What are the next big goals you want to tackle?


This week’s blogging carnival is sponsored by Flatout Bread. Very interested that the questions was about goals, because I have been working on trying to see what I want to accomplish. And of course I want to lose weight, but the scale it is not everything, and sometimes the numbers will be up for things like water retention even if my clothes continue to feel lose. So I think my goals are more about getting in better shape so I can keep up with my son and be able to use the clothes I have on the closet with the hope I will be able to use again.

So I have outlined an exercise plan and a healthy eating plan, not only for me, but for the family. We (the family) have made a commitment about changing our life style. We have already started with bike rides, wii active games and also changing our eating habits.

I am very excited about this week Flatout Bread sponsoring this week post and to hear they will be available at Wal-Mart starting on August 8th. We love pizza at this house, and making pizza with Flatout Bread is easy and you can choose the toppings making a pizza low in calories and as healthy as you want it with veggies and low fat cheese.

As for my progress, I am down ½ pound. My clothes fit me better and I was even able to squeeze myself in a size 10 pair of jeans. My goals for the rest of the week, are sticking to the exercise plan. I have very bad back pain; I am planning on not allowing myself to use it as an excuse. I have to try to fix my sleep habits so the pain goes away and I can continue with my routine.

I am enjoying the recipes the ladies share and I am certainly using them at home. They are vey yummy and easy to make. So thank you for them and please keep sharing.

 

This post is sponsored by Flatout Bread and I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway hosted by Mamavation

What a great week.

I was asked by @bookieboo to join #mamavation! That is something I wanted to do for a while, but I was afraid. Now looking back, I do not even know why I was afraid, because the only thing I have to lose are pounds!!!

The first week was wonderful. I got so much support from all the wonderful #mamavation ladies. I think that this post is about appreciation and letting everyone know that your stories, your success and your warm hearts help others. I am so happy I joined, not only because I am seeing results (I will talk about that later) but because I found a group of wonderful people that I can learn from and rely on if I need.

I am learning a lot from the group. Not only about nutrition and fitness, which of course it is very important, but I am learning about loyalty as support. I consider myself a very good friend but I never thought you could be “friend” with someone you do not even know. And even though I am pretty new to the group I feel the sincere support.

I enjoy reading the post, related or not to #mamavation. I think the pictures of your familes are cute and the comments and clever and funny.  That is what support is all about. Not only about telling me to go exercise, but to be there when I have something to share.

As for the #mamavation team itself, I am so glad for the recipes, the workouts and posts of motivation.

My results this week are great, at least for me. Even though I had several events that were linked to meals and drinks, I was able to lose weight. I am down almost 4 pounds. YEAH…..

I did not take my measurements, so I will do that tomorrow after buying a measurement tape and will start keeping track of them as well. I am being really active. Either elliptical, the @gruntstyle abs workout, zumba or riding the bike. And I have been enjoying them, how cool is that?

I am looking forward to see the rest of the thing I can accomplish and I want to thank everyone for their support.

In celebration of 201 years of Colombian Independence I decided to make some empanadas.

Colombian empanadas are really good, they are not a healthy, but once we can have a good treat. They are great as appetizers or snacks for parties. You can eat them alone or use Aji  (sauce).

Ingredients (for 25 empanadas)

a)      Masa (Dough)

2 cups of Maseca (precooked yellow cornmeal)

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cilantro

2 teaspoons corn starch

1 ¼ cups water

b)      Filling

1 tablespoon oil

½ cup chopped onions

½ lb grounded beef

½ cup diced tomato

1 cup diced potato

¼ teaspoon cilantro

1 teaspoon garlic paste

1 boiled and cut egg

1 chicken or vegetable bouillon tablet

c)       Aji (sauce) for serving

2 tablespoons of chopped red peppers

2 tablespoons chopped onions

2 tablespoons cilantro

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons white vinegar

¼ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons water

d)      Vegetable oil for frying

Directions to prepare the dough:

1. Place the Maseca in a large bowl. Add corn starch, cilantro and salt and stir to mix well. Add the water and mix to form dough. Pat the dough into a ball and knead for 2 minutes or until smooth. Cover with plastic and set aside for 20 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, to make the filling, cook all the ingredients together in a big skillet combining everything really good. Set aside.

