Keto Diet: Week 1

Posted on January 5, 2017 by Krissyar

So as I mentioned before last Friday 12/30 I started the Keto Diet. A ton of people I know have been successful which really got me interested. I was tired of counting calories and never feeling full – and it was really nothing I could ever handle long term.

So its end of day Wednesday, so it’s not officially been a week yet. But since I did diet through a New Years Eve and a 3 day weekend from work – I feel that it more than qualifies for an entire week.

I was all psyched to get started mostly because I was sick of looking at my gut just growing. All the sugar and junk that I ate on a daily basis is shameful. So Friday I got up for work and I made eggs and sausage for breakfast, and I cooked up a steak to put on my salad for lunch. I took pickles and cheese for a snack (my favorite together) and I was surprised that I wasn’t dying to eat a cookie or some chocolate right away.

Saturday I slept in – like really slept in. I went to bed at 11 and didn’t get up until Saturday morning at 11:39 (that’s when I checked my phone). I cannot even begin to remember the last time I slept that late – or that long. I felt Ok but as the day dragged on, so did I. To be honest I can’t remember much of what I ate that day, but I was starting to feel nauseous and tired. I went and got a Sprite Zero to help with my tummy. We spent our NYE watching a Harry Potter marathon and the kids and husband wanted pizza. I ordered Papa Johns – including a thin crust figuring I could eat some of that.

This is about when I started feeling a bit anxious about being on this diet – like OMG I am not going to be able to resist temptation. It happens all the time with food in my life; it’s one thing where I can get instant gratification though I always end up feeling guilty. I ate 2 pieces of the thin crust and ended up going over my carbs by about 15 for that day.

I started to feel a bit like a failure – hello day 2 and I was already getting anxious? On Sunday it was a bit of the same. I didn’t feel well, and I snacked on what I could and drank Diet Coke. A lot of people will warn you against soda in general, but it was the only thing keeping me going. I went to bed and slept another 10 hours.

Monday morning rolled around and I knew I needed to break that pattern since Tuesday was back to work. I decided to keep myself busy and since I’m in the process of DE CLUTTERING MY LIFE (more blog post on that to come) I started doing laundry and going through all the clothes in my room (that’s a job in itself. Lord, I need shopping intervention!) I got a ton of boxes ready for a yard sale, some cleaning done and I felt pretty good. Later in the afternoon I made brunch – I made the family toast, eggs and bacon, and I skipped the toast and made scrabbled eggs (with heavy whipping cream instead of milk) and cheese and avacado. It was a bit weird missing out on the toast since I was still feeling a bit icky, but I was full and that’s what mattered. For dinner I made the family pasta and veggies and some thin sirloin steaks, and I just ate the steaks (and my Diet Coke).


Officially Tuesday my sister started this process with me – I made a delish breadless BLT for my breakfast (who knew it would be good without the bread?!) and we had steak and salad for lunch.

This is the day I started to feel better – I had more energy. I came home from work and I didn’t feel like just sitting on the couch the rest of the night. I made dinner, I got some work done around the house and I felt good.

That night I tried a Ketone Strip to see if I was in ketosis yet – (ketosis is when your body is burning up all your extra fat) anyway it was a no go. I have to say, I was a bit disappointed. I thought it would be quicker since I wasn’t having any sugar and less than 20 grams of carbs a day. But I liked how I felt – so I knew this was something I needed to stick with if for nothing else than the energy boost I had been feeling.

So tonight I decided to get busy in the kitchen and make some things I could eat that my family loves. Pizza night happens at least once a week in this house (if not more) and even with thin-crust it’s not something that is going to help me stay where I need to be. (Though I did hear some local pizza joints have a ‘no dough’ pizza – I’ll have to keep you updated on that). I worked on a low-carb pizza crust and some fat bombs. (I’ll share more about that later).

AGAIN- my energy level was up. Me trying out recipes and cleaning out my cabinets on a week night? I decided to try the Ketone Strips again to see if I had gotten any closer to where I needed to be. I am soo excited to say – I made it! I am officially burning that extra body fat!

