16 and Losing It

Hello everyone!

I’m so excited right now, I’m typing this from my mom’s phone! They have apps for everyrhing now!

Don’t expect a very long post like this because just typing this has taken me forever!

I’m in Minneapolis! We got here wednesday afternoon. We ate dinner that night at this awesome pasta place called Broder’s Pasta Bar. We ate at the “bar” which just looked like a bar but there was no alcohol. From the bar we could watch the kitchen which was pretty cool since being a chef is on my possible career lis

I had lasagna with lamb,mint, and this creamy tomato sauce. It wasn’t what I was initially planning on getting but our waitress said it was out of this world so I had to try it. It was amazing, rich, but awesome.

Yesterday, Thursday, we visited Macalester College in St. Paul. I loved the college and it may be my #1 choice. We ate lunch ate this little Afgani place. They had a $10 lunch buffet which was an awesome deal! I had dahl, this mush of Mung beans and stuff, pita, hummus, and Afgani salad which was onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and some other veggies with lime juice. I LOVED everything there and if I go to Mac it might become my lunch spot

Dinner was nothing special. We couldn’t find anywhere interesting so we ended up a a kind of touristy place called the News Room. We shared an emanada for an appitizer, then I had a really basic salad with walnuts, grilled chicken, and goat cheese. It was ok but nothing special.

Dessert was cool though. Our waitress reccomended their Root Beer cookies so we figured we had to them. They were fresh baked (they bake them when you order them) and so soft you needed a spoon for the middle (not undercooked though) and they really tasted like root beer. Apparently they use root beer extract to get the flavor.

Now we are in th car on our way to see Carleton College which is about 45 minutes from Minneapolis.

Tomorrow we fly to Colorado! I can’t believe that in less than a week I will be backpacking! I’m getting nervous but trying not to think about it too much!

So that about all I have for you guys right now! I promise lots of pictures when I get back! I will try to update you guys on how Boulder is before I venture off into the wilderness!

Hope all is well with everyone!

Elli

Well I do! Thus todays lunch was fabulous! There is nothing like a scrumptious veggie pizza to brighten your day!

This was sauteed zucchini, onion, garlic, and broccoli on Prego, with part-skim mozzarella and parmesan cheese! Fancy-schmancy? No. Drool-inducing? YES!

Can we take a moment to admire the gorgeousness of this orange pepper?

B-e-a-utiful! And sweet and juicy and crunchy! All good things for food to be, especially when it is just minutes from being in my belly!

With that I had the remainder of my snap peas and the rest of that lovely pepper with some plain hummus from good ol’ Trader Joes!

So colorful!

My afternoon snack was nothing new. Light n’ Fit with blueberries and cereal and a peach with some cherries.

Now it’s time to get ready for kickboxing. I love running and all but there is nothing in this universe like an amazing kickboxing class! *knock wood* I hope tonight is a good class, yesterday sure was!

Au Revoir!

Elli

Ugh I wanted to make this post yesterday but it just didn’t happen, sorry guys!

I’m not going to show you guys every meal because 1) I don’t think you don’t really want to read about everything I ate for the past 2 days and 2) I don’t feel like writing everything I ate, so I’m going to stick to the highlights!

Sunday morning I made my very first Green Monster! I was so excited to try one and I figured it would be the perfect time! I always have pancakes sunday morning but they don’t give me a lot of energy for my run so a Green Monster was perfect!

The bubbles looked a little crazy but it was sooooo refreshing and energizing! I have had one for breakfast yesterday and today and I love it!

Since we are on the subject (sort of) I am giong to take a moment to introduce to my blender.

His name is Warren (because he is a Waring Blender ). Yes I named him, and I’m ok with that.

There are 2 reasons why I feel you guys should meet Warren. 1) because now that I am making Green Monsters he is an active member of my life and 2) because he is over 40 years old.

Yes, I typed that right and no, your eyes aren’t failing you. He was my grandma’s, then my mom’s, and now he is mine.

Some of you might be thinking “40 years! Its probably time for a new and better blender, don’t you think!” Well here is what I have to say to that.

They just don’t make blenders like they used to. Warren may only have 2 settings “lo” and “high”, but he is way more powerful than any blender you could get today, especially one within my price range. He is also in amazing shape! He is quite handsome for a 40 year old blender and he does his job better than any young blender could!

