Two Weeks In

I forgot how good I felt when eating clean. To be transparent, I dread going on Stimulock. Not because it doesn’t work, but because I know it DOES work when the protocol is followed correctly. Craving starch the entire time isn’t a highlight for me either. haha 

Here I am two weeks in, no mess ups, but loads of temptation. I am down 12lbs! I haven’t taken my measurements but I will start this week. The measurements come in handy when you have days you don’t see the numbers on the scale that you were hoping for. They help reinforce that you are doing great and your body is losing inches instead of weight on those days…which aren’t inches what make all the difference anyway?

What keeps me motivated? Want to see an embarrassing photo? Actually, a couple embarrassing, to me, photos that help keep me motivated.

The first will never be on my social feeds. Why? Becuase when I saw it, as bad as I hate to admit it, all I saw were my arms, my thighs, my face, and how I knew I was hiding my double chin with my sweet babies head. Now I look at it and it melts my heart, my heart hurts. The days of my son allowing me to hold him tight and rock him to sleep are coming to an abrupt end sooner rather than later and while that photo will forever be one of my favorites of me and my son, it will always have a tinge of shame laced in its beauty because of the way I see myself.

The second, (image is cropped to not show my niece before her wedding day) this was actually taken just yesterday…yes after my 12lb weight loss. I was taking Bridal images of my beautiful niece and asked my sister to get a shot of us. The first thing I saw here…or should I say things…wasn’t the beautiful sunset or my stunning niece, it was my back fat. Here I sit again with these meaningful moments in my life and the refusal to share them because of the shame I feel for allowing myself to get to the size I am.

I share all of this not to hear all of the sentiments I have heard time and time again, but to make myself realize that I started somewhere, we all start somewhere and that I am only going to improve week after week after week. NOT only in weight being lost, but confidence being gained and moments being shared with joy.

Bring on week #3.

Happy Stimming ❤

-K

Party of 3

A lot has happened since I last posted. We had a precious baby boy, who is now 10 months old, we moved to Texas, we both started new jobs, and we have both gained a good 30+ pounds each.

I personally have started and failed miserably on Stimulock twice since having my son. The first time because my milk supply dropped drastically and continued to do so no matter what I ate on protocol, so I decided to give myself some grace and start again once I weaned. The second time, I really really wanted to just NOT be on Stimulock. Truth is truth. 

Which brings me to today…I have just finished eating an entire bowl of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese as my “final” load meal and I am ready to get this weight off. Weight loss goal is 50lbs. However, my first goal is 10LBS. I have to go in sets of 10 or I will get discouraged / overwhelmed and give up.

I weighed yesterday and was 206, makes me want to vomit typing that out, but I want to be real so I can look back and see how far I have come.

Lendon’s first birthday party is April 21st and I would LOVE to actually BE in the photos at his party and WANT to post them instead of only posting the ones of him and JW.

So here we go! I’m going hard and strong and protocol 100%. I can do this! Feel free to follow along. I plan to check in at least once a week, if not more.

Here’s to shrinking in size and weight but gaining in confidence and health!

Weeks Challenge:: going to dinner on Saturday in Dallas for JW’s dad’s birthday.
Defeating the challenge:: check out menu before I go, choose wisely or bring appropriate food.

Talk with you soon!

-K

Getting Real

Can I be real? Like really really real? Like raw…real?

Within the last 8 months I have gone through some of the most devastating days of my life. My husband and I have cried more, questioned more, and felt lonelier than ever. Why you ask ? Well, we lost two babies within that time frame. (Read more here)

Heartbreak doesn’t even begin to cut it.

We couldn’t have made it through without hours of prayer and the support of our friends and family.

Maybe you’re like me? Happy, eat. Sad, eat. Excited, eat. Anxious, eat. Bored, eat.

I am an emotional eater, and if I didn’t know that before, I know that now.

So today, after all the 4th of July festivities, I begin to focus on me again. To focus on getting healthy. Shedding unwanted/unneeded fat; and with nothing less than The Stimulock System.

Time to regain my confidence and be the best me I can be, because one day I will be a mom, and I want to be at my best when my body is ready to grow a healthy baby and again when I hold that precious baby in my arms.

Follow me for the next few months as I regain my healthy, confidence, and prepare my body to do what God created it to do.

