Good Morning! How are all of you? Sorry I didn’t post last night, I was soooo exhausted, I went to bed at 8:30pm. But, let me back up, while working with my classmates on a project, I had a little coffee with half and half around 5pm.

For dinner, I made a healthier spin on a no-so-healthy favorite of mine! I felt like I could really use some comfort food . I grabbed this Annie’s whole wheat pasta with Alfredo sauce and got a little creative.

Making the sauce required fat free milk, but we were out. So I used plain yogurt greek yogurt instead and it made the sauce extra creamy…love that! I also added some Quorn chik’n breasts and some broccoli to make a delicious and healthy chik’n, broccoli alfredo.

Seriously, how good does that look?! It tastes that good too. I love finding healthier ways of doing some of my favorites!!!!

I also had a clementine and some mini Trader Joe’s peanut butter cups to calm the sweet tooth.

I had about twice that amount of pb cups. Like I said, I crashed HARD at 8:30-ish.

Breakfast this morning was 1 container of vanilla greek yogurt, 1 cup of Kahi GoLean and 1/2 a cup of blueberries! YUM YUM YUM!

I also had a cup of coffee.

Today’s Outfit:

UGH, soooo blurry! I am going to try to make a camera decision shortly so I can get a new one! Blah!

Black blazer (Jacob), Argyle sweater (H&M), White cami (H&M), Jeans (Express), Black pointy toe boots (Nine West).

Close up of the sweater…I love the black, white, pink and orange combo

In Other News:

1. I got some not so great news about a very, very close friend yesterday afternoon. It is very personal and I am not willing to talk about it on the the blog, but if you could keep this person in your prayers and send good vibes their way, that would mean the world to me.

2. “Ask Me Anything” Questions:

Q: What’s your #1 suggestion for changing an eating pattern when trying to lose weight?  Is it the little extras?  No snacks?  Different kinds of snacks? No toppings?  It’s hard to know.  I’m short and eat well.. but not well enough to lose the extra 10 pounds! (I work out pretty hard 6/week, so I don’t think I can change that much) So I need the little things to really straighten up my diet at this point.  Suggestions?

A: Well, when I wanted to lose weight I counted calories. That helped. I never would say no snacks, it is really about choosing healthier options, eating “normal” portions and honoring your hunger. Eat when you are hungry and only until you feel satisfied and don’t eat when you are not hungry.

Q: When I run my earphones keep falling out if my ears. I went out and bought new ones and the same thing happens. I don’t always need to have my ipod when I workout but sometimes it really helps. Which one do you use and do you have a pic of it? It is so frustrating.

A: I use the iPod ones, they fall out on me too, I just keep sticking them back in. It’s annoying, but not that bad.

Q: Hi Ali! I know you said you ate a lot of crap before deciding to take off the extra weight, so I’m wondering exactly what your eating habits were like before your healthy lifestyle change in terms of food choices.

A: Well, I never really ate “crap”. I mean I ate healthier than most people I know. But, I ate whatever I felt like, whenever I felt like it and how much I felt like eating. Honestly, I can’t remember exactly what I ate. But, it was a lot of fried food, a lot of fat and calorie rich stuff. For example, I would think NOTHING of drinking all night and then hitting up the McDonald’s drive through for a burger and fries at 2 am. I also drank a few nights a week, like a college kid even though I wasn’t. I would call a basket of fries and a bud light at out local bar “dinner” That kind of stuff.

Q: Can you tell us what eating plan you used to lose weight and if you did not use a specific plan what guidelines or rules did you go by? Did you cut out certain things or count calories?

A: Sure. There was no “plan”, like Atkins or Weight Watches. I counted calories for about 6 months. I cut out red meat, white bread-pasta-rice, and fried food entirely. Mostly, because all of those things killed my stomach. I still VERY rarely eat any of them. However, I don’t count calories anymore. I also started eating normal portions and only eating when I was hungry rather than when I was bored or emotional.

Q: Love your shoes, especially the pointy ones! I have a hard time wearing them as they always hurt my feet!  Any tips?

A: I hear you on that. My tips are get them with lower heels and by them a 1/2 size bigger so your toes are in the pointy part. All mine are super comfy!

Q: Why did you start this blog?

A: I touch on this in the Meet Ali section, but I started it as a way to give back to the blogging community that helped me so much in my transition to a healthier life. I also started it hoping to help others who were like me or trying to make changes I have like quitting smoke, starting to run, changing to more healthy habits etc. If I can help one person live a healthier, happier life, it is all worth the amount of work I have put into this blog!

OMG!!!! This is the last day of “Ask Me Anything” I am exception questions until 12 am! Get them in!!! To submit an question, click here.