Today was hard...emotionally

Yesterday and today have been so hard on me emotionally.  I deal with depression as I've said before, and there have been a few events happen that have triggered my depression.  I do take medicine for it, but it just hasn't seemed to work.  Very close friends of mine have gone through a very similar situation regarding their dad, they had to go through the hardest thing in life today, and watch their dad take his last breath in the hospital.  He had a major heart attack, and didn't recover.   This just brought up all the memories from the day my dad got into his car accident, and every single emotion I felt that day.  These are memories I try to surpress, because I never can physically handle the sadness I get from it.  I've had a hard time these past couple days, and this has actually made me realize how much I actually turn to food for comfort.

Today I slept in later so I didn't have breakfast shake, but I did have a lunch shake.  I fixed a stir fry with peanut curry sauce for dinner, I'll have recipe below.  It was my first time making a stir fry, and so I didn't think it turned out as great as I would have hoped.  But the sauce was great, and I do plan on making it again in the future, just add more veggies then what I had in the house!  Last 2 days though, I've been getting hungry about 2 hours after I eat dinner.  Last night it happened and tonight it happened.  I did give in and ate.  I heated up 3 tortillas and put leftovers of my squash and spinach chicken mix I had from last week's squash ravioli, and tonight I heated up tortillas and smashed some black beans and put some Tapatillo sauce on it.  So it's not like I was eating horrible foods, but I shouldn't have eaten so late at night. I'm thinking this is my depression, because I haven't dealt with this issue before yesterday when all this stuff started happening.  I'll have to get in touch with my Doctor and maybe have her readjust my medicine.  Depression is no joke, and I truly hate having to live with it!  

Earlier in the day while Skyla was taking her nap, I was sitting in the dark on my computer watching youtube videos, and was just feeling so so sad.  My chest actually hurt from the pain I was feeling in my heart (If that makes sense)  I decided I needed to release some stress, and turned on Daily Burn!  I did a 20 min. Interval Ab workout, and about 15 mins of a Bollywood dance workout.  I would have done more of the dance, but I just felt like I was making a lot of noise, and I have downstairs neighbors now, so i kind of felt bad.  I'm so glad I did this though, it helped me calm down and release some bad energy.  Now that I think about it, I should've done some Yoga! What the heck Kylah lol.  Maybe tomorrow I can try Yoga!  

I don't know why it's taken me so long to look this up, but today I finally found an Herbalife fitness club....I think that's what it's called.  Pretty much it's where they make shakes you can go and buy and I think it comes with tea as well.   I think this is perfect for me on days I may be out and about and need a shake, or I've just thought about going just to try different flavors I don't have and see if  I'd want to spend money on getting that flavor mix to have at home.  It never hurts to be around other people who are doing the same thing as you, they know your struggles and hurdles.  They also have a weight loss competition I might join....miiiiiiiiight.  I don't know the full details on it just yet, but it did catch my attention.  Depends on what all is involved, you know me, I'm not super social lol.  

That's really all the new things that happened today.  To be honest my head is a little foggy because of everything that's happened, and all the things that have popped up into my head over the course of the last 2 days, it's hard for me to focus on little details of the day.  I think I covered it pretty well though!  Until tomorrow loves

Dinner Recipe:

Red Curry Peanut Sauce (gluten-free + vegetarian with vegan option)makes about 2 cups

1 – 13.5 ounce can unsweetened light organic coconut milk
2 tablespoons red curry paste
1 tablespoon gluten-free fish sauce*
1 tablespoon coconut sugar (you could also use brown sugar or raw sugar)
1/3 cup natural chunky peanut butter (creamy will work, too)

Red Curry Peanut Vegetable Stir FryUse your favorite stir-fry ingredients. This is just to show you how I served mine
serves 4

2 teaspoons sesame or peanut oil
1 head of napa cabbage, about 1lb, cleaned and sliced thin
1 bell pepper (I used yellow, red would work as well), sliced thin
1 clove garlic clove, minced
1 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped
1/2 inch piece ginger, minced
8 oz sliced mushrooms
large handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
green onions, sliced thin
1/4 cup roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
6 ounces thin rice noodles, cooked according to package directions and drained

*Alright so I kind of left out a lot of things because I didn't have them lol here's of what I left out: Fish sauce,napa cabbage, lemongrass, mushrooms.

Next time when I make this dish, I'll definitely add more veggies.  Really the only veggies I had were yellow bell pepper and I added some broccoli.  I like crunch in my stir fry from veggies!  But the sauce was very yummy! It was kind of spicy, but not overbearing, I think next time I'll add another tablespoon to make it more spicy :-)

Link to full recipe:

http://tasty-yummies.com/2012/02/25/red-curry-peanut-sauce-vegetable-stir-fry-gluten-free-vegetarian-with-vegan-option/

Temptation overtook me....again

Today I was so incredibly exhausted!  I didn't get to bed until super late last night, mainly because  I tried to have a little "Me" time while my hubs and Skyla were asleep.  It's about the only time I get to myself, which is catch 22 because I have to stay up late and miss out on sleep in order to do it :-/
Skyla didn't sleep good either because she's been teething, I'm pretty sure I didn't get even an hour consecutive time of sleep.

So that brings us into this morning.  Skyla and I woke up fairly early, early for us at least, around 9:30 a.m.  I fixed Skyla breakfast, made my morning shake, and got a little boost from the Tea.  My shake was not on point in the morning lol.  I only added a few choc. chips and peanut butter to the shake, and the choc. chips didn't mix in.  My ice to water ratio was off, so the shake was runny, too runny for my liking.  So that's why all the choc chips just sank to the bottom of the cup.  The shake in itself wasn't disgusting, but I just don't like my shakes watery, and it doesn't make me feel full.

