Instagram, Progression not Perfection

It has been quite the year since I have last posted! So many wonderful, awful, hard, awesome, and regular everyday things have happened. I would love to say that I lost a whole bunch of weight and feel better than ever, but I haven't and I don't. (At least not physically) But I've learned some things about myself (like how I don't deal with stress well!), and I am trying to get back on track with my health again. 

I decided to go the Instagram route because it is so easy to snap a photo and write a little snippet to keep myself motivated. I have only been doing it for a week, but so far I am loving doing it this way. Here are just a few of the things I've documented so far. 

Me after a workout at the gym. Yep. I've officially become one of "those people" who take selfies of themselves. Mostly I am doing it to track my progress though, so hopefully it doesn't seem like I am just way into myself. ;) Not gonna lie, I feel silly trying to take pictures of myself in public. Oh well though!

I like to find motivational quotes to make me think and to remind myself I've got what it takes!

So, I love food. I figured this would be a great way to document what I eat throughout the day, and it would motivate me to eat more colorful foods because it looks more presentable! I haven't documented everything I eat yet, but it actually has helped some! 

I thought this quote was perfect for my circumstances. It is so important to never give up, even if you get off track like I did for awhile. I love that as long as I am alive there is still an opportunity to try again.

I found an app for my phone called Fitness Buddy, you've probably heard of it, but it is so awesome. You can log in your weight, body measurements, and it will track your progress for those as well as creating your own custom workouts where it can track the weights and reps you do so you can see how you progress there too. So awesome! It's cool because there are so many exercises you can add to it so that you aren't doing the same things every day.

Well, that's pretty much what I am doing! 

Feel free to find & follow me on Instagram! My account name is fit_real_life, and I decided to go for that name because I am trying to be real. I am by no means going to be perfect and I am going to stumble at times still. My philosophy right now is that my life is real, and I have to be real about what I can accomplish. My goal is to be fit, not skinny; healthy, not health-obsessed; progress, not perfection. 

my beginners video.

so I said I was going to share my video. it is way amateur! haha and uber cheesy... but I am excited to use it as a tool to motivate! so, here you go! :) I will be working on more too!

My body, Biggest Loser, and Exciting changes to be made here

My body tells me nooo! But I won't quit, cause I want more! I want more! ("My Body" by Young the Giant) Have you ever heard this song? It is a great motivator for a workout. It is also a perfect description of what was going on in my life yesterday. So, it wasn't the best of my days. I didn't have a very fulfilling weekend, and I felt frustrated on sunday and it carried over into yesterday too.. I was totally planning on going home after work, having a quick lunch, do a workout, come home and make dinner and clean the kitchen. I got home, ate a sandwich.... aaaand watched the biggest loser for almost 2 hours. Haha... which, totally made me cry! (not the fact that I had sat there for that long, although maybe I should have hahaha!) They had 3 kids on the show who were suffering from childhood obesity. I was a little skeptical at first because I was worried that Jillian was going to be mean, but she was so nice. I guess it struck a chord with me because I was a chubby kid and got made fun of a little bit for it in elementary.

 

Needless to say, after I realized I had been just sitting there watching OTHER people workout and work on their goals, I felt a bit crappy. So I decided to take out my frustrations on a good workout. I went to the stadium and walked/jogged for a good hour and felt much better! Then I came home and made myself some fried eggs cooked with asparagus and feta cheese along with a grapefruit (that tasted like candy, it was sooo good!). I so should have taken a picture to post on my recipe blog, but I didn't...

 

Anyway, so that was my day yesterday! It didn't start out so great, but I put forth the effort to make it better.

 

Something that I am SUPER excited about is that I found this app on my i-pad that I can make VIDEOS!! I just made one, although it is probably pretty amateur lol.. but I will be posting it soon so stay tuned! :)

 

Also, I am considering putting all of my graphic design pictures that I have been posting somewhere so that people can pin them, and use them for motivation. I am not sure how to do it yet, so if you have any ideas LET ME KNOW!

