A year of fasting

 Hey Everyone I hope all is well with you,

Yesterday was a good but weird day. I have been interviewing with one of my favorite companies and my third interview was at 1 yesterday. I contemplated waiting to go to the gym before the interview and normally wait on when Craig wakes up when he is off.  He got up early so we were at the gym by 9ish. I ended up eating right before which is something I had not done in a year. 

For the past year, I have been intermittent fasting and got very motivated by a former coworker and friend that is an omad. If you don't know what that is it is a person who fasts and eats one meal daily. I used to think that was crazy, but when I researched fasting the science was compelling. My friend did not lose any weight but her overall health improved. When I started my keto journey almost a year ago I had every intention to lose weight because it is a proven diet that has such a success rate keeping the weight off. 

I am fit and back into smalls and extra smalls can start to see my abs and am getting shredded. Anyway back to fasting if you do not take anything from my story but fasting please do it and start tomorrow. I ate before around 9 am and was not hungry just ate because I wanted to before the gym. It was horrible and I was on the struggle bus at the gym working my back. I know that everyone is raised differently and there are some cultures and religions that fast and I listened to Dr Berg https://www.drberg.com/  talk about how there is virtually no cancer in the middle east. One of the main factors was fasting; I firmly believe in it. I am the proof at 50 years I look like I did in my mid-thirties. It has not just been keto I am at the gym getting it done.

Now I am changing my diet a bit which will go from fat first to protein first while maintaining a low-carb lifestyle. I am not missing any carbs anymore and feel great. As great as I can at my age. My recovery time is so much longer and I am trying to learn tennis. Which has been very hard for me because I have 0 hand-eye coordination. My poor husband is beyond patient in teaching me, and I do not plan to stop learning and growing. When I first started I pulled my left hamstring and tweaked my right knee. Almost every day something hurts especially after I am done working out so I started upping my collagen with every cup of coffee.

After a year of fasting, I plan to keep it going God willing for the rest of my life.  I have been through the hard part of starting my journey and it works for me. It may not work for you but as I said before my goal is to encourage you to do something to improve your health. So many people including my own family tell me they could not ditch the carbs. That is because they are not satiating, addictive, and added to so many foods. Just like anything else in life, it is a choice that if you wanted to be completely ignorant about what goes in your body and just continue eating whatever you want then your body will reflect it. Maybe not today but at some point those bad food decisions will catch up to you. If your definition of a quality of life being fat and sick is ok then this blog may not be for you. 

However, if you want to be inspired by an old lady that is reversing the bad choices made in the past stay tuned because I am just getting started. This last half of my life is going to be the fittest and best years to come so stay tuned and be blessed.

Taking things for granted

 Hi Guys I hope you are staying cool this summer. It has been brutally hot and I don't use that word lightly. Last Monday I had a job interview and I didn't eat prior so I had my interview and then a snack until I realized that Floki and Bruiser we outside. This is so hard to share but we called for our dogs and only Bruiser came so we knew something was way off. We went deeper into the dog run and Floki was on the ground panting and unconscious.

Cambria brought him inside where we put him in the bath and proceeded to cool him down. I had to hold his head because he was unconscious and I was so scared. Cambria and I bathed him in cool water until he became conscious. I held him and explained everything to Craig when he got home from work. I hate to admit this but this is the third time we have done this but the longest and hottest time. Floki was recovering that Monday night and even made it to Tuesday. Cambria and I shed so many tears and said so many prayers.

Craig and I had to be in Porter texas the next morning to pick up a table so Cambria stayed with him and he started to convulse. When we got back we took him to the vet and the story was not good. Poor Floki was septic and developed pneumonia so the vet kept him until 6. I really struggled with guilt and shame because our only other pug Frodo died from heat exhaustion at age 8. Sitting in the vet's office knowing that if your dog dies is very hard, Cambria and I asked Floki for forgiveness at least a hundred times. Our vet is amazing and called Craig to let him know that our baby was responding well to the antibiotics and breathing treatments. That night I took Cambria to swim practice and Craig took Floki to the nighttime pet hospital because our vet recommended for him to be monitored at night.

So when we got back Craig informed me that there wasn't a Dr at that hospital and would not show up until 10. That should have been our first red flag because when we did show up at 10 there was no sense of urgency for these people until they collected our money. They took Floki and put him in an oxygen chamber and after an hour the dr came in and told us basically everything we already knew. After another 45 minutes, they came in and gave us a 2800 dollar estimate and our vet did all the heavy lifting that day for 1500 dollars. Craig and I decided that we should not go with this at all. We decided to take our dog and they were telling us that they were going to remove his catheter. I was so tired emotionally and physically and that was my last straw. Floki came in with the catheter and he was going to leave with it and that is what I told them. They had initially taken an 850-dollar deposit when we got there and were trying to scare us into staying there and paying the money. They were not happy with having to give us the difference, and what is sad is that these people cared nothing for my dog because When we got our baby back he had a temp of 103 and was convulsing again. I was so angry at those people because they still charged us 500 dollars and did absolutely nothing for Floki. 

But I totally trust in Craig's ability, so at 1 am we ran to Craig's job to get more iv fluids for our baby and medicine. That night Craig gave him more fluids plus Tylenol to bring down his fever and help with the pain. I sat on the floor holding an oxygen mask to his face until he fell asleep. That was a long and hard day and I prayed again that he would make it because he was going to the vet at 8 am. I was so grateful that Floki made it to the next day that when I spoke to our vet again that I told her I had nothing positive to say about the emergency vet and focused on what Craig did to treat our baby.

Thank God he made it to Wednesday morning and on top of all of it Craig had to work. Let me just convey how much I love and respect my husband. He does not come up with excuses for anything he got maybe 2 hours of sleep and still went to work. I took Floki in and he was going to be there all day for treatment.  I called at lunch and spoke to Dr Marceaux who said that Floki was doing very well and that I could come and pick him up at 5. When they brought him out he jumped into my arms then pulled an RKelly and peed on me for about 5 minutes non-stop. I didn't care because he was recovering. 

He had some blood work done on Thursday and got sent home with a bunch of meds. He has been recovering and getting back to normal and I am so grateful that today we took him back and he is almost completely recovered. As you all know by my blogs I am a Christian and not the kind of person that has jewelry or bumper stickers or t-shirts to represent. Although I used to be pretty in your face about it I am not. My life should demonstrate my beliefs and if you knew me even a couple of years ago I am not the same person. All of that being said I don't believe in luck, or coincidences. When Floki was in his darkest battles there were so many spiritual elements that God used to encourage us and has forgiven us. Floki has not left my side since then and is going to make a full recovery and I know he forgives us too because he gives me a heads-up every time he sees me.

I want to thank our friends that checked on us during this time. We are so grateful for so many things and until the next blog my friends......

Perspective

 Hey yall, I hope you all are doing well,

I have not been I caught some kind of cold over the past several days and it has been horrible. I think the last time I got sick this back was before covid. I am grateful that Craig takes care of me because it was pretty rough. I am on the mend but I am pretty sure Cambria now has it. I went to the gym the entire time and she has been hitting her evening practices. I have been feeling down for the past couple of weeks and it is a combination of things like being sick and being a female. 

