My Weight Journey

So I’ve decided to share some of my progress, as it were. I’ve said before that I don’t really like to do a progress report, play-by-play type of blog or facebook posts. I prefer to post it all at the end when I have the results. So yay! My progress right now is that I have lost 11 POUNDS! Some people would argue I’m sure that I didn’t need to lose weight. And they’re actually not exactly wrong. Not like I was super overweight or anything. It’s just been since I started my desk job, I’ve gone from active waitress to sedentary office worker. Didn’t change my eating habits at all from when I was more active, so that’s how that happened. At my heaviest I weighed 143 pounds, and I’m 5’5. Like I said, not huge, but it still bothered me. My clothes were all tight, and I didn’t feel good in my own skin. I did notice I was a little rounder in the face and I was losing my waistline. I know what I’m used to and I know what I like and when I’m not at my healthiest. Was also feeling more tired. So I decided to make a change. I went on the Ideal Protein diet, which worked really well for me. I’’ll attach a link below to their website if anyone wants to know more about it.

http://www.idealprotein.com/

Basically, it’s very similar to a paleo diet. No rice, starchy vegetables like potatoes, no bread or pasta, no dairy, no fruit and NO SUGAR. I know that sounds horrible, but it isn’t that bad. I got to have things like chocolate shakes and maple oatmeal for breakfast, vegetarian chili and cream of broccoli soup for lunch, and chicken stir fry and steak with roasted cauliflower for dinner. Plus a snack like a chocolate bar or BBQ chips. They have a lot of the food pre packaged and you eat a lot of fresh vegetables. It only took about 1 and a half months for me to lose the weight.

So now I am down to 132 pounds, and I have about 5 more to go for me to be where I want to be. But I feel great! My pants fit me again and I’ve got my waist back. The other great thing that I noticed was that because I cut out the SUGAR, I have improved skin, energy and have lowered my yeast levels (if you’re a girl you’ll know how helpful that is!). Something surprising that I noticed during this diet was what I craved a missed food wise. Not pasta or mashed potatoes, but sugar! Which makes sense if you are on a no sugar diet. But I was still amazed with how much it impacted me. I’ve never been a real sugar person, more of a salt person, I don’t eat much chocolate or sweets or ice cream. I don’t even let pop in the house, and I recently stopped drinking juice except occasionally. So I was really surprised when I realized my biggest craving on this diet was sugary things. Cakes, cookies, muffins, chocolate bars, things I never had much interest in before suddenly looked so incredibly good to me. I always knew that sugar was bad for us, and that sugar was in everything, but I started to do more research. Boy is it really in everything! Ketchup, soy sauce, salad dressing, pasta sauce. Now mind you I did know some of this and don’t use too many condiments and try to cook mostly from scratch, but still! Think it’s those fries or cheeseburgers that are making you gain weight? Well they are but it’s likely sugar that’s the main culprit. I watched a couple of really incredible documentaries that explained it, which I will attach below.

I also started going to the gym 3 times a week, usually 2 days of cardio and weights and one day of yoga. The yoga is really the thing that is taking it to the next level, do I ever feel it the next day, but it is a great feeling, that achy sore feeling of knowing you gave your muscles a challenge. I’m not shredded or anything ….yet, but I do feel better. I’ve noticed I’ve been sleeping super hard lately, I think because the workouts just tire me out, but in a good way.

Since I’ve first gained weight, I’ve had a family member comment on my weight in a negative way (or rather that I perceived negatively!) That really surpised me because most people thought that I was a pretty good size just the way I was. Of course that statement did hurt my feelings a little, but in no way is it why I decided to lose weight and eat healthier. I did it for me. Instead of taking it personally, I decided to take a different approach and have it motivate me. Every time I was tired, and didn’t want to work out or wanted to cheat on my diet, I envisioned that family members face, telling me I was fat, or telling me I couldn’t do it. And I would plow right through and succeed! Not that I didn’t ever have any slip ups, but it sure helped encourage me.

Pictures of my transformation to follow!

