New Tattoo & Strawberry Chia Seed Jelly

Here's the picture of my new tattoo that I promised. Sorry it's a little revealing! People keep telling me "I can't tell where it is on your body!" so does this explain it? It's on my right hip/thigh area.

I love it:-) But I'm excited to see it in a few weeks. Dee said it will look much better once the colors lighten up and what not. So we'll see!:-) It's definitely different than all my other tattoos. Something without blue or purple in it! lol:-P

"The amaryllis symbolizes pride, determination and radiant beauty--the kind that emanates from an inner source and flowers outward."


I think it's the perfect meaning for why I got it. Losing 80+ pounds took a lot of determination!! I'm very proud of it, and now I'm just so radiantly beautiful!! lol kidding:-P


So last week my friend Caitlin told me about this strawberry chia seed jelly recipe. She said she made it and it was easy, healthy and yummy! It looked soooo easy that I decided to try and make it myself!:-) Here is the recipe along with some pics:-)

Strawberry Chia Seed Jelly

Ingredients

1 cup of chopped strawberries

Truvia or Stevia (or any calorie free sweetener) I used two packets (4 teaspoons)

2 Tablespoons of Chia Seeds

1/2 Cup of water

I chopped my strawberries fairly small, but do whatever floats your boat!

2 packets (4 teaspoons) seemed to be a good amount! I'll find out when I taste it! lol

I put the strawberries in a bigger, microwavable bowl, sprinkled the Truvia on, and stirred to coat.

Once coated in the Truvia, cook in the microwave for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Remove and continue to the next step.

Add 1/2 cup of water to the strawberries and 2 tablespoons of chia seeds, mix. Once I mixed mine together, I transferred it to a Tupperware container and put it in the fridge. The original recipe said to leave it in the fridge over night, but Caitlin said an hour or so is good.

I know this is disappointing, but I have NOT gotten to try it yet! I know, I know... how rude of me to write a blog with a recipe and not even have any feedback on it yet?! Sorry! lol:-)

I'm going to try it out when I get off work in the morning. I'm so excited! Hopefully it's good. I'm going to make it a lot if it is, since it was so simple! And barely any calories!:-)

Oh, so bad news! I'm not sure what happened, but at some point on Monday, I hurt my foot!:-( I worked out with Lieutenant Bussing Monday morning, but we didn't do anything extreme. A few sprints and mostly upper body. But Monday night at work, it started to hurt when I would walk. Then yesterday, before work, I decided to go for a run since it was SO nice outside! Well, bad idea. It really made my foot hurt A LOT more!:-( I was only able to do a 5k and as soon as I reached that distance, I walked the rest of the way home, which I never do!

I told Lieutenant Bussing and he thinks it could be a stress fracture! I hope not!! I wrapped it in an ace bandage tonight and I'm trying to stay off it as much as possible:-/ He said I shouldn't run for a week...!!!! Booooo! That really sucks because not running for a week really messes me up! *Sigh*  I know it's for the best though. I need it to be healed before the academy starts. I want to be 100%!

Well, I just wanted to do a quick update. Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to talk about in my next blog:-/

Thank you for reading<3

*4 more shifts!!!!*

Counting Down The Days

I'm still alive! I've just been slacking lately... a lot! I've had a lot of stuff to do since my last post, and I just never got around to blogging! My apologies:-)

Pictured to the right is the screen of my treadmill. That is my latest personal record for a 5k, which I did on 2/7/12. Yay!! I was pretty excited about that!

Back tracking a little... on 2/4 I went out to Looney's (again) with Rob, and then we were joined later by Alicia. We had a blast!! Drank way too many shots though, and it eventually got to me! To make a long story short, I threw up all over myself, in Roch's bed (Sorry Roch!) and I was just a mess!! So embarrassing!:-/ The worst part of it was the fact that I somehow threw up on my phone, causing it to get water damage:-( So for a few days it wasn't really working. Now it's 95% recovered. The volume is always really low though:-/ So yes, two phones in the span of 8 days... *sigh*

On 2/9 I worked out with a Lieutenant who works for PG County Fire Dept. It was awesome!! He's a real good trainer. Tough, but very helpful. I learned a lot of new things! He was basically just getting a feel for how in shape I was and what I needed to work on, so it was cool!

