True and The Rainbow Kingdom is Back for Summer!

We were provided with some party supplies to create our own Screening Party. 

School is out for Summer here in North Texas so it leaves this stay-at-home mom with lots of planning to do. This is the first time I am experiencing a child being out of school for over two months. My daughter's routine was so structured when she was at school so it's a big change for her. I do want to make her summer routine more relaxed but I don't want it to be so relaxed that she goes through the Summer Slide. 


We are have our learning time scheduled with work to get her prepared for 1st grade, chapter books to read over the summer and fun science experiments. For activities we are lucky to get to go to our community pool whenever we want, movies, parks and bike riding. 


Finding quality kid shows for her to watch was also a big must this summer. I was so excited to hear that True and the Rainbow Kingdom was back with season 2. My daughter is a huge fan of the show and it is so easy to watch it on Netflix. My daughter loves the characters and all of the bright colors and I love that it's teaching her as it's entertaining her. 

The main character, True reminds me a lot of my daughter. She is super smart, creative and curious. I love how the show teaches kids to "Stop and Breathe" so that they can think about what challenge they are trying to solve and take the steps to do it. I know things are going to be a bit harder in 1st grade than in Kindergarten so this is a great skill to develop over the summer. 


I love that True is a character that my daughter can look up to. She is brave and smart and knows when to ask for help from the power of wishes. I love that it shows my daughter that a little girl like herself can be a hero. When I was a kid, heroes were mostly boys and princesses always had to be saved from princes. 

My daughter was super excited to have our very own Screening Party. She dressed up in her favorite dress and I made some cinnamon buns that she could add sprinkles to. We were lucky to watch the first two episodes and they were so fun to watch. 


Season 2 of True and the Magic Kingdom premieres today, June 15 on Netflix. 

Becoming an Aunt and the Missing Type Campaign


I remember the day my sister told me she might be pregnant. She took a pregnancy test and it was positive! I went along with her and her fiancé to the doctor's office and it was confirmed! She was pregnant and I was going to be an aunt. My sister had a great pregnancy and I enjoyed going to doctor's appointments with her and seeing sonogram pictures of the baby.

The day my nephew was going to be born came quickly and I was so excited to finally get to meet him. He was perfect and healthy and beautiful! While my nephew was getting checked and cleaned up in the nursery, my sister was having some minor complications. Her heart rate was elevated and since she lost too much blood with the c-section she was going to have a blood transfusion. Before the birth of my nephew my family was lucky to never have to worry about surgeries and blood transfusions. I never knew how common it was for pregnant women and newborns.


Did you know that every two seconds someone in the United States needs a blood transfusion of donated blood? We were lucky because my nephew was born in January, each summer blood donations are known to drop about 20%. This is when donations of all blood types-A's, Bs, ABs, and Os are most needed.

It was scary to hear that my sister needed a blood transfusion but I was so thankful that the supply of donated blood was available to her. She recovered quickly and came out of the hospital on time with my healthy nephew. My nephew is now 8 years old and is a super smart 2nd grader.


Since my nephew's birth, my dad and mother-in-law have had blood transfusions after surgeries. You don't understand how important it is to donate blood until you or a family member needs one. I wanted to share the story of how I became an aunt to help bring awareness to the Missing Type campaign. From this campaign I have learned that "one in 7 people entering the hospital needs a blood transfusion."
 "One whole blood donation has the potential to help up to    three patients. Blood can be donated every 56 days, up to    six times a year."
Please check out the Missing Type Campaign to learn how you can sign up to donate blood. The Missing Type Campaign is looking for all of us whether we are As, Bs, ABs or Os to help by donating and helping to save lives.


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Week 7 Back on Keto + Keto Cleanse Week 3


Weigh In: On Monday I weighed in at 284.2 pounds. That is a weight loss of 2.8 pounds for the week and a total of 21.2. pounds since I started on March 10th.

