Think Fit, Be Fit…and a Synopsis of Life as of Late!

You see, the motto used to be “Think Skinny, Be Skinny!”

I’ve reassessed. It doesn’t seem appropriate for that to be my motto, because I didn’t really set out on this journey to be skinny. I just wanted a body I could be proud of…a body that showed people how much I care about myself, my health, and the way I present myself to the world.

As I mentioned in the last post, I went to see Dr. Steres last week, who basically affirmed what I already knew: Sometimes, you have to stop looking at the number on the scale, and appreciate how far you have come. The real work from now on won’t be losing the last 23 lbs….it will be maintaining all the 107 lbs loss that I’ve reached!

Did you know that most WLS patients typically lose 80-100 lbs, then GAIN 20 lbs, and then they pretty much plateau from there? I did NOT. So, you can imagine the slight relief I felt when I realized I lost over 100 and plateaued, without gaining 20 to boot! She made me realize that where I am now is still a really great place to be. Sure, medical charts still categorize me as overweight (btw, has the BMI index been updated since 1901? Because seriously…I don’t know many people who fall into the “normal” category based on their height and weight according to that thing!), but I feel happy. I feel healthy. I can run without dying. I can do hundreds of crunches in the gym. I try to be really careful about what I put in my body….I drink water like a fish! My life has turned around completely, and at the end of the day? I love what I see when I look in the mirror. I recently posted a few new photos, and people don’t even recognize me.

In all my BMI “overweight” glory, the world keeps remarking about how tiny I have become. Who would have thought?!?!?

In other news, I finally got to take Alex away for her Birthday Weekend Surprise, and we headed to…..PALM SPRINGS! We had a gorgeous room at the Hilton, where we lounged poolside reading our new books and magazines, hit the casino and lost money, headed to a cute pub for a fantastic happy hour (where I drank an even more fantastic Tequila Sunrise), hit a place called Toucan’s Tiki Lounge, where we took in the sights (aka, the male stripper) and drank mimosas until we decided to take multiple ridiculous photos that involved cocktail umbrellas, colorful straws, little plastic swords…and some other shenanigans. The next day we hit a great diner for breakfast, hit the Cabazon outlets, and headed home. All in all, it was a GREAT time…and I was happy to spend some girl time with the Bestie. I think she had fun….you be the judge:

Kinda blurry….but it was before mimosa number 4!

And guess who got her first COMPLETE outfit from Charlotte Russe, a store where I could previously only buy accessories (and the chance pair of size 11 shoes, before they started selling those online only….rude!)? BIG THANKS to Alex, the best Bestie a girl could ask for, for spoiling me with this new ensemble. Refuge jeans, and a gorgeous top….paired with some accessories and chunky heels? I think I rocked it! :

All that time as a personal shopper paid off! I call this “Boho Chic.” Lol.

As if that wasn’t enough, I realized how much my face has thinned out, and I’ve officially convinced myself that I could pass for a slightly dark Kardashian:

You can call me Khondra.

Anyways, enough vanity!

Let’s talk about what I’ve been eating lately! I’ve been keeping it relatively healthy, not to mention delicious!

Some recent meals include:

Tonight’s dinner” Portobello caps sstuffed with cream cheese, spinach, and parmesan. 200 calories, and about 9 grams of protein! AND DELICIOUS!

Stirfry! Asparagus, red bell pepper, onion, red cabbage, bok choy, snap peas, yellow squash, sliced boneless chicken breast….sauteed with some sesame giner sauce and served over some white rice….It was quick, easy, and only one pan!!!

Atlantic salmon with garlic herb butter, and an assortment of baby squash…including cute little mini zucchinis! Drizzled with some EVOO, added some garlic salt and pepper…Baked at 350 for about 25 minutes. Flaky fish, and delectable vegetables!

 

Talk about food porn, huh?

