I Love Eating Healthy

:)
My dinner tonight was delicious. As I was preparing it, my housemates kept commenting on how many veggies were in it. I put pork, onions, fresh garlic, carrots, broccoli, green peppers and tomatoes in a pan, drizzled sunflower seed oil on top, and added salt, pepper, and italian seasoning and baked it in the oven for an hour, flipping it half way through. I love the way it all tastes together!! And, since there were so many veggies, I have enough food for dinner tomorrow!
:)
Later on, I'm thinking of making a smoothie with "Carribean Treasures" frozen fruit mix (strawberries, mango, and peaches) with some frozen mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries), add some yogurt and some orange juice and blend it in the magic bullet for a minute or so... it makes a delicious smoothie. I don't have them all the time... but I've been really good and want something sweet for dessert/snack later on. I didn't wake up in time for lunch today so I've only had breakfast and dinner at this point...

Just thought I'd share.
I love my new lifestyle. :D!

The Weekend :)

I had a great weekend! :)

I ate well, I felt great, I got caught up on some sleep... I purchased only healthy foods (almost all veggies, fruit, or meat) when I went grocery shopping and bought ... fish ?!?!?~?! I hate fish. Or at least I used to hate it... I'm trying to get myself to try new foods, or retry old foods that I don't like, and fish is supposed to be very healthy for you... so I picked up some tilapia and a scallop.. and on top of that, I ate all healthy food for the whole weekend... the worst thing I had was a hot chocolate full of alcohol and some whipped cream on top... but that was because I was hanging out with my room mates for a movie night.

I went to the gym both Saturday and Sunday (I felt I needed to because I couldn't find my lock for the gym til Thursday or Friday afternoon so I couldn't go last week.. it was in a random box thanks to my move before the holidays. :P) I'm quiiiiiiiiiite sore today after the weightlifting yesterday... but that just means it worked my muscles! I'll live! :P

All in all, I feel great, and I know it's only going to get better as I get healthier. ^-^

Note to self: weigh yourself! :P (I keep forgetting to do it when it is my "normal time" to weigh myself.)

Back To School...

Alright! So, I'm back to school which means I'm back in the swing of things! Last time I checked I didn't gain too much weight over the holidays (between 2-3 pounds :() but I wasn't at home and I can't expect (and wouldn't want to expect) my hosts to follow my meal plans, especially when I was at one place for about a week! I had lots of the things I've been craving, like cheese and crackers, chocolates, nuts, pizza, etc. and I really enjoyed my holidays! Now it's time to get back into my weight loss mode.

One of the things I'm hoping to really work at in the next little while is making sure that I go to bed on time... preferably about 1am my time. This ensures that I will have 8 hours of sleep even for my morning classes. It's hard to sleep on time sometimes though, I'm living in a new house with 4 other girls and sometimes they're not always sleeping when I want to, and there's so many distractions and things that I want to do that it's hard to cool down and tell myself to relax.

Unfortunately, I can't find my lock for the gym, though I have all my gym clothes. So for the moment I'm holding off on going to the gym. I am eating right though - for example, I didn't have time to eat breakfast today so I brought a whole foods bar with me, some grapes, and a tea. Throughout the rest of the day I eat plenty of meat with fruits and veggies. :)

I'll let you know when I've properly weighed myself and give an update... :)

I hope everyone's holidays were filled with family, friends, and fun! :)

Guess My Last Post Was Kind Of Silly!

hehe, sorry about that - it's the holidays. I had exams, then I moved, then Christmas, then at family's homes - I won't actually get back to university until Saturday but figured I needed a bit of an update.

I can't say I've been following my plan closely over the holidays - I really needed to relax and enjoy myself, and especially since I'm not at home (and only spent one night at my mom's even!) I can't very well expect my hosts to follow my meal plan of no carbs and high amounts of meat. :P I also don't have the gym. and it's also hard to say no to those snacks and treats when they're laying so deliciously in front of you so I've relaxed on this weight loss journey for a bit but I should be back into the full swing of things for the start of next week. :D

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and I wish you all a Happy New Year!!!

Amanda

K, Time to Start Blogging Regularily Again ;)

One thing I'm having some difficulty with is studying when I'm limiting my portions and what I can eat. I have exams on Monday and Tuesday... so I'm not going to the gym this weekend as I need to study and then pack for my move on Wednesday. Still doing my best though :). I'm eating healthy even though I can't go to the gym right now... It's so liberating to have 25 pounds off me! I feel so much better! I had my boyfriend tell me that my arms look thinner... My bras have extra space in them... My legs are thinner... Jeans are more loose! 25 pounds! in just over 4 months! If I can keep up this pace I'll be at my goal weight by summertime! I think I want to set a goal for myself to be down to 145 by August 1st, 2010. That's 63 pounds in one year and will be about a pound a week from now on... which is very doable!

