Phil – Page 4 – JournaledTimes

April 25, 2019

Life and Pictures

I am not a pro when it comes to taking pictures, hell I do not even use a real camera. All my pictures are taken with my phone, so if you are looking for some high grade shit you will be disappointed. I had a really nice camera once, but someone decided I did not need it anymore and stole it. It was one of those 35mm FILM cameras too! -Side note: When I first met my wife, her family had drawers of undeveloped pictures. I started taking them to the Photo-mat to get processed. It is so strange now to think that was what we had to do to get pictures!

The below three pictures are of a truck that belongs to the father of a family friend. I swear if I win the lottery I am going to take this one and fix it! I love old cars/trucks. New cars are ok, but I really do not think people are going to have the same love for these plastic battery powered supped up go-carts as they have for the old 50s-80s cars .

1952 Dodge Pick Up

Spiders……everywhere spiders!

Here we have Seth, Lilian and Lucas. Nothing crazy or artsy fartsy just the family in the kitchen doing family stuff

We almost had to use this picture for a lost dog poster. He disappeared on Sunday, not sure how he got out but his dumb ass just took off. Luckily we were able to find him about a block away from the house. He is chipped but it is not a GPS, it will let anyone that scans him who he belongs to. Charlie, dont be stupid…..

Life is going well for everyone; Lucas has his cast off and will be able to start up his MMA classes again soon (He broke it falling off his bike), Seth has not runaway from home or been arrested for anything so his teen years are not that bad as of yet, all is well with the Wife Unit (That is the actual name I use for her on my Phone), and for me I have no real complaints. Work is still a four letter word but my workout is coming along nicely. About to head into month four or pumping iron 6 days a week, tomorrow is leg day….wish me luck HA!

Till next post; journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything.

April 19, 2019

College Scam: Operation Varsity Blues

I wish I knew who made this….found it on a Facebook post and borrowed it…I will give credit if I find it….

Since the day this story broke I have been reading everything; all the updates, stories, post and news reels. This is probably one of the few news stories that really touched me in a personal manner. I worked hard for my degree, my wife worked hard on her degree, her brother is fighting tooth and nail to get into the college of his choice (Purdue, is his number one choice) and my oldest son has recently started the process of getting into college. We have all worked our collective asses off for our degrees and to those that are currently plowing away, we feel you!

I have always joked about just paying for a degree and call it a day but I was not really rich enough to turn that joke into a reality. But here we are, reading article after article of 33 parents that paid tons of money to get their kids into some very highfalutin schools. Not just bribes or expensive gifts but straight up cheating, lies and fake sporting profiles!

Some of the kids have spoken out and said they did not know, and I call absolute bullshit on that one! You know what test you took or did not take, you know that you were not on the rowing team and you know your family business. I would not put it past them that they flaunted their forged entrance. I have zero sympathy for any backlash that has come their way or any that has yet to hit home. Even to the point that the government has issued letters to numerous students stating the Federal Governments intent to investigate that they were complicit in the illegal activities.

If you can get kicked out of college for plagiarizing, even the smallest amount, this should be grounds for a life time ban! And yes I am hating on those that had/have the ability to just pay their way in, because the right college can mean all kinds of things. But in my eyes you need to earn that, and how many people probably deserved those places got passed over because these twat-cicles just paid and walked?

It is not often we get to see justice but I feel this is a win for the little guy/girl. This is to all those that poured their very soul into their entrance essay, sat by the mail box waiting for the snail mail response to come in and to those that got the thanks but no thanks canned responses-Justice is coming! I feel this will help to bring things back to a more level playing field, who in their right mind would even think about trying something like this now? I am sure it will not be the last time someone pays to play but at least now those skeletons are out of the closet.

So far 50 people have been arrested, 33 of them parents and of 33 parents 13 of them have pleaded guilty to all kinds of charges, 19 have pleaded not guilty and one is still working on their plea. I am actually more interested in the ones that pleaded not guilty, what kind of legal fuckery are they going to try and pull? All of the USA is watching this and I am sure most of the people are like me, we want to see these fuckers burn! Not actually set on fire but …..a little jail time in Club Fed would be greatly appreciated.

To sum this up to everyone involved, all I have to say (And I quote)

‘How does it taste mother-fucker?’

