I am very lucky to not only have an amazing cousin, but a best friend as well. My cousin Sarah got married this weekend, and it was probably one of the best weddings and weekends I've had! Sarah is such an amazing person, and Brendan, her new husband (and my amazing new cousin) couldn't be a better fit for her, or for our family! :) (he's also an amazing writer with his blog, doublecoverage.com thats been picked up by FOX sports. ((one day I'll be like him and thousands will be reading my amazingly lame stories on this blog HAHAHAA)). Anyways.... I couldn't have been happier to be a part of their day, weekend, and be a part of the rest of their lives together!
Going into this weekend I was kind of freaking out. If you ask Jenny at the gym, I was soooooo worried about the fact that this weekend I a) wasn't going to be working out, and b) wasn't going to be watching what I was eating or drinking. It's kind of hilarious, because in the past, I couldn't have given two shits about either of those things. I would have just been like... YESSSS let's get wasted, and who the hell works out? But now, I'm like really conscious about making sure that I'm putting the right things in my body and working out hard core. I think it's because I'm finally seeing results, and I know, I KNOW, finally, I can do this, and I love doing it. For example, (seeing results), this asshole, didn't think too much about my bridesmaids dress for the wedding. I probably got it back from the tailor 2- 2 1/2 weeks ago, maybe 3, and I'm sitting there, we are all getting dressed and Sam goes to zip me up and she's like, "Andrea, this is big", and I'm like shut up, this is perfect, (or at least it was when I tried it on a few weeks ago).... NOPE, that dress was huge. I didn't fill it out anymore. MY ta-ta's were FALLING OUT! So yeah, I mean, it was awesome, I was like, YESSSSS I'm dropping inches and lbs like I should, but we had a bigger problem, unless we got this under control, everyone at this wedding was going to see a show when I was cutting a rug out on the dance floor later that night, or worse, at CHURCH! Hahahahha... so I feel like we had a double edged sword here. On one hand, I was excited to be losing, but on the other, I looked like a mess HAHA. And I'm pretty sure, even if I ate a whole pizza hut pizza in that hour we had to kill, I still wasn't going to fill out my dress. HAHAHAHA... Thank god for Sarah's new sister-in-law, and our new cousin, Meghan, we found a solution, and I stuffed about a million safety pins into my purse just in case I popped a few with my amazing dance moves later that night. Crisis averted, phew. It was funny though, I remember running over to Meghan a few times that night with my arm up, safety pin in hand, saying PLEASE HELP... hahaha, I don't know how I would have gotten through that night without you, and for that, I thank you Meghan McKinnon~!!!!! XOXOX. But watching Sarah, walk down the aisle, so amazing in her GORGEOUS dress, and me not being able to fit in mine, just made me think, this is a marathon, not a sprint, and in a year, I am going to look just as amazing as her, and I couldn't be happier.
So, onto my 2nd worry of the weekend, my eating and drinking. Now, I have been doing pretty well. I am super strict during the week, only doing my shakes and a protein at lunch, and I'm fine, it's great. But what am I going to do when theres all of my favorite foods around, like bagels with cream cheese, and french fries, and mashed potatoes, and to top it all off, ALCOHOL! hahaha... I mean let's be real here... I'm not going to NOT drink this weekend. hahaha... Again, the funny thing is, before this whole diet, if I drank all day, if I mixed different types of alcohol, I felt like shit by like 9pm, like hungover shit, it was crazy too me. But now, I can drink all day, drink CHAMPS, BEERS, VODS AND WADS, anything, and I'm amazing... I drank so much this weekend (sorry gym people), but thankfully it was mostly Vods and Wads with a few beers, and probably a few bottles of champs HAHA... but man, I did NOT feel like shit at all... it was great, it honestly makes me want to workout and eat healthy all the time because it totally makes drinking that much better! hahahaha.... as far as eating went this weekend, I think I did ok. I still had a Isagenix shake a day, and instead of having 10 bagels while we were getting our hair done I only had 1, and over the weekend I kept the junk food to a minimum. Sarah and Brendan did an amazing thing and got a large group together and took us all to the Phillies/Braves game and had an open bar, and burgers and dogs, and I clearly had all of that, but other then that (oh, and the baked potato soup I made on Sunday, WOOOPS), I was actually pretty good.
Sarah is one of my biggest supporters, making sure I stick with it, listening to me complain, and reading this horrible blog, and I love her for that. I am so glad that this weekend went over so well, and it's Monday morning and I'm back on track. I was so worried that I would go back to the way things were after not being in the gym the whole weekend or eating perfect, but no, I'm fine, and cheating on your diet once and a while, isn't the end of the world.
(as I mentioned, I made baked potato soup last night, I didn't make it the super healthy way, so I will give you 2 recipes, one healthy, one, meh. hahaha
HEALTHY:
Baked Potato Soup from SkinnyTaste!
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 5 • Size: 1 cup • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 207.6 • Fat: 7.8 g • Carb: 22.5 g • Fiber: 2.4 g • Protein: 11.9 g
- 2 russet potatoes, washed and dried
- 1 small head of cauliflower, stem removed cut into florets
- 1 1/2 cups fat free chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups 1% reduced-fat milk
- salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/2 cup light sour cream
- 10 tbsp reduced-fat shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 6 tbsp chopped chives, divided
- 3 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (you can use turkey bacon if you prefer)
Pierce potatoes with a fork; microwave on high for 5 minutes turn over and microwave another 3 - 5 minutes, until tender. Or if you prefer to use your oven, bakeat 400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes.
Meanwhile, steam cauliflower with water in a large covered pot until tender. Drain and return to pot. On medium heat, add chicken broth, milk, potatoes and bring to a boil. Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. Add sour cream, half the chives, salt and pepper and cook on low another 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat. Ladle 1 cup soup into each bowl. Top each serving with 2 tbsp cheese, remaining chives, and bacon.
NOT SO HEALTHY BUT AMAZING:
- 4 baking potatoes (about 2 1/2 pounds)
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour (about 3 ounces)
- 6 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
- 1 cup (4 ounces) reduced-fat shredded extrasharp cheddar cheese, divided
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
- 3/4 cup chopped green onions, divided
- 6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
- Cracked black pepper (optional)
- Preparation
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Pierce potatoes with a fork; bake at 400° for 1 hour or until tender. Cool. Peel potatoes; coarsely mash.
- Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Place flour in a large Dutch oven; gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 8 minutes). Add mashed potatoes, 3/4 cup cheese, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, stirring until cheese melts. Remove from heat.
- Stir in sour cream and 1/2 cup onions. Cook over low heat 10 minutes or until thoroughly heated (do not boil). Ladle 1 1/2 cups soup into each of 8 bowls. Sprinkle each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons cheese, 1 1/2 teaspoons onions, and about 1 tablespoon bacon. Garnish with cracked pepper, if desired.
OK THATS IT FOR NOW,
XOXOXOXOXOX (me and my amazing family below!)
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