Monday Musings: Muffins!!

Hello all!

Please excuse me for my absence this past Friday. I thought I would try to make it up to you all with a delicious Monday Muffin recipe. This recipe was inspired by the delicious recipes on blogilates.com.

Alrighty. Here we go!

What you will need:

2 cups oatmeal

2 over ripened bananas

2 eggs

2 TBS light agave syrup

1 TBS vanilla almond milk

Your favorite berries (I used raspberries and blueberries. Yumm)

*Preheat your oven to 350º

*Add your ingredients other than the berries to medium mixing bowl

*

*

*

*

*Blend ingredients together until smooth. You want to get out as many of the banana chunks as possible, but the mixture will still be fairly chunky because of the oatmeal.Chopping up the bananas may make this easier if you don't have a stand mixer. :)

*After your muffin mix is smooth, spoon it into a greased muffin pan. Fill them about 1/2-2/3 of the way full. I use a small ice cream scoop to dollop cookies and mix into pans. It gives you even portions and makes the process a lot easier. 

*Now its time to add the berries! Add your washed berries to each muffin.

YUMMY!

*Put your muffins on the middle rack in your oven and bake them for 12-14 mins. 

*Check them to make sure the middle is cooked thoroughly. Let them cool 10 mins and then enjoy!

(If you want you can also sprinkle a little Stevia on top as they come out)

And that's it! Totally easy and totally delicious. Let me know what you guys think!

Thanks for reading!

Monday Musings: Fooducate

Hello all!

It's Monday again and I thought I would do a review of one of my favorite apps in regard to my health. Before we go any further, though I'm sure you already know this, I'm not being paid by anybody to review this app. I just really like this app and I thought I would share it with everybody. :)

Okay, so this app has a ton of great features and great options to help you track your health. You can change the settings to make it specific to you and your needs/goals. I've provided a few screenshots below to help give you a small tour of the app and how awesome it is. Let's begin!

When you open up the app, this is one of the first things you will see. It is the home screen and it is pretty self explanatory.

From the home screen you can open this little side bar which allows you to do a ton more stuff. You can track what you eat and how much you exercise with you health tracker. You can set your own goals. You can personalize what you want the app to check for and notify you of such as GMOs, artificial sweeteners, artificial colors, and gluten free.

This is the second part of the side bar menu. Here you can make your own lists of products you like or favorite, your own shopping lists, and you can check for products you have searched before. Pretty cool right? It gets better!

This is what the scan screen looks like. You place the bar code in that little frame. Yes, that is a blanket that I'm "scanning."

Here I scanned some Stax. I think this screen has some of the coolest options. Here it shows you what the overall food rating is of this product according to your interests, how many people like or recommend the product, the nutritional values...etc. It also shows some of the major points, good or bad, about the product. For example, this product has a high probability of GMOs so it is the first thing listed as that is one of the criteria I personalized the app to search. You can also rate this yourself (whether you like or don't like), add it to you shopping list, AND see alternatives if it isn't the best version of this type of product.

These are the Stax alternatives, They normally provide better alternatives.  Yummmm.

This is just a screen shot of the health tracker. Depending on how you personalize it, the app with give you a goal of calories. Then you can add what you have eaten, what you have drank, and how much you have exercised. This is like MyfitnessPal a little bit.

Then, if you don't have a bar code or are just curious about a certain food, you can just browse through foods, or search for something. :) So cool! AND to top it all off.....this app is FREE! YES! FREE! Woah! What more could you want?

So that's about it. Some more in depth info on my favorite little helper. I hope this inspires you to go check it out and make your own opinions on it.

Hope you all have a great week! Thanks for reading!

Monday Musings: 3 Months

Hello All!

It's a wonderful Memorial Monday and today also marks about 90 days that I have been on my fitness journey. I'm in shock at how much I have accomplished in the last 3 months and I can't even believe that my body is actually mine. I have completely transformed my lifestyle to one that has made me much happier and healthier in the long run.

