App Suggestion

I wanted to share this app with you. I love it! My husband and I are going to do the 21 Day Vegan Kickstart challenge within the next few days. Just want to get a plan together first and get all the ingredients, etc. This app will make this challenge so much easier for us. It gives you a whole week worth of meal plans.
They say if you stick to something for 21 days it will then become a habit. That's what we are hoping will happen!! We are so ready!!!
I have an iPhone so idk what all different phones it's available on, but the app is awesome...go download it! ASAP!

Cilantro, Black Bean and Corn Salsa

I make this corn salsa to put into our quesadillas. It's delish!! But, it makes a LOT. So either cut the recipe in half or just store some in the refrigerator for other things, maybe in a tortilla roll up?

First, my quesadillas consist of this corn salsa, whole wheat tortillas, vegan shredded soy cheese and spinach leaves.

Ingredients:

1-(15oz) can yellow corn, drained
1-(15oz) can white corn, drained
2-(15oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1-(14.5oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
1-bunch finely chopped cilantro
5-green onions, finely sliced
1-small red onion, finely chopped
1-red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions:
EASY...Mix all ingredients in a large bowl!! Enjoy!!!!!

(Pic is of corn salsa and uncooked quesadilla)

Vegan Pecan-crusted French Toast

4 stars (out of 5 stars) 

This recipe was found in 'Skinny Bitch in the Kitch'

Ingredients:
1.5 cups soy or rice milk
3 tablespoons corn starch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons chickpea flour or brown rice flour(we used whole wheat flour)
1 cup finely chopped pecans
2 tablespoons refined refined coconut oil, or more as needed for cooking
6 to 8 slices vegan whole wheat or whole wheat raisin bread
Maple syrup, for serving

Instructions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the soy or rice milk, corn starch and cinnamon. Whisk in the chickpea or brown rice flour.
Transfer the mixture to a shallow bowl. Place the pecans in another shallow bowl.
In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the coconut oil. One slice at a time, dip the bread in the milk mixture, turning to soak both sides. Dip one side in the pecans, pressing to coat. Arrange the bread in the skillet, pecan side down. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, until the pecans are well browned. Carefully turn the bread and continue cooking until the second side is browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately with maple syrup.

Great Vegetarian/Vegan Recipe Books

Here are the 3 recipe books that my husband and I have been using so far. They are really great! Please take a look at them! Possibly at Half Price or a eBook so it'll be cheap in price.

1. Fast and Easy by Editors of Vegetarian Times

2. Skinny Bitch in the Kitch by Rory Freedman and Barnouin

3. The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone

Starting 2014 Right!!!

I know I haven't posted in a few months. I am so sorry! Honestly I fell off the wagon when it came to my weight loss. Not very inspiring to people I know..I feel bad. But hey, at least I'm owning up to my mistake and getting back on the horse!
I have been vegetarian for 6 months now!!!! I am so excited bout that, can't wait to hit the one year mark. My husband had also gone vegetarian about 3 months ago.
Just recently we had decided to get things back on track. We have been going through our house and re organizing things and getting rid of things to make things easier for us.
My husband has been working out DAILY to P90X, which is a huge commitment for him so I am so proud of him! I need to step up my game lol.
We have been going through recipe books together and putting together meal plans for us and the kids. Just tonight we went to Trader Joe's and got ingredients for meals for the next few days. I will be posting the recipes and pictures of these meals as they are made. So exciting!!
So if you're ready to get your New Year off to a great start, please visit my blog every few days and see what new recipes and products you can try!!! :)

Do You Tan?

My gym(Planet Fitness) offers free tanning if you have the Black Card Membership..which is only $20/month. I had never been tanning in my life but I thought I would start. I've been only 3 times now...for only 5 minutes each. So far I see no change in my color lol!! But I'm assuming it'll take awhile and probably more time in the bed. I'm working on it. Honestly I am still very tense the whole time being in the beds. Sounds stupid I know but I have some fears of tanning. That's why it took me so darn long to ever do it!!

