Finding EMO

Pictured to the right is "Charlie's Vegetable Stew"
It is quite possibly the easiest recipe ever!

6-8 red skin potatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1/2 of a yellow/white onion
A couple stalks of celery
A few baby carrots
1 can of corn
1 can of cut green beans
1 can of black beans
1 can of kidney beans
1 can of peas

Chop up all of the ingredients, pour in the liquid from the cans of corn and beans (or however much you need to fill the crock pot) stir everything together and cook on high for 6-8 hours. Viola! It's so simple, and no added flavors like salt or pepper! Divided into 8 portions, it's 315 calories a bowl:-)

Charlie has been making that a lot lately and it's great. I love it!! I'm trying to think of what other things I could cook in the crock pot. I know there's so many options out there, I just need to look them up!:-)

My new "red" hair:-)

Now, the whole reason I titled the blog "Finding EMO" is because lately I've just been feeling kind of... emotional! It's kind of hard to describe the exact feeling, really. I just don't know...

Ever since I've lost the weight, so many things have changed. Obviously physically, but a lot more mentally than I ever thought it would have. The fact that I can dress up and look nice is incredible. It's a new thing for me. To be noticed by guys? That's new for sure. And it's kind of added a little stress to my life.

I'm not trying to sit here and brag and be like "Oh, I'm hot shit" but I'm just saying that there's so many new things happening to me, and it's difficult to deal with. Yes, it's flattering to have a guy compliment you. But I'm married and I know it can be frustrating for Charlie having to deal with guys hitting on me.

It's not like it's happening all the time or anything, but he just wasn't used to it before! He never had to worry about any guys bothering me, flirting with me, etc. so I can understand why he gets frustrated. He's seriously such a great guy though. Charlie has never been the jealous type. He gives me so much freedom and really trusts me, and I love that about him. I can't stand guys who question everything you do from what you're wearing to where you're going. Charlie let's me have my "me" time and I let him have his. I think it makes our relationship much less stressed that way. And it makes me treasure "our" time that much more.

But still, it is hard for me to translate to him that... it's not my fault! lol... I'm not TRYING to put myself out there for guys to flirt with. I just be myself, that's all. And quite honestly, I still have a lot of room for improvement! I love the way I look MUCH more than I did before, but I'm not THAT cute:-) lol.

Anyways, I guess I kind of just needed to rant about that. I haven't really been able to talk to anyone about it, so I'm telling my blog:-)

Spelt spaghetti w/ squash, zuc and tom's

So my new "diet" has been going well. I've cut way back on meat and dairy! Besides that pizza I had at Pub Dog on Saturday... but hey! It was a special occasion:-) But on a daily basis, I don't have it anymore. I've just been sticking with lots of fruits and vegetables, and some bread here and there. I also have a protein drink after I work out, which is usually daily.

I like to mix my protein powder with Almond Milk or Coconut Milk. They're both pretty similar, and the tastes are alike too. They go great with the chocolate protein powder because they add a little sweetness, but not too much. The consistency is way better than water, that's for sure!!

Weight wise, nothing is happening. The scale ranges anywhere from 150 to 155. It can vary so much! I really don't get it. I feel like I am doing really well with my eating, and of course I always exercise like crazy. I really don't want to admit it, and I'm kind of just avoiding it... but it might be the drinking! I don't WANT it to be, but it could. Lately I've been going out drinking a lot more than I have in the past. So I'm sure the alcohol isn't good for me, along with the fact that when I drink, I usually get the munchies and want McDonald's!!:-(

But, if that's what's causing me not to lose anymore weight, then sorry... not gonna be stopping any time soon! I'm just having fun and enjoying my life as the "new Anna" so to speak:-) I never really went out this much when I was bigger. I never danced like I do now. Although I'm sure I still suck at dancing, I just feel less ugly while I'm doing it!:-)

Sorry that blog was kinda lame. I just had to let some feelings out I guess!! Hopefully I will be updating with some REALLY good news soon!! It should be exciting!:-)

Hope you all are having a great winter! I know I am....not! (hate the cold!)

Bye!!!

Anna

I'm Still Here!

