J Lives Fit and Fab

One Bowl Moist Chocolate Cake

2011-08-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

I have to say, this recipe is by FAR one of my FAVORITE desserts of all time. And get this...I've tweaked it from here Eating Well to make it HEALTHIER. Now before you start thinking I'm crazy, yes you can have CHOCOLATE CAKE and it is yummy and only 140 calories!

This easy-to-make chocolate cake is dark, moist, rich—and only dirties one bowl! The simple “from scratch” recipe gives you a home-baked cake with healthful canola oil and whole-wheat flour. I tweaked it from the site:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup white flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour *
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup nonfat buttermilk, (see Tip)*
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot strong black coffee
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Ingredient Note: Whole-wheat pastry flour, lower in protein than regular whole-wheat flour, has less gluten-forming potential, making it a better choice for tender baked goods. You can find it in the natural-foods section of large super markets and natural-foods stores. Store in the freezer.

Tip: No buttermilk? You can use buttermilk powder prepared according to package directions. Or make “sour milk”: mix 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup milk.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. I used a 13x9 metal pan.

2. Whisk flour, granulated sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Be sure to get ALL lumps from the flour and baking soda out since we aren't sifting the flour. Add buttermilk, brown sugar, egg, oil and vanilla. Beat with a whisk until incorporated being sure not to over mix!!! I mix the ingredients JUST until it is wet. Add hot coffee and beat to blend. (The batter will be quite thin.) Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

See how thin that batter is??????

3. Bake the cake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, exactly 30 minutes. This last time it baked for 25 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes; remove from the pan, and let cool completely. Dust the top with confectioners’ sugar before slicing. I made a thin glaze to put on top because I just knew my dad would want some type of "frosting". No matter what dessert I make, he always has to have frosting. He's weird lol.

And here it is!

JLIVESFITANDFAB GIVEAWAY!!

I want to give the followers out there the opportunity to try out this easy cake themselves for FREE! So for the first 5 folks to respond to this post with "CHOCOLOVE" will receive this mix in the mail sent by yours truly! :)
Please be sure to include your email as well!

All you have to do is 1) have access to all the wet ingredients and 2) try the recipe out and let me know your honest feedback!

Good luck :-)

Entries end: 8/17/11 @ 8pm

Until next time...

Live Blessed, Fit, and Fab!

~J

Coconut Crusted Tilapia w/Mango Salsa

2011-08-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

I wanted to try changing up my eating routine after reading through a new book I picked up called, "The Eat-Clean Diet, Recharged!"

I'm going to try my hand at Meatless Mondays and introduce some alternatives to lean protein. I was in the mood for some fish so I found a recipe for Coconut Crusted Chicken here: Skinny Taste: Coconut Chicken. I tweaked it a bit and used Tilapia instead of chicken. I also made a Mango salsa to accompany it. I love using fresh sweet fruit with fish especially in the summer months when the fruit is its ripest.

Here are the ingredients:

8 tilapia filets
1 cup of shredded coconut
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/3 cup of sugar
3 egg whites, 1/4 cup of 1% milk or buttermilk
pinch salt and pepper
olive oil spray

Mango Salsa ingredients

diced mango
diced red onion
diced and peeled cucumber
diced yellow pepper
1/2 lime juice
1/2 fresh orange juice
2 tbsp sugar
pinch of pepper to taste
cilantro (dried or fresh)

1) I made the salsa first because I wanted all the flavors to really blend together. I just diced up the mango, pepper, onion, and cucumber. I mixed in the lime juice, oj, sugar and pepper to taste and added the cilantro. That went in the fridge while I started to prep the fish.

2) I whisked together the egg whites and milk. I preseason the fish with salt and pepper and then dip the fish into the egg mixture. Then that gets transfered to the coconut crumb mixture and coated thoroughly.

3) Preheat the oven to 400 C and once the fish has been coated, place them in a baking sheet and spray lightly with baking spray. Bake for 15 minutes and turn so both sides become brown. These pictured were fried LIGHLY in canola oil because I just wanted a little bit of crunch factor to it. Next time I will just bake them all as it turned out just as good.

