last night was my first real workout since before I got sick. It was hard for me to get into it but, once it was over and done with I felt more like myself well a tired sweaty gross version of myself but, myself none the less. I have worked very hard to make working out a part of my day to day life. It means more to me than what most people think it does. No, it isn't an obsession like some I just feel like it is more my time for me. I get very little me time when school is in session and I am at work because I have a crazy schedule so, my workouts are my only me time. I take it as a treat for myself much like I will be treating myself to some Del Taco and Coffee today and possibly an apple fritter. Side note I have been craving an apple fritter for over two weeks and I think I deserve one after what I just endured. Can you tell I am slightly hungry as I am writing this lol. Anyways back to last nights work out. It was a 30 minute workout by tone it up. I did the 30 minute tone up work out here. It was an 8 min cardio warm up 5 toning moves followed by 2 mins of cardio then you repeat the 5 moves and 2 mins of cardio 2 more times for a total of 3 making it 30 mins then I did a warm down stretch for maybe a min or two just to make sure I didn't get all tight after the run on the elliptical. Considering we don't run our air and it was 90 degrees in the house and over 100 degrees outside I was happy to get through the workout at all lol. I think my major slim down will happen come fall as always since I am more likely to kick butt at my workouts when I am not dying from the heat.

I am sure you noticed that not so awesome before and after picture of me in the after I will say I was tired and I got in the shower very quickly after that because OMG I was not smelling that great. You also get to see my lovely glasses that I don't always wear when I workout but I did last night because I was having trouble seeing the moves on the Youtube video with my lap top on the bed. I took the picture and posted it here to show that yes you are supposed to sweat and smell and be all sorts of nasty after a workout and guess what it is a-okay that is what they make showers for.

So, get out there get sweaty and have fun with your "me" time. I know I do =)

Food.

I talked about how I read The Hunger Games last night. Well with that has come talking with friends who have been anxiously waiting for me to read them so, that we could talk about them. This for me has meant talking about food a lot and survival techniques. Yes, I know I could have competed in The Hunger Games and possibly won when I was 16/17 years old. I say this as do many others who knew me back then because I was not only an athlete but, I also was known for playing in trees and going camping and knowing edible plants etc. My other favorite past time happened to be throwing knives which until my ex messed up my wrist was a skill I was quite proud of.

These discussions ultimately come back down to food and eating squirrels, rabbits, and other wild game. My friends have all said they could never imagine eating these things and all I could think was well you have never been starving either. When I was growing up we weren't always that well off and there were times we went without a lot which has made me quite resourceful in the kitchen. We never had to eat wild game when I was a kid that waited until I lived with my ex husband and his friends would bring me game that I had to then figure out how to cook. I rose to the occasion and made some pretty tasty dishes with deer meat and even rabbit at times. I also was known for making meals out of what everyone considered to be nothing. Rice, butter, ketchup, a handful of spices, and miscellaneous canned goods this was the nothing I had in my kitchen to feed four for three weeks. Oh and can't forget the top ramen I picked up at some point 10 for a dollar. Not once did anyone turn up their nose at what was cooked and they actually ended up liking some of the meals and they became a staple in the house.

Ours had not as much meat.

Which brings me to my point those who have grown up hungry seem to have more imagination in the kitchen to make things that shouldn't be palatable pretty darn tasty and not just because you are starving but because they actually do taste good. I am not trying to brag about my cooking skills at all they to me are mediocre at best but, I do know how to throw things together and make them taste good. I can even follow a recipe pretty darn well. My point is that most of the people I know how never really had to open their fridge to find a bottle of ketchup and ice in the freezer only. Then to go on to open the cupboard only to find a huge bag of rice and a mixture of canned veggies, canned meat/beans, and canned fruit. Then throw in a handful of spices. All this is meant to feed 4 adults for near a month for three meals a day. Yeah we had three meals everyday for 21 days on what I just described they may not have been huge meals and they might have been soups with lots of water to help fill the person but, we had our 3 meals a day. Also yes the meals got better when I was able to get the 10 packages of top ramen but, I think we would have made it till the end without them with our rationing and my imagination on making new meals out of the same old thing so, that no one got tired of the meals they had to eat.