 #1 - SUGAR COATED

http://putlocker.sg/watch-sugar-coated-online-free-putlocker.html

#2 - Jamie Oliver 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpr20BdngSY

#3 - FED UP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y647tNm8nTI

Life Changers

Things I actually care about.

I realized, looking back on my last blog post in 2013, that I was just at the beginning of an awesome, mind bending journey of knowledge and experiences that changed my life forever. Wow! So many things have altered the course of my life permanently and wonderfully. There were a few that stung a little, but those were more of “ignorance is bliss” occurrences. (which I will commit an entire blog to separately!)

Where do I begin? Point form seems to be the way to go:

#1 – The beginning of my journey undoubtedly started with food. I had been getting increasingly more and more ill as time went by, finally realizing that feeling this way was not the norm. I was having horrible stomach problems and mood swings constantly to the point where both were interfering with my life. I decided I’d had enough, and started trying new ways of eating; omitting all the things I thought might be bad for me. It was quite the process of elimination; I went vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, gluten free, etc. All different diets. I also educated myself about food. That, coupled with the difference I saw in my health, led me to realize how poor my food education had been, and how the general public has been bamboozled about food their whole lives. Many facts we know to be true about food are wrong. So it led me to wonder if we are being lied to about something as basic as food, what else are we being lied to about? Therein lies the reason for #2.

#2 – Conspiracy theories. Well yes and no. It is only called a ‘conspiracy theory’ in my opinion if you don’t believe it. Now I’m not saying I believe in all the stories floating around, but there are a few that to me, have merit. Like I said, if we are being lied to about food, we are being lied to about a whole lot more.  When I started to have an open mind, and do some research and talk to people; educate myself so to speak, I found out a load of things that blew my mind, and not in a good way. I’m not going to go on about them. For me, it’s important to just put forth the information. If someone has an open mind and wants to look into it further, then so be it. I think the most important factor is that we have access to the information. From there, we can decide if it’s something we’d consider or not. Knowledge is power and the whole thing. Keep in mind though, that most people don’t really enjoy bursting the bubble of comfort and safety they’ve been living in, and so tend to refute anything that conflicts with that. Think matrix, blue pill, red pill paradox. Ignorance is bliss. Until it’s not.

#3 – Self Reflection – Now I mean really getting down to the heart of things. Think microscopic. I really have found that the more the years go by, my default is to really reflect on my actions, right or wrong, and what makes me, well, me. I think in small ways, we are always changing. No one always stays the same. Or they shouldn’t. I know that no matter how much I figure things out, I’ll always make a mistake (which I can’t stand sometimes but have to accept). I’m always finding out new things about myself, which I find fascinating. Lately though, I’m really trying to be a better person. Not that I’m normally an asshole (although I’ve had my moments), but I just really want to work on being a more patient, well rounded, kinder human being. Patience isn’t always my strong point, and I also tend to have foot in mouth syndrome at times. That being said, I’ve noticed as per my previous blog that limiting my drinking has really helped with that. I’m enjoying the results, so I’m just going to keep moving forward in that direction.

Each of these points will I’m sure at some point have their own blog. There’s just so much content to cover and I don’t really feel like writing a novel today.  I will put all the links below that started me on my path, and hopefully some of you will be interested enough to maybe take a peek at some of them. I promise you won’t be disappointed. Even if it’s not your cup of tea, it never hurts to get another viewpoint, right?

DOCUMENTARIES:

#1 – FOOD INC (easy to watch and very informative! – good intro to start with)

http://documentary-movie.com/food-inc/

#2 – FORKS OVER KNIVES

http://www.putlocker-movies.website/871-forks-over-knives.html

#3 – SUGAR COATED

http://thevideo.me/310a2nr0mjyn

#4 – FED UP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y647tNm8nTI

#5 – EARTHLINGS (hard to watch but if I can do it you can do it!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opj0_3L1l88

#6 – THE TRUTH ABOUT YOUR BIRTH CERTIFICATE (only 7 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfnJ1rOFK7o#action=sharettps://youtu.be/cfnJ1rOFK7o

LINKS:

#1 – WHY MILK IS BAD FOR YOU (no one ever really wants to believe this one!)

http://saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/

#2 – YOUR BIRTH CERTIFICATE

http://presscore.ca/when-you-were-born-your-government-forged-your-name-and-created-a-birth-certificate-bond

Why I'm happy to drink less.

