My Year in Review - 2009

As 2009 winds down to a close, I thought it would be nifty to write my year in review. This is the year that my new way of life began, it's was the last year of my 20s (eek! I will be 30 in 3 months) and I survived my first year of marriage. It's been a BIG year for me in many different ways. January 2009 - 209.6lbs to 195.2lbsI made the decision to change my life. Me and 3 other women that I work with decided to diet...

"You're gonna eat lightnin' and you're gonna crap thunder!"

Risin' up, back on the streets, did my time, took my chances....Sorry, I was having a Rocky moment. Yes, I was successful in my efforts to have a good, on-point day yesterday. It felt great!I tracked everything I ate and I had a really great 4 mile run! It felt really good to have an on-point, healthy day...to remember routine and to remember how much better "satisfied belly" feels as opposed to over "over-stuffed burrito...

Take that Hershey Miniature Bar!

Nestled inside a candy cane forest, located in a Christmas coffee mug which resides on my half-door counter in my office lies a golden nugget. This golden nugget was put there this morning by a fair soul whom I love dearly. About 11:15 while entering my office my hand automatically went toward the nugget, drawn by it's shiny wrapper and promise of chocolaty goodness. Almost in slow motion like a Baywatch Babe my mind...

Disappointment Induced Insomnia

Saturday I got on my Wii Fit to try out my new Wii Fit Plus game that I got for Christmas. I got the new game all set up, making sure to set Chase up a Mii character since there is now a section that monitors your pet's weight as well. After all that was done I decided to check my weight. Let me preface here by saying that I haven't been on a scale since mid-November. I knew what I was doing, I knew my pants were getting...

Meatless Monday – Tortilla Pie

  I renamed “Vegetarian Monday” to “Meatless Monday”, has a better ring to it I think. I hope no one minds. :) Today, I got a recommendation for Meatless Monday from a friend and co-worker Shelly. She recently became a vegetarian and had made this dish. She found the recipe on AllRecipes.com, a fantastic website that everyone should use. Click here for the original recipe for Tortilla Pie as seen on AllRecipes.com....

Healthy gifts!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas! I certainly did. Christmas Eve was a day spent running around visiting family and friends. Santa tagged along with us......he stole the show really. He's just so adorable...of course, I'm biased. On Christmas day the husband and I had no plans except to hang around the house and go see the movie AVATAR, which was amazing! On Christmas morning we opened gifts together, he did...

What a difference a year makes.

My "Before" picture was taken 1 year ago on Christmas day. Since I know I will be busy on Christmas Eve and on Christmas day the only thing I plan to do is stay relatively "unplugged" and enjoy the day with my husband, I decided to take my "1 year later" shot today. So here it is, the difference 1 year of healthy living has made. 44 lbs lost. A 5k RanA healthy lifestyle learned and maintainedAn "I can do whatever I set...

Vegetarian Monday – Baked Tofu

  For the first official Meatless Monday dinner I chose the Baked Tofu recipe that TJ posted on her blog, TJ’s Test Kitchen. I was leery at first, I’ve had tofu before but I don’t remember liking it. I followed her directions to press the tofu between layers of paper towels and marinate it in a soy and ginger mix before baking it in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. (Excuse the post-yoga hair and clothes)...

Another day in the life

  Today I started and nearly finished all of my Christmas shopping. The most favorite gift I bought? I got our niece a Mrs.Potato Head! I’m pretty sure I only bought it because I want to play with it because I loved my Mr.Potato Head as a kid…but I still think she’ll like it!   Well, I hope she does. :) I started the morning with a pretty decent (for me) 3 mile run at 10:27 pace and some weights...

Super Quick Sweet & Spicy Squash

  I found myself in a common predicament tonight. My plans changed and I had nothing planned or thawed out for dinner. I had 1/4 of a butternut squash in the fridge leftover from another recipe and I remembered that last week I made some butternut squash in the microwave and it was really good. So I figured this time I would pay attention to what I did and share it with you, so here it is! Super Quick Sweet &...

A new look!

  I revamped The Unlikely Success Story just a little bit today, I’m not sure I love it, but I like it better than what was. I’d love to know what YOU think. :) I just got back from a pretty decent 3 mile run and some arm weight training. I love it when I can finish a run and be proud of it. I have been toying with the idea of having a vegetarian day once a week. One day where I eat no meat at all. I do...

A quick and easy dinner!

  I decided to give taking pictures of the stuff I’m cooking a try, so here we go…I’m also writing this on Windows Live Writer, so that’s 2 new things! I made Spaghetti Squash Cake Parmesan. It started with the recipe from Roni at GreenLiteBites.com for Spaghetti Squash Cakes I made the recipe as she described, not going to repeat it for you, but here are some pictures: View Full Album I did deviate...

Date night and cement.

Friday after work I had a Skype date with my best friend who recently moved to Florida. If you don't have Skype, you should get it! It makes video conferencing a breeze! Then I did laundry. I could probably manage to do laundry every day and there's only two of us! I'm not sure how that happens. On Saturday, I worked and planned to go for my 2.5 mile training run after work. Well, the husband decides he wants to do "date...

Hey, I know that girl!

Did you guys see OperationBeautiful.com today? If so, you can say "I know that girl!" That's me, well, my back, and my Operation Beautiful note I wore on my first 5k. If you aren't familiar with Operation Beautiful, go spend some time there. You won't regret it. I had 2 great runs since we last talked. I have been at training this week and with the holidays I just feel like I'm going, going, going non-stop and when I...

A good cause and good motivation.

On Saturday after my post I started thinking about how I was going to keep myself motivated and active during the holiday season. I mentioned how my jeans were already getting a little tighter from all of the holiday festivities, so how was I going to stop that? I'm not expecting to loose any weight during this month, but I would at least like to stop gaining. I'm realistic. I looked on Active.com and found a 5k close...