good morning!

i've decided to switch things up. instead of my usually morning coffee, i've started drinking hot water & lemon (with a pinch of ground cinnamon).

my coffee habits have changed dramatically over the years. at first, i took my hot milk and sugar with a splash of coffee. perhaps that was because i was only thirteen. then i started drinking my (at home) coffee black. i started drinking my coffee sweet again in college. thanks to the on-campus starbucks. but i should point out that, to this day, i prefer dunkin' donuts coffee (black; hot or cold) and starbucks speciality drinks (i can only drink starbucks coffee black if its iced).

i digress.

the point is, i want to drink less coffee. and thus, i've switched to morning hot water & lemon. so far, so good. although i've noticed it makes me hungrier than coffee (which has a tendency to curb appetite).


learn more about the benefits of drinking hot water and lemon here.

happy fall!

hello, friends.
it's been quite a while! so much has happened, so much is going on and i'm looking forward to so many things! let me start by saying: this is not a weight-loss blog! well, not anymore, i suppose. last you heard from me i exceeded my weight loss goal. let's finally put those numbers into perspective (see below).

the picture on the left is me at the end of april 2012 – approaching my heaviest of 170(ish) pounds. it was approximately 3 weeks later i began the accuweight loss diet. the picture on the right is me at my sister's wedding in august 2012 at the thinnest i've ever been in my adult life –130 pounds. 

i read once read in some scholarly journal – cosmo, i think – that when one is "unhappy" or "complacent" it's better to make small changes; big or radical changes often fail or are not as satisfying. well. for me, i was a year out of college working two jobs: one, parttime in marketing for a small nonprofit the other, selling advertising space for a nonprofit theater. oh, and babysitting. i moved back in with my parents (wompwomp). AND was overweight. something had to give. overworked, under paid/appreciated + overweight. 

then. something changed. i was offered a new (fulltime) job and thought: if not now, when? NO MORE EXCUSES. i needed to do something radical. so. i started dieting two days before my new job started. 

i recently saw a family friend who is familiar with accuweight loss. she asked, "i heard you sleep REALLY well while you're on the diet, is that true? i didn't because i was only on it for three weeks, but i hear if you stick to it you get the BEST sleep." to which i replied (after some thought), "i DID sleep well. probably because i was only ingesting 500ish calories a day and my body was literally like, 'go to sleep, pleaseee, i'm exhausted!'" 

since exceeding my weight loss goal and starting the maintenance stage of the diet, i've gain 5-7pounds. i realized i was probably too thin and should have stopped when i reached 140 (my original goal weight). i have maintained an average weekly weighin of 137. 

that was until hurricane sandy. i'm not blaming hurricane sandy for my weight gain, necessarily (but really, i am). here's what happened. nick and i traveled down to PA for the weekend (friday, october 27) to do some wedding related stuff, including engagement photos. as we tracked the storm, we decided to reschedule our photos for the following weekend and, as luck would have it, our photographer was available! then sunday (october 28) came and went and we decided to weather the storm here in PA. then monday happened and hurricane sandy mercilessly ripped through the northeast. we only lost power temporarily here in PA but that was not the case for our home in NJ. with no work, power, water and a gas shortage we decided to stay in PA until things got better. 

i was SO grateful to be able to take advantage of my time off for wedding related things — contacting florists and hotels, searching for officiants and nick worked on launching our wedding website. the unfortunate part was the overwhelming sense of guilt — being happy when so many were (and still are) suffering. the week following sandy came and went and we decided to stay in PA because there was no point in trying to get back to NJ. so. we've been living in nick's parents house for TEN days. 

i'm completely out of my element. we've gone out to eat serval times (even twice in one day ... gross or awesome?) and have had zero physical activity. and thus, i've gained a solid 5pounds! yikes. 

to make a long post longer, these past few days also made me think about how much i wish i had a hobby. ENTER: food blog. i need to get back to cooking and baking and photography and writing and design and all the things that make me feel accomplished and happy. i've been thinking about combining everything into one website but haven't thought of the perfect name (that isn't already taken). thoughts, anyone?