No more guilt!

First, I should start off by saying all comments in blog are opinions, beliefs of mine and specific to me.

I have been soda free for one week today! It may seem like a petty thing to be proud of, but coming from someone who loved soda, who might have multiple bottles/cans a day, and who would be hard pressed to turn down a can of Coke...it's a triumph! It hasn't been easy, however. Every time I walk down the street, or drive my car through town, I swear all the Coke machines are like robots chasing me down.

I WILL GET YOU!

Oh yeah, it's that serious.

I was also introduced to a great website. It's called LoseIt.com! It's like Facebook for people who want to lose weight, eat healthy and exercise. It allows you to log all your food and see how your calorie count adds up with your daily limits set by yourself. For instance, after talking to a dietician, I know that I need an intake of about 1,822 calories. After each time I log my food, it tells me how many calories I've eaten and how many I have left for the rest of the day. Also, it allows you to calculate the calories you burned while working out and it applies that to your daily calorie-food log. In addition, you can add friends and comment on others' progress or mistakes (encouraging words of support are the best way to get someone back on track!). When you first sign up, you log your weight. Anytime you weigh yourself and notice you lost weight, you log it again. This helps you to see when you can achieve your goal set when you first signed up. The great thing about this website, personally, is that I know I must log all my food and it forces me to make better choices. I don't want to let anyone down or have to share my mistakes with the world. If my will doesn't allow me to make healthy choices, the fact that I have to log all my food does. And yes, my will fails me quite often. Sometimes I go over my daily calorie limit. Like last night, I went over by 268 calories. Instead of letting this huge veil of guilt hang over me all night, I decided to be content with my mistake and commit to eating better and working out harder the next day. I feel like this realization that I've put into effect is one of the most important things I have learned thus far. It is okay to indulge in your favorite foods, eat more than your daily calorie limit, have that milkshake, eat that slice of pizza and NOT feel bad about yourself! The important thing is that you make a commitment to eat better from that point and work your body harder at the gym. This doesn't mean that it's okay to do this everyday, multiple times. Once, maybe twice a week at most. If you see yourself doing this everyday then you need to take a look at your diet again. Every time you feel as though you've made a bad, unhealthy choice...just make a commitment with yourself about the future. We're all human and mistakes are inevitable.

Gimme a slice of that heaven...

I hope this blog comes as some inspiration to some people. Perhaps inspiration to change their own lives. So many people want to be healthy and lose weight, but I feel like the right information isn't out there. On December 31st thousands of people decide that their New Year's resolution is going to be losing weight. This is a great goal! However, I feel like being healthy, exercising and losing weight isn't something you can decide to do on the drop of a dime. You need to be educated about the healthy and effective ways to go about doing this. Fad diets, pills and infomercials are not the way to go. First, go visit a dietician. These people can show you the healthy alternatives to all foods, what your bodies need and don't need. They will help you to create meal plans and give you different options to alternate foods. They can tell you what ingredients and chemicals are harmful to your body and which ones your body loves and craves! They are truly a great resource. Also, I've been looking into the Women's Health and Self magazines, after a friend recommended them to me. They have a lot of great recipes, workouts, articles and helpful hints. It helps give you a lot of motivation! If you don't want to buy the magazines, then you could probably make due with just looking around the website. This is a good way to get honest, fun and helpful tips for eating and exercising. Alright, second important thing to do: visit a trainer. I know they are expensive! However, some gyms will allow you to meet with a trainer for the first time for free! If not, see if you can bargain with them a little bit. They're a really great resource to get effective workouts. Tell them you want your ass kicked and they'll do it for you. They'll give you tips, dos and don'ts, what's most effective for your goals and how to reach them. Whenever you need additional help, ask them questions, ask for alternative exercises. That's why they're there. They always have great advice. Also, I would really suggest getting a gym membership. I know that they can be expensive, but it's a great thing to have. If you have a treadmill/elliptical/weights at home, that's awesome. I go to Gold's Gym and they're really fabulous. They are 24 hours, have dozens of free/machine weights, dozens of treadmills/ellipticals/stair climbers/bikes, a section just for women and a lot of different classes that are free if you have a membership. And if you're inclined towards tanning, it's $20 a month no matter how often or how long you go. Eh, eh? It's a great place that I would really recommend. Third, I've really realized the importance of vitamins. For me, running around campus all day, working out and getting enough sleep can be a challenge. Not to mention, being on a diet can prevent me from getting all the essentials my body needs. If I don't watch out and take care of myself, I wake up in the morning with a sore throat and a cough. Nothing good comes from that. I take a multivitamin, fish oil and most importantly, vitamin C. And really, what's the point of working out and eating healthy if we aren't interested in taking care of our bodies in other ways? I would suggest also talking to your dietician about what vitamins are best and most beneficial to your body.

NOM NOM NOM!

Alright. Enough of me talking at you. Want the good stuff? The stuff where I talk about my weaknesses? Here it goes...


