Happy New Year!!!

It’s a brand new year!!! Instead of reflecting on last year, I want to look forward to this year and all that it brings.

I want this year to be different than the last two years. Of course I have the same initial goals that most people have but this year, I want to approach them in a different way. Instead of doing things just to check them off of the to-do list, I want to do things with a purpose in mind.

You may be wondering what purpose I have that could encompass all aspects of my life. Well, my purpose is to improve my health. The end goal is to gradually adapt a way of doing things that will lead to a healthy lifestyle. At least that is my primary goal. Most of which can, or at least should be, easily achieved with diet and exercise. Of course this will all happen in baby steps, but it will happen. Feel free to blame my chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or the years of smoked before quitting in December, 2015.

Like other people, I too want to clean and organize every room in my house. This will take a lot of time and I will only be able to do so much a day. I do not want to do any home improvements like painting and rearranging furniture, but definitely very deep cleaning to begin with.

It is possible that I may decide to relocate my craffice to a different room in my house. But that is a different decision for another day and time. Craffice is the name my husband made up for the room that is used for my work office and craft room. It is very cramped at the moment but that is okay by me.

Before my mother moved to an assisted living facility, she lived independently. We would have a pot luck lunch at her house every Sunday and it was a lot of fun. But now, things are different, mainly because of COVID. I am hoping we can reestablish our weekly lunch with my mom by doing pot lucks at either my daughter’s house or my son’s house. I know how much she like to get out and an outing to my house is too close to count as an outing!

I know that I will be booking a cruise on the Carnival Jubilee when the itineraries open up. Other than that expense, the only other thing I would like to purchase would be a new camera. I have been wanting one for a few years but I’m hoping this year is the year it will happen!

But one of the most important things I want to accomplish this year it to be more mindful of everything in my life and everything/everyone I come in contact with.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper yo and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” — Jeremiah 29:11

One More Time #8 and #9: Daily Food and Fitness

Day #8… I obviously lost my mind somewhere along the line and did not post this day’s adventure, if you will. Maybe I was ecstatic that I lost ONE POUND!!!! It’s the little things in life that make me happy!!!!

As always, my morning started with coffee then I switched to ice water.

Lunch consisted of chili cheese fries. The fries were actually frozen steak fries that were cooked in the air fryer. The chili was one spoonful of Wolf’s Brand chili. And cheese was just your average run of the mill grated cheddar cheese (that we grated ourselves).

I had a snack of some very basic nachos. You know the kind… the ones that induce heartburn as did the chili cheese fries.

Hubby made breakfast for dinner… frozen hash browns make in air fryer, scrambled eggs with chorizo, onions, roasted red peppers topped with cheese and salsa.

In all honesty, I totally flaked out on the fitness part of the day.

DAY #9

Started my day with the usual coffee.

Cream cheese danish (from walmart) for breakfast. I only did this because I went to Walmart to get a couple of things for my mom and this is something I picked up for her. I decided we needed these in our house as well. I can honestly say this is a decision I might regret. Not what I expected but I will reserve my judgement until tomorrow.

Ice water was the drink of choice for today.

I had a late lunch/early dinner of some homemade chicken soup I put together with stuff I could find on hand. So, the soup consisted of one chicken breast, onion, bell pepper, 1 can of Ro-Tel, 1 very small can of mixed veggies, and 1 cup of egg noodles (before cooking). It wasn’t bad but could definitely have other ingredients added to it to increase the flavor.

Today’s fitness included yesterday’s exercises I flaked out on.

60 crunches

60 of what my husband calls leg crunches (the man is really evil… I will get my revenge, LOL)

60 squats

60 side lunges

60 arm circles

I am so happy that tomorrow’s fitness will be back to normal. I was thrilled that I was able to complete the fitness for both days in one sitting. Definitely do not want to do that again, but I will if it is necessary.

One More Time #7: Daily Food and Fitness

You know your day is going to be strange when you have ZERO coffee. I started my day later than I normally do and went straight to sweet ice tea.

I didn’t eat anything until around 3 when I had 2 fun size Snickers. They hit the spot and it was all I could find while I was at my mothers… alone… taking pictures for my cruise blog. But being at my moms without her is an entirely different story. I’m hoping it was a one-time occurrence. I will definitely need to talk to her about it. I always spend Thursday with my mom, it’s our girl time. Sunday we have family lunch but have temporarily put them on hold. We are resuming the family lunches next Sunday.

By the time I got home, I had a pretty bad headache. So, I had 8 unsalted top crackers with peanut butter.

Dinner… oh my goodness. Hubby pulled out some “mystery meat” from the freezer to defrost. By “mystery meat”, I’m referring to meat that had previously been cooked and the leftovers were put in the freezer. He just forgot to label what it was. He told me it would either be pulled pork or bar-b-que. He was wrong. It was Italian Beef. I’m not a fan of Italian Beef. So I had some Mexican corn on the cob. Best. Thing. Ever.