-Dave Chappelle January 21, 2004

Not to end this post with such disdain I would like to share a picture of a free drink I got from Amazon:

I went to the Amazon pick up location in downtown San Jose, because we have porch pirates in my neighborhood, to get some picture frames that the wife had ordered and while I was there the very hipster dude at the front desk asked if I wanted a free drink. Free…..fuck yeah! But the second he gave it to me I blurted out ‘Holy Fuck its Soylent Green!’ The fact he did not laugh at that was all the proof I needed that I could never hang with him. And I hope that someone reading this knows what I am talking about or at least has the fore sight to Google it……..IT’S PEOPLE!!!!!! I laughed, and not only because I laugh at my own jokes but because if really was made out of people I would have still drank it!

‘Ha, I kill me’

-Alf, 1986

Till next post; journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything.

April 13, 2019

Road Journal Story Time: Story # 4

This story starts with a ping to go pick up ‘Steve’, he has his profile picture set and his address is only a few minutes away from my current location. (FYI people; if you use Uber or Lyft please set your profile picture, it really helps us out.)

I see from his profile he is an older gentleman with this sly little smile on him, cool lets roll! I arrive at his address, very up scale gated community. He come out and he is dressed to kill; black three piece suite, purple stripped tie and a black shirt. I first thought he might be heading to a funeral but I was wrong, just a benefit dinner for blah blah and blah.

Right off the bat if found out he is a talker. I get a read on people as they get in my car: Talkers, Mutes, Workaholics, Drunks, or the ‘Dear God I Hope This Ride is Over Soon’. I have one other one: ‘Invisible Driver’. This one needed a little more explanation. These are the riders that act like I am not even there and talk to each other about some of the most interesting things. Like the time I got these three Bros that were making plans to buy steroids to get jacked for their Halloween party in Vegas and step by step plans on how there were going to get the cocaine……Hey, dudes….you might not want to put that type of info on blast. Just saying….

So, Steve goes on to tell me that he is 86 and just had his drivers licenses taken form him. He said he has a nice BMW that he needs to sell, he said it is not that big of deal. He does not really go out much and its never very far when he does, but he said and I quote:

‘The said that my fainting spells behind the wheel was the main factor to why I should not be driving. But that is what makes life so interesting and exciting.’

He said this with a straight face, then the smile came out and he laughed it off. This was going to be one of those fun rides! He went on to tell me that he was a teacher back in the 60’s but was not making the money he needed to raise his family. It seems teachers salaries have always been on the fuzzy end of the lollipop!

He opened up a swim school, which he said was his money maker. The swimming business did very well for him and he even handed the business over to his son, who to this day is still running it. He then leans over and says this:

‘Want to hear something funny? I don’t know how to swim! I can teach someone how but throw my ass in a lake and I am done for! Swimming in a pool that you can stop and stand up in is one thing, but being in an environment where you cannot do that…..count me out.’

I just about spit laughing when he told me this, but then I thought about the person who taught me how to swim. It was when I worked at Bally’s Gym as the juice bar guy. The swim instructor would come and I would give her the hook up on the protein, and she hooked me up with some lessons. And come to think of it, I never once saw her in the pool! She did all the water aerobic classes, adult swim classes and so on, but not once did she get wet! I bet she was the same way! The pool was only about four feet deep so if she had to jump in to save someone, swimming would not really been necessary haha!

As our trip continued our conversation went on about all the usual things, and came to an end when I dropped him off at this high-end members only type of golf course. My car was the only one there that was not in the $100,000 range…..well excuse my KIA!

I dropped off Steve and went on my way, these are the type of rides I hope for. I hope the best for Steve and pray that he is never surprised by a deep body of water anytime soon.

I will end this post a little different, I love sharing pictures so I will end this post with one from about 18 years ago. I always end my post with the words: Journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything. I say this because time moves way too fast and I love the fact I have my journals and pictures to look back on. 18 years ago I married my best friend and by no means does it feel like 18 years!

April 11, 2019

Round Two

It finally came!

After searching and searching I finally went with the actual Kia part, instead of the ‘Kia Like’ parts I found on Ebay and Amazon. They were cheaper but this is not the time or place to go cheap. I did go cheap on the shipping, the part was about $178 and the shipping…..over night would have been $300! Or….wait a week and only pay $18, yeah I did not need the part that badly! So a week it was to be….

I get the notice from USPS that I had to go to the post office because ‘There was not a safe place to deliver’, I cannot remember the last time I was at the post office! There I was at 0900 hrs, first in line getting my package and the lady comes from the back with this BOX….and all I kept thinking was ‘Did I order the right part?!?!’ The part is literally about the size of a soft ball and here is this box that could probably fit about 20 of them!