Confession time!!  So remember those cheese sticks and Bar BQ wings my hubby brought home?  Yea...ya'll know where this is heading don't ya....Here it goes, Eusevio  left the food in the fridge!!!  I have Alton Brown on facebook, and today he posted this delicious fattening as crap picture of a piece of fried chicken in a biscuit with cheese smothered with gravy (my mouth is watering)  And for some reason, as soon as I saw that picture, I craved bad food!  I couldn't resist so Skyla and I shared the cheese sticks and wings.  They were so good, but made me feel incredibly bad!  I know it's my fault, but I'm blaming this on Eusevio, because he should've known better to do that to me lol!  I did have my strawberry shake for dinner tho, so at least I didn't blow my dinner as well.

I know that it's unrealistic of me to think that I can just stop my cravings for bad foods altogether, so I really try not to beat myself up too much when I give in.  I'm still proud of myself for the most part, because even with the few relapses I've had, I'm still eating way healthier and fewer calories then I probably ever have in my whole life!  So I look at it as, yea I gave in, but I'm not going to keep giving in every meal.  Gotta learn and move on!

So, I've been watching tons of youtube videos lately....not sure why the sudden interest in youtube, but I'm seriously considering doing my own channel.  I mean I still plan on doing a daily journal on here, but I'm also thinking about doing a monthly update on youtube with my progress.  Also plan on doing just other videos for random stuff.  I don't even care if people watch them, but I'm a stay at home mom, and I have the time.  So I might as well do something that's fun and interesting for me!!  I'll keep ya updated on the status of that :-)  Well that's about all I have to say about today's festivities.....Until tomorrow ya'll!

~Kylah~

My husband is evil!

My husband is a cruel man..... Let me explain.
Yesterday he came home from work with a to-go container, and the first thing he says was, "You're going to hate me, but love me."  I was intrigued so I looked inside the box.  There was a few Bar BQ wings (not a big deal), and what I thought was fried chicken strips.  I wasn't impressed, and it wasn't even a temptation until he actually told me what that chicken strip imposter was!  They were cheese sticks...HUGE cheese sticks that had yummy cheese, wrapped in bacon, and deep fried to perfection!  Holy cow, I mean if you could see just the size of these things, they were huge!  He just so happened to bring these right as I was making my lunch shake....how evil is he!  Well I was super curious, and so I gave in and tried a bite.  They were so delicious, I think time stopped for a few seconds, and all that was in the room was me and this delicious piece of cheese heaven.  It was short lived tho, because I immediately closed the box and said, "Get these the heck out of here!"  Life went on, and I haven't had another bite I swear :-)

Now about today's activities.....I only had 1 shake today, my lunch shake.  I have to say it was pretty on point!  I made up my own recipe, and I was happy it turned out so good :-) I saw this recipe for Parmesan Crusted baked zucchini chips...sounds good right?  That's what I thought!  I thought it worked out perfectly too, because I had some leftover zucchini from last night's dinner.  It took me about 40 mins to prepare this stuff.  I baked it according to directions, pulled it out of oven and it smelled delicious!  I tried one and........BLEGH it was so nasty hahaha.  I don't know where I went wrong, but I got something wrong, and it just didn't taste very good at all.  Oh well, I'll know for next time!

Skyla apparently has some teeth coming in, so she's been super grumpy and super attached to me.  So today I really didn't get much done.  I still plan on doing my workout today, which I think I'll just do an arm workout.  I've been dreading that one because I have NO upper body strength what-so-ever!

I wanted dinner to be easy and not complicated because I've been kind of stressed today from several things, so  I decided to make wheat pasta with Home made Creamy Spaghetti Sauce, with turkey kielbasa as the meat.  It turned out super yummy, and I was very satisfied!  I almost forgot I was eating wheat pasta instead of regular....almost ;-)  It probably wasn't super low in calories, but still lower than what I would usually eat before, so I'll take it!


The rest of my day has been spent budgeting paychecks and preparing the grocery list.   I really think it's so important to plan out your meals, or else it's super hard to stick to your healthy eating.  My routine is to go on Pinterest (Hello, my name is Kylah, and I'm a pinterest addict) and I search healthy recipes.  This is how I keep it mixed up, and learn new recipes to make!  I'll make a list of all the meals I want to make, and then when it comes closer to actually going to the store, I'll go back through those recipes and see what ingredients I need to buy from store.  This system has worked great for me so far, it helps me stick to making those healthy meals, knowing I already have the ingredients for it.  It also helps knowing what to make, so there's never a time I'm in the kitchen standing there looking at the fridge wondering what I'm going to make!   I'm not the most organized person, but when it comes to cooking and grocery shopping, I'm the Master at it ;-)

Well that's pretty much it....here's all the recipes for today.  Have a great evening!

Lunch Shake:
2 scoops Choc. Healthy Meal Mix
1 scoop Choc. Protein Mix
2 1/2 Frozen strawberries (I say 2 1/2 because the 3rd one was super tiny lol)
1 Tblsp. Low fat cheesecake pudding mix

Mixed with 2 1/2 cups(1 water bottle's worth) of water, and 4 ice cubes.  This shake turned out so delicious!!  Did you notice I left out the peanut butter?  I know, it's crazy!  I'm glad I did tho, because it helped the strawberry's stand out on it's own.