I ended the evening with a small amount of guacamole and a handful of tortilla chips.

And now I’m full. At least until tomorrow!!!!

Fitness for today…

30 crunches in front of my hubby who then made me do what he called 30 leg crunches. These made my lower back hurt and I’m now thinking that maybe he doesn’t want to go on our upcoming 17th Anniversary of our Honeymoon Cruise cruise.

30 squats

30 side lunges

30 arm circles.

If anyone has suggestions on exercises I could try to change thins up, please let me know!!!

One More Time #6: Daily Food and Fitness.

Today was Donut day. But only because I needed to bribe my son to mow the lawn. Actually, I didn’t have to bribe him, but donuts make him happy and it was the least I could do considering the heat and humidity we are currently having.

I started my morning with my normal coffee. Then added 2 cake donuts to the mix. One with strawberry icing and one with chocolate icing. If I’m going to be bad, I’m going to make sure I do it right!!!

Of course, I had to have my sweet ice tea.

Late lunch consisted for a salad with the remainder of the Tuna I made plus some avocado, cheddar cheese, tomato, and topped with thousand island dressing.

My late evening snack was 8 unsalted top crackers with butter.

Today there was an increase in the number of exercises I am doing daily. I have gone from 25 to 30. So…

30 crunches

30 squats

30 side lunges

30 arm circles

I’m not having the issues with extreme stomach cramps like I did when I attempted 6 30-day challenges so I’m taking this as a good sign!

One More Time #5: Daily Food and Fitness

As usual, I started my day with my normal coffee (with sugar and creamer). Nothing new there. What is new is that I actually made my breakfast. Today I had 2 scrambled eggs with Chorizo, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, topped with Mexican blend shredded cheese and salsa. Unfortunately, I was not able to eat it all. But it was good!!!

My days are note complete with out having sweet iced tea!!!

I changed up my snacks today. No honey roasted almonds. Instead I had 6 unsalted top crackers with tuna salad (very basic, very bland with mayo and boiled eggs). It was a nice change to the sweetness the almonds have.

For dinner, I had a salad with some of the tuna from my snack, cheddar cheese, and Caesar dressing. I added 6 Ritz crackers for crunch value. I forgot how much I enjoy a good salad.

Fitness is the same as the last four days…

25 crunches

25 squats

25 side lunges

25 arm circles

This completes day #5. On to day #6 where donuts will be consumed and there will be an increase in the fitness area!!!!

One More Time #4: Daily Food and Fitness

I came to the brilliant realization that it would be better for me to post my daily One More Time blogs the next morning. By doing that, I do not have to confess my actions from the prior night!!! So, here is yesterday’s food and fitness which include a night time snack from #3.

In addition to what I ate in installment #3, I also had 8 Ritz crackers with peanut butter as a night time snack. So now that day is complete!

Day #4 started with coffee with sugar and creamer. And just to be completely honest, I had a lot of coffee. I needed it because it was a very long morning!

Around 2pm and after not eating for 16 hours, I made myself some yellow squash and onion cooked in butter. After all, everything made is butter is always so much better. Once the squash and onions were cooked, I added some citrus chicken to it. I can promise you, this is a combination I will not be repeating. Ever.

At 5 pm I had my ever so yummy honey roasted almonds. Yummy and addictive.

And for my evening snack, if you will, I had 3 sausage patties and 8 Ritz crackers.

Todays fitness is the same as the first 3 days…

25 crunches

25 squats

25 side lunges

25 arm circles.

And so ends day #4.

One More Time #3: Daily Food & Fitness

Totally honesty about last night. After I published my blog, I went to the kitchen and found my hubby cooking the remainder of the citrus chicken. So, for supper last night, I had a chicken and cheese quesadilla. Probably not your typical quesadilla as mine was made using 2 corn tortillas. And it was wonderful.

This morning started with my usual coffee. My hubby was off work today so he made sausage patties and eggs. My dish consisted for 2 sausage patties and 1 fried egg. And I ate it all!!!

Once it was time for me to start working, I had to have some sweet ice tea to get thru the day! I also had an afternoon snack of my favorite 1 ounce of honey roasted almonds. They really are addictive.

For supper I had a Caesar Salad with some leftover citrus chicken. It definitely hit the spot.

There is a good chance that I might end the night with some Ritz crackers with peanut butter. But then again I might not. Only time will tell!

Today’s fitness:

25 crunches

25 squats

25 side lunges

25 arm circles

My arms are not mad at me today so I must be doing something right!

One More Time #2… Food and Fitness

Today has felt like a very strange day, but I do not know why. I just feel like something is off.

I started my morning off with my normal coffee with sugar and creamer (same as yesterday. But today, I decided on making me something for breakfast. I was not real sure what I wanted but I knew I wanted toast and I knew I wanted eggs. I ended up making myself an open face sandwich and it was real good. All it contained was one piece of white bread toasted, no butter, no jelly, no nothing, two eggs fried with butter and onions, and topped with salsa. It was actually pretty good. The bad girl in me washed it down with 2% milk that I added some Hershey’s syrup to.