4) Lastly, put the mango salsa on top of the fish and serve!

Until next time yall...

Live Blessed, Fit, and Fab!!

Dijon Rosemary Chicken

2011-08-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

Hey yall,

I know I've been MIA. I've been cooking but have very little time to update. At any rate, here's a recipe I found from one of my favorite sites, skinny taste and wanted to share as it's SUPER EASY and yummy!

Dijon Rosemary Chicken
Ingredients:

8 small chicken thighs, skin on but fat removed
4 tbsp Dijon mustard
8 tbsp light mayonnaise
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 lemons, squeezed, and lime zest
pepper
Light Sodium Adobo
salt
1 spring of rosemary
1 tsp poultry seasoning (or sage)
olive oil

Preheat oven to 400°. Rinse the chicken and remove the all fat. Pat dry; place in a large bowl and season generously with salt.

In a small bowl combine Dijon, mayonnaise, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, rosemary and pepper. Mix well.

Pour over chicken, tossing well to coat. Sprinkle on poultry seasoning (or sage) on top and additional fresh pepper and Adobo.

Spray a large baking pan with a little olive oil to prevent sticking since all the fat was removed from chicken. Place chicken to fit in a single layer. Bake until cooked half way through, about 20 minutes. Finish the chicken by spraying a light coating of olive oil. This will ensure the skin is golden brown. Serve chicken with the pan juices drizzled over the top.
* Note: Though I cooked the chicken with the skin on to prevent it from drying out, I do NOT eat the skin as this is where most of the fat is.

I wanted some carrots to accompany my chicken. I peeled and cup up a whole bag of cello carrots. I cooked them in salted water for 4 minutes until they were soft but still had a crunch. While they cooked I sauteed a crushed garlic clove and 1/4 of an onion. Once they were translucent I added the drained carrots right to the pan and mixed it up well, adding pepper and ginger powder.

And there was my dinner, easy right???

Until next time...

Live Life Fit and Fab yall!!
~J

My grocery splurge

2011-07-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show yall some pics of what I typically buy from Trader Joe's when I go there once a month.
I'll also give some recaps of which goodies I LOVE and why!

Ok so I pretty much LOVE everything LOL, but I'll do a quick rundown of what I use and how.

1) Mango chicken sausage: SO good for a breakfast treat. At 170 calories, you can't beat it!

2) Roasted Garlic Hummus: use this as a dip for raw veggies

3) Mint leaves: use this for my water mojito, or iced tea in the summer months

4) Teriyaki chicken: soooo good! I use this chicken for a quick stir fry meal. I add in the frozen broccolli you see, green and red peppers and I have a meal. I DONT use all the sauce that comes with it. It's way too much and I don't need the extra calories/sugar.

5) Maple Agave syrup: love this! I use just a tablespoon on my oatmeals, yogurt, smoothies, baked goods, waffles/pancakes, etc

6) Blueberry Waffles: these waffles are made with WHOLE GRAINS. I also like the Trader Joes brand Multi-grain waffles. The ingredients are sooooo much better than Eggo or Aunt Jemina

7) Soy yaki: this makes the BOMB marinade for chicken breasts and a great stir-fry sauce. I use it for all types of meat...shrimp Salmon, lean beef, etc

8) Broccolli slaw: I find this easier to eat than whole raw Broccolli florets. I eat this with Italian dressing, feta cheese, and cranberries.

9) Organic Reduced sugar strawberry preserves: this is the BEST in plain greek yogurt, oatmeal, or on toast. It has such a rich strawberry flavor and with half the amount of calories as regular jam

10) Frozen brown rice: well if you don't know, brown rice takes foreeeeever to cook so this is such a time saver

welp, I think I've covered it all!

Until next time...I've decided to include being BLESSED in my signature. Because God has truly blessed me with my health, family, and friends so I have no excuse not to be happy :-)

Live Fit, Fab, and Blessed yall

-J

Strawberry Banana Shake

2011-06-23T20:36:00.000-07:00

I didn't tell yall, but I've got THREE weeks until my birthday. A small tradition the bf and I have started is to always vaca around the time of my birthday. It's great because I get to celebrate with my favorite person AND it forces us to really go hard in the gym and work it out. We are really competitive with each other so we have competitions about who will get the most looks, lol.

