New Years Resolutions: Twenty-Eleven

Ah, yes...it's that time of year again. What goal am I going to set for myself that I will inevitably end up forgetting about by Lent.

Actually, to give myself some credit, I didn't do too poorly last year sticking to my resolutions. At least I did better than I had previous years.

This year is simple: I want to focus on my health. My weight has been like a yo-yo all my life and, mark my words, this year, 2011, that stops. And I mean it. My boyfriend and I have decided to focus on our health together and hopefully we can support each other in reaching our individual goals. Tonight I am rejoining weight watchers as it has done wonders for me in the past. I lost over 55 lbs before and have managed to keep most of that off.

One goal I have set for myself is to run in a 10k by the end of the year. I have already registered for a 5k on April 3rd and I'm pretty excited about having something to work towards. I used to run a few times a week last year and a 5k would have been no worries....but that habit has fallen by the way side and I want to get back into it.

Next year I'd like to run in a half marathon....but right now I am focusing on my 5k in April and a 10k by the end of the year...baby steps.

I've also made a very hard decision that I think might be the best for me at the moment. I've been a vegetarian for 2 years now. I've loved it and it's been surprisingly easy. However, I have found that since my change of diet, I have been eating much more pasta and many more carbs (things that DO NOT agree with my body and weight loss goals). It's been especially hard living with my boyfriend (who loves meat) and coming up with things that we can both eat .... enter pasta. He's been such a good sport about eating my 'fake meat' (think sloppy joes with fake meat, chili with fake meat, chicken sandwiches with fake chicken) but it's definitely been hard. I'd like to focus more on eating "whole" foods. Say like veggies with grilled chicken. And I obviously can't do that sort of a thing if I'm not eating chicken. I know I could eat beans, or tofu to get protein, but I can't cook tofu for the life of me and I'm not a huge bean fan. I've tried using substitutes but I keep finding myself eating pasta....

So, with that being said, as of 1.1.11 this girl will no longer be a vegetarian. Trust me, I am a bit sad about this. I don't like the thought of eating animals and it's certainly going to be a bit of an adjustment. But I think this might help me achieve my goals and I can always go back to vegetarianism in the future. To be honest, I'm a bit nervous how my body might react-it's been two years and I'm afraid I might get sick or something.

What are your New Years Resolutions?

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Recent Discoveries

10. It's the return of Tool Academy!!! OH MAN! SOOO GOOD!

9. gofobo.com A site to get into free movie screenings. LOVE IT!

8. The Vampire Diaries starts next week!

7. Life teaches you some tough lessons. (stay tuned for a future post)

6. My quarter century bday is in less than a month! (You think I can pull of turning 24 again without anyone noticing?)

5. Thank you VH1 for your new series: My Antonio. God this man is gorgeous...

4. "An animal rights group is calling on the nation's largest grocery story chains to post

warnings on egg cartons that unwanted male chicks are ground up alive, after videotaping the common industry practice at an Iowa egg hatchery." You MUST read the rest of this article from TIME.

3. "Large thighs may protect the heart" HA! It's about time I had something going for me! ;) Read the BBC article.

2. And with that said....I am doing well on the the weight loss goal. My bday is Oct 4th and my goal is to lose just under 10 lbs for my special day. It's going well so far! :)

1. I can't think of anything for #1, so I will leave you with this...

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PETA, why you gotta make fun of fat people?

Are you serious PETA? As a fan of the organization, I am highly disappointed in their poor taste and judgement with this billboard. Insulting people is NOT going to get people to think like you do, or to consider the lifestyle you are advocating. In fact is seems that it has just plain pissed off all kinds of people. Even PETA supporters such as myself. But in a world were even bad publicity is 'good publicity' maybe thats exactly what they were going for.

PETA has now replacing the billboard with this one below:

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Be Green! Go Veg!

