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! :)

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!

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. 

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.. :)

Week 1

Week one of mission slimpossible is over! Wanna know how it went?

Here is the results!

1 lb lost! 

(woohoo!)

I tracked my food everyday and here is what I learned:

The weekends are hard to eat healthy as I didn't get my veggies and fruit in... :/ and ate pizza and hot dogs. oh and movie theater popcorn... haha! Which was okay, but I went over a bit too much on my calories on those days. So next time, I will try to plan those things in to keep better track. 

I did pretty well on reducing my sweets, which was SUPER HARD! I don't know if any of you, except maybe my family, know how much I love them! I let myself finally have a brownie (that I made with applesauce instead of oil)* with two small scoops of ice cream! I loved every little bite. 

How I got through is I bought the dove promises dark chocolate with almonds and allowed myself 2-3 everyday. Trust me, I wanted more than that! But it was just enough to get me through. I usually waited until the evening after all my meals have been eaten to have it so that I could brush my teeth right after and be ready for bed.

One other thing, I felt hungry almost constantly! I guess when all of the sudden you start working out and lowering your calories, your body freaks out and thinks it is going to starve! I asked what other people do when this happens and here are some good suggestions they gave me:

1. Drink lots of water! Sometimes we confuse hunger with thirst. If you are still hungry 20 min after drinking water, eat something with protein or carbs with high fiber.

2. Eat more veggies, nuts, and protein

3. Eat 300 cal meals 5 times a day so that your body always has food to digest.

4. Chew gum

As far are exercise goes, I learned something here too:

DON'T OVERDO IT! 

That is what I did those first 3 days and then I was so sore I skipped my workouts for the rest of the week. I tried to run 7 miles, and walk 2 in between days plus 30 min of abs and arms strength training in 3 days. 

That was a lot for my body to handle all at once, especially when one of those nights I was up until 4 am and then tried to run in the heat of St George the next day!! Not too smart on my part haha! 

I need to learn what my limits are and not push too hard this time! The thing is I am trying to train for a half marathon and I have to train hard in order to make it!! 

Also just a side note, I haven't switched up my running route yet and I can tell my mind and body is ready for something fresh. It's good to switch things up! 

I feel like overall it was a good week. I learned alot! I had my moments of frustration and disappointment, but this is only week one! I have found that I really enjoy taking pictures of this new lifestyle, especially when I am out running and watching the sunset!

The quote on this picture is from Walt Disney, and I think it is very inspiring! here is the full quote:

"Around here, 

we don't look backwards for very long.

We keep moving forward, 

opening up new doors and doing new things, 

because we are curious... 

and curiosity keeps leading us

 down new paths."

  

*btw, I am sure a lot of you have heard this but you can replace oil with applesauce in a lot of cake recipes. It was still pretty good with the brownie, but it did change the texture a little. Just replace the amount of oil with the same amount of applesauce and then add 2 tbs of oil to help the texture. I think it works best with cakes though!

Nutrition: Tracking, Portions, and Moderation

First off, I am here to tell you that I am nowhere near perfect at this weightloss stuff! 

One of the things I have been trying to do is track my food. 

Here is an example of one of my tracking sheets:

I also use the Sparkpeople website to log in what I eat. It is quite handy! You can map runs, add workouts, log your meals, log your weigh in, and it will give you feedback on what you've done versus what your goals are. You can also edit your nutrition goals to add in vitamins if you want to see what you might be lacking. Seriously, there is alot you can do on this website!

I have read in so many articles how important tracking your food and workouts are. Research has shown that those who track what they eat are far more successful with weight loss. 

It is also important to track EVERYTHING you eat. 

It is a bit tedious and obnoxious to do but it is good for several reasons:

1. You want an accurate count of what you are eating

2. It will help you see patterns in what you are eating and when, 

so you can spot trouble times and do something to conquer it.

3. It makes you want to eat less, because it sucks when you have to write in 

how many chocolates you've been eating!

4. It teaches you to be honest with yourself nutrition wise.

5. Since you can track nutrients, you can also see what vitamins you are lacking! (and find out what might be the cause of your tiredness or digestive issues!)

I have done it on and off through the years, and there are lots of creative ways to do it. I have heard of some people who take pictures of their plate before they eat it so that they can get a mental picture of what they are eating. The more colorful, the better! 

Here is an example of what your plate should look like:

for a clearer picture and a better description, click here

Half of your plate should be vegetables!! 

Who does that!? It hasn't been me! I am learning all this too, so don't worry! :)

I'll be the first to admit this isn't what I am used to nor am I good at it! I also am a firm believer that you have to include foods you love once in awhile, or you are going to be miserable. Learning moderation and balance is key. I think it is perfectly okay to have some pizza and ice cream once in awhile. What I need to learn is portion control. Have what you love, just don't eat the whole bag of candy or a whole carton of ice cream! 

When I took a nutrition class I was 

blown away at how small one serving seemed!

To give you some examples of what a serving size looks like: 

I am positive all of you reading this have heard these things many times! What I am trying to do is learn how to apply it to my own life! 

That is the tricky part! 

Track your food.

Track everything!

Learn portion control.

Eat in moderation!

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.)

Mission Slimpossible!

Alright, here is the part I dread. but maybe if I post my fat pictures it will motivate me more! 

I even edited them to show you just what I'm gonna do!

As you can see I have some work to do! 

This is me checking in at 200.2 lbs. 

Yep. That is THE MOST I have ever weighed ever in my life! 

I have gained 20 lbs since I got home from my mission in September 2011. 

What the heck!?! So frustrating. But I did it to myself! Now I need to fix it. 

A nice side view for you. Yep, gonna do everything I said in this picture. How you ask?

Training for a 1/2 marathon: 

4 days of running per week

Strength training and walks in between!

And my least favorite...

Yuck! You don't ever really see what your back side looks like, and its probably a good thing!

On top of making sure I get my exercise, I also need to revamp my diet.

I am NOT going to go extreme, but I do need to eat healthier.

I haven't totally made a diet plan yet, but in general:

Breakfast options: 200-300 cal

(an hour before I workout)

yogurt, fruit, and toast or bagel

whole grain cereal w/ milk

scrambled eggs with veggies

smoothie with toast/bagel

(basically anything breakfastee protein and carbs)

Morning Snack: 150-200 cal

(usually after a workout)

fruit w/ peanut butter

cottage cheese w/ fruit or veggies

string cheese & green veggies

nuts & dark chocolate/dried fruit

Chocolate milk (reduced fat) & banana

Lunch: 300-400 cal

1/2 tuna sandwich

1/2 pb&j sandwich

strawberry chicken spinach salad

lean burrito w/ salsa

healthy whole grain nachos

homemade pita pizza w/veggies

(carbs, protein, and veggies/fruit)

Afternoon Snack: 100-200 cal

(choice of previous snacks or:)

granola bar & fruit

yogurt with berries

smoothie 

veggie sticks & hummus

whole wheat chips & salsa

Dinner: 400-500 cal

Anything, just keep portion control decently healthy!

Preferably lean meat, veggies, whole grain, and fruit. 

Desserts: no more than 100 cal

(this will be my hard spot!)

1 small chocolate/hard candy a day or a very healthy fruity dessert!

Chew lots of gum to keep me away from sweets!

Total daily calories: 1200-1600

I will stick to this program 6 days a week.

The other day, probably sunday, will be my free day where I will still try to eat healthy but I can allow my mom's rolls and a good dessert! :) 

And it is the ultimate day of rest for my body too! 

I am excited and it is going to take some serious 

motivation, persistence, and discipline. 

I am going to keep this all updated as best as I can.

 I can do this!