15 Ways to Drink More Water

While I was at AIT, we had this Platoon Sergeant that was hilarious. Everyone always thought that he was joking, but you never wanted to get on his bad side. He always called me the nerd and the baby of the platoon. He would always listen to our complaints and our problems, but if there was really nothing he could do about it, his answer was always “Drink Water.” He simply meant that nothing is going to change so you might as well sit back and wait. He said it at least 15 times every day. He was known for this phrase. If something is going wrong, Drink water.

Making Fitness Goals

I have always struggled with the motivation to lost weight. I know that I could do it if I actually just focused and put a good amount of effort into it, but every time I start, I seem to lose it pretty quickly. It is super frustrating.

I have decided that by my 20th birthday. I want to be at my goal weight. I want to make these fitness goals.

That gives me 128 days. a little over 18 weeks to accomplish my goals.

I know I am relatively healthy, but I want to be more. I want to be at my optimal goal weight and be able to continue with the things I want to do.

Today, I started my challenge off with a 3 mile run. I got up when Matt was leaving for work instead of sleeping the extra hour that I could have, and went for a run on the path that we typically go on walks. Just as I walked inside from my run, it started down pouring. That just shows that if I were to sleep that extra hour, I wouldn’t have gone for a run.

Things I am going to do to accomplish these goals:

• Count my calories every day.
• 1 “cheat day” per week (must stay reasonable)
• Eat healthier snacks
• Complete the #1500in31 challenge and continue with the other challenges that they have
• Go on walks
• Go buy a pair of 5/6 jeans from Maurices and hang them in the front on my closet.
• For every 5 pounds that I lose, I get small reward
  • A BRAND NEW book (150)
  • A new Wii game (145)
  • A pedicure (140)
  • A weekend away with Matt  (135)
  • A day at the spa (130)
• Workout in the mornings/ go for a walk/swim at nights.

Also, as far as the rewards go, if I successfully complete the #1500in31 days, I am rewarding myself with a FitBit Bracelet. I have been putting off buying one since March now and I really want one still. But I must earn it. Also, a new pair of tennis shoes will be in there some where as a reward.

I am going to do this by December 13th. I know that I have rewards to 130, because that is always going to be my ultimate goal, but small goals at a time! I am ready to start this challenge, again. But for the last time.

What are you doing to stay healthy? What goals do you have for your fitness?

Check us out for another Weigh In Wednesday!

#1500in31

I have done so many of these posts about how I am sick of weighing what I do, but I am struggling to get where I want to be. I am not unhealthy, but I am not as healthy as I could be. To be at my ideal, military weight I need to lose 15 pounds.

Every time I get frustrated about it at drill, all of the people that I talked to ensure me that the way that military does height and weight is screwed up. They also tell me that the standard isn’t really all that healthy.

I know I could stand to lose some weight, but I don’t know if I could ever get down 15 pounds. My goal is to get down 10 by October drill. (middle of October.)

So here is my fitness challenge:

All Credits for this image go to pinkheelspinktruck.com and hairsprayandhighheels.net

Every month this website has a different challenge. July’s was 75 miles in 31 days. August’s is 1500 minutes in 31 days. I am going to do it and I want some of my friends to jump in with me. It is definitely a huge commitment and that is a lot of time.  Every exercise counts. Whether its weight lifting, running, walking, biking, taking a class at the YMCA. Whatever you do that is active, counts. Things that don’t count include grocery shopping, mowing the lawn and other daily tasks.

I figured it out. 

if you were to commit 5 days a week: it would be 1 hour and 11 minutes for those 5 days.

If you commit 6 days a week: It is just over 57 minutes.

And 7 days a week: Is just over 48 minutes every day.

I have (kinda) gotten Matt in on it with me. He said that if I go run in the mornings for 30 minutes, that he would go on at least a 20-30 minute walk with me at night. He obviously isn’t going to hit the 1500, but I will. Some days can be longer, some can be shorter.

There are some pretty cool prizes if you make the goal and turn in the workout sheet and that is great motivation, but think about what a difference an hour a day would make in your body and lifestyle.

I am going to try it, who’s with me!? If you want to sign up and get the sheet it is right here! You have until Friday to decide, but I definitely suggest jumping in. So what if you don’t make this goal. Make a slightly smaller goal. Go for 1000 minutes in 31 days. That is just over 32 minutes if you commit 7 days. Who can’t make time to go for a 30 minute walk??

