Win a $50 Alight.com Gift Certificate

Danielle from Elle in Wonderland is giving away one $50 gift certificate to alight.com. I personally have never ordered clothing from the site, but I have had my eye on a few dresses from the website, specifically:

Teal Argyle Dress


Dinner Mint Dress


Fab-blue-ess Dress


Under Cover Dress



The contest closes October 2nd. To enter to win, leave a comment on Elle in Wonderland post. Good luck!

Pescetarianism, Two Months Later

Tuesday marked two months of eating strictly pescetarian, and except for the accidental cobb salad, it was really easy. I feel great. It's hasn't been hard at all. There's always something to eat at restaurants, even the most carnivorous out there. I really have to say that it's a eating habit that suits me well. Not too much sacrifice, but enough that it's meaningful and healthy.

The weirdest time was at a wedding I went to recently where there wasn't a vegetarian or fish option, so I ate a lot of mashed potatoes. And yes, I do get miss pepperoni and chicken fried steaks. There are days when my protein intake is too low. Overall though, I'm more than content with the transition. I'm going to give it one more month before I decide if it's a long-term change, but things are looking that way.

Healthy You Challenge Check In #19

Hmm...calories were better but not great. Exercise didn't happen. Gotta get back to the gym this week. But I feel really good, and I wasn't hungry this week like I was last week.

Starting Weight (5/13/09): 320 lbs.
Last Week's Weight: 298 lbs.
Current Weight: 296.4 lbs.

Weight lost this week: 1.6 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: 23.6 lbs.

Happy to see a loss after stalling out last week. I'm so close to 25 lbs lost, and I want a new HYC button for the side bar. But I'll have to wait at least one more week for the upgrade.

Fuel

A new restaurant opened up in my neighborhood in Philly recently. It's called Fuel, and it's really, really delicious. The schtick of the place is that everything on the menu is under 500 calories. And everything's less than $9.00 too, which is great. In the super-health conscious age, I love that a place like this finally came to my neighborhood. My first time there, I had a tomato, basil, and mozzarello pesto sandwich on whole wheat. Last night, I ordered delivery and got a salmon and cream cheese sandwich on wheat. Salmon sandwich delivery? I'm completely smitten.

Having a place like this nearby is going to make it so I can order take-out every once in a while without blowing my calories for the day, and I can meet R for a completely guilt-free dinner. It's such a good idea thatI can't believe there aren't more places like this.

For anyone near Philadelphia, here's the menu. And if you know any other places in Philadelphia that are similar, please let me know! I'd love to try them.

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Tea with Links

Today I'm making a pot of darjeeling tea whilst I catch up on the nets.

I made an Italian tomato soup called Papa al Pomodoro, last night, and it was crazy delicious. The recipe was from this month's issue of InStyle magazine, but this blog post goes has the recipe along with links to how to peel and seed the tomatoes.

An delicious and easy recipe for a nonfat yogurt dill dip for veggies that I've made a few times over the last couple weeks. Easy and delicious. From Fitsugar.com.

And here's a recipe for Palak Paneer that I'm definitely going to incorporate in my menu the next time I go to the grocery store.

If you love Mad Men as much as I do, then you should check out Slate's TV Club on the show, which is essentially a long dialogue between several Slate writers dissecting and analyzing each episode. Thoroughly entertaining.

Fiber. It's important.

And finally, SNL on Joe Wilson's "You Lie" (and stick around for the awesome James Carville sketch).

Healthy You Challenge Check In #18

Sorry this week's update is so late. I weighed myself Wednesday morning; however, Wednesday night I went to a play and last night I went to dinner so I neglected blogging. I apologize. However, I did get to see Jerry Springer star in the musical Chicago, which was a sheer delight.

To the weigh-in:

Starting Weight (5/13/09): 320 lbs.
Last Week's Weight: 298 lbs.
Current Weight: 298 lbs.

Weight lost this week: 0 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: 22 lbs.

So no change this week. Frustrating, but not that big of a deal. Just gotta keep on truckin.

Meausrement Update

Healthy You Challenge Check In #17

Starting Weight (5/13/09): 320 lbs.
Last Week's Weight: 299.8 lbs.
Current Weight: 298 lbs.

Weight lost this week: 1.8 lbs.
Total Weight Lost: 22 lbs.

After days of eating wedding and vacation food, I have absolutely no idea how I lost any weight. My goal was to maintain, and at the very least no go back over 300. But yay, I lost 1.8 lbs this week. I'm thrilled, except that there's this nagging feeling in the back of my head telling me it will probably catch up to me next week. This coming week I have to be extra careful to make really good choices. I avoided a stall-out this week (even when I deserved one), but this week has to be about good eating, 2200 calories or less, and tons and tons of veggies.

Next week: updated measurements!

3 Fall Trends I'm Totally Stoked About

So Labor Day is over, along with one day to sleep off the hangover (whether literal or figurative). As much as I love summer, I'm getting really excited for fall. So excited that I jumped the gun on one of these trends, because I just couldn't wait until the weekend was over.

1. Belted Waists--this trend is so plus-size friendly. Instead of being one giant boob/torso/belly monster, you give yourself some definition and highlight your awesome curves. Once October rolls around (and I have some cash to spend) I'm going to be getting these two looks from Jessica London. I already have them added to my digital shopping cart, just waiting for the day when I can click the check-out button.

This one is the Shawl Collar Dress with Patent Belt, although I'm going to opt for teal.











This is the Sweetheart Neck Jacket Dress, and it just screams elegance at work. I can't wait to pair it with calf-high boots.











2. Red--Since I'll be broke after getting the two dresses above, I'm excited that red is this fall's hot color, because I can pull out this red cowl neck dress I got at Lane Bryant last year. I can subsitute a belt for the fabric chord to change it up a bit.







I also finally jumped on this clutch from GetReadySetGo that I've had my eye on for three months.









3. Dark Matte Nail Polish--This is the one that I just could not wait for. I'm currently wearing OPI's new "Susie Skis the Pyranese," described as a dark gray-blue, which makes my shorter-than-average nails look more substantial and elegant than normal. I also want to try OPI's dark emerald "Here Today...Aragon Tomorrow" and Essie's twilight blue "Midnight Cami." And of course, this fall I intend to go at least a week or two in solid black. I've never liked dark nail polish before. I've always been a french/purple/red kind of gal, but I'm ditching that this season to explore the deeper hues.