 

 

recipe: Lemon Rosemary Crockpot Chicken

We are always looking for ways to eat Stimulock Protocol foods. If I don’t switch up what I eat, I have a hard time sticking to the allowed foods. JW on the other hand, can eat the same thing for every meal and be a-okay. Men 😉 

Today’s meal was Lemon Rosemary Crockpot Chicken. Yummy & easy.

Ingredients: (feeds two)
15 Oz of raw boneless skinless chicken (around 6 tenders cooked down to 10oz)
1 Cup Low Sodium Chicken Stock
2TBSP Garlic
Pepper to taste
1 Lemon Sliced
Sprinkle of Sea Salt
5 Sprigs of Rosemary

Directions ( with photos )

Gather ingredients, and take a pretty photo…you can skip that last part if you want.

Place Chicken in crockpot, pour in chicken stock, place all other ingredients on top of chicken

Turn crockpot on for needed time. We set ours for 4 hours so when we came home from church we would have lunch ready to eat.

Measure out your protein (5oz) and pair with your 1 cup of veggies and lunch is served!

Hope you enjoy this! We really liked it!

Bye Y’all!

Egg Power

A little over a month ago, JW and I, drove down to Texas to visit family. We always love visiting them because we have a great time, and it’s always nice to visit our country roots.

My sister and her family live on 150 acres in good ole’ Diana Texas. You’ve never heard of it? Weird. It’s a thriving metropolis of 3,500 people right outside of Longview Texas. Anyway, that’s besides the point. Other reasons we love visiting is because we get to spend time with our handsome little nephews, oh and there’s also no cell service at her house, so it’s almost like we stepped back into 1970. It. Is. Wonderful. Never underestimate the power of no cell tower.

Last but not least, we love visiting because they have grass fed chickens, and with chickens, there are always fresh eggs! If there’s not…cook that sucker. This time, like many before, my sister loaded us up with farm fresh eggs.

Being on Stimulock, eggs are a vital part of the protocol diet, plus 3 scrambled/fried/boiled eggs is a super easy meal. I recently was wondering why eggs were so great for us. So here is the entire reason for this blog post, to share with you many of the benefits of those wonderful little, delicate, ovals.

– The protein from eggs makes you feel fuller longer so you don’t want to snack throughout the day.
– They are loaded with muscle building protein
– They boost your immune system
– They boost your metabolism
– They keep you skin healthy
– They are not high in cholesterol as previously thought
– The egg white has Vitamin B3, B2, contains about 60% of the total protein, 90% of the total Vitamin B3
– The egg yolk has large amounts of Lutein and Zeaxanthin, 90% of the total  omega-3s, Vitamins A, D, E, K, B5, B6, B12, Folate, Choline, Manganese

The list could go on and on!

Tip: Find different ways to cook and season your eggs. This helps me really feel like I have a variety of ways I can eat them. Have fun with your food, no need to feel trapped just because we have a protocol food list. Be creative!

Hope you enjoyed todays fun informative post. I’ll talk to you next week to tell you about a fun competition me and two of my clients/friend decided to do together! Nothing gets me more amped then adding a little competition.

 

Barbacoa and Cauliflower Tortillas – Trust me it’s delicious

JW is a meat man. He get’s meat lovers pizza, is obsessed with beef jerky, and a day is not complete without a ton of meat involved.

As we all know only a certain number of ounces of meat is allowed daily with Stimulock, so JW takes it very seriously. He was in the mood for something different, and that is when he ran across a barbacoa recipe, (recipe he found), but you can’t just eat barbacoa without a tortilla, and you need veggies with your meal, so he paired the barbacoa with the cauliflower tortilla and it was so so good!

(Disclaimer – I was so excited about the taste that I forgot to take a photo of the actual meal. Imagine this image minus the olive.)

Here are the recipes for each!

Barbacoa-style Shredded Beef

Start with a chuck roast. Anywhere between 2-4 lbs. We used a 4lb and had barbacoa for days. Cut it in half and trim most of the visible fat. Place in slow cooker.

In food processor or Ninja, puree the following:

1/2 Onion
1/4 cup Lime Juice

1/4 cup Tomato Paste
4 cloves Garlic
1 1/2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tsp Cumin
2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Cloves or Allspice

Pour the puree over the roast in the slow cooker.

Cook on low for 7 hours. When it’s done, shred it with two forks and put it back into the amazing sauce in the slow cooker that was created during cooking. Keep on low for another couple of hours to really soak up the flavor of the sauce.

