Day 7/65

Great run this morning! My friend and I shaved several minutes off of our last run in the cold! Felt really good. I won't have much time over the next several days to post much because we're about to move, but I'll try to make up for it after we're settled. Suffice it to say that my 365 healthiness project is off to a great start!

Out with the Old, in with the New

When I look at the next morning's forecast and see a temperature of 15 with a "real feel" of 8: 

old me: "That's way too cold. I guess I can't run tomorrow. Oh well."

new me: "I can bundle up. Alaskans do it all the time."

When my alarm goes off at 6:00 on a cold, dark winter morning:  

old me: Sighs and pulls the covers over her head. "I'll just work out this afternoon."

new me: She doesn't jump out of bed, but she accepts that a half hour of extra sleep isn't worth putting off a workout.

On a run, when my eyelashes freeze, my butt is numb, and my hair is stiff with ice: 

old me: "I can't run in this! I might get frostbite. It's dangerous!"

new me: "Frostbite? Hey, I wonder if I could get some frostbite on a few of my fat parts and get them to fall off? That would be sweeeeet!"

So, today's forecast predicted a temperature of 15 degrees and I went out for 55 minutes! It felt super cold, but I did it! And I didn't get any frostbite on any of my body parts, for better or worse. But, the kicker was when I got home and looked at the weather and saw that the actual temperature was 8 with a "real feel" of -2. I felt proud. I like the new me.

4/365

P90X Legs and Back today. Kicked my butt! Those one-leg wall squats are killer!!!

January 3

My abs are SO SORE from P90X! It's a good feeling, but uncomfortable! Good day today. A friend came and helped me back a ton of boxes for our upcoming move, so I stayed pretty busy and wasn't as hungry as yesterday. Gotta drink more water though. I'll be chugging a couple more glasses tonight before bed. Good eating and an hour on the elliptical. :)

2/365

Great day! Started with P90X Chest & Back and finished with abs. Today, I was hungrier and had to focus on drinking my water. I'm always hungry when I first start counting my calories, but I'll get into a groove in the next week or so. :)

The Great Diet Dilemma

Before starting any diet, there are inevitable questions: Is it hard? Can I do it? Will I like it? Is it expensive? Is it worth it? And sometimes, despite our best efforts to answer those questions before we start a diet, we just can't know the answers until we start it ourselves. Over the years, I've tried many diets. I'm not proud of this; yo-yo dieting is not a healthy practice. But, because I have, I thought I'd talk about each one and rate them.

I'll begin by saying, that I've lost weight on all of these diets. So, if the only criteria for judging them is by pounds lost, then they're all successful. But weight loss is not always the most important result of dieting. The best kind of diet isn't temporary. It is a lifestyle change, where we replace unhealthy habits with healthier eating and exercise. We all know this, but for some reason we over complicate it. It's not rocket science. When rating these diets, I asked myself a few questions: Is it a healthy, lifestyle change? Is it expensive? Is it overly complex?
 

The End of Day 1

Today couldn't have gone better. I stayed in my healthy calorie range, totaling in at about 1300 for the day. I drank 10 glasses of water and might still get a couple more in during Burn Notice. I had several servings of fruits and veggies and had plenty of energy all day. Ahh, feels good to be off to a great start!

Better than Cinnamon Rolls

Since I posted that mouthwatering picture of cinnamon rolls, I thought I'd share my favorite breakfast of late: Greek yogurt and fruit. Here's what I do:

• Start with 3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt. I like the Kirkland brand from Costco. It's super low sugar and high protein.
• Mix in 1/2 cup fruit. Right now I'm mixing in pomegranate seeds. LOVE that they're in season right now. Any fruit works though. I've used berries, peaches, kiwi, etc.
• If you're low on fruit or want something sweeter, try 1T pure maple syrup and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Voila! You're ready to enjoy a high-protein, tasty breakfast. Makes a great snack too!

Cinnamon Rolls

It's a tradition in our house to have cinnamon or orange rolls for breakfast on major holidays. Today we're having Rhodes cinnamon rolls and I almost had a lick of the icing, then thought better of it. If I get a taste of that stuff, it's only going to be downhill from there. Yum.

Day 1!

Happy New Year! This morning I rode my spinner bike for one hour. It felt great until about 45 min in and then I had to stream some serious hip hop dance music on Pandora to get through the rest of the workout. I had XPAND before I started and that stuff really gets me going. Love it! When I finished spinning, I also did some hip flexor stretches with a band. I'll include details about these stretches in a later post. They're a MUST-DO for me. My hip flexors are the "weakest link" of my body.

For my food diary, exercise log, and calorie counting, I'm using the My Fitness Pal app. It does all of the thinking and figuring for me. I remember my Mom had one of those t-factor calorie count books back in the day, and this app makes counting calories SO much easier. :)