Bathing Suit Challenge, one beautiful dress and BMI news!!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I am enjoying my day off on this beautiful Tuesday. About to get ready to do a little spring shopping then going to get my 4th fill and then cooking dinner and spending time with my cousin, Lindsay (the one who just got married and got back from her fabulous honeymoon!)

I currently have 6.5 cc's in my band. My last fill was 8 weeks ago and I have lost about 10 pounds since then. So hopefully I am able to get the fill I need!

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So I havent been on the blog for about two days and it seems I missed out on participating for the Bathing Suit Challenge :( But I still want to participate with you lovely ladies! Kristen, if you are reading this, will you email me at fashionista0418@yahoo.com and let me know the rules/regulations/requirements? Or if any of you ladies reading this are participating, will you comment below and let me know how the challenge works? Thank you so much!

I have set my own little challenge up for myself and here it is....
I want to be below 200 pounds when I go on my cruise on July 15th. I started this personal challenge on March 19th and my weight was 226. This morning, March 30th, I weigh 221.5! That means I need to lose about 22 pounds more in the next 3 months and 15 days!

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In some fashion news, I found a new dress that I want! I NEED! I HAVE TO HAVE!! AHH! The only problem is the money...it is $470 from Bloomingdale's but it is BEAUTIFUL!! I cant justify spending $470 on a dress with all the other things I need right now. The designer is Tadashi Shoji and here is a picture of it! What do you think?! Beautiful, right?!

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Last but not least, I decided to recalculate my BMI because I havent done so since my surgery. On surgery day my BMI was 40.2. Today my BMI is 34.8! On my way to "healthy BMI"!


I will end on that fabulous note! Hope you all have a great day!! If anyone lives near Birmingham, Alabama area or even Mississippi or Georgia, a few of us are trying to get together next week for dinner! Let me know if you want to come join us! We would love to have you!!

Weight GAIN. Need healthy recipes. Naked picture (not quite)

So we have a lot to talk about tonight but let's first discuss how I seem to blow my good weight loss every single time! Ugh! And this is how yesterday went...

I WAS TERRIBLE AND ATE SO SO UNHEALTHY! I dont think I have eaten that bad in a day since I had my surgery! It started out with yogurt for breakfast which was the good part of my day. For lunch, I decided I was starving (which clearly I wasn't) but I talked myself into getting chinese. I ate an eggroll, fried rice and sesame chicken. To my defense, I only ate half of my chicken. I tallied up my calories and that meal alone was probably about 800-900 calories! WOW!

So that brings me to dinner. OMG. I was telling myself all day that I would eat my left over chicken for dinner. But no...Kristen got hungry and ate so much food. I had half an order of chicken nachos from the mexican place close to my house and my mom ate the other half. Then I downed about 30 tortilla chips with salsa and gaucamole. Seriously? SERIOUSLY? I think I ate about 2200-2500 calories yesterday! The day before yesterday, Tuesday, my weight was 223 which was the lowest it has been so far. I was so proud of myself...then yesterday happened. Well I got on the scale this morning and it read 225 after just one day of bad food. Dang.

So I made a radical decision and that was to do the "slim fast" diet for the next few days. I have a fill this coming Tuesday and want them to see some improvement from last visit. The last week of January is the last time I went to get a fill and that has been about 2 months ago. I weighed 233 pounds. So the liquid diet like I was saying...Today I had slim fast for breakfast and made myself drink it for lunch as well. I am eating a 350 calorie 6 inch subway sub for dinner tonight and that is it! I mean it...that is IT!


This brings to me how I have been feeling the past few weeks. First things first, you all know that I am a positive person and I believe in always finding the good in every situation even when it seems like the world is falling apart. I rarely vent about my weight loss issues because I am proud of my progress (for the most part) and I feel that my 32 pounds lost is 32 pounds less than I used to carry around.

BUT...I am sure all of you are currently feeling this way or you have felt this way before. I am frustrated with my weight loss plateau but what is more frustrating is it is all my fault. I haven't been exercising like I need to and I haven't be too strict on my eating. Don't get me wrong, I have been eating pretty good considering I only eat about 1200 calories on average a day and that is miles of progress from where I used to be. But I haven't been taking my vitamins and that is so easy to do! I only exercise once every other week, which is terrible. I still love mexican and chinese and eat it at least once a week, even if it is in smaller portions. I can't be eating sesame chicken and chicken nachos if I expect to lose all this weight. Are you with me?


Ok, I feel better now. Thank you for letting me get out my frustrations and to know yall feel the same way sometimes makes me feel so much better.