Fears
1. Claustrophobia..I know not really a fear but yea..it's tight in there!
2. A light bulb will burst and cut me! LOL!
3. Someone will walk in on me..even though the door is locked.
4. I will BURN TO DEATH like the chicks in Final Destination 3.


Ok Ok..they're strange fears..but yeah. I'm facing these fears and just doing it!!!!! I want to be tan darn it!!! And I hate being out in the hot sun. So...yeah.

Ok, on to working out. I have been working out pretty much every day. Last 2 days(yesterday and today) I didn't work out but I will be right back at it. Actually I may go to the gym tonight after work. It'll be SUPER late..but better late than not at all. Just need to remember to take my gym clothes and put them in the car. Hmm..I think I will do that right after this post.

I weighed in on Sunday and it was 236.4. I have lost a couple lbs while on the cleanse. Which is over btw. :)

Sunday Weigh In

Ok, I finally remembered to weigh in! LOL! But, unfortunately I forgot until mid day. Usually I weigh myself first thing in the morning. So I am still at 239...boooo!!! It's only day 2 of the Cleanse though, so I have lots of faith that the cleanse will jump start the weight loss for me.

Today I got a trial pack from a friend for ACE. It's a week trial. We will see how those effect me as well. Always up to trying something new!! You never know what works best for you until you give it a try. So, I'm excited to see.

I had a wonderful workout with my best friend Nicole this morning! I was so glad to see her really enjoying working out!! She has committed to doing a workout with me 3 days a week. Rather it's in the gym or doing something active. I'm really proud of her!

Tomorrow morning I have a morning workout planned with my Aunt Bev...super excited about that as well!

Having a partner for the gym makes it SO much more fun!!! Anyone else want to join just let me know! We can either go to the gym, do something active somewhere, or you can join Nicole and I when we do something outside of the gym.

Oh, let's go on a hike!!!!! ;)

Super Excited!

Today has been a GREAT day!! So excited because I will be taking my boys to the movies in a few minutes. I haven't had good quality time with them (outside of the house) in quite awhile!!

Lately I've been lazy and just eating cereal for breakfast, not a very good decision. At least it wasn't a very sugary cereal lol, but still. And yes I use Almond Milk, not actual milk. But last night I decided to quit being lazy and made a HUGE pot of Steel Cut Oats and put them into individual tubber ware bowls. So I have breakfast (and a healthy one at that) for this whole week!!!
Hey, that's a step people!! One step at a time!!

Also, today I ordered a Herbal Cleanse from AdvoCare for my husband and I! We will start that tomorrow! YAY! Been really wanting to do another cleanse for a long time now. This will be so good for us, and will help jump start my weight loss. I've been so over due.

A friend of mine on FaceBook loves and uses AdvoCare products but also uses a product called Ace. It's still new to me but she's had amazing results with it. So I will be getting a week trial pack from her on Sunday or Monday. Don't get me wrong people, I LOVE my AdvoCare...I'm just always willing to try something new. As long as it's not a lot of chemicals. Hey, if I wasn't willing to try something new, I would've never found AdvoCare!! :) In case you decide to try a trial pack of Ace, you can contact her on FB. Her name is Alex Davies.
If you want to try AdvoCare, you know you can just contact me! ;)

My Aunt Beverly committed to come with me to the gym both Monday and Tuesday morning..so I'm super excited about that!! I love having a workout partner! YAY!

Today I will be cooking spaghetti and meat balls for the family...with mock meat! So let's see if they will even notice a difference. I will let everyone know tomorrow.

Well, that's all I got for y'all today! I will weigh in Sunday!

So Out Of Shape...