Dinner Recipe:

Creamy Wheat Pasta, with Turkey Kielbasa
Turkey Kielbasa:

 Olive Oil

1 Package Turkey Kielbasa ( I use Hilshire Farm brand)

1 Tsp. Chili Powder

1 Tsp. Pepper

1 Tsp. Salt

*Heat a smidge (Just enough to coat bottom of skillet, not too much or else kielbasa will be greasy) of olive oil on medium-high heat

*Slice the Kielbasa into 1 to 1/2 an inch slices and when pan is  heated, add to skillet.  Be careful not to overheat the olive oil, it heats up fast than canola.

*Immediately add your spices to kielbasa, just to 1 side of sausage. (I don't measure my spices, so this is a guess.  Add more or less to your liking.  Just enough to cover each sausage piece.

*Cook for about 1 and a half minutes and flip them over. Let the other side brown for another minute and a half.  After this occasionally stir kielbasa so they all cook evenly.

 * Total cook time is about 6-8 Min.  I like mine a little more done, but if you like it less, don't cook as long.  Just make sure they are all heated through!  

Creamy Spaghetti Sauce:

1 can Roasted Tomatoes

1 Tsp. Italian Seasoning

1 Tsp. Salt

1 Tsp. Pepper

1 Tsp. Garlic Powder

1 Tsp. Onion Powder

1 Tsp. Chili Powder

1/2 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

*Put roasted tomatoes in blender and add all the seasonings. Pulse the blender a few times so all is mixed well.  

*Add the greek yogurt, and pulse blender until mixed.  

*Taste and check your seasoning.  I use end up adding a little more seasoning, but it all depends on you taste!

That is a very poor quality picture, but I assure you this meal was awesome!  At least for me it was lol

~Kylah~

Start of week 2

Today was great!  I was so horrible over the weekend, I was excited to start off right this week.  I was telling Eusevio that last week I would enjoy my shakes, but I'd constantly look at the clock and get super excited when I got to eat real food.  I wasn't like that today.  I enjoyed my breakfast and lunch shake as usual, and my husband had to remind me to go cook dinner lol.  It snowed, and iced a bit here in Texas over the night, so Eusevio got to get off work early.  I'm used to starting dinner late, so I guess I was used to waiting longer to eat.  He didn't want to wait though, I don't blame him!

For my breakfast shake I just added 1/2 a banana and peanut butter.  Kept it real simple for the morning.  Between breakfast and lunch I did my workout, I timed this while Skyla was taking a nap.  I live in an apartment, and our downstairs neighbors moved out a few weeks ago, so I've been able to do cardio without worrying about making noise.  Well we got new people that moved in, so I couldn't do anything that made noise.  I decided to do the intense core abs from daily burn today.  It's a 25 min. workout, but I only lasted 15 min.  I tried to last the whole time, but it was killing me!  I found out that I can only do a 40 second sissy plank, but I plan on working on that!

After sweatin up a storm, and recovering from my ab workout I started on house chores.  By the time I was done it was time for lunch shake!  Lunch shake I kind of made up my own recipe, I'll share below.  It was really good, one I'll be using again!  I've noticed that I pretty much put peanut butter in every shake I take lol, I just love the flavor it gives!  One day I'll live life on the wild side and leave it out.

For dinner I made Grilled Chicken with creamy lemon dill zucchini pasta.  The original recipe calls for Salmon, and I planned on making it with salmon.  But I wasn't going to buy the salmon until the day I made this recipe, and since it fell on today, and seeing how the roads are all icy...I made due with eating chicken.  I didn't feel like sliding all over the place, and dealing with Texas drivers.  It was very light and yummy!  A recipe I'll definitely be making in the future!

I'm just so blown away with my attitude about all of this.  Even in the past when I was trying to be better, I still didn't have this attitude on food.  It's tough reprogramming your brain to eat just what you need, and not more than that.  Sometimes I would just eat because I wanted to, I wasn't really hungry, something just looked good to me.  I was raised to never waste anything, so that carried over as well.  I would put too much on my plate to begin with because my eyes were always too big for my stomach, but I literally could not stand seeing food leftover, I didn't want to waste anything.  I've now learned to get smaller plates, and put smaller amounts of food.  You can always get more if you need, but I've found that by the time I finish the first plate I'm not hungry anymore.  I know the pills I take help with that, but it still helps with portion control.

I can't wait for tomorrow, I know it'll be just a great as today!

~Kylah~

Breakfast Shake:
2 scoops of Healthy meal mix
1 scoop Protein mix
1/2 banana
1/2 tbsp peanut butter

Lunch Shake:
2 scoops Healthy meal mix
1 scoops protein mix
1 tbsp fat free cheesecake pudding mix
1/2 banana
1/2 tbsp peanut butter
I kind of played around with flavors on this one, and it was really good!

Dinner Recipe:
Grilled Chicken with Creamy Lemon Dill Zucchini "Pasta" (It's really baked salmon, but I substituted) 

• 1 salmon fillet, about 120g
• 1/8 tsp dried dill
• sea salt and black pepper

For the sauce:

• 2 tbsp plain fat-free Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp dried dill
• 1/2 tsp fresh lemon zest
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• black pepper, to taste

For everything else:

• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 zucchini, spiralized, or 28g/1oz uncooked whole grain pasta
• 6 stalks asparagus, trimmed and sliced lengthwise if thick
• lemon wedges and parsley, to garnish

*I seasoned the Chicken the same as  I would the salmon.  I just looked up how to cook really tender chicken, and it turned out perfect!  

Link to the recipe: http://eat-spin-run-repeat.com/recipes-2/?recipe_id=6044084

*My zucchini noodles aren't thin and pretty like most because I don't have a mandolin to cut with.  But they still turned out great!

