Fitspiration Friday: Sandy's 70 lbs Weight Loss Story

My bad. I totally forgot about this weight loss story and it has been fermenting in my draft for weeks. This week's Fitspiration Friday is featuring the adorable Sandy Montanez. Be ready to be inspired as you read how she successfully went from 236 lbs to 186 lbs.

What made you decide to lose weight?
I decided to lose weight when noticed my size 16 was fitting a bit snug. I hated the person looking back at me in the refection of the mirror.

What challenges you face in losing weight?
I am a very impatient person. I like instant gratification. So having the patience day after day in order to see results was the worst.

What changes you made to lose weight?
I brought a Fitbit, joined MFP calorie counting site, downloaded the app on my cell and brought walking videos to do at home.

How long does it take to see your weight loss result?
I started Jan 5, 2015 and even though the scale number was going down I began to visually see results in May 2015. By July 2015 I had lost 50 lbs. I would still like to lose about 40 more lbs.

How has your life changed after losing weight?
I feel great, I get asked out on dates more. I can shop in normal people stores. I no longer have to struggle to walk up stairs, or to find clothes to wear. I love the person I see in the mirror.

How do you maintain your weight loss?
I continue to calorie count and log everything I put in my mouth. Even when I go out with friends and have a drink or two. I log it.

Your best weight loss tips
1 - Take it one day at a time
2 - Don't think of it as diet but more a weight loss journey
3 - One bad meal, or one bad day will not ruin what you have already accomplished
4 - If you mess up today, tomorrow is a new day
5 - Take it one meal at a time.

Share to us your diet plan.
It's all about eating less calories than you burn. Calories In vs Calories Out. As long as you create a caloric deficit, whether thru eating less or burning more calories thru working out, you will lose the weight.

• Breakfast: egg white omelet with jimmy dean turkey sausages, peppers and onions 
• Lunch: Whole wheat thin bread slices with healthy choice turkey breast,lettuce and lactose free cheese and a fruit. 
• Dinner: 6 oz of a protein with veggies, and a sweet potato or yam. 
• AM/mid day/PM snacks: peanut butter with apple slices, pure protein shake, yogurt 

Your workouts plan?
I do work out videos at home. Like Zumba, Turbofire, Walking to lose etc.

Do you have a success story to share? Tell us about your weight loss success stories and inspire others to fight obesity. Your weight loss achievement is really something to be proud of!

Read more

Diabetes Awareness: Three Basic Thing You Should Know About Diabetes

Today I received a shocking news that our well known local pastor has passed away. I am so sorry for the family lost, my prayers and thoughts are with them during this time of sorrow. I heard she died from diabetes. I heard from a friend, not actually sure but things for sure is death news, especially caused by illness is always a kind of awakening moment for me.

I know everyone will die someday. But if people died because of a preventable disease, it is something to be regret forever. Today's focus is about diabetes. Some cases of diabetes may be directly inherited, but not all. Skinny person can get diabetes despite the myth of thin people don't get the disease. But that is another story.

I am obese and the scary truth is obesity will likely lead to type 2 diabetes. Women have a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes if their waist measures 80cm (31.5 inches) or more. Being overweight especially around your waist seems to be significantly risky.

Now my priority to lose weight has change. I always wanted to lose weight to have a younger appearance. Obesity makes people look much older than their real age. But now my main goal is to lose weight so that I can keep up with my two children who are ages 8 and 5 years old. I want to have energy to play with them. I want to lose weight to prevent Diabetes and other obesity related diseases, and so that I can watch my children graduate from college or get married. I want to lose weight not just because I want to fit into that Christmas party dress. But I want to feel more at ease with my body and get my confidence back.

Let's see the general causes of diabetes and how we can reduce the risk or prevent this disease.

Symptom of Diabetes

1. Overweight or Obesity
In many studies, waist circumference which reflects abdominal fat accumulation is a strong predictor of type 2 diabetes. Excess fat changes the way that your body responds to insulin, leading to a condition called insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a condition in which the body produces insulin but does not use it effectively. Instead of being absorbed by the cells, glucose builds up in the blood leading to type 2 diabetes or prediabetes.

Prevention: A major clinical study proved that losing modest amounts of weight lowers the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by more than half.

2. Watching too much TV
A study shows that zoning out for hours, often combined with snacking increase your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Prevention: Reduce sitting. Regular physical activity is a key element when it comes to weight management and prevention of obesity.

3. Poor diet
The relationship between diet and diabetes has been documented more recently. Eating too much of the wrong kinds of foods can increase your risk of type 2 diabetes.