I digress, I digress..

That being said because of work and graduate school I haven't been able to workout like I normally do. I tried to make sure I at least ate healthy and that definitely did happen 80% of the time. The other 20% is questionable lol

I was in the mood for something sweet but as we all know, sweets don't = weightloss. I got the idea from my buddy Jamie over at http://www.therunnerandthecyclist.com/ to freeze rip bananas for future usage. I did that and also had some frozen strawberries. The result was a delicious smoothie that I will continue to make throughout the summer. It's so refreshing and the way the weather has been in NJ, I will need it!!

Here are the stats for the McDonald's smoothie:

Strawberry Banana-Small (12 oz.)
Calories: 210, Fat: .5 g, Sodium: 35 mg, Carbohydrates: 49 g, Sugar: 44 g, Fiber: 2 g, Protein: 2 g

....I had a FIT when I saw that sugar content, uggggggh!
McDonald’s adds concentrated apple and pineapple juice to the smoothies. Juice concentrate is made by taking away the water from the juice, leaving the flavor and a lot of sugar left. On top of this, the low fat yogurt uses 2 more sugar ingredients: sugar and fructose.

But, if you should choose to order the large smoothie, the sugar content jumps up to 70 grams!
These smoothies contain a lot of sugar in them! If you were to drink one of these, expect your blood sugar levels to spike!

Here is my revamped one:

Those are frozen bananas and frozen strawberries. I now freeze my ripe bananas and use them for shakes and when I want some muffins.

I used 6-8 strawberries and one frozen banana. I included 1/2 cup of Almond Milk (30 cals) and 2 tsps of Agave Nectar 10 calories

Here's the result:

Next time I'll throw in some ground flaxseed for good measure :)

and there you have it, a delicious EAST smoothie with half the amount of calories in McDonald's smoothie.

until next time yall!!

Live Fit and Fab

-J

Water Mojito!!!

2011-06-13T20:10:00.000-07:00

I have a Soror/friend Jennifer I affectionately call "twin" simply because we have SO much in common from loving to bake, to having natural hair, to being workout addicts to owning dogs, etc.

I saw her mention "Water Mojito" via bbm and thought that was an awesome idea. Do you know I actually rushed to the grocery store during my lunch break just to try it out!

It's simple..just fresh cold filtered water, lemons or limes, and crushed mint leaves.
Put it in a pitcher, and enjoy!

next up will be the same concept but with HERBAL TEA! :)

Until next time,

Live Fit and Fab yall!

-J

Healthy Carrot Cake

2011-06-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

I recently have fallen in LOVE with this site: Skinny Taste. She has the BEST ideas and recipes for all types of yummy food that is simple and healthy. I've only tried the baked goods recipe (as that has become my new addiction/hobby) but I plan to try many others.

Anywhoo, I was in the mood for some Carrot cake. Now mind you I have 5 weeks before my Summer vacation with the bf and I'm feining for cake, lol. This is my issue...my addiction to sweets : /
I figure..making them healthy gives me a "reason" to have it...right???? Oh Lord

So I started off peeling 6 carrots and attempted to grate all 6 as this is what the recipe called for right? Do you SEE how much carrot I got after 10 minutes of grating with a hand held grater????? 2 tablespoons!!!!!!

I remembered I had a Ninja and this machine is tha TRUTH. It literally makes icecubes into shreds in a matter of 30 seconds so I knew it could handle the job!!

Muuuuuch better :)

I followed her recipe pretty much exact except I used a pinch more canola oil in addition to applesauce to increase that moisture factor in the cake. A few changes I would make is to pulse the crushed pineapple a little more as I don't like a chunky carrot cake but based on how much cake was left by family members I guess it was ok. I also added in raisins and will probably do walnuts too.

Here it is! I used Lowfat Creamcheese, a few tablespoons of skim milk and 1/4 cup of confectioner's sugar to make the frosting.

This was REALLY good! I want to try Carrot Apple Muffins next.