3. Break small portions of the dough, about 1 ½ tablespoons each one, and form each portion into a ball by rolling between the palms of your hands.

4. Place the balls of dough between two pieces of plastic and roll each out very thinly to form a circle. Remove the top plastic and place 1 tablespoon of the filling in the center of each.

5. Then using the plastic underneath, fold the dough over to enclose the filling, forming a half circle. Tightly seal the edges by using a cup

6. Fill a large pot with vegetable oil and heat over medium heat to 360° F.

7. Carefully place 3 or 4 empanadas at the time in the heated oil and fry for about 2 minutes until golden on all sides.

Transfer the empanadas to a plate lined with paper towels. Serve with Aji

Happy 201 years of Colombian Independence.... VIVA COLOMBIA!!!

So I decided to treat myself to a day of beauty. If I am going to start a change in my life, I want to feel as good and confident as I can. I want to like what I see on the mirror. I want to feel positive and happy.

I went for a hair cut first. I booked the deep conditioning treatment with massage, hair cut and styling package that I found at Groupon. The deep conditioning and massage was great. So relaxing and very good for the hair.

I am trying to let my hair grow, so I only trimmed it and gave some shape to the layers, however I wanted something a little different so I got side bangs.

After I left the hair care salon, I saw a nail spa. And since I was due to a pedicure I went in. I treated myself to the deluxe pedicure with sea salt massage and warm towels. While seating in the massage chair, I started thinking about my future plans and how to achieve my goals. I used my iphone memo pad to create a strategic plan. Yeah, I guess that side of me does not stay at work, but it is always with me.

In my plan I included the long and short term goals, the tools I am going to need and the brainstorming ideas. It is not complete, so I cannot share it right now, but I should have it completed soon and I will post it, because it might help someone to stay organized and achieve their goals too.

As for my eating habits, well, I avoided buying the bread and at bakery next to the nail salon and I did not have diet soda. I think that it is success for the day. I eat my normal meals. For my activity I rode my bike and did the abdominal crusher from @gruntstyle.

My son is coming home tomorrow and it is the celebration of Colombia Independence so I think I am going to be on the  elliptical and ride my bike, because I might eat a little bit more. I will be making a very delicious snack from Colombia (Empanadas) but it is not a healthy one. I will only have 2 of them, to stay on track with the calorie intake.

Jazzercise

I went to a Jazzercise class. It was fun and it was really a good workout.

If you have never tried before I can tell you that Jazzercise is a combination of dance, aerobic movements and some type of kickboxing. The class is designed to fit people of all fitness levels and it is very fun.

Even if you have no rhythm, you can follow the class and have fun.

Now, I am Latin, and I have done zumba before, so I will stick with it, but to give a variation to the routine I will take this class once again once in a while.

I think the most important thing is that I had fun and it did not feel like a workout.

Starting tomorrow, I will also do some abs and some other type of cardio besides zumba to complement the workout.

Mamavation post

I have struggled with weight all my life. I have been an emotional eater since I was a little girl. I have lost the weight with diets and then gained back, and gained even more.

After my pregnancy, my son was sick, things were stressful at home and I gained a lot of weight. That has created a lot of issues with my husband and I lose weight and then I gain it back, and the cycle continues.

Things have been rough lately, so I gained the weight back. I have been following Leah (Mamavation creator) for a while and some of the girls that are in the sistahood. I did not have a blog, and I felt intimidated about creating one. English is not my fist language and I do not always feel comfortable writing on it. I knew I need my bog in English if I wanted to apply for the sistahood but I was terrified.

I am also terrified about sharing my weight. Since it has been such a struggle since I was a little one, I have always wanted it to be a private issue. But I guess that you need the support and maybe that being scared and trying to hide have contributed to my weight gain.