Recap: Last week I had a couple of cheat days so I planned to take it one day at a time and try not to cheat again. My allergies are getting better or maybe I am just getting used to the fact that I am a person that suffers from allergies. I am trying to take my medicine daily so that it makes me feel better. I had a busy end of the week with a last minute Open House at my daughter's school and a drive out of town. I made those days work by having a bunless hot dog at costco and rotisserie chicken for dinner with some green beans.


Food: I made a plan to stick with the 30 Day Ketogenic Cleanse meal plan. I even changed around some of the meals to what I really wanted to eat. I used some recipes from the Dairy-Free Ketogenic Cleanse cookbook like the Simple Sesame Chicken recipe that we have tried several times and love. Although I did make my own meal plan I found it hard to stick with it. It was foods and recipes that I like but I just wasn't into it. I miss drinking coffee in the morning and it's a lot more work to cook different meals for everyone. I am the only one doing the cleanse so I have to cook a separate meal for myself, for my husband and for my daughter.


Exercise: Last week I did a day of the FeFit Program I am been talking about. I also added it to my Weight Loss Bullet Journal and planned the days I would exercise. The day after I did the FeFit program I felt so sore that it totally turned me off from exercise. I am so busy now with the last month of school for my daughter with Open Houses, trips, Spirit weeks and events going on. I am so active and on the go when it comes to my daughter's school that I just don't have the time right now. I am planning on doing the FeFit program once my daughter is off for the summer. Though I have not been doing any formal exercise, I am still trying to get at least 10,000 steps on my FitBit.


Going Forward: I decided to not continue with the last week of the Ketogenic Cleanse. I just feel too constricted and I am afraid that it's going to make it easy for me to get off track. I plan to still use some of the recipes from both books several times a week so that I can do some dairy-free days. I want to write in my Weight Loss Journal some more and get in 10,000 steps a day. 

What I Ate on Week 2 of the 30 Day Ketogenic Cleanse


This is day 8 of the 30 Day Ketogenic Cleanse. This also marks week two of the 4 week cleanse. As the weeks are going by the food gets even more delicious. I am also getting into the groove of things with the meal planning. I try to chop my vegetables ahead of time so that I am not overwhelmed when I cook. Like I said in my What I Ate on Week 1 post the recipes are very involved with multiple steps and lots of ingredients. Although I complain sometimes when I am making these recipes it is all worth it when I taste how good the food is.

Meal 1: Bacon and Mushrooms with Soft-Boiled Eggs. There is a lot of mushroom eating on the cleanse. Each mushroom recipe has its own unique sauce or seasoning so I don't get tired of eating them. This recipe has lots of crispy bacon with the mushrooms so it gives it a nice texture. The mushrooms really soak up the sauce with oil, vinegar, and dijon so they are extra tasty. Instead of a soft-boiled egg I made a hard one because I like them better. Though this bowl of food make look small, all the healthy fats kept me full until my next meal.


Meal 2: Simple Crab Salad. I didn't want to eat the last two meals together so I had this one at 4pm. Instead of crab I used tuna fish because I don't like crab. At first I questioned why such a simple recipe was in the cookbook. When I took my first bite I understood why. I have never had tuna salad taste as good as this one! The celery and onion gives it a nice clean crunch. The dijon, mayo and lemon juice gives it the perfect flavor. I enjoyed the Simple "Tuna" Salad over some torn butter lettuce. This is a recipe I will surely make over and over again.


Meal 3: Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja. I started cooking this meal at eight in the morning in my instant pot. After the 6 hours I didn't think the meat was tender enough so I pressure cooked it for 20 minutes. That made the meat super tender and the sauce and vegetables combined perfectly. The stew was flavorful, meaty and super filling. The garnishes of olives, salsa and cilantro brightened the dish up and made it fun to eat.


Sometimes I look at the meals and think "Is this enough?". The old me was used to filling my plate to the brim and eating until my stomach couldn't fit anymore food. Now I am learning to satisfy my hunger with healthy fats and less food.

Weight Loss Bullet Journal Update


I started a Weight Loss Bullet Journal in the middle of March. I wanted a fun way to keep track of my weight loss journey. I love to check and color boxes when I have completed something. I also tend to get things done when I write them down so a bullet journal was perfect for me.