Yesterday we decided that we wanted to go to Houston and visit a museum. Craig picked the Holocaust Museum and it could not have been more fitting. Cambria just got done reading Anne Frank's diary and we finished watching a small light. World War 2 has a lot of significance to me because I lived in Germany for almost 3 years and there are not a lot of reminders of the war, especially the Holocaust. I was having a conversation with my sister about living in another country. I was talking about how I feel the USA is the best country in the world. She somewhat agreed and even though we do not share the exact feelings, I respect her opinion and admit I had mixed thoughts because some of America's biggest critics are people who have never served in our military or lived in another country.

I have been blessed enough to do both at the same time. When I lived in Germany soldiers had to go through training on how to be a German citizen for a month. We learned the language, customs, and culture. By the time I arrived in Munster, I had lived in Darmstadt for a month. There were fellow soldiers who embraced living in another country and those that didn't. I was definitely the former because how many people get to live in Germany? If you have never been it is worth visiting for so many reasons but do understand a few things. Do not ever assume everyone knows English and try to learn as much about the culture so that you show immense respect towards it. For example, Germans eat everything with a knife and fork even and especially pizza.

I had made German friends outside of the military and they showed me their country and it was amazing. I do plan to go back one day but what I did notice when I lived there was that there were not l to of world war 2 memorials and although each country is different and ours is younger we do have multiple memorials for each and every war. Although in recent years generations have focused on certain behaviors of individuals in order to disrespect property; those memorials will hopefully stand. They serve the purpose to remind us not just of the bad things people have done but of the good ones as well. When did we get to condemn specific acts without knowledge and comprehension of those before us? One such person was Robert E Lee; for the ignorant (II am referring to those of you who blindly believe everything that is on the internet by the way), he was simply the Confederate war general, but for those of us the read and truly seek out the truth he was much more than that and in the end chose that side because he ultimately wanted to protect his home and family. I think a lot of people would choose to protect their homes. Also, he did so much to lay down the infrastructure of our new nation.

In visiting the museum we learned that Houston became home to some pretty epic Holocaust survivors. I am so grateful they had the courage to share their stories. It is very humbling to understand what they endured and ultimately survived. I am beyond grateful to make sure my daughter is educated about this as well as other things in our history. I am making sure that not only does she have a childhood, but can read,  learn, and use critical thinking skills to understand all elements of history so that all is not forgotten. To me, that is more important than her having a phone and getting swept up in social media land. That time will come soon enough. I know that all time is limited, and am blessed that my husband feels the same way. At the end of the day all we can do is our best, learn from our mistakes, and give each other grace because we all have a perspective.

Getting it together

Well, I started to wring this memorial day weekend. As a veteran and avid history buff, Memorial Day is a sacred place. It gives me an opportunity to think about the soldiers that came before, during, and after my time as a soldier. I remember those remarkable stories about soldiers in every war, yet there are three ladies I am thinking about now. I didn't know them personally but I knew them and each of their deaths makes me humble and grateful that I served and made it through. 

The first one happened during my time at Fort Bragg there was a night jump and a soldier's line got caught in the door. She was caught and they could not free her. I can't even imagine the guilt that the jump masters had because they tried and tried to free her. At that time how the army worked was that after the whole landed every one had to go back up to jump. I was there at the landing zone and all of the 82nd airborne was there. All I knew about her was that she was very similar to me in age, size, and background. That was over 20 years ago. I still think of her and pray for her family. The second one was a former coworker's sister. Both of these ladies served our country and were involved in Iraqi battles. My coworker was really sad one day and when I asked her she informed me that her sister committed suicide. My heart still hurts about the situation and it was years ago. The last one was only a few years ago and it was a young Latina girl from Houston that went missing. When I think of her mom's pleas to find her daughter and the outcome still breaks my heart  I thought of my own experience in the military she was just like me. 

I had just turned 18 and could not wait to leave the house. The only people that I was going to miss were my sister and my little brother. I was the oldest in the house at the time and it was so dysfunctional and there was still the disconnect from my dad. I know that he had to make a living but that was always his excuse. I later adopted that methodology for myself and believe it is a generational curse I even see it in my oldest. I ended up addressing it in my personal healing, no matter what challenges have come this way and there have by God's grace I have been able to overcome them. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for me in the past year especially has been alcohol. I have run the gamut with it from being a wine connoisseur to learning how to drink on keto. I have been putting this off pretty much all year telling myself that it is acceptable to have a nightcap every night because I am not working. The truth is that I am not a very nice person when I drink and one nightcap can turn into two and I am feeling it the next day. 

I wish that  I could say that I was wise enough to just stop at the beginning of the year but I wasn't. As usual, it took a wake-up call for me to stop me in my tracks. I was so broken because I hurt the one constant person in my life. This is so unacceptable to me that I am done. So far I have been true to my word and plan to stay that way. So now I have cut the carbs, sugar, and alcohol. Some of you might be thinking if life is worth living? I would say that yes it is because I don't miss any of them at this point and am starting to get the physique of my dreams at 50 years old. All of which has been such an emotional roller coaster of insecurity and confidence rolled into one. Now that I am getting more confident I need to remember that I am an example to my 13-year-old daughter. I wore a top that was inappropriate in her eyes, and even though I am proud of my accomplishments I am still her mother. Thank God I am raising a modest young lady because they are few and far between these days. Thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you have a great day. 

Half century reflections

 Hi There,

In my previous posts you have seen we took a very special trip to Moab and Zion to celebrate my 50th birthday. Until now our 2021 Yellowstone and Grand Teton were my favorite mountain memories, and I really will cherish those for the rest of my life. This trip was very symbolic for me because of Angels Landing I knew that it was on Craig's bucket list but was it really on mine? This trip was a compromise because I really wanted to visit Moab and Craig really wanted to Visit Zion.  The selfish and narcissistic part of me was thinking but it's my birthday it should be all about me......

Well here is what I know about being in a relationship for 27 years and being married for close to 25 is that it is not all about me. As a matter of fact, I would say that the past 5 to 6 years have been about me shifting from a narcissistic nature to living a life with minimal strife where I am not the center of my world. It really started when I was eliminated from the longest job I had. I knew that I was very good at what I did for a living and had always been results oriented by nature. When I went into my next job I had an entitled attitude and everything had to be about me. When your focus is on you here are the behavior you exhibit:

• Conversations, interactions, and all communication ends up about you no matter what is going on with others
• You're defensive, live by your emotions, and are easily upset when things don't go your way
• You're never satisfied or accountable for your actions
• You surround yourself with people that don't challenge or inspire you to be better, you put down, judge people that intimidate you, and you talk badly about those people 
• Your all "talk and no action" In fact you continually justify your talking

Those are just some of the "awesome" qualities that I had and the first thing that life threw at me to humble me was our oldest daughter moving out. It is a part of life and it is bound to happen, but this didn't happen the way we had planned or expected. When our daughter moved out it was when I was at work, and my husband was asleep from working all night.  There have been a lot of things in my life that hurt me, but that hit me hard for so many reasons and I was very angry at her for abandoning us. There is a lot more to this that is inappropriate for me to get into, and my focus is on how that shaped me not shifting blame. Shifting blame used to be my favorite thing to hold over somebody. Well, how do you hold that over someone when they're gone? You don't. I had to understand what I did wrong in the relationship, learn from that, forgive her and myself, and do better. 

Shortly after that, I ended up switching jobs which is another thing that I used to be judgemental about until I had to switch jobs myself. Things in life happen businesses get sold or companies decide that they want to lay off people. It really is not beneficial for me to even get upset about that because I learned so many lessons from all of those experiences. That also helped me understand that I was living by my emotions and had something to learn. Craig and I had an epiphany at the end of 2019 which I believe is a God thing to get out of debt and learn to live on one income. Before that, a budget was a four-letter word to me. It was very hard but we learned to live on one income when we had one or when we had two. I had people cut me out when I decided to stop being a negative gossip, but frugal living was the nail in the coffin. 

