Raspberry Ketones--as seen on Dr. Oz.

I had seen the Doctor Oz show a couple months ago about raspberry ketones. He had a clip about Raspberry Ketones on there. He and this other doctor stated that the raspberry ketones shrink your fat cells (all over fat not just a concentrated area of the body) and break up the fat in your cells making it easier for your body to expel the fat. They said that you can eat regular raspberries and get the same effect as the concentrated ketones in the pill form, but, you would have to eat 90 pounds of raspberries a day. That is not only not realistic but it would add calories and sugar to your body making your body work that much harder to get rid of fat. They said that the pill form is a much more effective way and it is all natural as well. I have researched it and seen that there are people who have lost weight with little change in diet and exercise. I do note that they did try to eat differently and did Incorporate a little exercise, but, nothing extreme. Dr. Oz did state at the end of the show that we all need to be aware of what we are eating and taking these ketones are not a sure way to lose weight if you are not going to stop eating a ton of bad stuff. Everything in moderation. Exercise is also good for us and should never be ignored. I also saw that all the scientific research done was done on lab rats and mice not humans. Now, humans are not physiologically anything like mice or rats. But, like I said, I have seen testimonies of people who have said it works. the doctor on the Dr. Oz show said she had 2 patients on these and they lost a lot of weight and she had before and after pics to show. This doctor also said that people have seen results in as little as five days. I Bought some of the raspberry ketones today. I did it. I broke down and got them at GNC. They were $21 with my GNC Gold card. Not bad. We will see if there are results. I am still doing Weight Watchers of course. I have lost 30 pounds so far. (it was 39 but I stalled and then went off the plan for a couple months too so I gained after eating all the brownies and cookies I wanted!) I want to kick start things again so I am still tracking with Weight Watcher's and I will also take the raspberry Ketones. Dr. Oz says to take 100 mg a day. The capsules I have are 125 mg capsules and it says I can take 1-2 a day with meals but not to exceed 4 capsules a day. So today I took 2 at lunch (250mg) and then 2 at dinner. I may or may not go down to 1 at lunch and 1 at dinner. We shall see how it goes and I will definitely update here! Ciao XOXO

Chia Coconut Mango Pudding. Chia, my new obsession!

(I took this with my cell and used Instagram. ) I recently made this Chia Mango Coconut pudding. I bought a big container of Chia after having seen it on the Dr. Oz show and realizing all the benefits of Chia. I love mango and I love Coconut so i thought I would try this. It was super easy to make and all I had to do was mix the ingredients and then let it sit over night so the Chia seeds could soak up as much of the liquid as possible. The outcome.... it was fabulous!!! Yum!!! I will definitely be making more chia puddings and smoothies soon. Super yummy and I know it is so good for my health that it is a win, win!! Here is the website for the mango Coconut chia pudding. It uses Almond milk and Coconut milk. Super good. I got the Stevia/vanilla in my local health food store where I got my chia seeds. here is the link. I found the recipe on Skinnytaste.com and I pinned it onto Pinterest. Chia Mango Coconut Pudding Enjoy!! Also if you want the recipe for the Dr. Oz Smoothie...here it is. You can find this and other recipes on doctoroz.com Chia Berry Smoothie 1/2 C unsweetened Almond milk 1 TBS chia seeds 1/4 C. frozen blueberries 1/4 banana 1/2 C. ice. Put all ingredients in a blender and blend til completely combined. This will be very thick. Enjoy!!

I am down 33.2 pounds!

I am soooo happy to say that I am finally losing weight steadily! I started Weight Watcher's in October last year. Just before Halloween and all that yummy chocolate smell. I have been working hard, eating right and getting as much exercise as I can. With my migrains it makes it hard to do a whole lot sometimes. Plus the back and neck injury from the car accident.

I have been losing 2-3 pounds average a week. Some weeks I have only lost 1 or sometimes I lose 4! (4 this week!!) I took a 3 week break from all dieting and ate what I wanted at Christmas and 2 of those weeks I lost .5 pound each week. the third I lost nothing (but, I didn't gain either) I was shocked completely!! I could not believe whith what I had eaten that I could lose anything. I fully expected to gain. Just goes to show that when you lose at a healthy and slow pace you will be able to enjoy yourself and not have to worry about gaining a few pounds when you have a fun day and splurge.
My husband and I went to Red Lobster for dinner last week. I expected to go to Olive Garden. I looked up the local menu online. I figured out the points plus values of the food on the menu and chose a good sensible dinner that also looked really tastey and wrote it all down. I even planned on not eating the full entree, only half and taking half home to eat for lunch the next day. I was prepared and planned and did everything right. We get to Olive Garden and it is packed. We could not even find a parking space. We saw that Red Lobster was full too but had less waiting time, it was 7:30pm and we were starving. I was a little panicked because I had not prepared for Red Lobster. But I thought, Oh well, I want to enjoy myself. It is our 16 year Anniversary afterall.
We went in and waited for a table. It was 8pm by the time we were seated. We were ravinish. I had my trusty phone with me and I started looking up Red Lobster menu items on the Weight Watchers site. I found some smart choices and that is what I ate. I DID enjoy myself and ate things I love too. I had stuffed mushrooms with lots of cheese and lobster claw and crab in them.(Hubby ate half of the mushrooms) I had 2 (yes two) of the cheddar bay biscuits and a succulant Lobster tail with real butter to dip it in. I ate a salad with ranch dressing. It was soo good. I had to bring the baked potato home to eat the next day as I was stuffed after the Lobster tail. I knew I was ok with all that food because I made a smart choice with the Lobster Tail and I also made sure to exercise a lot more this week to give myself lots of activity points to use. I saved up my weekly's to use. I did well, stayed on my points and lost 4 pounds that week. I was happy. :D Weight Watcher's is not just a diet. It is a lifestyle change. It is a way of teaching you how to eat all the foods you love without saying "you can't eat this or that" and still lose weight and then maintain after. I feel like I eat a lot of food. When I am able to start to maintain I will have to eat more that I am now. I KNOW that I can maintain this for life.

Anyway, I am down 33.2 pounds and have another 27.8 to go!! I can do this!!

I love Holidays!!

I love the Holidays. I love to decorate my house and bake and have friends and family get togethers. It makes things hard when I am not living so close to family anymore but I make the best of it. We have some terrific friends where we are now and that makes it nice.

Christmas may be over for now but My anniversary is coming up on Friday so I decorated my facebook page with hearts and pink!! hehe. I am also searching Pinterest for fun Valentines ideas for the kids. I can't wait to make some fun goodies for the kids to bring to school. We will probably make some home-made Valentine cards this year. I found some great ideas that are cute and economical. :) I will take some pictures after we have made them.

Well, off to watch Seseme Street with my toddler and then get my treadmill on!! ;)

 
My 1960's version of my tree. :D

 
A friend suggested doing this to my photo.

 
Our beautiful Christmas tree 2011. I touched the photo up a bit. i love the "old" effect. Classic and nastalgic. Merry Christmas everyone!!!