Rewards!

Ok, so I told you I would explain this cute little coloring page!

I just found this on google and loved it! For every 30 minutes of intentional exercise I get to color in a little section. (this is an old picture, don't worry! more spots are colored in!) I also wrote down some reasons why I want to do this.

Then once the picture is all filled with color, I can go reward myself!

Surprisingly, this has kept me more motivated than I thought it would!

A couple of nights ago I had an opportunity to go the a blogger mixer at Down East Basics here in St George. I have honestly never been to one before and felt a bit inadequate because I haven't really tried to branch out much on this blog! But it gave me a lot of great ideas and made me feel more motivated to keep up with it!

We walked around and snapped pictures of things we thought were cute, and tried on some clothes. Speaking of motivation.. if you need some, just go clothes shopping. Lol. Works for me! Anyway, I saw this cute swimsuit there and thought it might be a good reward! I need a new one real bad!

ok so lets talk about rewards here for a second.

why do we really need to reward ourselves? for me, motivation! what are some good rewards?

I learned in my nutrition class (and darn it I still remember!) that you should NEVER reward yourself with food. You'd think that after a good successful eating healthy, hardcore workout day you DESERVE that ice cream right? Can you have it? Sure you can. I like to think that you don't need to deprive yourself of anything, just make sure you stay within your calories goal! :) But why can't it be a reward? Well, it is a little counterproductive. You associate success with food. You don't want to do that. Growing up, I associated (and still do.. grr) food with emotion. Feel sad? Have some chocolate! Stressed out? Eat some ice cream! Bored? Eat potato chips. Had a fantastic day? Eat a cookie! Yeah.

 

So what are some good rewards?

Here are a few ideas: New workout playlist, new nail polish, get a massage, get some jeans, new shoes, jewelry, a trip to the beach, swimsuit, new workout clothes, find a fitness gadget that will help (like FitBit, or a heart rate moniter or step counter, etc), perfume, haircut, new make-up, etc.

 

Other rewards that don't include spending money: have a YOU day doing what you love (reading, writing, laying out outside, painting, biking, etc.), have a manicure party with your girlfriends and make them all bring their favorite nail polish (pamper each other!), make your husband give you a massage :), go on a hike, explore an art gallery in the area, window shop.. they kind of sound like things you could do any day, so try to find new things to do around town for variety! :)

Hiking at Red Cliffs

Something I have been thinking about lately is how being healthy shouldn't be a fleeting moment for a few weeks of your life. Change is hard. It requires discipline and willpower. It requires sacrifice. It requires persistence and courage! Have you ever noticed that? Not just for health and fitness, but life in general. Usually when you strive to become better, it always involves changing your habits. It is always challenging.

BUT that doesn't mean it has to be boring, monotonous, or miserable! I always say if you are not having fun, you are doing something wrong! Do activities you enjoy! Dance, run, bike, hike, box, weight lift, walk, garden, clean, redecorate, do yoga, play outside with your kids, go to the park, window shop (and try not to spend money! haha), swim, ski, snowboard, basketball, soccer, volleyball, wake board, skim board, paint, build something. There are SO many things you can do to become more active. Working out doesn't always have to be a hard core run and a couple hours at the gym.

Since this is a lifestyle change, you need to find things you love to do in order for it to last. This past weekend was my birthday and the weather was a perfect 70 degrees! I wish it could just stay that temperature forever! Something I love to do is hike. I've already mentioned this, but let mention it again. I LOVE nature. There is something about it that rejuvenates me! So we went for a hike out at Red Cliffs in southern Utah. It was beautiful! It is a pretty short and simple hike, which is good but it also has a few little challenges to make you stretch a bit! :)

I left this place feeling so good! If you live in Southern Utah, or visit here there are a lot of trails to go on! Click here for a link of different trails to explore! 

Now go outside and get some fresh air!

new found loves.

