What a crazy week!

WOW this week has been everything all rolled into one. Although I must say stressful above all. Unfortunately this stress has left me feeling extremely lazy and groggy which in turn has led to no working out, and pretty much failing at keeping track of my calories. I am extremely afraid to weigh myself in the next day or two, especially after what I put my body through today! ( Billy took me out to an amazing champagne brunch AND we went out to BJ's for my sisters birthday dinner).

Even though I have been pretty sloppy lately I must say I am still on a mission to get my body back to a healthy weight. This also includes me being happy with it and feeling comfortable in anything I feel like wearing.

So what comes next? A plan of action I am guessing! I'm scared to make my goals and plans known because right now I feel like this whole blog has been nothing but me making and re-making goals and plans for myself, and never following through with anything. Well... here goes nothing!

FIRST: I heard on the Rachael Ray show on Friday (from a guest doctor) that the body and brain need four weeks at something for it to become a habit, or regular routine. I guess if thats how long it takes to make something a habit that should be  my first goal... Continue on with whatever it is I decide for at least four weeks before I decide to ditch it.

SECOND: I do believe that counting my calories really helps with my portion control, so it's back to that! Sometimes I find this difficult, like if I can't count for a particular item. (Billy is Filipino, so pretty much every time I eat with his family I know I won't be counting that meal...) BUT I do think this is important so I will start this process again.

THIRD: The working out area... this is the toughie... and the part I can't seem to keep up with! I think the most difficult part of this is that I am doing this pretty much on my own. Growing up I was always part of a team so it was easy to keep in shape because the workouts were mandatory. Little did I know that they wouldn't always be... And now working out without someone telling me what to do and a whole team doing it with me I find it a little boring. So here's my plan... I need (and have been wanting) to join something. I'm curious about masters water polo and masters swimming. The water polo might be easier at first because it won't require as much practice... I've tried to get back into swimming before and it's hard with my current schedule I figure water polo won't have practices (as often) and I can either make it to the games or I can't. Also the performance factor. I think I will always be able to jump into a pool, play polo and have fun. Swimming in a swim meet on the other hand is a little different. Especially because I know how fast I once was and I couldn't just swim in a swim meet without participating in a regular practice schedule. So for this portion of my four week trial period here's what needs to happen:
1. Find out about joining a masters team/program
2. Use Billy's Netflix password to stream workout videos :)
3. Go to the gym and/or rock climbing gym at least once a week... cuz at the moment money is being wasted!

FOUR: Lastly I am going to try and make a few changes to my daily lifestyle routine that I think are necessary.
1. Drink more water. I have been doing this for about 2 1/2 weeks now and I really think it is helping with my digestion and other areas :)
2. Get 8 hours of sleep nightly. 10:00 pm is my bedtime on the weekdays! This one will be hard to keep up with because of my work schedule, sometimes I close and will not get home until 11:30 or 12:00 on weeknights this makes it difficult, but as much as possible I WILL be getting to bed early.

Alright, now that I got everything out there... it's time for me to go to bed (it's 9:50, and I still have to brush my teeth and stuff). But wish me luck! And I am hoping to find the time to keep my progress posted, as well as keep my spirits up!

Thank God It's Friday!

One good thing about being a student teacher is that I actually have something to look forward too when the weekend arrives. Even though I still usually work at Cheesecake, it's nice to not have to worry about waking up early and jumping straight into the shower. So like the title of my blog states, "Thank God it's Friday!"

Let me just say that I had true intentions of working out with Sophia today. I packed everything I would need this morning so that I wouldn't have to come home after school. I packed my workout stuff as well as my work stuff. The bummer... I was scheduled at 5:30 and I got home around 4:30ish. I was hoping to be able to get out of school early since it was Friday... but that didn't end up happening. So my workout stuff went unused for today, and me and Sophia have a lot of making up to do!

So for tomorrow, I work in the morning and then I am hoping to squeeze a workout in after that. I would love to be able to take a yoga class, unfortunately there are none available :( In fact the class schedule pretty much stinks over the weekend! I'm going to have to come up with a better plan... I'm thinking I might go swimming... I don't quite know yet, we shall see. I am going to have to play this one by ear. I see a weekend schedule in the works (Thank God since I fell so off track last weekend!)