Serve! You can eat it plain, in a burrito bowl like Chipotle, on a salad, in soup, in a cauliflower tortilla 😉 the list goes on and on.

Cauliflower Tortillas

Ingredients:

• 1 large head of cauliflower, cut into small florets and stem removed
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Place cauliflower into food processor and pulse until crumbs about half the size of a grain of rice.

2. Place cauliflower into large microwave safe bowl and microwave for 2 minutes. Your cauliflower should be soft and tender (and hot!).

3. Stir to mix up the bottom and top cauliflower. Place back into the  microwave and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove and stir again so that all the cauliflower cooks evenly. Place back into microwave and cook for 5 minutes. At this point, you should see the cauliflower is starting to become more dry. Microwave for another 5 minutes. Cauliflower should still be slightly moist to the touch, but should look dry and clumped up. If you’ve made cauliflower pizza or breadsticks with the cloth wringing dry method, it should look the same.

4. Add in eggs and seasoning. Stir to combine until smooth paste forms. Divide dough into equal size balls. Place onto large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using your knuckles, flatten ball and shape into thin, round tortillas.

5. Place into oven and bake for 10 minutes. Tops of rounds should look like pale tortillas. Carefully flip tortilla rounds and bake for another 7 minutes. It will be a little hard to remove rounds from the baking sheet so make sure you have a good spatula. It is also okay if the bottom side is rougher looking than the top. As long as you can remove it in one piece, you should be fine. Once it is cooked in the pan, that second side will smooth out more.

6. Heat pan on stove. Cook tortillas with I can’t believe it’s not butter spray, on medium heat until both sides develop some color and golden brown marks. Serve immediately.

 

Try it! You will not be disappointed!

 

 

• Photo found – http://www.recipeshubs.com/paleo-tacos/4294

Travel on Stimulock – Helpful hints on what to eat, when you eat out.

Hey friends! With the Holiday’s coming up, my guess is that you might be spending a lot of time in your car. With travel comes fast food and eating out. Understandable. I wanted to help you out so that you can eat the best you can while on the road. 

A few months back I wrote about what you can eat at Chipotle -> check it out here. Chipotle is my go-to during Stimulock if I do not want to cook, or we are out and about. Plus it’s extremely delicious. 

Here are some other ideas for you. **Keep in mind that these aren’t all 100% protocol, but they are as close as you might find while on the road, and better than other options.

Subway – Salad with grilled chicken, veggies, and lemon as the dressing. If you HAVE to get one of their dressings, get it on the side and dip your fork in it, in order to get the least amount of dressing as possible. 

Chipotle –  Chicken or beef, any of the salsas, half a scoop of corn, lettuce 🙂 YUMMY!

Jimmy Johns – Turkey Un-wich w/ veggies, or a Tuna Un-wich. Have them really strain the tuna so there is minimal sauce on it. 

Applebees –  Oriental Chicken Salad – Dressing on this side, no Asian noodles, no nuts. Just lettuce, cabbage, and chicken. You can ask for tomatoes too as well. Switch out the dressing for the Balsamic Vinaigrette if you’d like, the Asian dressing that comes with this is STRAIGHT sugar.

Wendy’s – 2 Value menu burgers w/ lettuce, tomato, onion (if you like it) and mustard. Toss the bun! Eat the patty and veggies. 

Chick-Fil-A – Grilled chicken sandwich with veggies. Have them wrap it in a lettuce leaf, vs. a bun. They will do it…and it will be their pleasure. 😉

Gas Station – Many truck stops will have boiled eggs and fruit for you to choose. Don’t worry, the boiled eggs are fresh, just double check if it makes you feel better. 

Sit Down Restaurants – Ask for steak, chicken, or fish cooked on open flame – NO OIL, NO BUTTER, NOTHING. Just meat and heat. Ask what their veggies are cooked in, many times they will be cooked in butter. If that is the case, as for raw or steamed veggies. You can also do a salad – bring your own dressing, or use salsa.

This may all seem overwhelming right now, but trust me, you will eventually know all of this by heart, and you will be making wonderful progress so you won’t care if your husband and daughter are eating french fries. Be healthy for you. If there is one thing I can stress it is that. Be healthy because you are only given one body, take care of it the best you can! If you’re on Stimulock, you are already on the right track. 

You’re going to do great! Stay motivated and don’t feel bad about asking your practitioner for help and advice. That is what she is there for. 

Merry Christmas!!