Prevention: Change your bad and unhealthy eating habits.
- Replace saturated and trans fats with unsaturated fats, including sources of omega-3 fatty acids.
- Ensure generous consumption of fruits and vegetables and adequate folic acid intake.
- Consume cereal products in their whole-grain, high-fiber form.
- Limit consumption of sugar and sugar-based beverages.
- Limit excessive caloric intake from any source.
- Limit sodium intake.

How Diabetes Kills You
Diabetes is a silent killer. Type 2 diabetes may have a long term consequences if diabetes is not well-controlled. Some of the effects are including heart attacks, kidney failure, poor circulation in the feet (sometimes requiring amputation), and blindness. At first, the organs only lose blood supply and slowly begin to fail but then these life-threatening events can occur. Diabetes management can be frustrating, so prevention is better than cure.

As you can see, the formula to prevent diabetes is pretty basic. Sleep well. Eat real. Exercise. Repeat.

Long term effect of Type 2 Diabetes 

Diabetes should not be taken lightly. Do you have diabetes stories to help or encourage others? Share your story in the comments. Every story matters.

Read more

Weight Loss Struggle: 5 Things to Remind You About Why You Started When In Doubt

I was busy moving to another town these past weeks, and while busy arranging the children new school and adapting to new surrounding, I piling on the pounds. I fall off the No Cheat Challenge wagon.

There are times when sometimes I don't care about my weight anymore. I know am in a bad shape and I know that I must lose the weight but sometimes I just feel like I don't want to do it anymore. I am a SAHM, I spent most of my time at home with my family so I feel less pressure to lose weight. But when I have to attend an event or when I have to go out hanging with old friends, I have this sudden urge to lose weight like I WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT RIGHT NOW because all my clothes are not fit anymore. I looked tired and old. But when I get back to my comfort zone, the motivations to lose weight just fade away like the dew of the morning.

Have you ever felt like this? Not wanting to do the things that you need and want to do? So I took some time to reevaluate myself and my weight loss and health goal. Okay maybe this can restore your faith too, these are 5 things to remind you about why you started when you feel like giving up.

1. Remember that your feeling to give up is just an emotion
There are saying, 'don't promise when you're happy, don't reply when you're angry, and don't decide when you're sad.' You may regret the decision you made in that moment of frustration once the wave has passed. This emotion may be a sign that you need to change your approach to exercise and learn how to improve your diet.

2. Remind yourself of past successes
Not all progress can be seen on the scale. Non scale victories like quitting junk foods, manage to keeps your food portion under control, hitting the gym without fail are small accomplishment that worth celebrating.

3. Admit the things that are not working out 
Life is a series of choices and YOU get to decide on what will move you closer to your goals. Don’t try to rationalize things that are not working in your life. For example, I always wanted to rise early every morning before everyone else and use the opportunity to meditate and exercise. But I am not a morning person, I tend to feel most energetic just before I go to sleep at night. So if exercise in the morning is not working, don't try to make excuse for it. Embrace your inner night owl. Exercise in the late afternoon or early evening whenever you have the best chance of getting it done.

4. Don't believe those weight loss lies you told yourself
We might not notice it, but we all believe lies. The lies that you can't lose weight because you have this fat gene, the lies that telling you that you are too old to lose weight and get fit, that no matter how much you lose, you will eventually gain back all the weight you lost. That's a lie! Identify the lies, express your frustration, let it all go, but do not give too much power to your negative thoughts. Challenge these negative thoughts by finding and stating the truth.

5. Imagine the taste of success
Imagine being able to order clothes from a catalogue without worrying if they will fit. Imagine being able to wear something that doesn't say PLUS on it. You are no longer afraid of looking fat in tagged pictures. You don't have to worry about rashes and sweating anymore. The children are also not embarrassed about the way you looks. Most of all you feel better about yourself. How liberating is that?

It's important to remember why you're doing it in the first place and once you rediscover the spark, you'll find it's easy to start the flame again.

Now it's your turn: Share in the comments how do you overcome loss of motivation when you're feeling a bit hopeless, lost and stuck? 

Read more

10 Items in Your Fridge that Have More Calories Than You Think

I don’t usually count calories, but every once and awhile, I get curious about what’s going into my body. So I decided to look up the calories of an avocado, a previously-indispensable part of my breakfast. And boy was I gobsmacked by the results. An average avocado has upwards of 320 calories!

As I stood in front of my kitchen sink, trying to take in the bad news, I started wondering what other foods might be harboring more than their fair share of calories. Here’s a list of the most sneaky culprits.

1. Greek Yogurt
We at Modernize love our Greek yogurt. It’s got lots of protein, and about half the carbs of typical yogurt. Plus, if you’re like me, you prefer the creamy texture. In its plain form, it’s actually pretty low-cal, running you only about 150 calories.