I thought I would just try this for a few months and see where it left me or I would just drop it within a few days, but the results I've seen and the knowledge I've gained has invaluable. This has been an amazing learning experience and the knowledge I have will stay with me forever. I only hope that I can continue to learn more about my own body, my limits, my strength as well as teach others who wish to learn. This journey is not over by any stretch of the imagination though i think now this is almost purely just my lifestyle. I no longer believe that this is a "plan" or a "diet" or anything like that. This is just me.

I don't think i will always be training as diligently or as often and I don't think I will always be as strict with my nutrition, but I do think I will stay healthy and not allow myself to ever go back to the unhealthy life I was leading.

Well, I have a personal announcement to make. I'm done with my 90 day journey, but that doesn't mean I'm done. I could just stay healthy, but I'm setting some new goals for myself. Here, today, with all of you as my witnesses. My goal was to always be in a size twelve. I wanted to be in the average. The normal. Well, I'm pleased to announce that I made that goal! I went from a size 16/18 down to a comfortable size 12! Though I know this isn't the best way to track your progress, it is a good way for me to track my progress without using the number on the scale or using super expensive equipment to track fat loss.

I know I'm never going to be stick thin. I enjoy my curves and I'm so much more confident in my body. Hourglass figure. Check. No thigh gap? Don't care! I'm just happy I'm healthy and I'm so happy that I'm setting my new goal! Are you ready for this? Okay.....

I've always said I wanted to be a size twelve. Well, I'm there. So what's the next step? A size 10! Oh no! Craziness! Yes, I'm going to do it! My goal is to be in a size ten before I go back to school in August. That is about three more months from today. You think I can do it? Well I dropped almost 3 sizes in the past 3 months, I think I can go one more in the next 3. I'm a goal oriented person and I think keeping this goal will even further set my clean lifestyle and help me keep going. If I have something to work towards, I know I'm not going to be lazy. I know I can do it. Can you?

I sure think you can! I challenge you to do it with me! Set yourself a goal of one size difference or a couple inch difference or even just a piece of clothing that you want to fit into and feel fabulous. Make it a goal that you want to reach by the time school days come again. Make it a reasonable goal and then let me know what it is. We will do this together and end up more fabulous and confident than we already are!

I will keep you up on my progress and you can do the same with me. If you set yourself a goal, let me know what it is by leaving a comment below, tweeting it to me, or send me a shout out on Instagram. I'm hoping that your goals will motivate me and my goal/progress will do the same for you.

So go out and grab life by the horns. Let's do this!

This is me as a new Leah:

Thank you guys for reading!

My Choice: Why I Hate the Word "Diet"

Hello all!

So this is going to be a tiny bit of a rant. If you don't like that then hide yo kids, hide yo wives, cover your ears, or just skeedaddle. 

I'm not going to go into the dictionary definition of anything, but I will talk about how I perceive the word "diet." In the last few months I have come to abhor the word diet. It is used as a dirty word in our society in regards to every day human interaction. It has a bad connotation and most other people cringe at the thought of what the words entails: counting calories, bland food, constant hunger, no fun...etc. This is the complete opposite of what I'm doing so I got a little pissed  frustrated when someone told me that what I was doing was a "diet."

I'm getting flustered just thinking about it. First off, let's get something straight, diets DON'T WORK. Diets ALWAYS FAIL. If what you are doing is a "diet," you are setting yourself up for failure. So, when someone says I'm on a diet or that all this change is my diet I perceive this as that person expecting me to fail/does not have faith in me to succeed. Do you see where this can get messy? I already am succeeding and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon, so right off the bat they are W-R-O-N-G.

"Diet" implies that what you are doing is something that differs from your normal way of life. Thus, at some point you will have to go back to your normal way of life and your "diet" will have failed. If you go on a diet and stop, you will gain the weight back. If you change your nutrition and lifestyle to lose weight, you will keep it off because there will be no stopping. You will maintain a healthy body AND mind which adds up to your healthy lifestyle.