So yeah...today was the first time I worked out in a couple of months. So ashamed to admit that too. So many people have been messaging me saying I'm such an inspiration and yet I haven't deserved that.
People are always asking me for advice. Honestly my best piece of advice I can ever give is "Don't EVER quit!!"
Seriously! I learned that first handed. Once you quit for awhile it is SO hard to get back on track. Luckily I've been okay with my eating so I haven't gained too much weight back. But my workouts have been non existent.
Today I made the decision I will start up again. I went to a park near my house that has a nice walking trail early this morning and walked a few laps and even jogged a few, then I used the park equipment to do some stairs and other various exercises(it was early so no kids there yet thankfully lol). I wasn't out there for maybe 45 minutes total and I thought I was going to DIE! It was SOOOOO hot! Well, I do live in Texas so yeah lol.
But that right there showed me how out of shape I really was!! Before I stopped my workouts I would walk 8 miles easily!! UGH!! So so so ashamed of myself.
But at least I'm getting back to it!!! That's the best you can do. It sucks starting over but it's so worth it. If you don't quit to begin with you'll never have to start over lol!!

Keep me accountable people!!! :)

Raw Burrito

Today I made a Raw Burrito! I got the recipe off of RawKristina's YouTube channel. (I put the video on my last post) Surprisingly it wasn't as good as I was hoping it'd be, but it was still pretty darn good!

Most importantly, I tried something new. My family tried something new. My husband was actually excited because he got to help me in the kitchen. Which he rarely gets to do. We love trying new things together so that was a plus lol!

Here is a picture of the burritos! I know to make it where I'll LOVE it, I'll probably try it again but with a few different ingredients. There was too much bell pepper for us. The sauce has bell peppers in it and you add more peppers on the burrito so I think that was my main problem. Next time instead of bell peppers on the burrito I will try onions and jalapeno peppers. That sounds YUM! So yeah, it's always a process and you'll have to have trials. :)

FullyRaw Recipes-Burrito

I'm going to try this recipe tomorrow! Super excited! I'll let yall know how it goes :)

Missed My Weigh In & Other Issues

Everyone, I am SO sorry I totally forgot to weigh in Sunday. I just realized that! I promise I will weigh in this Sunday. I already have it programmed into my phone.

On another note, I know I haven't posted much about workouts or losing weight. But this blog is about my healthy lifestyle in all ways. What I'm eating, my work outs, my weight, my support system, product reviews, etc. It's not just about one particular topic. Just my lifestyle when trying to be healthy. I hope you all understand that and are fine with that.

:)

First Vegan Restaurant Experience

So, lately I've been doing very good with going vegan. I will admit I have had milk a couple of times with my cereal, but in all other ways I have substituted my milk and meat with other ingredients. Like I said...it's a process.
Marc had agreed to go vegetarian at least until today. Now he is even thinking of going Raw Vegan!!! Why did he change his mind so quickly?
First, when I even mentioned Raw Vegan(I did that because he asked what all types of vegans were there) he said HECK NO. He had this vision that it meant eating only fruits and veggies how they come. As in getting a carrot and just munching on it like it is. He didn't understand you can actually make meals while being a Raw Vegan. No, you don't cook the food, you just know how to compare them.
I convinced him to go with me today to try a Raw Vegan restaurant in Dallas, Tx. He was a little nervous at first but when we got into the little restaurant, diner is probably more appropriate, he noticed other people's plates and how full the plates were. Most of all, how good the food looked!!

We ordered our food and ate half of each others, that way we could try more than one thing. We both LOVED it! It's not about 7 hours later and he says he still isn't hungry. Which, if you knew my husband well, is SHOCKING! LOL! Of course he's going to eat dinner anyways because it's unhealthy to go without eating. But he never gets full! We would go to AppleBee's and he'd get a full plate of ribs along with sides and still be ready for dessert..and 2 hours later..hungry again! So this was a new experience for him all around. He was very excited about the food. He also loved the atmosphere at the place.
Let me tell you more about where we went and what we ate.

