Good Sunday everyone! It's a rainy day here in WV and a good day to stay in and do Beat Saber :) I weighed myself this morning and I started at 215 the beginning of the year, now I'm down to 212 lbs. I know, I know... its water weight but when you think about people with Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) they have extra fluid in their body so this extra water weight I don't have to lug around is a plus, not just for my health but my heart, lungs, and body too. 

I notice I've been peeing a lot more between being inspired to drink more water and the beginnings of ketosis. So far I haven't had the "keto flu" yet but I recently bought a multivitamin as well as refueling my electrolytes as much as I can so I don't get the "flu". *Knock on wood* that it don't happen. So I'm excited to see the scale budge, and I know I'm doing something right for a change. :)

I created a new page to organize all the things I have discovered and I'm liking here lately that's helping me called "My Faves & Craves". It will be focusing on my favorite stuff that is helping me such as Avocado slices sprinkled with Everything but the bagel seasoning to my favorite workouts, fave snacks, resources, etc. It's a work in progress I will be adding to it as time goes on. 

Hey guys! I know I haven't been on here for awhile BUT I've had time to get past the holidays and get settled into the new year. Hello 2022! :) Hope you are nice to us compared to 2020 and 2021, I have faith. 

Anyway, I have had a few awesome and new developments. 

1. Acquired a Fitbit watch: I got a couple for my kids for Christmas and once I saw how neat these things were, so... I went ahead and got me one too! I mean, heck! I hardly buy stuff for myself, I'd rather buy for my kids. First and foremost, their happiness is what fuels my happiness. I got ahold of the Fitbit Versa 2 and it is so neat and its my first smartwatch. It shows how many calories you burned, hours you slept, what your heartrate is and when you hit cardio or fat burning mode and saves your stats for you to see and keep track of. Which leads me to the next thing

2. Kids got an Oculus Quest 2 for Christmas: Yes, my kids made out like bandits Christmas of 2021. So one day, I got to try it out and let me tell ya, it's like you are there in person it feels so realistic. VR has come a long way since it's beginnings. So I broke down and got Beat Saber! It is so much fun! If you enjoy what you're doing you are more likely to stick with it and I didn't know I exercised for an hour last night after my little man, Ezekiel went to sleep. I burned almost 500 calories just slashing cubes to the beat of music. Talk about some major inspirations here!

3. Starting a Low Carb Diet: So before the New Year, I was helping my Mom clean up stuff around the house. We came across the Atkins Book, so in my spare time I started reading it. The science behind low carb and why our nation is dealing with obesity is because of CARBS! So we have to change our habits if we want to get healthy because the habits we have now have made us as a nation unhealthy. The pandemic didn't help either. 

Anyway! It's simple science & math lol. Lets pretend your body is a bank account and you have a balance of $100 in carbs stored in your body. If you stop eating carbs and start eating moderate protein and high fat foods you don't "deposit" money into your account. Exercise and staying active and so it is "spending money". When you don't have any carbs in your body, it turns to fat for fuel which equals what? WEIGHT LOSS!!!

I mean, I know breaking habits is hard and it takes a few weeks or so, but it's kind of a no-brainer. You don't starve, you can eat as much protein and healthy low carb veggies and healthy high fat foods until you are satisfied. No deprivation, science gets involved and your appetite becomes suppressed because your body is burning fat that is stored so therefore why get hungry when your body is burning the thing it stored on you in times like these? Use science to your advantage! 

And with the slew of info out there these days about low carb recipes there's no way you can get bored. NO WAY! I'm hooked on chaffles with bacon pieces and a slather of smashed up avocado and everything but the bagel seasoning on it. Big time yum and big time appetite crusher, I wasn't hungry the whole day on just a couple chaffles and 'cado. Great way to get into the glory zone: ketosis. Yes yes y'all ketosis baby!!!

I'm gonna start getting brave and posting a starting pic of me and maybe try to do some videos to put on here. Who inspired me to do that? Dhar Mann. Check him out on YouTube. I recommend it. 

Stay safe y'all and happy trails!