As for my daily intake, I am under calories!!! YAY! High five for me! I tried to upload my food diary, but for some reason it's not working... Just know that I am under in my calories for the day YAY! And I can't wait to weigh in on Monday to see where I am at. Cross your fingers that I did not go up!

p.s. I think my more lively posts will return next week.

Short and Sweet

Today was good :) I did what I set out to do which was to log my food and not go over my calories. I succeeded at both so be proud of me! I just got home from work and it's already 11:22pm I am so pooped out, so this post will be short and sweet just so I can update everyone.

Here is my food log:

I'm staying in my range of 70%-80% which is good! P.S. I weighed in on Monday (forgot to post about it) and was down to 145 lbs. Give me a air high five for that!!!! I hope that even though I haven't been doing my best in the working out department my weight since then hasn't fluctuated too much. It would be really nice to have maintained that through all of my laziness! 

Back from my Hiatus (almost).

WOW. I feel like it has been forever since I have entered a blog. It has been almost one whole week since I last wrote. I admit I had a little bit of a hiccup this past week. In my last blog I vowed to attend some classes at the gym over the weekend in order to change it up a little bit. I ran with Sophia about every day, and wanted to workout another way over the weekend. WELL.... as it turns out I didn't make it to the gym AT ALL! I know, such a lazy butt! I feel like my last blog was about me turning my life around and making all of this a routine. Then the very next day (the very next 6 days for that matter) I completely forget everything. I feel like the weekend really got me feeling lazy and unmotivated. Or not so much unmotivated, but really in need of some "rest and relaxation". This rest and relaxation poured over into the week, and here I am on Wednesday, and I haven't been logging my food or working out. (I worked out on Monday that's it...).

Well, now that I have been completely honest with my laziness... here is what I am going to do about it! I am going to jump back on the horse, and get back into it! It's funny how I was feeling so rested and full of energy last week when I was working out and eating within my RDI daily, and this week I am not fulfilling either of those things and I have been dragging all week. So here is the plan... Tomorrow I will be posting my food intake. I decided not to include any of the ones from the past 6 days because they are unfinished, and I am scared to look at them! Tomorrow I work at 5:00pm, so it will actually be hard for me to fit a workout in between school and work (OH NO I just remembered all my work clothes are dirty... when am I going to wash those???), so I might just have to skip that. I might just have to come up with a way to workout in the mornings on the days that I will be working in the evenings.... This might be something that needs to be tested out, we shall see.

So here's the plan. Post my food intake for the rest of this week, then workouts starting back up again this weekend and no more falling off the horse! Words of encouragement will be greatly appreciated!

*Note: This blog was more or less me thinking out loud about how I am going to carry on with my challenge. More lively blogs will return!

Scheduling changes lives (in more ways than one)

I say that scheduling changes lives because in the past week I have made a routine for myself and I have been diligently following that routine (It also helps that I think I'm partially OCD so not doing the routine will bother me). I see now more than ever that this is a VITAL part of making a life change. This is the part where the action or change actually becomes part of your life. So, my advice... if you are struggling to make working out (or anything for that matter) a daily occurrence... work it into your daily schedule and make it ROUTINE! That way when you don't do it, it will bother you! Like brushing your teeth :) I am positive (hopefully) that everyone brushes their teeth at least once a day. And when you do this (weather you do it in the morning, at night, or both) I bet you put your toothbrush back in the same spot every time, I bet you brush your teeth with the same hand every time, I bet you brush at the same sink in the same fashion every time! And if you don't, or God forbid if you forget to do it all together... I bet it would bother you ALL DAY! You might even go out of your way to make sure you work it into your schedule (I would hope, especially for those of you who have missed brushing altogether, EW!). Everything about how you brush your teeth is a ROUTINE! Once you make working out apart of a similar type of routine it will be a lot easier to ensure it is repeated on a daily basis.

