She's so sweet!

Oh what a day today has been! Today my dad asked if L and I wanted to go to the store with him. I of course said yes because your girl loves grocery shopping! I also convinced L to go which on a normal day it would be like pulling teeth trying to get her to go out. Today she was pretty easy to convince to go with us awesome! We went to Costco and got a couple things there including some grade 2 books to get L ready for the new school year. (Honestly still on the fence about sending her) all was good. Dad decided that he needed to run to the dollar store to grab a couple things so off we went. Once at the parking lot to the store we started walking to the store dad was in front of us and L and I were holding hands behind him when suddenly I hit mud and my foot twisted and came out from under me and down I went my opposite knee hit the ground hard and then the rest of my body went down as well with my child right behind me. Thank goodness my purse and body caught her and she didn't end up getting hurt. She had no scratches or anything she was more worried about me then anything.  Of course dad didn't hear or see any of this and continued to the store leaving us behind. The car next to us on the other hand saw the whole thing and laughed. Lets just say my kid was not to happy about that person laughing at me and yelled at the car. Right then L turned into the sweetest little girl she was asking me if I was ok was I hurt all of the above and she was just all together concerned. She helped me walk (hobble) over to the bench outside the store and we sat there me covered in mud and bleeding from my leg and her just concerned. I ended up calling dad from outside the store letting him know what happened because clearly he had no clue. Once we carefully hobbled back to the car my sweet girl opened the car door for me and offered to get me a bandaid and ice when we got home. I'm glad I'm raising a sweet caring girl.  

Pandemic and Me

Well as per normal it has been a while since I have been on here. We are in unprecedented times and it is very weird! My child is home all the time and so is the rest of my family and we are not allowed to leave the house unless it is to go to the store for essential items. Schools are out and its just crazy!

We are now resorting to online schooling at the current moment which let me tell you as much as my child loves being on the computer or Ipad school work is the last thing she wants to do and I don't blame her. I give full props to the parents that are currently sitting down with there kids and doing school work everyday and all that jazz but that isn't the case in our house hold. If I can get L to sit down and do at least an hour of solid work a couple times a week without a fight then I'm winning! I have come to the decision that I am not going to fight with her and her get upset over it to the point of tears and hatred it's just not worth it to me and her mental and to be honest my mental health to do that. If she doesn't feel up to it that day then we just don't do it and I tell her that we are going to have to do a little bit of it sometime in the week and she knows that and she will choose to do it when she feels she is in a good space to do it. outside of that we are taking this weird time to spend time together and learn things a different way wether we watch a national geographic show on Disney + about dinosaurs or go out in our yard and look at things growing. My kid is a ball of information and tells me things about animals or dinosaurs before they even get to that part in the shows we are watching. basically as long as she is learning in some way and she is happy and healthy I am doing good.

It's so hard for kids right now especially ones who don't have siblings like mine. they aren't allowed to play with their friends or go to the park or really even leave the house or yard except to go for a walk. This has been hard on L as she is a very social person and loves her friends. One great thing though is that even though it has caused more screen time she has been able to video call and play games with her cousin which has been great for the both of them as before all this they would maybe see each other a few times a year mostly at family events and now they have more of a friendship. It also has been a good break for me as in those times where she is on with her cousin I get to have some free time from entertaining her myself.

As I think most people have these days I am becoming a bit of a crazy plant lady and have a good collection going right now in the corner window. not all of them will stay indoors but just until it is time to plant them in the gardens. I have also started a list of plants that I want to get for the house so we will see how that goes.

As for my way of eating it has totally gone off the rails and I am sad to say that but when you have a hard time finding certain foods and you don't want to go to the store all the time especially with what is going on we just came to the conclusion that we will just eat whats the easiest to access. we are starting to talk about getting back on track with our Keto way of eating which I am very much looking forward to.

All in all we are getting through this we are currently healthy which is great and we are getting a little sick of each other but we are working on that.

Stay Safe!

It's been a hot minute

Well its been forever since I was actually on here and wrote anything or even checked up. I need to get back on to doing that more often! Yes I know I know I think I say that in every update post I do and it seems like it never happens but I do want to make this more of a regular thing again. I am very frequent on instagram right now I post just about everyday there my food of course.

So here is a little update for you I have been 9 months Keto now and I am officially down -51.4lbs!!! YAY HAPPY DANCE!!

I feel so much better and have so much more confidence when it comes to how I feel and look about myself. I have no idea if that last sentence makes any sense but oh well its staying. I have been extremely busy with work and being a single mom and trying to keep helping out around the house here but the struggle is real. I am so tired right now it is crazy. I feel like I don't have enough time in the day to get everything I need to get done done. I started waking up at 6 am every morning just to try and give myself more time to get things done but then I'm still staying up till 11pm working. So in conclusion of that coffee is my friend and I probably drink way to much of it at this point.

L is officially finished Kindergarten and going into grade one next year 😭where did my baby go! She is so smart, I know I know everyone says that about their kids but in all honesty some of the stuff that comes out of this kids mouth is crazy I even have to google it some days to figure out what she is talking about and most of the time she is right and I feel like an idiot.

At this very moment I feel exhausted and emotional and didn't know where to put that need to get my frustrations out/vent so here I am writing this. once I'm done here it's back to cleaning the house and trying to get as much work done as possible before I take a day off for Canada Day! Yes if you didn't know already I am Canadian!

Well until I get back on here and do some more of this writing stuff so long for now!

Changes In My Life...