To my surprise I had actually order the correct thing!

Replacing it was super simple; took off the panel cover, removed the two nuts, wiggled the two claps out of their sockets, unplugged the burnt out unit, plug in the new one and then just put it back in place. (Thank you YouTube for showing me how to do this!)

Light was in and it tested out perfectly. I would like to thank KIA Parts for making this super simple and easy. I am curious how much I would have had to pay in labor for this if I had taken it to KIA? From a quick Google search I learned that the average labor cost from a dealer is $80-$125 an hour! In the end all I paid was $195 plus my time, god only know how much they would have charged for the part and the labor would have been listed as an hour. I will call this a Dad Victory, I do not want call the thunder of the Dad Gods so I will sacrifice a beer on the Man Altar this weekend.

This week has started off in the right direction, the weekend is almost here. Not sure what we are doing but I do want to get outside, the weather is getting better and the wife has been talking about hiking…..so lets see what happens!

Till next post; journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything.

April 9, 2019

It Is Time……

The rain has finally stopped, and the weather app shows that we have at least 7 days ahead of us with no rain! So, that means it is time to start cooking and smoking our meat! I really need to do some spring cleaning on my grill but I was so excited about firing it up I put that on my to do list for next weekend, and hell I am all caught up on my tetanus shots!

The Traeger Grill, this will be the fifth summer……Happy Birthday buddy!

I am a lover of all things grilled/smoked, and yes I know this is not healthy: I am here for a good time not a long time.

And nothing goes with outdoor cooking like…..wine. I was a huge beer lover but time has shown me that the love of beer comes with the beer gut. I am currently working on removing that so wine has now replaced the beer. I was never into wine but I can now say I have become a ……wine-oh, not a real wine connoisseur yet so for the time lets just say I am a wine-oh.

Put another shrimp on the barbie….just lemon juice, Franks Red Hot and cook!

How could you not love chickens, they are filled with this wondrous meat!?!

My family always makes fun of me for taking pictures of my food, but I take pictures of what I love and admire……and as god as my witness I love and admire FOOD! If you were to look at my transaction history on my ATM card, it is nothing more than a journal of places I have eaten! Yes, there are other things that I love and admire but currently we are talking about food, so I will not list all my other loves. Just keep reading and you are sure to find all those other things as well.

If you are wondering what type of recipes I use for grilling, I believe in keeping it simple. Salt and pepper are always the starter and depending on the mood I may go with some simple barbq sauce or Frank’s Red Hot…….and yes I put that SHIT on everything! I love all my hot sauces, and yes I have more than a couple ha! I have seen some YouTube videos on outdoor cooking and dear god do they put a ton of crap on their food before cooking!

Keep it simple people; your life your job, and your recipes. I was (and sometimes still am) an over thinker. I was over thinking my career choices, my life choices and just about everything about the life I have and it was just too much. I was stressing, I was creating the stress and it was making Phil a dull boy. There was no need for this stress, I have an awesome life, so I finally just let go of the over thinking. I still have plans and think about what/where I want to be but I have a more chill approach to it.

This web page was a huge over thinking place for me. It stressed me out that I had not done it, it stressed me out that I was always putting it off, I stressed because I thought it was going to be too hard, I stressed that people would not read it, I stressed that people would read it then ridicule it and I even stressed about what to call it! Almost to the point the stress was stopping me from doing it, but in the end I finally let go and went to YouTube for answers. I will do a post soon about that very topic, I need to give thanks to one video in particular. For now lets just say YouTube helped me let go of some of the stress and helped me finally get my place on web.

It is not much but its mine and I am having fun with it. I go through my day thinking about what will I write about next and sometimes I stress that I am just to tired to do a post. Hell it took me a week to finally get this one out, I set out looking to do two post a week. That is my goal. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you’ve got a writing addiction? (Yes that is an altered line from a movie, if you know the movie we can be fwends). Back in my blogging days I put out two or three post a week, I kept a journal with me to jot down the things I was going to blog about next! I have started doing that again. I like doing this, and in the end that is why I do it.

So till next post; journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything……yes that includes your food!

April 1, 2019

Just another day…..

