NEW GIVEAWAY WINNER & Fitness Updates!

BECAUSE THE WINNER STILL HAS NOT RESPONDED, THERE WILL BE A NEW WINNER OF THE TWO COUPONS FOR COCONUT BLISS ICE CREAM. THE WINNER: LAUREN! CONGRATS! PLEASE EMAIL ME ASAP SO I CAN GET THOSE COUPONS TO YOU!

Guys!

Thanks so much for your kind words and awesome support about my weight loss and fitness journey! I have absolutely no clue if I lost more weight this week or not, but I really hope so - I weigh myself tomorrow, so I guess we'll find out then!

I still struggle to turn down sweet treats and stay within my calorie limit - not because I'm hungry, but because I like to snack all the time for no real reason - but I've been doing very well. As long as sweets are not in the house, I don't really eat them. I don't buy them anymore because I just don't want them around me. That is the only way I've found I can stay sane.

You know the cool thing? I don't even crave sweets anymore. I only eat them because they are in front of me, not because I crave them. I think that is so great! I also love that I've been trying to eat seasonal - plums, peaches, berries, and melon are so yummy right now, so go buy a bunch and snack on them! Plus, Bob Harper says you should be eating apples and berries every day, so get to it. It's one of his 20 skinny rules.

Have you read The Skinny Rules by Bob Harper yet? Go buy it. It's great. I'm reading it right now. But more on that later - it'll be in my things I'm lovin post this week, and I don't want to spoil it!

Tomorrow is my last day at my internship with Daelia's Biscuits for Cheese as their social media intern. So sad, isn't it? I hope to make a binder filled with all the stuff I did over the summer for my boss, so she has everything in one place when she needs to refer to a list or some social media tips. Gotta love Twitter and Facebook. And who can forget Pinterest?!

Okay, that's all for now. Sorry this was short and to the point. More soon on my continued health and fitness journey, a recipe for some killer apple chips, and reviews of PB2, Zagorra HotPants, Crum Creek, KLUTCHclub, and WayFare products. See you soon!

Much love,

Giveaway Winners & Good News!

Time to announce the winners for the last two giveaways! 

Winner of two FREE product coupons for Coconut Bliss Ice Cream: GRETCHEN

Winner of a six pack of Mary Jane's brownies: FITFUNKYLIFE (by the way, I totally agree - pb&j/smores brownies would be delish!)

Congrats! Please email me with your contact info ASAP so I can get your prizes out to you!

I weighed myself on Tuesday, a day over halfway through my 30 days to 130lbs. challenge. The result? I lost 5.2 pounds! I weigh 144.4lbs. now - before weighing 149.6lbs. Pretty good for a week, right? I hope to continue down this path and plan on sticking to my 1,200 calorie diet with daily exercise. I continue to focus on my shoulders and arms when doing weights. I can't wait to weigh myself on Monday and see where I am at! 

The best part of this whole thing? Seeing results. Seeing the cuts in my thighs, the sculpting in my shoulders and biceps, the lines on my abs becoming more visible. I love that I always feel light when I eat lean, clean, and green! Even with 1,200 calories a day, I always feel full at the end of the day. I really don't need any more food than that. 

I also made my vision board! A vision board is basically an inspiration board - something that keeps you working out and eating healthfully when you start to slack off. I framed it and I can't wait to hang it up. I'm going to make another similar one and fill it with different workouts from Pinterest instead, so I can get some quick new workout ideas when I need it. 

I also enjoy reading on my Kindle when at the gym. I finished a book today! It's crazy how much I can read in one workout and how fast time flies by. 

Question: What are your favorite songs to work out to? 

Much love, 

WIAW #31: Grillin' Out!

Welcome to my WIAW: Grillin' Out edition! Let's get started! 

Okay, this almond yogurt isn't exactly grilled food, but I do have something to say about it. Don't buy it. Maybe it's just me, but I really don't like yogurt made with almond milk. I tried Almande (is that how you spell it?) and didn't like that, either. If you like yogurt made with almond milk, go for it. But this yogurt was not my cup of tea. 

This week, we grilled on our new grill. Woohoo! We made bbq chicken (yum), grilled romaine salad with grilled radicchio and tomatoes, and a roasted corn salad with the following grilled veggies: corn, eggplant, orange bell pepper, and red onion. I also chopped up some fresh basil and threw that in with some orange juice. Talk about scrumptious and super healthy! 

I also made homemade garlic Ritz crackers :) No hydrogenated oils for me!

As far as fitness goes, I have been continuing to exercise at LA Fitness (treadmill, elliptical, bike + arm machines) as well as do my Jillian Michaels' DVDs (No More Trouble Zones and Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism are my favorites right now). Still trying to avoid sweets for the most part and focus on clean eating. Whole foods are the way to go - naturally yummy, with little fat and only natural sugars. Even though it's tempting, I'm glad I've stopped buying sweets. It stops my late night snacking on handfuls of chocolate chips!

What's your favorite healthy workout snack?

Much love, 

GIVEAWAY: Mary Jane's Brownies

Have you entered to win two FREE product coupons from Coconut Bliss? Enter before 11:59 PM EST tonight!

And while you're at it, join the Things I'm Lovin' link up!

Today, I want to talk brownies. 

But before I talk brownies, a little update on my weight loss journey. Today was supposed to be my halfway weigh in, but because I spent the night at my boyfriend's last night, I didn't have a scale. So the weigh in will have to wait until tomorrow morning :(

On the bright side, I have been feeling a lot lighter. A lot happier. Healthier, too. And I definitely think I have lost weight! How much, I'm not sure, but I feel good about it. I have been trying really hard to avoid sweet things, for the most part - I tossed my entire chocolate and sweet stash, which has helped a lot. As my Tone It Up community would say, I have been trying really hard to eat lean, clean, and green! 