About me

You know I was thinking about it, and I really haven't introduced myself, or posted anything about my background.  So this post will be strictly me letting you know a little about myself and my family, and why I'm on this journey to  lose weight and get healthier. Just a little info. about myself.....
I'm 25 going on to 26 this year, I've been married for 5 years this August!  I have a 20 month old baby girl, Skyla, whom I've mentioned a few times before in my blog.  And my husband, Eusevio, is also same age as me.  He's a hard worker, and an awesome funny person!  He completes me in every way. I love my little family!

So, I wasn't always big.  When I was younger I had a chubby face and thick bones, but as soon as I turned 14ish, I lost my baby fat, and I was really thin.  Of course I always wore baggy shirts and pants because I was sort of a tom boy, and that was just what I was used to wearing.  I actually had someone ask me if I was anorexic because I had lost a lot of weight in short amount of time it seemed.  I assured them that I still had my same appetite, just lost all my baby weight.  When I was 15, my sister and I would go to the gym 3 times a week, and do at least an 1 1/2  or more workout.  It's crazy to think about doing that, because I remember it seeming like a breeze to do it, now it's like I'm going to die if I do 30 mins!  Our tradition was to workout, then go to Taco Bueno and eat been burritos afterwards.  I know so healthy, but it worked!

Here's a couple pictures of me when I was 16 and 17.  I can honestly say I didn't keep track much of my weight, but I think I weighed close to 135 to 140.  I'm about 5'8 maybe a little taller, so I think that was a good weight for me.

I was never one to be on a diet or watch what I ate, but I was fairly active and had a high metabolism,  so I was pretty much able to eat whatever I wanted and not gain a pound!  I stayed like this up until I was 19 years old, after that it all went downhill.  In May 2009 my dad got into a bad car accident, and passed away.  This was a HUGE devastation to me, because we were very close!  I had suffered from depression a little bit before this happened, but after this happened my depression got a lot worse.  I think I turned to food as a comfort, and I became less active.  I didn't put the effort to be fit anymore, because I just didn't have a lot of motivation to do anything really.  

In July 2009 I started dating the man who would eventually become my husband :-)   He helped me through my dad's death so much, I don't know what I would've done without him, and I think God sent him to me!  I know people might think it's crazy to say that, but I truly think he's my soulmate!  

As you can tell, I didn't really start gaining too much weight when I first was dating my husband Eusevio.  The first picture was our first official date in bricktown OKC in 2009.  The 2nd picture was in beginning of 2010, about 10 months before our wedding.  

My weight gain was slow, but steady.  My husband was always someone who wanted to eat healthy, and he was VERY active!  He played football, soccer, and was a heavy weight in school.  So he was fit, healthy, and active.  His diet was sandwiches and cereal pretty much, mine on the other hand was friend chicken, mashed potatoes, home made gravy. etc.  My mom sure knew how to cook, but it wasn't exactly healthy!  

Let's skip forward a few years......the most I've ever weighed was 220.  Here's  a picture of what I looked like (scared face)

This picture was taken in October 2012, I didn't know I was pregnant then, but I wasn't even a month preggo yet.  I can't believe I let myself get to this point!  As I was looking through the pictures to post on this blog, I just seriously am so disappointed in myself that I let it get to this point.  I have no one to blame but myself.  I know I went through periods of time where I'd be so motivated to workout and watch what I eat, Eusevio was always there to support me!  He has also never made me feel self conscious of my looks.  No matter my size, he always tells me how beautiful I am, and I know he means it.  That has always made me feel so good, even if I didn't love my body!

So in Nov. I officially found out that I was pregnant with my baby girl.  I ended up having horrible all day sickness!  I lost 15 lbs in 2 months because I couldn't keep anything down.  I finally got on some medicine from doctor, and things got better.  My end weight with my pregnancy was 220.

So after Skyla Rayne was born, I dropped down to 185 in about 7 months.  I was breastfeeding and taking Plexus Slim.  Apparently those 2 together was an amazing combo! Here's the picture of after baby weight loss....

I was so so excited to be down that low, and I was determined to keep going.  But I didn't put the effort I needed to!  I was able to maintain this weight until I stopped breastfeeding.  When that stopped, I wasn't burning as much calories, but eating the same way.  So I gained 25 pounds, putting my weight to 210.  Right now I'm at 208 lbs, as far as 2/14/15, I haven't weighed myself since then, so hopefully I'm down a little more.  My goal is to get down to 150 lbs.  Who knows I may get to another weight that's a bit higher and love the way I look and feel, so it's not really set in stone.  Really I just want to get to a point where I love myself, and the way I feel!  I'm not really trying to be a skinny minny.  

I was trying to find the most recent picture of myself, but I've realized that I don't really take full body pictures, because I'm just so ashamed of myself.  My mom, however, doesn't care about that lol, so this one is courtesy of my mommy dearest taken at Galveston Beach, Tx December 2014...

I hate looking at this picture, and she even posted this on facebook :-O!  But it was really seeing this picture that made me get my butt into gear.  So  I guess thank you mom :-D

Alright, this post was super long, but I hope it gives you a little more insight on myself, and why I'm choosing to do this.  I'll be posting again this evening with the day's progress and recipe's.  Thanks for reading guys!

