Do you know what you are Shoveling in your mouth?

First off, I am not a nutritionist. I am not telling you what you should or should not eat. I am telling you what I eat, what I don’t eat and why. I am a 35 year old female, I am not pregnant, not breastfeeding, I don’t have diabetes, I am not allergic to any foods, etc… I have based my eating habits around the fact that I (1) want to be healthier, (2) want to lose body fat, (3) want to gain muscle.


It is truly the easiest and simplest eating plan ever. It is not a fad diet that you do for 6 weeks. It is a lifestyle change. I like to call it the caveman diet with a few modern items thrown in. There is no guessing as to what to eat and how much (for the most part). I eat real food, as close from the actual source as possible.

I do not eat meals out of a box or can. In fact I eat very little food that can be stored in a pantry. 95% of what I eat all has to be refrigerated. I do consume 1 premixed protein shake per day (low carb, low sugar)

I eat a lot of protein, either grilled, baked (with select sauces or marinades), pan fried (no breading) using EVOO or coconut oil. I eat nothing fried.

I eat all the vegetables I want. I limit my starchy veggies, in fact I typically do not eat them at all, but that is more of a taste preference than nutritional one. Potatoes are a great source of nutrition as long as you can prepare them without destroying all the nutrients, basically baking them with skin on then eating them.

I limit my carb intake to about 50-75 grams a day. I try to make sure I am getting the bulk of those carb grams from fresh vegetables and complex carb sources. I eat nothing made from white flour, enriched or not. I typically only consume bread (whole grain – check the label) maybe once a week and then it is usually just a slice. I don’t consume pasta or white rice. I am planning on adding in a ½ cup of steel cut oats in the morning and ½ brown rice before 2pm. I have really taken my weight lifting to a new level and my muscles need the energy. Again though no carb after 2pm.

I have removed about 95% of the sugar out of my diet. If you are on a low carb diet then you are also on a low to no sugar diet. Look at the ingredients in what you are eating – anything that ends in “OSE” is a sugar. You will be amazed at how much sugar you consume and do not even realize it. Sucrose (table sugar), fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (in milk) and so forth. Carbs consist of the various kinds of sugars and starches. Starches are composed of sugar molecules bonded together. Our bodies use glucose (a simple sugar molecule) as a main source of fuel. Foods that are considered “Simple carbs”(all junk food, anything with white flour, white rice, cornstarch, pasta – all made with refined starches) digest very quickly and are turned into Glucose and stored for energy use. What happens to that glucose if you do not burn it off quick enough – it gets stored as fat. The complex carbs – whole grains and vegetables (except for potatoes and yams) which have more fiber are not as easily broken down by the body. We have to expend more energy to digest these foods, therefore before our body can store complex carbs as fat, we have a fighting chance of using them up in our day to day activity. This is why I do not eat carbs after 2pm.

I have based my nutritional lifestyle change around the Atkins Diet. I did go through the 2 week carb cleanse phase. I had about 18 grams of carbs per day. This was important to me, It helped me get through the change mentally. The first 5 days were hell. I was eating a lot of crap and alot of sugar and did not really realize it. I started reading nutritional labels and learning how to decipher them. A real EYE OPENER.

Now I am not perfect and I have cravings and I don’t torture myself. I just use moderation.

I have one cheat meal per week (1 meal not 1 day’s worth of eating) I have found that the cheat meal is becoming even better. A cheat now is 2 corn tortillas with my fajitas or a PB&J sandwich.

Oh, I almost forgot – I don’t drink any type of soda – regular or diet, no fruit juices, pretty much just water (alot), unsweet tea and 1 -2 cups of coffee in the morning. I use Splenda as a sweetener but I limit that to 2 packs per day.

I will begin to post some of my meals, so you can get an idea of what I am eating. Hope this is helpful to some of you.



Stay classy!

The scale can be a tricky whore

How many of you get on a scale daily? How many of you have ended up on the floor (after seeing a # on the scale that did not match up with your workout efforts) in a crying snotty mass, kicking and writhing around as if you were trying to pass a kidney stone? I too have done this, more than I care too admit.

Let me give you some advice, throw it away, burn it, give it to your mother-in-law. Right - mine is still sitting in my bathroom and I get on it every morning. It's a bad habit but if you can decipher what that # means, you can gain control of how it affects your mental state.

First off, if your eating like a fat ass, sitting on the couch like a fat ass and doing nothing to make your ass less fat then decipher the # on your scale to mean you are a fat ass and need to change your lifestyle. Put the fork down and get yourself to a gym.

If you are working out 3-5 days per week and doing more weight training than cardio and eating a clean diet, chances are the # on the scale is moving slow or barely moving at all. There is a reason behind that.

We all know that cardio training and decreasing your caloric intake will cause your body to burn fat. Which in turn will make that scale show a lower # and make you smile.

Did you also know that if you lift moderately heavy weights (full body) about 3 times a week (along with about 3 days of cardio) the scale will most likely just sit there or quite possibly even show a gain? 

WHAT??? Doesn't that just suck the farts right out of your butt.