Also, since posting photos can be so much fun, I’d like to share some more amazingness that comes from my boyfriend Sean:

 

And my FAVORITE! As football season nears, Sean has gone so far as to switch cable providers in preperation (it seems DirectTV offers NFL season pass, so we can watch every game of the season. OMG!), and he has already begun planning Sunday events to revolve around such.

Part of the plan?

STEELERS SHIRT FOR MY TEAM PRIDE! Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow!

It’s even got bling. He is clearly my soul mate!

Ok. I think that’s all the fun stuff! I am off to bed early tonight. Alex and I start fitness bootcamp tomorrow morning, and we have to be there at 6:45 AM! And then I am off to my lunch time workout at the gym with Ashley!

Seriously….I didn’t think I’d be able to do the rowing machine! But I can do ANYTHING if I want to badly enough!

Wish me luck. A small part of me is terrified that I will not be able to walk after bootcamp…apparently I’ll be flipping tires and crazy stuff like that. Old Sondra would have cancelled.

But new Sondra? SHE CANNOT WAIT!

Night night my loves! Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

‘Til Next Time!

XOXO

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday Madness…As Usual!

Hello my loves!

So again, slackin’ on my blog mackin’, but I didn’t forget you!

Let’s start with an inspirational photo, shall we?

This is my mantra for this week! WOOO!

The past weeks have been full of shenanigans and I must admit, I’ve been pretty productive! I started a new position at work (in my own office), and I have been working as hard as possible to make the transition a smooth and efficient one for all parties involved. The car situation has been BEYOND stressful, but thanks to the amazing people in my life, I haven’t had to use public transportation once (what is that about? Seriously…when you’ve had a car, the bus is like the WORST thought ever. Lol). Sean and I attempted to install my newly purchased radiator Sunday, but we had a nightmare of a time just trying to get the plastic piece that shields the radiator off! So, we called it quits, and after a mild emotional freak-out, and Sean getting kinda crazy on me and telling me I need to calm the heck down, I contacted a friend who works on cars, and he is coming over tomorrow to fix Dulce so I can get her back on the road!

After that was all set,we headed to Temecula to two awesome wineries and went to Lucille’s BBQ for dinner. All in all, it was a lovely day. If you’re ever headed to Temecula, I strongly suggest hitting up Keyways Winery. Sean and I are big on sweet wines, Moscato especially, and Keyways has what is now our new favorite! You can check them out at KeywaysWine.com. They have live music and lunch on weekends in their gorgeous outdoor patio area. Our server, Tiffany, made the experience beyond enjoyable with her expertise, and her ability to tailor to our preferences. She also encouraged us to try new things out of our comfort zone, and we had a blast(along with just a bit too much wine, for this tiny-stomached individual). We also went to Wilson Creek Winery, after Alex told me about chocolate shot glasses with chocolate wine (DUH!), and while it was a bit too crowded for my taste, we did have a Chocolate Zinfindel that blew our minds, and Sean bought a bottle. I am very excited that we now have a bottle of Moscato and a bottle of chocolate dessert wine to add to our evenings in. Our last night in consisted of cheesy RedBox flicks, homemade baked ziti and garlic bread, and a red wine we weren’t crazy about! Moving on up? Definitely!

We have already planned our next Temecula wine tasting outing, and we will be heading to South Coast Winery first to do a sixty-minute winery tour that ends with a wine and cheese pairing. I am super excited! After that, we are heading to one of the other boutique wineries on the De Portola wine trail, and then driving to Laguna Beach to check out some art galleries, and eat a sunset dinner. June 23rd can’t get here fast enough!!

I managed to lose another pesky five lbs since the last post, and now officially just need to lose 30 more to hit my goal. For every 5 lbs lost, I will be rewarded with a new accessory from Forever 21. Sean is also starting his own weight loss journey, and for every 10 lbs he loses, he is putting $2o in his goal jar that I made for him.

Made from a 2 lb protein powder container, of course!

