It's Been A While

It's Been A While

Since school started I have been seriously slacking in the blog department.

Good news is that I am doing well in school and have been counting calories and am now back down to my lowest weight since 2008! I am using myfitnesspal (app and website) to track my calories to help me lose weight. My current goal is 1400-1500 calories per day.

I tried to go down to 1200 calories per day, but ended up gaining weight each day I did that. That experience led me to the conclusion that 1400-1500 is a more appropriate range for someone my size. I will continue with this calorie goal until I plateau and will then lower my calorie intake to 1300-1400. I have lost 13.2 pounds since April of last year. I am 5.6 pounds away from my first major goal. I plan on taking it ten pounds at a time from there (I feel it is more managable).

The best part of all is that my mom is doing this with me. She has lost almost as much as I have (over the course of 9 months), just in the past month. It really helps to have someone to ask how I am doing and hold me accountable and I am providing the same service for her.

I got new tennis shoes for working out and have been using them for walking. I went this monday and walked a little over a mile with my mom. We walked to a Chick-fil-A near her work and had lunch(kids meals), then we walked around her office complex for 20 minutes or so. It felt good to enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. It doesn't hurt that we have been having unusually warm weather here in Dallas lately.

As usual, I wish anyone who is paying attention out there the best of luck with your own health goals. If anyone wants to communicate to help with staying motivated with losing weight, please let me know!

[ ... ]

Wednesday's Happenings!

Wednesday's Happenings!

I got some house chores accomplished today. I did the dishes, bed laundry, and even ironed my sheets before I put them on my bed. I also finally put away the 2 baskets of laundry that have been taunting me for a week.

I read an article about eating healthy and it said one way was to savor your food. It said to actually take the time to savor the taste, texture, scent, as well as the sensations of chewing and swallowing. I tried this today with my lunch, as well as an orange, an apple, and some granola.

I have done well with my calories today. I have eaten 1256 calories today. My goal is 1400, so I have 144 left. I am hoping water and entertainment will keep me away from the fork! The hubby and I are going to a local bar that hosts a trivia night on Wednesdays. I do not plan on drinking anything other than water.

Getting out of the house and being around other people also goes towards my happiness goals this year. I want to put myself out there more and expand my circle of friends. I find that the more I stay home; I become a bit reclusive, which inevitably leads to a bit of depression.

It has been a good day so far. Heck, it's been a good week! I logged in my current weight on myfitnesspal and have been logging all of my calories. I even have my mom using the tool and she is doing so well. I just hope that we can both keep this momentum going!

I am going to sign off for now, I need to do my exercises!

[ ... ]

A Pretty Good Day!

A Pretty Good Day!

Today has been better than I thought! My mom had a gift card for PF Changs that she got for Christmas, she invited me out to use it for lunch today. I have never eaten there before and thought that it would tank my healthy eating plans for sure. I ordered vegetable lo mein and ate only half. I also had 1 spring role and split the flourless chocolate dome cake with my mom. I had a delicious 3 course meal for just over 600 calories!

I will finish under my 1400 calorie goal today. This is likely the first day in several months that I will have met that goal...and it feels pretty darn good! I have been neglecting to utilize MyFitnessPal- a calorie and exercise tracking tool. I was pleasantly surprised when I went to add up my calories for the day to see if dinner was even an option. Dinner is an option and is in fact healthy enough that I should end up with 90 calories to spare. I plan on drinking a ton of water after dinner to help keep myself feeling full. If I get an urge for something sweet, I will have a cup of decaf tea sweetened with Stevia.

I did some walking today at Costco and did my exercises from my 60 day exercise challenge. Today was 40 jumping jacks followed by 20 crunches. I must say that jumping jacks are quite an exercise when you need to lose as much weight as I do. It is a little awkward having things "jerk" around. But it definitely got my heart rate up. Crunches never bother me the day I do them....it is always the second or third day, so I am expecting to feel that burn tomorrow!

