Finding Johanna

Holy Cow - my child is 5 weeks old already!  As I am nearing my "free to exercise" doctor visit I won't lie to you (or myself) I am bummed to not have an excuse to not work out. I don't even know when I will have the time to be honest but I want to try even if its just simple stuff at home between her ravenous feeding state. Speaking of ravenous, breastfeeding has made me hungry NON STOP! I try to reach for healthy snacks like fruit or granola bars and I know I am supposed to consume more calories anyway so I am not too concerned but I don't think I will lose any weight while breastfeeding. At my 2 week check up I had lost 20 pounds of the 40 that I gained during pregnancy which made me wish I could just pop an extra baby out real quick to get rid of the other 20. All in all though 20 pounds to get back to pre-baby weight is nothing.  Truly my main concern isn't about what I weigh or fitting into my old pre-pregnancy clothes but being healthy for ...

Yes it has been almost a WHOLE month since my last post. I promise I am not quitting my blog I had just been so busy with concerts and musicals at work and getting sick and being tired and BLEH. The last thing I had time to do was be a great fitness/health blogger.  I stopped eating breakfast because I was queasy in the mornings. I stopped eating lunch because I was too tired to worry about packing it. I fell back into old habits with that. When I was done with work and late after school rehearsals I got home at 5:00 hadn't eaten all day and just wanted to crash on the couch and DIE. I only went to the gym a few times in the last month... like maybe once a week. FOUR TIMES? Yes sorry guys... four times.  It has been ONE YEAR today since I started this journey. I haven't lost more weight since my last weigh in.... I had hoped to be down 75 pounds at this point but as most of you know instead... this happened two months ago  Yes all of the lack of energy, nausea, s...

I posted on Facebook after my 5k that I survived but I want to give a little more details on the experience.  The plan was to go with a friend from high school who I sort of reunited with over our weight loss blogs and journey to be healthier. We were both super nervous about it but the plan was just to get done not to push ourselves to the point where we needed one of the many paramedics on hand haha.  I wore my "Let it SNOW!" jogging shirt ....  I told her we should at least jog to the first turn or at least the first two minutes so off we went. She started walking a little before that time but I wanted to push myself to jog until the 2 minutes then I would start walking to let her catch up. When I started walking I couldn't find her ANYWHERE. I didn't want to stop so I kept walking and jogging the whole thing all alone. WELL sort of all alone if you have ever done a 5k you know you make random friends with the people who are struggling next to ...

TOMORROW IS MY 5k GASP  I am really nervous but also really excited. On Saturday I made an all time record and jogged for 10 minutes straight. I don't plan on doing that pace tomorrow night I am thinking maybe jog 5 and walk 5 until the 3 miles is GONE. No matter how long it takes I am very proud I am making the effort and as they say...  SMOOTHIE TIME  Peaches and Cream Oatmeal Smoothie  1 small container of chobani mango greek yogurt About 2 frozen peaches 3 Tbs dry quick oats  Almond Coconut milk until everything is smooth  YUMMMMM its so good  Tonight for dinner we are having a chicken salad I made up.  CRANBERRY ORANGE CHICKEN SALAD I shred cooked chicken and add craisins, and walnuts or pecans, then a little honey, salt and pepper AND 1 small container of chobani blood orange greek yogurt (this is the secret that makes is super creamy and REALLY flavorful with the orange), then I add...

So lately I have been dealing with an extreme amount of stress and stress related symptoms.  I have NO idea why or what it is. I mean its because of work but I don't really know why or how to fix it. Sometimes its ok and other times I just want to run away.  I honestly can't 100% diagnose what at work is stressing me out- I think its multiple things but DANG it's really affecting me and my health.  I have gotten sick almost NON stop this year! I also suffer from several more of the things on this list... UGH Thankfully working out is a good stress combatant and so I  really kicked my own butt today at the gym.  I am rewarding myself with a delicious post workout smoothie.  GREEN SMOOTHIE  1 banana 2-3 TBS dry peanut butter (PB2)  1 TBS flaxseed powder  giant handful of spinach (use A LOT)  5 ice cubes  enough almond coconut milk to make it all SMOOTH  Hopefully being in c...

I am so thankful for this blog and the help it has given me through tough times and how much it and the people who follow it give me motivation to keep on going.  Yesterday evening when we arrived in Houston at my in-laws my father in law said "have you lost more weight? You look like you have" which 1. was weird because my father in law has NEVER said anything to me about how I look EVER and 2. was AWESOME because my father in law has never said anything to me about how I look EVER hahah I floated on a cloud for a minute. THEN he said "Well... I am going to change that this weekend" hahah He is a huge food lover and cook like me. We share recipes and food love when we are together.  He boasted on my pumpkin cookies and hopefully later will boast on my pumpkin pie.  For those interested in my healthy Thanksgiving desserts here are the recipes.  PUMPKIN DARK CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKES  1 box of spice cake  1 can of pumpkin  1 bag of dark chocolat...

SIXTY FIVE  s-i-x-t-y f-i-v-e  you heard that?  65  That is how much weight I have lost since I decided to start this journey on January 1st 2012.  I have a little over a month until the one year mark! EEEK my goal is to see 80 gone so that I will be under 200 pounds. WOOT WOOT  I was really scared to weigh this morning but I decided NO just get on there and deal with the number and maybe it will be motivation to get your butt in gear over this holiday and not go crazy with gorging my face.  Turns out I had lost weight not gained weight. HAPPY SURPRISE  I immediately said to myself DO NOT LET THIS MAKE YOU THINK ITS OK TO EAT A BUNCH OF CRAP AND DRINK A TON OF BEER TOMORROW let this be the motivation to realize this shit is possible and I am SO close to my under 200 goal I can TASTE it and it tastes way better than greasy crap and a ton of beer!!!!!  I don't love this quote because it can be taken to a negative pl...