So now you’ve met Warren we can move on to Sunday’s dinner. Sunday was one of those great days where you just do absolutely nothing! I went for a run, and then my mom and I watched cooking shows for most of the day! It was soo nice and relaxing!

When dinnertime rolled around I realized it had been what seemed like forever since I cooked something from scratch without a recipe!

The creation I came up with was so delicious! Warm roasted vegetable and pasta salad.

While the pasta cooked, I roasted zucchini, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and red peppers, then mixed the veggies and the pasta with some arugula and lettuce. Ohmygosh it was so good! It has been ages since I had pasta and I didn’t even realize how much I had missed it until I ate this!

Monday it was back to the normal routine. Cereal and green monster for breakfast.

Then my run, which would have been perfect if it hadn’t poured rain for 10 mins! My brand new sneakers got all wet but they survived just fine so no worries! (They are super comfy and awesome btw!)

Lunch yesterday was a veggie burger with white bean hummus, fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, red pepper and arugula

with some sugar snap peas on the side for some crunch,

AND a yummy little salad, with tomatoes, peppers, blueberries, and raisins, with EVOO and lemon juice for dressing.

Dinner was another creation of mine.

I have a ton of kale for my green monsters but since I am off to Minneapolis tomorrow I wanted to use some of it up with dinner so it wouldn’t go to waste while I was gone!

The solution was kale with quinoa, yellow pepper, and soy saussage

I caramelized some onions and garlic then sauteed the peppers for a few minutes then added the kale and some water and let it cook down until it was soft but not mushy and still really vivid green. Then I mixed in the quinoa and the sausage and voila! It was so delicious! and so easy!

Today, my morning run seemed like it was going to be awful. I was eating my breakfast and then I heard the landscaper guys outside, remember them? (An epic cleaning spree and a bad run… « 16 and Losing It.) I really didn’t feel like running past them in my spandex and tank top, even if they do leave me alone. So I decided to brave the unknown and run in the next development over! I never have never done this because I was always afraid I would get lost, but it turns out it’s a circle so I can’t get lost! My run was still hard because my muscles are pretty tired form kickboxing last night, but at least I could run in peace, and it was nice having different surroundings for once!

Lunch has not happened yet today but the plan is to have veggie pizza with something on the side, but I haven’t totally decided what yet. If all goes well I will make another post today and then you can find out!

Tomorrow my mom and I are going to Minneapolis! I am so excited! I love traveling and I’ve already found an Indian restaurant in Minneapolis that we are going to try!

I promise I will do better with photos this trip! No more forgetting my camera! I always feel a little silly sitting in restaurant taking pictures of my food but I will do my very best to get over that so I can show you some of the amazing food I’m sure we’ll eat! And I will of course have some amazing photos of my backpacking trip!

I may be able to post during some of our trip but I’m sure there will be very big posts with I get home!

Hope everyone is enjoying their Tuesday!

Elli

Before I get to the meat of this post I will tell you guys that I “gained” 2.2 pounds this week. Although I ate a TON on vacation and didn’t weigh myself when I got back, but I could easily have gained 3 or 4 pounds on vacation in which case I really lost weight this week! At least that’s how I’m choosing to look at it. No onto the real point of this blog…

I use a website called Sparkteens, which is partly a social networking site for teens who are trying to lose weight, gain weight, or just be healthier. I have a blog on there and I posted a version of this post on there. But I thought that it was a post that might be relevant on here too. So keep in mind that a lot of the eating stuff in here might not be relevant to those of you who have taught me to eat this way. ( thanks by the way)
*Just FYI this blog is going to be a little deep, but I think some of what I will say needs to be said, and I need to say it so that I can look back and remind myself.

Although I have not been doing this blog for very long I have learned a lot about being healthy and happy through this blog and trough the fantastic blogs of others. (From here on this is exactly what I posted on Sparkteens so keep that in mind when you think “well actually I do that already” or whatever you might think.)

Some of what I have learned isn’t relevant to most of you guys because we all eat in different ways and for some of you the idea of eating a mostly vegan diet would never work but for me it has made me feel happier and healthier than ever before despite the fact that the number on the scale hasn’t changed.