The one thing I neglected today was water consumption- well, that and housework, but I am still on vacation from school, so I have time for housework. A tall glass of ice water is calling my name after my exercise, which I just completed. I have been doing my exercises in the evening so that they will help me want to eat less.

Today has been a great start for my healthy habits. While I know that every day will not be as easy to follow guidelines as today was, it gives me hope that I do have the will power and drive to achieve my health goals. Today has put a smile on my face for sure. To anyone who may stumble across this page, thank you for reading and best of luck to you in your journey seeking health and happiness as well!

[ ... ]

2012- A Year of Change

2012- A Year of Change

I am making a conscious effort to utilize my blog as an accountability tool for 2012.

There are many changes that have occurred in my life within the past 2 years. I was laid off from a company where I worked for nearly 8 years. I lost an old friend, but gained an awesome new one. I have grown closer to my husband and family. We have adopted 2 cats (Pearl and Stella).

I have accomplished quite a few things over the past year: I lost 40 pounds (and have only gained about 8 back). I will have my Associate's degree in education by December of this year!

I am hoping that this blog will serve as a way for me to express my thoughts and feelings, as well as keep me accountable to myself and others so that I can continue my journey towards a healthier me-inside and out!

I have joined a side called Pinterest and found a 60 day "get moving" challenge that I am participating in. Each day lists just a couple of exercises to perform. The exercises increase in length and difficulty as time goes on. I am hoping that this gradual progression will allow me to gain stamina and strength and get back into the habit of exercising on a regular basis. I began the 60 day challenge yesterday and will be performing today's exercise as soon as I get off of this computer!

For anyone interested, my pinterest page is here: http://pinterest.com/angyness/

One of the things that I am working on in 2012 is happiness. I think it is such a simple thing that is overlooked. One of my goals is to make time for the things that make me happy. I am trying to get myself out there more and be less of a home-body. But one of the things that I must struggle with is balancing who I am interacting with. The people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on our own actions and I certainly want to keep myself going in a positive direction. I also want to get a good grip on my spending habits and start saving more. I have started using Quickbooks as a means to achieve this.

I am aiming to get back into healthy eating habits that include limiting consumption of meat, reading all packaging and avoiding "bad" ingredients, such as: soy, high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, etc. I plan on eating less sweets and cutting back on my salt intake. I want to incorporate more fresh herbs and spices into my food. I would also like to cut back on my carb consumption. I am in no way referring to an Adkins-like change. I have tried Adkins and I felt disgusting on that diet and was miserable. I do not feel it is a healthy way to eat. I had more headaches during those 2 weeks that I have had in my entire life!

I have never felt better in my life than I did when I was eating a vegetarian diet and monitoring my ingredients. I was losing weight and feeling good. I was happy. But after several months of maintaining healthy eating, I had a setback and fell off the wagon. My lower back went into muscle spasms and I had to rely on others to feed and care for me for over a week. I lived off of fast food and quick-fix meals. This is the first step towards a reliance on salt, fat, and carbs. This was in November of 2011 and I have not gotten back on track since then.

I find myself eating out of boredom or depression or as a way of comforting myself. I also find myself eating worse foods; foods that I know will not make my body feel good. I see myself doing it and it is as though I just gave up and don't care. But I know better, I do care! I am just like many other Americans who suffer in silence. Fat, carbs, HFC's, and salt have a hold over me. I have to suffer through the with drawl symptoms that occur when one tries to eliminate these chemicals from the diet. I have done it in the past and need to do it again. It may seem like such a simple thing for so many people, but these chemicals are as addictive for someone like me as alcohol or pain killers are for others.

I know what I need to do, I simply need to do it. Getting back into a habit of healthy eating is not the easiest thing to do; it takes hard work, but the rewards are well worth it. While I do have a goal to reach a certain weight range, that is not my biggest concern. My biggest concern is to limit what I put into my body so that I will feel good and weight loss will occur naturally. Ta-ta for now...I have some jumping jacks and crunches to do!

[ ... ]