I know I still have a long way to go – I have a lot to learn, and I’m sure there will be days that I’ll just want to eat that pasta or bread, or just grab a handful of candy. But I’m taking this one day at a time, and I can honestly say for the first time this is a diet that I’m enjoying. I feel good. I eat delicious foods and I don’t feel like I might starve.

The next goal is to start adding my work outs in so I can be ready for the all 5ks and mud runs we will be doing this year. I also want to start adding more Keto recipes to my meal plan so I don’t get bored or tempted to cheat.

Posted in Fitness/Health, Weight Loss | Leave a comment

Home Time! Understanding Your Mortgage Before Signing The Dotted Line

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Krissyar

Buying a home is an exciting time for anyone. Whether you’re accommodating a growing family or buying for the first time, it’s easy to get wrapped up. This is particularly true when you’ve found your new home. At this point, priorities become heavily focused on the new home. And, of course, they should be. But, this leaves a lot of people in bad shape with the mortgageadfadfafda.

Understanding your mortgage is incredibly important. A lot of different mortgages exist out there, and they all have different features. So, you need to learn what these features are and what they mean. Without a legal team, this seems like an almost impossible feat. To help you out, though, this post will go through some of the terms that mortgages and their providers use.

Term

When you take out a mortgage, you agree with the bank that you will pay them back within a certain amount of time. This is the term of the loan. If you don’t pay back within the agreed time, banks have the power to forcibly take the money from you. In some cases, this may mean losing the house. It’s very important to make sure that the term you choose is appropriate. If you choose a term of 10 years, but can’t afford the repayments, you may be better trying to have a longer term. Banks will be open to discuss your term, even after the loan has been agreed. So, it’s not too late to change it if your situation changes.

Down Payment

Of course, when the bank is lending so much money, they want you to contribute at least a small share of it. This is the down payment. In most cases, banks will require at least 10% of the overall property value as a down payment. This means that you have to do a little saving for your house before you buy it. But, it also means that you own a portion of your house, right from the start. Saving a down payment can be hard. So, talk to your bank and see what sort of services they offer to help you.

Interest Rates

When the bank lends you money, they’re not doing you a favour. For them, giving out a loan is like making an investment. This is because you have to pay back more than you borrow. When you take out a loan, you will see that it has an interest rate. This rate dictates the overall price of the loan. For example, if you were to borrow $1000 and the interest rate was 2% a year, you’d have to pay back $1020 after a year has passed. On big loans, like mortgages, the bank makes even more money. You can use sites like Lending Tree to find the best rates on mortgages. Impartial advisors like that can be your key to success.

Fixed/Variable Rates

Interest rates vary between banks and will go up and down over time. Traditionally, you’d pay the interest rate set at the start of the year. This means that one year you could pay more or less than the next. Nowadays, alongside variable rate mortgages, you can also get fixed rate ones. With a fixed rate mortgage, the interest rate won’t change for a set amount of time. Usually, this time is something like 15 or 30 years. Once the fixed time is over, the mortgage will become variable. Each side is risky. With a variable mortgage, you risk rates going up and costing you more. But, with a fixed-rate, you risk rates going down while you still have to pay a higher one. To overcome these issues, you have to assess the current economy.

Leasing

Some people like the idea of becoming a landlord. But, to lease a property, you need to make sure that your mortgage allows it. A lot of banks also refuse to consider rent as income, especially when it’s future rent. So, you need to afford the mortgage by itself. And, then, you also need to make sure that the contract you sign allows you to lease the property, as a lot of mortgages don’t. If you need help figuring this out, you can talk to your bank.

Mortgages are very complicated legal procedures. It’s worth talking to a professional about your situation before applying. Most banks will be happy to help you find the best option. They don’t want to sell you something that you can’t pay back. That would be a waste of money for them. But, they do want to sell you something. So, be careful.