What I'm doing is my new lifestyle. I'm NEVER going back to all those junky processed foods as the main source of my food intake. Yes, I will indulge every now and again. This choice doesn't mean I can't have any fun. It doesn't mean I can't go out with friends. It doesn't mean I have to "give up" anything except the things that were weighing on my body and health. In fact, this choice hasn't limited me at all. in fact, I feel more free with my nutrition and like I have been opened to many more delicious foods that my taste buds would have previously rejected. Sure I may not be eating this many meals a day or the same things everyday like I do now, but I will maintain a healthy and clean lifestyle.

I also got asked what the good is in clean eating because it seemed to this person that my working out was the only thing that was giving me results. There is no specific ONE thing that clean eating helps. Basically it helps your whole body help itself. Your body was made to process natural foods, not preservatives, artificial colors, and artificial sweeteners. By eating clean, you allow your body to work more efficiently and give you the results you want and work so hard for.

I honestly can say that explaining all this is very hard and I don't think anyone will totally understand it until they go through the same process of changing. If you want something badly enough you will work for it. It could be as simple as changing your perspective. If you think that all this is just a diet, maybe seeing things from a different point of view will help (and make your friends like me, or anyone else who has seen progress through eating clean, happier).  

So, to wrap things up, THIS IS A LIFESTYLE CHOICE! Understand it, accept it, live it. You may not be able to do all of the things I just listed, but doing one can help a ton and make someone (or yourself) go from a 

grump

to an un-grump. C: 

See? All about perspective. 

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend! :D

Bye for now!

Monday Musings: Confessions

Hello all!

Well it is another Monday and I feel like I really need to get something off my chest. Last week was a terrible week for me when it comes to my fitness journey. To put it in perspective, I usually weigh myself at the beginning of each week just to get an idea of where I am (not as my measurement of progress) and this week I am afraid to.

This past week has been full of early mornings, late nights, working hours, bad news and skipped meals. Even when I tried to keep myself on track it just felt like I would fall off the cart as soon I got on. I worked out 3 times this past week when I normally workout 6 days a week. One night I only got 3 hours of sleep before I had to go to work and then followed that up with a 4 hour sleep night to go to work again. Working strange hours threw off my eating schedule. Working in an ER makes it hard to squeeze in those scheduled eating times. Don't get me wrong,I  absolutely love the fast pace of my job, but it doesn't always allow for me to follow through with all my healthy choices, even if I had everything planned out. One day I only ate two meals.....Yikes. The rest of the week was not much better.

Not to mention some bad news, some anxiety attacks (yes, I battle with these), crying, and attempted retail therapy (not always the best choice), and bad food choices. Can anyone say sweet tart gummies? (which did not help the sluggish-ness). I think I was chugging more coffee than water. *face palm* Every time something bad happened it would make me more discouraged and angry with myself just adding to my stress level and generally making me more exhausted. I felt so bad yesterday because I felt like I ruined everything I had worked for in one week.

Then I went to sleep...

This morning I woke up after 10 hours of rest and I felt great. I took a look at everything around me and realized that it was okay. I looked in the mirror, i still had the start of my bicep muscles, my butt was still more lifted and toned than when I started, my legs still looked more toned than when I started, I still looked taller, my face still had more definition, and (to top it off) the bags underneath my eyes were pretty much gone. I was smiling too.

What's the point? Everything was and is still good. I didn't ruin everything. This is a lifestyle, not a diet. I will have bad weeks and really bad weeks, but I will also have great weeks! Life throws some punches and I will have to roll with them so I can't give up on myself for trying to persevere through all that (even if I crash and burn). I want to be honest with everyone and tell you guys that I am human. I think at some point I started to believe I wasn't and this week was a way of showing me that I still was. It was a way of humbling me and letting me share that with other people. I make mistakes. Everyone will make mistakes, but you just have to learn from them and move forward.

I want to thank everyone for reading this and supporting me. Thank you for all your positive and comments because they make me feel like what I'm doing is really important. I hope it will continue to be important and I will continue to feel your love and support.

So thank you all!

bye for now!

The long ride

Hello all!

