Weight Loss Update: Me Starting Over

I've been on and off keto for over a year and as a result, I haven't had any weight loss worth celebrating about. I'm at what keto experts call a "weight loss plateau". I wish I have the luxury of time to spend at the grocery store and wet market so I could find more keto-friendly food, cook more low-carb, high-fat meals and finally switch to the healthy-eating lifestyle that I want.

I'm seriously considering going into a fat fast to see if that would kick start my body into losing weight again but after reading and looking more into the fat fasting technique, I think I'll pass.

I'll just look for keto-friendly recipes online to help me with my meal planning and do some more boxing instead. I've just started training and I am loving it so far.

See you on my next post!

After my 10-minute boxing workout :-)

Back to Blogging? Probably.

I can't believe I have been gone for over a year. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother blogging when I cannot even keep up with "more" important things, like being a mom–oh and homeschool! We started homeschool in January and I do believe that we have made a LOT of progress. My son who, for over four years, has not shown that much interest in starting a conversation with us or in singing or in read-aloud books, now sings and chatters and recites the alphabet non-stop. It may not mean anything to some people but to his father and I, it means more than just a pat on the back.

Now back to the question. Am I back to blogging? I'm leaning more towards doing something I still consider impossible–finding time to write with a passion. What about? Anything. Homeschool. Beauty. Makeup. Health. The usual stuff. Whatever catches my attention. I'm tempted to write about the Philippines' current political situation but ho-ho-ho what do I really know about that? I'll leave that to the wannabees and the experts. Last one before I stop with my hirit on our country's political scene. There is this one not-so-well-known and long-forgotten celebrity from a defunct sitcom from the 90s called 'Palibhasa Lalaki' that I'd like to question for her anti-Duterte posts but seeing how effective she is in attracting all kind of negative personalities and haters and "decent" people on her Facebook wall, I'd rather not. I think if I even mention her name here it would only jinx my blogging. Just too bad, I do remember her from when I used to watched the sitcom in my adolescent years and she was umm..okay. Hers wasn't a major role but she did quite alright as a comedian.

Until my next post.

Starry Night

This unfinished painting is my husband's version of Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. I love it and I hope to see it adding some color to our living room soon.

See the original here. You'll also find the painting here.

That's it. Short but sweet.

Back From Another Hiatus

Back from another long "holiday", sorry! Anybody missed me? I'm not sure anybody's been reading this anyway so it doesn't really matter. This is not like "the" blogs out there that people get excited about. Well, not yet but I want to see my blog going in that direction. I mean, who wouldn't? To grow and evolve and be like one of the blogs that people literally hunt down to read. A blog with a strong following. IT IS every blogger's dream, one of my ultimate goals, from my list of over a hundred. So. It might take a while and not without any boo-boos along the way...but I will get there. Eventually. One step at a time.

So, major flashback: Did I ever mention that I used to keep a journal where I do all my writing? I remember six notebooks, all filled, some going into detail, far too much detail and some, just out-of-the-blue ideas that I want to put into paper. All gone. I burned them right after I broke up with some jerk in college and he wasn't even mentioned there, not once. Those were stuff I wrote way before college. I don't know what got into me. Burning them when I could have kept them. Those were treasured memories from when I was young and full of childish hopes and dreams. I guess I burned them as a way to let go. Everything that is past (but definitely, not forgotten). Such a waste. That, ladies and gents, was when notebooks slash journal slash planners were sacred. The Internet was not even invented yet or it may have been but only very few people knew then that it exists. No one's got email and everybody and their granny have mobile phones with external antennas attached to them.

Now everything's gone digital. Blogging is the new norm and is real close to replacing journals. I know there still are a few pen-and-paper types, those who prefer to keep their private thoughts private. I came from that group of people only I made the switch. I knew then that going online is not going to be easy. There will be some laugh-out-loud moments I would not dare write about. There will be secrets I will have to keep secrets. There will be heartaches I have to keep to myself and not tell anybody about. Which leads to one question: What then can I write about as a fledgling blogger? There are so many topics to choose from. Makeup? I love makeup but I don't see myself writing about makeup everyday. Motherhood? I love it and I've gone through a lot being a WAHM but there are so many things about being one that I prefer to keep private. Gardening? I love gardening as well but I'm no expert. Cooking maybe? We have a big enough kitchen and it would be awesome to blog about what I cook for breakfast, lunch and dinner but then again, there are probably gazillion of cooking blogs out there. Is there anything new I can offer to readers in that department. What should I be writing about then that people will enjoy reading? More brainstorming later.

