Intermittent Fasting Update and Tips

 

So it's been a little bit, but I decided to make this post an update on my intermittent fasting cause it's getting exciting now. And with my update I'd like to share some things I've learned through trial and error along the way. 

That way someone else out there wanting to give this a try doesn't have to learn the hard way like I did and you'll get your results faster. So here we go...

I'll start with the fact that I'm still doing the 16:8 IF schedule, and that works for me. However, now I try ending my fast at 12 p.m. instead of two and then begin again at 8 p.m.. Sometimes I start later, too. It just depends on the day, but this is basically what I've been doing and it works for me. My body has adjusted to this routine. 

Where I went wrong the first four weeks...trying to fast with a little bit of cream and sugar in my coffee. Before I did this, I found that you could do just a tad, like a teaspoon of cream and sugar but it's still not as good as a full fast without any sugar whatsoever. Well, I learned the hard way. I saw some results, but not like I did when I finally sacrificed my morning cup of coffee.

Before I explain, let me add that you can still have your coffee if you like it black. I just can't do this, so I trained my body to get up and move with just water or plain green tea and voila, my body is just fine. Actually, lately I've been trying green tea with cinnamon which this doctor says helps to speed up weight loss. 

I never thought I'd see the day where I could wake up and get going without my cup of coffee doused in cream and sugar. But waiting till 12-1 gives me something to look forward to when I finally have that cup of coffee the way I like it and it makes me feel like I earned it. At first as I began to cut back on sugar, I did experience an increase in headaches, which I believe was a combination of stress in my life but also sugar leaving my body. 

Not getting as many headaches in the past few weeks, so that's good. And I feel like I have more energy which is shocking cause I used to feel like I literally could not even get out of bed without my first cup. Sometimes, okay, usually, TWO to move my rear. But I now have MORE energy than with my coffee in the morning. 

I've lost track of weeks here and have yet to step on a scale, but looking at the calendar it looks like I'm at week 12. Like I've said before, the scale has traumatized me, so I'm waiting. I might do it today actually and then check again on Monday of next week, because I've added something else into my regimen that I wanted to share, which is making the remainder of the weight melt off and I wish I had done this sooner. 

But I feel like this was kind of good in a way, cause it showed me what works, what doesn't, and what really speeds things up. I was waiting for the right time to shuffle in exercise and I feel like I've lost enough weight (about two pant sizes and a bra cup) to give it a go. My reasoning for waiting was again the psychological factor of as I've explained in previous posts.

How I tried-and-tried exercising, working out up to an hour a day, five days a week at one point and my weight wouldn't budge. In fact, I had gained. It was beyond frustrating. And also as I've stated before, this was never a problem I experienced a day in my life till my late 30s into my early 40s. So if this can work for me in my 40s, this can work for anyone. 

A year ago I gave the Chloe Ting challenge a try 😂. <----- That's how it went, yeah. Weight didn't budge. I "imagined" it was a few times, but, no, it wasn't budging. I gave up and began to focus the remainder of 2020 on my health, which as it turned out part of my health problems were adding to my weight gain. It wasn't all of it, but it was a big part of it. Blah, blah, metabolism, age, and sedentary job added into it as well, not gonna lie. 

Okay. So I was already seeing amazing results by cutting out sugar in the morning, but I'm not kidding you, after my first day of doing Chloe's 2 week shred again, bam, I woke up the next morning with a visual difference in my face, arms, and stomach. Morning after second day, bam, even more again. I feel like I finally cracked the code to get the weight off.

And that day was exciting for me because I've also been working on my skin and hair the past year and everything's coming together at once, which I'll post another time or else I'll be here all day 😂. What was exciting was that one of my girls said to me after I did my mascara for the day, which is all I wear for the most part, along with some powder cause I'm transforming my skin too. 