Hopefully, this will take away some of the fog, when it comes to applying for your next mortgage. The law is different everywhere, so when doing something like this, it’s always worth doing some research.

Posted in Money Matters | Leave a comment

Can Drinking Coconut Oil Help You Lose Weight?

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Krissyar

Last year I talked about all the benefits of using coconut oil in your daily life. From washing your hair, to sunburns and cooking, coconut oil has been flying off the shelves for all their multiple uses.

Coconut has been known for its healing properties and to some islanders such as in the Philippines, deemed this fruit “the tree of life.”These islanders consumed meat, milk and coconut oil daily – and things like diabetes, cancer and heart diseases were virtually unheard of in their culture. Due to the coconut being a highly functional food rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber. It’s an essential nutritional building block to good health.

coconut_oil

But recently I was  told about drinking coconut oil in your water will help you lose weight, so I decided to do a little research. I was actually amazed and surprised that it took this long for this to be widely known to the public. Here’s a few things I discovered:

Coconut oil helps burn fat quickly, and fuel your  body.
Coconut oil makes you feel fuller longer – and helps reduce food cravings.
The islanders who ate a diet of 50% fat, were still slim, trim and healthy because of their daily intake of coconut oil.
Consuming one ounce of coconut oil a day helps women decrease their BMI and waist size
Coconut oil also helps reduce your thyroid (thus leading to weight loss)

I found some great coconut water recipes on Yummly (well they use coconut water not the oil) and then the oil recipes you can find here that you can try to get your coconut oil intake in each day; or you can just add a teaspoon to your ice  water and go to town.

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Residential Areas in Baldwin County

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Krissyar

Baldwin County is named in honor of Senator Abraham Baldwin, the population of Baldwin is approximately 203,709.This is the largest county in the area, and it is located on east side of Mobile city. It was developed ten years before the Alabama was declared a state. Until 1817 it was part of the Mississippi. Most of the population here in Baldwin County is of white American than of African American than some part of Native Americans else are of other races. If you do not like too many tropical areas and want to live in relatively warm area Baldwin is for you and majorly it has many beaches, and mostly residential areas are near the coastal zone. Many major highways are passing through Baldwin.

There are many public airports and as well as there are many private airstrips and helipads too. Major communities in Baldwin County include Major cities like Foley, Daphne, Orange Beach, Spanish Fort, Gulf Shores, and Bay Mentee. Other towns include Loxley, Alberta, Silver Hill, Summer Dale and others.  If you are curious about the education of your kids, there are many schools in the region and many elementary schools as well.

Seeking a Residential Place:

The Baldwin County MLS helps its customers to find right buyers and sellers. There are thousands of homes for sale in Baldwin; you can choose from your price range, or you can search with respect to your requirement i.e. how many bedroom and how many bathrooms you want. You can customize your search with style of your choice. For being specific you can have a broad range of locations to choose your home location:

  • Golf Shore
  • Fort Morgan
  • Spanish Fort
  • Bay Minette
  • Orange Beach
  • Foley
  • Daphne
  • Elberta
  • Fairhope
  • Gulf State Park
  • Silver Hills
  • Little Lagoon
  • Malbis
  • Weeks Bay
  • Ono Island, Al
  • Battles Wharf

Leisure Activates in Baldwin County:

If you are looking for places for your kids in Baldwin County, there are many places to visit like

  • Alabama Gulf Cost Zoo where you can play golf as well as take your kids to Zoo
  • Beulah Heights Park which offers you baseball and softball fields, tennis courts and playgrounds as well
  • Evans Park
  • Foley Heritage Park and Foley Heritage Rose Trail
  • Foley Kids Park
  • Fort Morgen Historical National Landmark
  • Performing Arts Center
  • USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park
  • Gulf Coast Fishing
  • Night Life & Entertainment

 

Baldwin County Festival which is held in every April which has arts and crafts exhibitions, food vendors, children games, Entertainment and Petting Zoo

 