The goal is to look at fitness as a bigger picture instead of one workout at a time. It all adds up over time, but most people tend to only think one workout in advance.

They have a great Facebook page full of encouraging people at #NOEXCUSES Fitness Challenge

Again. I don’t take credit for any of this, I am just joining in on the challenge and asking you to join in with me!

Everyday Workout Plan!

I have been going and going for the two months it feels like. Where did June go? It seems like May just started.
This being said, my workout plan has been less than fantastic. I have been watching what I eat pretty well, but I have been craving a super great workout for a while. During drill weekends, we get some pretty good ones and I really do enjoy those.

My New Blogging Plan

I have struggled with what this blog is about most of the time that I have had the blog. I have spent hours searching other blog sites and reading all about what they do for their blog to make it work.

I am going to try something new and I hope to keep with it throughout the school year. I may have a few weeks were I struggle to keep up, but I will make sure to at least post every once in a while. I am really excited to start this!

My plan is to have a different theme for every day Monday-Friday. Each day will have a theme but it will be broad enough that I can write about a lot of things that are under that category. Every week will have a different blog post for that day of the week.

Monday’s theme is Money Saving Mondays. There will be different things like saving money on a certain project, idea, or bill. Depending on the week, it may be something kind of off the wall, or something that Matt and I have really applied in the house.

Tuesday’s are Tasty Tuesdays. This includes recipes, kitchen tips that I have found helpful and other kitchen oriented posts. This may get pretty narrow depending on the week, but I am going to work on trying a ton of new recipes soon!

Wednesdays are Weigh In Wednesdays. This may be misleading because it sounds like I am 100% focused on weight, but it will actually be about overall health. It will be for mental, physical, and emotional health benefits. Sometimes it will be about my physical process of getting to my initial goal weight (Seems like I was at the same place last year) Sometimes it will be health tips that I have put together or learned along the way!

Thursdays are Try It Out Thursdays. This will be college tips, new craft projects, decorating tips, or just a new place that I visited in Omaha. It will be recommendations for things that I think everyone should try at least once.

Fridays are Freestyle Fridays. This is really broad because I wanted to have a day where I could write about something not in one of the previous categories. It may include a variety of many things. Some of the posts may fall into some of the categories above, but they also may not. This may include traveling or fun things that Matt and I do. This is just kind of a fun day for me to play around with my blog.

I hope to you check out my blog posts for the weeks to follow. I know that I am going to aim to continue this plan for the rest of the summer at least, but I hope to continue it into the school year as much as I possibly can!

Every Woman is Beautiful the Way they Are.

    I am probably the worst one about this. I know that I sit at a relatively healthy weight for my height, even though according to Rush University Medical Center’s website, for someone who is 5’3″ I am suppose to weigh 104-127. This seems ridiculous to me. According to the BMI, I am slightly overweight. I am okay with this.