The place is called Be Raw Fresh Food and Juice. http://www.berawfoodandjuice.com/
6005 Berkshire Lane
Dallas, TX 75225

I ordered the Veggie Sandwich:

Creamy cashew cheese with romaine lettuce, cucumber, avocado(I 86'd that), beef steak tomato, zucchini, olives, red onion rings, and sprouts.

He ordered the Taco Salad:

Organic romaine lettuce with tomato, cucumber, red onions, guacamole(86'd that), capers, olives, taco meat(of course not actual animal meat), topped with pico de gallo and spicy salsa. 

This was both of our favorite!!

Along with my meal I also ordered and elixir. Chocolate Bliss! O.M.G....!!!! So freaking good!!! It was so satisfying! 

Chocolate Bliss Elixir:

Raw Cacao, agave nectar and coconut butter

Doesn't that just look dreamy?! 

Marc also ordered a Cookies n' Cream Cheesecake, I unfortunately didn't get the ingredients or a picture of this. But I do know that it was made with dates and coconut oil LOL that's all I can remember her telling us. But I tasted it and it was delish!!

So ladies..or gents..if you are wanting to pursue any new eating habits and your spouse or partner are nervous about it, take them here! Show them that it's not going to make food boring for them. They will still love food!!!! 

I am SUPER excited that Marc is on board with me! Heck, I think he's more on board! He's talking more about going Raw Vegan when I am still trying to become just Vegan LOL! It's definitely a hard process..very hard, but we both know in the long run it'll be SO worth it!!! 

Why I Chose Vegan

I recently have decided I will be going Vegan. Now, don't get me wrong, I do think it'll be a process for me. Not an over night thing. Giving up everything you were raised to think was right is very hard and it takes time. I can say that giving up meat will be very easy for me. If you know me, you know that meat was never really my thing anyways, especially red meat. UGH! But giving up dairy products and honey will be VERY hard!!! So I guess for the next few weeks I'll be more known as a Vegetarian until I can get the dairy and honey thing under control lol!

People are asking me...WHY?!

As I've mentioned in a recent post I've been reading the book Skinny Bitch. It has a couple of chapters where it goes over what goes on in slaughter houses and what all sorts of chemicals and pesticides are put on the animals. It even has quotes from interviews with workers at slaughter houses and those were very gruesome and hard to read. In the book it shows you a website where you can get your Vegetarian/Vegan Starter Kit. I went to the website and also found a video. This video shows some footage from slaughter houses, and that put it into more of a reality for me. Reading it is one thing, seeing it is another.

Ok, my husband said to me..."So if all slaughterhouses were ran correctly would you still want to give up meat?"

My answer is YES! In the book it also goes over what meat and dairy does to our bodies!! How unhealthy these products actually are to us, even though we were raised to believe they're good for us. When it showed me everything we're actually putting into our bodies, including my kids bodies, I was appalled!! So it's not just how the slaughterhouses are ran, it's also about our health!

I want to eventually get my husband to change his eating habits but I know it'll be more of a challenge for him. He did agree that he will eat all the Vegetarian/Vegan meals I make in the house, but he can't promise he won't eat meat when we don't eat at home. That was good enough for me. I'm not asking him to change, I just want him educated. So last night I read him the chapters in the book and had him watch the video. I will say he was appalled as well and sickened to his stomach. But he didn't tell me what he wants to do. So we will see!
My children will be less of a challenge since I'm the one that does grocery shopping and cooks lol. They will just have to deal with it! :) At least until they're old enough to make their own decision.