There are multiple dinners as well which are place of attraction

  • Jesse’s Restaurant
  • Wolf Bay Lodge
  • Tin Top Restaurant
  • Cosmos Retardant
  • The Camellia Café
  • Master Joe Shushi
  • King Neptune’s
  • Lulu’s at Homeport
  • Gulf Shore Steamer
  • The Cobalt Restaurant

Health Care in Baldwin County:

When planning on buying a new house taking into account for health care facilities is one of the top priorities, in Baldwin County, there are many medical centers near residential areas some are enlisted:

  • SYNERGY Homecare
  • Baldwin County Health Department
  • Women Care Medical Center
  • Daphne Family Practice
  • Community Hospice of Baldwin County
  • Baldwin County Mental Health and others

 

There are various Shopping centers around Baldwin County, Some of the major outlets in this area are

  • Target Store in Daphne
  • Eastern Shore Center in Spanish Fort
  • Holly Spirit Thrift Shop
  • Academy Sports Plus Outdoor in Foley, Alabama
  • Emmy’s Thrift Shop in Fairhope
  • The Wharf at Orange Beach
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Weight Loss Tools to Keep You on Track

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Krissyar

I wish I could just say “you don’t need anything besides motivation to lose weight!” Though it’s partially true (you can get by if you have to) it’s a lot easier if you have the right tools to keep you on track.

Food Scale. I can’t begin to tell you how important it is during the weight loss process to know how much you are eating; a few ounces off here and there can really add up and throw you over whatever goal you made for yourself. Whether you care counting calories or carbs, weigh your food! \

Meal Prep Containers. I know a lot of people who don’t like to waste and they have Tupperware they’ve used for like twenty years – but I am bad about forgetting mine in my car, (and my husband is even worse about leaving his at work). I don’t want to worry about my good food storage containers, and prepping for an entire weeks worth of meals takes a lot of containers! These simple containers can be re-washed and used again and again -or just pitch them if you need to (after a week in the backseat and you forgot about it – yuck!)

Crystal Light Drops. Whether you are counting carbs or calories, I swear these will be a life saver if you are a soda drinker. I personally love the pink lemonade, and my son loves the fruit punch. I always carry them with me in my purse so I have them wherever we go: I  get a large ice water when the kids want to stop for ice cream or slushies and it feels like quite a treat. You can also freeze them to make Popsicles!

MyFitnessPal. I honestly don’t know how in the world anyone has ever really tracked their food without this awesome app. If you don’t have it – download it now! Or if you don’t have a smartphone, you can still use it on your computer. The app is free unless you upgrade – which I did to count my macros for the Keto diet. (just $9.99 a month) otherwise, you can enter your info (height, weight,sex) and your goals – and it will tell you how many calories/fat etc to have each day – and what I love is when you complete your day it gives you an estimate of your weight 5 weeks from now!

Fitness Tracker. I made this kind of broad, since there are various ones out there – everyone seems to have their own preferences. Some are pretty simple – they just track steps, but others can get more in depth tracking your heart rate, your sleep patterns, etc.

Get a Great Water Bottle. Water is essential  to weight loss. Some say to drink at least half your body weight in ounces each day! I currently am aiming for 100 oz per day – and I tell you, it can be difficult if you aren’t paying attention. Search around and see what type you might like best; maybe a glass one, or one that you can put fruit in, one that travels well, etc.

If you plan on joining the gym I suggest that you have a back-up work out for at home for the days you just can’t make it – there’s a lot of things that keep you from the gym – even people with the best intentions – like sick kids, a broken down car, etc. I have a few DVD’s that I have on hand for those days that I just can’t make it. My favorite right now is Cardio Dance Hoop. 

I love work out activities that keep me busy doing something and not just thinking “oh how much longer do I have to do this?” – each time I do this work out I can hardly believe it was an entire half hour. It also really burns the calories – burning 240 calories or more per session. My kids love to do it too, which has been great since it’s too cold for them to go out and ride bikes or go on walks.

All these items are a good start for your weight loss journey – good luck!

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