I recently went to a street fair in SF and picked up a booklet from a Vegetarian/Vegan booth. I found some of the following tidbits interesting. I have done no additional research to determine their validity, but rather use them as 'food for thought.' Interesting stuff, enjoy!

"Livestock industry produces 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. That is more than that of the total world transportatoin systems-of all cars, trains and planes combined."

"If every American go on one meat-free day per week, it would be the same as taking 8 million cars off American roads" 

"55 billion animals are slaughtered every year for food"

If ONE person goes veg for a year:

**Reduces 3,267 pounds of CO2 emissions (equivalent to savings from not using most electronics for a year)

**Stops 5 people from starving (we can feed 5 times more people if we use land to grow crops directly for human instead of growing crops for livestock and then eat their meat)

**Saves 25 animal lives

Like I said...food for thought. I have been a vegetarian for over 7 months and love it. Thinking about trying vegan for a month...

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I could have been having dinner with Rob Pattinson...

So today I was just partaking in some usual internet usage when *chime* I get an IM from my ex.

Quick backstory on the ex: Met him while I lived in Australia for a year. Fell in love. Moved back to Cali. Did long distance for over a year with visits here and there. Was supposed to move back to Aus for good and live with him, get engaged etc etc, but chickened out at the last minute. Have been broken up for about a year now. He currently works as an IT manager at a really nice resort in Australia (yes ladies, he's Australian).

So, where was I...oh right *chime*

Rick: So....'Edward' from Twilight is checking into my hotel on monday. We're having dinner with him on wed night

Me: WTF!!! LIAR!

Rick: Why would I lie, I hated that movie.

Me: Shut the F up! No way! Who is "we"

Rick: The GM invited me. And I guess whoever else he invites.

Is this karma or what!? Is this God's cruel joke on me for being too chicken to follow through with my commitments? I think so. 

Yes,  it would have be messed up for me to be drooling over Rob Pattinson with my boyfriend sitting right next to me, but the whole time I would have been pretending he was really Edward and since Edward doesn't really exist...it would have been ok! But none of that matters cause I didn't move to Australia. And Rick and I aren't together anymore. And I have an AMAZING boyfriend who I would never trade anything for...even Edward.

Which brings me to my next problem. Rob (bf) says he'll read Twilight if I start to eat meat again! I must say this is very very very tempting cause I really want him to read the books and cause I have been craving meat A LOT lately. 

What's a girl to do?

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I'm still here

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. How time flies when you are....well, busy!

It's nearly Easter, which means Lent is nearly over and I can finally drink again. Yes, I actually made it. Besides my mai tai of weakness and having literally a sip of Jim Beam on my brother's 21st birthday, I have been dry for all of Lent. Not gonna lie, pretty impressed with myself. I have saved a TON of money and have actually lost about 8 lbs in the past few weeks (Weight Watchers has helped with that too).

Now that we are over three months into 2009, I want to take a look at my New Years Resolutions and see how those are holding up:

1. 10 Day Master Cleanse.

As mentioned previously, it's not gonna happen anytime soon.

Grade: withdrawn

2. Start going to the gym again

I am lazy and unmotivated. Period. I need to do something about it. Now.

Grade: F

3. Go veggie and eat healthy

I am still going strong with this one and haven't had meat since December 31st 2008.

Grade: A

4. Lose the 'break-up weight'

Joined Weight Watchers, already lost about 8lbs in a just a few weeks. Going extremely well!

Grade: A- (still got a way to go)

5. Get a REAL job

Need to get my ducks in a line to go back to school for radiation therapy

Grade: C

6. Cut back on the booze

WOOT WOOT!!!!!

Grade: A+

Not too shabby. I seem to be an 'all or nothing' kind of girl. Either I am fully committed to a goal, or it just doesn't seem to happen. I am gonna start focusing on some of those that are slacking. :)

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Here We Go...