I figured that I haven't really introduced you guys to what my actual weight loss journey has been like. I've been posting and I feel like I haven't really introduced myself which is kind of the basis for this blog. So here we go...

When I was young, I was pretty thin and always super tan for some reason (Haha!). Then when I started to become a teenager, I found out that I had Hashimoto's disease. For those of you who don't know, it is a form of thyroidism. There is Hypo and Hyperthyroidism (underactive and overactive) and there is also Hashimotos disease and Graves disease (underactive and overactive) basically my body attacks my thyroid because it doesn't work correctly and my body thinks its a foreign object. To the left is a comparison:

From the point when I was about 12 I started to gain weight (some because of medication I had to take, some from my disease, and some from diet. We have a German family. German cooking). Rapidly. And I kept gaining up until high school where I hit 215lbs at the time of my graduation. After I got into college I gained more until I hit my max at 234lbs. I was so unhappy. I wasn't taking care of my body. I wasn't making good relationships. In general, it wasn't a good time in my life.

Around this time I went to the doctor and, thanks to modern medicine, I drop down to 204lbs. "Wow! This is great!" I thought. So I kept taking the medication at the intervals I was allowed and I ended up dropping to 197lbs. The first time I had been under 200lbs since the beginning of high school! I was so excited! I thought this was the end of my troubles. I was finally in a good relationship and I was losing weight.

Then I did something stupid...

Long story short, I tore my ulnar collateral ligament in my left thumb doing the splits. I had to have surgery the week before Christmas and this left me without a left hand for about three months. I had already gained some weight back before this, but then my surgery stunted me and gained back up to 212lbs. 

Well I already told about how Megan was my inspiration to get healthy. On December 13, 2012 I had surgery on my hand and on February 27, 2013 my surgeon released me from his care. Then, at the beginning of May, I started my fitness journey. My three month mark is fast approaching and I am amazed with what my body has accomplished. What I have accomplished. A few days ago I weighed myself and I was at 179.6lbs!* I haven't been under 180lbs since middle school! I am completely changed. I've said it once and I will say it a million times, I am never going back. I have come too far and feel way too good to turn back now. The skies' the limit!

So that's me so far. I hope you stay tuned to see me in the future. C:

buh bye!

*NOTE: I know my progress pictures say 182. Explanation: I weighed myself a few days before those pictures and, instead of weighing myself that day, I just took the number I already knew. I weighed myself the next morning and I was actually at 179.6.

My Plan...

Hello all!

As some of you may know, I posted some of my progress pictures yesterday. As a result, I got an overwhelming response from people asking me what I am doing to lose and keep off the weight. As I have said before, there is no magic or miracle involved in what I'm doing. There should be no mystery to the whole weight loss thing and it is not just one thing you can do. It is a lifestyle choice.

Before I go any further, I should put the disclaimer on this that I am NOT a doctor or a nutritionist and I am not a trainer. Every body is different and mine is no exception. So though this works for me, you may have to tweak things for it to fit you, if you so choose to do anything. 

Now that is out of the way, I feel that I should start out with my workout. I have been using the workout calendar from blogilates.com. This website is run and updated by a pilates instructor named Cassey Ho. She posts a free calendar every month with what exercises to do every day and she posts her workouts on youtube. So I usually just make a playlist of videos to do everyday and just do them. Her attitude is great and her personality is so infectious. I never get bored with her workouts and she kicks my butt. I love it! You can visit her website here. I figured I would also save you some time and post this month's workout calendar:

Because it is summer, I have also decided to add in some biking during the week or other forms of cardio during the week. This is inspired by lovemeganalexis and also the fact that since school is over and I'm not dancing anymore on a daily basis, my largest source of cardio is gone.