I'm ashamed

I have so many confessions to make about this weekend that I won't get into much detail about it.  This weekend was horrible for my diet and shake shakin!  I didn't have 1 shake at all :-(  I'm not proud to say that.  I went from thinking, "Ok, I'll have 1 cheat meal where I'm not going to worry about calories." to just not making any shake at all.  Saturday I feel like I just gave in because my hubby and I had a weekend without Skyla, and I guess when I got into that mood, I just felt like I could do anything lol. Today was more of a convienience  situation.  We went to go get our taxes done, and they ended up taking way longer than expected (2 hours total sheesh), and they were located RIGHT next door to a subway,  so we just decided to grab a sandwich before we headed to pick up our baby girl from the in-laws.  We got home pretty late, and Skyla was sleeping, so again I decided not to wake her up by mixing with the blender.  I had some chinese food.

What I've learned from this whole bad decision weekend, is that I have a whole different view on food now.  I've always been aware of my body and how certain things affect it.  I guess I was so used to how bad foods made my body feel, that I didn't think anything of it.  Well this weekend, after doing so good of a great week of shakes and healthy meals, I realized how much the bad foods affect  my body!  I could just feel it as soon as I'd finish eating.  So the food may have been good while eating it, but literally right after the last bite, it would hit me and it wasn't enjoyable!  I'm actually excited to get back on my shakes and healthy meals.  I loved the way I've felt so far (aside from the weekend), and I'm going to continue and watch myself on my cravings.

Now about the changes I have noticed so far.....
My hubby has said that he's noticed my waist being slimmer.  I can't see it, but he swears on it!  I'm going to take another picture tomorrow, because that will be the official 1 week since I've started Herbalife.  I still need to get a scale to see if there's any weight difference, but that can't happen until a couple more weeks (ballin on a budget ;-)
The main thing I HAVE noticed are my stretch marks!  I don't know which product is helping this, but I barely notice them as much.  The pink color on them has faded dramatically!  I have a lot of stretch marks from going from skinny to big, and then of course from baby....so as you can imagine, I'M EXCITED ABOUT THIS.  It's not even something I was expecting, but now it's something I love about it :-)

I think that's about all I have.  I'm in need of redeeming myself so I'll be working twice as hard this week to make it up from the weekend.  Any words of encouragement will help me out this week!

Until next time!

~Kylah~

And the award goes to *drum roll please*....

ME!
I'll explain why in just a second, but I want to explain why I'm blowing up blogger in 1 day.  I don't know how it ended up like this, but I blog about the day before.  I have a bad memory sometimes, so I've decided to catch up so that in the evening I'll blog about that day's meals and such.  Makes sense, should have started it like that in the first place, but oh well.

Ok so I think I deserve an award for today for my restraint! Today was kind of messed up all over the place.  Last night my little girl started running a fever, so my sleeping times and everything were completely messed up.  I had to mix it up a bit, and ended up eating regular meal for lunch and took my shake for dinner.  My little girl was finally getting solid interrupted sleep, and I really didn't feel like waking her up with the sound of a blender.  I ended up not making a healthy choice in lunch though, and I don't deserve an award for that.  I made Creamy greek yogurt mac and cheese.  It had become my favorite mac and cheese before I started this, and I was really craving it today, so I gave in!  I guess it could be worse as far as calories, but I'm sure it wasn't that great for me either.  I did, however,  still take my pills and tea along with it.  I didn't eat much at all, because I felt guilty and I actually got full pretty fast.   I did have a Chocolate Strawberry shake for dinner, and this was so so so hard!  I love watching food network (torture network) and I was watching a show where the guy goes to these different countries and tries the street food.  Well he was in Napoli, and every one who knows me knows I am IN LOVE with Italian food.  I was craving pasta so bad after watching that show, I was so tempted to just get on grubhub and order from the place down the street that delivers the delicious meal right to my door.  I was so close guys....SO CLOSE!  I just couldn't bring myself to do it though.   If I want results, I have to work for it, and I knew this wasn't going to be easy.  I just can't give in every time I want something.  That's why I think I deserve some kind of award for that lol.

My workout intentions were so good today I swear.  I tried to do a dance program from daily burn 2 different times.  The first time Skyla (my little girl) was awake and kind of had energy to get on the floor and play, so I thought, "Great, she's distracted and I can get this workout in".  About 10 mins into it she started crying and wanted me to hold her.  2nd time I tried, she was asleep, so I thought, "Ok this time I can just slip away from the couch and get the rest of my workout done, and she won't even notice".  Well that wasn't the case!  We were cuddled up on the couch, and when I put her down she kind of woke up.  As soon as I stood up and brought the video on the t.v. she started crying again for me to hold her.  So I just decided to just try for tomorrow.  So like I said, I had good intentions, and I really tried.  But I know that Skyla wasn't feeling good at all, so I've been busy with taking care of her all day.

This pretty much wraps up my whole day.  I didn't do much since most my day was spent on the couch with Skyla taking care of my sweet little sick baby.  I'm hoping tomorrow I can get back on track with my schedule, and hopefully my bad cravings will get the heck out of here and leave me alone!

~Kylah~

Shake Recipe for today:
Chocolate Strawberry Shake
2 Scoops of Chocolate Formula 1 Mix
1 Scoop of Chocolate Protein Drink Mix
2-3 Frozen Strawberries
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

*I used 2 strawberries because they were actually pretty good size.  Also being the peanut butter lover that I am, I added about 1 tsp of peanut butter.  I really liked this shake a lot!  None of the flavors overpowered the other.  

*Also I FINALLY got the ratio of water and ice cubes perfect for my liking.  I put 2 cups of water, and 3 ice cubes.  It's sort of thick, but not extremely so.  Yaaaay 4 days and I finally got it right lol!

I should get double the weight loss for that session.....