I have been really thinking about the past lately and looking at what I have done in the last year with myself. I got into a really dark place where In my head I was going to be over weight and hate myself for the rest of my life I had tried almost everything. I was working out but wasn't really loosing weight and I was getting back up to that weight I told myself that I would never let myself get to again. The highest weight I have ever been was 256 lbs I was 248lbs and had given up hope of ever being at my goal weight or feeling good about myself again. I really let myself go and didn't care at all I stopped wearing make up wore my hair up 90% of the time and wore yoga pants and big sweaters because those were the only things that fit me.

One day I decided that I was done with weight watchers and not sticking to it and that I was going to start looking into this Keto diet that everyone was talking about. I started doing my research and gathering information. I then decided heck I'm going to try this and see how it goes. The only way I was going to succeed was to be able to get the rest of my family on board It took about a week to get them all on board my dad was all for it right off the bat. My mom on the other hand took a little more convincing to give up pasta and breads.

I just posted a Keto 6 month update. I'm happy to say that in those 6 months I have lost 38.8 lbs almost 40lbs and I feel great! In the past couple weeks I have noticed a lot of changes in myself. I have been trying on old clothes and clothes that I haven't ever worn because they were always too small and am now able to fit in them. I have started wearing makeup again because I now feel good about myself and the way I look. I am motivated again and feel so determined to keep going with this lifestyle.

I have found a passion for cooking. I used to try and make meals before but was never confident in what I made. That has all changed I am making dinner just about every night and I am experimenting with different foods and how to make the same chicken 50 different ways. I am adapting recipes to make them Keto friendly and just really embracing it all.

Yes I still have down days and crappy days. I still have days were I feel like crap. But those days have become a lot less.

I am happy and I am so looking forward to what the future is like and where I can go from here.

KETO 6 month + Update!

So I have been Keto since September 21st 2018. I am currently down -36.4lbs YAY! I love Keto It was honestly one of the best decisions I made to switch over to Keto. I was on Weight watchers for a while and the most I lost on that was 15lbs. I also gave up a lot on Weight watchers. Keto I have been enjoying making meals almost every day for my family as they have joined me in this journey. I find once I got used to what I could and couldn't have it got a lot easier to follow to the point where I know what I can eat and the things I can't eat I don't want and if I do want it its ok once in a while to have a little but just get right back on track the next day. I have stalled a couple times where I wouldn't loose any weight for a couple weeks but that seems to be pretty normal. I am not letting stalls get me discouraged I mean loosing 36.4lbs in 6 + months is pretty amazing and I would be a happy camper is in the next 6 + months I lost another -36.4lbs. If I could do that that would mean that in a total of 15 months of Keto I would be at my goal weight. I am totally committed to that. My Clothes fit better I have gone from a size 14 jean to a size 10!! I have lost inches and weight and I feel great. I am also enjoying cooking and experimenting with food. I post most of my food on my instagram page. https://www.instagram.com/lifewithalovebug/?hl=en

What I'm doing to try and be a better mom

About a month ago I was taking my daughter to her gymnastics class and I noticed that one of the kids in her class were trying to get there moms attention but mom was on her phone and totally ignoring the kid. I felt really bad for the kid as she was trying so hard to get her attention. It was at that moment that I made a promise to myself to be a more attentive mom.

When I am at gymnastics if I can see my daughter out the viewing room window I make sure I watch her and that every time she looks up she sees me watching her. When I can't see her that is when I can look at my phone.

At night we have started a new tradition/bed time routine. I went and got a kids novel its 3 stories in 1 and its 33 chapters long. Every night we read a chapter of the book before bed while cuddled up. Sometimes if we are at a good part we will read 2 chapters. I find that since doing this L has been going to bed so much better than in the past and looks forward to our reading times.

Mother daughter dates! I have been trying to do a mother daughter date at least 1-2 times a month with L. We go to dinner or do something fun just the 2 of us next month we are going to go to Paw Patrol live together! L is super excited about this.

I am trying to put my phone down and or work down more often and playing with L wether it be a tickle battle playing a game or watching some video about something she was interested in.

If I do anything at all anything that could make a difference with my girl I hope that being more present in her life and showing her love in ways other than heres a new toy or let me buy you this I want her to appreciate time and time spent with me and other people in her life I want her to value things like that more so than valuing the things I buy her.

I have to say since I have implemented some of these rules or guidelines for myself I have seen a big improvement with L and her moods and how much we used to fight compared to now. She has been helping more and listening so much better. Hopefully this keeps up and I can raise a great kid!

Keto (WEEK 4 UPDATE)

Keto Week 4 How I'm feeling my thoughts on Keto!

So today was weigh in day and I was up pretty early this morning used the washroom and stepped on the scale and was super surprised at the number in a good way!

Week 4 : -4.4 lbs  Total loss so far : -10.4lbs

Happy dance commence! To be honest I have never felt this good on any way of eating before. I am almost never hungry and when I am I eat, I don't snack anymore I eat 2 meals a day sometimes 3 but mostly just 2. It is very rare for me to eat after 7pm now which it used to be snack central in this house hold at night.

I am starting to understand my body and self a lot more and better. I am more in tune with how I am feeling. The one thing I have noted for myself and realized is that on any other WOE I have never not been hungry I was hungry all the time. I was also always crazy tired I thought that being tired was just the way my life was going to be. I was always dying for a nap at 1-2pm. This has totally changed which makes me love this way of eating even more!

I am having so much fun experimenting with food I have been cooking all the meals for my family which has made doing this so much easier and everyone is loving the food!

I can't wait to see what happens in the next couple weeks I am sticking to this until I hit my goal and beyond no more yucky carbs for this girl!