So my routine (which will not be as "routine" as I wish it could be because my stupid serving job schedule is always different) consists of waking up, getting ready, going to school, coming home, cleaning out my lunch and winding down from school, going to Billy's to pick up Sophia and going for an awesome walk/jog! Then eating dinner and winding down by chatting with my parents, doing my get ready for bed routine, and updating my blog :)  The Sophia part has only been for two days, but I think that this will become more constant because I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On the weekend (which I will test out this weekend) I will be switching it up and utilizing my gym membership to take a couple of classes, wish me luck!

Since I spent so much of this blog discussing my new and improved (hopefully efffective... I will report back on that as some time has passed) routine I will be brief tonight about my food intake. Let me just say..... I WAS UNDER CALORIES!!! This makes it the fourth day in a row that I have been under. And let me remind you that as each day goes by, the difference between the calories that I consume each day becomes smaller and smaller. Meaning that with each day that I am keeping up with my routine the amount of calories I consume is also becoming closer and closer to being the same number each day, and this isn't on purpose. I think my body is conforming to a ROUTINE! YAY!

Breakfast and Lunch

Dinner and 76% I'm patting myself on the back right now!

I hope you have found what I am writing about relevant to your life! In addition to scheduling being a big part of life changes, I think (seriously) this blog is slowly starting to become a big factor as well! (Thank you Blog!) I look forward to winding down at the end of the day in my cozy comfy bed, candle lit, and computer in lap to write and reflect on my day! You can count on me blogging for a long time to come! 

*10 FUN FACTS ABOUT ME*

1. I think I can officially classify myself as a nerd... I am obsessed with blogging! Do normal people say that?

2. My walk/run with Sophia also included my best friend Ashley, which was AWESOME! Not only did it make the workout more fun, but I talked a lot which I think gave me a better workout! Have you ever tried talking while running? It's hard work!

3. Me and Ashley spent a long while catching up which was really awesome!

4. I spent all day with my cooperating teacher at a meeting. I LOVED IT! I learned a lot of great math strategies, and more importantly a lot of "how to find a job after this" strategies YAY! 

5. Which reminds me...  My teacher will be gone tomorrow at an all day meeting in the mountains and I will be stuck in class with a Sub... ugh! Why can't this district let ME sub, I promise I would do a better job! 

6. I'm getting my blog done early tonight so that I will have time to watch Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, I CAN'T WAIT!

7. I haven't seen Billy since Tuesday :( Maybe I should learn to work him into my schedule... jk I think it needs to be him that learns how to work me into his schedule! I will always make time for that poopy pants! :) 

8. Tomorrow I have to work.... NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I hope (keep your fingers crossed for me) that I will be able to rush home and get my Sophia time in before I go to work. 

9. After about 2-3 ish years of my mouse button on my mac not working (My college roommate spilled milk on it... I KNOW RIGHT!!!!!!) I am ecstatic to report that it is now (keep your fingers crossed) working regularly! YAY!!!

10. Ashley let me borrow the book Eat Pray Love and I can't wait to start it! Although that probably won't be tonight because it's Grey's Night! 

Good night everyone! I will hopefully be able to include more pictures in tomorrow's blog. I have to remember to take them haha!

Sophia is a good motivator!

So it's official. I am out of shape! Not just like kinda sorta out of shape... REALLY TRUELY out of shape! How do I know this? I went for a walk/run today with Billy's dog Sophia and she kicked my butt! Not only that, my legs (the problem areas that I mentioned in my last blog, thighs and butt) were itching like CRAZY! I don't know if you have ever had that feeling? But it's really annoying. So (hopefully) this feeling will kick-start me into a workout routine that I will be able to keep up with.

Sophia and I after our workout

Today we started out walking (lightly) for about 15 mins. We walked around my block and ended up at Victoria Park which is right below my house. The park has a sidewalk that surrounds the perimeter. I thought walking around this (pretty large) perimeter would give me a good idea about where my endurance level is at, and if I continue to use this space I can track my endurance better. Sophia and I walked on the part that was sidewalk and ran (she pretty much pulled me) on the large grass stretch (about half and half). I figure as time goes on I will be able to increase the running section and decrease the walking section, until eventually I'm running the entire perimeter. I will keep you updated on how that goes. Overall I thought today's workout was awesome! You know I felt it in my legs since they were already tingling while I was still doing the workout. And I didn't mind having the company either.  Thanks Sophie :)

I'm proud of myself for working out today, and as I sit here typing this before I go to bed I can report that I am feeling GREAT! You know that right after you workout, great mood, healthy feeling? That is pretty much how I am feeling right now. My food intake for today was also positive. I'm just going to go ahead and say that today was awesome overall!