 I guess all the activity from the 2 days before caught up to me, on top of a kid that didn't sleep very well, and I was soooooo tired yesterday morning!  I didn't get around to having my shake until 12:30, and so I figured I'd just have 1 shake yesterday since I was starting out so late.  I had the same recipe as the day before yesterday, the chunky monkey.  Mainly because I already knew the recipe and it was quick and easy to locate ingredients.  I added more water and ice to this shake just to see what a difference it'd make, and I definitely added way too much ice for my liking.  The shake was just too thick, I gotta admit the last leg of it was really hard to get down because I was super full and the thickness was playing with my mind!  Also I found out I was making my shakes wrong.  So the link I have for some of my recipes has only been telling me to add 1 scoop of healthy meal mix, but I was told to take 2.  Now I was originally going to take 1 shake a day, but in my head I was thinking, well I can do 2 shakes a day with just 1 scoop each and it'd be the same as if I was taking 1.  I guess I was just trying to stretch the powder longer.  But I consulted my distributor and he said, "No you NEED to take 2 scoops per shake of the healthy meal mix".  So I'm going to make sure to do 2 scoops of the meal mix each shake.  I will still take 2 shakes a day because i feel like that will help me more than 1.

Now I have to stop and give myself a pat on the back , because yesterday I joined Daily Burn!  I have an xbox so I can stream the videos straight through that!  Balling on a budget, and having a kid makes it kind of hard to find time to go to the gym.  Now I have no excuse because I can just do it right at my house where no one can see how silly I look! I do plan on eventually joining a gym that has day care in it, but for right now this works perfectly.  I did a 15 min. warm up, and a 25 min. cardio ab workout.  I was going for 35, but my baby girl just thought it was hilarious to crawl all on me while I was trying to do certain exercises.  By the way my planks were still sissy planks, but I had a 25 lb kid on my back while doing them so I think I burned extra calories for that right?  Plus it was her nap time, so she has a mini meltdown, and I decided to cut the workout 10 mins. short for my sanity lol.  My goal is to do at least 35 to 45 mins. of workout each day, and work my way up to a full hour by the end of the month.   I know I'm going to love having daily burn because they have such a huge variety of workout options, I can't really see myself getting bored with it.  I guess I was doing something right, because my upper abdomen is SORE!  It's one of those ouch, but good ouch things :-)

I forgot to mention yesterday that my dizziness, jitteriness(not a word but I made it one) has completely gone away.  I think my body has gotten used to what I'm taking now so it doesn't affect me negatively at all.  Yesterday I made it a point to drink lots of water, and I had no problems with anything, other than having to pee every 10 minutes!  But hey, I'll take that over feeling bloated any day.  I also don't have diarrhea anymore, I guess that was just a 1 day thing of getting rid of toxins.  So I'm pretty happy with how everything is going so far!  I've decided to go ahead and order another flavor of healthy meal mix and protein mix.  Don't get me wrong, I really love this chocolate one, but I don't want to get burnt out on it.  I realize that I'll need to mix it up often in order to stay motivated to keep taking it.

Yesterday while my girl was taking a nap,  I decided to go to youtube and check out some successful weight loss stories, and I'm glad I did this!  Whether they were taking herbalife or not, they decided to get to a healthier self and they had amazing results!  I got teary eyed a couple times, because I found some of these stories to be inspirational.  Whether I stick to herbalife or not, I'm still going to keep making healthier food choices and be more active.  That's what's really going to make the biggest change in me with weight loss and just feeling good about myself!  I'm thankful to have a few other friends who are also on their journey to making better food and health decisions, so I really feel like I have a good support system!  We all have different methods, but it's ultimately working towards the same goal.

~Kylah~

I won't be posting my shake recipe since I pretty much used the same recipe as yesterday.  I will post my dinner recipe I made.

Dinner:
Sausage and Black Bean Paella

• 6 cups yellow rice, prepared
• 1 cup diced red pepper (you can leave this out if your yellow rice has red peppers in it)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 13 oz Butterball Turkey Sausage, sliced
• 1 cup pre-cooked Chicken, diced
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes, with juices
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed
• 2 cans black bean, drained and rinsed
• 1 tbs olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

*So there's a few tweeks I made to this dish....I only had white rice in the house so I didn't use yellow rice.  Also for some reason I totally skipped over the part where it said to add chicken (which is funny because chicken is in the actual name of the meal) so I didn't add chicken.  I bet it would've been really good with it, but it was also great without it. I used yellow bell pepper instead of red, I swear  I thought I got a red one at the store.  I also didn't add the corn because I just don't like it that well.  All in all it was a great dish!  Of course I absolutely love turkey keilbasa so this meal was perfect for me.

Btw don't do as I did and get the rice measurements wrong.  I think i made enough rice to feed a whole country! :-)  Whoops.....

Link to the Sausage and black bean paella:

http://www.scatteredthoughtsofacraftymom.com/2014/08/easy-sausage-black-bean-paella-recipe.html

I'm hungry, but I'm not

So day 2 on herbalife went good, maybe a little more rough than the first day.  I had 2 shakes yesterday, 1 at 11:30, then another at 3:30.  I stayed full in between the morning and afternoon shake, I had to set myself an alarm to remind myself to make my next shake.  I did get hungry in between my lunch and dinner, probably because I didn't start cooking dinner until 6:30 :-S, so I had a piece of snack cheese and some cashews.  I didn't have a lot, but really got satisfied fast.

