My Valentine/Birth-Day!!!

   Happy Valentine's Day!!!

So I know this is a little late but i wanted to share my Valentine's Day yummyness with everyone!  
I woke up on the Day of Love and decided that since "It's my Birthday" AND "Valentines day" i wanted to  make the most AMAZING breakfast ever!!!!

I decided i wanted to make Cinnamon Roll Waffles (an idea i got from Pinterest). I have been eating so well and doing great with my healthy lifestyle and for today i wanted what I WANTED for my Day! 

Well here it is.....


To start off with i took a regular thing of cinnamon rolls and unrolled them and formed them into hearts. 

This was before i put the icing on them but i loved the way they looked without it!

And this is what they look like both ways!!
 Just seeing those made me smile and prepared me for making my actual breakfast. :) 


I got a recipe off of pinterest for Cinnamon Roll Waffles (and I've attached the link for anyone who wants to make something sent down from Heaven). 
These things turned out so amazing and delicious, EVERYONE loved them!!! Although i must admit....They are so sweet that it was hard for any of us to finish what we had.

Oh my goodness.....i want to eat it again just looking at this picture!!


 Im going to try and figure out a way to switch out some of the ingredients to make it healthier for the family. I just wanted to try it the way the recipe said before i did it my own way. 
I cant even explain to you guys the burst of yummyness when you bite into one of these cinnamon roll waffles...its like little fireworks go off in your mouth!! Haha

I just had to share another picture of them...Dont you want little fireworks to go off in your mouth?!?!


Now i am going to be honest...the rest of the day i did my normal healthy eating but man oh man did my breakfast hit me hard! I was soooooo tired about an hour later that i had to drink an extra tea to wake me up! Haha.


I ended the night going to my weigh in (for my Biggest Loser Challenge) and i hadn't lost any lbs but i hadn't gained any either. I found out some things that i didn't know about things i was eating as snacks that i believe were actually causing me to not lose more weight. Dang-it! Well, at least now i know and i can fix it!
 A little hint...If you're going to eat cheese, stick to mozzarella or Swiss cheese only! Every other cheese is loaded with calories.  (A piece of regular yellow cheese the size of your THUMB is already 110 calories!! Holey Moley!)


I had barely started eating little pieces of cheese for a snack about 2 wks ago and guess what...for 2 wks i haven't lost any Lbs! That is enough right there to stop eating or drinking dairy again. I gave it up in the beginning then let a little bit of it slip in but its not worth everything i have worked for this past year. Our bodies were not meant to take dairy in anyways so buh bye dairy.....RIP....Haha


Cinnamony fireworks and no more cheese,
XOXO
Amber

My amazing transformation!!

Okay so, I haven't blogged in a very long time and i decided to "Pin" my Before and After picture on Pinterest and got a TON of responses!!! I was not expecting that at all! So here i am....starting my blog up again so that i can give more info for all of you that asked on how i transformed my body and and will never go back to the "Fat girl" in my Before picture.

There it is....February 6th 2011 i weighed in at 190 lbs (the biggest i had ever been while not being pregnant). I hated it. I was normally in a size 7 jeans and at this point i could barely button a size 16!! I hated my body. I was always tired and never wanted to go anywhere or do anything because i always felt ugly and fat. 
January 2011 i had a nickel size portion of my cervix removed because they had confirmed i had stage 2 pre-cancer cells. It scared me so much because my daughter was about to turn 3 and my son was only 4 months. I was going to make sure that i never had a scare like that in my life again! 


So i did a bunch of research and found out that dairy has been known to multiply cancer cells at a much faster rate. I (almost 100%) gave up dairy. And believe me i LOVED drinking glass after glass of 1% milk!! It was not easy. Like tonight, I had some pizza...it has cheese of course but i just don't eat as many pieces as i used to. I just do my best to watch that what I'm eating isn't loaded with dairy.


I also gave up soda. Not easy at that time because during my pregnancy with my son all i craved was Coke! If i have any soda (on rare occasion) now i stick to sprite because its not as bad for you.


I attempted to give up red meat but i LOVE me some steak so now i just eat it maybe 3 or 4 times a month. Eventually i will eat it even less because its so bad for our system.


I was able to give up pork completely. 


I started doing Zumba and loved it....but because i was heavier than i had ever been, i threw my back out twice so i decided to wait to start exercising like that until i had lost some weight. 