Here you can see my total calories for the day, and what I ate for breakfast and lunch. I have to tell you about my breakfast. It is (and will be from now on during the week) a meal replacement shake. The brand is USANA Health Sciences. The shakes are powder mixed with water, and they provide you with lots of vitamins and nutrients. They also help with sustaining energy and curbing your appetite. My favorite part, they are super easy when I'm heading out the door for school! My other favorite thing... the fun shaker bottle used to mix the ingredients!!! I know you must be thinking how can a bottle be that exciting, but let me tell you... it really is! It is the perfect size for my shake (duh... since it was made for the shake), AND it has a metal wire ball that fits perfectly inside it that acts as a blender to break up the powder while you are shaking it! After it has been shook, it has a good semi-think consistency and tastes great! I am excited to have this for breakfast during the week, and I am curious to see if it will have an effect on my weight loss.

Really cool shaker bottle

Vanilla Nutrimeal

I almost forgot to tell you about everything else I ate for today. Here you can see what I had for dinner, as well as what percentage of my calories I ate for the day. Overall very good! Yesterday and today I managed to keep my percentage below 80% YAY! ALSO I noticed today that I did not enter a snack. Usually when I get home from school I eat a snack, but today I got home way later than I normally do, and today I wasn't hungry. I wonder if that had anything to do with my breakfast?? hmm....


*10 FUN FACTS*
1. We got a new student in my 3rd grade class today. I think he will fit in well.
2. I am REALLY starting to enjoy this whole blog thing (which you probably can guess just by comparing my earlier blogs with the ones I have been writing lately).
3. I haven't worked (at Cheesecake) since Sunday, and I am off tomorrow too! YAY!
4. Uh-oh... I haven't worked since Sunday, I have no money... (good thing I didn't spend any today wither YAY!)
5. I really want a dog...
6. Did you notice I added more pictures to tonight's blog?
7. No school tomorrow, going to an all day meeting at the district with my teacher.
8. I have a newfound obsession with candles. I have always loved them (who doesn't) but I have been burning them nightly.
9. I have a new app... calming noisemaker to help me fall asleep :) I'm excited for bedtime.
10. Billy's cousin recently had a baby and I can't wait to meet her!!!

Tomorrow... working out with Ashley (she ended up having a class tonight) bring on the sore legs! Valentines day here I come!!!!

Goodnight :)

going to bed early?

In my previous blog I mentioned that I would possibly make it to bed early, and may even get the chance to catch up on some reading. Well... the reading part was lived out, but the early part not so much...

I signed onto facebook planning on only sending a short message to a good friend, but got into reading the notifications as well. I came across one from Billy's cousin mentioning that her birth story (she recently had her first baby 1/1/11 @12:14 am) was available through her blog. Of course I had to read it, and let me just say it brought me to tears. So then I got curious and read all of her blogs up to that point (don't worry there was only 8). Her writing is so great, I felt like I was reading a novel! I am excited to keep up with her experiences! Not that I plan on having a baby or even getting married anytime soon.... but.... those are things that do cross my mind every now and then... When will I become engaged? When will I get married? How old will I be?  When will I become pregnant? Is it weird to start researching things about marriage and pregnancy now (even though I am in NO rush)?

Anyways... I just thought that was very cool! It's not 11:07 pm and I am getting to bed I promise!

A more efficient way to post?

So I decided that A: I love posting the screen shots from my food diary, and B: that I need to come up with a more efficient way to post so that the pictures will be easier to read. Obviously the ideal thing would be to be able to post it in one picture, but I do not see that happening since the two most important things I am trying to post happen to be on opposite ends of the page... so tonight I will try posting the pictures a little different. ALSO C: I want to try and make my pictures a little more relevant to well... me... so I want to try and include more personal pictures. This is easier while working out, but I will try to include diet pictures as well :)

Here are my results for today:

Hopefully this works a little better to be able to see what exactly I ate for the day. I will try to get batter at posting as time goes on-- crop out the website adds, zoom in to make the wording bigger, and so on until I find what I like the best. So looking at the pictures not a bad day AT ALL! I abided by my RDI fairly well, and in fact I probably could have eaten a little more if I wanted too. YAY for being on track! Keep your fingers crossed that I can keep this up until weigh in on Sunday! 