I made a Butterfinger Shake for my breakfast, I didn't like this one as well.  I guess I just don't like butterscotch like I thought I did.  (I'll post recipes don't worry :-)  For my lunch shake I made Chunky Monkey shake....now this one was my favorite so far!  I mean how can you go wrong with Chocolate and peanuts??  For my dinner I made Chicken and Spinach ravioli, which apparently was a paleo recipe.  I got it from pinterest, and it says it's paleo, but honestly I don't know anything about that so I'm not sure if it was genuinely one or not.  It was so good!  I wasn't sure how I'd like squash in place of pasta for my ravioli, but it turned out great!  I cooked it enough to be soft, but still have some bite to it.  My hubby loved it too, which I was hoping he would because he is kind of getting pulled into this healthier eating with me whether he likes it or not :-)  He says he doesn't mind, so I'm rolling with it!

So it's TMI time!  I've had diarrhea a couple times, usually after I drink my tea and take pills, but I figured it was my body's way of getting rid of all the toxins in my body.  I did some research on it, because I research EVERYTHING, and sure enough they said it was normal for this to happen because it's pretty much cleansing my body from all the crap I have been feeding it.  I'm still going to keep my eye out and make sure it's a temporary thing, if it persist I'll have to look into finding out the specific reason.  I don't have cramps or anything with it, just a normal bathroom run and it's done!

I also learned the importance of drinking lots of water with these products.  Our faucet water is nasty, so we buy water bottles from the store.  We ran down because I use them to make my shakes, so I had about 2 water bottles for the whole day.  I couldn't run to the store because my hubby took the car with the carseat in it (figures right?)   I started to feel like I was getting a headache, which my headaches always turn into migraines if I don't take medicine.  I was able to wait until my hubby got home and he brought water, as soon as the H2O touched my mouth everything was so much better! I've never missed water so much!  So lesson learned, always keep water right next to me, and always make sure I have the carseat with me.

My energy level didn't go down at all the 2nd day, I got so much more done yesterday and it was great! I think my hubby is getting jealous of all my energy!  I do have to say that I'm really missing food.  That sounds so rediculous, but it's true.  I would pretty much plan my day around what I'd eat, the day before I'd plan on what'd I'd fix the next day.  I'd wake up that day and think, "Hmmmmmm what am I going to fix for lunch".  I never ate breakfast before, so really the only meal I'm going without food is lunch, but that was kind of "my lunch"  I didn't have to cook for anyone but me and my child (who would eat whatever I made) so I didn't have to worry about if someone else would like it or not, I knew exactly what my tastebuds wanted and BOOM there it was.  So it's been hard to let go of that meal for some reason, but trying different shake flavors is helping a lot.  I know it'll be a matter of time before I forgot what it was like to not have a shake until dinner (please let that happen soon)

Another change I've noticed is that I haven't craved anything sweet.  I would always crave chocolate anything after every meal.  Maybe it's because i'm taking chocolate shakes, but maybe it's because it's all helping me not crave sweets.  Either way I'm just glad that it's been helping with that.  Sweets are always a downfall for me.

I also noticed my body kind of getting sore at the end of the day.  It's a feeling I recognized though, and this happens when I'm active and my body releases toxins.  If you don't drink enough water, which as I said above I didn't, the body doesn't flush out the toxins like it should.  Most the pain was in my legs and thighs, so my husband being an awesome person that he is, gave me a leg massage and stripped my muscles so that the toxins could be released and flushed.  It instantly helped me, which is another reason it's important to drink water with this. You want to flush the toxins out so they don't get trapped.

Well that's about all I have for you guys today!  I'll post recipes below of my shakes and dinner.  See you guys tomorrow!

Breakfast Shake:
Butterfinger Shake
1 Scoop of Chocolate Formula 1 Mix
1 Scoop of Chocolate Protein Drink Mix
1 Teaspoon of Creamy Peanut Butter
1 Tablespoon of sugar-free Butterscotch Pudding Mix 
½ Tablespoon of Butterscotch Chips
*This is the one I didn't like as much.  I guess I just don't like the flavor of butterscotch

Lunch Shake:
Chunky Monkey Shake
1 Scoop of Chocolate Formula 1 Mix
1 Scoop of Chocolate Protein Drink Mix
1 Tablespoon of sugar-free Chocolate Fudge Pudding Mix
1 Tablespoon of Peanuts
*I also added 1/2 of a banana, and I'm glad I did because it was so delicious!  One of my favorites so far

Dinner:
Chicken and Spinach Paleo Ravioli

• 4-5 medium to large yellow squash
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1.5 lbs. ground chicken
• 1 8 oz. bag frozen spinach, thawed
• 8 oz. mascarpone cheese
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• small handful fresh basil leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

I also made the sauce they recommended with it.  Cali-Redo Sauce:

• 1 head of cauliflower, cored and chopped into large chunks
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 3 Tbsp. shredded parmesan
• 1/4 cup canned coconut milk
• salt/pepper to taste
• pinch of nutmeg
  

That's a picture of how my dinner turned out, don't mind the top right one, it was my first try lol.

Here's the links to the website I've been getting my shake recipes from, and the link to the dinner recipe I made:

http://www.herbaldrive.com/herbalife-shake-recipes-chocolate-formula-1/

http://cupcakesomg.blogspot.com/2012/08/paleo-ravioli.html

1st day of Herbalife....how'd it go??

Ok so I'm going to post what my final thoughts were about my first official day on Herbalife.
I loved it!
Yep, I say that because I haven't had this much energy since....well I can't even remember when!  I got more accomplished yesterday than I have over a week's period of time!  It's not because I was lazy before, but I swear, I just didn't have the will power, the energy, the umph to just get off my ass and get stuff done.  You can ask my husband, I never got my stride until later in the evening.  I'm a stay at home mom, so being able to have the energy to finish my organizing projects, and have the energy to play with my child is such a great feeling!

