Moving Day

I've decided to close down this blog. I like writing a blog, I really do. But this is just not what I want to write about. It may have been a few years ago, when I was still getting into the healthy eating and living. My new blog is about my life, things happening in it, and me sharing it with people. I like to think I have a fairly fun and interesting life, and i hope it's worth writing about. I decided to open it on WordPress. So, if you want to follow me over there, bookmark it, or whatever, that'd be awesome. :)

http://touton.wordpress.com/

How Far I've Come

Sometimes, when I have a bad day where I eat more than I should or eat things I know I shouldn't, miss a workout because I got too busy at work or home, or even when I only got out for a run and didn't get in the strength training I wanted, I get down on myself. Yesterday, however, I came up with a new way of thinking: comparing me now to the me about 4 years ago.

Then: 4 years ago I could barely run at all. I had random spurts of motivation and then give up. I was the straggler at basic training.
Now: I run pretty much 5 days every week and do the occasional strength training session.

Then: I ate large portions, seconds, and far too much junk and high calorie food and drink.
Now: I have small portions, eat when I'm hungry and try and save my splurges for special occasions. I measure my shots and mix them with low/zero calorie mixers.

Then: I was so confused as to how I was supposed to burn more calories than I ate when a workout only burned about 200 calories, say.
Now: I have lots of knowledge of being healthy and weight loss. I now realize that the body burns calories just by being!

So what if I missed a couple of days or when out for supper? :)

Back to Blogging; or Here Comes the Bride

Once in a while I do an estimate of the calories I've eaten in a day and I weigh myself once in a while. Turns out I'm quite good at maintaining without counting anything and just eating like a normal person. I even indulge more than I should and I'm still doing good. Yay! I've also turned a new page in the workout department. I've always known I should do more strength training and less cardio but it's been always hard to switch to. However, I've flipped some sort of switch and do about 5 minutes on the treadmill for a warm up and then an hour doing weights. Upper body one day, lower the next. I bike to and from work so I figure I get some good cardio there.

The other reason that got me motivate to change up my workout is that I'm getting married! On June 30th in St. John's, NL. I figured now that the only way I can really deal with these few wobbly bits (as Bridget Jones would say) is to try weights. Who wouldn't want toned arms in their strapless wedding gown anyway, right? On the eating side, I figure I'll just continue maintaining until May or April and assess where I am there. Maybe 3 or 4 months in advance I can cut calories to lose a few before the big day. Nothing major. I also need to be a good girl at this upcoming Christmas so that I am not taking that weight off before my wedding!

Goal: Listen to Hunger Signals

This kind of follows the mentality of "eat to live, not live to eat." I am trying to just eat when I'm hungry. And in order to do this and not overeat, it is important to follow the last goal I talked about, eat whole foods more often. Because, if I am eating granola bars, crackers, or 100-calorie packs of cookies whenever I'm hungry, I'll be hungry a lot and be consuming way more calories than necessary. However, if I eat a good breakfast (a smoothie or some oatmeal, for example), I can go for hours before feeling hungry. At the end of a day, if I sit down and make an estimate of the calories I've eaten (because I scarily know how many calories are in a lot of things) I have a eaten the right amount.

You may have heard that instead of eating 3 meals a day, you should eat 6 small meals. This is a big thing in dieting, but I've made my own rules. I just eat small amounts when I'm hungry. Sometimes the only "meal" I have in a day is breakfast, and sometimes I have a small supper if I'm in the mood to cook. But really, what does it matter if you have a meal, as long as you are eating right and getting enough food and nutrients.

Now, when it comes to other things, like eating out, alcohol, snacks (such as for movies), I need to do all that in moderation and cut back a little. I don't go out to eat much already, and when I do, I eat half my meal and save the rest for the next day because you always get huge portions at restaurants. I don't drink alcohol much,  but sometimes, when I do, I drink far too much. I have cut back, but I want to cut back even further. Sometimes this involves tricking people into thinking that you have alcohol because they'll tease you or pressure you as to why you're not drinking. This is easy because you cannot tell the difference between 7 Up and vodka to just 7 Up, for example. As for movies, I love popcorn, and since 1/4 cup of kernels = 8 cups of popcorn and if I ate all that it'd be about 250 calories!

