Back Home From the Raw Wedding!

Beginning Raw Vegan Weight: 425

Beginning Blog Weight: 277

Last Weigh In: 251 1/4

Today’s Weight: 250 lbs

Loss Since Last Thursdays Weigh In: -1 1/4

Total Blog Loss: 27 lbs in 4 weeks and 5 days!

NEW GOAL: 249 - only 1 lb away!!

TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS: 175 lbs
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Hello everyone! I'm home!

CLIMB EV'RY MOUNTAIN!!
Above is a picture of Angela Stokes-Monarch and her new groom Matt Monarch...and that's little ol' me right in the background just getting ready to sing "Climb Ev'ry Mountain"!

"WOW – we were SO awesomely blessed to have opera singer Michelle singing during our ceremony... :O I literally felt like I was being electrocuted with energy flow after we were pronounced 'husband and wife' and Michelle broke out into 'Climb Ev'ry Mountain' – THANK YOU Michelle, we LOVE you :)"
~~Angela Stokes-Monarch and Matt Monarch

I have so many great pictures, so much to report and am looking forward to doing that in future blogs! This mornings entry will have to be short. I need to go to work today and do my exercise! I arrived back just last night at 1am and didn't fall to sleep until 3:30a.m.....I think i'll be drinking a cacao shake this morning to wake me up! Cliff's already left for his morning bicycle ride, and i'm going to go out for a short walk to join him! The little stinker surprised me by repainting my bedroom the most gorgeous shade of blue, just what i wanted! I love you, Clifford!

The DRESS!
Well, folks, i ended up wearing a TIE DYE long dress that i hadn't even shown you! I had bought it to speak in. I never did have the opportunity to speak..., but i wore it for the 2nd day of the festival. Everyone loved it so much, it matched the flowers, it matched the mood, they implored me to wear it to the raw wedding that evening. I'll have more pictures of me in my tie dye dress hugging hunky David Wolfe and Matt Monarch!

Weight LOSS!!!!!!!
I can't believe I actually LOST weight on this trip and am so close to breaking 250!!! Yay!

What's even MORE exciting is I have not had a b.m. yet this morning, so, my God, when i do, i could very well have broken 250!!!

I did stick to my plan 90% of the time, ate tons of fruit, greens, no or very low fat.

Thank you Morris Family!!!!
Staying on 80-10-10 was a peice of 'cake' because I was blessed to have stayed with THE MOST WONDERFUL mostly raw family, Shawna & John Morris and their adorable son, Johnathon. What a wonderful family, what a wonderful home, what a wonderful raw lifestyle they live! You should see Johnathon, their adorable 3 year old, excitedly devouring a bowl of raw oats, cut up mango and peach, almond milk and spirulina. Truly an amazing sight! John is the master of the green smoothie, packing one of their 3 vitamixes with fresh picked spicy bitter greens from the garden and adding chia seeds in for protein! And Shawna is an absolute whiz with the dehydrator making cheesy kale and 'fried' eggplant! This family is a true RAW JOY inspiration!

Shawna and John are Arnolds Way customers who just happened to move to Oregon about 30 mins drive from where the raw wedding took place. Shortly after announcing I was singing at the raw wedding, i received an email from Shawna saying, "Come stay with us!" Was that not divinely inspired? A plethora of fruit and greens, all organic to satisfy my every desire and whim! What marvelous and generous hosts! We had the BEST time! I have lots of pictures of the wonderful Morris Family that i'm looking forward to sharing with you!

Gourmet Indulgences
Yes, I had an amazing BIG gourmet meal, 3 plates AND 2 desserts at the raw wedding, and a few gourmet treats that evening at home at the Morris', but i went back on track the very next day. One evening in the hotel in Dallas I had a small package of Red Pepper Macadamia Nut crackers called 'Mac n Cheese'. Yummy, and brilliant name, but not overly salty at all. In fact, the food at the raw wedding was not overly salty at all either and i think this really contributed to helping me not gain.

So, yes, I can get a way with a few gourmet treats here and there, but overall, 80-10-10ing really works for my body to lose weight, even on vacation!

Exercise
Exercise was NOT a big part of my vacation and I DO suspect that i may have lost a bit of muscle mass, contributing to the weight loss, but you know what? i think that's a cool little trick. Once, when i was on weight watchers, i stopped exercising a whole week and started pigging out binge eating that entire week. The next weigh in, i actually LOST weight. I had lost muscle mass and the fat i gained didn't equal what i had lost. ha ha, stumped the system!

But it's time to get back on track!

Gourmet at Work Today - Do I, Don't I?
I was really craving a flax wrap or flax cracker with tahini, parsley, tomato, and garlic terribly on the airplane ride home last night. After weighing myself this morning and being so so so so so so so SO freakin' close to breaking 250, this puts a damper on my desire to have a gourmet meal at Arnolds Way today, because usually, when i indulge there, i have an impossible time 'stopping' myself.

Perhaps i can come up with a light version, a salt-free, lowfat version of what i'm craving? A chopped salad with zucchini and tomato and garlic and romaine with a tahini sauce poured over (1 tbsp of tahini and lemon juice). That actually sounds good!!!

Many blessings to all of you! Can't wait to catch up with you! Write me at LaSoprana@aol.com and let me know how you're doing!

FOOD TODAY
Br: Had that chopped salad i was craving: zucchini, mushrooms, garlic, tomato, cucumber, lemon juice, parsley chopped in cuisinart with s blade, topped with 1 tbsp of tahini mixed in a little water, with cumin and cayenne. It was.......okay, good, not mind blowing. Would have been awesome with salt, i think and with MORE tahini!!!!

SN: Spirulina smoothie with 1.5 bananas, mango, peach, pineappple, 1/4 bunch of celery, 1 tbsp spirulina. This was good.

LN: 2 grapefruit, yum.

SN: pineapple vanilla smoothie: vanilla, pineapple, mango, peach, no banana argh. Okay, would have been killer with more banana.

SN: 1 large soft scrumptious medjool date

DN: 2 grapefruit, yum yum.

SN: a few cacao coated nibs and 1 Tbsp of coconut butter

SN: 1/4 of a small watermelon

It's 11p.m., i'm in bed, and i'm hungry!!!!!!

XOXOXO
Michelle joy