If you would have told me 6 months ago that I would be happy to barely ever drink, I wouldn't have believed you. It all started with having a couple drinks at home after work to destress a couple times a week. Then it was 4 or 5 times a week and I couldn't wait to get home to have my drinks. I started to realize I was looking forward to happy hour just a little too much and I wanted to figure out why. I wanted to be high on life. I also wanted to eat better and lose some weight. There are a lot of calories in booze!

So I stopped drinking for a month. The first week or so was the hardest. Life seemed so boring without it. I know how ridiculous that sounds! The good news was I really started to fill my time with other things that were more productive and interesting. Don't get me wrong I still craved a glass of wine and some cheese now and then (did I mention I'm not eating any dairy right now either?) But the cravings weren't ruling my world. I was feeling better every day.

I finally had a couple glasses last Saturday with dinner. The first glass was nice. After that it was just meh. Then I had 3 glasses last nite with some wings with friends. The first 2 glasses were nice but I really didn't need the third. I wasn't hungover or anything  but I realized how it impacted my behavior. I didn't get rowdy or say anything bad but your behavior does change when you've had a few. I'm learning I really don't like that. I'm an expressive person on a normal day and drinking just amplifies that to an annoying degree. So it was great to have that reminder because I don't need to drink to have a good time anymore. If you need to have a drink to have a good time there are some issues that need facing.
You know what I don't miss about getting drunk? Falling down and hurting myself, embarrassing myself and others, saying something mean or hurtful to someone and binge smoking to name a few things.(pretty much quit smoking as well too!) Only time I want to smoke is when I've had more than 1 or 2 but it's slowly getting non existent. I don't care if you can say this but I am proud of myself! I want to be healthy and happy and have as little regret as possible! Im trying to keep the foot in mouth comments you get from drinking to a minimum! I tend to be hyper critical of myself. Spending half the next day regretting/analyzing stupid drunk things I said is a horrible way to spend my time.

It doesn't mean I'll never enjoy a nice glass of wine. It just means I'm keeping it to once a week and maybe 2ish glasses. There's always the odd special occasion of course. In general though, I have to say I'm much happier now that I've made this change. Now if I could just do something about my hormones and hit the gym more I'd be set. (Physical health wise anyway;I'll say nothing about my mental health!)

Here we are again

I can’t believe it’s been so long since my last blog. I tend to get really caught up with life, as we all do, and then I don’t take the time to do these things. Well that’s only really half true. The other half is that when I’m not fully satisfied with something (or many things) I tend to go inward and don’t really feel like sharing. I’m also not one of those people who feels the need to share every little thing in my life: what I ate this morning, 30 pictures of my dogs, etc. I’m not bashing people who do; it’s just not for me. I do enjoy seeing my friends post details of their everyday lives, especially when I don’t get to see them very often, I just can’t be bothered to do the same lol. But I digress.

Now this may sound like I’m saying the reason I haven’t blogged is because I haven’t been happy with things. Not at all. I just didn’t feel like it. Also I’m not really into sharing the journey, I’d rather just skip to the end when I have things how I want them. I feel like I see people chat up their intentions all the time (of course it’s great to have goals and strive for them), but I feel like a lot of the time it’s just blah, blah, blah the same thing over and over again but no results are going to come, or if they do, they don’t last. For me personally, I’d rather just do it rather than talk about it endlessly. Then, when I share the results at the end, it’s a surprise. I don’t have to worry about people asking me, “Oh, how’s that going so far?” and feeling discouraged because my results aren’t where I’d like them to be. Now this is relevant to everything from losing weight, to redecorating the house or even knitting a sweater. I do these things to please myself, not others, but sometimes the stress of explaining your progress can be a buzz kill. (To me, anyway)

It just so happens that right now I’m in a sharing mood, lol. So I’m going to try to blog more. We’ll see if that actually sticks.

Milk is bad for you?