The problem is that plain Greek yogurt is, well, plain. So you start adding honey, nuts, fruit, and sugar, and then you have a problem. And goodness help you if you add granola—another sneaky calorie goblin. Since it’s so healthy, the best idea is just to shop carefully—get the brands that contain fewer calories, and stay away from the low-fat brands, as more often than not that’s just code for “more sugar.”

Via Allwomenstalk

2. Multigrain and Wheat Breads
The good news is gluten may not be as bad for us as we thought. The bad new is many breads contain refined flours—even those that may seem healthy.

It’s important to look at the bread you buy and make sure it says it is 100 percent whole wheat. Otherwise, you might as well be eating white bread, for all the nutritional benefit you’ll get. Wheat breads that are not made from 100 percent whole wheat flour contain enriched flours, where all the healthy vitamins and nutrients are stripped from the flour during processing.
Via Health Works

3. Your Smoothie Ingredients
You may think you’re being super healthy by glugging down that smoothie every morning—and it’s true, smoothies have lots of vitamins. But they can also pack a calorie punch if you’re not careful!

To solve this, stay away from adding peanut butter, yogurt, or chocolate to your home-made smoothies, and look for lower calorie recipes that will make sure you’re not accidentally guzzling 700 plus calories every morning.
Via Yogurt Frenzy

4. Coconut Milk
If you’re substituting coconut milk for a glass of milk or in your morning coffee, beware! While coconut milk does have health benefits, such as helping your body fight bacteria and infections, with its hefty load of saturated fats, it has a pretty high calorie rate.

So use it in moderation, and check the packaging before you buy for lower calorie servings.
Via Vital Routine

5. Cheese
If you’re on a strict diet, you’re already probably avoiding cheese, but if you are still eating it, you may be surprised to learn that the average portion size is an ounce—about four die-sized cubes. Also, different kinds of cheese have different calorie counts.

Your healthiest option is to stick to mozzarella (about 85 calories per serving), and skip the gruyere (about 120 calories). Via Philadelphia Magazine

6. Prepared Tofu
You may be subbing tofu as a healthy alternative to meats, but if you’re buying it seasoned and prepared from the grocery store, you could be loading yourself up with calories.

If the prepared tofu has been fried, the frying oil adds calories. Also, sugar-laden sauces, like teriyaki, rack up the calories in otherwise healthy salads and stir fries. Via Food.com

7. Your Salad Supplies
By now, you probably know that salad dressing contains a lot of fat, but did you know it’s also hefty in the calories? Plus, some of your most coveted salad ingredients may be adding to the count. Chickpeas, for instance, rack up a whopping 286 calories per cup. Add that to a sugary or fatty salad dressing, and you could be looking at a salad with 700 to 800 calories. Not exactly low-cal.

To solve this, make sure you’re picking an oil-based dressing rather than the creamy kind, and look for products that have oil, vinegar and water as the first three ingredients listed. Also, stay away from low-fat dressings, as they often have more sugar to make up for the lack of fat.
Via Eat&Relish

8. Hummus
Hummus is good for you. Prepared traditionally with olive oil and paired with vegetables, hummus has fewer saturated fats that other snacks.

However, to save money, some commercial brands use other, less healthy oils instead of pure olive oil, which decreases the health benefits and adds on calories. Via Boston Magazine

9. Pepperoni It’s your cheat day, and you’re hankering for pizza. But you still want to be healthy about it. You’re only eating a few pepperonis on your slice, so it can’t be that bad for you, right? Wrong. One small slice of pepperoni can add as many as 30 calories to your meal. Multiply that by four, and you’ve just added over 100 calories to an already calorie-dense meal.
Via Delish

10. Juice
Okay, so it’s a drink, not a food, but you still might be thinking that orange juice is good for you. What about all that vitamin C? Well, although orange juice has lots of vitamins, a cup of it also nets you an extra 112 calories, and has a bunch of carbs, to boot. Via ABC News





About the Author

Erin Vaughan nurtures her HGTV obsession and passion for all things home decor by writing for Modernize.com She is an aspiring homeowner based in Austin, Texas.

Read more

Mesothelioma Awareness Day: What You Need to Know About Mesothelioma Cancer

I stumbled upon this sad story on Daily Mail about an art teacher, who died from lung cancer 'after years of pinning pupils' work to asbestos-lined classroom walls'.

Jennifer Barnett, 60 passed away last September, just 14 months after she was diagnosed with mesothelioma - a cancer whose most common cause is asbestos. Her husband, Nigel, told an inquest into her death in January that his wife worked at various schools as an art teacher from 1977 until 1995, often hanging paintings on walls containing asbestos.