I had a late afternoon snack of 1 ounce of honey roasted almonds. Those things are addictive and filling!!!!

This evening, I went to heat up the remainder of the leftover citrus chicken and rice but it was gone. My son ate it. If I start to make something now, it will be even later before I can eat and risk major reflux. So my choices are, cook the remainder of the citrus chicken we didn’t cook on Sunday or I can have an Strawberry Pop-Tart. The Pop-Tart is not the type that has the frosting on it. I really do not like those. Right now, I’m just not sure at this point what I’m going to do. But I will fill you in when I post tomorrows blog.

Today’s exercises:

25 crunches

25 squate

25 side lunges

25 arm circles

My arms are not happy with me. I. Will. Power. On.

Please feel free to leave any suggestions for things I should eat or try. The only thing I cannot have is any and all artificial sweetener including the natural ones like steevia. Everything that isn’t sugar triggers migraines that knock me out for a couple of days.

Diet and Exercise. Starting fresh… again. One more time #1

I know this is a cycle that I have been on. Start a diet, then stop. Start 30-day challenges, then stop half way thru. But this time, I am not putting any pressure on myself to do any more than my body and complicated gastric system can handle. I truly believe low carb will work, but my plan is to incorporate some fruit into the mix. And I will not shy away from sugar. I have learned that the 6 30-day challenges I tried and failed last month were entirely too much for me to handle. I knew there would be pain because you know that they say, no pain, no gain. But the pain I was feeling was beyond sore muscles. I was experiencing cramping to the point that I would double over. So, I stopped.

This time, things will be different. I’m going to limit my carbs. I’m going to drink more water. I’m going to have fresh fruit and vegetables. I’m going to do crunches, squats, lunges, and arm circles every day. And the number I do will increase by 5 every 5 days. I’m not doing this to lose weight although that would be nice. I’m doing this because I know I can and because I WANT TO.

With that being said (or written) let’s get started with today and my new series (???) One More Time #1.

Today, like every day began with coffee. My coffee always has a little sugar and creamer or some sort. This weeks creamer of choice is Nestle Coffeemate in the flavor Creamy Chocolate. I have had this before and I really love the flavor. I will be taking some of this with me when we go on our cruise later this summer. I did not eat anything for breakfast.

Lunch consisted of leftover citrus chicken and rice (about 1 cup) and a glass of sweet ice tea. Leftovers are good as long as I am able to get to it before my husband or son do!!!

Late afternoon I snacked on 4 deviled eggs (2 hard boiled eggs, mayo, mustard, salt, and pepper) and 1 ounce of honey roasted almonds. According to the label, 1 ounce of the almonds totaled 160 calories. This really filled me up so I did not have anything for dinner.

The night ended with some popcorn. Nothing special. Just some microwave popcorn. I miss the days of making popcorn on the stove. But convenience is good.

Now for today’s exercises. I have selected these exercises as they were some that I did in the challenges I tried last month. I’m starting at a level I feel comfortable with but I will watch myself and adjust accordingly. The first 5 days the number of each will be 25. In 5 days, that number will increase by 5.

25 crunches

25 squats

25 side lunges

25 arm circles

And now I’m calling it a night. If you have any suggestions on recipes I can try or exercises I can do, please send me a message. I welcome your suggestions and feedback.

6, YES 6, 30-day challenges: Day 12

Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there!!! I hope you have had a wonderful day. I know I did!!! I love spending time with my family, especially when my grandson is willing to take a picture with me!

Today’s challenges were extremely easy and consisted of:

Abs: rest day

Squat: 40 regular squats

Arms: rest day

Butt: rest day

Thighs: rest day

Cardio: rest day

Like I said, very easy!!!

My morning started with my youngest son bringing me coffee in bed. Followed by my husband making breakfast for me and serving it to me in bed. The breakfast consisted of Migas and potatoes with onions. Unfortunately I was only able to eat a couple of bites, but it was good. No pictures of breakfast.

Every Sunday we have lunch at my mom’s. Today, my husband made instant pot creamy chicken (so very good and probably Keto friendly) served over egg noodles (not Keto appropriate). And I was not able to eat the full serving I made for myself. Hubby also made a homemade chocolate cake and it was so good. Nice and warm served with Blue Bell vanilla ice cream. My mother does not have much to pick from where drinks are concerned so we all drank Coke. I didn’t take pictures of our lunch but I do have pictures of the leftovers!!!

And here I am home alone while my youngest son and hubby have gone to the laundromat to wash clothes. One day we will either get a new washing machine or the one we have will get fixed. But for now, we will make do with the laundromat!!!! And while they are gone, I’m going to have some of the left over instant pot creamy chicken over one piece of bread.

Please come back for tomorrow for the next installment.