Healthy Food Stuffs

I went to the doctor recently (actually switched doctors because my doctor was such a douche), and was totally shocked to hear that, (gasp) I'm overweight!

Okay, I'm being sarcastic, obviously, but I started thinking about my girls and being around for my grandchildren someday and blah blah blah, I'm taking this weight loss thing more seriously. I can't afford to be unhealthy, like not eating enough because I have three little girls who depend on me for getting them to and from school and everything else. I have to eat healthier, that's one thing. I don't eat a lot of junk food, but when I do, I always think "I could've had something much healthier". I've been keeping a lot of fresh organic fruit in the house and now that I have a Nutribullet juicer, I put spinach and kale in everything. I've also learned that sauteed Kale with spinach is magical. Delicious!

Also, cucumbers with everything. Cucumbers have so many health benefits including, hello!, keeping your skin looking healthy! I have better skin now than I had in my 20s! I chop up cucumbers and put them in my Nutribullet, my water, my salads, or just to eat as a snack.

One thing I can't do is put broccoli in my juice. Yuck! Seriously. I love broccoli,  you guys, but I'd much rather eat it! Keep in mind, the fruit that I usually put in masks the flavor of the spinach and kale but it seems nothing masks the flavor of broccoli in juice! And I use a variety of fruits: strawberries, mango, pineapple, apple, orange and blueberries. Even with all of the fruit, and sometimes half of a banana, I still taste the broccoli! No offense, broccoli. I still love you!

As for working out, I've been using this app called Argus on my iPhone 6. It counts your steps, lets you keep a food diary by taking pictures of your food and you can time your workouts. It even directly syncs with the new Health Kit for iPhone and you can download other apps for it to sync with, including the ones that can take your heart rate or if you choose to get an Apple Watch, which I'm not because I still can't see the point of it. I've also been doing 30 minutes of yoga everyday. My back thanks me.

I'll keep you all updated on my progress. I understand it's easier to motivate yourself if you blog about it. I lost 3 lbs last week, which I know isn't a huge deal, but it's a start, right?!

A Healthier Life

I used to be a vegetarian. After Anneka was born, Bry and I decided to be vegetarians.  I honestly have to admit it was because I just couldn't cook meat. I could cook, I've always been able to cook, but after having a baby, raw meat was just gross to me. And all of a sudden, I was always afraid that I was going to undercook the meat and end up with food poisoning. I know, it may sound ridiculous to some, but I was just so turned off from meat. It wasn't a huge shock to those who knew me, like family and friends, because I went through my teen years not eating very much meat and I was always considering an extremely "picky" eater.

No, I didn't get skinny from being a vegetarian, mostly because I was still eating semi-unhealthy. Yes, I was eating broccoli and potatoes and rice and Morning Star burgers. But I was also eating unhealthy things like potato chips and french fries and candy! When I was hungry, I would just grab a bowl full of Lays, because it was quicker than having to stand in the kitchen with a baby in your arms, trying to measure brown rice!

So recently, I've been more concerned with trying to get healthy. Not only because I'm in the entertainment business and I'm sorry, this business is obsessed with looks, that's the truth of it. I'm overweight, but I don't feel bad about myself or anything that's going to cause me to have an eating disorder. My goal is not to be skinny or a size 0. I really just want to be healthy because I don't want to have medical problems! I hate going to the doctor, but I also hate feeling tired and not being able to keep up with kids!

I started using this app on my iPhone called My Fitness Pal. It helps keep track of what you're eating, including how many calories you're taking in. I have to admit, sometimes I forget to log what I'm eating. I'm getting better at it, thankfully, with remembering. While writing this, it just dawned on me I should set up a reminder in my phone that'll say "Log Your Food!" or something to that affect.

And thanks to my girl Christina for the inspiration! We knew each other back in elementary school in Chicago. We reconnected via Facebook a few years ago and she's gone so far with her weight loss that she became an inspiration to me! I asked her what she did to lose weight and she gave me a bunch of great tips that's really helped! I should've asked her a long time ago!

I'm going to start blogging and vlogging on Youtube about my weight loss journey, as I try to eat healthier and workout more. Once upon a time I had a gym membership that I barely used...oh, that's for another post.

Later gators!

Angie

A Whole Other Excuse

Man, I have had a lot of problems staying motivated to exercise! This is crazy. I mean, I got a gym membership a few days after Christmas in 2010 because I was sick of being unhealthy and overweight and tired all the time. I decided to be a better role model for my girls, also. I was going out in the cold of winter, a few miles away in the van, and having to change once I got there! I had to put on the boots, the scarf, the gloves, the hat, all this snizz, and then get there and take off all of that stuff and change into my workout clothes. I would look in the mirror and go "Mama's gonna be skinny real soon. Bitches will be jealous of me. My mom will ask me if I've been eating." Yeah, that snizz didn't happen.