However, there are somethings that I have learned that are relevant to everyone weather you are trying to lose weight, gain weight, or neither. The best example of this I can give right now comes from one of the blogs I read called Oh She Glows (http://ohsheglows.com/). In her last post Angela talked about a quote from the book Eat Pray Love, which I haven’t read but after reading this quote I plan to. Hear is the quote:

“It was in a bathtub back in New York, reading Italian words aloud from a dictionary, that I first started mending my soul. My life had gone to bits and I was so unrecognizable to myself that I probably couldn’t have picked me out from a police line-up. But I felt a glimmer of happiness when I started studying Italian, and when you sense a faint potentiality for happiness after such dark times you must grab onto the ankles of that happiness and not let go until it drags you face-first out of the dirt- this is not selfishness, but obligation. You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight.
I came to Italy pinched and thin. I did not know yet what I deserved. I still maybe don’t know fully what I deserve. But I do know that I have collected myself of late- through the enjoyment of harmless pleasures- into somebody more intact. The easiest, most fundamentally human way to say it is that I have put on weight. I exist more now than I did four months ago. I will leave Italy noticeably bigger than when I arrived here. And I will leave with the hope and the expansion of one person- the magnification of one life- is indeed an act of worth in this world. Even if that life, just this one time, happens to be nobody’s but my own.”

I really liked this quote and I thought that some of it was really important. At the end of her post Angela asked a few questions to her readers.

“Do you have any ‘glimmers of hope’ in your life right now? Have you ever experienced any small pleasurable activity that got you though a difficult time, like the blog did for me? Are there things in your life that you could do to create these small bits of happiness in your day?”

Here is my answer to some of those questions:

For me my “glimmers of happiness” are cooking and exercising. They may not be all that original but they make me happy. When I’m in the kitchen and I make something I cam totally from my head not a recipe. In the kitchen you follow your own rules, if you don’t lie cilantro you just leave it out, if you think some lemon juice would brighten up your dish you put it in. Its your dish, you kitchen, you stomach, and your tongue and that’s all that matters. And I love making something and then seeing the happiness it brings my mom (my only tester) when she eats it and cannot stop telling me how good it is!

Exercise is different but the same in many ways too. Its not always as joyful as cooking. Sometimes I’m hot, or tired, or I just feel lazy, but the fact that I normally still get myself up and go for my run or go to kickboxing despite how I am feeling makes me proud. And there is nothing like the feeling of an amazing workout. The kind that wipes away all the stress of whatever else happened that day or whatever could happen. When you feel like you could fly because your body feel powerful and strong. That feeling is definitely a feeling that nothing can replace. Or when you finish a particularly hard workout and are amazed at hoe much farther you pushed yourself than you even thought possible. Exercise has taught me so much about my body and myself and the confidence it has brought me is irreplaceable, and makes me so happy.

I think its really important that everyone do things that they love. Life is short and spending any of it miserable by choice seems wrong to me. So I have a few questions of my own for you guys.

Do you have things in your life that make you happy? Does whatever “diet” or “plan” you are “on” make you happy and bring joy to your life? Or do you dread working out and only do it because it burns calories? Do you love the food you eat and look forward to it? Does most of what you eat make you feel energized and healthy? Or do you eat what you what you eat because it is low in calories, while craving things you have decided you “can’t have?”

I really encourage anyone who has read this far into this post to think about the answers to those questions. And BE HONEST with yourself.

What motivates you do lose weight? Is is just so that you can look like the models in Seventeen magazine or wear a bikini? Or is it because you want to feel good about yourself and your body, like really bone deep good? It’s really easy to say well duh I want to feel good about my body and I’ll feel good when I can wear a bikini. But I can tell you that there is a difference!

I feel so good about my body right now, and I still would not wear a bikini. Sure when I look in the mirror I wish my stomach were flatter etc. but I also love my body and I am constantly impressed with how strong and powerful it is! I eat healthy and am trying to lose weight because I love my body not so that I can love my body. I want the way I feel on the inside to be reflected on the outside.

My weight loss journey so far has taught me so much about myself and about how to be healthy and happy. I am not proud that I once was 186 pounds and ate tons of carbs and fat and almost not veggies. Or that I never exercised. But I am grateful that it happened to me because losing the weight has made me a better person. I am stronger both mentally and physically than I ever have been before. I am going backpacking in Colorado for 12 days soon. I will have to carry all my clothes, food, and whatever else I need on my back. 2 years ago I would never have done something like that! I would not have been physically capable and I would not have had the confidence to believe I could!

