Category Archives: overcoming challenges

It’s a Lifestyle

Happy Day after Valentine’s Day to all. I hope the special day brought you joy, whether you have a valentine or not. I work in a restaurant at night so my day was all work and no play. That’s ok, it’s my hump day and soon my my off days will be here. I’m working hard for the money and grateful for my blessings. 

It’s day 4 of my 30 day Whole Foods plant-based challenge. I’m vegan and I’m trying to lean more towards a cleaner way of taking care of my temple. Day 4 and I feel fabulous, not as fatigued from waiting tables. For a while I thought I was getting sick, or old, and now I realize I just wasn’t feeding my body correctly. I’m doing the challenge to help myself kick it into high gear, to be accountable. At the end I will have a delicious vegan cheat day and do another 30 day challenge. I’m going to do this plan going forward. I plan to check my cholesterol in a few months, to see how this is working for my body. Staying away from all oils is the biggest hurdle, but I’m sticking to it. In 30 days I will jump on the scale, and going forward I will only weigh myself once a month. 

We had a cat health scare with Max, but it was a false alarm. I will take him in to be safe soon, but it seems he was constipated. I found out today my Mom’s sister, my Aunt Elaine in Chicago had a stroke. I think she’s going to be ok, but send her lots of prayers. In life, challenges pop up when you least expect them. No matter what comes, I’m not deviating from my food plan. This is for my heath, period. My weight loss will be an added bonus. 

Next week I will post on my fitness plans, and more of what I’m eating. I’m going forward and not looking back. Onward and upward for me.

Love and Light 

Rose

WEIGH IN MONDAY

Happy Monday to all? Today is weigh in Monday and I lost 2 lbs, cue happy dance. That brings me to 182 lbs. I’m down 7.6 lbs. I’m keeping a journal of my meals and calories on the Loseitapp and I’m using Dr Greger’s Daily Dozen App to keep track of my vegan nutrition. I’m doing this six days a week and one day a week I allow a vegan cheat day. On that day I eat whatever vegan foods I like, but I do my best to keep my calories in check. 

Losing weight through stress or when you are in a personal crisis is not easy. For me what’s working this second try around is I’m focusing on my nutrition and my fitness. My meal plan six days a week is very clean, with very low salt, no oils and just a bit of raw sugar in my coffee. Using both apps keeps me accountable. My energy is definitely up since I started the Dr Greger Daily Dozen. My one vegan cheat day a week allows me to eat the vegan foods I love. This week I’m choosing that day to be Halloween.

Another bonus is how incredibly inexpensive this way of eating is. Lentils, tofu, split peas, canned beans no salt, fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, quinoa, Ezekiel bread, oats, flax seeds, no salt peanuts and no salt peanut butter. It’s not always easy to tick off everybox, yesterday  I missed cruciferous vegetables; but that’s ok. I strive to each day do better. 

I am also working on some new and exciting projects, I also plan to waitress more than usual, and I’m continuing forward with this blog with the intent to post more regularly and I plan more videos in YouTube.

Dr Greger recommends exercise daily and I may start my workouts in the evening on my work days to be able to manage everything I’m working on. I bought an amazing planner from Barnes and Noble to keep everything organized.

It is all about a positive mindset. Stress gets me, and sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in it; than I remember I’m a good swimmer. Right now im treading water through my struggles and my eye is on my health, fitness, strength, flexibility, and longevity. I’m proud to be a plant eater. 

Stay tuned for next post when I announce how I’m doing my small part to help others in the community I live in with the wonderful people I work with.

When you find yourself struggling, it helps to help others.

Namaste’

Rose

DO WHAT YOU LOVE

Depression, I think I was depressed for a while. I’m trying to understand the idea of depression. I’m such a happy go lucky person, for me to be depressed is unheard of. The loss of my Mom, leaving my beloved Los Angeles and losing our cat; among other things left me with this void. It’s not something anyone can see, it’s like a numbness. In Los Angeles I was so alive, like life on steroids. Things here in Texas are much slower and with all of what happened I felt my vibration at an all time low. Time to choose to change and raise my vibration.

Recognizing it is the first step. Making goals again and being impeccable with my word is the second step. I am here, posting every single day. My computer crashed, but this time I make no excuses and I make it happen with my phone. I keep a food journal every single day. I can feel already changes in my body. I’m so happy to be back, this is just the beginning. I’m laying the basic groundwork for bigger goals. 

Do what you love, do all things with love. I treat others with love, I should do so with myself. That means never giving up and making the commitment to stick to starting over.

What do I love? I love to write so I keep writing and submitting my work. I want to be a healthy weight loss success story again, and I want to help others. I’m interested in motivational speaking sometime in the future.

After being in the Richard Simmons video and taking his classes, I too want to teach classes. I’m a former dancer and I love dance as much as I love writing. My husband James paid for me to get my American Council of Exercise group exercise certification. With all that has happened I missed my exam, and I was so disappointed in myself. I hit an all time low with that one. 

There’s always light at the end of the tunnel. I was told I still have one year to take my exam. Do what you love. That’s my motivation for me going forward. Round two is underway and going strong. 

It’s time to study. Do all things with love, for yourself and for others. 

So much love and light.