After a month like that it wasn't hard for me to go grocery shopping on $100.00 for the month to feed 4 people. I bought lots of dried beans, rice, noodles, canned/frozen veggies, flour, and  other baking stores. Then when a friend offered us game meat we jumped on it like crazy because it meant we had meat. I didn't care that it was deer and rabbit and wild bird all I cared about is that it was meat and would stretch our meals further. I lost any kind of pride I would have had against eating Bambi and Thumper because I had a family to feed and we didn't have the ability to be choosey. We also went out into the woods and picked wild berries and other edibles such as roots and leaves that made teas. I feel we were lucky that we were able to between me and my roommates figure out a way to keep our selves fed. Funny thing is rooting through the woods for things with my old roommates and trying to figure out how to make interesting and different meals out of what we had were some of the best times I had in TN.

I came out of that situation a better person I think and I am proud to say I know what it means to be starving and not care what you are eating so, long as you have food in your belly. I think everyone should experience that at least once in their lives in order for them to truly be grateful for what they have.

Hunger Games

Alright so, I doubt anyone noticed that I was missing for a whole week that is because I caught something that made it so food and I did not combine well and at times water was not welcomed. I ended up staying in bed unable to really sit for very long at all which made it pretty impossible to work on the computer so, I read The Hunger Games. Those of you who know me knew that I would love the books before ever reading them. Those of you who don't know me might wonder why I love the books. This is why... I hate Socialism/Fascism etc. Which is displayed in a pretty harsh light in The Hunger Games. For those who haven't read it you really should since this is where we are headed right now with our current choices in Government, Laws, etc. It took me a little over three days to read them because of the constant trips to the bathroom and passing out mid sentence from exhaustion. Now I am craving more to read but, am missing the characters from these books I believe some call it a book hangover.

I don't want to talk to much about what is in the books because I hate spoilers but, I will say this the food that is mentioned from the capitol had me missing food that I haven't eaten since I was a student ambassador in 1998 in the British Isles and Ireland. Some of that could be because I didn't hold down food from last Sunday until late Wednesday night but, I think some of it is here in Southern California they don't really have things like Lamb Stew with plumbs or Goat Cheese and apple Tarts so, hearing about them made me remember how I actually liked those foods when I tried them. Yes, I have been known to try foods outside of my comfort zone even with all of my allergies. I guess that makes me a bit of a daredevil lol. Of course those who know about the stunts I pulled as a child would know I am not just daring when it comes to food lol.

Anyway I am finally feeling human again held down food for several days and am getting stronger by the day.

7lbs

To start off with I was all kinds of bent this morning because I had gained 7lbs but, then I did my measurements and found out I had lost inches all over :-) Now onto this week it was finals week plus my birthday. My birthday means one thing to me and that is Key Lime Pie. I love key lime pie and can not keep it in the house so I buy myself for my birthday every year a single slice of key lime pie. Then since I don't eat it very often it is such a little party in my mouth. Yes, this goes back to my whole moderation thing. I make sure to only eat key lime pie on my b-day or special days I limit myself to a single serving and guess what I was still 300 cals under 1200 today after I finally got to celebrate my b-day without stress. Of course being that far under meant only one thing I needed a Pepsi and some chips and dip lol. :-)

Sleeping

I have officially slept the day away. I got woken up last night by some loud sound outside and couldn't get back to sleep until around 5am. However, in other news I was able to workout before going to bed because it was really quite nice in the house for the first time in 2 days. I don't mind warm weather when we get cool at night so, that the house stays cool. Normally this is easy since we have double panned windows that hold keeps the house at a nice 70 something degrees until around 3pm without the cool air at night we haven't been able to get the house down to the 60's that it needs to be. Anyways onto my early/late workout it was nice to workout in the cool again. It is hard for me to workout when it is hot just because I have trouble regulating my body temperature so, when I get hot I tend to overheat. I did leg and butt workouts with a little abs thrown in. I am however, bummed I have gained 7lbs but, I have lost inches. It is always better to lose inches =)