I was never satisfied and always had someone around which meant I was funding a lot of those interactions. When I simply stopped certain people did what I used to do which was gossip about me. Especially those that I invested the most in; what happens when you don't get a return on your investment? I had to overcome, heal, evaluate, and ultimately forgive everyone. To do this I had to go way back to my very first memories even to my childhood, that really wasn't fun and still makes me sad, but I can't sit there and focus on the bad things that happened or who did what. We all have baggage every last one of us. 

What I learned was that I had developed a hard defensive perimeter that was formed by the abuse of an older sister, the loss of my mother, the complete emotional disconnect of a father, an angry confused stepmother, and a male chauvinistic environment. No wonder I was so messed up inside. My job used to be my escape but I was in between jobs so I had to deal with it and there were some very dark emotional times. As I healed I became comforted by food, especially during the pandemic. I didn't pay attention to what I ate and went back to work. I did very low intense workouts and when we went to Yellowstone and Grand Teton we were accompanied by babies and fellow over wight except for Craig and Cambria. There was a lot of hiking but only one semi-intensive one. 

As I mentioned in my last blog I was scared but I ended up going for it which is where I am now. I have completely done the work to be healed mentally, physically, and spiritually. I have no ill feelings toward anyone at all. The other important aspect for me is to live my life without strife so if you embody the traits above chances are that I am going to be keeping my distance. Some people have cut me off and that is ok because we had our season and we have both moved on. I literally want nothing but the best for you, and my prayer for you is many many blessings. I have conquered Angels Landing and am super excited for my next, Be blessed, and until the next blog.

conquering fear & 4 items on my bucket list

Howdy, y'all; the last time I blogged was about my experience returning to my hometown and I had the best time with my siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews, and stepmom. I was good and kept my workouts and intermittent fasting and keto. One thing that I have not been doing is weighing myself because I reached my target weight. Will be seeing Dr. Erica around labor day which will be a year for me on Keto then we can do the total BMI.  About a month ago I was weighing 115 with a BMI of 24. I don't care if I weigh a little bit more or less because I can see abs trying to come in so I am losing more inches and gaining even more muscle. I have been training even harder knowing that we were going to attempt to do Angels Landing so I started doing the stair stepper, upping my resistance on the elliptical,  and using the sled with every leg day workout. 

Since then Craig and I have been planning our Utah trip while hashing out plans for our upcoming Lewis family trip too. I am grateful for the Lewis family's proactive approach to planning, especially my sister-in-law, for taking the lead for the family trip so we could focus solely on Utah. Initially, we thought that renting an RV would be the way to go because we knew we would be flying into Las Vegas with plans to visit Moab, & Zion and then head back to Vegas to fly back home.  There were three main goals I wanted to accomplish as my 50th birthday approached. Spend time with my sister, visit Moab dead horse point, and Corona Arch, visit Zion Narrows, and climb Angels Landing including the Spine, and I have never seen Las Vegas before so there was an addition  We thought that renting an RV would be the way to go, but it literally doubled our budget. We had to rethink our approach book 3 different hotels, and a car, coordinate with my sister, & prayed that everything fell into place and it did. 

We flew out of Houston Thursday, May 4, and into Las Vegas where we spent the majority of the day driving to Moab Utah. It was such a beautiful drive especially because we went through Arizona and all of Utah and there is something so magical about driving into Moab because there is one way in and out and there is nothing like it. Our hotel was right in the middle of town and I absolutely love this town. So the game plan for me has been to keep intermittent fasting, only eat when I am hungry, and stay in ketosis by eating less than 20 net carbs per day. I know what I am doing at this point so on Friday we were all up early because of the hour time difference and decided to eat breakfast at the hotel, pack a cooler for lunch then eat dinner back in town. So our first place was canyonlands national park the view was phenomenal and we hiked every trail and even hiked a mountain bike path that was so amazing Cambria named it the green temple it was my second favorite hike of the whole trip.  We went back to the hotel and spent the evening at arches national park which is just amazing we literally hiked for 12 hours and ended up hitting up the Moab Diner. I had a cobb salad and my family was eating a Sunday after their food. I had a bite of ice cream and not only was the sugar cloyingly sweet but it had a nasty cooling taste and was not worth it at all. 

It has been several months since I have had any sugar and my taste buds have definitely been modified. I am ok with that & will not be consuming sugar anymore, monk fruit, allulose, and stevia work for me. There are so many zero-sugar products now because low-carb zero-sugar lifestyles work and are sustainable.  People give alcohol a bad rap but I would contend that sugar is just as bad for the liver and is highly addictive. I have people in my family that are completely addicted to it. It is hard to watch them eat it but it is not my place to judge or condemn them because I really do love them and want nothing but good health for them.  It is their choice in what they put in their body, and I do share information but also love them.  One of my friends is astounded that I have so much energy by eating so little carbs and no sugar. My body is used to burning fat for fuel and Saturday morning was no different as we went to Corona Arch. Man, the first hike is always the hardest and this one was the most challenging so far in the trip. It is moderate and even has a chain section plus it was so busy but worth it. When we left Moab we were so sad, but my sister was leaving Salt Lake so we could meet up in La Verkin Utah so we could get there at the same time. 

The last time we went on a mountain vacation there really weren't a lot of options for restaurants or food stores. There was one restaurant in town and there was an hour-long wait. I am so grateful that my sis was prepared with steak, shrimp, asparagus, tomatoes, and a lot of other things. We went to the grocery store to buy some more food to bulk up the meal but we just warmed the food in our hotel room and hung out by the pool. I have really enjoyed the pool times with the family over the past month. These are great memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life. The night before I stayed up at midnight to pay and enter the lottery for the Angels Landing spine so did Moneka. We did not get the permits for Sunday and were kinda bummed. Shane and Craig were more disappointed than I was and Shane was willing to distract the ranger and sneak us in. I had been looking at youtube videos of the Spine and I am going to be very honest I was afraid it is very scary and people have died on this hike which is why they have the lottery system to only allow between 8-9 hundred people on this climb per day. 90 percent of the people at the hotel were going to Zion and when I talked to some they told me that it was a tough hike just getting up there let alone doing the Spine.

Sunday we met for breakfast and I am going to say that both Comfort Inn and Best Western Plus in Utah were the bomb for breakfast. They had eggs, sausage, bacon, and all the other carbs people like to eat for breakfast. They also had laundry facilities which are very important to me. I love clean clothes and even though I don't like to put them up I can not stand dirty laundry piling up, especially in my suitcase. So we got to Zion, parked, and got on the bus to the Grotto and our first hike was Angels Landing on the way there the bus driver played audio about it too so we got to learn more about it, I absolutely love the divine names in Zion. So our first hike was Angels Landing and it was a doozy just getting to Scouts Lookout. Where we saw the poor ranger that had to check people's permits. Craig and I felt compassion for him and really didn't want to make his life more difficult. So we hiked the Outer Rim which looked higher than The Spine. As it turns out it was higher and we even did a hike that overlooked the Spine. We ate our packed lunch up there and it was amazing when we came down Craig was at The Spine and there was no ranger. My sister stayed with Cambria while I went to Craig and we started the Spine. Shane was behind but I knew he would catch up that dude is  Mountain Beast.