Another thing I want to know, especially for those of you how cook like its going out of style....what are some healthy, easy recipes you cant live without since your surgery? I am going to try and cook more (because I am NOT a cooker) and if you have any recipes you think I need to start to learn, please let me know! I dont like beans, seafood or mushrooms, but I pretty much love everything else. Does anyone have any recipes of popular, fattening dishes you improved and made better by switching in healthier ingredients? Anything would be much appreciated!


And more more thing...so most of you know I work at Anthropologie. Well we sell the brand AG which is an upscale denim company out of California that makes jeans for us. A few days ago we had an "AG Event" and several people came to our store and put on an event for us telling us about AG jeans and educating us on their products and they showed us a fun video explaining how they are made. I was an apparel major so I thoroughly enjoyed it. When they finished they surprised us each with FREE AG JEANS!! Each person who attended the event from our store got free jeans. They have to send them to our store so we wont receive them for a few weeks but they are their new cropped jeans and they retail for $190 and we got some for free! I had to share this exciting news. The largest size AG makes is a size 33, which is a size 16 in the United States. They wont be fitting me now but I cant wait to be able to wear them! Yay!!


And I can NOT believe I am posting this picture on here but some of you have done it, so I got up enough courage to do it as well. Here we go. This is me after as of a few days ago and all my glory. Down 32 pounds, 65 to go :)




Ok...for real this time....Bye :)

5 month BANDIVERSARY, NEW LOW and recent pictures!!!

Hey girl friends and boy friends!! How is everyone doing on this lovely Tuesday afternoon?! Today is my off day and I remembered today is also my 5 month bandiversary so I am doing fabulous! I had lap band surgery on October 23, 2009 exactly 5 months ago today. The last 5 months have just flown by but I am headed in the right direction with my life so for that I am happy and feel extremely blessed. Speaking of being blessed, it is about 60 degrees in the beautiful Birmingham and sunny as could be. It looks and feels like a beautiful day to go work out outside so I will be doing that later this afternoon!

On October 23, 2009, I weighed in before my surgery at 257 pounds. My highest weight being 260 pounds a few months before surgery. I was excited to being my weight loss journey and couldn't be happier I made the decision to change my life. This brings me to this morning. This morning I hit my new LOWEST LOW! Let me preface this by saying I have been stuck at 225 and 226 for a couple weeks! I don't know what the problem has been. I probably haven't been doing as much working out as I need to but I have been eating healthy (minus a meal or two) and the scale wasn't moving up but it wasn't moving down either. Just staying on the same numbers day after day after day. Well friends, this morning when I went to get on the scale it read 223 POUNDS!! Hey, I will take it! Within the past 5 months my total weight loss is 34 pounds. I had been hoping to hit 42 pounds by my 6 months bandiversary so to achieve this goal I need to buckle down hardcore for the next 4 weeks! That will put me at 215 pounds.

In the past 5 months I have had several NSV's. First of all on my surgery day I was wearing size 22 jeans and pants. Many of which I need to get rid of because they are just taking up room in my closet. I am a solid size 18 now in mostly all stores. I actually had to buy a pair of size 16 jeans from Lane Bryant last week because they fit a little bigger than "normal" clothes. All my shirts I used to buy were a size XXL but I am only buying XL now. Another thing I have noticed are my fingers getting smaller. All my old rings are a size 9. I am a clothes/jewelry/makeup/shopping addict and I knew if I found a ring I wanted, it had to be a size 9 to fit. But now the size 9's are huge and size 8 is loose on my fingers. I realized this a few weeks ago when I bought this beautiful ring from Belk and bought it in a size 8. I feel like I cant wear it now because it constantly turns backwards on my finger and I am always scared it has fallen off and I have lost it.

All this to say I am proud of my journey and I am so thankful for each of you and your encouraging words. At times we all wish the weight would come off faster, but the point is the weight is coming off. I used to say I would do anything to have lost 50 pounds by my 6 months bandiversary but I am not that far along yet and that is okay. I am thankful for each and every pound I am losing and together we can all achieve our goal weights. God made each one of us beautiful in our own unique way and with each pound I lose, I am thankful to Him for each day He gives me to wake up and live again.

And surprise surprise, Kristen has some more pictures to share with you! These are random pictures from the last few weeks and I hope you enjoy them :) Have a fabulous Tuesday!

My handsome boyfriend!

Burch and I :)

Being goofy like we always are!

Lauren and I!

Lindsay's wedding

At the reception!

Bachelorette weekend at our favorite Japanese place!

At the rehearsal! Love these girls :)

Dinner with friends, Maryanna and Adam!

Lindsay's bridal tea in February

In Atlanta visiting friends. This is me and Thatcher!

