2.07.2014

Everyday you learn something new

       On December 31, 2013 I decided to spend New Year’s Eve by myself.  Most of my friends were at work, my roommate had just left for New York and even though I had invites to parties I decided to stay in. I chose that night to truly think about what I wanted for myself in all aspects of my life. I’d never sat down to think about this. For years my goals were always: more money, a great title at work, become a size 6, meet a guy who was hot and rich, maybe travel the world and then I’d be happy.

When I thought about my past desires I realized why I was never satisfied so I cleaned out my list and kept the one thing I truly wanted: Be happy! But how was I going to accomplish this? The only way was by choosing to always be honest with myself. When I choose this, my entire list changed:

1.26.2014

2014 Food Plans

I love food. I enjoy cooking but most of all I love to eat. For the past 10 years I’ve battled constantly with my weight. For about 2 years I did the Atkins diet and lost 90 pounds. I kept the weight off for two years then after some hard times I ended up gaining about 40 of those lost pounds back. Since 2011 I’ve tried just about every fad diet and every “lifestyle” change out there and I’m over it. This year I’m taking a different approach.

I just finished a five day detox,  this one wasn’t my favorite ( I’ve done 5 in the past 3 years) but  it did remind me how much I love fruit and that Juicing is really great. In all my diet testing, I learned  that bread and sugar make me feel good when I eat them but afterwards my body feels like crap for a couple of days and I don’t have much energy.  I also discovered that I can give up milk but not cheese so I want to incorporate all this factors into what I eat. My approach will be hard to label, its a little bit paleo, a little bit Atkins and a little bit vegan.


Vegan?!! I know it’s random and weird especially since I’m embracing my love for cheese and all things pork! I can’t explain it. But I am intrigued by all the things people can make without our basic baking items, like egg (LOVE THEM TOO!!!) and really putting aside the tofu and the seitan, Vegan food is really pretty.

The other day this lady I follow on Instagram @veganista_q8 posted a picture of a No Bake Triple Berry Cheesecake and it was so beautiful I really want to try it. Accounts like hers and many others on Pinterest and Instagram just have me excited about all the stuff you can do in a non-conventional way. The plus side to this is that most of this recipes are also gluten free which means they use ingredients like Almond or coconut flour and chia seeds!! All stuff that’s really healthy and low carb. I am obviously going to make changes to this recipes to make it more appealing or even easier for me but I really want to try a lot of the Vegan recipes I’ve seen on the web.

2014 is the year of embrace. I embrace, my size 10, my love of butter & cheese, my need for a burger with a bun (every once in a while), my love of pork, my love of happy hour and last but not least my recent obsession with all things Vegan. So this year I’ll try to keep my love of fruits and vegetables alive while I try to bake some low carb bread, try to perfect my pulled pork recipe and make a BBQ sauce that’s awesome but sugar free! My sister wants to start using a sugar alcohol called Xylitol  but I want to make a good recipe without it!

All I want is to try and find a healthy balance between the good for you and the just plain good while trying not to gain any weight before my trip to San Francisco where I’ll eat and drink whatever I want!!!

1.22.2014

Another Year, Another try at this....

I first started this Journal in January 2010. I wanted this to be an outlet for my creativity and an exercise on discipline. Its January 2014, and in the past four years I've only written a blog post in January!
Its a tradition now, didn't want this month to end without giving this whole blogging thing a try, again. Thanks to +Adrielle Perdomo  for reminding me I even have this thing up!!

2014 started with a lot of changes. On January 1st I moved back home, to once again live with my parents. This time around by choice, so I think it feels a little different. I'm entering the last leg of my 35th year and Ive finally accepted that my purpose in life is searching for a purpose in life.

WHAT?!! Yes. You read correctly, my purpose is to search. Search what? I don't know. Hopefully  whatever i find during my search inspires me to blog about it.

1.09.2013

Planning makes it easier


Last time I did the Atkins diet, I worked in the Restaurant industry so every meal I had was prepared for me.
This time around I spent a week planning a Menu for one month. After my menu was ready I went food shopping  prepped most of the meals I would use, then froze them.

I am on Day 3. So far I've followed the menu but not as strict as I thought because the portions Ive used are bigger than I needed. Left overs work really well so I haven't cooked as much as I thought.

1.07.2013

Before, After and Now

Today I start  Atkins again
Hopefully I can go back to my 2008 weight
I will try to take a New Picture every 2 weeks
To keep track of the changes

1.06.2013

Every year I try again, lets see what happens now

I really do want to be a committed writer. I try every year. I even signed up for this great site called 750 words that i wrote on everyday for over 20 days straight!!! but I couldn't  even last a full month. I am a procrastinator and a lazy writer so I will give myself no time frame, no deadline and no minimum lines to write. I will just post whenever the mood strikes and hopefully this year I'll write more than once.

This new inspiration to blog has been sparked by my return to the Atkins diet. On January 1st, 2006 my cousin sent a picture from the New Year's Eve party we had attended the night before and I almost died when I saw myself. I had always been chubby, but up until that point and that picture i hadn't truly accepted that I was overweight but from that moment on I quit sugar and carbs for 2 years, just like that,cold turkey.  

3.19.2012

21 Days and Counting!!

It’s been 2 months and 5 days since my last update and I have almost everything set for my trip:

-All rooming in Italy is booked
- Ticket from Venice to Budapest purchased
- Ticket to the Opera (The Barber of Seville) bought
- Ticket from Prague to Barcelona purchased

Still missing some other details but at least the bulk of the trip is ready!!! I really can’t wait to go. I’m so excited and so worried, the closer the date, the more scared I feel about this journey. I don’t know why I’m so anxious but hopefully now that I have some more free time to plan routes and look up more info about the places im going I’ll be able to calm down

I really cant wait to leave, visiting Italy has been a life long dream!.