I hope that one day all of you guys reach the same realizations I have come to. I can tell you that I am still learning more about my self everyday, and this is far from the end of my weight loss journey! You have to learn these things for your own though and I encourage all of you guys to stick with it! One of my favorite quotes is “Nothing worth having comes easily.” I cannot tell you guys how true that is and I am a living example of that.

If you actually read this whole blog thanks for reading this through and I hope this helps you in some way no matter how big or small.

Ok so there you go! That basically sums up this HUGE realization I came upon today! I promise a regular old post will also happen today but I needed to put this out there

Elli

Today was surprisingly busy so I’m sorry to say I don’t have many pictures of what I ate because most of my eating today was done on the go.

This morning I went to the barn and hung out with my horse DJ for a little bit.

Yup that’s him!

I had to leave early though because I was getting a hair cut later and and a trip to the gym beforehand was required.

The gym was just torture today. It was super hot inside, and I just didn’t feel like running. I tried the elliptical and then remembered why I stopped using it in the first place, it’s boring! I went back to the treadmill and eventually I was finished, oh what a relief!

My hair cut today was very impromptu (as in scheduled this morning). I have been a little bored with my hair for the past few weeks. I have had the same hair cut for almost a year now without much change so I was ready to mix it up! I decided I didn’t want to wait until after I got back from my last trip so this weekend was my last chance to get it cut!

My previous hairstyle was inspired by this photo:

(Ew fake tan!) Although it was curlier on me because my hair is pretty curly naturally and I also got a perm a few months ago to make it even curlier.

The new hair cut I wanted looked something like this:

It looks really good! It has been awhile since I had bangs though so they will take some getting used to. My stylist gave me less bangs than she has in the picture because of my curls. My bangs are quite curly, but I think they look cute and I can always straighten them if I want!

So after my haircut my mom and I went shopping!

First stop was the shoe store for new running shoes. The running shoes I have been wearing I got for dirt cheep on the sale rack at Famous Footwear or someplace similar. They were certainly not fitted by someone who knew what kind of shoe would be right for me! But they were cheep and now they are old! So the time for new (and better) running shoes had definitely come.

We went to a real running store and I walked around so the woman could see how I walk (apparently I underpronate, I walk on the outsides of my feet), and she brought out 3 pairs for me to try on.

These babies were the winners!

Were they cheep? No. Comfortable? YES! I can’t wait to try them out tomorrow!

Next we hit Whole Foods. Where I got freeze-dries peaches.

Isn’t that cute!

They are like peaches on flavor steroids! So yummy!

I also got peach preserves. I guess I was on a bit of a peach kick, can you blame me?

Then we went to the regular super market, they have cheeper produce that is just as good, and other things worth buying!

I got protein powder because I think maybe I”m not getting enough protein since I have been eating less beans and greek yogurt lately.

So I can add this to all sorts of things.

I also found these bars!

They are certainly not all natural but you can’t beat the nutritional stats! 100 calories, 6 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber! Normally all the high protein bars are also high in calories so these are perfect! I have yet to try one though, so hopefully they taste ok

When we got home it was dinner time. We were both hot and tired and the only thing that sounded good was salad, so I whipped up a huge salad!

There is tons of stuff in there so to name a few there are tomatoes, corn red pepper, broccoli, red beans, chickpeas, light Baby Bel, and some flax seed for good luck. I also had a toasted Flatout (which is basically a giant cracker) with peanut butter and my new peach preserves for some carbs. Ahh so refreshing!

Now I am one tired blogger from my busy day!

I can’t believe that I am leaving again on Wednesday! Summer goes to fast!

How has your summer been so far? Done anything interesting?

Any suggestions for ways to use my new protein powder?

Nighty- night!

Elli

Hey everybody! It’s Friday!!

I am so ready for the weekend. Not much is happening for me, but I won’t have to sit around alone all day so that’s a plus. And I’m getting new running shoes! I have needed them forever and I am finally going to get them! Yipee!

Breakfast today was the same as always… raisin bran with some banana, strawberries and blueberries, and green tea.

This morning’s run was ok but its was already almost 80 degrees when I got out at 8:45 so I was HOT!

My morning snack was half a Flatout with some almond butter and honey and a light Baby Bel cheese.

