I almost put this on my new year's resolution list but it seems so cliche. I want to work on a healthier lifestyle: healthier eating and exercising. I'm not doing this to lose weight because I'm pretty happy with the numbers on the scale. What I'm not happy about is the fluff around my middle.
I'm nursing so I don't want to limit what I eat by "dieting". I just want to make better food choices and I'm off to a good start. I made some changes while pregnant like replacing soda with water and cutting back on coffee. Then immediately postpartum I craved a lot of healthy foods. I'm determined not to let these changes revert back to what I use to be. I'm not stopping there; I want to make my eating even healthier. What I'm working on now is healthier snacks. I'm doing good at the moment; my favorite snacks right now are yogurt, bananas, cucumbers, salads, dry cereal (kid size bowl of honey nut cheerios), hard boiled eggs and peanut butter crackers. I try to ignore the cookies and such that hubby insists on having in the house for snacks and avoid buying the things I know I will snack on before the healthy stuff (chocolate!!!). I do great during the day, not so much between dinner and bedtime.
Exercise is sadly pretty nonexistent. I've tried in the past to workout regularly (usually a new year's resolution). I start off really strong and slowly slack off. I'm not really sure what happens other than I just get lazy. I need to figure out how to prevent this from happening this time around. I'm going to make ab work outs and cardio part of my everyday routine. I need to just find the motivation and a way to keep the motivation. Last night on Facebook I asked, "Do you exercise regularly? How do you stay motivated?". I heard two things that I think could help me stay motivate: find a workout buddy and do something I enjoy. The first thing that comes to mind is dance. I love to dance! I took dance lessons from the age of 4 until I was 5 months pregnant with Sean...yes, I was the one tapping on the stage at recital with a preggo belly. :) Some sort of dance workout would probably be great for cardio. Now to find one (preferably cheap/free and can be done at home) and to find a workout buddy.
I'm nursing so I don't want to limit what I eat by "dieting". I just want to make better food choices and I'm off to a good start. I made some changes while pregnant like replacing soda with water and cutting back on coffee. Then immediately postpartum I craved a lot of healthy foods. I'm determined not to let these changes revert back to what I use to be. I'm not stopping there; I want to make my eating even healthier. What I'm working on now is healthier snacks. I'm doing good at the moment; my favorite snacks right now are yogurt, bananas, cucumbers, salads, dry cereal (kid size bowl of honey nut cheerios), hard boiled eggs and peanut butter crackers. I try to ignore the cookies and such that hubby insists on having in the house for snacks and avoid buying the things I know I will snack on before the healthy stuff (chocolate!!!). I do great during the day, not so much between dinner and bedtime.
Exercise is sadly pretty nonexistent. I've tried in the past to workout regularly (usually a new year's resolution). I start off really strong and slowly slack off. I'm not really sure what happens other than I just get lazy. I need to figure out how to prevent this from happening this time around. I'm going to make ab work outs and cardio part of my everyday routine. I need to just find the motivation and a way to keep the motivation. Last night on Facebook I asked, "Do you exercise regularly? How do you stay motivated?". I heard two things that I think could help me stay motivate: find a workout buddy and do something I enjoy. The first thing that comes to mind is dance. I love to dance! I took dance lessons from the age of 4 until I was 5 months pregnant with Sean...yes, I was the one tapping on the stage at recital with a preggo belly. :) Some sort of dance workout would probably be great for cardio. Now to find one (preferably cheap/free and can be done at home) and to find a workout buddy.
Just for fun, my first dance recital:
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Youtube! I have an hour-long playlist of work-out dance videos posted by gyms and dance studioes! Free and I can do it at home where I won't feel like everyone is laughing at the uncoordinated chubby girl. Ha ha! I had a buddy in the beginning, but schedules and children did not allow that to last long, so I usually hit the gym solo. In going GF, I found I could still eat a lot of my favorite snacks if I made them myself - making our yogurt cut SOOOO much sugar! Granola and trail mix? Same thing! AND, I could make more servings for less money. Like you, I struggle between dinner and bedtime. I have brownies sitting on my stove (thank you, Super Bowl Sunday) and I was about to cry I wanted one SOOO BAD! I held out, though! YOU CAN, TOO!!!
ReplyDeleteYou go, Mama! I hear you about those cravings. I had to kick a lot of those "bad foods" when my blood sugar started to sky rocket again around the holidays. These idea might help:
ReplyDelete1) Shaklee's & EnergyFirst. Unfortunately, being healthy can be a bit of an investment. I swear by Shaklee's natural vitamins, and I use the EnergyFirst all natural whey protein powder (sweetened w/Stevia) w/almond milk in the morning and either fruit or decaff hazelnut coffee (makes a yummy iced coffee). Great way to sub the caffiene & sugar & extra dairy but still get that yummy flavor.
2) Cocoa roasted almonds. Little to no sugar but you can still totally taste the cocoa on the nuts. We can't keep it enough of it in our house. When I am still craving something sweet, I just grab an apple or some sort of handy fruit and drink some more water.
3) Peppermint tea helps steer sugar cravings and the smell of vanilla.
4) I get a lot of NetFlix instant steaming videos or DVDs for my workouts. My favorite ones are dance workouts too. Cheap. Convenient.
I hope those ideas help a little bit more. If I was there, we could totally go walk or do Zumba or something. Haha. I also have a Pinterest board of "healthy eats". Feel free to check them out. It takes about 2 weeks to kick "bad" eating habits which I think you could totally do!! You can so do this! :-)
I know theres a place near you that has cheap Zumba, might want to look into it? I know golden slippers does it but being in SoNo would save you a long drive. I like working out with Travis, maybe Richard would workout with you?
ReplyDeleteBtw, I didn't mention anything at home because I totally cannot get motivated at home because I can see everything else that needs to be done, exercise is lower on the list compared to housework. And leaving the house lets me have "me" time without focusing on all the other stuff, running is my favorite way to clear my mind
ReplyDeleteWow, yall are awesome! Thanks for the support!
ReplyDeleteHeather- Brownies are evil! Last week I had the urge to bake and made brownies. I ended up eating too many of them.
Jiza- I checked out your pin board and repinned a few. :) btw you just pointed out another reason yall should move back here. ;)
Aleacia- I wonder if the rec center has any classes. It would be closer and probably cheaper than who ever does Zumba at the dance studio (no Golden Slippers, someone rents the studio). I totally understand what you mean about getting out. It's just difficult until Emily takes a bottle. I honestly thought no way Richard would work out with me but I asked tonight; he said yes. :)