I had been praying about this, training for it, and decided that if there was an opportunity then I was going to go through with it because I felt that God opened the door. I went for it and did not look down at all. I stayed laser focused and although this hike is absolutely no joke I was doing it. All the training paid off because it was hard. There are in my conservative guestimate about 30 climbs with 85% drop-offs mostly on both sides, and even though there are chains they cover about 90% of the climb. That other 10% is sketchy. I was also grateful for my mountain boots and that I had broken them prior to the trip. My husband and my brother-in-law were encouraging me and complete gentlemen. When we made it to the top I let them go and was reserving my strength for the way down and back. For me,  the scariest part was to come because I had no choice but to see everything. Even though this was scary as all get out I am so grateful that I did this hike it is absolutely gorgeous and no words can describe it. We did it and I still am amazed at the experience. It took us a little over an hour to do The Spine and the way down was no joke my toes were so sore and when we got to the bottom to meet the rest of our family they had their feet in the river. Oh, one more shout-out to the mothers, fathers, and people who hike Angels Landing with no shoes. My hats off to you!!

After Angels Landing we went to the Narrows which were closed, so we couldn't hike them. I was on cloud nine and exhausted so we ended up taking the bus to our van. We were all starving and Subway was there and we got food. By the way, just about every sandwich place has a bowl or "unwhich" option, and that is what I had a BMT bowl. I did the hardest hike ever on keto and yes my sandwiches were made with Walmart's keto white bread. It is amazing and my go-to.  My dessert was zero-sugar Twizzlers which taste exactly like the sugar-filled ones. We got back to the hotel got in the hot tub hung out and said bye to Sis and Shane. That Monday we went back to Zion and it was crazy busy so we hiked the Emerald Lakes which was not as intense as Angels Landing but still strenuous. There were so many people but it was still a great hike and ended up having lunch in an amazing place. After lunch, we hiked a bit more and then made our way down. We got coffee at Perks and man did I enjoy that because I have coffee every afternoon and was not able to. 

After coffee and shopping, we made our way to Las Vegas. So by this point, I had taken 3 items off of my bucket list. We got to Vegas and our hotel was close to the airport so we could have an easy route to head out on my birthday the next day. It was dinner time and we wanted to eat at a buffet but a lot of them were closed. But Craig found a conveyor belt sushi place pretty close to us. This is something that I have always wanted to try but never had an opportunity and it was so cool.  The sushi came I ate the fish and gave Cambria the rice we ate 4 appetizers, plus 27 plates of sushi, and I was pretty content.  For me, that is the way to go because I didn't have to special order stuff and we didn't know it but it was happy hour so our sushi was 1/2 price. God opened doors and gave us favor on this trip. That night we went to Vegas to cross off another item on my bucket list. I had been to Vegas once before only in the airport so we got to explore the strip. We drove and the strip was packed to the gills on a Monday night so we decided not to park and walk but just drive through. Man that place is overwhelming to me and I really didn't care for it. There is so much opulence around yet there were homeless people. The people walking around just ignored them as if they weren't even there. It was cool to see some of the buildings but I was ready to get out of there and come home.

Family fun and games

 Hi everyone, I hope you're doing well. This blog is going to be different because it covers another aspect of living a healthy, & positive life. Which is mental health, and to be honest the way that I dealt with a lot of my past was running from it claiming that I am only focused on moving forward. The difference now is that I have done the work to be healed. I dealt with my past by journaling, praying, reading my bible, listening to powerful sermons, and understanding that I have the power to forgive. I literally went through every hurt from my childhood until now forgiving anyone that hurt me and recognizing my part in it.

It is very easy to say and much harder to do. My biggest test is to return home, I used to have such a bad attitude about returning and always focused on the negative. I am the oldest of my siblings and was the first to leave the nest voluntarily. I thought that being out of that environment would improve my life completely, but I had a lot of emotional baggage. I was in the army where the morals and standards that I was raised on went completely out the window. I left Raymondville and went to San Antonio then went to Ft Lenordwood Missouri for processing and basic training. Processing wasn't too bad, but the day came when we piled up in a cattle car with all the positions we owned. 

I couldn't see much and it wasn't a long ride but it was dark and we didn't know what to expect or how long it was going to take us to reach our destination. We were all on edge and when we came to a stop all I could see was a bright light as my eyes adjusted to the 3 people wearing smokey the bear hats stuff got real. There were two men and one woman pulling people out of the car and screaming in our faces. Some people actually got hit, pushed, and pulled from the car. I will never forget that day as long as I live. Now I shake my head because there is a no-hitting rule and cadets have stress cards that they can pull. Please don't get me wrong I don't condone or enjoy physical abuse, but it serves its purpose of toughening our soldiers. Ok, that is my tangent and I am getting back on track now.

Seeing my brother and my cousin triggered those and other memories. It is amazing how seeing someone that you haven't seen in years will make you feel like a kid again. At least that I my experience anyway then we went to my parent's house, where it all comes flooding back. I hadn't seen my dad since 2019, and we are pretty disconnected which is nothing new. I went in with very low expectations and they were validated when I gave him his birthday gift. When I gave it to him he asked me "You know what is wrong with this?" Unfortunately, I made a defensive comment that I am not proud of. But aside from that I didn't get upset, and let that set a negative tone for the rest of the trip. I decided to let it go and keep my distance from him like I always did and will continue to do. It doesn't even make me sad anymore and I am so grateful to be free of that. I will continue to be respectful, but I know that things are not going to change there. The only thing I can control is my attitude, so after that, we hung out with my brother, his beautiful wife, and my amazing cousin. 

The next morning my brother joined me on the elliptical and we got to catch up too which was amazing sharing all our memories. My brother knows everyone in town, and I had spent so much time running from all of those memories that I can't recall them very quickly. Then we met even more family back home. I got to see some familiar and new faces we hung out then we had a huge family late lunch with even more family. I actually stayed on track with my food and enjoyed myself. There was cake but it didn't even phase me, we took a bunch of pictures. Then when we got back to our hotel we had the best time ever; my brother BBQed kabobs which were amazing and my other brother brought karaoke. It was a blast and my daughter also had the best time with her uncles and family.  We will remember that night for years to come.

Sunday morning was bittersweet because I got to connect with my brother again. It is amazing to share memories and learn new things. It was the last day & my sister and I took flowers to my mom's grave. It makes me sad and my sister wanted to know why after 40 years. That is a really good question that I am still trying to answer. Aside from my sister, my mom was the only person in my family with whom I was close. She had a mean streak but she at least spent time with me, and let's face it not having my mom has sucked, When I was young all I wanted was a mom and I got one that came with issues of her own. I never understood or really had compassion for her until my brother shared things with me. A lot has happened and changed since then and I have learned to forgive everything. Being around family brings up a lot of things both negative and positive. Every family has issues and I have worked through my stuff. It has been hard, but I have peace about all of it.

My hope is that we won't let this much time pass before we see each other again some of the other highlights are around spending more time with my sis. We had some deep conversations and so many fun times that I can't wait to see her again in about 2 weeks' time. I am so blessed that we are connected and I love her to the moon and back. I hope you have a great week and until next time friends.