I love these Flatouts they are so versatile and healthy!

Lunch was an almond butter, banana, and honey sandwich on low-carb bread, ( I added some cinnamon and sugar for good luck )

Mmm… so sweet and delicious!

and some peaches, blueberries, cherries, 0% greek yogurt, and 1% cottage cheese with a little bit o’ honey

You can’t see the cottage cheese and yogurt but I promise it’s in there!

For dessert ( you gotta have something sweet after lunch!) I had 2 of these babies

They are my go-to lunch time dessert because they are super crunchy, just the right amount of sweet, and only 25 calories per cookie!

My pre-workout snack came later than usual because I fell asleep for an hour and a half this afternoon! I have no idea why but I was super tired today.

My snack was another 80 calorie yogurt, I love these so they will probably be around for awhile, in a very interesting and yummy flavor: coconut pineapple.

with that I had the other half of the Flatout from this morning with a 35 calorie garlic and herb Laughing Cow wedge, arugula, and tomatoes.

I rolled it up, and it was so creamy and delicious! (please excuse the little hair in the picture… )

My run at the gym was unexpectedly exciting because I got there at 6:10 and then realized that the gym changed its hours and now closes at 7:00 on Fridays! So I had to try to fit a normally 60 minute run into a 40 time slot! But I burned my 1000 calories for the day so all was well in the end

My mom got me flax seed today so I was super excited to try it out with dinner!

which was… an omelet with onions, red pepper, sun-dried tomatoes, 1/2 a soy sausage, arugula, some flax seed, and another Laughing Cow wedge

and a 100 calorie sandwich flat. I had half with margarine and honey and half with almond butter and honey because I couldn’t decide which I wanted and who says I can’t have both!

I also had a little salad with that because you can never have to many veggies! ( I put some flax in this too!)

For dessert I am going to have a Vitabrownie (<3) with some peanut butter. I have had this for dessert almost every night for what seems like forever. I heart Vitabrownies (and muffins)!

So that’s just another exciting day in the life of Elli!

I will check in tomorrow with my new running sneaks! And I might try to make a green monster tomorrow or Sunday since I have seen so much talk about them and I really want to try it! I just need to get kale, but I’m going to Whole Foods tomorrow so I can pick some up!

Enjoy your weekends everyone!

Elli

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Today is my official day off from working out. I love my day off ,but I also kind of dread it because I love to workout and I feel really lazy when I don’t. I’m also normally more tired in the morning without my morning run. Today, however, I had the pleasure of paying a visit to my orthodontist to get my braces tightened (oh joy)! I have had my braces on for over 3 years with no apparent end in sight despite that fact that I am in the “end stages,” as they told me this morning. Apparently the end stages can last 6 months or possibly more though… grrr.

So why did I tell you that little story? Because now my poor little bottom teeth hurt from being manhandled by the orthodontist.

This happens pretty much every time and the treatment is always that same, plenty of Aleve and soft foods. So the next few days will mean lots of soup and oatmeal!

Before we get to today’s food, though, I have to tell you about the dinner I made last night. Aside from being the first meal I have cooked in what feels like ages it was pretty darn good if you ask me!

We (mom and I) had quinoa with soy sausage and sauteed veggies.

I sauteed almost a whole red onion ( I love onion!) with a little olive oil, then I added garlic (2 cloves), a yellow pepper, broccoli, and some lemon juice.

I put that mixture onto some quinoa which was on some lettuce (gotta fill up the plate, Go volumetrics!), and topped all that off with half of a soy sausage for each of us. Yum!

So onto today’s eats…

Breakfast was the same as usual cereal and fruit (what can I say I’m a creature of habit).

For my post-orthodontic snack I had a banana with almond butter. (sorry no picture :/)

By the time lunch rolled around my teeth were really starting to hurt so the answer to that was soup!

I made my self some egg and veggie soup. Sound weird? Well just think of egg drop soup only not

I boiled some veggie broth, whisked up an egg and then slowly poured the egg in, stirring the whole time. Then I added a tiny bit of butter, some frozen spinach, half a can of petit diced tomatoes, some dried basil and oregano, paprika, lemon juice, and some leftover quinoa from last night. It was a huge bowl of soup but very light.

Along with that I had a Flatout with some almond butter and creamed honey, which I thought would be safe for my teeth but I toasted it and that made it harder to chew. For those who don’t know hard to chew = ouch!