Uhm wow. It has been two months since I posted already? Looks like I have been a slacker on my blogging. But here is osme good news! I have spent more time outside exercising, and more time trying to cook healthy! :) So here's the update:

 

My new found love: biking. I always enjoyed spin class, but since the gym is across town now, I went and got my bike and I have been riding 2 times a week. Being outside with the wind in my hair and sunshine on my face has been sooo refreshing! The other day I was out on a bike trail and there was NO ONE else around. And it was a good thing they weren't. Because I sang. On the top of my lungs. It was so liberating! And let me tell you, it made my workout like 30 times more fun!

 

 Another new found activity that I love/hate: stadium stairs and walking/jogging the track. I love it because I KNOW it is working based on the fact that my legs feel like jello when I get to the top. every time. I love getting to the top too because I have a great view of St George. The LDS temple is right down the street, which is a great reminder of the spiritual side of things. My only fear is coming back down because I feel like I might collapse! And I hate it, well because it sucks and it hurts and it is hard.

New found love #3: Bountiful Baskets. I get so much good produce for such a good price. It gives me a variety, and I get excited every saturday to see what I get. My favorites so far: asparagus, purple/yellow tomatoes, strawberries, and pineapple. Not so much: radishes and cabbage.
It has also made us spend less on groceries! The beaskets are $15 for 50/50% fruits and veggies. Sometimes I will get some extra veggie packs or a box of fruit. So good.



As far as results go, I haven't weighed myself in about a month. To be honest, I sorta don't want to. I haven't seen results or maybe I haven't done enough to get any yet but I will say that I have made a bigger effort these past few weeks. Numbers get me discouraged too easily. So instead, atleast here at first I am just going to keep doing what I am doing until it becomes habit. Maybe in another month or two I will check in on my weight.

Something I did start, that has been surprisingly motivating is printing out an adult coloring page. (I'll have to show you the one I chose later, its not on this computer.) But everytime I do a 30 min workout, I can color in a little section! So kid-ish, but hey it makes me want to go workout! When I get it all colored, then I can go reward myself.

One other thing I have started with my family (lots of starting new things here! its good!) is an 8 week WELLNESS challenge with a point system. At first it was just going to be for health/weightloss but then we decided to add in some spiritual things. Each of us who wanted to participate threw in 25 dollars and whoever has the most points at the end of 8 weeks gets the pot of money. It has helped me alot too! Maybe its a little sad that I have to have some sort of reward in order to keep me motivated doing things I should ALREADY be doing, lol but atleast I am doing them now. Even if I don't win, I feel better. I'll give more details on that soon too! :)

me and my husband. :) he makes me happy

So yeah, I feel pretty good about the progress I am making, even if I am not seeing any "physical" changes yet. I sure feel mental and spiritual changes, and it feels so good!

brainstorm

I am super excited for this time of the year!! I love the fresh start feeling that comes with New Years. I have already written out my resolutions, which I am also super excited about! :) I want this new year to be a good one! My awesome husband got me a crap load of art supplies. Which, believe it or not, I think will help me in my weight loss goals! I haven't painted in such a long time and I am so excited to have something new to occupy my time.

I want to go into more detail of what I want to accomplish as far as fitness goals go, and I am just brainstorming ideas of how to accomplish this. I've tried a lot of things, and by tried I probably just mean I made a plan and didn't stick to it. I think you could make weight loss work if you just stuck with it. So, I have got to make it stick this time!