And she said, "mommy, look at me." And she made me look at her like three times and she said, "mommy, your eyes look so pretty today." "You look so pretty." And I laughed because I had made a mess with my mascara like I always do when I apply it, then I have to wipe it off. 

But it looks like I have eyeliner on at first till it dries and I wipe it off. She thought I had eyeliner on 😂 and that it looked so pretty on mommy. That was super cute. But kids are so honest and it just made my day. They're my go to if I need to know if something looks bad or not, especially her sister 😂. 

My face is shrinking a lot, which is why they looked "different," cause it's the same mess every day but I'm finally losing the weight and starting to look like me, which feels so good. Today was day three, so we'll see how this 2 week challenge goes. Bottom line, if you really want to see results with intermittent fasting, fast results, you have to completely cut sugar, none at all during your fasting window, and add in exercise and it will literally melt off. 

Yes, you can still lose without the exercise. But if fast is what you want, and you can't wait to love yourself when you look in the mirror and feel good in your clothes then exercise too. That's all I want is to feel good in my clothes again, and recognize myself when I look in the mirror or catch a glimpse of my reflection somewhere and not cringe 😂. I think I can finish the rest of this weight off within 30 days. We shall see...so exciting! 

Good luck to anyone else out there going through the same thing trying to make a change! Good luck with your transformation! We've got this!

With Love,

Carmen

Getting Sued and Audited at the Same Time: New York's Covid Relief is a Joke...

Sorry for the delay in posting this week. I've been a bit busy being sued and audited at the same time during a pandemic and global crisis. How many times can someone say they've been through that in a lifetime at the same time? I can say TWICE this year for me and the first time in my life EVER. Goody, goody gumdrops.

It's funny too, cause in the "media" they say how they're offering all this "COVID relief" and working with people, and helping people, but is that the reality? In my reality, that wasn't the reality. I did get a stimulus for myself and two kids which I'm very thankful for. But here's what really happened to me this year...my reality and my experience. 

Maybe others were able to get help. But not only was I not able to get help and climbed out of the hell hole of a situation myself that I fell into by clawing my way out, but I was sued twice and audited twice on top of that. Let's get into it, shall we?? Okay. So let's go back to spring of 2020, when the s**t hit the fan globally and everything starts shutting down. 

Schools closed for "two weeks" mid-march here in New York, then suddenly just as quickly as the schools were closing, the news made it seem like certain death in the New York hospitals if you got sick with COVID. If you had COVID like symptoms in the very beginning, you were s**t out of luck because your doctor's office was now closed and would only see you over the telephone, not even web visits initially. 

And there was no testing right off the bat, and then the first testing when it was available was shotty and unreliable. Myself and two of my adult sons were down in NYC just as COVID was exploding in the city, only no one knew yet. We had two appointments at NYU. So then on top of that, one of my sons, one of these two, had also been down in Miami for a week around the time the s**t started hitting the fan. 

I told him not to go but he's an adult and it was something special planned from back in December after a rough year. He was not canceling and no one really knew what was going on. I'm being super careful, but we all get sick. No idea if it was from when we were at NYU, or him being in Miami. I also have a sharp memory of a lady standing next to me at the pharmacy when I was there to pick up my daughter's inhaler and she's telling the pharmacist that she was up from the city and she was right next to me. 

Could have been at the grocery store too - who knows? But we all got sick and it was definitely respiratory illness. Three of us were the sickest. I counted and I was literally the worst of it for seven to eight weeks. The first week to two weeks I could barely sit up straight or talk for long without feeling winded.

It was scary stuff. We got through it though because I'm an herb ninja, okay. It literally is every man and woman for themselves, especially at that time. I whipped out everything natural under the sun that's antiviral and antiinflammatory and we got better. 

But while getting sick, I lost time from work and fell behind. I tried working through this even the first week when I was my absolute worst till I literally had to listen to my body or else it would have been certain death. I only made $62 that week... The next week, I worked maybe three days here and there when I could, then as soon as I felt winded I'd leave my desk. 