I haven't forgotten about you, blog! I'm sorry I've been neglecting you lately...

So let's seeee, where did I leave off? I talked about changing my diet a bit in my last blog. That has been going pretty well!! I've really been working on cutting out meat, dairy and processed foods. There's a few things here and there that I eat, just because I still have them in my fridge! I'm not one to waste:-)

Pictured on the left is dinner from like two weeks ago maybe? Mahi mahi, scallops, steamed squash and zucchini, and jasmine rice. Along with my favorite wine, Riesling! Yumm-o!

Fish is one thing that I feel I might keep in my diet! It doesn't seem as bad as red meat or chicken. Especially if I get it organic from Trader Joe's!:-)

Since changing up our diet, we have been cooking a lot more! It's great. We're really having fun trying new recipes and an added bonus is that we're finally using some of our wedding gifts! Food processor, cheese grater, serving platters, etc. It's been really fun!

I find that with vegetables, you can kind of get away with just throwing a bunch of stuff together in a pan, cooking it, and it turns out good either way! I try not to add too much stuff to it, since butter and olive oil are just unnecessary fats! Although I still use them sometimes, because I'm not sure what else I can use as a substitute!

Sometime last week we tried a recipe for Creamy Avocado Pasta. The ingredients were pretty simple.
Avocado
Lemon
Garlic
Olive Oil
Basil
Salt & Pepper
Spaghetti Noodles

It definitely had potential, but it just didn't hit the spot. I liked the fact that the sauce was made from avocado, instead of cheese, milk, butter, etc. And I've never had Spelt Pasta before, but it was actually really good! I chose those noodles because they had the same amount of calories as regular spaghetti noodles, but they had way more fiber and protein! The consistency was the same as regular noodles, to me at least!:-)

I finally got to use the food processor! Yay! So fun:-) It works really well, and it's pretty quiet too. It blended up the ingredients nicely, creating a smooth, creamy avocado sauce! The sauce was good. Pretty thick, and a little too basil-y for my taste. If I were to make it again, I would probably use less basil, or none at all.

The recipe was for two servings. It said to cover the noodles with the sauce and "fluff" it all together. Well... I think there was too much sauce to really be "fluffy." It was really thick and creamy and there was definitely more sauce than there was noodles!

I could tell Charlie definitely wasn't fond of it! lol... but we did finish it! It wasn't *terrible* lol:-)

As you can see, the noodles are totally coated in the sauce! It looks much better than it tastes!

Anyways, I would maybe attempt it again, but do things a little differently next time!

If anybody has Netflix, I highly encourage you to watch "Forks Over Knives!" It's seriously really good! Very informative and makes you realize how much crap we really eat! And yes, I am very guilty of that! But I'm trying to change my ways, at least as much as I can. I don't think I could ever fully cut out meat, dairy and processed foods completely. But I can definitely try my hardest to not eat those types of things when I can. But if it's like a birthday or something special, then ok, I can splurge a little!:-)

Mango/blueberry mix + salad

So along with my change in diet, I've also been wanting to change up my workouts a bit. Typically, I do cardio. Lots and lots of cardio! Because it's kind of been forced into my head that cardio is the best way to lose weight and burn fat!

BUT, strength training, weight lifting, etc. builds muscle, which also burns fat! So, that is my goal... to work on strength training! I realized that I have barely been doing any type of strength training! Which I really need to work on because if I do get into an academy, I'm gonna have to be strong!

Last night I did "Jillian Michael's: No More Trouble Zones" and WOW! I forgot how hard it is! I think she recommends using 3 pound weights, but I only have 5. By the middle of the video, my muscles were burning! And for the first time in forever, I woke up sore today! I guess I had really been slacking in that department! So now, my goal is to do that video every other day! I obviously need to let my muscles rest, so I will do strength/cardio, every other day! If I don't have time to do that whole video, I'll probably do Ripped in 30, since she does strength training and cardio in the same video.

So we went shopping at MOM's the other day and wow! I was so excited! I guess the last time I went there, I wasn't on much of a health food kick, so I didn't really care about much of the stuff there. But now, I love everything! They have so many options for gluten free, dairy free, vegan, etc. It's awesome!