You know what they say, blogging is not blogging until you have people reading your blog and I intend for my blog to be out there. I actually have been trying my luck as a blogger for years so I'm way past newbie-ness. I have tried different ways to increase site traffic. I know more about what works and what doesn't now compared to when I first started. There is a learning curve there and I did learn quite a few tricks. One is to take blogging a bit more seriously if I want my blog to move forward. Taking it seriously means writing more consistently. Give them something of value to read. Take a look at my old blog. It used to be called odesk Success Stories. I did okay writing about my experiences as a work-from-home mom. I had readers sending me emails and requesting to get connected on Facebook. There were quite a few who wants me to feature them (I do interviews and feature their success story) but one day, oDesk decided they want to change their name and so they are now called Upwork. That either means I have to close my blog "oDesk Success Stories" and get a new name OR continue the blog, explain the change in name and move it to Wordpress. Either way, I will have to start over. Fat chance of me doing that.

The only other direction I see myself going is blogging full time here. The name is interesting enough. I can write about a variety of stuff, it being called 365 Slimming Days. I see it covering quite a good variety of topics: makeup, health, motherhood, working from home, cooking, even weight loss. This just used to be my "other" blog, now I see it becoming into my ONLY blog. So there. That's one brainstorming session less for me to do later.

My goal is for this blog to grow and gain some readers. For that to happen, I need to do three things. These are notes to self.

One: Write everyday.

Two: Write only when I feel like writing (and make sure to take breaks in between).

Three: Find MY voice. Write about what I like writing about and really mean it. Be a responsible blogger and think twice before hitting publish.

So that's it. See you again tonight.

Tired Momma Needs Reboot

I work from home but couldn't really work full time. Being a mom to an overly active 3-year old makes that real close to impossible. BUT. I am trying. I just need to reboot, pause, think, relax and restore my energy before I move on to the next task. This poor momma really is tired. There are dark circles around my eyes. My skin and hair are lifeless and I look like I should be auditioning for Walking Dead but oh well, it is awesome being a mom and that alone is enough to brighten up my day.

Just take a look at this picture I took of me and my little one. I don't really look all that tired, do I? I look like I am having fun, don't I? Heh.

Sigma Beauty Essential Brush Kit Giveaway @ Dream Makeup

== GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED ==

I love makeup blogs and I love watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. I found out just recently that some of these bloggers and vloggers host giveaways that are open internationally. I've won once or twice (that was a long time ago) but never makeup! I would love to win makeup products and write about it in my own blog. I might even start doing makeup reviews and host my own giveaway. Wouldn't that be great? I am liking the idea very much. So anyway, I created this post to tell you about Dream Makeup's Sigma Beauty Essential Brush Kit Giveaway. The giveaway is ending real soon (November 3, 2014) so I say go check out the blog and join the giveaway. You'll love the brush set that she is giving away.

To join the giveaway, go here:
http://dreammakeup-blog.blogspot.com/2014/08/sigma-beauty-essential-brush-kit.html

Ends: November 3, 2014

See below:

Image source: http://dreammakeup-blog.blogspot.com

Ingredient of the Day: Ampalaya

The problem: Because I am on the LCHF diet, coming up with recipes that are low-carb, delicious and budget-friendly is not something I can do in a snap.

The first few weeks of the diet was the hardest. I wanted to reduce my carb intake and increase my consumption of fat but I kept running out of food ideas. I struggled and was not eating enough. Because eggs are the easiest to cook, I found myself eating fried eggs more often than I would have liked.

If I were to rate myself for creativity in the kitchen, that would have been a total flop. I told myself that has to stop! I cannot go on eating fried eggs morning, afternoon and night. Surely, I can find the time to cook and come up with meals good enough to sate my appetite without falling off my diet. That's when my hunt for low-carb recipes both online and offline began.

The solution: I now plan my menu weeks ahead. It has saved me both money and time. The only problem I have is that I cannot store some of the food without them expiring.  They also are a bit expensive and not always available in the local shops. So to finally resolve the problem, I've started using local ingredients and cook from scratch. I just have to make do with what I have.

My new favorite ingredient this week is the AMPALAYA or what they call "Bitter Gourd" or "Bitter Melon" in English.

I'm growing one in our backyard. Hopefully, I can keep the dogs away from the plant.

Photo credit/source: mcnash125

Photo credit/source: whologwhy


And this is what I came up with today! Stir-fried ampalaya sliced really thin with shredded beef (fat included).