Ashley took this one of Thatcher and I when I wasn't looking

Detailed version: FABULOUS WEEKEND plus pictures!

Hello friends!! So I had a more tiring night last night than I expected so I am posting today instead. This is going to be the detailed version on my fabulous weekend with pictures for everyone to see!! So here it goes....

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Friday

The first big event of the weekend was Lindsay's bridesmaids luncheon on Friday afternoon. My mom wanted to host this for Lindsay to give her something special she would remember. It was at a place called Matthew's Manor about 30 minutes outside of Birmingham. My mom, my aunt and I got there early to decorate the tables and put flowers everywhere. We invited about 30 people including the bridemaids, both Matt and Lindsay's family and a few of her friends that weren't in the wedding. We had a great time. She gave us our gifts which were pink robes with our names on them and earrings to wear for the wedding day! She also opened a few gifts and we had a lovely lunch. Salad, grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, rolls and a chocolate cake. It was a great time for all the ladies to spend together with Lindsay and talk about the wedding day!

Friday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. It all started around 6 pm and rehearsal went smoothly. Lindsay kept getting teary eyed thinking about the next day but filled she was filled with excitement! There are 9 of us bridesmaids and 9 groomsmen so all of us girls had a great time hanging out with all the boys. After rehearsal, we had the dinner which was catered by a local BBQ place. There were about 80 people there total including friends, family and the wedding party. After dinner, about 20 people got up and spoke about Lindsay and Matt and you better believe there wasnt a dry eye in the building! I cried like a baby because Lindsay is more like a sister to me and I couldn't believe this day was finally here! I sat at a table with Burch, my brother Trey, my cousins and Lindsays sisters Lauren and Leah and Matt's two brothers, Patrick and David (I have a picture of our table I will put below.) Friday was a huge success!

Saturday

Saturday started out for myself and Lauren and Leah bright and early around 9 am when we got to the church. The wedding wasnt uuntil 6 that night but we had hair and makeup appointments super early! We all arrived in our pajamas and one by one got our hair and makeup done by Raemi and Ginger, who regularly do our hair. We had breakfast and lunch and snacks all waiting on us thanks to my aunt and mother. We laughed and listened to music and had the best time together. Lindsay got there around noon and we talked about what the day would bring! She was a little nervous but very anxious and excited! The other bridesmaids and flower girl and photographer started to get there around 2 pm and all the pictures began! We finished pictures around 5 pm and got about 45 minutes to relax before the ceremony! The ceremony lasted about 30 minutes and was perfect! Everything went smoothly and it was like a fairy tale! Lindsay was so gorgeous and beaming from ear to ear!

The reception was at a place called Gabrella Manor, an absolutely beautiful old house covered in ivy. At the reception, the food was delicious, we danced, we laughed, we took pictures, we just enjoyed the time while we were all together! Lindsay and Matt stayed for about 2 hours talking to everyone and dancing then around 9 pm were picked up by a limo and taken to their hotel!







Sunday

Sunday was Burch's 26th birthday!! We had a lovely dinner at a nice italian place in town and I surprised with his favorite cookie cake :) I also surprised him with his birthday presents. He is a huge Carrie Underwood fan and she is coming to Birmingham in June. I told him I wasnt able to get tickets because they were sold out. He was so bummed out but said maybe we could find some and buy them from ebay. Well I had already gotten tickets and they are awesome seats! The lower level section right next to the stage on the 6th row!! He was so surprised he started tearing up...HAHA score!! So we will have a great time at her concert :)

I hope you enjoy all my pictures! I took about 400 so I could only choose a few of the good ones! Have a great day!!

What an absolutely fabulous weekend!!

Hey ladies and gentleman!! I am at work so I only have a few minutes to write but I survived my fabulous, amazing, so-much-fun weekend! I pretty much didnt stop going from Friday morning until late last night around 11 p.m.!! I will get into more detail when I post again later tonight (and hopefully with some pictures if I can get them on my computer) but my cousin's wedding was like a fairy tale. I am a little bit bias because we have been planning this wedding for months and months and months but it turned out beautifully and everything went super smooth! I took around 400 pictures from Friday to Sunday so I will do my best to pick and choose the best ones to post for yall!!

In some other good news, my mom booked our Alaska trip last week!! We are going for 13 days in July and I couldn't be more excited! So for those of yall who helped me with Alaska advice, thank you so so much!! I will probably have more questions and I will post more about it later tonight as well :)

Hope you all have a fantastic Monday! And I am going to post a more detailed version on this tonight!!

Busy girl...Blog slacker!