Ok. Now that the easiest part is over (and yes that is the easiest part to explain) it is time to talk about clean eating. What the heck is it? Well in the simplest terms it means you are trying to get as close to the food source as possible. This is really difficult to do in this day and age sometimes as many things are very processed before they hit store shelves. So, needless to say, the food I end up buying goes through a vigorous test before it ends up in my cart. Here are the criteria that my food has to meet before I eat:

• I have to be able to read most everything that is on the label: Honestly this is a little vague for my liking, but it is the simplest way I can state it outright. If you're like me, you can read everything on the label, but that doesn't mean you can understand what all of it is. So, I have to be able to read and understand what exactly is in the food I am buying based on the label. If I don't understand, I can usually search really quick for what it is.
• I can't have any artificial sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, msg (monosodium glutamate), artificial preservatives (especially benzoate preservatives like BHT, BHA,...etc) and I have to try to stay away from genetically modified ingredients (GMOs). This is really difficult because companies are not required to list any GMOs that might be in their products. Thankfully, I have an app called "fooducate." It scans barcodes and tells you if there are artificial colors, sweeteners, preservatives, and GMOs! It is very handy and I recommend it to everyone.
• If I can make it, I try to do so (I say this because it does not always turn out the way I want it especially on the first try. I tried to make mayo and the first time, i failed miserably). So I make my own Italian dressing, marinades, soups, sometimes bread...etc. They usually turn out better than store bought things. It goes without saying that there are some things that are non-negotiables because of convenience. Like OJ. I can't live without it and juicing oranges every morning is exhausting (and now mayo. I've given up). But I try to stay away from too many things like that.
• All-in-all everything I eat must be minimally processed (the fooducate app also tells if something is highly processed. Awesome, right? I know).
• I also try (notice I say try because it doesn't always happen) to eat roughly six meals a day. I do eat every 2-3 hours.
• I also have a cheat day once a week. This is important. You should not be afraid of eating. It is fun and necessary for life. If you allow yourself a cheat meal or some chocolate every now and then, it can jump start your metabolism and keep you from going crazy. 

This is all daunting. I know. To see it written out is scary to me too, but the first step is the hardest. After you take it, everything eventually becomes second nature and you just do it. It becomes a chore no more. I started out by using Cassey's 90 day meal plan. Note that I used it as a starting point and I do not follow it exactly. Because every body is different and every life is different (I will say it till I'm blue in the face). I have changed small things to fit my own life and my own tastes. :) If you would like to start with that, I have provided the link below:

Blogilates 90-day meal plan 

*you will have to download the plan. It is an excel spreadsheet and has multiple pages. I just printed it out and hung it on my fridge to refer to C:*

I honestly do not count calories. I tried it. It is exhausting and I hated every minute of it. AND I didn't see any results. I am more free and happy with myself. I see more results and it doesn't feel like work. It just feels like life. Thus why it is a lifestyle choice NOT a diet. 

I know I wrote a lot, but there still probably a million questions floating around out there. So if you have any, please do not hesitate to comment and ask me. I will answer you as soon as I can and to the best of my ability. Plus it is always great to hear from people.

Okay, now that all of that is written out I challenge you to go out and do it! If you want it, you gotta do it and remember the first step is the hardest. If you take it, you are already one step ahead of all those couch potatoes. Drink more water, eat more veggies, and change your life! 

buh bye for now!

It's Marvelous Monday!!

Hi Everyone!

It is Monday once again and I thought that since in my last post I talked a little about my journey and what led me to starting this blog, I thought I should talk about what who inspired me to start this journey in the first place.

So let's start by saying my weight has always been fluctuating. It has always been an issue and in the last few years. it has been a crazy ride. Just a few months ago in December of 2012 I tore a ligament in my hand and had to have surgery. Around this same time this woman I knew from high school started talking about changing her life around. 

While I was going through physical therapy, I watched as she bravely took the first steps towards changing her body and I saw how she actually started changing. I saw her turn her body and life around in the simple things she was doing and it made me believe I could do it too! And so when I finished physical therapy, I made the change because of the inspiration her progress gave me. And I will never be turning back.

So who is this wonderful, dare I say, marvelous woman?

Drum roll.....