Soooooo about a week ago or so, someone pointed out that my back tail light was out and like any man I put it off until the following weekend. Then I put it off till the following weekend after that and this weekend I finally went and got me a set of bulbs. Just a little man note here: If you replace one bulb go ahead and replace the other one; A) Buying two bulbs is cheaper than buying one at a time and B) The other one is most likely about to go out…..trust me it has happened.

I broke out the handy dandy tool bag and went to work, replacing bulbs on KIA’s really is not that hard but it is a pain in the ass. The front headlight do require small nibble fingers, much like that of a child or a small women, you know like the people who probably built these! Ha, I joke my car was built in Georgia!

I pop off the tail light with bulb in hand and right away I see something wrong……..

Can you guess which bulb is the new one? I have replaced many bulbs in numerous types of cars and I have never seen a bulb turn black! So now my WTF hat is on, I replace the bulb and test it…..nothing. I take off the housing again but this time look closer, and see that the actual bulb housing is also burnt!

After some Google searching I find that I am going to have to replace the whole thing….great! But luckily there are all kinds of places to get KIA parts, or what they are calling KIA ‘LIKE’ parts. I am one to go cheap on my bread, no named peanut butter and even get the Kirkland brand from Costco. Which by the way is damn good but here is not the place to go cheap. So, off to the actual KIA web site I went and bought my part. The only real down side to this was if I wanted the part NOW I was going to have to pay! Pay like $300 extra for speedy delivery, or I could pay $17 and wait a week…..well I have made it this far without the damn thing I guess I could save some cash and just wait.

Take the good with the bad I guess; the part is on order, I am not going to have to pay the dealership their marked up part plus labor, I bought two bulbs that I did not need but I now have two bulbs for future use.

After everything was said and down I did celebrate with some Guinness, I have wanted one since St. Patty’s day! I went to three/four stores on Saint Patrick’s day and they were sold out of Guinness! I must say as I have gotten older this has slowly become one of my favorite beers, I swear my genes are slowly dictating my drink of choice….I was a Johnny Walker man but now I am slowly singing the love of Jameson. Ha!

I have found myself pondering what I want out of this site and for the time all I want is a place to blog and bitch. I keep seeing different post on how to boost your web page traffic and how to make money with your page, and for the time I am not really all that concerned with that. Maybe after I have been doing this for about a year or so and I have some real content I will look to taking this to the next level. I am here to just have fun and finally have my own internet page.

I love the fact I actually have a place to call my own and can come in and infect anyone that happens to come across my page. That idea tickles me pink, and maybe someday it will become more than the pathetic ramblings of another want to be writer. But till then: Journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything.

PS…..my wife pointed out that my ending line is redundant and I am fine with that, it is supposed to be. I want to reinforce the idea we all need to journal more, it helps on so many levels. Just getting our thoughts out of our heads has wondrous therapeutic properties!

March 26, 2019

What is the meaning of life?

Good friends, good food, good conversation and good drink. This past weekend we had a party at a friends house, kind of a combo birthday party for multiple people. It was a family affair, and we are part of this family…we are honorary Mexicans! Not really, but that is the running joke after about 15 beers and 4 shots!

These are the family(s) that took in some strange white guy from the east coast and treated him like family from day one. We are beyond grateful, there are no words to express our gratitude to the Mendoza’s, Vera’s and the Gonzales’s. No matter what the occasion these families have come through for us. It was their idea to throw the one and only surprise party for Lilian a few years back that actually worked! She had no idea, it was awesome.

We have had our share of ups and downs, but in the end we have always come together to celebrate as a family. I will someday post about the one person I can honestly say was more inappropriate than myself and is, and always will be, the topic of much discussion around a table made up of beer cans and shot glasses. But till then, lets just say he is the reason we all can say ‘We are all family here’

Good times were had by all, as much food as one could handle, more drinks than you should ever have in one sitting and laughs that never seemed to end. I would like to share some of the pictures that were taken that day, they are in no real order. Chaos is always the order of the day in my world, enjoy:

It all fun and games until someone……well you know

There is always one casualty of kids playing….at least there was no blood

If I have to tell you what is going on here I cannot be friends with you

Not much to tell here, I just loved these colors

To wrap this life in pictures up I want to just say one last time: Thank you for taking us in and making us part of your world. There will be more post like this to come, the summer is coming and I hope to go out fishing, and since I have no clue on how that works they will be my guides to my next chip in my manhood merit badge!

So till next post; journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything.