Ok, so here are some ideas that have crossed my mind of what I want to do:
No eating after 7 pm. Only water!
Juice once a day. (to get those nutrients and veggies and fruit, and use the pulp to make muffins and stuff!)
I think a huge part of my success is going to depend on portion control, so I must measure and track everything I eat!
Obviously exercise/being more active will be a part of all this and these are the ideas I have about that: at least walk for 30 min a day, do fitness classes at the gym (as long as they are free!), run, do stairs, bike, hike, spin class!, strength, paint, keep the house clean, yoga?

man, I totally just had one of those nostalgic feelings. I remembered how I felt at the gym, lifting weights and running and spin class, getting all sweaty and then walking outside in the cold and feeling so good. I miss that feeling so much. and how it felt to have jeans that were loose. that is why I want to do it again!

mostly I just want to do new things this year. I really don't want to look back and wish I had done more things. what I am afraid of is letting myself down again. which really is pretty silly because I am in charge of my decisions, so you'd think that I would choose to do the things I want to do! the problem is I have had many days that I just don't want to do anything but sit at home. it is those days that I really need to work on. it is okay to have them once in awhile, but I definitely had more than I should have.

anyways, I tend to ramble a lot but it helps me work through my thoughts and motivates me to do better. I'm really doing this blog for myself and I don't really care if anyone reads this or if you think I have issues. ;) this is for me and if it in anyway benefits someone else then great!

gosh, I am so ready for a change!

Color Me Rad

I am sooo excited! I just signed up for my second race that I have ever done in my life. The first one was a 4.01k race for my bank several years ago. It was fun, but THIS one will be even better! 
Have you seen the pictures where all these people have explosions of colored powder all over themselves and wondered what sort of event this is? Well, this is one of them! It is a race where you get to throw colored corn starch all over each other! So fun! I will be doing it with my sister and her husband as well as my aunt Julie and whoever else decided to sign up for it. 

It is only a 5k, so I don't think it will kill me or anything! ;) 

November 10, 2012

10 am @ the old St George Airport. 

Conquering the Monsters: #1 = Sugar

I love this. It is actually a shirt. The cookie monster binge!
shirt can be found at shirt.woot.com

I do love chocolate, and cookies, and ice cream, and brownies.. but I love them a little too much! I have come to realize I have a serious sweet tooth that needs to be tamed! I tend to turn to sweets when I am extra stressed or bored or happy or sad.. basically whenever I want. Its not a good thing! My husband tells me all the time I am going to get diabetes if I keep eating sugar like I do. Even though I never tell him he's right, sometimes I really am scared that he is! So here's the thing. I am going to try to tame it. Yeah. Good luck!
When you grow up with sweets all around (I still love you mom and sisters!!) it is hard to say no. But the fact is, I don't want to end up with diabetes. It is also not contributing to my weight loss much!
So week one of getting this sugar monster conquered, I am going to track every little sweet thing I eat this week. I won't be doing that here, however. It will be on sparkpeople.com. (This is a fantastic website if you ever wanted to start keeping track of your progress, and it is 100% FREE!)
You can however look at what I am eating here:http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_tracker.asp?id=%2ACRYSTALICIOUS%2A&dte=9%2F5%2F2012

Scary! I doubt many of you would seriously want to study what I am eating, but if you want to, feel free. And tell me if you see patterns or have any suggestions... with that said. Just be nice about it.. hahaha! ;)

My hope is that I can turn this sugar/cookie/sweets monster into a healthy one! I love that there is still a cookie in this picture. :) Which also means, that yes, I am not giving them up entirely! I think it is still perfectly okay to have something sweet now and then. At least for now!

Coming to terms

Ugh.
That is exactly how I feel. You know what is super disappointing? When you set all these goals, you feel excited about them, and then you fail. time and time again. Aaaah!
I am not writing this for pity or for anyone to tell me its okay. I just need to vent. I am so tired of not achieving my goals. I have this problem with setting so many goals and setting them so high and firm that when I don't reach them I feel like even more of a failure each time it happens.
I try to take on too many things at once. I thought I understood that it was going to be hard, but I realize now that it is more than just setting a goal and doing it. There are other factors that play in, things that I failed to address or admit as a problem.
I know what I need to do to be healthy, the simple things. Eat healthy, get good sleep, exercise. But there can also be issues locked up inside that need to be dealt with. That is what I don't know how to deal with yet and I feel like I will never truly be successful at this until I come to terms with those problems on the inside.
Pretty sure I am a stress eater. When I feel like I am starting to fall or things are bothering me, I turn to food. It is not a healthy way to deal with my problems, and I need to face them head on. I want to set goals and feel successful but I am not sure I know how to start small. I don't know how to let go of all the high expectations I have set for myself. I am torn between pushing myself hard, not giving myself a break or allowing myself to be something less by setting low goals. But in doing so, I am destroying myself and my confidence. It needs to stop.
I need to find out what my triggers are throughout the day, the emotions I feel and when and what kinds of food I choose to eat at those times. So here is my new plan!

