Back at it

It is a daily struggle I still continue to face in terms of eating healthier and working out. These past few months have been filled with ultimate frisbee games, softball games, and occasional workouts at the gym. I still feel as though I've gained or maintained my unhealthy weight despite the fact that I've been more active these last few months. I chalk it up to the unhealthy eating I've done. Both go in tandem with one another. It's not all about working out and it's not all about eating healthy. It's about doing both simultaneously. Unfortunately, my mind falls to the negative a lot in terms of not being able to eat what I want, not being able to have alcohol, not being able to go out to eat, etc. I have to constantly remind myself that you only live once and it's okay to fall off the wagon for a day. But hop back on the next day and continue to eat clean and workout like normal. Don't let that one day cause you to fall completely off track. Just take the detour and get right back on course.

My last post was written in the beginning of 2013. I am now writing towards the middle of the year to update on the progress that I've had and not had. Eating healthier is definitely hard. I've been able to cut out some things like most processed food, but going back every so often. I've completely cut out soda many years ago, but occasionally have one every now and then. Portioning is still a part of my life, but I'm not as strict with it in terms of using measuring cups, but I generally know what each portion looks like now. I've been in a bad streak of eating out. I generally save half of what I eat, but sometimes I don't and go over board. This has been hard for me to stop doing due to my busy lifestyle. I forgot to thaw meat out for dinner or we have stuff at home, but not to my liking, so I say "screw it" and eat out because those options are more pleasing to my stomach. It's a struggle for me to be hard on myself. It's also been a huge struggle to workout or stay motivated to do so. I will go through weeks where I don't workout, not even a little bit. Then I'll have one great week where I workout 4 times and they will be awesome workouts and I'll be SO motivated to keep going, but I don't. Life gets in the way. I find that statement to be 100% why I choose not to workout most of the time. I have been keeping up with my monthly chart, though! It used to be that I'd put rest for days I did not workout, so I wouldn't feel so guilty not doing anything, but I'd stretch. Now I just put big X's when I do nothing and I don't even stretch. I've gained over 30 pounds since high school and I know it's not healthy and I need to lose that weight, but by golly it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. I've even bought this band that I wear around my wrist that tells me my sleeping patterns and how many steps I get in a day by tracking my movements. You can log your food as well, but I chose not to use that option. It has been a great little tool to help me, but even when I don't get my goal of 10,000 steps a day it doesn't phase me. It makes me a little sad, but not to the point of pushing me to get more the next day to make up for the lack of steps the day before. I've even got a calendar on my wall where I track my boyfriend and I's steps to see who can get more and that only lasted a week. I think I have issues with sticking to something. Keeping commitments. God, help me find the strength to push through and the motivation to keep pushing.

So, clearly this did not work out as planned considering I haven't written in well over a year. It is now 2013. A brand new year to start fresh and figure out what habits I can actually stick to. I currently am doing pretty well with eating better. I don't necessarily eliminate anything from my diet other than processed foods as much as I can. Stephen (my boyfriend) and I have recently been shopping at Whole Foods grocery store instead of Food Lion or Harris Teeter. I've been loving the freshness of the food on top of the "realness" of it all. It almost gives the food an extra tasty quality! The one thing that I am sticking to in terms of what and how much I eat is that I will not log any of the food I eat or post numbers. To me, this is what gets people hung up on not accomplishing goals. They think to themselves, "I'm not at the weight I need to be" or "I can't eat that, it has 700 calories in it" or "I ate 2100 calories today when I should have eaten 1700". I don't want to go to bed every night obsessed about numbers, which I used to do a lot. Now I just portion out my food and eat healthier. It seems to be sticking! I also don't eat out as much as I used to and when I do I try to choose healthier options or take half home to eat later. The other thing that I have recently been doing is that I printed out an entire 2013 calendar with each month on a page. In each box I am keeping track of my headaches, when I take the medicine I have, and what I do for a workout each day. It is motivational for me to think that I need to fill each box with at least ONE thing! And when I don't workout/don't have time, like tonight, I put REST, but I stretched my body. I'm going to try my hardest to stick to this as much as I can and I think that if I do, I will reap so many healthy benefits in terms of my physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

DAY 4

Breakfast: Cheerios with milk
Lunch: Chicken bites with fries and sweet tea
Dinner: BLT with soup

Workout: My own version of Jillian Michael's

DAY 3
Breakfast: Cheerios with milk
Lunch: Chicken salad on white bread, carrot cake slice
Snack: French Fries, Sweet Tea
Dinner: Meatloaf, potatoes, and peas

Workout: Off

DAY 2
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with onions and peppers and a slice of cheese
Lunch: Chicken salad on white bread
Dinner: Spaghetti noddles with sauce, red & green peppers and onions
Dessert: Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream

Workout: Walk with sister

* as a side note, I continuously drink water throughout the day, so I am not going to mention when I drink it because I do during my meals, but I always have water bottles with me or water next to my bed. If I drink something else, I will indicate so :)

I'm starting this blog in hopes that I stick to keeping my body in shape and eating healthy. I've always had such issues with my body, but not in a way that makes me overeat or stop eating. Just constant thoughts of not wanting to be fat. Here's the catch: I don't think I am fat and I never have. I like the way I look. I just fear becoming overweight. Well, I decided to start this blog to counteract those thoughts and become a more healthy thinker, as well as eater. Overall, I want to keep my body healthy (mind, body, what I put into my body). Going along with wanting to be a healthier thinker, I will post daily about my workouts and what I eat, but I will not include values. I don't want to become obsessed with numbers. I just want to be reminded of what I am doing to keep my body healthy :)

DAY 1
Breakfast: Bowl of Cheerios with Milk
Lunch/Dinner: Meatball sandwich, side of pulled pork, salad, chips with french onion dip
Dessert: Red velvet cake and a slice of ice cream cake
(cousin's b-day party today)

Workout: Jillian Michael's 30 day shred, level 1, all 3 cycles