Hey friends! Im sorry I haven't been on my blog for way over a week now!! I have stayed super busy with friends, work, boyfriend, birthdays, weddings and the list goes on and on! I just wanted everyone to know I havent fallen off the face of the earth! Goodness, it is going to take me forever to catch up on everyone's blogs but I plan to do my best!!

So this is the big wedding weekend! My cousin, Lindsay, is getting married tomorrow!! It is so surreal I can hardly believe it! I remember last May when she got engaged and it feels like the past 10 months since then have just flown by!! But today is a busy day as well...surprise surprise. Busy is the story of my life these days but it keeps things interesting :) We have her bridesmaids luncheon with all the family and bridesmaids and some of Lindsays friends. That is in a few hours so I need to hurry and get a shower! HA! Then we are all going to get manis and pedis. Then the rehearsal is tonight at 5:30 and rehearsal dinner at 7! I got plenty of sleep last night so Im ready :) And dont you worry...I will be taking tons of pictures for yall to see!!

Sadly, I gave up on my weight loss of being below 220 about a week ago when I realized I was stuck at 227. I had been stuck there for about 2 weeks!! Ugh...but this morning I was 225. 5 pounds in one day?! Anyone?! Haha just kidding...looks like its going to be 225 for the wedding but Im happy with it.

Hope you all have a great weekend!! I will try to get on tonight and update before tomorrow but if I dont have time I will try to get on Sunday but I dont think I will have time tomorrow :) Love you girls!! Have a good day!!

Home from the bachelorette weekend....

....And it wasn't good for my weight loss! HA! The scale sure did move but unfortunately it moved in the wrong direction. But hey, at least I know the scale moves right?!

For those of yall I didnt tell, my cousin Lindsay is getting married on March 13th and I have desperately been trying to lose enough weight so that I can be below 220 pounds at her wedding. The weight loss was going great and I went from 232 down to 230...then down to 227 and my lowest weight was last week when I got to 225!

THEN....on Friday....THE BACHELORETTE WEEKEND BEGAN!! AHHH! Let me say we had the absolute best time! Lindsay has 9 bridesmaids and then her...so all 10 of us stayed in this super nice hotel room suite and had the time of our lives! But of course, I ate like a very bad girl and my band wasn't too happy with me! Friday night we ate at a Japanese restaurant with the hibachi grill and that is with no question my favorite type of food! I decided to eat what I always ate pre-surgery and got the teriyaki chicken with fried rice and a salad with ginger dressing! I later looked up the calories and nutrition facts for the meal I ate and it came out to about 1,000 calories for that meal. Honestly I thought it would be more so I was fine with this fact. I was good the rest of the night while all the skinny girls are snacking at 2 in the morning on chips and soft drinks and cookies! Ugh...self control is so hard sometimes especially around a lot of skinny girls that can eat whatever and whenever!

Saturday I decided to be a good girl and eat healthy for breakfast and lunch. But dinner and after dinner is what got me in trouble. We had Lindsay's lingerie shower Saturday night and they had the best punch in the world, which I had like 3 cups of, little quesadillas, chips and cheese dip, sausage balls, crackers and cheese and mini turkey sandwiches. I had a little sample of everything but I have no doubt in my mind the calories in all of it together was terrible! AHH! Then for dessert we went to the Melting Pot and I had my fair share of chocolate and treats. Then to top it all off, Saturday night in the wee hours of the morning I had another mini turkey sandwich and a cookie!

Sunday we surprised Lindsay with a ticket to the Bromberg's Bridal Brunch! And when we purchased the tickets we ordered two so Lindsay didn't have to go alone and the girls voted on me to go with her! We had the best time. It was at the Wynfrey hotel, which is a luxury hotel here in Birmingham and they served us a gourmet brunch and we got to see all the fabulous bridal things Bromberg's has to offer. Many people spoke about wedding planning and also Melissa from the Bachelor was there with her now husband, Tye Strickland, to speak about her recent wedding and reality show experiences. She was super cute and her and her husband are so freaking adorable together! We got to talk to her and meet her and take some pictures! A great way to end the weekend!

So there you have it! And like you probably guessed, I DREADED getting on my scale Monday morning! But I did it and the scale read.........drumroll please......................228 pounds!! So of course my bad eating backfired and I gained 3 pounds this past weekend but I am just glad it wasnt more! I told myself I wasnt going to starve myself during the bachelorette weekend and that I would let myself splurge a little bit. Well I sure did splurge a little but I dont feel too bad about it. But this does make being below 220 pounds a little harder by March 13th haha! That means losing 9 pounds in 11 days!!


And now...here are some pictures from this weekend :) Enjoy!!