Bridal Meltdown

As of today, I am official down 10 pounds! It's been about three months since I started my weight loss journey. Some may say I'm moving slowly, but I heard that's the way to go if you want to keep it off. Honestly, if I kept to a strict diet and workout schedule I'd probably have lost more. But I'm not trying to be strict, I'm going for an overall lifestyle change. This way I'll not only lose the weight, but keep it off. I'm not going to be able to do that with some fad diet. So how did I get here? I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app. I put in my starting weight - 141 pounds at the time and my goal weight of 110 pounds and it calculated my calorie and nutrient goals for me. To calculate this goal it also asks your activity level, I chose lightly active as I have a desk job. It also asks how many pounds you'd like to lose a week, I selected 1. This gave me a daily calorie goal of 1,260. Carbs 158g / Fat 42g / Protein 63g. Do I track my calories ...

I went into wedding dress shopping with a completely open mind. I had no clue what I wanted, but I knew what I didn't like - mermaid dresses, gaudiness, wasn't too into a ballgown. I wanted something I could move in and something elegant. I may have previously looked at wedding dresses on Pinterest before I got engaged, but I didn't go searching for dresses after I got engaged. The main reason - I didn't want to fall in love with a dress online and be disappointed. When it came to picking out somewhere to go dress shopping, I decided to go to the same place my sister went to - Simplicity Boutique. She found her dream dress and had an overall great experience there. After about a month of waiting, the day finally arrived. I was nervous, excited, hopeful, but didn't really think I'd walk out of there purchasing a dress. I went shopping with my mom, sister, and soon to be mother-in-law. I wanted to keep the group small, as I didn't know what I wanted so I d...

I told my fiance pretty early on in our relationship, which type of engagement ring I would like - a 2 ct round solitaire. I hardly ever wear jewelry, especially never nice jewelry so I've always wanted an engagement ring that was really nice and would look big on my finger. It may sound bitchy, but it is what it is and I'm not ashamed. Throughout our years together, Vin would joke "Do you know how much that costs?!?" As time passed, the style of ring I liked was pretty much still the same but I was now more into different shapes like a pear or oval. He wasn't into it. As the years went on, I didn't care what ring I received. I even considered a non-diamond stone, but he would always say it had to be a diamond when I showed him these pictures. I just wanted to get married to Vin so badly that the ring no longer mattered, yet still I was not engaged. To say I was going crazy, is an understatement. When Vin finally proposed, I was shocked. I didn't actua...

When I decided to do The Greenprint Project* I knew it was going to be extremely difficult for me. Let's be honest here, my main reason behind doing this is to possibly win Beyonce concert tickets for life! It's just an added bonus that it'll help the planet and help me live a healthier lifestyle. There were a few different options for the Greenprint Project, which ranged from eating a plant-based breakfast every day to eating plant-based every single day. After weighing my options, I choose Meatless Mondays! This may seem simple to you, but to me it's no small feat. It's the third week and the first time I've successfully gone fully vegan. I didn't drink milk once these past three Mondays (which is a huge victory on it's own), but I did eat cheese for the first two weeks. I was really down on myself for not being able to remain completely plant based, so I decided to plan ahead for this week. Surprise, surprise, it actually worked. Everything didn...

When I got engaged I knew exactly who I was going to ask to be in my bridal party. It was a no brainer, I've known for years. What I really needed to figure out was how I was going to ask them. First thing to do, check out Etsy. I love shopping on Etsy because I can always find the perfect unique gift. So I searched "Bridesmaids Proposal" on Etsy and found some really cute stuff. I decided I wanted to go with a personalized card and group shirts. I went through a lot, but finally decided on what I believe is the perfect card from CambridgeCityLimits - "Help me keep my shit together?" I was able to personalize the hairstyles and robes. There were 24 different hairstyles and 3 skin tones to chose from. I decided to put the girls' roles in the wedding on the back of each robe. The cards were blank inside so I was able to write a personalized note to each girl asking them to be in my wedding. (You can find the card I purchased from CambridgeCityLimits  here ...

When I joined the gym, I knew I wanted to take classes in the morning before work. I alternate going in to work at 7:30 or 8:30 every week, so on days when I'm due in at 8:30 I thought it would be more productive to to the gym before work. I attempted this once or twice, but I failed. Well it's my 8:30 - 5 week, so I decided to give it another try. I'm naturally a morning person, but I definitely need my 8 hours of sleep. (I'm the type of person that sets one alarm and jumps out of bed as soon as it goes off.) Despite this, I was unable to get up for the gym at 5:30 when I first tried so I gave up. This weekend I was going over the class schedule and I decided I wanted to give it another go. The spin class I wanted to take was at 6, so I decided to set my alarm for 5:30. My plan was to be out of the house by 5:40, so that I could get to the gym with time to spare to put my stuff in a locker and go to the bathroom (once or twice; you'll come to realize I have th...

Today I wasn't exactly up to going to the gym. I was, until something strange happened at the end of my work day that left me feeling upset and put me in a funk. But I did my best to put that aside and headed to the gym anyway. As I'm still feeling sore from the two classes I took yesterday, I decided to do a quick treadmill workout before meeting up with my friend for dinner. When I first got on the treadmill, I didn't have a plan in place. I walked for two minutes at a very slow pace to warm up. Then I upped the speed to do a slightly faster walk. While I was walking I started wondering to myself if I could manage to run on this thing, so at the five minute mark I decided to give it a go. I ran for a full minute then slowed down my speed back to a walking pace. I couldn't believe it, I actually wasn't winded and I considered running for a longer period of time. Not wanting to gas myself out, I decided walk for two minutes and then switch back to running. A...