2011 Resolutions

For 2011 I have some things I want to focus on, some are continuations from 2010, some are new.

Get healthy/healthier. This includes reapplying myself to weight loss, among other things. I want to make exercise a daily occurrence, even if it’s just 30 minutes. I’ve just started studying herbal medicine and I’m working on doing a year (or more) long “house cleaning” of my body. The first step is making fresh garlic and apple cider vinegar consumption a daily habit. I have started this but only sporadically. Next I plan a parasite cleanse, followed by a detox cleanse. The next steps are still to be determined. I plan to document each stage, to keep track of how I feel and what differences I see and I will probably be sharing some of these results here.

Learn Spanish. I’m still working on my action plan on this one but I’ve been wanting to learn Spanish for a while.

Cultivate my femininity. This was inspired by “The Tourist” starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie (you can read more about this in my post of the same title). Basically, I am endeavoring to take more care with my appearance.

Read. Last year I started reading 20 pages a day (besides Bible reading) but I fell off toward the end of the year. I can easily read 20 pages a day and if you do this consistently, you can get a lot of reading in. Of course, I have a long list of books to read, so, I have my work cut out for me.

I have already started reading the Bible through again, this will be something I do every year.

Get alone. I was recently reminded of Jesus, and the importance He placed on getting alone and spending time with His Father. This was lacking last year, especially toward the end and it is really the most important thing.

Change is good

This is just a quick post to let you know about some changes that I am making. I haven’t done well with the whole blogging thing and part of my problem has been trying to do too many different blogs. As you may have noticed I have changed the name of my blog to accommodate more topics than just weight loss, though I will still be talking about weight loss. Bear with me as I figure out what I’m doing and the best way to do it. What I am trying out now, is rather than having different blogs, just having different categories in one blog. We’ll see how it works.

On the weight loss front, I’m stuck right now, not gaining but not losing. Eating pretty good but not exercising much, so I know what needs to be fixed it’s just a matter of making the time and actually using said “made time” for what I made it for. I do have stuff to share and plan to be back soon to share it.

See ya!

Eat to Save Your Life

A friend at work introduced these videos to me and I think everyone should see them. There is so much about the food we eat that I was unaware of. The video link I’ve included here is part 1 of 8, they’re each about 10 minutes long and well worth the time spent. The last video might be a bit gross but it really is eye opening and if I could watch it I’m sure you will be able to.

Long time, no write

After a rather extended absence (longer than intended), I am back. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years celebration; I certainly did. As is my tradition, Christmas was spent with my family and New Years with friends.

New in 2010!

First things first, after Christmas I managed to lose 4 new pounds (plus 2 old ones that I had lost and gained back) making my new total weight loss 41 pounds! This was unexpected and a great boost to start the new year off on the the right foot.

I have fine tuned my daily diet a bit and will say more on that in an upcoming post.

Getting enough physical activity in each day was really whipping me, I was looking for an extra hour or half hour laying around unused (ludicrous, I know) and it hit me – break it up in smaller segments! Aha! Now my fitness is broken down into planned 10 minute segments that I spread throughout my day. I have illustrated a typical day below.

10 minutes – mild toning warm up (before work)

10 minutes – cardio, alternate between the bike or going up and down the stairs (before work)

10 minutes – 10-15 minute walk (at work, great to get away from the desk and get my blood flowing)

10 minutes – 10-15 minute walk (just before I leave work)

10 minutes – targeted toning (at home, after work)

10 minutes – targeted toning (at home, after work)

The last two are planned out on a rotating system so I’m not working the same areas back to back. I keep it pretty flexible, aiming for at least 40 minutes a day, working toward all 60 minutes. So far it seems to be helping me a lot.

My “resolutions” for 2010: have a glass of wine every day (inspired by my favorite french lady), have a piece of chocolate (the dark, good stuff) every day (also inspired by my favorite french lady) and to make time for reading. I really enjoy reading but it’s easy to let other things crowd in.

Till next time…

Changing things up

I hope you are all doing well. The past few weeks have been crazy busy, but really good. I love Christmas but I will be glad when I’m done with shopping and parties and the “extra” hustle and bustle.

I took my measurements a couple of weeks ago and found out that I’ve lost 5 inches since April 28, 2009. Yay!