It tasted good though!

Dessert was a Chocolate Chip Chewy bar. Can I get an amen for the chewies?! Love them!

My snack today was quite similar to yesterday, like I said I’m a creature of habit

I had a Cherry Vanilla Light n’ Fit with blueberries, cherries, and some cereal.

The taste difference between real cherries and this yogurt was really comical, but it was yummy anyway.

To spare my teeth as much pain as possible I had a little plate of fruit (<3) with my yogurt.

Oh man do I love fruit! This peach pretty much made my day! It was so sweet and juicy without being mushy! Pure heaven.

Hopefully my teeth stop hurting soon so I can eat crunchy things again because I love me some crunchy!

Dinner is still undecided, but it will probably be oatmeal of some kind because I can’t eat much else

Well I’m off to walk my doggies with the madre to get some exercise in today, since all I’ve really done so far is read blogs and watch Grey’s Anatomy!

Peace out!

Elli

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to see my favorite planet-saving, guitar-playing, former pro-surfing singer, Jack Johnson, live and in concert! Whoohoo!

I must admit that I own every album he has released and I listen to his music pretty much every morning when I’m getting dressed.

The concert was AMAZING! I had so much fun! Here are some pics!

I was singing at the top of my lungs for pretty much the whole thing I’m not going to lie, and yet it is seemingly impossible for me to lose my voice because it is fine today! Which is a fortunate thing I guess

Lunch today was one of my new favorite things… a Flatout wrap

Which I toasted (and burned )

and put on it a mixture of 1% and 4% cottage cheese, 0% greek yogurt, raisins, a few almonds (broken into little pieces), and a small handful of raisins. Then I cut it into smaller pieces. Kind of like a sweet pizza!

yum!

Along with all that awesomeness, I had my favorite little fruit combo peaches, cherries, and blueberries! It never gets old

A little later it was snack time!

For my pre-kickboxing snack I had a light Baby Bel cheese (only 50 calories and 6 g or protein!)

And a peach Light n’Fit yogurt with some blueberries and cereal.

That was about an hour ago… now I am off to kickboxing. I am pretty sore form getting back into my workout routine after vacation but it should be fun!

Happy bastille Day everyone!

Elli

*I tried to post this yesterday but my computer is mildly retarded and is doing its best to make my life difficult, so sorry about that!*

So I’m home from Milwaukee/camping in Wisconsin! I have never been to Milwaukee but it was a really nice city!

One great thing about the Midwest is that everyone is so much friendlier! Maybe it’s a stereotype but it’s true also! People smile at you when you are walking down the street! In Philly and New York City (the 2 cities I have the mot experience in) people just ignore everyone else on the street like they don’t even exhist, which I hate.

I forgot to take pictures of the 2 dinners we had out (bad blogger, bad blogger), but they were amazing! Tuesday night (our first night) we ate at Coquette Cafe (http://www.coquettecafe.com/) a french restaurant in the historic part of Milwaukee. I had french onion soup (my favorite soup in the world!) and a salad with apples, goat cheese, candied pine nuts, and chicken. The whole dinner was amazing!

Wednesday, my mom and I went to Beloit College one of the 3 midwestern colleges I am considering.

Then we went to this amazing vegetarian/vegan restaurant called Cafe Manna (http://www.cafemanna.com/) seriously this place was amazing!! I had a little lentil-fest with lentil soup and a lentil burger

Thursday we hit the pavement for a food tour! It was so much fun and we got to taste some of Milwaukee’s best food!

Like Pizza, which was delicious! Milwaukee style pizza has a super thin crust and they cut it into squares. This was amazing pizza definitely one of the best I have ever had!

Tacos ( the best taco I have ever had! but a really awful picture)

Canolis (so sweet and creamy! definitely NOT health food but it was really small)

Olives (which I actually didn’t eat because I HATE olives)

And shepherds pie!

As I’m sure you can guess this was amazing also!

Then we set off to Kohler State Park for some camping… all of which I forgot to take pictures of because we were doing so many fun things. Sorry

So now I am back for about a week and a half before my mom and I are off to Minneapolis, MN and Boulder, CO before I head out into the wilderness for 12 days of rock-climbing and back-packing! Yeah I’m starting to get kind of nervous for it but I’m just trying not to think about it

I completely forgot to photograph my lunch yesterday ( I had a wrap with veggies and soy sausage and some fruit) but Monday I had this amazing pizza!