Until next time!

Live Fit and Fab yall!

- J

Trip to Farmer's Market and Peach Blueberry Crumb

2011-06-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

The grocery store produce can be SO expensive at times which is why I'm so glad there is a produce market close to where the bf lives. We go there often for fresh veggies, fruit, and fish for 1/2 the price that you would pay at the regular store. Below are some pics of the goodies they sell.

Dry beans, nuts and rice

Sasha waits patiently in the backseat while we shop : )

I picked up these Peaches which were on sale for 79 cents! I bought 2lbs and planned to bake half and eat half throughout the week. I LOVE Peaches! I decided to make a Peach Blueberry Crumb.

In the bowl below I have 1/2 cup of quick oats, 1/4 cup of wheat germ, 1/2 cup of whole wheat pastry flour, 1/3 cup of brown sugar, cinnamon to taste and a dash of salt.

I really like this Light butter from Land O' Lakes, 50 calories per serving vs. the 100 calories with regular butter. I used 1 tbsp of regular butter (for that yummy flavor) and 4 tbsp of Light Butter in the crumb topping. I threw everything into my Ninja chopper (cold butter works best) for a few pulses until everything was well combined and "crumbly".

I cut up all the peaches and put them in a bowl. I added 1/3 cup of brown sugar, cinnamon, 2 tsp of vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of flour to thicken the sauce that froms when the liquid from the peaches bakes down. I added in 1/2 cup of blueberries at the end and threw it in a pan.

I put the crumb mixture on top and baked it at 350 degrees for 35 minutes until it was brown and bubbly.

And here is the result! Peach blueberry crumb. Add a dollop of whipped cream and we're in business! :)

Until next time...

Live Fit and Fab!

-J

Walmart now sells cute workout Clothes

2011-05-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

I was never really one to care about what I looked like when I went to the gym. I was the girl who did sweatpants, a t-shirt and a rag, lol.
Now, I actually CARE about what I wear when going to the gym. But quality gym clothing can be expensive!!! I don't use cotton bottoms anymore because I'm a sweat-er. And honestly I don't like to walk around with sweat stains in my pants lol.
I like bottoms that are made with moisture wicking material, meaning they move moisture away from the body and keep you cool throughout your workout.

For instance I love under armour bottoms as they are moisture wicking and hold up really well to multiple washings.

But these are $54.99

These are Capri bottoms but come in at $44.99

Well, have I got some good news for yall!

I was recently in Walmart and they have some really CUTE workout clothing by Danskin all for under $15 bucks. AND they are made with similar moisture wicking material!! You don't know how excited I was about this!!!!!!!

Pink and Black Yoga pants: $13.99

These are from Walmart and Old Navy and are under $18 bucks each!

Here are the items I picked up for myself. I love pink so I had to get a pink top (with a built in bra of course ;))

Until next time...
Live Fit and Fabulously!!!

love
~J

Jordin Sparks gave me a boost!!!

2011-05-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

I have to admit yall. I've been in such a funk this week and couldn't find any motivation to workout. I just wasn't feeling it!

So VERY rarely am I able to find someone famous who resembles my shape. It seems as if most celebrities are crazy thin or don't have real curves. The bf sent me a recent picture of Jordin Sparks and it sent my mojo into HIGH gear!
I just HAD to share this. She's not overly thin (like Jennifer Hudson now) and still has REAL curves. I use to be her size...pushing 165lbs back in college so I know what kind of a struggle it is.
I think she looks awesome now (and she always has) and it definitely motivates me now to continue with my path! Bikini season will be here before we know it ladies!

Here are some of her befores at 160 lbs:

And here she is now 25 lbs lighter...

*puts down cookie and runs to the gym* LOL

just kidding, but seriously. I'm motivated 10xs more. Aren't you??

until next...

Live Fit and Fab yall!
~J

McDonald's Oatmeal, eat your HEART out!

2011-04-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

I revamped McDonald's new breakfast Oatmeal into something I'm calling "J's Hearty Apple-n-Spice Bowl"

Recipe coming this week!

