Settling Into My New Lifestyle....

As most of you know I have been watching what I have been eating in an effort to lose weight.  I am on a huge weight loss journey.  Right now I have lost 28 lbs and on Tuesday I will see how much further I have come on this journey at my next weigh in.  I am following a low carb diet, I have eliminated potatoes, pasta and bread from my diet.

I will tell you this, I have a lot more energy than I had previously, I also do not have the pain in my knees that I had.  I am on day 61 of tracking my food with My Fitness Pal.  Right now I am allowed 433 g of carbs a day, I have myself down below 150 g of carbs a day.  I am going to eventually lower myself to 50 g of carbs. I am not eating very many processed foods at all.  I have cut out all sweets.  But honestly I may allow myself something here and there if I want it (a bit of something).  But I personally have found that if I have a sweet craving if I have something like fruit and cool whip or a smoothie I can usually satisfy my craving for something sweet.

I have found that being creative and finding great recipes are key to staying on the low carb eating plan I am following.  I am so lucky that my fiance loves to cook! There are so many amazing recipes that I will give you links to soon! Most recently I tried Cloud Bread.  It is phenomenal!

Find the recipe for Cloud Bread HERE

The recipe above has the option of sweetener I never use it, I omit that.

It is not too hard to follow the low carb diet, I have found following it, more than anything I don't miss the bread, pasta and potatoes.  Now that I am used to eating lower carb foods. I do miss fruit, I don't eat it much it is mostly unlimited veggies.  But for a treat I will eat some berries which are lower carb.

I am going to stay on this track, see where I go from here! :)

FTB Beauty=AWESOME!!!!

Hello, my name is Kat and I am a makeup junkie....

Honestly.  I will spend every dime I have on makeup and be nothing but giddy about it!! Getting new makeup for me is like Christmas morning.  What do I love?  Affordable quality brands! Do I dream about Urban Decay Naked pallets? Yes.  But who wants to pay $64 for the Urban Decay Naked 2 pallet, when you could pay $25 for the Coastal Scents Revealed pallet which has 20 neutral eye shadows vs. Urban Decay's Naked pallet which has 12?  Honestly Coastal Scents pallet is so much better!

Have you also ever gone through the process of ordering makeup online from US retailers?  I have.....not fun. Not only do they charge shipping which is out of this world because we are Canadian and they have to ship "Internationally".  Not only is it the shipping charge that you may have to pay but to add insult to injury you may have to pay duty or customs fees on top of that.  So for example take a $7.99 lipstick that you love from an American cosmetic company, then add to that a $14.95 shipping fee and on top of that possibly duty and custom fees.  It isn't worth it.  

Well now you don't have to worry! This is where I tell you about an awesome, awesome site. FTB Beauty. 

FTB Beauty not only carries an assortment of American cosmetic brands think E.L.F., NYX, Coastal Scents, BH Cosmetics and more.... They ensure that you don't have to pay duty or customs fees. They even offer free shipping on orders of $50 or more! Standard shipping is $7.99 and expedited shipping is $12.99 which is still VERY reasonable.  

FTB Beauty has an amazing assortment of product that is very reasonably priced.  Plus the shipping, is phenomenal. I placed my order on a Thursday and had my order the following Monday.  That is with the standard shipping. Not only that their customer service....phenomenal.  Anna (FTB Beauty's owner) personally gets back to you in most cases if you have a question!  

I HIGHLY recommend FTB Beauty for all your beauty needs.  Please check them out!!

Protein, Protein and a Little More Protein!

When you are trying to lose weight protein becomes an important factor.  Quality protein that is.  You want to make sure you are selecting protein that is going to help you not only sustain muscle but help you burn fat. Why didn't I ever think of these things before?  Who knows? But honestly now that I do know not only have I lost a bit of weight (28 lbs and counting) but I have so much more energy than I ever had before!  It is amazing.