Namaste’

Rose


 

 

WEIGHT LOSS THROUGH STRESS

Happy Friday to all. I’m doing a lot of soul searching and thinking this week. If you know me, I’m a firm believer of the law of attraction. This week seemed to spiral in the negative direction. Once we started to focus on something that happened early in the week everything just seemed to go downward. It’s like they say, if you wake up and stub your toe and believe it will be a bad day it will. You are what you believe. I’m trying to change that. Fall nine times, get up ten. 

Time to make like a GPS and yell recalculating as loud as I can. One thing that has been positive is I’ve stayed true to my word to blog and to stick to my weight loss and health regimen. I lost 5 lbs my first week and I’m very dedicated. I’m working out again. I’m taking my frustrations out on the treadmill.No matter what happens I’m not giving up. Goal or bust. 

We can’t change the outcome of certain circumstances but we can change our thought process. We even may find some clarity to take necessary risks with our future. Sometimes you have to just jump and see where you land.

Breathe in, breathe out 

love and light

Namaste’

Rose 

 

MINDSET

Happy Thursday to all. I’m still blogging from my phone. Not having a working computer is not a setback for me. I’m just adjusting to whatever tools I have on hand. I committed to blogging daily again, and I will do so no matter the obstacles. It’s really helping me stay on track with my food. I’m on it, I’m accountable, I’m not perfect, but I’m doing it every single day. It’s not easy to do this on the phone, the keyboard is sensitive so if things look less than stellar my apologies. 

Mindset. Even though I’m really doing great with my food I admit this week my mindset is struggling. So much stress this week since we got back, so much to think about and decisions to be made. I admit I’m completely overwhelmed and had quite a few crying moments this week. I’m trying to pull myself out of this quagmire I’m in. That means exercise and sleep. This week my sleep has been compromised and when you are fatigued you cannot think clearly. 

I had a chat with one of my dear friends. He reminded me how strong I am. He said for me to be able to stay so focused on eating clean is a big accomplishment. I have to admit he’s right. I’m staying the course, I did the standard American diet crime and gained the weight but that’s in the past. I’m getting back to being the person who started this blog; strong yet not perfect, but one who doesn’t give in or give up. 

Day seven since I’m back. Seven days at being accountable to my word. I love the book the four agreements and the quote from the author. I will leave you with this. 

Always be impeccable with your word. 

Don Miguel Ruiz

Love and light

Namaste’

Rose

 

 

 

 

WEIGH IN WEDNESDAY

Weigh in day came early. I admit it I was impatient to get on the scale, technically I weighed in one week ago today, but I started posting on my blog regularly a day or two later. For now Wednesday will be weigh in Wednesday. 

Through a very stressful week after getting back into town I lost five pounds. I know my clean eating Whole Foods plant-based is working. I admit it’s a challenge to change your mindset on oils and salt, but oils and salt are only going to be occasionally treats for me along with the rare occasional vegan junk food.

It’s been forever since I’ve seen the numbers move on the scale. I’m committed to staying the course through my overwhelming challenges and a bit of temporary depression. Soon I will be updating workouts and cardio. As someone who has been described as dangerously optimistic and eternally happy I’ve discovered I too am human and can have sad moments in my life.

The journey the second time around is so much harder. I’m not giving up no matter what obstacles come my way. Ever heard of dodgeball? I’m dodging every single thing that attempts to tempt me to falter. I’m going to be a weight loss success story. I will get my eternal happiness back, it’s just taking a bit of hard work this time.

Namaste

love and light

Rose

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

Happy Sunday to all. Today is day three of my brand new journey, and of course there are challenges coming my way already. My computer is down, so I’m posting from my phone. I also live in Texas, and Texas has bugs, especially in the hot humid summer. If you know me I have a severe bug phobia. They spray regularly here in our apartment but these bugs that they say come from the trees get in. Most die immediately, but for me it gives me such anxiety to awaken to an insect graveyard. I’m trying to overcome my insect anxiety but it’s truly not easy. 

It’s ok, breathe in and breathe out. These are challenges not tragedies. I refuse to get frustrated and give up now or ever. I am all in on this brand new life journeyI will no longer make excuses or begin tomorrow on a better day. Today is the day, the time is now.

Daily challenges in life are like tiny grenades popping up in your path, for me the grenades are in the form of dead bugs. The trick is to jump over them, don’t step on them or look back. Keep going on your journey. You will be happy that you did not give up. Life is a literal obstacle course, keep moving forward. Working through challenges and anxieties is never easy but you will be happier when you don’t let the challenges and anxieties in your life take over. 

My plan for today’s post was to share a lot of the resources I’m using going forward in health and fitness. I will do that in a future post, I can use my Hubby’s computer. In the meantime I’m here and doing my best to navigate posting from my phone. 

As I post on the third day of my brand new journey I hear of another mass shooting in Jacksonville Florida.  News that puts my minuscule challenges and anxieties into perspective. Here I am anxious about stepping over one or two dead insects, at the same moment innocent people are dodging bullets and hiding until it’s safe to come out. Humbling for sure.

So today I send love and light into the world. We collectively are in constant healing mode. As I begin healing my mind/body and soul; my biggest wish is we can all heal together and one day live in harmony, safety and peace.

Love and light, 

Rose Bruno Bailey