What is Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a rare but aggressive cancer affecting the membrane lining of the lungs and abdomen. It is a fatal disease caused almost exclusively by exposure to airborne asbestos fibers.

Asbestos is commonly used in many construction and consumer products for its versatility, strength, fire resistant and resistance to fire or heat. In 1935, medical researchers made a first probable causal relationship between exposure to asbestos and lung cancer. Seven years later, a member of the National Cancer Institute confirmed asbestos as a cause of lung cancer.

People who work in asbestos mines, asbestos mills and factories, and shipyards that use asbestos, as well as people who manufacture and install asbestos insulation, have an increased risk of mesothelioma. So do people who live with asbestos workers, near asbestos mining areas, near asbestos product factories or near shipyards where use of asbestos has produced large quantities of airborne asbestos fibers.

According to this statistic, approximately 3,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year. Between 1999 and 2010, more than 31,000 people in the U.S. died due to mesothelioma. From 1999 to 2010, the number of people who died each year in the U.S. from mesothelioma as an underlying or contributing cause increased by 10%.

Asbestos in Your Home 
A few years back when we renovated our home, I remember our contractor asked us what material would we like to choose for our bathroom ceiling tiles. We choose ceiling planks over asbestos based ceiling tiles because we find it way cheaper. Little did I know that asbestos exposure can actually lead to serious health risk.

Asbestos containing material is not generally harmful unless it is friable, means that the asbestos is easily crumbled by hand, releasing dust or fibers into the air where they can be inhaled or ingested. For example, if an asbestos ceiling tile is drilled or broken, it may release fibers into the air.

Asbestos is commonly found in:

• Asbestos cement on garage or shed roofs
• Asbestos cement on shed and garage wall panels
• Asbestos cement drain pipes
• Asbestos cement or insulation board
• soffit, infill panels and partitions
• Asbestos cement on the side of bath panels
• Roof felt or lining panels
• Roof sheets or tiles
• Asbestos cement cold water tanks
• Old ventilation pipes
• Textured coatings (Artex) and ceiling panels
• Hot water pipe insulation
• Panels behind fires or heaters
• Fire door panels
• Floor tiles and linoleum products in kitchens and bathrooms
• Some old toilet seats and cisterns, (usually black)

Examples of ceiling that may contain asbestos cement sheeting in older Malaysia’s homes built in the 1970 and 80′s. But quite often, plywood was used as well. Image from Malaysian Asbestos Removal Guide. 

Asbestos is still not banned globally, and can be found in older buildings, homes, and consumer products such as crayons and children’s toys.

Most Common Mesothelioma Symptoms
The most common symptoms of mesothelioma are:

• Dry Cough or Wheezing
• Shortness of Breath (dyspnea)
• Respiratory Complications or Difficulty Breathing
• Pain in the Chest or Abdomen
• Fever
• Pleural Effusions

Mesothelioma Prevention
The best way to reduce your risk of mesothelioma is to prevent or limit your exposure to asbestos at home, in public buildings, and at work.

At work, protective gear should be worn any time the presence of asbestos is suspected. Any clothes worn while working with asbestos should be left at the site. Wearing asbestos-covered clothes outside the work area could subject others to unwanted exposure.

At home, you should always wear protective gear when doing any serious renovation work on a home built prior to 1980. Do-it-yourself projects can catch non-professionals off guard. Do take every precaution to avoid damaging asbestos-containing material. Keep activities to a minimum in any areas having damaged material that may contain asbestos, including limiting children's access to any materials that may contain asbestos. Don't dust, sweep, or vacuum debris that may contain asbestos. If you cannot avoid walking through the area, have it cleaned with a wet mop or call an asbestos professional if a large area must be cleaned.

Mesothelioma Awareness Day
Mesothelioma Awareness Day was on Saturday, September 26th. I have to admit I am a little late on this game but I would be remiss if I didn't talk about this deadly but preventable cancer. Thank you Cameron Von St. James and his blogger wife and mesothelioma survivor, Heather Von St. James, for tagging me along into this good cause.

Heather was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma 9 years ago. She was unknowingly exposed to asbestos as a young girl by wearing her father's work jacket to do outside chores. Her doctor gave her 15 months to live, but after a highly-invasive surgery that involved the removal of her left lung, Heather is now a survivor! She now works to spread awareness with her husband Cameron.

What can you do to help: 

Help us spread the word and raise awareness of Mesothelioma by donate your social status here or get on Facebook or Twitter and use the hashtags #MesoAwarenessDay to helps raise support and awareness of mesothelioma.

Leave your comments below when you done sharing. I always love to hear feedback from you. Have a good day!

Read more