Right now I am following the following meal plan:

Breakfast:

1 scoop North Coast Naturals 100% Whey ISO (Vanilla) (24g protein per serving!)
1/4 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk (Silk)
1 TBSP of Kraft Smooth Peanut Butter (Buy the regular peanut butter! STAY AWAY from the natural and reduced sugar kinds, for example the natural 1TBSP is cal 90, fat 7g, carb 3g, fibre 1g, sugar 1g, protein 4g
Smooth- 90 cal, 8g fat, carb 4g, fibre 1g, 1g sugar and protein 3g, light smooth- 80 cal, 6g fat, 6g carbs, 1g fibre, 1g sugar, 3g protein.  There are more carbs in the light smooth than the regular smooth, the natural peanut butter is way too expensive for what it has, I mean it is not drastically lower in calories, fat etc so stick with the Regular smooth!)
1 or 2 handfuls of ice.

I blend the protein powder, almond milk and the peanut butter together in my blender for 2 minutes.  I then add the 1 or 2 handfuls of ice and set it on the ice crushing setting until it is blended. I then blend on high for a couple seconds.

I also have a yogurt with my breakfast protein shake, I personally like the Astro Zero Cocktail variety.

Lunch:

My protein shake again.
1 cup of Baby carrots, green beans, cucumber or sometimes an apple, sometimes I will have a piece of chicken or pork if there was some left over from the previous night (depending on how hungry I am, I have found lately that I am so full after drinking the protein shake).

Snack:
23  Almonds or 3 slices of either ham, roast beef, pastrami, or turkey (Ziggy's deli meats) rolled up with some cucumber in the centre. If there is

Dinner:
1-2 (depending on how hungry I am) 4oz pieces of Chicken, Pork, Haddock or Salmon
3 cups of Dole Classic Iceburg lettuce salad
3 TBSP Unsalted roasted sunflower seeds
1 TBSP Kraft Creamy Cucumber Salad dressing.

I find that this meal plan fills me up.  I am full and satisfied throughout the day, and the energy I have is crazy.

I use North Coast Naturals 100% Whey Isolate in Vanilla, which is a phenomenal protein powder.

I personally love this protein powder, I have mixed it in the almond milk and water and it mixes very well.  I prefer it with the almond milk because it is a creamier texture.  But it is good with water as well.
I am trying to follow a low carb food plan, right now I am limiting myself to 100g of carbs a day.  I was trying to limit myself to 50g but it was too much too soon, with everything else I was changing as well.  So once I am in the habit of limiting myself to 100g I will cut back to 50g.  I have cut out potatoes, pasta, bread and refined sugars.  I am still eating yogurt because I absolutely love yogurt so I cannot give up dairy totally.

What have you found helps when you are trying to lose weight?

One Small Step At a Time....

So I had my doctors appointment March 3rd and I had the chance to be weighed again.  I was so nervous stepping on that scale.  I thought, what if I didn't lose anything? What if I gained weight? But sure enough I have lost 28 pounds!!!! That's right I have LOST 28 pounds!! I am in shock! I can't believe it.  I am so happy that my hard work has been paying off.  I went from my highest weight of 604 lbs down to now 576 lbs.  I am more determined than ever to keep on this track.  I am aiming to lose 100 lbs at least before I have weight loss surgery.  I am currently following a low carb diet trying to limit myself to no more than 100g of carbs a day.  I was going to try for 50g, but right now because I am limiting a lot of other aspects of my diet I have decided to get used to eating around 100g of carbs before I cut back to 50g.  I am not eating ANY pasta, potatoes, brown rice or bread.  I am making sure that I eat enough protein and veggies.  I am right now walking around my apartment still until spring when I can start walking up and down the road to get some exercise.

I am beyond proud of myself for sticking to this.  It has been about 40 days since I have started tracking my food and what I have been eating.  I am committed to this process and it is a lifestyle change.  I feel a lot better than I have felt in a long time.  

Stay tuned for more updates!