I know it looks a bit girly, but I sent him a photo, and he claimed to be excited…so I will take that! Clearly, he is a too-good-to-be-true boyfriend, but I don’t think he’d lie to me about that. Lol. I have volunteered to match his contributions when he hits goals, and the total will be put towards some additions to a new wardrobe for his handsome self! YAY!

I am so happy to have someone in my life that is not only one of my best friends, but someone that supports my every endeavor, and strives to make big moves in life with me. It’s something I never had before, and I can’t imagine life without it.

That is my recap for now. I totally skipped my 30 Day Challenge for May, but seeing as the scale wasn’t budging, you didn’t miss much. I won’t let June pass without one! 🙂 This will be another crazy month, what with work events, potentially taking on more work, making time for my relationship, and baby showers, bonfires, and more this month! Whew! But I will post at least weekly.

If you haven’t yet, please check out the guest post from Jillian McKee on the link between nutrition and cancer!

Hope everyone’s week is off to a great start. The year is already half over! CRAZY!

‘Til Next Time!

XOXO

 

It’s Not Teeny Weeny, or Yellow and Polka-Dotted…

But you know, by my standards….a size Large in a swimsuit is DEFINITELY itsy bitsy!! 🙂 And oh so very chic, might I add!

I’ve searched high and low to find a suitable replacement for my (formerly) favorite swimsuit, but have been having a ridiculously hard time.

Summer 2009…..I don’t even know this girl anymore!

I wanted something that was still true to the retro look I love, with a more sophisticated color and cut. Of course, flattering my new weird body was also a must. After trying on several that all seemed to hate me I found a great suit! I was a bit put off but the way it hugged the pouch I’ve got going on, but I figured id make it work.

Then , I went and did a photo shoot in it on the beach with Brianna of Brianna Noelle Photography, and I pretty much think I am the hottest thing this summer as a result!!

May 8, 2012. Yeaaaahhhh!!!

Thanks so much to Brianna again, for taking the time and capturing some amazing shots! Ill share some others soon, as im sure you’d already guessed. 🙂 You should TOTALLY go “Like” her on Facebook, and if you’re in North County, you can contact her regarding pricing for awesome photography, here. For all my military wives out there, she has some killer Homecoming and family albums that will have you itching to book with her! What are you waiting for? GO!

In other news, my life is pretty much a wreck(in the best sense) up until I leave for DC. I can’t even decide where to fit my pedicure appointment in! And my suitcase will be packed tonight, because I literally can’t figure out when else I will be able to pack it before Thursday morning!

I am taking Sean to breakfast before he drops me off at the airport, and he is taking me to Benihana the night before for my first experience there!

I need to do laundry and clean my room. And take a shower. And update my planner. And eat a sensible meal. And take 30 day challenge photos for the next 30 Day Challenge installment!! Expecting to have it posted before the weekend, but you know how that can go!

Anywho, just wanted to share really quickly, since I’ve been staring at that photo all day and marvelling at how I thought that was a photo that made me “look skinny” back in the day. Yikes!

Hope everyone has a fab night!

‘Til Next Time!

XOXO

I’m Not Dead….

I know it’s been awhile (life has been CRAZY!), but I am still here, and didn’t forget I am a blogger, I promise!

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I am surprised that I really view it as a pretty mellow event this year. I kept trying to make plans, but in between all the chaos of regular life, I just haven’t really gotten there yet. Let’s see…..what’s new?

I got a personal trainer. His name is Ramon, and I have had 3 sessions at 24 Hr Fitness with him so far. He was kind of acting (pardon the non-politically correct phrase) like Hitler today, which I didn’t really appreciate, seeing as it was a 7 am session on a day when I had to pull a 10 hour shift at work after. Can a girl get some love for even making it to the gym that early? And by the way? HE was late for our session, and forgot one of our sessions last week. So he needs to calm down, and stop yelling at me about “Stop being so nice and get MAD!”