Travel Photo Credit: Deeply Rooted Magazine Blog, Vine & Light – check it out! 
To give them a quick shout out. Deeply Rooted Magazine has been a blessing in my life. It is a Biblical based magazine filled with fun, real life stories, advice, and incredible photography!   


 
 

I’m going for it.

I’ve decided to go for it. I’ve decided to lose weight with Stimulock DURING the Holiday season. I’m going to do it. I’m fully aware of how hard it is going to be, especially when I’m in Arkansas for Christmas, but I do not want to wait until 2016 to lose these extra pounds I picked up over the past year. 

So, there she is, in all of her brown glass glory. Sitting on my desk as a constant reminder to stay on track.

Crazy, I know, I am crazy to even attempt, but I figure if I do deviate from the program, I won’t gain any extra weight, just add back what I’ve already lost. 

This is an experiment. I will let you know how it goes! 
Wish me luck! 

Merry Christmas yall!

NSV – Non-Scale Victories

Each day you wake up, use the restroom, and weigh yourself. Day after day you are extremely encouraged that you are dropping weight consistently, but what happens when you weigh yourself and you didn’t lose?

What do you do?
A. You freak out?
B. Get discouraged?
C. Go back over your food from yesterday in your journal to see what could have gone wrong?
D. All of the above

Answer, C. There might be times throughout your journey that you stumble upon a day or two that you can’t see your loss on the scale. First ask yourself: Did I drink ALL of my water? Did I Eat ALL of my food? Did I deviate from protocol? Did I exercise and not add in my extra protein? (Women, am I on or about to start my monthly cycle?) If you answer to all of this is yes, you didn’t cheat, and you aren’t PMS’ing, then what went wrong?

Truth is, our bodies can be stubborn from time to time. If you’ve spent a long time at your current weight in your past, then it could be that your body is trying to over come the hurdle, and it may take a couple of days to get your down.

Or, you just had an off day. Maybe your food was cooked in oil and you didn’t know, or you’re truly just having a “bloated day” and your body is holding on to extra water for some reason.

So how do you stay motivated?

 NSV – Non-Scale Victories

– Measurements. How many inches have you lost?
– Clothes. Are your clothes fitting looser? Are you able to wear old shirts/jeans you haven’t been able to fit in in a while?
– Sleep. Do you sleep better?
– Energy. Do you NEED that afternoon soda or coffee to stay awake around 2:30PM at the office?
– Feel. How do you feel? Can you say no to bad foods easier? Do you feel overall healthier?

When our bodies are taking in only the good foods that HELP them, you will see and feel changes in all of these areas.

Don’t get discouraged, if you don’t lose every single day after you’ve been on Stimulock for a few weeks. It happens to all of us. Keep going! Stick to the good foods, drink your water, and you will be back on track before you know it.

If you experience more than 3 days of no weight loss on the scale, contact your practitioner. We WANT to help you succeed. We can give you ideas on what might be happening or tell you how you might alter your diet for a day or so.

Never give up! Focus on the NSV – Non-Scale Victories

Happy Losing!

Summer Struggle

Summer Struggle.

You know what I’m talking about. It’s hot, you want something cold. Ice Cream to be exact, and one cone won’t hurt you….

That was my summer…every day. I struggled bad. I gained some weight and my clothes are fitting extremely tight. What does that mean for me?

Stimulock to the rescue. I’m back on the Stimulock System and I am feeling great. 1 week in and down 11 pounds. Did I mention I ate ice cream a lot…and that I went to Europe for two weeks. Yea, It wasn’t the “healthiest” summer for me. Plus all they eat in Italy/France/Greece/Turkey is pasta and bread. (That’s me with one of many gelato’s I had!)

I know that when I eat bad I feel it, almost instantly. I’m sleepy, my face is greasy, I feel sluggish, bloated, and just all around gross.

I’m thankful I know what I can do to get healthy again! Stimulock is my saving grace. There is no greater feeling than knowing that what you have been putting in your body is actually HELPING your body.

So I’m back on the StimSystem and happy to be! It’s easy to say no to bad foods when you feel so great. Plus I’m going to NYC and Vegas soon for a girls weekend and work and I wouldn’t mind looking my best! Upcoming travel always motivates me. OH! and I’ll be celebrating my 27th birthday, so I have some goals to reach before then.

Wish me luck, and follow along! I’d love to hear about your success.

What’s for dinner?
– Tonight I am eating grilled pork chops and onions. YUMMY!

Talk to you soon!