Instead, I was cursed with a thyroid disorder or disfunction or retardation, whatever, and so it's harder for me to lose weight than a lot of people! Yay for me! And it's not as simple as "I have the fat gene" it's just simply put, I need to take medicine so my body will function properly. I don't go to the doctor like I'm supposed to, mixed with the fact that I don't always take my medicine like I'm supposed to. In other words, yes, I have to try harder to be healthy, but it's completely my own fault if I'm not healthy.

So back to 2010, I was busting my hump, super duper motivated to make it to the gym. I bought a pink lock for the locker room lockers, I bought pretty sports bras, I bought new jogging pants, I went to yoga class...fast forward to 2012...I'm 10 pounds lighter. What?! Huh?! And I go to the doctor two weeks ago, my doctor gives me a blood test, then called me to let me know that my thyroid levels were so off that if I continue down this road of stupidity (my words not hers)...then I am going to end up in a thyroid coma! She was very concerned, telling me to set a timer on my phone to let me know when I should take it. So I've been getting up every morning at 7:30, since then, and taking my medicine, then going back to bed. God! Who knew the human body needed so much maintenance?!

I mean, seriously, I have to be on top of the thyroid problem, take birth control, eat right, drink water, get enough sleep, exercise, shave different parts of my body, remember to lotion my legs, put on lip gloss, and not talk about gross stuff in front of mixed company? It's exhausting! And at the end of the day I'm supposed to not look like a sea beast?!

Okay, enough of that rant. On a serious tip, I've been way too unmotivated to exercise. I bought a yoga dvd last week, and I love yoga, so I'll try to keep on track with that. I have a yoga mat, I can do that in the living room before giving the kids breakfast. But as for my gym membership...I haven't been there at all this year! At...all. Loser much?

But I'm not down in the dumps about it. I do stay busy as of late with the packing and stressing over financial matters. Oh, and watching "Gossip Girl". And depressing movies like "Blue Valentine". But that's a whole other blog about how certain movies can make you suicidal. Nevertheless, I'll get back on track. Especially once I'm in L.A. and can't use the weather as an excuse to not go to the gym. I'll have to come up with a whole other excuse then, huh?

To Vegan or Not to Vegan...

Sometimes I really don't know what I should be writing about. My life lately has been repetitive. Everything in my life is either the amazing things my three daughters have been doing, or a variety of things related to our move to Los Angeles...including finding an apartment, plane tickets, moving companies, etc. etc. I'm not posting about that, unless I have a gripe or two. So far, no such gripes.

I could also gripe about the weather, seeing as how we were supposed to be in L.A. already by this time, but instead we're here, waiting for his job to transfer. And I can't complain too much, because hell, we're so lucky that he has a job to transfer to! Nevertheless, the snow is annoying. Chicago was hit with like, 8 inches of snow or something over the past 2 days, and it sucks all hell. It's really bad also because of the low temperatures. It was 8 degrees when I woke up the other morning!

But on to the positive, I've been trying to reverse a few of the problems I've been having by taking a new outlook on life and changing my lifestyle. Now keep in mind, by saying I'm changing the way I eat, I just mean that I'm finally giving up meat for good. But of course with me, it feels like it's not enough. I had given up chicken, beef, pork and turkey. Okay, I never was much of a beef eater, even less of a pork eater. I would eat a burger or steak maybe once every two months. Well, because of my stomach problems, I seriously had to rethink all I was doing. I once got an upset stomach from eating fruit! FRUIT! Yes, that sounds ridiculous. It was a mixture of the stress I was under and all of the bad foods I was eating! So I gave up the chicken nuggets, the crispy chicken sandwiches, the fish sticks, because just because it's not beef or pork, doesn't mean it's healthy! I got a gym membership, I even stopped eating fish (mainly because I realized I was allergic to it! You're not supposed to get tingly lips and a sore throat from eating fish?! Really? Lol).

So, instead of sitting around complaining, or, you know, starving, I just started eating vegetables, rice, pasta, fruits, and Boca and MorningStar products. I mean, I seriously love the Boca Vegan Burger! And then I downloaded a vegan cookbook to my Kindle! I don't know if I can go totally vegan, but I might try it for a week or two, just to see if I starve to death! Besides, seeing my old friend Jennifer Hudson accomplish what she did, losing 80 pounds and completely changing her life...I mean, if my girl can do it, I can do it. It's seriously weird seeing someone who I used to know (Dunbar high school choir, what! lol), up there, doing her thing, winning awards, being beloved by millions and just being an inspiration. I saw a Dateline interview with her today, and I just realized I still love that girl. We weren't best friends in high school, but we hung with some of the same people and she was always a sweetheart. So glad that she's accomplished so much and overcome so much. I bought her book for the Kindle too. I'm going to start reading it tonight!

Later Homies!