     This week in my English class we discussed eating disorders and how apparently fat has “become a feminist issue.” No one associated being fat as a problem that men commonly have.
I argue this, mostly because I have seen many men who are worried about their health, or who are dieting, exercising, and just making healthier choices when it comes to their lifestyle. My dad is a great example. First he started exercising.. Then came the juicing, then the smoothies. I am not sure how much weight he has actually lost, but he looks great! He still says he wants to lose a couple more pounds, but who doesn’t want to lose weight?
    For our second paper we are writing about “Building Awareness.” I am righting about eating disorders in females and males, but with a focus on the media’s role in eating disorders. I spent my Friday afternoon was spent watching a documentary found on Netflix called America the Beautiful. It interviewed different people that work in the media such as Seventeen Magazine Editor, US Weekly editor, and some famous fashion photographers.  It also followed a young girl. She was tall for her age and she didn’t feel like she really fit in at school. Everyone called her giraffe, until one day when she was at the park, someone told her that she could be a model. Her mom supported this idea because she was a model herself when she was younger. At age 12, Gerren Taylor started modeling. This meant that she was missing precious education to model in NYC and LA for New York Fashion Week. While she had a pretty successful couple of years, it quickly went down hill. At 15, she was told that her hips were too big and she was “obese.” At 6 ft tall, probably 120 lbs, sitting at a size 4, the super modeling business considered her obese.   Her school principal had a lot to say about the idea of her becoming a model. She made a comment about how crazy it was that they are now trying to make the perfect, ideal body to be that of a 12 year old. “We are so focused on a beauty that is unattainable. It is so unhealthy and destructive.”
    This disgusted me. They are telling kids that they are too fat. All of these media ads and fashion weeks are telling every average person that they are not pretty enough and not skinny enough. Models as young as 15 reported thinking about getting breast enhancement or enlargement.
     There was a study done in Fiji in 1995-1999. It was a very traditional culture in a way that if they were bigger, it meant the village was well taken care of. Being fat was beautiful. In 1995, 3% of the teenage girl population in one area said they had ever in their life induced vomiting as a way to control their weight.
     In 1995, the researchers introduced television to the area. Three short years later, in 1998, researchers went back to this area to talk to the girls. 15% of girls around age 17 had said that they had induced vomiting to control their weight. Many of them made comments like “I am heavy and I often feel depressed because of this.” or “I really want to lose weight.”
    In three short years, television had taken a country where big is beautiful and they were all proud of their bodies, to a place where everyone was dieting and trying to be skinny.
    Television has been available for the home since the late 1920’s. Imagine what television has done to our country in the last 80-90 years.
    The United States holds approximately 5% of the worlds population. In 2012, the Census recorded about 313.9 million people. The world population was estimated to exceed 7 billion in March of 2012.  That being said, the United States sees 40% of the worlds advertisements. All of these advertisements tell little girls and teenagers how they are suppose to look. When fashion trends change, so do advertisements. Michael Levine, a Hollywood publicist, was interviewed in America The Beautiful and said, “Victoria Secrets has saturated the perfect. It has diminished the ability to love the ordinarily beautiful.” The Seventeen magazine editor said, “I am not running a non profit organization. It is about profit. I print what sells.”
    One study done reported that girls as young as 5 were dieting. It also showed that they were more worried about getting fat than they were about getting cancer or losing a parent.

     All of this information made me question, “Is America really this superficial?” How can we be so focused on our weight that things like our health and family don’t matter anymore. One mom that had lost her daughter to an eating disorder said, “Mom’s are perfect in a kids eyes. So when kids hear their mom say they hate a certain part of their body, kids quickly realize that they have the same body as their mom’s do. This causes them to hate that part of their body at a young age”

     I know this is a lot of facts, and it is a little overwhelming, but when I woke up this morning, and I looked in the mirror in the bathroom. I did my daily routine of pulling my shirt up and looking at my stomach in the mirror, but I didn’t feel fat anymore. I know that I still need to get in better shape and lose a couple pounds for the military standards, but it wasn’t overwhelming to the point of me thinking “I am so fat.”
    One of my pinterest motivation pins says, “You are not fat. You have fat. You’re weight does not define you.” Marilyn Monroe said, “To all of you girls who think you’re fat because you’re not a size zero. You’re the beautiful ones, it’s society who’s ugly.”
     This gave me a lot of motivation to love who I am for me, not for what I look like. Sure, dressing up with make-up and your hair done is fun and looks good, but it shouldn’t be a necessity for you to think you are beautiful.

You, whoever is reading this. You are beautiful. Society is UGLY and corrupt. 

If you are struggling with an eating disorder, or need help, find the help you need. Trust in a friend, a doctor, but most importantly, if you have them, your mother. I know mine would be there for me if I ever need her to and I am sure yours will too if you call and tell her that you are struggling. Please, get the help that you need because you are beautiful and you deserve better for yourself.

Weigh In Wednesday!

Another Weigh in Wednesday is here, even though I haven’t been posting them most weeks! I have something to write about this week!

At the highest point over Christmas break, I was weighing in at 160. WAYY too high for me. It was because there was a million sweets and goodies for me to eat and my grandma tends to be someone who pushes food from the kitchen, to your plate, to your mouth. Easy way to put on some pounds.

I have been working out regularly since I got back from Christmas break, but there wasn’t a lot of success because I was constantly rewarding myself for working out with food like cookies, ice cream and chocolate.

I was also struggling with working at McDonalds and trying to not eat there.

I was averaging a weigh in of about 156 since I started working out.