I started Weight Watchers on Friday. I've done it before and lost a TON of weight. About 14 months ago, I was at my thinnest. I felt amazing, looked pretty damn good if I do say so myself, and while I will never be 'skinny' (proud to say I have a booty and boobs), I was definitely a healthy thin.

What happened? Well as I mentioned in a previous post, 2008 ended up being a horrible year for me. For those that have read New Moon... basically that book embodies the pain I was going through. I was supposed to move to Australia to live with my (Australian) boyfriend. But literally at the last minute I chickened out and we broke up. I was heartbroken. Yes, it was my choice, but it ruined me. I spent the rest of the year crying, eating away my emotions, and laying in bed everyday til I had to go to work. So between being unmotivated to do anything and eating away my pain, the cute figure I worked so hard to get has become something I am more or less embarrassed of.

My best friend is getting married in June and I hope to lose at least 25 lbs by then. I would be feeling like the old me again.

Aside from my "Mai Tai of Weakness," I have stuck to my 'no booze for lent' commitment. I definitely like how my body feels without alcohol. As of March 1st, I have been a vegetarian for 2 months. Pretty proud of myself and impressed by how easy it's been so far.

Anyways, wish me luck with the weight loss. I hope this is the last time I will have to do WW.

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Oh those resolutions...

So I don't have much to say, but I feel like I have been quiet for a bit. I have officially been a vegetarian for 12 days and it's been soooo easy. I hardily even have to think about it. Just goes to show how much meat I ate before I decided to make a change.

I am going to start the Master Cleanse diet February 1st. It's a 10-day detox where you basically only drink a mixture of fresh lemon juice, cayenne pepper and maple syrup. YUM! It's a bit more complicated than that, but I won't bore you with details. Anyways, you do the detox for 10 days and afterwards you are supposed to feel super healthy, totally energized and your body is 'free' of toxins. Oh yeah, did I mention you lose a few pounds too?  I am actually not doing it for that reason, but more for the cleansing aspects.  Apparently, Beyonce did it for the movie Dreamgirls and Tobey Maguire did it for Spiderman. Can't wait!

Oh, did I mention my best friend is getting married in less than six months and I need to look HOT? (of course not as hot as her) :P

Here's to slimming down and toning up!

Next mission: getting into a steady gym habit...

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Going Veggie

Part of my New Years Resolution is to become a vegetarian. Actually more like a Pescatarian cause I don't think I could ever part with seafood.  Why I have decided to make such a drastic lifestyle change? Basically, I had a very traumatizing experience at a Hooters recently that I wrote about in my "Chicken Hands" blog entry which led to me researching PETA videos online. The rest is history.

I've never been much of a meat eater, but there will still be somethings I am going to miss:

Pepperoni Pizza & Calzones

Sausage

Carne Asada burritos

Chicken Potstickers

Cheeseburgers

I want to get this book for a bit of "motivation."

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Chicken Hands & PETA videos

So... last week I was down south for the birth of Baby Logan and I decided to head down to San Diego to see some more of my favorite people. Monday night, some of us decided to head to Hooters for beer, buffalo wings and football. We ordered the 50 piece buffalo wings and when the server brought them to the table I was MORTIFIED.

 Let me just start by saying that YES, I know where buffalo wings come from (I'm no Jessica Simpson). HOWEVER, everytime I have EVER eaten buffalo wings they have always looked like this:



However, this time all 50 chicken wings had CHICKEN 'HANDS'


I DO NOT want my food looking like the animal it came from. 

I do not want to be reminded something died for my enjoyment. 

And I certainly do not want my food to have 'HANDS.'

Back at home, my roommates got to hear all about my tramatizing experience and they suggested I checked out some of the PETA videos online.

Which I did. Let me spare you the gruesome details and just sum it up for you-I literally almost vomited. Wanna see for yourself the torture we put animals through for fur coats, leather, and a good steak? Just 'youtube' PETA and you will have your pick of harsh reality.


Seriously considering becoming a vegetarian.

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