Here is the science behind that - MUSCLE WEIGHS MORE THAN FAT - so although you are burning fat, you are also building muscle. What you will notice is that although the # on the scale isn't dropping as fast as you think it should, you are losing more overall inches. Your are dropping sizes in clothing faster than scale is dropping its #. I mean isn't the scale just a #? I have had a # in my mind as a goal weight since "The Baby" was born. (The Baby is 9 months old today), I created a # as a goal to be at before my Mommy Makeover, but I have quickly realized that I might not get to that #. Now if I wasn't a weight lifter, if I was purely a cardio queen then I would get to that #, in fact I would already be there.

But I am not, I am a weight lifter. I like the feel of the weight in my hands, I like to feel my muscles getting stronger. I like the way my legs feel after going through a leg workout with Big Daddy. That is who I am and that's cool. I can adjust my mental state to not being so focused on a # on a scale and instead be happy how I can see my body literally re-shaping itself with the use of weights.

As of today, I have lost 40lbs since The Baby was born, I have never really counted inches at all but it must be alot cause I have dropped 4 sizes since giving birth. I am a small or medium in the Victorias Secret Pink Line - that's a big deal to me. When my milk came in- my bra size was a 40EE - I am now wearing a 34DDD but I prefer a 36DD. In July I bought a pair of Miss Me jeans in a 32, this past weekend I tried on a pair in a 28 and could have went to a 27. I opted to get some bad ass UGG booties instead but the key here is that I could have bought jeans in a 27 and wear them.

So that is how I deal with THE TRICKY WHORE, otherwise known as a scale. In fact I like to think I am the one that is tricky, not the scale.

Sixteen? Just rip my heart out...

Seriously been dreading this week all year. My firstborn, my baby, my first true love turned 16 on Wednesday. I have still not quite recovered.

TIME.GOES.BY.SO.FAST.  don't waste a single minute with your children. The first years of having a child are so consumed with providing the basic necessities, Shelter, Food, Clothing, Air (??) - whatever it takes to just keep them alive. Every time one of my kids makes it to Kindergarten, I am just so happy that I have managed to keep them alive and in relatively good shape. This is especially true with boys, especially true with my oldest boy. The one that turned 16 yesterday. I seriously feared for his life and still do.

He is my dare devil. Fearless. Pain doesn't seem to stop him. He has broken a leg and an arm. Sprained several things, bitten by a feral cat and several other injuries that make my AFLAC policy very worth it.

He has calmed down this year ( a little), loves playing the electric guitar, wears really cool boots, is a total comic and has a heart the size of Texas. He loves his mommy and thinks his baby brother is the greatest.

He is my first boy, first child, first labor, first birth. He made me a mommy at the mere age of 19 and because of that we both learned a whole lot that from each other. He gave me my first stretch marks and I don't hold that against him. He has put up with me being an over-protective first time mom, I have dealt with him acting like a member of the jack ass show.

He loves his grandma (my mom) more than anything. He has never had to wear hand me down clothing and because of that he is quite the Clothes Diva. He was 8 when his father and I divorced and stepped up to become the man of the house. He then graciously accepted a new man of the house when Jason and I married.

He is My Boy, My Gift and my teacher. He has made me a better person and a better mother.

random cause its tuesday

random thoughts for the day

i've decided that i will not use caps today - it's my way of being rebellious

i love buckle and victorias secret but in the last 2 months i have been assisted by salespeople that have those baby arms - you know those ones that just never finished growing in utero - stops right about the elbow and has finger like nubs hanging off. i'm not being a hater but it just scares me a bit.

my son will be 16 tomorrow and i can't quite get a grasp on that. i looked at him this morning and nearly cried. this has been by far the hardest birthday ever.

my sister lives 25 minutes away from me and we see each other every 2 months - i don't get that - there is no problem between us, just life

my dad has met my almost 16 year old one time and does not know any of the rest of my children - i don't understand that either

i fell on our stairs this past weekend, broke my pinky toe and gave myself whiplash - feel.really.old.



join the random though tuesday here >>> The Unmom

Unappreciated time and I need a slap in the face

I have spent all day in a really crappy mood. Everyone and everything has pissed me off. I seriously considered stabbing certain people today. In fact the entire week has totally sucked ass. Or at least I had convinced myself of this. It wasn't until I sat down with Chayden in the rocking chair, that I had an epiphany (if you will). I totally let silly things ruin my day and almost my entire week. I let precious minutes fly right out the window, unappreciated by me. My oldest son will be 16 in 6 days and I let today slip by without really connecting with him. I was too busy feeling angry and irritated at everyone and I lost an entire day in the lives of my children.

Shame.On.Me.

I also picked several unnecessary fights with Big Daddy, probably cause I know he will love me no matter how crazy I can be sometimes. Wasted those minutes fighting with him, when we could have been making out.

I realized that you inevitably have control over your day, your week, your moments. Precious moments that you can't get back. If not guarded, anger can steal those moments away in the blink of an eye.

So I told myself to get the hell over it and move on. It is something I really need to work on and I will as soon as I am done making up with Big Daddy...