This week, on Saturday. I started counting my calories before I eat anything on my plate. I figure out exactly how many calories are on my plate, and then I eat until I am full. When I am done I subtract what is still on my plate from my calorie count.

I have also been drinking shakes with the Body by Vi Nutritional Powder in them for 2 meals a day. I am still making sure that I am getting enough calories for my body, but I have found that I am not that hungry until it is time for me to eat again.

I have started eating snacks in between my meals. about 2 1/2 hours after I eat, which has been great.

After doing all of this.

Since Saturday…

I have lost…

Two and a Half Pounds!!

What a great start to this!

I have a lot more motivation to keep going than I did just a few short weeks ago!

Weigh In Wednesday

Every Wednesday I will check in with what I have been eating and whether I have success or not for that week.

This week I have been trying to eat 6 smaller meals instead of just 2-3 meals. It’s been a little rough because of the holidays finishing up. With all the goodies in the house, sometimes I sneak a treat. But the goodies are pretty much gone and I am pretty sick of chocolate for right now.

I haven’t eaten as good as I could have. I have been drinking a ton of water though. When I eat lunch or supper, I have been cutting whatever is on my plate into bites. Then I will take one bite and drink some water. Then another bite. 

This is a great way to eat something a little more unhealthy for you, but feel full from barely anything.  This is also a great way from discouraging yourself from going back for seconds.

Drum Roll Please..

My Weight Last Week:155

My Weight This Week: 155

So.. This week wasn’t quite successful. With all of the goodies around the house and spending most of my time on the couch I didn’t expect too much from this week. I will be spending a lot of time in the gym and a more time walking around.

Things I will do this coming week: 

• Spend more time at the gym/ being physical
• Get some new music for the gym
• Eat Less chocolate/goodies. More fruit.
• Don’t Reward myself for working out with food.

If anyone else is on a super weight loss journey let me know and we can share ideas! 

Good luck this week!

Little Bit of Motivation

The Holidays are finally over. No more excuses for just eating one more cookie, or one more piece of pie because I can definitely tell you that I did my fair share of that.
   I have been eating a lot better today than I was the week of finals. I have been snacking often and eating better balanced meals. (finally on track again.)
   Matt has been a sweetheart and has been holding my feet while I time myself doing situps. I forgot what it feels like to be sore from a workout. (Because I have been majorly slacking off lately, but it is time to get back in the game.)
   I did two minutes of sit ups. a minute plank and a minute of pushups. I need to go for a run, but it is miserably cold outside so I am saving it for the gym at school. For now, I will do pushups, situps and other body exercises like that.

I have been working on collages for motivation to hang up in my dorm room and a collage with workouts from pinterest to take to the gym. I am pretty excited about the new semester and what it will bring for me. I am determined to get skinny because spring break is in less than 80 days. If I am going to lay on the beach with my roommate who weighs about 104 lbs. That is my simple motivation.

There is my completed collage of pinterest workouts to take to the gym with me. I am excited to workout hard soon, but since I am currently in Beatrice, I don’t have a gym. Cannot wait to get into the gym. For now, it is just push-ups and sit-ups.

I have been snacking every 2-3 hours between meals. I am eating more balanced meals. I am going to get fit for spring break!

Thank you for all of the support.
Keep on reading with how I am doing it. (:

Portion Control to the Max!

   

The other day Sean and I were talking about why were weren’t losing any weight, even though we eat pretty health and live pretty active lifestyles. (It seems like we are always on the go..)

     Sean said that his biggest problems was portion control. After he said that, I thought he might be on to something. Knowing HOW much you are eating is just as important as to WHAT you are eating!! (I always forget this…)

      My biggest problem (just so all of my loyal readers are up to date..) is that I don’t eat enough. I talked with my recruiter early next week and we talked about what I am eating on a day to day basis. He told me that he wants to see me try to eat at least 6 times a day. (including 3-100 calorie snacks). I am regularly suppose to eat every 2-3 hours during my day. 

          So after I talked with my recruiter, I was on my way to walmart to get snack baggies, pretzels, wheat thins, and prepackaged 100 calorie snacks. 50 bucks later, I came out with everything I needed to make my own snack packs to take with me when I am at work, or on the go during that 2-3 hour window. At work, I just run to the back, eat it really quick when I get a chance and get back up on the floor. I haven’t really ran into much of a problem when I couldn’t grab my snackage at work before heading back, which is great. 