Each week it got better. Had some setbacks. Also had a couple very scary moments where I was honestly afraid for my life. I even put together notebooks of special family recipes for my sons in case anything happened to me - I really did and that took me time because I felt winded doing it and had to do it here and there. 

With all of that said, here we are going through this nightmare and my girls are homeschooling, which at first the schools really struggled with getting the kids adjusted. But on top of all this...the threats start coming in. So I took the little bit I had coming in and made sure I paid in order of threat level priority and I fed my children - utilities were the most immediate cause they can turn those off. 

Even though they said they were "working with people" they were still threatening and I didn't take a chance. So I paid them. I fell behind three months with my landlord but thankfully they put the moratoriums into place to prevent eviction, but he sure wanted to put me out. He wasn't working with me, put my stomach in a knot every month. 

As soon as I got better, I started to work on getting caught back up as best as I could. But it took time because I wasn't making as much as I normally would with my girls home schooling. By the fall I was three quarters of the way caught up with my landlord and by February of this year I was completely caught up with him, including water bills as well. 

It was March of 2020 I had my first letter of a tax issue. But they gave me time and we straightened that out by the end of the year. It was an issue from my 2018 return. Then fast forward...I do my 2020 taxes and now New York was holding up my refund because they see what happened with my federal which was then straightened out. Meanwhile, I'm seriously just a little fish, a nobody.

Just a single mom doing her best barely getting by without handouts and you've got billionaires who shall remain nameless that go, what, ten years of not paying taxes supposedly. It was literally an honest mistake that was straightened out. So now New York is going extra hard on me to prove this and that, including proving my daughters are my daughters...I've been claiming them for 11 years and now this year during a pandemic and when they have "COVID relief for New Yorkers" plastered on their tax website they're asking me to prove they're mine. 

So I do all of that and get them other documentation they needed. Good, I'm thinking. My 1099 should be sufficient, I'm thinking. Wrong. No. They gave me this tiny refund back and want bank statements now and other things, which I'm providing. No problem providing that. But why is my question, why now? The time couldn't be anymore WRONG to hurt someone that's already been through so much this year. 

At the SAME EXACT TIME I was served with court papers by my car's lien holder. Up till "COVID" I had been paying on my car just fine for over two years. After I got sick I fell behind in my car payments. At first the bank worked with me, but the car was no longer a priority. My priorities were: LANDLORD, UTILITIES, AND FOOD. I was forced to sacrifice my car. 

I was making less and the car does not feed us and we were okay without it for now. Long story short...bank stopped working with me last fall. June of 2020 the car wouldn't pass inspection. Needed $2,500 worth of work. I was sold a lemon. I did regular oil changes, wasn't that, and didn't drive it much because I work from home anyway, just normal running around I did with it for kids, store, appointments, family, etc. 

So anyway, I was told when I got the car it was a "sensor," then last June my mechanic tells me it needs all this work to pass inspection. So fast forward again...to the fall. The bank is offering me this "COVID" relief program but I have to get them x, y, and z by such-and-such date and time. I get it to them on the date but literally just TWO HOURS LATE and for good reason. 

I had a loved one in the hospital, which I will not get into. So I explain all of this and nope, we don't care. Now, we're going to sue you during a pandemic. So I said good luck with that, the courts aren't even open yet. 😝 But they waited till they were like the evil vile bank that they are. Forgot to add that they didn't want the car. I told them I took it off the road in October and to come get it, which I have proof of, and they didn't want it cause of the engine issues. 

Then I get second opinion from another mechanic recently to see if it's worth fixing since I'm stuck with the d**n thing and the guy tells me the engine has now seized on the car...and just last week I was served with court papers for this worthless lemon car. Goody, goody gum drops, lucky me, audited and sued all at the same time! Lucky for me, I'M A STRONG PERSON - BRING IT. 