Who does that? 🙂

I submitted my home tape for The Revolution on ABC. Gotta be honest, I was really happy with the finished product, given that we didn’t have time to do a lot with it, what with work and everything. The casting director has reached out to me a few times, and I received an email saying I’m one of the top ones they’re interested in. However, when I talked to the casting director, she basically asked me to re-do my tape and highlight some of the more tragic parts of my life. Truly and sincerely? The whole reason I even applied and did my tape the way I did is because I don’t focus on the negative things in life. Life hasn’t always been good to me, or easy for me….but I am here. And not only am I here….but I am succeeding! I am happy. I am proud of who I am and what I have accomplished. While I understand that networks have to worry about ratings, I don’t think I’ll be letting them use all of my struggles I have come so far in overcoming and essentially forgetting, to get them. I don’t need them, but I certainly thought it would be a great help, and an amazing experience!

I got hair extensions. The fabuloous Miss Candace pulled it off yet again, and I have the fiercest head of hair I’ve seen in awhile. Peep this!

Long hair don't care!

Apparently, I don’t look like myself at first glance. But hey, it’s a hit!

I got home tonight, and Alex, once again, made one of my dreams come true! I have been wanting a vanity with a mirror for my room since we moved in, but I put it on the back burner. I walked into the house tonight to find the house decorated, Josh and Alex standing up and yelling “SURPRISE!”, and this gorgeous vanity was sitting there:

Yup. TRI-FOLD mirror. YESSSS!

It’s perfect for the whole vintage-romance theme I eventually plan for my room to convey. That girl always knows just the thing to do to leave me speechless!

Sean is coming to my job to get a massage tomorrow (yes, I AM a good girlfriend, after all), and he keeps hinting to the fact that there’s a box in the back of his car and he doesn’t know who it could possibly be for! OOOOOH! Me! Me! Pick me! Lol. But honestly, I am just glad that he is coming out to have lunch with me beforehand, and super excited for next weekend, when he is taking me out of town on some super top-secret weekend adventure. No guy has ever put together something like that for me before, and I am just so grateful…and mildly astonished.

What I’ve learned lately, is that good things come to those who wait. I’ve been working so hard for so long, trying to build a stable and rewarding life for myself. It seems like for the past year, I’ve been able to do most everything I have put my mind to. I have been blessed to be surrounded with supportive and amazing people, and that makes me so happy. Life has seemed non-stop, but I am making so many things happen, and it’s only March! There are still 10 months in the year, and I have a plan, and I have confidence that the plan will be executed flawlessly!

At the end of the day, what more can a girl ask for?

Well, besides six pack abs, a cure for stretch marks, and a self-replenishing closet, that is!

30 Day Challenge post will be up next week, and I will try to blog some awesome recipe ideas I have been meaning to share at some point this weekend!

Happy hump-day, and make the rest of the week count!

‘Til Next Time!

XOXO

 

 

I Probably Thought That Song Was About Me…

Ahhh. Is it really already the 15th of February? Because, if it is, that means the month is HALF over, and I have officially only 14 days until I am 24 years old!

That, my friends, is shenanigans. I feel like time is just flying by so quickly! The year has hardly started, and here I am with a “boyfriend,” I’ve lost 100 lbs, and I have been at my job for 5 months! Those are just some of the bigger things that have gone down this year…the complete list is really just toooo long!

Back to the whole “boyfriend” thing, those of you who know me, know that I’ve never really been one for titles. I imagined myself eventually being that one woman you know who is with the same guy for 20 years, but never marries him (although, let the record show, I am far too financially saavy to skip a tax break like that, and I have way too many ideas for my wedding, should I ever have one!). With that being said, the fact that I have been involved in what you regular, mentally stable people call a relationship for the past month or so ( or two years, actually, if you count how long we were tip-toeing around this whole thing), is pretty freakin’ big for me. This year, I had a Valentine. ME. Sondra Jo “I-Don’t-Do-Relationships-They-Scare-Me” Holtz.

Go figure.