Again, this will take me time and will be a process. It's going to be very hard. I will need support and tips if there are others Vegans out there reading this! I must say I am very excited!! I know this will do great things for my health! :)

The website I went to is www.GoVeg.com

Skinny Bitch

Yes, I know the title has a curse word! But, that's the title of the book I'm currently reading! If you're interesting in finding out where our food comes from I would HIGHLY recommend it!! I have been learning SO much from it and I'm only about 3 chapters in. So far I have read how meat is made, how the animals are treated, what chemicals are in our foods, what chemicals have been banned by America yet we eat them inside imported foods, etc. It really has brought a lot of thought into what I eat. Actually, I'm even considering going vegan!! I just want to get my husband to do it with me otherwise it'll be really tough. But I think it's necessary. Hearing what these foods are doing to our bodies really scared me. I'm worried about my children's health and ours as well of course, but mainly theirs.

Again, I'd highly recommend this book. I love how the author is very blunt about things, so expect lots more curse words lol!

They also have a whole line of different books for different things. Like what to eat while pregnant, a cook book, and also a book for men called Skinny Bastard!! LOL!

Here's the link to the website.

http://www.skinnybitch.net/

Product Review

Hey guys sorry it's been a few days but I went to Atlanta with my company for this past weekend. Spend yesterday trying to get caught up on things around the house. But today I wanted to do a review!!!

This product is probably one of my favorite! It (the particular flavor in the pic below) has literally 4 ingredients. Very good for you. I use these all the time.
What is it?

Go Go Squeez!! Flavor Apple Cinnamon.
It's applesauce on the go!! I love it and my kids really love it!!
Ingredients:
Apple
Apple Concentrate
Apple Juice Concentrate
Cinnamon

That's it!!

They have all sorts of flavors as well. They're super easy to throw in your purse, gym bag, or diaper bag and take on the go. It's even an easy snack for the kids to eat in the car. My 2 year old never makes a mess with it.
http://www.gogosqueez.com/

Highly Recommend!!!!!!!

Can't Find Cute Plus Size Clothes?

First, let me mention that this morning I got my butt up at 6am and went to the gym..yay me! Now, I need to make sure to keep this schedule! Tomorrow I leave for Atlanta, so I may be getting up early to go for a jog around Atlanta(not sure if my hotel has a fitness room). If anyone near me wants to go workout with me let me know, I can bring a guest for free.

Second, let's get to the purpose of this post. Clothes...yes I'm writing about clothes. What does clothes have to do with weight loss? It has EVERYTHING to do with weight loss!! I don't know about you but bigger girls like me have a hard time finding clothes that actually look good on us!

I'm pretty sure I will always be in the plus size section no matter how much weight I lose, thanks to my breasts. I've tried finding cute clothes in all sorts of different stores but it's very hard! Walmart has a plus size section but majority of the clothing looks like it's made for older women. Target has a few cute items, not much. Heck their maternity section is WAY cuter than the plus size.

These past couple of weeks I've been looking around stores so I could shop for my trip to Atlanta and I have found a few GREAT stores! I will list them for you and their price range starting with my favorite go-to store!

1. Rainbow $$
2. Dots $$
3. Chicholics
4. Citi Trends $
5. Forever 21 Plus $$
6. Torrid $$$


Those are my top 6. Yes, you may have to pay a little more money for the items but remember all these stores do have a CLEARANCE section!!! ;) That's where I always stop first.

If you know any other stores that have great plus size clothing please leave a comment!

Here's a cute outfit that I bought at Rainbow last week! The black button up shirt was my favorite since I've never been able to wear one. It'd either be too tight around the breasts or way too big everywhere else. This one fits perfectly..and of course I love my color pop pants! Got a few different pairs in different colors!! For some reason the pants look baby blue, but they are actually teal. :)

Gaining Weight

Yeah, today is Sunday, weigh in day. Unfortunately I've gained a pound. I'm at 237.4. I know that sometimes your weight fluctuates so I'm not horribly worried about it, but it's making me realized I need to step up my game!!! I'm going to watch my eating more and start working out more often.