So today I would like to share something that I discovered about a year ago. It impacted me immensely, but in no way do I feel that others will feel the same. All I want to do in this case is share knowledge, and people can glean from it what they will. I feel a moral responsibility to share this with others. I know many people already know about this, so I may not be sharing something new. It's not really about that though; instead it's about the fact that for your whole life you have been lied to. We know there are many dishonest people and corporations in the world. We know the government is less than forthcoming with many things. How many times has there been some scandal or another gracing the front page of the newspaper?

So here's a big fat lie. Read the link and decide for yourself... www.saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/ I didn't just go to the first page I found on the internet and decide to trust this was true. I did a lot of researching and fact checking so that I could be sure this wasn't a lie. I don't believe that knowing that milk is bad for you will change your life forever. But I prefer to think of it in a different sense. Your whole life you were taught to believe that milk 'does a body good'. Milk, yogurt,cheese, oh it is all a great source of calcium, which is so important for healthy bones. So we'd better hurry up and get as much as possible! We were all puppets in the milk marketing machine.

How many of you as kids saw how fast your house went through that 4 litre plastic jug of milk every week....even every day? For the better part of your life it was a belief, a value that was ingrained in you that milk was good for you. So it must be true, right? I don't mean to not give people credit, I've met many people who know that it's a lie, or at least try to consider it. I also meet people that straight up won't even consider the possibility that milk is bad for them. And I'll tell you why they think that way. I get it, I really do. It was hard for me too. It's a breakdown of your entire life's belief system. It's like me coming to you and saying, "You know how your whole life you thought blue was blue. Well it's not, it's actually green." You'd think I was mad, you wouldn't want to believe me. Just imagine for a minute that I was right, that society lied about colors to you for your whole life. Ok, it's a silly analogy, but that's how silly people sometimes think I am for telling them the whole 'milk is bad' thing. But if you allow yourself to consider it, doesn't it make you mad that you've been lied to this whole time? Doesn't it make you wonder what else you've been lied to about? Don't you want to try to discover for yourself what is real in this world and what is not?

To me, anyhow, it was one of many small discoveries that created a spark in me, to learn more about how we have had our values shaped for us by the higher ups. My real point here is just this. QUESTION EVERYTHING. Don't blindly accept things just because it was how you were raised or it's what everyone else does. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. The problem is, the government and corporations don't want us to obtain that knowledge because they know what we would do with it and we wouldn't follow their ways anymore. Milk companies have spent billions of dollars perpetuating a lie to us to keep us buying their product. They know they'd lose a lot of business if more people knew the truth. I just feel like people have a right to know that, they can do what they want with the information. But just let them have it!

Don't give up

After about 5 hours of fitful dreams, I found myself awake this morning at 530am. This is in no way typical for me; I am a good sleeper normally. I found myself laying in bed trying to figure out what had me so twisted up and anxious. It occured to me that I had allowed myself to temporarily 'believe the hype', and had become discouraged. I'm already shaking it off, and returning to normal. I'm glad that I have the constitution to be able to do that, I have been known to hold onto certain things in the past. Still do sometimes, but I'm working on that. I feel this saying of