At the end of the day, I'm not worried. It's just sad really and a waste of time. Now I have to take time from work to pull 52 weeks of pay reports, which is time consuming for what? It's just not right to put anyone through this right now. People are going through enough as it is..."COVID relief," pfft, oh, and I never qualified for their rental assistance last year either...such a joke. 

I worked my way out of the poverty I was raised in from my living room over ten years ago. But you know what, they want you poor. They want you IN THE SYSTEM. This too shall pass...I know it will. This was so long that I just realized I left out the douche bag 😂 that tried suing me for a car accident from two years ago involving one of my sons' who was on my insurance at the time. 

My son took full responsibility right from the jump. The guy was literally fine. No ambulance, said he was fine on scene, driveable cars, then almost two years later we get sued during COVID. Come to find out too that he was the boyfriend of a distant relative, odds, right. We found out the injury he was claiming was really from things he did in his free time and he thought he was gonna get a free ride 🤑 on us during a pandemic - people are so dirty. 

The same son had two other accidents where the other drivers were at fault and found at fault by their own insurance companies and they settled but there was no injury cause my son wasn't hurt and he's not that type. The one was head on too and he never went to the hospital even though I thought he should have at least got checked out. But he said he was fine and he's not that way to milk a minor injury for a big settlement. People...🤪

With Love, 

Carmen

My Baby Gate Dilemma - The Best Baby Gates

My Baby Gate Dilemma

photo credit: Brian Sawyer via photopin cc

My daughters are 2 1/2 now, but I still use baby gates. I keep one in between the kitchen and dining room to keep them out of the kitchen, and I keep one in between the living room and the hallway that leads to the upstairs.

There are many reasons for this... First of all, the kitchen has many hazards and even though I've child proofed as best I can, it's just easier to keep them out.

There's two of them and one of me. So we'll keep it like this a little longer... The entrance to the hallway stairs is another obvious given. I don't want them going upstairs by themselves.  Because ; A, they can fall; B, the litter box is upstairs - God forbid they touch that; and C, I just don't want them up there - again two of them and one of me. Best to maintain full control at all times...

If I'm busy doing something downstairs, I don't want to have to worry about the Rugrats sneaking upstairs. The dilemma? I rent a house that is sort of crooked. The foundation is off, so the house is crooked. Is this dangerous? I don't think so. My landlord assured me when I moved in two years ago that he spent thousands to keep the foundation safe. It's just crooked...

Flooring and doorways are uneven, etc., you get the idea. What does this have to do with baby gates, you ask? Well, since the doorways are uneven and crooked, the gates are easy for anyone to take down, including a two year old! Yes, I'm constantly fixing the baby gates and would like to invest in a gate that secures to the wall with screws.

With all of my boys, we used the wooden baby gates and they worked just fine, because we had normal doorways. They were cheap and did the job - kept baby safe. This time around, when I went to purchase my baby gates, the store that I went to was out of the wooden gates. So I bought the plastic baby gates, which were ten dollars more.

Since I didn't feel like hunting all over for the wooden gates, I just bought two of the plastic gates and I really hate them. Hate is a strong word, but I hate these gates. Maybe if my doorways weren't crooked, I wouldn't hate them so much... They have mixed reviews online, so it must be the doorways. It's just easier to get a tighter suction with the wooden gates.  

So I went out and bought the wooden gates when I realized that the plastic gates were useless in my home. I even doubled up at one point, using both the wooden and plastic in the doorways, and would you believe my crafty daughters still managed to take the gates down!! Not only that, but the wooden gates eventually broke from being taken down so many times. Useless....

Only useless because of the doorways though. Because I obviously keep a watchful eye on them at all times, I know when they take a gate down or one of their brothers takes notice and we fix it right away. It's more of a huge nuisance than anything at this point. I can't wait to come up with the money for the secure baby gates, because, really, in my opinion they are the best baby gates. I can't afford them yet, but they will definitely be going on my wish list. This is my dream baby gate...