I made it on a Flatout flatbread which are my new favorite things to play with because they are only 90 calories per wrap and they have tons of fiber and protein! On the pizza I put sauteed summer squash, orange pepper, onions, garlic, and broccoli. For sauce I used my go-to tomato sauce: original Prego, and I used part-skim mozzarella and some parmesan for cheese. It was so yummy and healthy too!

So that has been the last few days! I promise I will not get behind again (until my next vacation!) But I will try tog et to a computer if I can sometimes hotels have them! Sometimes it would be nice to have a laptop!

Elli

Hello Everyone!

Happy Belated 4th of July to everyone from the USA!!

For those of you who don’t know, my official weigh-in day is Sunday. I weigh myself right after I get up so that I don’t eat or drink anything before. Also for any who don’t know, I have been stuck between 161 and 156 (25 and 30 pounds lost) for about 7 or 8 months. Yeah it’s been beyond frustrating! Well yesterday I got up and weighed myself like I do every Sunday. I have been eating well and working out really hard as you can probably see, but after so many good weeks with bad weigh-ins I wasn’t expecting much. I lost 2.4 pounds! Whoohoo! I normally lose about .5 to 1 pound a week but in the last 3 weeks I have lost over 2 pounds twice! And I was 156.6!!!! I HAVE OFFICIALLY LOST 30 POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have been waiting 7 months to see that number and I honestly couldn’t even believe it when I saw it, I still don’t think it has really hit me. I am so happy!

In other news, yesterday my mom and I took a trip up to Princeton, NJ (home of the Ivy League University) to go hiking with this girl who is a member of a group of girls I will be going backpacking in Colorado with at the end of July. We are the only girls going who are not from Colorado so we thought we should meet since it just so happened we only lived about an hour apart. We went for a gorgeous hike in the woods outside of Princeton, although it was over 90 degrees even in the shade I still had fun!

We passed by this yucky little green pond with the funniest “No Swimming” sign I have ever seen

Why anyone would even want to swim in there is beyond me! Other than heat stroke the only danger came from some geese who thought we were a little to close to their babies for our own good. They didn’t attack but they were hissing at us!

After our run in with the geese My new friend Lissy (short for Elisabeth), our moms, and I went into Princeton for some lunch. We went to Panera Bread where I had the Strawberry and Poppyseed chicken salad which was only 280 calories and so delicious! It had strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, oranges, and pecans! ( I forgot my camera back in the car so this is not y picture, this is the link from where I got the picture: http://cookingwithkate.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/cimg5792.jpg just making sure I don’t credit for it)

After the salad we got some amazing artisan ice cream, I had vanilla and dark chocolate sorbet it was soooo good. Certainly not low calorie but I didn’t feel guilty I had decided that I was celebrating my 30 pound loss!

After lunch our little group split up and my mom and I walked around Princeton’s campus together. The campus is so beautiful, and very Ivy League.

With some pretty cool study spots!

After some major walking we came upon this really cool frozen yogurt place (grrr I can’t remember its name). It had tons of flavors of frozen yogurt that were all made from fat-freee yogurt that was really low calorie! You got to pick as many flavors you wanted ( I had plain tart and yucca whichI had never heard of but it was really good, and purple ) then they had tons of toppings to choose from including fresh fruit! I had blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, pineapple, kiwi, cookie dough, brownie bits, mini reese’s peanut butter cups, and crushed Oreo cookie.

I only had a small amount of the unhealthy stuff but I figured how often to I get to have that stuff in my yogurt? Never! So why not right?

It was so delicious! I wish there was a place like that near my house it was such great healthy treat!

I love little day trips like that with my mom! We can get along really well if we are both in a good mood, and Princeton is such a nice town, even in 95 degree heat! It was a great way to spend the 4th, normally we are camping on the 4th but we couldn’t get our camping spot until later this year.

Speaking of camping… I leave tomorrow! I will try to post if I can but I highly doubt I will be able to post until I get back I’ll have a huge post when I gat back though with pictures of Milwaukee, Beloit, and our campsite with all the amazing and plentiful food!! I will miss you guys!

Hope you are all enjoying your summer! Anyone have any super cool plans?

Elli