is very true, and it took me a long time to learn how to be the kind of person who could let things go. Doesn't mean I'm cured, just means I am much more inclined to not let things stop me. In no way does this mean I am referring that there is someone in my past I am still hurt about. It's more about the philosophy that I have been through that and now know how to let go...most of the time! But I digress. How did this all begin? Recently, as in the last 3 years of my life, but more specifically in the last year, I have been doing some very serious thinking. I feel as though in the last year I have come across more knowledge and revelations then I have in my whole lifetime! Trust me when I say it has been a lot to take in, but nothing that I couldn't handle. I just needed to teach myself how to accept and process things in a new way. Again, doesn't mean I've near mastered it. I figure practice makes perfect, so I'm just going to keep on trying and learning. All of this has forced me to truly re-evaluate what is important in my life, what do I really value. The short answer would be family,loved ones and quality of life. QUALITY OF LIFE! The long answer is one I am going to be happy to start sharing my thoughts on here with everyone, as I have already been doing in my day to day life. Now, in order to create the life I now want for myself, it is going to require drastic changes for myself. Initially I had to start small, and slowly sell myself on these changes. The great thing was, the more I did that, the more it worked! I began to get really excited about my life, about my future, more so than anytime in my life ever! Does this not seem like a reason to rejoice? Yes.....and no. I am smart enough to not 'put the cart before the horse', and not create a fantasy future image in my head. Nothing in reality can compete with that if you do that. I don't think its healthy to think the grass is greener on the other side. I have done that before and it's never been good for me. Rather, I'd like to think, it's not really about the 'grass' this time, but rather what being on the grass is going to allow me to do with my life. I have decided, however, that until my life changes are starting to be in effect, that I'm not going to talk about them to everyone, and glorify them. No, I'm not making promises I'm not going to keep this time. But that doesn't mean I'm not so so excited for them! Now, my funny sleep patterns last night stemmed from me having a moment of doubt before I went to bed. Was I making the right choices, and for the right reasons? Was I really going to be able to do it, stay with it? I believe doubt is healthy in small doses. It is your minds way of telling you that there's still something that needs more thought or work. Thankfully, it was a case of small doubt. I was able to sort it out in my mind this morning, and am now more resolute then ever. I can tell you that I have never been more determined in life then I am right now. Haha you doubtfairies, Laleh wins again! So the moral of the story? Don't give up.

my new diet

So I have been figuring out some things about myself lately, and I have realized....I can't eat like I'm 20 anymore! Waaaaahhhh. This has been an ongoing problem, to those of you who know me well, I have had stomach problems for years. I've always known that my stomach gest really mad at me for eating crappy, but it's definetly gotten worse over the years. I don't go out to Mcdonalds all the time or eat fast food, and I very rarely drink pop or eat junk food. Still, it's more about the fact of eating over processed foods or foods of covenience; things with too many sugars, starches or preservatives. I've always known that my yeast levels are high and this summer they went through the roof and caused me alot of health problems, never to mention the normal bloating and gut rot my tummy was putting me through.

It all came to a head when I went home to sask and was travelling around. Well we all know you don't eat as well when vacationing. It was all so go go go, so that I didn't really have time to eat well. Unless I was going to get a salad when we went to Mcdonalds, and you know I'm not going to do that when everyone else is having a burger! Again, it wasn't all 'junk food', but lots of carbs and a lack of any proper fruits, veggies or FIBRE in general is gonna do that to you. By the second day I got to my moms I was a mess and spent the better half of a day in bed. Of course to her it looked like I wasn't taking care of myself, and she gave me the naggy mom lecture, which frustrated me even more. Suffice it to say, I felt I had hit a wall and enough was enough. By the time I got home I was committed to turning over a new leaf. But then it was off to Vegas 3 days later so that didn't help! Surprisingly I ate pretty good in Vegas, that was partially because I didn't want to be sick during my trip! (pepto is my best friend, how sad!)

Now I am home, and slowly but surely, through lots of effort on my part, my body is sorting itself out and I am feeling better. I went grocery shopping and bought a fridge full of fruits and veggies, spelt bread, lactose free milk, sugar free and gluten free products(buckwheat waffles rock!). Because I am learning, through depriving myself of certain things, and then reintroducing them, that I definetly have some food sensitivities. I have noticed that milk, or rather lactose is most certainly a culprit; if I eat ice cream or anything straight milk, like milkshakes or cream soups, I get super bloated and yucky. Although yogurt, goat cheese and super aged cheese like old cheddar seems to be fine, so I get my dairy fix too. Interesting fact; did u know that super aged cheese has virtually no lactose in it? So it's good for all you sensitive cheese lovers. I still get my cereal in the morn due to the lactose free milk, and eggs are fine too. So I'm not suffering that much, I've just had to readjust some things. No pasta for now and limited white rice, and cut down in the sugar, which I'm learning is in EVERYTHING. I've got naturally sweetened jam and stevia, which helps. And I'm really learning to read the ingredients of anything I buy. Basically, if I can't pronounce it, I'm not buying it. So I'm eating at home alot, but I'm enjoying it, cooking new recipes and trying new things. I'm really excited about it and think it'll really pay off in the end!