March 23, 2019

Wisdom in my Food

The other day I went out to lunch with my coworker at the Golden Chopsticks in Pleasanton, Ca. Good place, two thumbs up and even a four star place according to Yelp! This is our go to place for lunch when we are craving Chinese, decent prices and its a short walk from the office.

And just like any good Chinese food restaurant they end the meal with fortune cookies. Most of the time I do not bother with them, they taste like sweetened cardboard and the little love notes are usually just vague words of nothing. But today I opened it and the note I found has had me pondering its meaning:

‘Be Definite Now, Worry About Precision Later’

My first passing thought was no, this is bad. That this would lead to double the work in the very near future, and anyone following this logic was doomed for making more work for themselves. I left the note on the table and walked away, leaving the fortune and its misguided wisdom. But something in me would not let this be; the restaurant had served me a writ and I could not let it go. My co-work had brushed it off much the same as I did, but I was still grinding it over.

I started to think about many of the decisions I have made in life and how this very phrase has actually been with me all this time. I have pulled the trigger on many things in my life and worried about the HOW later. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it did not, but what I did not have was that longing that I had wished I had of done that very thing. And to follow up on this very though I saw a quote posted on FaceBook:

‘I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done’ (That little tidbit of wisdom was brought to us by Lucille Ball )

And just like that, the little bit of thoughtfulness and poise found in cookie has come racing back into my mind. I was glad I took a picture of it before I left, I am not 100% sure as to why I took that picture but I am glad I did.

What this little note started in my head was a whirl wind, no it was a storm! I wanted to get it into words before it left me but between work, work and holy shit I want to go to sleep I have been putting it off. But in doing that it has given me time to ponder this post. Not actually work it out in way that would flow logically or grammatically, that is boring, but work it out to the point I had to sit down and make it real.

The very notion of the cookie’s words is why I now have this web site, I have been over thinking my blog for so long that just logging in gave me writers block. I was going to say anxiety but that would be going a bit too far, it was a stress and it did prevent me from doing it.

It was this stress that kept me from not being definite, it was worrying about the smaller parts that kept me from doing this sooner. I like blogging, I like telling stories, I like writing. It makes me feel accomplished. It is my art, I would love to be able to draw an awesome picture, paint a picture on canvas or even make a webtoon but my skills with these devices is blunt and unflattering. My writing is not much better but this is my art and I like it. After years of saying I wanted my own web page I finally did it, and here I am; working out the smaller parts.

What do I want from this page, where am I going to take it, how am I going to get there, when should I post, and why should I bother? These where some of the questions that kept running through my mind, but finally I just said Fuck IT and went to YouTube. I had no idea how this thing worked but thanks to YouTube I was able to navigate through some of the smaller details of the HOW. It was just up to me to figure out the rest. I am here for the therapy, the relief and for the fun of it. If it is not fun, why bother with it at all.

In the end I agree with the cookie, and yes there are times you need to have all your ducks in a row before you do something but do not let the ducks be the reason you never just said Fuck IT!
So till next post; journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything.

March 19, 2019

Less Than Honest News

I am an avid news reader, the first thing I do in the morning is turn on the news, I have numerous news feeds updating me on my phone, on various occasions I have had the paper deliver to my home and even follow a few news outlets on various media platforms. I love the written word, and like many I had dreams of becoming a wordsmith. Sadly that was not to be my path, and from rereading some of my past post it was probably for the best.

And yet here I am again trying my best to start up a blog. With the intent of being entertaining, vulgar, inappropriate and maybe even a little informative. I have always felt that words have power, sometimes more power than any weapon known to man, and it bothers me to no end when I see the stuff that is passed off these days as ‘Journalism’.

We live in the state of ‘Me First’! This is where news outlet want to be the FIRST to post about the big story, even if means running a story before sources are checked. Anyone remember the fuckery that was aired live back in 2013? This was when the Asiana Flight 214 from Seoul crashed at the San Francisco airport. An intern feed a local Oakland news station incorrect names of the pilot and crew, no….they were given OBVIOUS erroneous, racist joke names that anyone that was not pressed to be FIRST would have seen on contact. Two teenagers and a child died in this horrible accident and all the media outlets were out to be was FIRST. This greed for the thirst of being FIRST happens on the regular, but most of it nowhere close to the newscast of Flight 214. These days most of the Me First movement consist of semi-truths and click-bait articles, the editors seemed to have learned at least something from past mistakes.