*fanfare*

TA-DA! Megan! Or lovemeganalexis as many of you know her. This beautiful woman right here has been my inspiration and the reason I gave up my fat pants and fast food for leggings and lettuce. Megan is an amazingly hard worker and somehow managed to juggle everything in her life while making all these changes. Talk about inspirational. Truly inspirational. Her positivity and determination are infectious and because of them I knew that I had to try changing.

In 90 days she has accomplished exactly what she originally set out to do, but she isn't stopping now and never turning back. She is a changed woman and thus so am I. I can't possibly thank her enough for being patient with me, answering all my questions, talking with me about my progress, motivating me, and just generally giving me help along the way. She deserves a shout out and a giant THANK YOU!

I would not be where I am without her and her constant advice. Along with that I would be nowhere without her friendship. It has been my honor to know her for some of the best years of our lives and I hope we know each other for many more to come. She is one of my best friends and, for that, I am extremely grateful. That is why lovemeganalexis is my Marvelous Monday Marvel! Congrats on all your progress and I love you!

Not only is she all these wonderful things, but she is a wonderful blogger as well. :) You can find her and all her info at her blog which you can read here. 

Well, that is about all, but I do have one more great, exciting, and equally marvelous thing to say. Not only do I have to say thank you to Megan for her help, but I also have to say I'm so excited to be linking up with her for a new featurette she is calling "Foodie Friday!" We are going to be sharing our delectable and healthy recipes with all of you for your viewing and eating pleasure. So on Fridays there will be a mouth watering masterpiece posted for your enjoyment. Be there or be square.

Alright!

buh bye!

Leah ♥

Here we go....

So here I am jumping on the bandwagon. I have debated started a blog for quite awhile just because I know there are people out there who would just consider me another bitchy whiney blogger who just wants attention and will bug everybody every waking moment to come read everything I post. Well fuck. screw. poo on them (I will try to control cursing on this, but I can't guarantee. I hope you all are okay with this. I am human after all and I just happen to be one with a potty mouth most of the time). I may ask people to come read what I write and I may not. When it comes down to it, it is everybody else's choice to come read this. So do not get mad at me if you don't like what you are reading, you chose to come here.

So now that that is out in the open, if you have stayed to read on then fabulous! Welcome! My name is Leah and I am starting this blog to track my fitness journey. I have already made progress, but I still have a good amount to go and I have already enjoyed writing about it for my personal enjoyment. Well I thought it would be nice to share my thoughts with others who cared to read and it is a lot faster to type than to always be writing with pen and paper. :)

Well, like I said above, I have debating doing this for awhile and what really pushed over the edge to actually doing it started with yesterday evening. I went to a theater production at my former high school with my friend and boyfriend. I saw plenty of people there I knew from high school, but have not really seen in a long time (which is to be expected). Well many of them commented on my progress and, of course, I thanked all of them dearly, but somewhere in the back of my mind I brushed it off. This having to do with the fact that recently I have felt really stunted in my progress.

This is not to say I have stopped seeing results because I do notice that my clothes fit differently, I have more energy, I can see more definition...etc. I just have been feeling hum drum about everything. 

Time lapse to this morning.....

After my workout I started looking through the pictures in my phone and I saw these two pictures of my face:

The left is from when I first started my journey in the middle of March and the right is from about a week ago. My first reaction, "Woah...." I think I may be able to see what people are talking about and this is just my face! One person told me they didn't even recognize me when they first saw me and I thought that might be just my change in hair color, but now I actually am starting to believe it. This inspired me to take a couple more progress pictures of myself so that I could compare to others that I took from the very start and from roughly the middle of my journey thus far (Hopefully I will be able to upload those soon too). 

Looking at all my pictures just made me realize how far I have come and that my hard work has actually been worth something. And, to top it all off, these pictures inspired me to write this blog that I have been itching to start for awhile. So hopefully this will end up being worth just as much.

I apologize for such a long first post, but there is so much to say about myself and my journey that just won't fit in a short, condensed post. As Elle says, "An essay's so boring and so much does not fit....." I guess I will say more about me personally later to save your eyeballs. 

Haha

buh bye!

Leah ♥