       My recruiter told me that for the first few days, I was going to feel like I was eating so much food. I was going to be extremely full, but after those few days. I was going to be starving for the next food that was going into my body. I would get to the point that at about 2 hours, I was extremely hungry already. This is my metabolism kicking in and working better than it did before. 

      Well, he was right. I’m pretty much always starving right now, except right after my meals.. Then I am extremely full. 

All of this sparked my creativity side of thinking and I started thinking about how I could so easily prepackage a lot of my foods.

So I started off with the wheat thins and the pretzels. 

      I pre-proportioned my wheat thins, pretzels, almonds, banana chips, raisins, marshmallows, and (bought for an extra extra treat) dark chocolate covered raisins.. they are all packaged in approximately 100 calorie proportions.
   This is great for when I am on the go at work, and doing other errands. It saves me from having to count everything out and worry about over eating. It also keeps me from eating straight out of the boxes/bags, which I have been known to do once or twice.
       I did end up buy pre-packaged cookie 100 calorie snacks for my sweet tooth cravings. I have an awful sweet tooth around 9:30-10 at night. I just want a something sweet and a lot of it. Well I got these cookies specifically for that time period. Although, I don’t think I will be buying them again because I have found that I can replace the cookies with marshmallows or raisins and my cravings are just as satisfied because with those snacks I get a lot more of them than just 6 tiny little cookies. 

Then I moved on to my oatmeal that I eat every morning…

    Since I was told that I need to eat more.. I have been aiming for a breakfast consisting of anywhere between 300 and 450 calories. I try to aim pretty close to 380 for most mornings. Since then I have been trying to eat oatmeal for breakfast. It is low in calories, but high enough for me to get what I need without having to eat a TON! I have found that stirring in the brown sugar after it is cooked helps make a little bit go a lot farther. I only use about a tablespoon of brown sugar total (about 35 calories). My mornings can get really hectic. On Saturdays and Sundays, I have to be to work by 7am. For those who know me, they know I am NOT a morning person (still trying to figure out why I joined the military for that reason…lol) All of my portions are already measured out, so I can just dump the bag into a bowl and add a cup of water. Perfect for mornings..
    For those with kids, this is perfect for them to get going in the morning. Oatmeal is known to keep a person fuller longer, but it is also great for cold winter mornings. Having it portioned out makes it extremely easy for kids to make their own in the morning. When bagging them, you can add brown sugar for convenience, but I prefer not to, just because I am calorie counting.

Then to my frozen vegetables…

     This was probably the most helpful thing out of all of them. I pre-proportioned out my frozen veggies so I don’t have to worry about that when I am making them as sides for lunch/supper. I LOVE veggies. These are proportioned out according to serving size on the bags. Most of these bags contain anywhere from 30-70 calories, which makes them great sides to go along with a chicken breast, pork chop, or even a burger. I am really excited about these because I think it will help us eat more of our veggies and think of them more as a convenience and not a hassle to deal with.

So… My organization…

I bought 4 or 5 of these cute little baskets for our freezer and cabinets to hold the baggies. I got the baskets at Family Dollar for $1.50 a piece, which was crazy cheaper than walmart’s prices for like items.  I also bought my Aunt Lisa’s cabinet from her to hold ALL of our snackage. This way it is all in one place and we don’t go looking through the other food in order to find snacks. This has been working out great!!

I started out writing on EVER SINGLE BAGGIE.. but that ended quickly. Instead I have two post-it notes with the amount in each baggie. It made everything go by so much quicker when it came down to bagging it.

     So.. This has been a huge success for me and I am every excited about the entire thing. I have everything ready for when I need to eat and when I am on the go.

      So, I bet my faithful readers are wondering how much this has helped me lose… *Drum roll please* I am sitting at a solid- Non fluctuating. 150. Which is great. I have drill next weekend and I am hoping to be down to 145-147 by then. I would really like to be close. I have accepted that I will not make my goal of losing the weight by graduation because that gives me 30 days to lose almost 20 pounds (crazy unrealistic. So my new goal is to be at 140 or high 130’s by graduation. Then down to my goal weight before I leave for AIT on May 30. I am really hoping to be able to do this, but the next few weeks are absolutely crazy when it comes to my schedule.