Funny story: Last night when we were on the phone, I actually had to ask him if he was my boyfriend. Like, literally: “So, um…are you my….um, boyfriend?” I felt like I was in the 8th grade, but I just didn’t want to be too presumptuous…you know? He’s asked me twice already why I asked that, but I really just wanted to be sure that I wasn’t calling it the wrong thing. Maybe we were just dating…who knows anymore?

Now, going back to having a Valentine. Conveniently, Valentine’s Day falls in between both of our birthdays. So, his birthday was the 4th, and I took him to dinner this past Saturday at The Melting Pot in La Jolla for a birthday celebration, and then we celebrated Valentine’s this week. And BAM! My birthday is in two weeks.

I think sometimes, this guy thinks I am just plain ridiculous. I carry Colgate Wisps with me everywhere I go. He frequently jokes that he wouldn’t marry me, because he can’t possibly support my lipgloss habit (just for that, by the way? Were we ever to marry, I am going to start wearing Dior lipgloss just to teach him a lesson. He will be begging me to go back to Victoria’s Secret and Bath and Body Works, then!), and when we spent Sunday together in Ontario, he kept getting annoyed with me for not wearing his USC sweatshirt when it was cold. That was probably because I said “No. This jacket looks cuter. I want to look cute!” Girl problems…men will never get it.

So, all that being said, I thought to myself Sunday night: “You know, Sean probably thinks I am so vain sometimes.”

And lo and behold. What do I get for Valentine’s Day? Several 4×6 and 5×7 prints of the two boudoir photos I posted here on the blog! How did I feel about it?

I loved it.

This will be FUN!

What will I do with them? Right now, I have some ideas:

1. Leave them with tips at restaurants.

2. Hand them out when I am pimpin’ out my blog

3. Sending them to modeling agencies, along with an article about Size 14 being the new Size 4.

4. Using them as postcards to send to the troops.

5. Sending a couple to distant family members, to make up for the fact that they haven’t received any photos of me since like, 2nd grade.

6. Sending them to ex-“boyfriends” and the idiots who let me slip away.

Just a few ideas…I’m sure I will come up with more. 😉

As if that wasn’t enough? This guy tells me to close my eyes, and when I am instructed to open them, I am face to face with……my face! He blew up one of my photos on canvas, and stretched it over a wooden frame! It’s HUGE! And it’s pretty much the most wonderful present I ever received(aside from my turtle, Bandit)! And to think, I didn’t think he would ever be able to top getting me Rosetta Stone Italiano for Christmas!

Yeah. baby!

…I just realized I should probably stop writing about Sean on my blog (love you!). He will randomly mention reading it, and I always feel like I’ve been caught doing something naughty when he does. But at the same time, I just feel like he is going to give me so much good material….decisions, decisions….

So, moral of the story? I AM so vain, sometimes. Usually, I think that I must have subconsciously written songs before artists did, and they stole them from me by way of ESP (yeah, YOU, Sara Bareilles. I think I wrote “Love Song!”). And you know, I do think lots of songs are about me. Especially if they involve the following scenarios:

1. Boy meets girl, loves girl, but girl knows she is too awesome for him and breaks his heart because he’s just too sappy and is always writing sad songs about all the girls who break his heart.

2. Boy loves girl, and thinks girl is gorgeous and that her body is a wonderland.

3. Boy hates girl for making him want to settle down, but loves her, because shes amazing and gorgeous and has an awesome blog with her awesome body in her underwear all the time.

These are just a few examples.

….Clearly, I should be asleep right now.

But before I go! The casting director for The Revolution called me the other day, and wants a re-do of my tape. She wants to see “blog Sondra.” And so, if any of you have any ideas for what I should put on the new tape, let me know. What would you have liked to see on the original? You know I looooove me some constructive criticism. Unconstructive criticism, however, will bring out the Kanye West in me. Just plain rude.

I hope everyone had an awesome Valentine’s Day, and that the rest of your week goes by smoothly (especially since people will be done throwing their awesome gifts and romance in your face by the end of this week, Lord willing).

Love you all!

‘Til Next Time,

XOXO