All I am going to focus on is writing what I eat, when, what feelings I had/have and the struggles going on inside. Thats it. No tracking calories, no tracking how many workouts and how long they last, just writing. Also, I am going to start reading about positive ways of dealing with stress.

I know I am going to run into a problem.. that is, I am not used to writing everything down. I barely write in my journal once a month. So how am I going to do this multiple times a day? And what do I need to do if I forget, or just don't do it? Well, I don't know other than just trying again the next time.

I'm back!

Well folks! I'm back! I told you I would be! :) I have been working for a month and a half and payday is finally tomorrow! woohoo! Which means, I am getting a gym membership and I am gettin back on the wagon.
I feel embarrassed that I lost rack so quickly, but it happens. I am going to get back up though! I have been doing some reading and thinking and I have realized that I may have been a little vain... not that looking sexy is a bad reason to workout! Because I want that too! But I am realizing it is SO MUCH MORE than just losing pounds.
Our bodies literally do not function well if we are not giving it the nutrients it needs or taking care of it through exercise. So I will probably be posting a lot more nutritional information I learn as I go!
As I read, it motivated me to change the way I think about exercise and food. Not only do I want to look good, but I want my body to feel good and function more properly. Its a little silly because the things I have read about I have always known but it never motivated me enough.
So instead of just trying to lose a certain amount of pounds (which I am sure will happen with time!) I am going to set goals month to month that are more health oriented rather than weight loss. I am also going to be sure and reward myself if I reach those goals! And with each month my goals will get a little bigger!

So here are my goals for Month 1:
Reach 1000 fitness minutes (that is about an hour workout 4 days a week)
Track my food 20 days (that would be about 5 days a week, so probly mon-fri and then sat and sun I can take a break)

Thats all! If I reach those goals, then I will reward myself with something I really want. (Which will most likely be a smartphone, but we'll see at the end of the month!)
I don't want to overwhelm myself with a crazy amount of goals to reach as I have done in the past. I have this tendency to want to change a whole bunch of things all at once and I get frustrated when I run out of steam. So those are my only goals for the month and then I will do a weekly challenge. I will still do weekly weigh-ins and I will also probably somehow keep track of how my physical endurance is improving. I haven't figured out what yet, but it will come! Maybe it will be the time it takes to run a mile and my heart rate and blood pressure. I dunno, but it'll be something like that!

I am SO STOKED to get the gym pass tomorrow and my husband told me he wants to get in shape too, which is great because I am going to need support!

Obstacles

Ok, so I knew that this would happen and it sure did. Usually about 2 weeks into starting a new program I start to lose motivation... haha. 


Some of you know I have been job hunting and I have good news! I got a job!! Wahoo! I work at a financial aid office at the college. It is a great job and I work with great people, thank goodness! :) There is a lot more to financial aid than I thought, and so my brain for the past week has been a little bit crazy! 
(which basically means I didn't exercise and ate more sweets.. haha) 


So this is what I want to talk about.

Obstacles.

While I was on my mission, we occasionally did our own version of a 40 day fast where we wrote down things we were going to give up that were holding us back from our full potential for 40 days. Its a lot harder than you think! For two reasons: change can be hard and once you set a goal, expect the devil to tempt you.