Proof to this fact is the picture I have set as the featured photo on this post. While doing my best at being the multi-tasker I say that I am on my resume; I have one eye on my desk job and the other scanning the drivel that passes as news. My eyes land on this article: ‘Aviation Experts See Links in 2 Boeing Crashes’ from AP. Ok, a semi trusted news outlet has an article I want to read!

Nope! The article was about two sentences in length that literally said that aviation experts have found links to the two crashes of the Boeing 737 Max………Yes that was the whole article, which to me was just a place holder for the Associated Press so they could cry ‘Me First’. To me this was nothing short of a click bait advertisement. And if you go and google: ‘Aviation Experts See Links in 2 Boeing Crashes’ you will find a much more robust article with all the workings of actual journalism. The new version of their original post does not really shed too much light on what they found but at least I felt more informed about what is going on and actually got what all news articles should have: Factual Information.

I am not one to poke at another person’s writing, I am a hack at best, but I put serious effort into my post and fact check everything. I will never say I am perfect but then again I am just a momo typing out my thoughts for shits and giggles. I am at the point now that I will not even comment or click on anything that is listed as ‘Breaking News’ until 48 hours has past. I feel that is enough time for the ‘Me First’ honeymoon vibes to die off and the actual facts start coming out. I am even add this idea to my categories, it happens so often I think this could be a regular thing I post about.

It is time to end this rant, I was going to go to be early but I had to get this out of my system. I have been thinking about this ever since I feel for the click bait article. I want to get up tomorrow at a decent time so lets just end this here,
So till next post; journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything.

March 14, 2019March 14, 2019

The Struggle is Real!

It has taken me somewhere about 10 years to gain about 45 lbs, give or take. Once upon a time I was immune to weight gain and could drop weight just by thinking about it. But as time has gone on it has gotten increasingly harder to maintain and keep the weight off.

It really started when it I pull college into full time mode. I had been going part time while I was working but my job decided that it was time for a change. I got laid off from a job I had been at for 12 years. The bullshit excuse left a real bad taste in my mouth, they said I was ready for management but without a college degree I was not ‘qualified’ for the promotion. At the time I was working for ~~Guardsmark~~, the company has since joined forces with three other companies to form on super company. I cannot speak to this new conglomerate but the old company was a glorified flashlight mall cop security service provider. Antiquated to the point of being comical, uniforms just as laughable and policies that remind me of a time that used carbon copy pink, yellow and white forms…..and yes they still used these back in 2010.

Now that I was now ‘free’ I put my school above all, and it paid off. Graduated with honors and all that jazz. Put all my skills, school, and past onto an awesome resume and set out west looking for a job. Long story short I found the job, several actually but finally found the one that was to be my current bread winner. And while all of this was going on I was not taking care of myself. I tried for a job as a cop so I was actually running for a while and lost a bunch of weight. But that fell through (story for another time) so the running became a distant memory. (Ps, I loath running)

The weight creeped up slowly, and in ten years I was having back problems, zero in the world of cardio, I no longer needed to wear a belt to keep my pants up and I could not breath when I bent over to tie my shoes. I was once a huge gym rat, even got a job at a gym so I could get paid to workout! So I am no stranger to the gym, hell I was a damn personal trainer once upon a time!

As of this last month I started the Keto Diet; I have read the good, the bad and the ugly of this diet. I was familiar with the Atkins Diet from years ago and always felt that this was the way to go, but I never put much stock into it. But as of today, I have lost a total of 10 lbs. This diet has shown me just how much bread, pasta, sugar and rice I have been eating. We went from buying four loaves of bread a month, to one! For the most part I was the one eating all the damn bread in the house!

I will say the first 2 weeks were difficult and I am not done with what I need to lose. I am at 235 and want to get to about 200. I have gotten the diet in check and now I am starting week three back into the gym, week one was all about being so sore I hurt to breath but since then things are just a little tight.

I know the Keto Diet is not perfect and it is not for everyone but for me it has shown me that I have been eating way too many carbs for the lifestyle I have grown into. I have made changes in that life and once I get this gut in check I will tapper off from this diet. I am not sure if this is a long term way of eating but I know that eating pizza, tacos, pasta, rice and loaves and loaves of bread is what got into my husky pants Ha Ha!

Find what works and stick with it, the one thing I have learned about a life time of yo-yo diets and exercise is that if you want to see real results consistency is the key!
So till next post; journal often, journal more and take pictures of everything.