Progress: I finally took my measurements on March 25th and took some full body pictures. I plan to measure myself once a month to see how many inches I have lost. I also plan on taking full body pictures once a month wearing the same clothes so that I can see differences no matter how small. I want to track my measurements so that when I don't see the pounds lost on the scale, I can see the inches that I have lost.


100 Pounds Goal Tracker: Losing 100 pounds is one of the big weight loss goals I have for this journey. I drew one hundred boxes so that I could color one in every time I lose a pound. I was able to color in 20 boxes so far and feel so proud of myself whenever I get to color one in. Twenty colored boxes means I am 1/5 of the way towards my goal of losing 100 pounds.


Monthly Lost: I love to keep track of the weight I have lost each month in one place. My goal is to loss 100 pounds in one year so I know I have to lose at least 8.33 pounds a month to reach this goal. From March to April I lost a total of 13.4 pounds. That is 5 pounds over my goal for the month. It is exciting to see the that number because I know as the months go by and I get smaller I will not lose as much. The adjusted monthly weight loss goal to reach 100 pounds in one year is now 7.87 pounds a month.


Mini Goals: I just started a page for mini goals. I think it's a good idea to set mini goals that you know you can complete. Little goals like drinking 64 ounces of water or taking 10,000 steps is easily doable when you are motivated and can keep track of them. This is a great way to keep them together and color in your accomplishments as you do them.


Meal Planning: I was always doing my meal plan on this old notebook where I just wrote on any blank page I found. I would often lose the page and then have to change the meals I had planned. Now that I am doing the cleanse it's important for me to follow it so it's nice to have my meal plan in my journal so that I can easily go back and look at it.


Do you keep a weight loss journal? 

What I Ate On The 30 Day Ketogenic Cleanse: Week 1


For the past week I have been doing The 30 Day Ketogenic Cleanse by Maria Emmerich. It is a clean way of eating the Ketogenic diet. You don't eat any dairy, nuts, nut flours, sweeteners or caffeine that you would normally eat on a keto diet. Eating this way puts you into ketosis faster and revs up your metabolism. I decided to try out the 30 Day Ketogenic Cleanse again because I had great results on it last year.


During the ketogenic cleanse you have a small window to eat. You are fasting for about 18 hours and consume your food in 6 hours. I usually like to eat my first meal at 12pm and eat my second and third meal at 6pm. The food is full of good fats so I am don't feel hungry at all during the day. I was the type of person that always snacked at night while watching TV so this has been working really well.

Morning Meal: Like I said above when I am doing the Ketogenic Cleanse I like to start eating at 12pm but this day I had to eat earlier than that. I am taking some medication that requires me to take the medicine in with morning with food so I decided to have a couple of hard boiled eggs. Eggs is the easiest thing to fit into the rules of the ketogenic cleanse so I went with it. I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil on top for some extra fat and salt and pepper for taste.


Meal 1: Bacon And Egg Ramen. This has to be one of my favorite meals on the Ketogenic Cleanse. The broth alone is so flavorful that I could eat it by itself. The broth has loads of flavor from garlic, ginger, onions, coconut vinegar, and coco aminos.  It's fun to have the fixings of the zoodles which taste just like al dente noodles. The crispy pork belly gives it nice texture and the egg makes it super hardy. The green onion gives it a nice fresh taste.


Meal 2: Reuben Pork Chops. I crisped up a nice thick porkchop in a pan with salt and pepper. I put it on a bed of shredded cabbage and added some sauerkraut and homemade thousand island dressing on top. Who ever though sauerkraut and thousand island dressing would taste good on a porkchop?

Meal 3: Marinated Italian Mushrooms. These mushrooms are so flavorful and taste best room temperature. Lots of Italian herbs, garlic, onion and coconut vinegar gives it a nice punch.


You can eat all of this on The 30 Day Ketogenic Cleanse. Sometimes the recipes are time consuming and there are a lot of ingredients but it is so worth it. This food is so good and restaurant worthy.