The article I shared in my last post along with some other articles I’ve read recently, sparked a new train of thought for me and I am working to get my adjusted plan in writing and fully put into motion. I look forward to being able to share my “revelation” with you all; meanwhile I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

One big thing I’m thankful for

So, yesterday was Thanksgiving, which always makes me think about the blessings in my life. Well today, I was looking through pictures of me from a year ago and I was HUGE. I don’t think I realized how heavy I was. A little over a year ago, a very special person came into my life and changed a lot of things, her name is Jennie and she’s one of my best friends now. I have so much to thank her for. If she hadn’t come into my life when she did I would not be where I am now. I was way overweight and somehow didn’t think I could ever be any different so I didn’t really try. Jennie believed in me and pushed me and encouraged me. Not only am I almost 40 lbs. thinner now but I believe in myself a lot more. I try things and do things that I may never have done without her influence. Like Kate Winslet’s character in “The Holiday”, I’m becoming the heroine in the story of my life rather than a supporting character and I want to thank Jennie for that gift.

Thank you!

Happy Orange Friday!

It’s not black Friday for me, I slept in and don’t plan to leave the house at all today.

So, it appears that I will not be posting everyday. Since my last post I’ve maintained pretty much the same diet. Daily exercise other than regular walking hasn’t really happened but I have been hiking once a week so that’s something. Yesterday, of course, was Thanksgiving and I ate a lot of yummy things but didn’t get too stuffed. Today I plan to clean the house so that will get in a good bit of activity for the day.

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Four-in-One

I am recovering from an action packed weekend and I’m gearing up for the midnight release of “New Moon”; yay! Here is my report for the days since my last post.

Friday – breakfast was oats with blueberries, lunch was good ol’ Lean Cuisine and dinner was half a calzone.

Saturday – breakfast was oats with blueberries, lunch was an apple with sharp cheddar cheese and dinner was homeade gumbo.

Sunday – breakfast was a Artisan Ham Sandwich from Starbucks with bold coffee and cream, lunch was a turkey sandwich from Quiznos and dinner was a cheeseburger from McDonalds (Sunday was not such a good eating day).

Monday – breakfast was a Chick-fil-a biscuit (I was out of oats and didn’t get to the grocery store), lunch was a Lean Cuisine and dinner was half an apple with sharp cheddar cheese and two tangerines.

Sunday I did get in about a two and half hour hike (half of which was up hill), so the weekend wasn’t a total bust. I weighed this evening and there was no additional weight loss so that was a bit discouraging but I won’t let that get me down.

A New Approach

Two posts in one day! After some rethinking, I’ve decided to change the direction and format just a bit. I think it may be helpful for myself and others if I did a daily recap of what I’ve eaten and how much activity I’ve gotten in. We’ll see how it goes.

For breakfast today I had the oats mentioned earlier with walnuts, brown sugar, blueberries and milk; lunch was a Lean Cuisine Tuscan Chicken sandwich. For dinner I had four slices of sharp cheddar cheese, two string cheeses, about eight whole wheat crackers and half an apple. After work I went to Starbucks and had a grande Peppermint Mocha; when I got home from bible study I had about half a cup of plain (full fat) greek yogurt with honey and blueberries. I did not workout today because I was lazy this morning and didn’t get up when my alarm first went off but I’ll do better tomorrow.

Good night!

Agghh

Wow, it has been far too long since I’ve posted. Things have been off the chain crazy and I’ve been a little under the weather. In spite of all these things and the lack of posts, I have been more faithful with my exercise. Saturday I made my first weekly hike up Kennesaw Mountain and let me just say, whoa, it was fun and a great workout. My legs were SORE the next day but you know the saying, no pain no gain. I’m excited to see how much easier it gets if I maintain my goal of hiking it weekly. We got a late start Saturday and hiked up in the dusk and back down in the dark, probably not the best idea but we made it. It gets dark so early now that there is hardly any daylight in the evenings, GRRR.

For quite a few weeks I was doing the fritatta for breakfast but I switched a couple of weeks ago. I felt like I needed more fiber and I was getting tired of the fritatta. Now I’m having oats for breakfast, not oatmeal but raw oats. It sounds weird but it’s really good. A friend introduced me to eating the oats this way about a year ago and it is definitely faster to prepare than the fritatta. I have a little over half a cup of raw, old fashioned oats, sprinkled with a little bit of brown sugar and chopped walnuts with some type of fruit. I usually do a sliced bannana, chopped dates or berries and I pour milk over it like dry cereal. If I do dates, I leave out the brown sugar, dates are sweet enough on their own. That’s about all for now, I won’t let so much time go by before my next post. Have a great evening!