I picked up a few things. Some bread, soy yogurt, coconut milk yogurt, almond yogurt, vegan cream cheese, organic soups, TIGER BALM! and my favorite purchase of all... Coconut Milk Cookie Dough ice cream!! Mmmmm

Speaking of my family, Monday night I had my parents and Rayna over for dinner! It was really fun and delicious! The main point of having them over was to watch "Forks Over Knives." This is because my dad recently got news that his heart is in jeopardy. He had a stress test done, which showed an area of his heart was not perfusing as well as it should. So Thursday he's going in for an angiogram. I really wanted him to watch the documentary so that maybe he could get some ideas on how to change his diet and how it would greatly improve his cardiovascular system!

Since we wanted to set a good example, I tried to make a healthy dinner for them! We did Mahi Mahi, Asparagus, Mashed Cauliflower and Baby Arugula salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, walnuts and goat cheese! I also made my very first batch of Guacamole!! They loved it!! Everything turned out great and I was pretty impressed with Charlie and I's cooking skills! lol:-)

I think that my Dad liked the video and definitely listened to what they had to say! I hope that everything goes will with his angiogram tomorrow, and hopefully it's not as bad as they think!

Tonight I'm at work. Boo. But it's only one of two in a row. Then I'm off for 5 days! Yes!!:-)

Before I came into work I was pretty productive. Did my laundry, emptied the dish washer, ran 5 miles and then made whole grain quinoa with squash, zucchini and plum tomatoes, sauteed in a little bit of olive oil! Mmm!

Thanks to one of my BFF's, Caitlin, for giving me some quinoa to try! I'd never had it before and was wanting to try it for awhile:-) I liked it! I'm going to try it again sometime, maybe with a sauce or something.

The scale has not moved down at all lately. But that could be due partly to my crazy weekends of drinking. That is one thing I do that is NOT healthy! But, I'm enjoying my life and having a blast so that's something I just can't part with right now!! I could probably cut back on going to McDonald's afterwards though! lol:-)

I hope next time I update I have a loss to report!! But we shall see. Even if I can just tone up some, I'd be happy:-)

Sorry for the long update... hopefully it won't be so long before the next one!!

<3<3<3<3

Anna

One Year

January 9, 2011

The day I decided to change my life... Ok, I'm a little bit late. But I was busy the past few days and I didn't get time to write my one year anniversary blog on the actual day of. Sorry!

As you all know, I had been really hoping to reach my goal of 150 by 1/9/12. In my last post, I said I had given up on it pretty much. Well, I have a weigh in for you! Check it out:-)

Previous Weight - 152.8

Current Weight (On 1/7) - 150.4

Weight Lost - 2.4 Pounds

Total Weight Lost - 81 pounds.

0.4 pounds away from my goal! Really?! I couldn't just get off that last little 0.4 pounds? Nope. It wasn't going anywhere! The next day I even tried doing liquids only to see if that would help me lose the 0.4 by the next day. Nope. It wouldn't go away! Oh welllllll! It still felt awesome to see 150!!!

So anyways, I'm at work right now and extremely tired! I just wrote a sentence and looked at it... did not make any sense! So bare with me lol:-)

"So far my methods have been working! I just have to keep up with it and hopefully I will reach my goal weight one day! For now, my mini goal weight is to at least get down to 200 pounds.

My true goal weight is 160 pounds, but that will take me AWHILE! lol."

I took that from my very first blog, which was written on 2/15/2011. I can't believe it's already been a whole year since I started this weight loss journey! Time has gone by really fast. Which is good. I thought it would have taken forever to lose this weight, but it wasn't that bad at all!

There's been a few ups and downs. A few plateau's here and there. But all in all, a great experience. I have just come out of this more knowledgeable than ever! I went from just counting calories to wanting to actually make my calories count! After watching the documentary "Forks Over Knives" the other day, I have really wanted to change my diet up a bit. Go more "clean" so to speak. It's basically like a vegan diet. You focus on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes AKA beans lol. So I'm going to try and slowly cut out meat, dairy, and processed foods as much as I can. One thing I'm not giving up... tuna! Gotta have my tuna:-)

We went shopping yesterday and got tons of vegetables and fruits. We're all stocked up! Charlie is actually going to try this healthier eating with me as well! Hopefully he can stick with it! I really worry about his health sometimes:(

Now that I'm at 150 pounds, I realize that I'm not completely satisfied with that. So for now, I'm going to keep going down by 5 pound increments until I get to where I feel comfortable with my body.