As of now, the biggest worry I have is my consumption of alcohol on the weekends. After turning 21, I'm still in that stage where I want to go out all the time! I know that the alcohol I consume is empty calories and the sugary syrups that come with mixed drinks are terrible for you. But that's about as far as my knowledge goes. I don't how many calories are in a shot of vodka, whiskey sour, AMF, etc. I try to save all my weekly indulges for going out to the bars. Obviously that doesn't always happen, but I'm trying my hardest. Another thing that comes with being drunk is the appetite I get for greasy, salty and all around terrible-for-you foods. When I'm drunk, although it's not excuse, I really can't control my desire for tasty and decadent food. So add those calories on to the ones from the alcohol...and I've basically ruined my whole week! As if that weren't depressing enough, the hangover the next morning is enough to convince me not to go to the gym...and I don't. I'm trying to make a conscious effort towards limiting the amount of times I go to the bars and out to eat afterwards. I haven't been on this diet/exercise kick long enough to know how much will power I have. I definitely hope that I have enough will power, however, I can assure you that there is more to come on this subject.

Drink up!

Well I think this is enough for now. I will either add more to this blog when I remember all the things I wanted to say, or just break them up into different blogs. These are my first thoughts now that I've gotten serious about my life and health. I truly appreciate any comments, advice or criticism and will reply to all as soon as possible. Thanks so much for tuning in!

"Dieting is not a piece of cake."

Kate

Yes, I'm at it again.

After finally being accepted into my program, I felt a lot different. I felt like I wanted, or rather, needed, a change. I'd been feeling down on myself after initially getting denied admittance to my program, I was constantly tired and never wanted to do much. I found myself watching TV a lot and solving my feelings and problems with food. And no, not carrots and apples. Fast food, frozen food, chips, chocolate, whatever. It's the worst I've been in a long time. After attempting to wear a pair of my favorite jeans, that felt oddly tight, I realized that I've reached my rock bottom. I'm depressed, always angry, on edge and so tired. It's the worst I've ever felt, the most critical I've ever been on myself, and the more desperate I am for change. 

Believe me, after the millionth time I've wanted to get healthy, this still isn't easy for me to say. I hate admitting to myself and others that I'm unhealthy and certain measures need to be taken to change this. I also hate having to sound like a record player with my life revelations. Hopefully this one will be what it takes to keep me going, keep me motivated and help me to get healthy.

Feel free to click that little red 'X' in the corner if any of this starts to sound familiar and boring. 

First, I need to get over the idea that I can work out 5 days and rest for 2. This is bullshit. I need to start training my body to work out 7 days a week, weekends included. I have not decided what I'll do on certain days, or if I'll just do a little bit of everything, but I really want to train my muscles and get back into the routine of working out. I know that I would like to do 45-60 minutes of cardio each day, arms and legs. I may switch the arms and legs every other day. I'll let you know what I've figured out, when I figure it out.

I've also recently started taking some of the classes that are offered for free at Gold's Gym. In fact, I'm going to a Zumba class later tonight in addition to some cardio and weights before hand. I'm looking forward to a very intense work out today. On other days, I enjoy doing yoga. It's a nice relaxer to an intense workout before. Those are the only two that I've been able to do, based on the conflicts in scheduling. But those are a great and fun addition to workouts. I will rarely use these in place of cardio and weights.

Exercising is not all that I must do. I must drastically change my diet if I want to see true success. I will blog about my diet, honestly, in hopes that I can get feedback from everyone who reads. I'm always looking for ways to better my diet and change things up. I have decided to give up soda, after realizing that both regular and diet soda are just as terrible and neither are at an advantage over the other. I have done this before, it last two years, and it was a great experience. I felt great and it prompted me to drink mainly water. I will drink juice on occasions, but I will try to make it far and in between considering the amount of sugar that is in it. All you need is water, right? I will lower the amount of carbs that I eat, and increase the amount of vegetables, fruits and meats instead. This will be hard for me, considering my favorite food is anything loaded with carbs. But you have to make sacrifices for what you want. And it's a healthy sacrifice, so it's okay. No more eating out, if I do, it's healthy stuff. Nothing caked in grease, nothing with processed ingredients. Real meat and real ingredients.  Very limited sugars, fats and sodium.

This is my day:

Breakfast - 8:30am: 

- Bagel

- Cream Cheese

- Bottle of Apple Juice

Comments: Although the bagel was 9 grain, it still counts as too many carbs. I should have at least eaten only half. The cream cheese, each pouch containing 8g of saturated fat, wasn't even the 'less fat' kind. Cream cheese is so good! However, I need to try cutting it out of my diet. The apple juice was Marinelli's, which I doubt is real juice anyway! Although it gave me the energy I needed, it was still a poor choice of a breakfast. I hope to start getting up earlier in the mornings to make myself some eggs and have a piece of fruit. This will give me the protein and energy I need, while still being healthy and making good choices.

Snack - 11:30am:

- 1 Yoplait Light Blackberry Yogurt

- 1/4 cup Granola

- 4 'Less Fat' Oreos

Comments: The yogurt is good. It filled me up, is fat free and is a healthy choice for a snack that I won't regret later. However, the granola, which I put in my yogurt, is a little too loaded with carbs and sugar. Neither of which are good! But they make yogurt taste so much better :] I'll try to ween myself off of the granola. I'll let you know how that goes. As far as the Oreos, I know. Not a good choice. With my diet, I plan on following %95 and splurging %5 based on how well I do. There goes my %5!

This is all I have so far. I will finish this later with the rest of my daily diet and a summary of my workout. I hope you're still awake and I hope you come back later for some more. Meanwhile, feel free to leave comments, constructive criticism and anything else! I'm dying for a little bit of feedback!

Kate