Today I didn't do too well with my eating. Honestly Sunday's are usually my cheat days. I don't eat terrible but I won't eat as well as usual. Why Sunday? Because it's the one day of the week that my husband is off work and we go out shopping or do something fun with the whole family. So it's kind of hard to eat right when we're not home all day. I need to learn how to make easy on the go healthy snacks! If you have tips let me know please!!!

I just went to Sprouts and bought more snack bars! I love trying all sorts of different bars. Again, I go for the ones with 5 or less ingredients(and ingredients that I can pronounce!).

Ok, well that's all for today. Tomorrow I will probably have another product review for ya'll!

If you've been having any problems or questions that you want some advice or tips on, please don't hesitate to ask!! :)

Product Review

KREMA Natural Peanut Butter
I buy mine at Kroger.


Who doesn't love peanut butter?! I know I LOVE it! It's my best friend! ;)

I eat peanut butter daily. Seriously..daily! A few ways I eat it is I dip my apples in it, on a sandwich, on rice cakes, in my protein bars, and in my smoothies. There's probably a few other ways that I can't think of at the moment.

I wanted to show you a great brand of peanut butter. It's not my absolute favorite in flavor(by itself), but if you mix it with RAW honey it's super good. I always have this in my fridge. Why do I love it? Because of how natural it is! If you notice in the pictures it has only ONE ingredient! Yes you read that correct...ONE!!!!! Now that's the way you should be eating peanut butter!

I hope after this post you go to your pantry and look at the ingredients in your peanut butter. The one I used to use I finally realized had so much sugar in it!!! And it had like 10 ingredients! I was not happy, and felt embarrassed that I didn't think to look at that before. I mean, I always thought peanut butter was peanut butter. But no, go check!

That's how I look at things, the LESS ingredients the BETTER!

 

HELLO!

I'm so excited to start this new blog for everyone. Here I will be writing about all the different obstacles I've had to face while trying to lose weight. All the ups and even all the downs. I won't be shy. I will even tell you when I am thinking of giving up(those times do come).

Every Sunday I will "weigh in" and share those results. Every first of the month I do weigh in AND measurements and I will share those as well.

I will also be sharing all the products I have tried, if I liked them or not, if they worked or not. They will come with pictures so you will know what to look for if/when you decide to buy them.

I'll post new exercises that I try, and of course I liked them or not, if they were easy or hard to do, even how sore I was the next day LOL!

I want people to know exactly what I go through during my process. This is really hard. It's not an easy thing to do. And there have been times where I almost gave up. Just recently I went almost 3 months with no gym time and not eating my best. I actually have gained 10lbs!! Very embarrassing, but this week I rededicated myself and have gotten back on track.

I want people to comment, share your blogs, share your thoughts, ideas, tips, everything! Let's keep each other motivated!!

You will find a LOT of my pictures about weight loss and being healthy on my instagram. User name: bunca088

Let me tell you where I started.

April 2012 I was at 278lbs, I had high blood pressure, and never had energy to play with my two boys. I was considered morbidly obese and was depressed. It was a very hard time. My husband kept trying to push me into starting getting healthy for myself. No he didn't ever call me fat, he was actually fine with my weight. He just got tired of seeing me cry myself to sleep at night!! Which I don't blame him for. And of course he was scared for my health.
But no matter how many times he tried talking to me it never worked. I eventually realized this was something I had to decide on my own and do this for myself!
I then got a membership with Curves and started a 10 Day Cleanse(AdvoCare). Within that first 10 days I lost 5lbs and felt more energized. The exercising came easier and easier but the eating was the hardest part for me. To this day it's the hardest part(even though it's gotten a LOT easier). The best part was within 2 months my blood pressure was back to normal without the use of any prescription drugs!!

I got down to 226.8(that was this past March), but since I stopped working hard this past few months I am now back to 236.9.

I want you to be there with me during my journey!! Every day I get asked many questions from people wanting tips and help. I thought this blog may help!! :)

I hope everyone enjoys!

Here is my latest "progress pic".