3 Healthy Meals for Under $25 bucks

2011-04-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

Living a healthy lifestyle can be a little costly because the "good" foods are usually the most expensive. As like most of yall out there, I am on a budget. I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could create 3 healthy meals for a family of two for 25 bucks. With some strategic planning, I made breakfast, lunch, AND dinner :)

The meals are:

- Turkey Tacos, Sausage Potato Crumble, and Baked Ziti

* The main ingredient in all three of these meals is Ground Turkey. There are a couple of things you want to be mindful of when purchasing Ground Turkey. You want to make sure it's low in sodium and fat. Ground Turkey for the most part is also inexpensive. I used 2 and 1/2 pounds of turkey for all three meals.

1) I decided to make all the ground turkey first. I sauteed onion, garlic, and red and green peppers with the turkey and seasoned with Low Sodiun Adobo, pepper, and salt. To make the Tacos I used Low Sodium seasoning in the packet.

After I cooked all the turkey, I split it all up into three parts. I save 60% for the ziti which left 20% of meat for the tacos and 20% for the egg scramble.

Below you can see the tacos with some fixings (low fat cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and a little bit of salsa I already had) and I found these yummy whole grain tortillas with only 80 CALORIES and 4 grams of fiber each. This allowed me to have 2 tacos, yaaaaaay! You want the tortillas to be 150 calories or less.

2) The next morning I made the Sausage scramble. I used a bag of frozen potatoes (though you could easily use Frozen Hash Brown Potatoes, and sauteed them in a teaspoon of canola oil. Then I cooked 3 eggs and 2 egg whites and added the Turkey sausage left over from the night before.

You can wrap these in the whole grain tortillas from the tacos from last night and the cheese for a Breakfast Buritos.

3) The next day, I made the Ziti using the following ingredients:

I used Part Skim Ricotta ($1.98), Parmesan cheese, Fresh Parsley (79 cents), 4 cloves of garlic and Part Skim Mozzarella. I like to add in additonal veggies like a can of Diced tomatoes, green and orange peppers into the tomato sauce.

I like to season the ricotta cheese with chopped parsley, garlic, and pepper as seen here.

Mix all of the ingredients together and top with the Part Skim Mozzarella (Note: I think next time I will try to use mozzarella cheese in the block vs Shredded because the shredded doesn't melt like I'd like it to. I like a real goozey cheesey-ness, lol)

Here is the finished result:

There you have it...3 healthy meals for under $25 bucks. The key to these inexpensive meals is to use FRESH produce with only exact amounts that you need.

Stay tuned for my 3 meals for under $20 CHALLENGE in May.

Think YOU can do it? The winner will receive one of my FAVORITE fitness/health related products, a Water Bobble!

until next time...

Live Fit and Fab yall!

-J

Not all Sugar is Created Equal...

2011-04-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

Sugar

It's the one food items that dieters stray away from and non-dieters indulge in, lol.

Having sugary foods and drinks can cause a spike in your blood glucose levels. In response, our bodies secrete insulin and insulin-like growth factor (IGF). These two substances promote cell growth and inflammation. And when you have too much of them, they can pave the way for the development of cancer.

Well I'm here to give you the break down on the sweeteners I use and I've ranked them in order from the unhealthiest to the healthiest. Not ALL sugar is created equal and different sweeteners are used for different purposes.

updates and reviews coming this week!!!

Yummy Blueberry Muffins

2011-04-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

So here's a quick and easy blueberry muffin recipe that calls for one of my favorite ingredients....GREEK YOGURT! :)

Here are the ingredients:

1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup of unrefined reg flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
Heavy pinch salt
1/2 cup of Sugar crystals (blend of reg sugar and Stevia) OR 1 cup of Turbinado sugar
1/2 cup canola oil or safflower oil
1 egg, 1 egg white
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 tbsp ground Flaxseed
1 cup greek yogurt ( I add in a couple of extra scoops for good measure ;-))
2-3 tablespoons of lowfat milk
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
Dash of cinnamon

The trick to revamping most recipes is to make easy substitutions. As well all know, white bleached flour is NO good for our bodies. Therefore if a recipe calls for 1 cup of white, I will usually use 1/2 cup of white and 1/2 cup of whole wheat pastry flour. I LOVE Whole wheat pastry flour because the consistency and flavor is so light and fluffy unlike plain whole wheat flour that tends to be dense. It yields a more tender and soft baked good!