Ok so there's a few tweeks I'm going to make to my herbalife routine, simply because I watched some videos on it and learned new things.  I'll be taking 2 shakes a day instead of 1. I learned that you're supposed to use 2 scoops of the Healthy meal mix, and I had only been using 1.  This is to help you feel fuller longer, and I definitely realized this yesterday, because about 3 1/2 hours after I had taken the shake, I was starting to get pretty hungry!  I know you can have healthy small snacks inbetween meals, but I just kind of figured the full feeling would last  a little longer.  So from now on, I'm going to do 2 shakes a day.   Here's the routine I plan on doing...
I usually wake up around 11:00 (I know right?)  when I wake up, I'll make me a shake, then prepare my tea.  Once I drink my shake I'll down my tea, which I just chug it, because that stuff isn't the best tasting!  They say you can drink it warm or cold, but I just drink it cold so I can chug it.  You can add honey and other things, but I just prefer to do it just the way it is.  Torture, maybe, but my choice lol.   So after I drink those I'll take  Total Control pill, and the Cell-U-Loss pill.  These you can take 3x a day, so I start it out with my breakfast.

I'll take my other shake around 3:30 p.m.  I feel like that's a good time to take it for me, and I'll take the shake along with the tea right after that.  This time I'll be taking all my pills...total control, cell-u-loss, cell activator, and aminogen.  The Aminogen you only take once a day, so I decided to take it along with my luch shake, and the cell activator you take twice a day, so I decided to take with my lunch and dinner.

My husband usually gets home pretty late from work so I start making dinner around 7 or 7:30, I'll take the rest of my pills with my dinner, and that's it!  I've been making a list of the recipes I've tried so I can keep track of the ones I liked, and will want to try again.  My blog tomorrow will have the recipes I tried today.

TMI time!  This has helped me be regular in the bathroom!  1 & 2...I know ewwww, but seriously ever since I've had my baby girl (almost 2 years ago) my bathroom schedule hasn't been regular or normal.  I'm a wierdo like that and I notice things about my body when they aren't normal.  The tea also makes you really thirsty which is good, because it helps you crave water.  I haven't once craved any soda since taking this, which is great because I crave soda allllll the time!

All in all, I'm really happy with the first day.  It has only made me more determined to stick to this til the end, and do even more things to better my health!

Until tomorrow!

~Kylah~

Herbalife Journey

So, it's been along time since I've been on here!  I've given into my friend's talk about Herbalife, and decided to give it a try.  I've heard many success stories on it, and I've also read so many reviews that are negative about it.  I'm just so tired of my up and down in weight, that I've decided to just give it a try myself!  I'll be posting my day to day journey on it, and the recipes I've tried for the shakes.

My starting weight is 208....man I hate putting that in writing for everyone to see, it kind of stung a little!  Everyone has to start somewhere right?  I am going to take before pictures, but I think I'll have to work up the courage to post those.  I think once I start seeing some results, I'll post them on here.  I may need to go through some therapy first ;-).

Today was my first day taking Herbalife, and I was actually surprised on the taste of the shake.  I didn't know what to expect, because I've never taken any kind of shakes at all.  I was expecting a nastier flavor to be honest.  I'm a chocoholic, so I decided to get the Chocolate shake mix.  (I'll post all the products I got at the end for those who would like to know, along with the recipe I used.)  I will only be replacing 1 meal a day for right now.  I've decided to drink my shake at lunch, and eat a light healthy dinner.  I've never been one to eat breakfast either, so this will be something to work on.  I've decided to eat a banana for breakfast, because that's about all I really want to eat.

I'll make a list of all the other pills I take with the shakes, but I have to say that they give me so much energy!  I've read reviews on people feeling jittery, and having headaches from taking these, and I do kind of feel jittery, but not super bad.  I've taken certain pills before and they always make me feel jittery at first, but a couple days later I don't feel it anymore, just pure energy, so I'm just going to assume these will be the same.  I'm so excited to have energy, because I also deal with depression and that really affects my motivation and energy levels.

I think that pretty much wraps up my first day using herbalife!  I know it'll be harder as days go by, but I'm so determined to stick to this!  I'm so much in love with food and with cooking, I know it'll be hard not to just go to Pinterest and cook up an awesome meal I've seen from that.  It's going to be a lifestyle change to not eat as much, and cook healthier versions of my meals.  I've developed an attachment to food, and it's something I have to break away from if I want to get a healthier me.  Please feel free to cheer me on, and share your story on your journey's as well!!  I love hearing stories of people who are in the same boat as me.  Lord knows I'll need the help and encouragement!

~Kylah~

 (All shakes you add 10 oz of water and ice)  I personally put 1 1/4 cup water, and 2 ice cubes, but it'll vary on how thick you like your shake.

Shake Recipe for the day:
- Peanut Butter Pie –

1 Scoop of Chocolate Formula 1 Mix
1 Scoop of Chocolate Protein Drink Mix
1 Teaspoon of Creamy Peanut Butter
1 Tablespoon of sugar-free Cheesecake Pudding Mix

I'll be keeping this recipe to make in the future! I really enjoyed it :-)

All the products I take from Herbalife for weight loss:

Formula 1 Chocolate (Powder mix)

Protein Drink Mix Chocolate (Powder mix)

Total Control (Pill)

Cell Activator (Pill)

Herbal Raspberry Tea (Powder mix)

Cell -U-Loss (Pill)

Aminogen (Pill)