Medical Update

 Oh my goodness y'all it has been a minute since I blogged, and I have been busy working on second and third-round interviews with two notable companies. We also hosted family last week and I am still recovering from that. Let me get you caught up on everything. Let's jump back to when I first started keto and saw my obstetric dr for the first time last September. I had been on intermittent fasting and keto for a few weeks. I had lost 10 pounds around that time which was huge because I hadn't seen the scale move in a minute. Dr. Erica is great and being that I was 49 when I needed to have my mammogram. Which was scheduled a few weeks later. In that time frame my position was eliminated and they found something in my left breast. Now I would have to have an ultrasound and another mammogram right around the holidays at an 800-dollar price tag. I contemplated this decision and even though it was scary not knowing God had other priorities for me to focus on at that time.

My daughter was finishing up a swim practice on December 16, 2022. She dove off the blocks and came up screaming. Unfortunately, I knew that screaming cry. Her knee was dislocated for the third time and her leg was on the other side. I was like a deer in headlights in my reactions and am so grateful for the swim parents that were with me because they were amazing. Ultimately the ambulance was called, arrived, and so did Craig. He put her knee back into place and we made it home. Those were some long days because a couple of nights before this Craig woke up in pain with not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 kidney stones. December was a rough month. I dealt with the stress of it all by hitting the gym and staying on Keto. For the first time in a long time, I didn't have holiday weight gain or regret. Now that the new year was upon us my dr was on me about the mammogram. My family is on the mend so I ended up going to get my annual physical, mammogram, and ultrasound scheduled on the same day. 

I went to an annual physical first thing in the morning and the weigh-in revealed that I have lost 40 pounds with a BMI of 24. When I started this journey I weighed 155 and had a BMI of over 27. I couldn't believe that I hit my high school weight of 115, and brings tears to my eyes. I was riding that high when I had my mammogram and they did show me the super scary mass. I have been praying for months about this. Could I have cancer? My father n law battled it and won. Was I going to face the same war, and had hoped that my weight loss would make this thing disappear,  Here I was with the lady conducting my ultrasound zooming in on the mass that was very real and present. The doctor came in to evaluate all the data and within 2 minutes she told me that she knew that it was a cyst. When I got out of there I cried and cried. I called Craig & sent out some emotional texts to the family.

I am accepting my weight loss and hitting my target. So with that comes a set of new goals mentally, physically, and with my career. It looks like I may be shifting into another industry and my heart goes out to all of my banking colleagues that are in the throws of whatever we want to call the industry shifts currently going on. My fitness goals are now focused on continuing to reduce my BMI and do not plan to weigh myself until my keto anniversary. I am going to continue on my path and finally found a substitute for potatoes. Jicima in the air fryer works for me so now my substitutions are complete. I also got my bloodwork back and everything is great except for my slightly inflamed liver, and I know what I need to do for that, and I am on it. Stay healthy until the next blog amigos.

I hit my goal weight, what's next?

 Last week was mentally crazy for me because my family has been dealing with long-standing and new health issues. It has been a week and I am now processing that I weigh 118 and have lost 38 pounds at this point. I will keep it going and see how far I can go on Keto for a year. I have made this much progress in months and I am so touched to hear from you that you are getting encouraged by my story. Thank you so much for inspiring me and I am going to do my best to share the most effective and positive tips and tricks with you. 

One of my dear friends is starting her journey and it always reminds me of when I started this past labor day. I fasted in the morning and we were planning to meet with family for a barbeque and I really didn't know what was going to be served. I knew there would be meat at the very least, so I made up my mind not to be tempted by anything else that day. This journey begins with a start and a very determined one at that because the temptation is always there. So I ended up eating jalapeno poppers, meat, green beans, and olives until I was full. Here is where things become interesting because we are taught to eat, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Our society is completely built around that concept, and we don't focus enough on just eating when were hungry. Well, that night I didn't eat dinner because I wasn't hungry, which was so weird to me, and is a mindset I still have. 

It has been difficult for me at times to not have meals with my family because they are everything to me, but only eating when I am hungry is very effective, especially on keto. It still blows my mind that my family can be eating things that I would crave so badly in the beginning. I just enjoy the smell of those things now, especially fries. So this is my new normal, fasting every day, working out daily, eating less than 20 net carbs per day, and eating only when I am hungry are the keys to my success. I would say that simplicity is also key here because there is so much information out there, and you have to find out what works for you. I plan to stay on a low-carb diet indefinitely, not just because of the results but mainly because of the way I feel. Living this lifestyle has made me more knowledgeable about the foods I put into my body. 

It is not just the sugar, & carbs to pay attention to; it is the types of oils and chemicals that are put into foods. I am on a mission to eat at home more making foods from scratch and keeping them low-carb. I like cooking and it is interesting to make things low-carb. I am so grateful for the people who make keto & low carb content on social media. They inspire me to pretty much make everything and the only thing I have not been able to replace is french fries. I have tried turnips, jicama, and rutabaga so far and they all suck. I have been coating onions and chicken with arrowroot flour and chicharron bread crumbs to make air-fried chicken and onion rings. I also have mastered wings in the air frier so I am making progress.

I was talking with my sister yesterday and she brought up a good point that I think should be shared. When you are on any kind of restrictive diet please don't make other people feel guilty about what they are eating. I don't think we intend to make people feel bad because they are eating things we have cut out. I am guilty of it because I make comments sometimes to my family and I am going to stop that today. We all have free will and no one should be manipulating others about food. My journey is meant to encourage you not manipulate you into a keto or low-carb lifestyle. I am just sharing what has worked for me. In the end, it is your choice whether or not you want to lose weight and there is no judgment here. This lifestyle works for a lot of people including me and I am here to help.

Now that I am close to my target weight of 115, which is what I weighed in high school I am going to continue doing this for a year. I get asked a lot about things I miss and it would be fruit and potatoes. I may carb cycle after that time. I don't know if it is worth it at this point because I feel great in ketosis, and worked so hard to get here. Either way, you will know and please keep sharing your feedback with me. 

There and back again, a fat girls journey

 Hey y'all I hope you are doing well, and happy Monday. I was talking to a friend this past Friday while we walked and ran 3 miles. I am so grateful for this relationship that came from the most unlikely of circumstances. She is just starting her journey, has the best attitude, and I am excited to watch her progress. In my last blog, I showed pictures of myself that are really outside my current comfort zone.  I have been wondering how I confidently went from posting my workouts 4 years ago to not wanting to be in any pictures at all. As I mentioned earlier that I used my job as an excuse all the time to not go anywhere or do anything partly because I wasn't confident about the way that I looked. 

Now I struggle with the fact that I now weigh 118.6 and have the mentality of a 150-pound woman and am discovering that mindset is just as hard to lose as the weight is. Why is it that no one ever really shares this this is what I want to highlight in this blog? Yes losing the weight has been amazing and overwhelming because this is what I weighed in my 30s and didn't think I would ever get back here.  Being overweight along with other life changes really took my confidence and I have slowly and I mean slowly getting it back. I like the fact that I am way more humble now and want to find my balance is weird when you go places and people don't really acknowledge your existence. Now more people smile at me and I am way more confident. I believe that my insecurities diminishing along with my weight and body fat. 

How do I receive positive feedback while remaining humble? This is very important to me because there are narcissistic tendencies in every generation of my family that have inflicted a lot of pain and damaged relationships. That is a main consideration for me because I have been that way in the past. Everything was about me and my needs, especially around my career.  I got a strong work ethic from my dad I guess because I excelled in the military, and college I wasn't the smartest kid but did make the dean's list a couple of times. My professors recognized my potential and gave me a teaching assistant position which was a leadership role. Even in my first job out of college I excelled and got promoted, and really accomplished a lot of good things for that company.