I think a big part of success comes from accepting setbacks, but not letting them stop you. You can't look at those obstacles as a reason to stop and go back to your old ways. We are going to make mistakes and we can't expect perfection. (Though I think a lot of us, including me, still do) Those moments happen to all of us and we need to look at them as something temporary to overcome and work through. 

I don't know who said that but I am a firm believer of it! Growing up I had a tendency to be super hard on myself and I came to realize that it wasn't helpful at all to talk negatively to myself!

I think the best way to overcome obstacles is to believe that you can! It's okay! Give yourself some room to breathe and realize tomorrow is another day! :)

So, I will try again tomorrow! 
Well maybe monday, since tomorrow is sunday.. :)

My Running Tips 101

I have run 4 miles twice now! Last night I did it in 57 min 33 sec!  I have to admit I thought I'd be a little faster than that, but its ok. I definitely pushed myself hard, but I also checked my heart rate as I went so that I didn't have a heart attack and pass out! Although it felt like I was going to anyway a couple times!


(Btw, if you are looking for something to help you map out your runs: www.mapmyrun.com is a great website! It even tells you the elevation of your run, and you can write down what kind of route (trail, road, bike, etc) it is! After you run it you type in the time it took and it will give you your speed and minute mile! It's pretty cool, I recommend it!)


My Runner's Advice:
If you are like me, running isn't all that fun while I'm in the middle of it. So what I did yesterday is took pictures while I ran! (Ever seen yes man? I love Zooey Deschanel, and this is what she does on her run in the movie) 


While you are out running, look around! Like this picture says, soak in your surroundings! I love nature and while I am outside trying to break a sweat I feel rejuvenated when I can look out and see the sunset going down behind the mountains. Nature refreshes me! Next time try it out. Breathe in the fresh air and feel the breeze passing as you go. I promise you it will make you feel better!

A silly thing I do while I run is watch my shadow. If i look down and see myself hunched over ready to pass out, I realize I better straighten my body out!


It helps me make sure I have good posture.


I'm pretty sure that when you are pushing your body to change, you need to make sure it is in a good position! You don't want yourself coming out looking like young Frankenstein! (haha, I just had an image of myself looking just like him while trying to run.. I probably look closer to that than I would hope for!) 


For your  information, I found this picture from pinterest. Just some advice on posture while running:

Good luck remembering all that info! ;)

Lyrics from One Day Remains --Alter Bridge

Ok and lastly, this is my most favorite one: Music & Uplifting thoughts.

For me the most important thing that keeps me going is the music I listen to as well as what thoughts I am thinking. if I am thinking how hard this is, how slow I am going, and how hot and sweaty I am; I am going to run out of energy FAST! But if I am telling myself how awesome I am and how much farther I can go, I am much happier. You gotta believe in yourself, and that YOU CAN DO IT! 

take the advice here-------------------->

I love the moment in my run where I realize I am ALIVE and I am succeeding!! It is an awesome feeling. 

The music I listen to has quite an influence on my runs as well. Some of it is just positive lyrics I can focus on, and other times it is either a constant beat or something to get me going my fastest. 

A few songs from my playlist:

One Day Remains - Alter Bridge

Young Blood - The Naked and Famous

Bangarang - Skrillex (for those who like dubstep)

Cinema (Skrillex Remix) - Benny Bennassi (another dubstep)

Kings and Queens - 30 Seconds to Mars

Time of Our Lives - Paul Van Dyk

Song 2 - Blur

Start the Machine - Angels & Airwaves

Shake It Out - Florence + the Machine

Somebody Like You - Keith Urban

Sexy and I know it - LMFAO

Panama - Van Halen

How to train Your Dragon - John Powell (shut up, I like it!)

Soccent Attack - Steve Jablonsky

I Don't Think Now is the Best Time - Hans Zimmer

Fireworks - Harry Potter Soundtrack

(you should seriously try running to intense soundtrack songs. its like you are in a movie!)

Whelp, good luck and happy running! :)

(disclaimer: I am by no means a running expert, I am just telling you what has worked for me.)