It's also been nice noticing my weight training progress. I've been doing weights with Jillian Michaels DVDs for a while, but now I'm starting to see some sculpting in my arms. One of my new focuses is to tone and build muscle in my shoulders - I think muscular shoulders look so awesome! I can also see lines on my abs, and I'm starting to get those... what are they called? These: 

My lines look nothing like those, by the way. But if I continue to lose fat and build muscle, I think I'm on the way to getting more defined oblique lines. Yay!

Since joining LA Fitness on Wednesday, a gym near my house, I've been able to get a lot more cardio in than normal. The cardio in Jillian Michaels DVDs only do so much. I run/walk around my neighborhood sometimes, but I like the treadmill at the gym because I can track my progress. My typical gym routine has been 20 min. on the treadmill, 30 min. on the elliptical, and 10 min. on the bike. Recently, I started exploring the arm machines, where I found the "delta fly" machine and fell in love with it. It works my shoulders in the exact area I want to work them! Love. 

My question for you today: What are your favorite shoulder and tricep workouts?

Overall, I feel good about where I am at the halfway point in my 30 days to 130 lbs. I guess we'll see tomorrow how much progress I've really made!

Now, on to my second topic: brownies. Obviously, not a diet food, but delicious nonetheless. 

Who doesn't love brownies? Only people who don't love chocolate. I can only think of two people I know who do not like chocolate, and they are crazy. (Just kidding!)

A week or two ago, I met a lovely woman named Renee. She came to Clifton, where my internship is, to drop off some of her delicious brownies for me to review. Her company, the Mary Jane Brownie Company, is still very new. The idea for the company was conceived around five years ago, but the company itself is newly launched. The company was named after her mother. They are based out of Cincinnati, OH - gotta love the locals!

Each brownie is individually wrapped in a certified biodegradable, compostable wrap. They will stay fresh for up to 5 days without refrigeration. Crazy, right?

They currently offer six flavors: Pure Cocoa, Twisted Peanut Butter, Super Funk Chocolate Chunk, Wowie Coconut Almond Crunch, Urban Bourbon Caramel Pecan, and Caramel Sea Salt Gold. Lucky me - I got to try them all!

Of course, they were all delicious. Mary Jane knows how to make an extremely fudgey and rich brownie - I love them! I was told that the Caramel Sea Salt Gold was the most popular, and for good reason. The caramel was smooth and yummy, a perfect compliment to the rich chocolate. Personal favorites were the Wowie Coconut Almond Crunch - it reminded me of an almond joy bar or girl scout's samoas cookies - and the Twisted Peanut Butter, which tasted like peanut butter fudge with chocolate. The Urban Bourbon Caramel Pecan screamed bourbon when it hit your tastebuds - in a good way! 

Is your mouth watering yet? Do you want to try these delicious brownies? Just leave a comment below telling me what your dream brownie flavor would be. Leave a separate comment for each extra entry: 

1. Follow me on Blogger or GFC. 

2. Tweet about this giveaway and tag @cityxlights13. Also include a link to the giveaway.

One lucky winner will win a box of brownies, mailed right to their house! US residents only, please. No P.O. boxes. GIVEAWAY ENDS WEDNESDAY 7/25 AT 11:59 PM EST.

Good luck! 

Much love, 

Journey to Health

Well, friends - it's about time I stopped eating so much junk food and got my healthy eating habits back in order.

I've been eating so much junk food recently - pasta, burgers, mexican, fries, chocolate, candy - if it's bad for you, I've probably been chowing down on it. Needless to say, it's time to eat more salads and whole foods.

I think I've also gained some unwanted pounds, so I've decided to buckle down and work to get rid of it. I'm starting something I'm calling 30 Days to 130 Lbs. - meaning I'm giving myself 30 days to work hard towards a goal weight of 130lbs. My ultimate goal is to be 125 lbs, but I think that's a bit unrealistic to do in 30 days. I even made myself a nice calendar on my wall to keep myself on track. See?

I'm hoping to workout twice a day while doing this. I want to get the best results that I can.

I'm kickstarting my journey by doing a week long juice cleanse. Today is day 2. I'm striving to drink only fruit and and vegetable juices every day for the next week - except for a small cup of protein powder and coconut milk after I work out (for protein). Ideally, I think I should be drinking a minimum of five times a day to help keep my metabolism up and running. Hopefully this juice cleanse will kickstart my weight loss journey. After this week, I will weigh myself and see where I am (I'm too nervous to weigh myself prior to starting the cleanse). I will take that weight and use it to see how much weight I lose each week following. Wish me luck!

After the juice cleanse is over, I hope to keep eating healthy, lean, clean, and green. Lean protein and lots of veggies and fruits. Lots of salad and foods that are low in fat. I'm tired of being the weight that I am and I know I can do so much better!!

So far, it has been going pretty well. Yesterday I was extremely hungry, so I ate a couple of crackers. Today I'm feeling pretty good - I think that has a lot to do with the protein I drank after doing my new kettlebell workout.

It was pretty good and definitely had me sweating - Bob has a love for squats. My legs are always extremely sore after a Bob Harper workout, and this one was no different. I also bought another Bob Harper kettlebell DVD:

I'll let you know what I think about this DVD later! 

See you guys soon - hopefully with good results from my cleanse!,

Much love,