Week: 5 + Keto Cleanse Week: 1


Weigh In: On Saturday I weighed in at 286.2 pounds. That is a weight loss of 6 pounds for the week and a total of 19.2 pounds since I started on March 10th. 

This week was pretty tough for me because it is the first time in my life that I have experienced allergies. I never knew how sick and out of it you feel when you have allergies. I was supposed to start the ketogenic cleanse on Monday but did not because I wasn't feeling my best. The ketogenic cleanse recipes are very involved with a lot of steps and ingredients so I just couldn't commit to the time it takes to create the meals. I ate out a few times and kept easy things to prepare like hard boiled eggs and rotisserie chicken.

Food: On Wednesday I felt a little better so I decided to start the first day of the 30 Day Ketogenic Cleanse. For meal one I had the Rosti with Bacon and for meal 2 and 3 it was the Umami Burger and Lemon Pepper wings. 


On Thursday I woke up with a really bad sore throat and had to go to the doctor's office. Turns out I had sinus congestion and tonsillitis. The doctor put me on some medicine. Since we were at the doctor's all day and I didn't feel well we decided to get a rotisserie chicken and made a quick side of green beans to go along with it. 

Friday I felt a little better so I got back on the keto cleanse. I changed the days and meals around so that I could eat the Umami burger leftovers I had in the fridge.


Exercise: Since I wasn't feeling well I didn't get to take family walks like I planned. My steps on my FitBit averaged to 6,070.  

Going Forward: I am going to continue with the 30 Day Ketogenic Cleanse. I am planning on swapping some of the recipes in the meal plan so that I can try some of the other recipes in the book. I am going to take at least 3 family walks this week. I also want to start the Fe Fit Exercise program during my morning fast. To keep me motivated I plan to continue to make my YouTube videos and write in my weight loss journal. 


Back On Keto Week 4 & Keto Cleanse


For the past five weeks I have been doing a form of lazy keto. I eat ketogenic foods and recipes and keep a quick track in my head of how many carbs I am eating. I try to stay under 20 grams of carbs a day but don't beat myself up if I go past 20. Most of my carbs come from vegetables so I am OK with that. This way of doing the ketogenic diet has been working for me and I have lost 13.2 pounds so far. It is beginning to feel more like a lifestyle and less like a diet. I am enjoying the foods I am eating and never feel hungry. I remember doing low fat diets years ago and always feeling hungry. This is what I always dreaded when I would start a new diet. I am happy to say that with Keto I don't have that problem.

Food: One of my favorite meals was the Easy Sesame chicken from Maria Emmerich's Keto Restaurant Favorites cookbook. Sesame chicken was one of my favorite meals to order at my favorite Chinese restaurant so I am happy that I can make it myself while staying keto. It tastes just like the real thing and it is super easy to make.


Exercise: Since I am feeling better with my aches from inflammation I think it is time for me to start thinking about exercise. I want to start with some stretching and take family walks after dinner. We have a gym at my apartment complex so I also want to start taking advantage of that this week.


Going Forward: I heard about Maria Emmerich doing the Keto Cleanse challenge with prizes given weekly to those who post pictures of their food. Last year I completed the challenge with great results so I attempting to do it again. The Keto Cleanse is a really clean way of doing the ketogenic diet. No dairy, sweeteners, nut flours or caffeine. You are eating clean and healthy fats, lots of veggies and fatty meats like pork belly and steaks. Since Maria Emmerich is such a genius when it comes to ketogenic recipes everything tastes delicious so you are not missing out even with all of those restrictions.


We are well into 1/4 of the year being over, are you keeping up with your healthy lifestyle goals? 

My Weight Loss Bullet Journal


I am the type of person that has to write things down to be productive. I love checking off items on a to-do list as I complete them. It is a sense of accomplishment when I have checked off everything on a list. Seeing it on paper and having to check off the items makes it more likely that I will do it.

