So, I've compiled a bunch of recipes I want to cook VERY soon! After my TDY/VACA (yea right) in LA next week, I plan on flipping things up a bit with my diet. Not too much, however, since what I usually eat really helps me shed the weight---I just need some spice in my life. LITERALLY. I'm so jealous of you people who live near a Trader Joe's :-( No fair!

Here's my list of recipes to come:

1. Low-Carb No Bake Cookies (has coconut. I love coconut in cookies!)
2. Baked Fish with seafgood sauce (PROTEIN POWER with this one! A Whopping 48g per serving!)
3. Chicken Tortilla Soup (Courtesy of Oxygen Mag. My favorite!)
4. Cashew Butter Chicken Stew
5. Energy Strawberry Muffins
6. Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and Tomatoe/feta cheese/onion omlet (Thanks fittingbackin!)
7. Peanut Noodles w/ baked peanut tofu (never had tofu...hmm)
Feta and Artichoke Stuffed Chicken breast
8. Chicken Dijon
9. Pita Pizza's!!!! :-)

I don't know where to begin! Still looking for a low carb chicken enchilda recipe......

I skipped my workout this afternoon for lack of energy. I don't think I'm taking in enough calories. May need a little bit more. I'm hitting the gym before work tomorrow. It's convenient to have a gym at work. However, this means I need to get to bed by 10:00 to get my lazy ass up at 6:00! LOL

Thanks for all your comments :) They mean so much! Have a great night!

What's the record for most blogs written in a single day? :-)

I just had to share that running is NOT my friend right now...or rather my right knee and shin is not. I've had some issues with my right knee since participating in a 3K last October. My poor body isn't used to running outdoors on hard asphalt and that's all there is to it :-( So doing so, reallllyyyyy messed up my knee. It was so bad I had BRUISES on my shins...JUST from the running. From that day forward I've been wearing a ugly, stupid knee brace from Wal-Mart when I run. HA! So attractive :-) Crazy....

So, yeah, did a class at work called Tabata today, then hopped on the treadmill, for what was supposed to me just a mile walk/run. Then the pain in the shins started. It hurt so badly. Came home, skipped my precious tanning bed session and iced my entire lower leg.

Does anyone else have this problem? Not just shins, but the "runner's knee"? It's the DEVIL!

P.S. - Does anyone know of a good low-carbish chicken enchilada recipe??!?!

FIRST and foremost, I have to tell you all that my goal is to NOT be rail thin. I want muscles! I want abs you could wash laundry on! Biceps that could make a grown man bow to his knees! heehee. Don't fret--I know it says to the right over there ----->that I have about 43 pounds to lose, but if I ever see myself getting way too skinny--what I like to call "Skeletor Thin"--I'll STOP.

As promised, I’ll share with y’all my current diet and fitness regime plus fun Before and Current pictures!

I can’t even begin to tell you what I’ve tried over the years, to lose weight. Nothing too extreme—just not the healthiest per say.

As of now, I guess I would say I’m on a high protein/low carb diet. The trainer who works in the “Life Center” here at work (yeah…cute name….Life Center.) is a bodybuilder—she’s done a few shows and isn’t too big and meaty, but has great muscles! She basically put me on the diet she sticks to while training for shows. I first came to her last year with the goal of wanting to be in the Miss Alabama USA pageant. Long story, but I never went through with it. Just didn’t have enough time between when I started the program and when the pageant was. I did lose about 12 pounds in two months doing things her way, and it wasn’t too hard to do. I really stuck with it. I made it priority numero uno in my life—some people don’t need to, or can’t, but for me, being single and young I was able to do so.

I eat every 2-3 hours all day. Mostly fish, chicken and turkey meat dishes. Here’s a typical day for me, meal wise:

Breakfast: Strawberry Protein Shake by Parillo performance (VERY high in protein! I was drinking a different kind before Christy stepped in and told me the carbs were too high in it and not enough muscle building protein. Oops.)

Snack #1: Chicken breast, ½ cup of broccoli and 1/3 cup brown rice.

Lunch: Tilapia, ½ cup green beans and sweet potatoes.