My work ethic has been with me since then and served me well until my position had been eliminated even though I was a stellar employee. If that doesn't shake your confidence then invest yourself in someone that you absolutely love and poured your life into then have them leave and turn on you. Couple that with weight gain and you will have a fractured and insecure soul. So I have learned that is not just a weight issue a lot of things have hit me and hit me hard over the past five years. I have been afraid to deal with them until now. My faith has brought me through and helped me realize that I can't just pray my problems away. I have to take action by improving my skills, physical, and mental self. I touched on relationships and am at a point where I choose quality over quantity now.  I surrounded myself with people that made me feel better about my current situation. There was an interesting response from those people when I decided to make positive changes in my life, and wish them the best. My journey will continue and I am excited to see where I go from here.

Then and now

 About a year ago my friend was in town and we met with other some other friends for lunch. I had not seen some of these ladies in a long time. Part of it was due to covid, but part of it was that I was ashamed of where I was with my weight and made every excuse not to see people. I was very comfortable staying home in my stretchy pants. I look pregnant in this picture and my issues had absolutely nothing to do with these awesome ladies and everything to do with myself. When you are not your best self you do not want to be around others that remind you of where you should be. I have allowed that to make me insecure and withdraw from many things.

I had to really face my insecurity demons at the gym where modesty has completely gone out the window. What's crazy is that I attend a pretty conservative gym but I have to say that some of the things these young ladies are wearing astound me. I know that I had issues with my body but really I would not let my daughters dress the way I am seeing these girls dress. Alright, back to my why in my weight loss journey. I decided that I was going to bring it to the gym, focus on my workouts, and not be concerned with anyone else but Craig. 

This was me about a month ago and I am 25 pounds less and counting. I have decided that I am going to continue on Keto/ Low Carb indefinitely. I am used to it now and feel great at age 49. I think I might even have abs for my 50th birthday in May. Now that I am on the other side of this weight loss journey I will say that I am glad I did it. I got inspired to intermittent fast in August and recommend that for women especially if you are premenopausal. I have had no more hot flashes or symptoms since I went on Keto. Fasting was hard but became easier with Keto. When I started my main focus was to cut out the carbs and sugar and eat 15 net carbs per day. Every morning I would have my water with electrolytes, coffee with Jordan's skinny syrup, and cream. I fast until 10:30 now but then I would fast until I was starving. If you are not exercising you really should be fasting longer, and eating fewer meals. I did and will when I go back to work. 

I am in the gym right after breakfast and try to burn 300 or more calories during my workouts. I can work out as long as I want for now so I am truly trying to make the best of my situation. I know that it won't last, but I will still work out when I go back to work. I will implement the fasted row and fast as long as I can and my lunch break will be working out. The other thing is that every meal I have is under 5 net carbs. In the beginning, I felt like a math magician trying to calculate net carbs so I made things very easy. I ate a lot of cream cheese, cheese, meat, olives, and chicharrones. As I got better at understanding this lifestyle I have been able to make more substitutes, especially in the sweets department. I had to understand the difference between all the sweeteners, and now that I am seeing "no sugar" products everywhere. Diet stuff existed but now I am seeing no sugar candy everywhere. If you have a sweet tooth Keto is for you. I didn't eat nearly as many sweets as I do now which is daily. I usually have a treat after dinner. My absolute favorites are the Russel Stover sugar-free caramel sweets variety and high-key products are amazing too. You really can convert anything into a low-carb, keto option, and the more you are in ketosis the more accustomed you become to the taste.

There are so many good products, and people putting out content everywhere because Keto and Low Carb work. If you don't believe me look at the pictures. The time difference between the two photos above is about 10 months apart. I was settling into the fact that I was just going to continue to get fatter as I got older. As I mentioned before I typically go against the grain and am a different thinker altogether. I knew that I could remain in the state I was insecure and isolated. I don't think that being isolated is as bad as I once did. In a lot of aspects, it helped me to see that I had a lot of unresolved issues even from my childhood that I had to work through. The truth is that the distance of certain people really gave me the opportunity to face my issues. I went from having so many friends to 2, one completely ghosted me,  but gained a friend that is more like gaining a brother.  To anyone in the past with if I did anything to hurt you I apologize and honestly do not have any bad feelings toward anyone. 

Losing this weight has been good but very painful. I am excited to drop the weight and reshape my body, but there really is something that I don't see out there and is part of my why. When you are insecure about yourself it is literally like a disease. At this time I know where it came from, started writing a book that I really think I am going to pick back up again. I believe through my own life experiences that not dealing with rejection is the root of insecurity. All of my rejection issues started coming to light when my position was eliminated with the company I had worked at for 12 years. The details are going to be in my book but I will share that all of it is painful on so many levels. I am grateful to my husband and youngest daughter who has really been there for me, and hope that all of this improves my relationships going forward. 

"No more jeggings"

If you ever watched mommy dearest as a kid you'll remember the phrase"no more wire hangers." That is where I got the title of this blog, but instead of hangers, it will be jeggings or any other pants with elastic bands outside of workout clothes. At age 49, I can reflect on how my body has changed over time as a kid I was called "gordita" which means "fat little girl"  by family members. I realize now that it was only because they were comparing me to my sister. Yep, there are some negative family dynamics that are going to come out in this blog. I will do my best to cover the situation and how it impacted me only.

When you are a child and your family tells you stuff like that you actually believe it. I believed that I was fat and food became my comfort, especially after losing my mom. My sister and I lived in Utah with family and were healthy & active. To this day I have to give a shout-out to Utah peeps as a lot of them live a healthy lifestyle that I admire. That was the natural turning point for me and I took those habits and kept them. I just lived life and mostly ate whole foods that were prepared at home. We very seldom ate out, there were fewer fast food places, and the foods were not processed, & filled with sugar the way they are today. Those things are making us fat & sick. I recommend that you youtube the man who fasted for 55 days because that documentary is factual and lived out.

One of my best friends and I had a discussion about carbs that may give you more perspective. He was trying my salted caramel iced coffee with sugar alcohol and thought it was delicious. I asked if there was an aftertaste and he said it was minimal. He was wondering what would there be an aftertaste if someone tried natural sugar cane for the first time. I totally had a Ratatue moment and was transported to the time I had sugar cane as a kid. I remember liking it, but my best sweet memories as a kid were being at a cherry farm, eating crab apples, and eating fresh peas out of my aunt's garden. Then we started talking about how low carb is the normal eating that I grew up on for the most part.

I am grateful for growing up eating mainly scratch-made meals, but the military mess hall was the best thing on the planet. The meals were new and interesting, and combos I never had like chili mac. I ate whatever I wanted in Army because I was uber-active but my weight hung out at 125 which is what I weigh today. So let's get into the jeans shall we; the truth is that I love jeans. I would wear them all the time. In writing this blog the last time I remember wearing jeans. Let me clarify what jeans are: they are zip-up or button-up non-stretchy pants which I have been wearing for the past 13-plus years. 