Directions

Preheat oven to 380 degrees F.
In a large bowl sift/stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
In another large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, egg and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients reserving 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients and toss with the blueberries. Stir mixture for a count of 10. DO NOT OVER MIX!! Add 1 cup blueberries to mixture and stir 3 more times. The batter WILL be thick. This is ok, I promise! Reserve the 1/2 cup of blueberries.

Using an ice cream scoop, add the mixture to greased muffin pans. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of berries on top of muffins and press down lightly. Sprinkle with a little Turbinado sugar on top. Place into the oven.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Remove from oven and turn out, upside down on tea towel to cool completely. Serve immediately or store in airtight container for 2 to 3 days.

These were SO good fresh out the oven with a PINCH of butter, yum!

until next time...

Live Fit and Fab yall!
-J

Chicken Parmesan, revamped!

2011-04-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

So I LOOOOOOOVE italian food. When you think of Chicken Parmesan you think of juicy chicken breaded and fried and coated with tomato sauce and lots and lots of mozarella cheese.

Well my friends, I've revamped the typical meal and cut the calories in half and added in some whole grains.

Here it goes:

Chicken Parm Recipe
- whole grain/wheat bread crumbs (I seasoned PLAIN crumbs with garlic and onion powder, pepper, parsley, and a little bit of salt. The pre-seasoned tends to have way too much salt so it's better to just add your own)

- 1 egg and 1 egg white and a table spoon of 1% milk whisked
- 2 lbs of chicken breast
*in the picture the chicken breast have been sliced very thin and pounded with a meat tenderizer. This will help tremendously in shortening the cooking time and leaves less room for an overcooked breast. overcooked=tough and dry : /
- 1 large can of crushed tomatoes
- 1 bag of reduced fat mozarella shredded cheese

- When I saute, I will now ONLY use Canola oil, Olive oil or Safflower oil. They are all high in heart healthy Omega 3's and Vitamin E (safflower).

- In the non-stick pan I have a tablespoon of canola oil and I'm going to dip the chicken breast in the egg mixture, then the bread crumbs and then lightly "fry" each side until brown. I'm putting "fry" in quotation marks because I don't consider this real frying since I'm using very little oil and am merly cooking both sides until brown.

- In the other pot I have whole grain noodles that were cooked and tossed with a little EVOO (extra virgin oil) to prevent sticking.

Here are the chicken breast cooked up and draining on paper towel. Once all the chicken is cooked, the layering begins! Its crushed tomatoes on the bottom of the pan, chicken, tomatoes again and then mozarella cheese.

- I doctor up the crushed tomatoes with cooked onions, pepper, pinch of sugar, parsley, basil, and loads of garlic.

I unfortunately don't have an after pic, but TRUST...this is good!

Try it and let me know how it turns out yall.

...until next time.

Live Fit and Fab!

-J

Purpose of this Blog

2011-04-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

So you may ask...

Why are YOU creating a blog? What makes this any different from any other blog out there?

I can't tell you how many texts, phone calls, emails, and facebook messages I get from ladies asking the simple question, "How can I reach my goal?"

Here is the PERFECT forum to answer your questions and share what I do.

I'm no different from you. It's a struggle to stay motivated. I love sweets and fried food. I had/have goals I wanted to reach, but it took that extra internal drive to just get up and move.

So you see...there are no special pills, DVDs or diet foods that will get you to where you want to be. Your husband, mom, or friends can't force you to do something you don't want for YOURSELF.

Once you realize how bad you want it, you'll get up and get it!!

and on that note, I will share one of my favorite songs of the moment by MaryMary entitled: "Walking". It's the perfect song to end this post as it shows us that through baby steps, you'll get to your ultimate goal. We all make mistakes, have hurdles to climb, and we fall. But of course, we must get back up and try again. Thank God for that kinda grace!

Live Fit and Fab Yall!!
-J