So here I am. Open with my weight, my struggles and pretty much my life. I know the journey is not going to be easy. I do not like to exercise and I am really afraid of all the routines I will be doing, but I have seen all the ladies achieve goals with Mamavation, so here I am.

I am ready yes. I am scared YES, but most of all I am in changing mode. Changing my life style. I have done diets before but if I have learned something from the Mamavation ladies is that is not about a diet, is about changing your life style. Committing to be active and eat healthier.

I want to join the sistahood because I need the advice and support of all the ladies but also because I might be able to give someone a boost to keep try next to me.

I will not be able to join tonight show. I am going to a Jazzercise class. Yes, I do not like to exercise, so I am making it fun. But I have already made public on twitter my desire of join the sistahood, I will be twitting, and next Monday I will be there on the show and with hopes that @bookieboo asks me to join.

I am also thinking that I want to apply for the next campaign, but for now I just want for all you ladies to take me on and start making new friends and find the support that I need and also maybe inspire some other people too.

Weekend was for cleaning, relaxing and more cleaning.

Now, I am very happy because the house looks great. My allergies are bad because I moved all the furniture and got dust out from places I did not even know existed on my house.

The smell of the cleaning products, even though they are all natural and “organic” does not help either. I can feel them in my lungs and I have been wheezing a little bit. With inhaler in hand I continue with my cleaning plans, and my goal to have the house as new, so when the boys return from their summer vacation they will come to a really clean house.

I want to take pictures, because as soon as those boys get here I know that the mess is going to start, but at least it is going to be easier to clean, now that I have everything very organized and classified.

I also donated a bunch of things and threw away others. I am pretty sure they are not going to notice, and I felt I needed to make room for all the things they will be brining from their trip…

I am feeling kind of sick today, but I have planned to attend my first Jazzercise class.

I have plan healthy meals for today. Breakfast cereal with strawberries, and some fish for lunch. I will have a protein shake with fruit for dinner and some fruit and yogurt for snacks. I am still having some diet sodas, but I got yesterday sparkling water on an attempt to substitute the soda for them.

Yesterday was hard. My first day of the new healthy eating plan. There is so many temptations out there.

I am home by myself, my son and husband are out of town, so cooking for one is not that easy. It seems easier just to get some junk food. Had a couple of appointments and I was out during lunch time. There we no healthy restaurant around, mostly just fast food restaurants.

I decided to eat a soup and sandwich at Subway. It seemed the healthier and I stayed away from Ranch and fatty staff. I did have a diet soda, because I think that if I try hard to achieve both things at once I would be setting me up for failure.

Then dinner. I decided to have a salad at home. I added some chicken for protein and I had water.

I had 9,000 steps on the pedometer. Since I had a Dr appointment and was not feeling too well, I did not did Zumba, but I stayed under my 1200 calories for the day, so hopefully that would be enough.

Today, it is going to be Cereal for breakfast, banana for midmorning snack, fish and broccoli for lunch. I am going out with some friends in the afternoon and that would be hard, because they want to go ice cream, so I will order the low fat yogurt, only one scoop. Dinner is going to be chicken with some pasta salad and milk. As for exercise I am riding my bike.

Life style change

So I have been in the yo-yo dieting wagon for a while. I lose weight, I gain weight and even gain more than I lost. You might know what I am talking about.

I want to put this here on the blog, to make myself accountable now. I want to make a life style change and once for all loss the weight and keep it down.

I see some of the other bloggers losing weight, and I read about their struggles, so I guess I feel inspired by them to do the changes on nutrition and also exercise.

My main problem is that I am an emotional eater. I eat because I am sad and anxious and lately things have been difficult around here. I eat because it gives me comfort, but then I feel bad. The other problem is that I do not like to exercise. I however like to dance so I am doing zumba.

I am starting, again, my journey of losing weight at 180 lbs. I am expecting to lose 2 lbs per week.

Let’s hope that now that I am making my goals public I can stick to them.

I need all the support I can get and knowing that some might be checking my progress would probably make me stick to the diet and exercise program.

Wish me good luck….