*^@*NEW NEWS~@^~ 

Ashley and I have made a pact to work out as much as possible until Valentines day (about a month and a half of solid working out). We want to be able to go shopping for a new sexy lingerie outfit and actually enjoy our bodies in them! So... we are going to hold eachother accountable for going to the gym (together) and feeling sore up until that point :) Focus points for me-- legs and butt!!!! My stomach has been looking particularly good lately (which I don't mind one bit)! 

10 Fun Facts:

1. I am currently beating Billy at word feud (The fact that we have both only entered 3 words is irrelevant)! 

2. I started my second block of student teaching this Monday (3rd grade) and I think I might really enjoy it!?!?

3. I did not spend any money today!!!!! 

4. I'm going to bed early, so I might actually catch up on some reading HOO-RAY! 

5. I really want a dog (but this won't become a reality until I move out).

6. I really want to move out (but this won't be a reality until I find a career).

7. I really want to get a teaching job (but this won't be a reality until more of the crusty old teacher's retire... COME ON ALREADY). 

8. Oh man..... it looks like I won't be getting a dog for a while :( 

9. Twilight marathon with Kristina tomorrow (after going to the gym with Ash). 

10. My Christmas thank you cards are done! YAY! 

Goodnight :) 

YAY! I didn't go over my calories!!!

Today was monday. The first day of getting back to being good about what I eat, the first day of my second block of student teaching, the first day of keeping a good record of my finances, and the day my school fees were due. A lot going on today, and I am happy to say that I think I handled everything quite well. I did not go over my calories (WOO HOO!) And I feel soooo full... I came close to the reccomended daily intake, and feel like there is no way I could fit anything else into my stomach. This is good I'm guessing!

I know it's a little hard to see what I actually ate... but you can see at the top the exact number of calories that I consumed, and then at the bottom the percentage of what my recommended daily intake is. Give me a high five for not going over! I'm excited to get back into the routine of eating at the same times every day :) I think that really helps to keeo me on track. Unlike being on break and just eating constantly...

Another thing I am trying... drinking more water! I noticed that the water bottle I have been using is 20oz. Which is nice because it's not too big for me to carry around. So I just keep it with me throughout the day, and refill it when needed. I drank 3 whole bottles today and the 4th is sitting next to me right now. I have peed at least 5 times today (which is A LOT for me) I think it will be good to get things flushed out of my system faster, and I read recently that upping your water intake will also aide in loosing weight which is exciting!

I think I forgot to report that my weigh in yesterday was good, 146 lbs. That's one pound less than the week before YAY! And especially since I haven't been doing so great with what I have been eating, and I have been doing even worse with working out...

Speaking of working out-- I did not get myself to go to yoga tonight :( I opted to spend time making and eating dinner with Billy instead. Our time together will be limited throughout this quarter, so I like to take advantage of his time where I can get it... and I think for now... I want to just focus on watching what I eat (one thing at a time). especially since my schedule is so all over the place. It is really hard for me to set a workout routine. I think for now just food, and working out will come on the weekends :)

I let you know how it goes!

whoopsie!

So... the new year has barely started, and my first day back to counting my calories I go over... not so good! I guess it would help to keep track of my calories throughout the day to know when I am getting close to going over instead of just adding them all at the end and then realizing I didn't have such a good day. Sometimes it's hard, because things I eat are not listed, and it is way easier for me to add the new food item while on the computer rather than doing it from my phone. So.... tomorrow I will do better with that. And hopefully from here on out :) I have gone over too many times and felt gross after.

Tomorrow I start my second block of student teaching at my new school. Also, I don't have my night class YAY! So I am going to try and make it to yoga at the gym at 8pm. I Should also try and get a run in tomorrow morning... but its like pouring rain right now and I assume it will still be that way at about 5am, so I will save that for better weather and when I am better prepared to wake up that early :)

Wish me luck :)