So as I have gone through this journey currently unemployed, I do have time to hit the gym and really focus on my workouts. Bettering myself physically has increased my capacity mentally as well. I am constantly wanting to improve myself and know the job will come and the fat is disappearing. It is such a big deal to me to be 125 and this month I plan to take my work outs and my food to the next level. I am not going to weigh my self until March, but plan to move more, eat at home, drink more water, and less alcohol. Right now I fit into a size 2 dress, 4 jean, and converting into extra small work out wear. I am so asstounded to be back her and plan to main train a low carb life style. There are times when I do miss my fries but I am making a keto air fried fish and blooming onion tonight. I get to cook things differently, and there are more products available. Please still read your labels though because it can be tricky, but I have promised my self to stay with this lifestyle. And that I will hopefully never grow into jeggings again,

Until next time,

Carmen (Mindy) Lewis

4

Hi Guys,

I hope everyone is doing well. Today's blog is about what a lot of us dread doing and that is exercising. The bottom line is that no matter what dietary lifestyle you're doing if you don't exercise then you are not going to lose weight or fat. Frequent fasting is great for you especially if you are sitting at a desk all day not moving which is what I did when I was working a full-time job. I would get up around 6:30 and go into my garage to row and do 20 to 30 minutes every day before work until my position was eliminated mid-October. Losing my job motivated me to hit the gym hard taking things to the next level and spending my mornings at the gym, going to the gym after my am quiet time. I do work out at 5 to 6 days a week. 

This transitional time for me has been very emotional because getting laid off sucks, and being in the job market during a recession has been hard. A lot of my peers are in the same boat right now and my heart goes out to them especially the ones that weren't financially prepared. If Covid and the freeze of 2021 taught us anything it is that we should be prepared for anything and everything. One of my favorite you-tubers Jaspreet Singh has been saying that Americans are living a fat lifestyle he is talking about finance. From his perspective, a lot of us live beyond our means and are in a lot of debt and when job loss happens we are left with very few options. Our unhealthy lifestyle does catch up with us at some point. Look at how many people have diabetes now. That speaks volumes. Plus I am completely over people having a "this is the way it is" or "it's part of getting old" mindset. I have never been the type of person that does what everyone else is doing or just takes things at face value. I am a curious creature that is always learning, growing, and improving.

I am taking this time to better myself on all levels: I am working on updating my skills for my future job, learning new things, building my business, making more good low-carb/ keto foods at home, reading, and working out. I know that God has a plan and the right position will come and prepare me financially. I am honestly enjoying this process and it is crazy to see the results I am now seeing. I am wearing smalls again and my stomach is shrinking, but so is my butt that part does not excite me. The more I see results the easier it gets to maintain this lifestyle, and my insecure body issues have decreased too. I would get insecure when fit ladies would be around because it made me realize how fluffy and flabby I had become. It was my issue that I had to live with or do something about. Now most of the ladies that used to intimidate me are encouragers to me. They see how far I have come and it humbles me that they notice. 

The results have manifested so many emotions at this time. There are other factors like job loss and menopause that are at play here too. The fact that I am really losing fat is something that I see every day. It's like my body gets it but my mind doesn't.  I guess I really didn't think that I would get back to being fit at age 49. I had allowed myself to gain the weight because I wasn't working out intensely and thinking that I ate healthy when in all actuality I was eating 200 grams or more of carbs per day. I didn't fast then and would have eggs and potatoes for breakfast and sometimes in a flour tortilla potatoes have 46 grams of carbs for a 1/2 cup serving. I wasn't eating half a cup at a time. I was eating a cup or more plus a tortilla. Then for lunch, I would typically have sushi rolls. Get ready because sushi has so many carbs. The rice has carbs, plus all the sugar they put in it to make it sticky has carbs, plus if there is anything breaded in the roll that has carbs, the mayo sauce has tons of sugar and carbs. I lost track there alone, my favorite snack was chili mango slices with 33 grams of carbs in a serving. I don't think I ate the serving amount there either. Dinner would usually be a rice dish like paella don't even get me trying to calculate that one either the rice and peas in that plus I ate 2 bowls minimum. 

Those are a lot of carbs friends. I was always hungry too because the foods I ate were addictive and not satiating. The ones I didn't burn turned into sugar and made me fat. I had someone tell me that I really wasn't that big, and that is partially true. When they recently saw me they told me that I lost a lot of weight and asked what I was doing? Almost every time I share what I am doing people reply with " I can't do that. I thought that too, but if you really think about it a low-carb lifestyle makes sense because if you read the labels of the food you buy there are added sugars, especially in the middle aisles of the stores you shop.

I am also going to reiterate my why which is to encourage and motivate you to evaluate what you put in your body and make changes that will improve your lifestyle. If you truly are happy being overweight then I am happy for you. I wasn't but it's not just about weight loss for me it is gaining and sharing what I have learned with those of you that want to prevent health issues down the road. I am married to a medical professional and see firsthand how bad the situation is. I am not going to get into the data because I want you to do the research for yourself. My current workout schedule is to work out 6-7 days a week: 3-4 lower body, and 3-4 upper body days with cardio. If I can I will head back to the gym to walk/ run on the track for up to 3 miles. I am going to go to a class with a friend soon too. I am building out my website so stay tuned for that. 

Have a great day,

CML out

3

 Did I celebrate the holidays and still stay in ketosis? I will answer that through out the blog, and it was and still is exciting to learn this lifestyle. Let's start with Thanksgiving, I normally really like hosting, but was not wanting to make the family eat keto or have Craig make extra food. Craig and Cambria have been very supportive and eat carbs. Making and getting food for them used to torture me, but I am in ketosis so it is all good. 

My approach to the holidays in general was to try, test, and make traditional favorite dishes keto. Some of these dishes like green-bean casserole and ham were easy.I had researched a lot of youtube and pintrest to gain inspiration and it did not disappoint because there are more and more people living a keto, Atkins, or lo carb lifestyle. Cranberry sauce and stuffing not so much. Some of the keto breads for stuffing were so expensive and horrible tasting that I gave up on them. I tried to make Cranberry sauce too and the second one I made turned out better, but was still not as good as the real one. 

The only time I got out of ketosis was ironically at a lunch date with my friend where I did not realize there where beans at the bottom of my burrito bowl even though I asked them to leave the beans & rice out. It took bites for me to realize it and was too late. I had been doing keto for about 4 months at that point and over came the keto flu to get there. I was so tired and felt like I took 5 steps back immediately. I came home and took a nap, and was ok the next day. The carbs and sugar are not worth the price to me anymore of being fat & sluggish and that was a harsh reminder that I have not repeated.

Now that my weight and fat-loss is noticeable I get asked what I am doing because the change has been pretty drastic at this point. There is way more to this experience for me than just loosing weight. I want change my quality of life as well as inform and inspire you to change yours. I let my self go to a certain extent and told my self that it is supposed to be this way. Actually I think society tells us that too, along with the connivence of processed foods, and the bulk of the food industry is filling our meals with sugar, inflammatory oils, and chemicals. Look all around you there are a lot more bigger people especially kids & for the first time in 50 years our life span has been reduced. 

Another resource that I had been evaluating is FlavCity he and his family do a paleo/keto lifestyle and he exposes the crap that is put into our food especially the processed convenient ones that are not even considered food in other countries. How do I know that because  I actually lived in Germany when I was stationed in the army. There were far less fast food places, the Germans ride their bikes everywhere, and a lot of them smoke. It will be very interesting when I go back to see if it is now the same as here. I makes me realize the trust that we have in our food industry, but a keto low carb diet will definitely change that. There is so much sugar in so many things that you have to be diligent especially in the beginning to understand what you are putting in your body. I learned all kinds of things and my hope is that you will go out and do your own research and make changes. 