I just ate a large bowl of oatmeal (about 200 calories) and am FULL. I probably won't have to eat for a while and when I go to see Bridesmaids later, I will sneak in my own large bag of popcorn! :D

Goal: Eat Whole Foods More Often

What are whole foods exactly? Wikipedia defines whole food as "foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible, before being consumed. Whole foods typically do not contain added ingredients, such as salt, carbohydrates, or fat." So this would include things like fruits, vegetables, milk, yogurt, whole grains, beans, cheese, etc. That means, not granola bars, crackers, a lot of cereals, VitaTops, hot dogs, frozen dinners, etc. Whole foods have a lot of advantages over highly processed food, mainly that they provide more nutrients, don't have a ton of sodium or other food additives, and will probably keep you from getting hungry longer.

The food I pack for work these days is almost always whole foods. Because I try to eat when I'm hungry, I'd rather just snack throughout the day rather than have a meal because the clock says 12:00. I bring, for example, nuts (unsalted), fruit (apples and oranges are my staples), bread with some sort of condiment (usually some peanut or almond butter), and yogurts. For breakfast I have a smoothie which I take with me in a double walled cup. I drink it between 6:30 and 8:30 and it keeps me full for hours! It usually contains milk, yogurt, frozen fruit and/or berries, egg whites, flax seed powder and spinach. Yes, spinach. It's wonderful. A handful and you don't even notice the taste! Sometimes if you have a light coloured smoothie, like strawberry, it will turn a funny colour, but it won't change the taste.

After all this about eating whole foods, let me point out the wording of my goal: eat whole food more often. So this means I still eat hot dogs, cereal, crackers, etc., sometimes. More of a treat, you know. Especially since my parents just hauled 8 packs of Schneider's Low Fat Weiners from Newfoundland because I can't find them here. There are certain foods though, that I just won't bother with. Frozen dinners for example. They don't taste that good and are full of sodium and other crap. Plus the meat in them is pretty nasty. Also, granola bars. They make my throat burn and don't keep me full for long. Another thing I have recently dropped is popcorn seasoning. The salt and vinegar kind I looked at had something like 1200mg of sodium! In 2 teaspoons! That's  something like what you need in a whole day. Now I stick to plain, or with some light margarine, pepper and a little salt some times.

In the end, I feel better eating this way, and that's the best part!

Goal: Exercise Regularly

If I want to be someone like I talked about in my last post, someone who doesn't obsess over food and how much of it she's eating, then I need to exercise regularly. I need to burn some calories in order to keep a balance going on. I can eat normally and not have to worry about it. In addition, we all know exercise is good for us. And I do feel better when I exercise.

I also have some guidelines when it comes to exercising. I don't want to spend my life in a gym or training for marathons or anything of that nature. I just want to be fit an healthy. So my guideline is at least one half-hour run a day. It's short but good. I usually get more than that but there are days it's all I can fit in. I'm lucky enough to have a job that allows me to take an hour out of my work day for fitness. I try to fit my run and some weights into a workout.

I also have a long term goal when it comes to exercising: I want to be fit when I'm old. I see some people when they're old, they've gained weight, they can't move fast or need a walker. I want to keep up a level of fitness that will move me away from that. I know, I'm only 24, chill out. But that's the time when you have to think about these things. The same as if you are saving for retirement.

So keep fit and have fun!

Goal: Live Like a Normal Person

Or, Live Like a Normal Person Who Eats Healthy, Exercises Regularly, and Doesn't Obsess Over Food or Calories. Long, I know, but let me explain. For a part of the 3.5 years I counted points, then calories, it didn't run my life. It fit in there quite well actually. But once it wore on for a while, and I wasn't as strict with either of the programs, I gained, or didn't lose and I stressed out a lot. Especially when it came to special occasions or other situations involving food. So I finally had enough. I am at a good weight and although I would like to be 10 pounds lighter, I know I need to learn to be comfortable where I am.

So how does a normal person live? Maybe I'm not using normal in the right context, but where my mind is, normal people don't obsess about food and calories. And I want to be a normal person who eats healthy and exercises. I want to eat to live not live to eat. I want to enjoy special occasions, not obsess over food I can and can't eat. I want to be active in some way every day. And so far, I'm doing quite good!