So...Here is a collage of pictures from when my son was 3wks old to June 2011....I looked alot better but i had hit a plateau and still had all the "fluffy" areas i hated on me. Haha
By  November....i was still at my plateau. I was down probably 30 lbs and had lost about 6 jean sizes ( i was able to finally wear a size 10!). But i needed to find something healthy to help my with the last 35 lbs to be at my goal weight. 
My mom had met someone who said she was doing Herbalife but we had heard so many different things that she didn't pay any attention to what she was doing until she saw her before picture! It didn't even look like the same lady. So here comes my mommy telling me she was bringing home these shake things and i was going to drink them with her! hahah She didn't even give me a choice!
Within the first 3 days of drinking 2 shakes a day plus tea and energy stuff i had lost almost 2 lbs!!!!! We joined a weight loss challenge (for 21 days) together the beginning of December and during the HOLIDAY SEASON i lost 8 lbs and 8 inches and was down another jean size! I finally into a single digit!!! And during the season when everyone gains weight i was LOSING it!!!
Now of course i still needed to lose more weight so we found out that they were having a Biggest Loser weight loss challenge for 10 wks and we jumped right in! I started speed walking religiously with a bunch of ladies  3 times a week. But since then i crave exercise! Its crazy!! HahahaThe first week i lost 4.8 lbs!!! Oh emmm geee that was soooo exciting!!!!!! My second week i got measured and because we had started speed walking and learning soo much about healthier living i had lost 11 3/4 inches!!! Wow! I believe i will  drink the protein shakes and take other Herbalife products because i feel so amazing!!!!! It is life changing!! The people that i have met and the things that i have learned keep me away from soda, fast food, and all the junk that kept me feeling fat and tired. It has helped my entire family! My kids eat so much better now as well! 
Oh and just so that i give my mommy a high five on here.....she has lost about 12 lbs and almost 3 jean sizes in less than 2 months!!! Go mama!!!! 


I would love to be motivation and inspiration to everyone.....heck just to inspire or motivate 1 person would make me happy!! I have learned so much so if anyone has any questions or needs help with anything please...let me know. 

So here it is again...i am so excited to say goodbye to the old me and Hello to the new 145 lb size 5/7 me!! To this day i have lost 45 lbs, over 40 inches and 9 jean sizes (that's counting ever single size in between cause why would i skip sizes?! Haha).


you WILL make it to any goal you set!!! My goal is to weigh 125 lbs and wear a size 3 jean. (But i do know that muscle weighs more than fat so since I'm working out now....i might not weigh 125 but i will make it to a size 3 and be healthy and toned!!!!


XOXOX Healthy living and feeling awake and beautiful,


Amber 

Dancing..Dancing...ZUMBA!!

                            As of last night I have officially been doing Zumba!! I absolutely LOVE it!
For those of you who haven't tried it and love DANCING like I do....you should try it out! I will admit...Its been quite a while since I have actually "worked out" hard and today....I FELT IT!! I don't like working out in front of people and of course TODAY is the day that the WHOLE entire family is sitting around watching me shake my booty! Geez! Oh well, Its for a good cause right? :)

Then, when I go to look for the link to put on here for you guys, I find out THEY HAVE A WHOLE NEW SET OF DVDS!!! Now I want these ones too! It looks like even MORE fun! And their outfits are all spunky and hip too.

Look at all the FUN bright colors!!!

They also added a bunch of new types of music and have this new thing where you can push a button and it switches the dancers from front view to back view so you can learn easier! They think of everything! So now I'm gonna have to save up so I can buy the NEW set of DVDs and make my workout a million times better!! :)

Another thing they have is Zumba for Wii.

 I haven't tried it yet but I've heard its alot of fun! Might save some money if you just get that one since its only one game. BUT it doesn't come with the "Shake Weights" which are fun to use. And the Zumba DVDs actually come with a BUNCH of fun different DVDs.

Soooo...If you LOVE to dance like I do, this might just be the thing for you!! I think I will periodically talk about how my Zumba adventures are going to keep everyone up to date on my weight loss and toning mission! Gotta get rid of that baby fat my 5 month old left me and get my sexy mama body back!! (Haha that sounds funny)

PS Just so everyone knows...I do not get ANY money for talking about Zumba and saying how much I love it! :)

Xoxo ~Amber~

Intro to....Amber!

       So, my name, as you can tell, is Amber and I live in wonderful Southern California!:) Very (VERY VERY) recently, I became a single mommy. Maybe someday soon I will tell the story of how I ended up the single mommy I am today, But for now....Life can only get better. I will NOT dwell on the negative things that have happened.

                   I have the most AMAZING Princess Zaraiyah Love, who just turned 3! She is so smart and she keeps me going going going every day.

            In October 2008 I had my 2nd baby angel, Lundynne Faith. She lived for an hour and a half and fought for every second of it. I LOVE this picture because it shows just how fragile she was. Born too early but loved for a lifetime.
           Just recently in October 2010 I had my most handsome Lil man, Zaidehn Alex!

            I LOVE my babies!!! I feel like my life is so complete with them by my side!
      
         I have the most amazing and supportive family (who at this moment are ALL deciding they want to talk at the same time so I'm having writers block haha). I honestly don't know what I would do without them to encourage me! 
       I am working on changing mine and my kids lives into an ALL Organic one. After having some SCARY pre-cancer cells removed in January my life must change. Eating healthier is the best way to help prevent cancer cells from coming back. I don't ever want to have the scare that my babies might not have me around because of cancer. Going 100% organic is not easy but its important.

       I am So passionate about MAKEUP!! I know how to do hair also, but for some reason makeup just calls my name! My GOAL is to end up in HOLLYWOOD as a well known MUA doing weddings, photo shoots and MOVIES! So exciting!!!! Back in December I went to Kandee Johnson's Glaminar in LA and had a BLAST!! She is one of the most down to earth and amazing woman I have ever met! I learned so much and came out of there with a bunch of new Glam Sisters! Find my makeup on facebook. www.facebook.com/EleganceByAmber

Wow...I actually am not sure what else to write right now. Sooo ta-ta for now and I will continue to blog about my life and passions :)

XoOx (Beeg kees, leetle hug, beeg hug, leetle kees)