Back to the holidays so this year Craig's birthday fell on Thursday the 22 and I finally got us reservations to Fogo De Cho and the family was going to join us so the day came and this was the beginning of the Arctic freeze. I will admit that this was pretty easy to stay on track because this amazing place is a Brazilian steak house and all of us got to experience this together. If you get a chance to do this go for it. Our holidays have been low key and at home for the past 4 years because Craig has worked. We did have the opportunity to go to a family members home, but I do not feel right going out on this day while my husband works.We made food and that really seems to be the trick with a healthy lifestyle. 

That is one of my goals this year is to make 90% of my food. I have noticed that people who pay attention to what is in their food and make the majority of their cleanish meals do have a healthy life style. I will say that keto lo carb has done more for me in 5 months over the past couple of years. I am not going to tell you that it is easy because it really isn't, but if you want to loose fat and weight then you should seriously give it a shot. Now that I covered the food for now, I will mention exercise in my next blog.

CL2Howdidigethere

 So have you ever seen you in a picture and didn't recognize the person in the picture? I am not a person that takes selfies and is hardly in any pictures to begin with, but the few pictures that I was in told a story. In every picture I was getting bigger, fatter, and not recognizable. I was also avoiding going to the dr. because I knew I was going to be told that. Before we go on I need to set some ground rules.  If you are the kind of person that is going to be offended by my story of being sick and tired of being fat and unhealthy, this blog may not be for you. I am sharing this experience to encourage you; no matter how old you are that  you can take control of your health by evaluating the things you eat, and moving your body to loose fat and weight. 

That is where I was this past August. I had started researching everything on weight-loss because I was exercising, eating fairly healthy, and still getting bigger. I was going to the gym daily and was still around 150 pounds. It was so frustrating to work out and see very little results.That is the kind of stuff that made me want to give up. I was starting to see that the best option was going to be intermittent fasting and keto. There are all different types of keto: strict, dirty, lazy, etc. There is so much data out there and there are some doctors that inspired me especially Dr, Berg.  He is an example of some one doing Keto and his journey and insights inspired me to start. I also need to shout out to keto with Sammy, the keto twins, lo carb love, & hifalutin lo carb, they also were inspiring to me.

I started fasting the week before labor day and it totally sucked. I was so tired and literally running on coffee. I discovered Jordans skinny syrups at marshalls, & months later they are still my goto. I started keto on labor day. I ate all the fat and meat that I wanted my goal was 10 net carbs per day because all the research suggested that once you were in ketosis all of the keto flu and cravings would go away. I had both I was tired and swear that I had carb "spidy" senses I could smell fries for miles. I ate lots of whipped cream and cream cheese for the next weeks. I did more research on the keto flu to find that electrolytes could and did help. 

Let's talk a bit on what is going on with our food.  As I mentioned earlier I thought that I was a relatively healthy eater. I never have been big on breads, sweets, or sugary drinks; love lean proteins and veggies. So why was I packing on the pounds? When I started to look into lo carb lo or no sugar options for my new lifestyle, it was like getting another degree. You have to really read your food labels very carefully. In my discovery I found out that sugar is in just about everything, and it is frustrating and scary. This lifestyle really makes you evaluate the stuff you are putting into your body including non sugar ingredients. Some of these products are even worse for you than sugar so please do your own research and read those labels.

Keto is 20 grams of net carbs per day and sometimes you have figure that out. I didn't want to deal with that in the beginning so I ate foods with no carbs like meat, olives, & cheese. I had my dr. visit and it went well I weighed 144 with a BMI of 27. Writing this still brings tears to my eyes because it had been years since I had seen the scale move down.  What is also interesting is that all of my menopausal symptoms especially hot flashes went away. My doctor encouraged me to continue down the path I was on. 

My husband Craig became concerned about my fat consumption because of my families heart disease history.  He was right as usual, so I would say that I am more on the low carb side of things now because I am not eating all the fat that I was before, but am still eating 10 net carbs per day.  I am in ketosis and it feels amazing. The fatigue is gone and so are the cravings. I can get my family food with fries and not have any issues where as before it was torture. I really learned  intuitive eating which is very different than what we are taught which is to eat small frequent or 3 meals a day. I only eat when I am hungry now and it is usually only two meals a day. If I have a hard work out, leg day and I am hungry then I will eat.

Now I am really seeing the impacts of this lifestyle I am in the120s, have more energy, enjoy my work outs and am wearing things I have not been able to get into in years. I had to go dress shopping for my husbands Christmas party and fit into a size 2 dress again I am an emotional mess about it so I will stop here for this blog. Please join me for my next blog where I talk about how I survived the holidays on keto. 

Thanks for reading. I am working on the website and will see you in the next blog

CLIntro1123

 Hi I am Carmen and I also go by Mindy to my family members. I am starting this blog because I am noticing some alarming trends about gaining weight, and aging. I am going to share my struggle with this very issue and my motivation in doing so is to help you understand what is going on with our food, the importance of exercise, and to adopt a healthy lifestyle for you to live a better hopefully longer life.

Ever since I can remember I have been chunky, thick, and called gordita.  As a kid growing up in the 80s I was the token fat girl and we were few and far between. I was also constantly compared by family members to my slim sister to boot. I can remember turning to food when my mother died it was my coping mechanism and the only thing that connected me to my dad. My dad was a provider but that was it for me. I am the middle child of 11 children that I know of, and I had daddy issues that I have worked through. My dad could have done better, it is not my place to judge him. In my healing process I have forgiven him, and have a better insights about why I had food issues.

As I grew up my food issues faded until high school where I wanted to be slim and had a friend that slimmed down by not eating that worked for me until I got into the Army where I was taught to eat three solid meals a day, and the importance of exercise. I bulked up & became fit thick which caused me to never make the Army's weight standards weighing 120 pounds. For the first time in my life I never cared about what I ate because it was so simple and don't care what anyone says mess hall food is amazing. I got to try so many scratch made meals that I never had before.

After the army, I moved back to Texas to go to school I was still fit and taught aerobics but was a starving student. Then I met Craig and we were both struggling students I lost 20 pounds and got pregnant and lost even more weight due to morning sickness and stress. Craig and I got married shortly after the birth of our daughter but that happiness was short lived due to multiple tragic events that shook my family to the core for the next decade. During that decade I got my education and started my IT career and Craig went nursing school. We bought our first house and we found out we were pregnant. I started the pregnancy at 117 pounds and lost a little bit of weight because I was sick for the first couple of months but I blew up to 153 pounds. I ended up having an emergency c section at age 36, and it was horrible. It was worth it for our second daughter.

At this point in my life I had postpartum, stress of being on one income, and starting life in our new home plus I had never had a surgery so I was also recovering from that. Earlier I mentioned that Craig was in nursing school and his amazing classmates brought us meals. It took me a while but I did get the weight down to about 135 where I was able to maintain this by working out and eating reasonably healthy. I was going on 47 when covid hit we have a home gym and I started off strong thinking  I could work out at home at the same level that I had at the gym. I ended up getting a job that allowed me to work from home and that is when I blew up to over 155 pounds and this impacted me more than I can admit.

I had a coworker that did intermittent fasting, and she mentioned it to me because that helped relieve some of her menopause symptoms. As I started my own research on this subject, keto kept coming up so I wanted to learn more and discovered that a recent friend lost 120 pounds doing keto for 2 years.  So on labor day of this year I started intermittent fasting and keto. In my next blog I am going to go into great detail about that so stay tuned, but I wanted to give you my stats. I started this journey with a BMI at 28 and 155 pounds. I am now at a BMI at 25 and 129 pounds at 49 years of age.