I'm pretty happy with everything, just not my stomach. For right now, I think I just need to work on burning fat and toning certain areas. Then I'll work on maintaining!

I really thought this post would be more meaningful, maybe even a little emotional, but I think I'm too tired!:-( maybe I'll try again another day! But for now, here are a whole bunch of before and afters!! Enjoy and warning, some are just sports bra and underwear pics!:-/

On our honeymoon October, 2010

July 2009 - 1/9/12

July, 2009 - 1/9/12

July, 2009 - 1/9/12

March, 2010 - August, 2011

2/1/11 - 1/9/12

2/1/11 - 1/9/12

3/4/11 - 1/9/12

Top - 3/4/11 Bottom - 1/9/12

1/9/12

1/9/12

1/9/12

1/9/12

Best Christmas present ever!:-)

Sorry the pictures are a little revealing. And yes, I looked disgusting before, I know!! lol. Try to focus on the fact that I look good now:)

Ok, seriously super tired!!! Time to get off of this blog, otherwise I'm gonna write something really dumb! Thanks for looking!!!!!:-)

Hello, 2012!!

Me on New Years Eve!

HI RAYNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:-)


Since my sister is one of the few dedicated readers, I had to give her a shout out! I mostly wrote this blog just because she complained! And it's true, it has been awhile since I've written, so I guess it was time!

I haven't had the motivation to write since I was being SO lazy over the holidays! Ugh... I felt so crappy. It's crazy to me that even though I was still consistently working out like I usually do... I was still over eating and gaining weight! Which just goes to show how strict I will have to be on myself for... ever! Pretty much! I don't know if I will ever have a "maintenance mode" lol:-P

With Christmas at the in-laws, then Christmas at my parents, then New Years, then Fogo De Chao, plus ALL the stuff people kept bringing to work... it just wasn't a good week!! There was temptation all around and I was definitely weak. I wish I could be stronger when it comes to telling myself no. But I'm just a food whore. A dirty food slut:( Haha... JK... but seriously...

I did gain... BUT, I really didn't want to log it! I hate taking steps back, so I decided to just wait it out till I get back to my previous weight, then see if I can lose anything from then on. I have pretty much given up hope that I will get to 150 by 1/9/12. But that's ok! I'm still so happy with what I have accomplished. I think my new goal will be to get to 150 by Valentine's Day. Hopefully I can do that!:-D

I was thinking also... I'm only a few pounds away from 150, yet there's a lot of things about my body that I need to improve. Definitely a lot of toning, but there's still more fat to lose! Despite what SOME people say, I am NOT too skinny. I don't know what makes people think that. Especially when they weigh 120 and they're telling me 155ish is too skinny? Ok... that's enough! lol. So once I do reach 150, I might change my goal to 140!:-) We'll see when I get there.

 

I'm not sure if I've put up a picture of my calendar every month, but I do try. And I do fill it out, religiously! It helps me to see what I've done and to be able to look back and see what I did that was good or bad.

Exercise wise, I think I did pretty well! I exercised 25/31 days. I just added it up, and all together I ran about 56 miles in December! Wow!:-D That makes me happy! I love running and I really wish it wasn't so cold because I'd love to go running outside, rather than on the treadmill. Although I'm pretty proud of myself... I ran 8 miles straight on the treadmill yesterday! It was fine, and I barely got tired. It's just the fact that it's boring that gets me!:-/

I'm happy that it's 2012 now and I'm excited for my fresh start! Tuesday  I had an AWESOME day and Wednesday was pretty good too. I'm going to try and do great on my diet from now on, unless it's a special occasion. I will try my hardest NOT to eat anything in the lounge at work. It's my enemy!! :-(

I'll weigh myself soon and see if I have a loss or something. I will update if I do!

Thanks for reading:)

Anna