2/10 was my fire department orientation. It was good!! 9 hours long, but we covered a lot. I got to try on gear, uniforms, class A's, and jackets. It was fun:-) I had to introduce myself to all of my classmates which was pretty nerve wracking, but I think I did ok! Everyone in my class seems pretty cool, so far!:-)

Charlie worked on Valentine's Day, so we didn't do anything. But he did get me flowers, Boordy wine, and wine glasses, which was really nice. I love Boordy wine, and I didn't have wine glasses! lol So it was a good gift!:-)

The following day, I contemplated running 13.1 miles. I had been wanting to attempt it for awhile, but just couldn't commit myself! After some convincing from a friend, I finally just sucked it up and ran! It was sunny and pretty mild out when I started the run, but after 2 hours and 21 minutes, it was dark and cold!!:-(

I actually wanted to stop at mile 8! I'm not sure why I was feeling it so early on, but it sucked. I should have been more prepared:-/ I need to get some kind of water bottle belt, and some energy beans or gel. I only had a measly piece of Quench gum!

I'm not quite sure what kept me motivated to keep going. My legs were starting to get shaky, my knee was hurting, and I could feel blisters forming on my feet. The hardest part was when I got back into my neighborhood and I was only at 11 miles. Which meant I had to run past my house multiple times to be able to reach the full 13.1! So tough. I must have went back and forth in my head about 10 times, trying to decided if I wanted to stop now or keep going. I'm so glad I kept running. I don't think I could have forgiven myself for reaching 12 or so miles, and stopping! That would have been so disappointing to me!

I soldiered on and ran past my house and back, twice. I finally reached my door with a total distance of 13.18 miles (see picture above) and I wanted to die!!! I was in so much pain. I felt like I could throw up. I was also freezing!! I'm pretty sure I got hypothermia out there! I could not stop shivering, yet at the same time I was sweating. It was terrible! I'm pretty sure that's what dying feels like!:-(

After I finally recovered, I took a shower and we went out to Outback for our belated Valentine's Day dinner. It was delish and I definitely deserved it after that run!! I also deserved a big box of chocolates! Mmm:-) It was a good day and I'm super proud of myself! Never would have imagined I could run 13.1!:-)

Let's see... On Friday I worked out with the Lieutenant again. This time it was intense! 10 uphill sprints to start, then lots of legs and upper body, some core, then we ended with 10 more sprints!! Yikes!! I burned a TON of calories! It was great:-)

Saturday was Lourdes's birthday which she had at Barcode in DC. To the right is what I wore:-) I bought that dress at Tjmaxx a few months ago, and I finally got to wear it! Along with my cheetah print heels from Target:-) So cute, but so uncomfortable!! Ouch:-(

We had a good time. The food was yummy and the place was really cute! I've never really been out in DC, so it was a good experience. We took the metro there, too, so that was kind of a fun adventure lol... kind of.

Well, I don't want to bore you with my whole entire week(s) but I just wanted to get you a little caught up.Hopefully I can finish the rest of February out strong! Since I haven't been the BEST at eating or exercising since Valentine's Day!:-/ Major slacking going on here!!!

Oh! By the way, I have a weigh in! Although I've gained like 5 pounds over the weekend, I'll still count it as a loss!:-)

Previous Weight - 150.4

Current Weight - 149.2 (2/12)

Weight Lost - 1.2 Pounds

Total Weight Lost - 82.2 Pounds!

Yipeee! Super happy about that. Now I just need it to stay that way on the weekends!! Hahaha... right;-)



Oh... so one of the main reasons I wrote this blog is because tomorrow I'm getting my tattoo!! Of course  those of you who know me on facebook will get to see a picture of it ASAP! Then I'll post a picture of it on here later. I'm really hoping that my Amaryllis blooms tomorrow! It's soooo close! I'd love to be able to take a picture of it next to my new tattoo:-)

Ok, well I'm starting to get sleepy while writing this so I need to get off the computer! Thanks for reading. Look for a tattoo blog next!:-)

Toodles!!

*19 more days!*

Bye Bye January, It's Been Real!

Happy February peeps! Another month gone by, just like that!