Snack #2: Chicken salad and whole wheat crackers.

Dinner: Salmon and ½ cup of some vegetable.

Snack: Sugar free pudding or Special K with skim milk


Lately I’ve been so horrible with my dinner. I do my workout after work from 4:30 until (some days) 6:00 and when I get home I just grab what I can. Not bad eating, but probably "not enough calories" eating and by the time bedtime comes, I’m starving. NOT GOOD. Something I need to work on.

This is my basic, run-of-the-mill menu. I stick to this most days, but for good measure, try new low carb recipes to keep things interesting! Cooking is my new love since I moved out into the big-girl world almost a year ago! I'll share some of my recipes with you all and PLEASE do the same (are you taking the hint? I've mentioned that a FEW times now!)



My Lightest - 160 lbs in 2004




















My Heaviest - 200 lbs in 2007















My Happy Medium - 180 lbs in 2005 (HAPPY HALLOWEEN!)

















Current - 198 lbs in 2009

My very first fitness/weight loss blog!

I'm so excited!

Ok, so technically I do some light blogging on my myspace account...mostly about what's happening in my life, sprinkled with small stories about my fitness journey--but for the avergae Joe, reading about how long I ran on the treadmill or how I almost busted my kneecap at the gym doesn't really interest them.

I've always been a lurker on weight loss blogs, jotting down other people's tips and recipes, but never wanting to take the time to set up an account. :-) Sure, I can be lazy-I admit it. Just a few days ago, however, I stumbled upon Fitting Back In's blog. I started reading and found her writing to be so fun and motivating--then I saw her photo and realized I recognized her and that we had mutual friends! SMALL WORLD! I mean--from just a random weight loss blog search? Really?

Therefore--I'm HERE and ready to share my angst/happiness/pain/struggle/success with you all.

I'd like this first post to be an introduction of sorts...I find numbered lists to be easiest and satisfies the perfectionist inside me. HA!


1. I love to write--it is, after all, my profession, so I may tend to babble and blog randomly about nothing or everything!

2. I'm 25 years old. Born and raised in Alabama. Do I have an accent? Not really. I guess the most reasonable explanation is that I lived near an Army base so growing up I was exposed to so many different people.

3. The love of my life at the moment is my Chihuahua, Brady.



4. The title of my blog may raise a few eyebrows and lead you to believe I'm...conceited, possibly? Not so. It seems my entire life I've been told I had "such a pretty face". You ALL know the saying--in other words, "You have a great face--lose weight". As a child I was slightly more overweight than my peers and to be honest I'm just made big! LOL Of course at that time, all I saw was a fat girl in the mirror and not reality. I won't overuse the term "big-boned"--even though I AM, in all honesty. I have broad shoulders, natural muscle tone, long legs (I'm 5'10!) and am quite sturdy, my friends. In high school I was never the girl boys wanted to date, because I wasn't the gorgeous, thin ninny (who are all now overweight and lazy. Odd isn't it?) Around my senior year of high school and my college years I began getting fit, working out regularly, eating right...Which has led me to where I am now. Grown into my own skin and overall happy with who I am and what I look like. Nowadays, I'm not afraid to tell my weight. Who cares?! I try not to bother with the scale--as great of a tool it is, it can cause some slight depression! LOL...especially after a big carb slip-up. Most people are shocked to learn my true weight anyway. They're usually off my about 20 pounds. Hey! I'll take it! :-)

Instead of weighing everyday, I weigh myself every week or two weeks and take my measurements religiously! That, in my opinion, is the best source of tracking weight loss. Oh, that and body fat analysis. Here at work, we have a "life center" trainer who will gladly take our body fat percentages for us. It's amazing to see those numbers reduce over time.

5. My main purpose for this blog is to have a tool where I can easily track my workouts and what I eat...and of course mingle with everyone and share ideas. So please feel free to share anything. (Especially recipes! I LOOOOVE getting new recipes! Preferably low carb *hint hint*)

Check back later for a blog with my current photo, my lowest weight photo and heaviest photo. As well as my current diet and workout routines. YAY!!