I have tried countless times to go digital when it comes to lists and scheduling. I feel like I don't do as much when my lists are digital. I often get distracted when I am on my phone and then realize that I haven't even looked at my list. This is the reason I want to start having a Bullet Journal for my weight loss. If I journal on paper I am more likely to stay on track and get motivated to continue.


There is a huge following of bullet journal layouts on Instagram and Pinterest. I find myself scrolling through both platforms to get ideas on layouts for my pages. These are the layouts that I included in my journal.

Quote: This quote is what motivated me to start on my journey again. I have started so many weight loss journeys and most of the times I get off track and gain back everything I lost. I want to look at this quote whenever I have thoughts of sabotaging my weight loss efforts. Whenever I feel like things are too hard or I just want to get comforted with food I will look at this page and stop! Next year I want to be proud of how far I have come.


Weight: Tracking my weight is important to me because it gives me an idea of how I am doing on my journey. Seeing the weight go up, down or stay the same will give me the data to tweak what I eat and how much I move.

Measurements: Keeping track of my measurements will help when my body is fluctuating and I am not losing as much as I would like. There are weeks where I am not going to lose anything so having my measurements on hand will show me that I am still losing weight.


100 Pound Weight Loss Tracker: A huge weight loss goal I have is to lose 100 pounds. I think it will be fun to check off every pound I lose. I am not sure if I will color in the boxes or use stickers. Wanting to check off all of those boxes will definitely keep me motivated to reach this goal.


These are all the pages I have for now. I am looking at different layouts and trying to decide on what to add next.

Do you keep a weight loss journal? 

Snacking With Keto Krate


I remember when I first started the Ketogenic diet a few years ago. The diet wasn't well known so it was hard to find a snack on-the-go. I would always have to take nuts or cheese sticks with me. As the years went by, keto became mainstream and "low carb" snack options began popping up in stores. Sometimes they would have good macros but a lot of times they would not. I would spend a long time in the supermarket looking at nutritional labels and ingredients.


Then a few months ago I got the opportunity to be a Keto Krate ambassador. I got to sample the boxes each month for free. Subscriptions boxes are pretty fun because it's like getting a gift in the mail every month. My favorite thing about Keto Krate is that you get to try products from different companies that you may have never heard of before. A lot of these companies are small and really put care and thought into their products.


Every month my husband and I open the Keto Krate together and choose one snack to try right away. Most of the times we enjoy the snacks and sometimes we don't. This is a great way to figure out what kinds of snacks we like.


With Keto Krate you get 8+ snacks a month that are 5g of net carbs or less. Keto Krate does the calculation for you so that you can dig into the box as soon as you get it without having to worry if it will fit into your macros. You also get $20+ in savings with coupon codes and discounts to the products in the box. I also love how they give a recipe to use on their featured product. Check out Keto Krate if you want to try out a Keto Krate for yourself!

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100 In One Year: Getting Back on Keto



One hundred pounds in one year is my new weight loss goal. That works out to be about 1.92 pounds a week or 8.33 pounds a month. This is my ultimate goal, a goal I wish to complete by March 10th, 2019. I know it is a goal that might not happen. I know it is a goal that might not be attainable but it is a goal that I am going to strive for.

For months and months I have tried to get back on keto. I succeed for a week or two and then self-sabotage as soon as I see progress. One cheat meal turns into a day, the day turns into a week and that week turns into months. Months of being off track and back up to the weight I started with or more.

As I was searching for some inspiring quotes one really hit me hard. "A year from now you would have wished you started today." There have been timeless times where I have looked back and was disappointed at where I was at. I want next year to be different. Next year I want to be 100 pounds smaller. Next year I want to be healthier, happier and more confident.

In order to be 100 hundred pounds smaller I plan to follow the ketogenic diet again. I love the way I feel on keto. I love that I am never hungry and I love that I can eat delicious foods. My inflammation goes away, my back pain goes away. I can walk long distances and I have tons of energy.

Last week I started Keto again and worked towards my goal of 100 pounds in one year. I plan to share my journey on my blog, YouTube channel and Instagram. I am hoping that this can help hold me accountable.

Where do you see yourself one year from now?


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