<~~~ WTF? Terrible, I know. That's probably my worst looking calendar EVER! Shame on me. Granted, I usually do drink on the weekends, but most of the time I at least try to work out on Friday or Saturday, before I go out. But these past few weekends, I just ran out of time. Honestly! Not trying to make excuses...

Ok, let me give you the news first. Although most people already know because I put it on Facebook, but I'll say it again...

I GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!


Woohoo! I got my official letter on Friday!! I was soooo excited to open it up!:-) In April it will be a whole YEAR that I've been in the hiring process. So much work from beginning to end! But it was all so worth it. I can't believe that I really got it! I always used to say "I'll never get hired by a paid fire department cuz I'm too fat to pass a CPAT, let alone be in an academy!" and look at me now! I am ready to take this thing head on! I'm so ready to become even stronger than I already am. I'm excited for the changes I'm HOPEFULLY going to see in my body! It's going to be like boot camp Monday through Friday, so hopefully I get jacked!!;-P

So the celebrations started on Friday night with dinner at Los Chorros with my family! Mmm, it was delicious. I hadn't been there in forever... forgot how good it was! I got a sangria and a pina colada, too!:-)

Saturday night we went to Looney's! My favorite place<3 But first we pregamed at my parents house.  I double fisted some wine and cranberry and vodka lol. Pretty sure I was already tipsy by the time we got to the bar! It was definitely a fun night! I somehow managed to dance on the stage! Hah... oh, and then I lost my phone...!!! *Sigh* Not cool!:-(

Sunday night we celebrated with Charlie's family at Stanford Grill! It's a really nice steakhouse. Mmm! Of course I got filet mignon. Told you I can be good with my eating most of the time, but I will splurge when the opportunity presents itself!;-)

Charlie's mom got me two Coach rings! Love them! And they fit perfect, too:-) I have awesome in-laws!!

Look who's back! Yes, that is the infamous Amaryllis! My dedicated readers know what I'm talking about, as I mentioned this flower in a previous blog and compared it to my weight loss journey:-)

I thought it wasn't going to come back this year! It was seriously so dry and looked dead. I watered it a whole bunch and put it in the window. It didn't do anything for weeks! Then miraculously it just started growing! Yay:-) Can't wait for it to bloom!

By the way, not sure if I mentioned this, but I got an appointment for a tattoo:-) February 21! Finally getting my 80 pounds lost gift to myself!:-) Which happens to be an Amaryllis tattoo:-) I'm excited to see what Dee draws up for me!

So as I was in the middle of writing this blog tonight, I realized that my blogs barely talk about anything weight loss/fitness related anymore lol. Is that bad? Maybe I should concentrate more on that instead of talking about my random life events... Hmmm.

I really need to sign up for the Iron Girl Half Marathon!! It's coming up in April! Yikes.. gotta start training. I'm just waiting for my next paycheck since it's $85!! :-( I'm nervous. I really need to start upping my miles. I was looking at some running forum the other night and it went into a lot of detail about how you should train. I just didn't feel like following those rules though lol. I kind of feel like just increasing my distance by a mile or so each time I run. The farthest I've ran is 10 miles, so I'm pretty sure I could do another 3.1!:-)

Lately I've been pretty good with rotating between running and strength training. So in between my running days, I usually do a Jillian Michael's video. Mostly it's been "No More Trouble Zones" "Killer Buns & Thighs" and "Ripped in 30." I really need to work on my push ups!! I want to be prepared, at least somewhat, for when I start the academy! Push ups are so hard for me... I just want to be great at them!

I've actually been doing really well with cutting out meat, dairy and processed foods! Besides the filet mignon, chicken quesadilla, pupusas, and crab pretzel I had last weekend... lol oh yeah, can't forget the McDonald's! BUT, besides that, I don't ever have that stuff during the week! It's not too bad, really. I just want to start seeing benefits from it! Like some weight loss or something??? Anything??:-( I guess some of the benefits of this diet are more internal than anything. I do need to get a physical soon, so I guess we'll see how my numbers are looking at my next visit!:-) I wonder if I could ever get off my Thyroid medication?

All I have to say is... Hi hater!! :-) I love knowing that people want to copy me! Hahahaha:-)

Thanks for reading, my dedicated fans!!!<3<3<3

Anna

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