:D

My inspiration for today: JOANIA! :)

Yay! Another 2 Pounds Gone!!!

Hehe, that's right! I'm down to 183 :) I'm very excited, because this is the first time I've lost weight in a while (since I got off track for awhile >.<) and I haven't checked my weight in about a week.

I've been pretty good lately. I have had some carbs lately since I'm trying to eat all the food in my house since I'm moving out... but no more than I normally would (I had spaghetti once or twice... and I had some soup that had rice in it...). I went away last week and to help ensure that I ate healthily, I brought half a backpack of fresh cut veggies with me and ribs that I had left over from dinner the night before, so I was able to avoid carbs even though I was living in an Asian household ^-^. I *DID* have bubble tea :(, but instead of getting milky I got a slushie kind so that cuts out alot of the fat in a bbt right there (I wasn't going to get one but I needed something to drink and there were no other places near us with drinks in the mall we were at). :)

I did have a treat yesterday, I bought myself a pack of (fat-free) swedish berries... I needed some energy and something to snack on while I studied and was at the convenience store getting milk anyway... but I'm ok with that. I've been good for about a week now... I deserve something once in a while ;)

I've been to the gym every day except when I was away. Yesterday I weight-lifted and did 12? machines... today I stair stepped, burned 360 calories, and then weight lifted on 3 or 4 of the machines that I skipped yesterday.

I feel so good. :D My clothes keep getting more loose -- I alwaaaays need my belt now, and I have a pair of boots that I used to not be able to zip up all the way, and I can now wear them properly! I'm really proud that I'm going to the gym every day even though I don't have any classes at the moment (it's the exam period right now at my university). Well done me :)

So. This is what's up.

Sorry again for not writing... last week of classes for this term... I'm rather busy.

Although in the past week I've been to the gym more (there were a couple days I didn't go because of big tests the following day), I'm still not where I want to be in many aspects. Last night I had a bit of a revolution... I had a feeling that I needed time to myself to think, so I shut off the computer and I let myself go with my thoughts. Here's what happened:

At first I started getting upset. Quite upset. But then I realized - it doesn't do me any good to be just sitting here upset... what is the problem? The biggest thing that was bothering me was my weight loss journey. Although I've been going to the gym, I'm still eating some things that I shouldn't be... I haven't been in the right mindset. I think I got into this bad mindset when I was at home, and my sister offered me a rice krispie square. I declined, but she said something like "come on, you've done really well! You've lost 20+ pounds! You deserve a treat once in a while!" and that was the start of it. I think after that, I stuck with it and I thought to myself "You've done really well! Have a treat!" (which granted, it's okay to treat yourself once in a while, but it became a habit, which defies the essence of it being a treat.) This was the problem. So what am I doing to fix it?

First, I needed to get back in the right mindset. I thought of my reasons for doing this whole weight loss journey. (From my first blog: There have been a few reasons for my decision. 1) I want to live a healthier life - I've grown tired of eating and living the way I have, and I am making a change. 2) I have a 6 month old nephew, and I want to be around for as much of his life as I can. 3) It feels good to be eating healthier and not weighed down with many fatty foods.) There have been some other added benefits since this as well, and I want to continue those as well. I thought of how I want to continue looking and feeling better - yes, what I've done is great, but it's not enough, I'm about 1/3 of the way through this struggle and I will NOT quit now. I thought back to a conversation that I had with someone about whether or not they thought I would pull this off - in which they gave me a high percentage of doing it, but it still wasn't 100%, and that pushed me. I pictured myself thinner... I thought of how it felt good to be loosing weight up until I sort of.... slowed down... I thought of how I want to look better in Christmas photos with my family, for my boyfriend when I see him over New Years, and most importantly, of how I want to reach my goal for me.

I know that it's time to get back into the swing of things. Here's how my day went in terms of food/drink. I brought my tea with me to school as usual. I had a banana for breakfast, and drank water when I went to work out. When I got home from working out, I put some meat in the oven and started drinking [decaf] tea of a few different flavours (#1 it helps keep me warm, #2 it fills my stomach w/ a non-calorie/non-fat liquid that helps keep me full, #3 it helps flush out my system). I had a pork chop for dinner, and a smoothie (frozen fruit, fat-free yogurt and orange juice) for "dessert". That's it. ^-^ I pushed myself harder at the gym. I burned about 370 calories on the elliptical machine and then worked out on a few of the leg workout machines (I had a needle yesterday for H1N1 and my arm is still sore or else I would have done all the machines.) I portioned myself, I ate slowly, I didn't eat til I was stuffed, I didn't snack. I'm being really hard on myself to make up for these few weeks where I lacked the initiative to do so. I know that Christmas is coming and I want to have a chocolate peanut butter ball or two... and that there will be other treats over the holidays.

There's nothing in the house that I'm not allowed to eat, and I'm going to keep it that way. No carbs. No junk food. Tea/water to drink. Meat, veggies, fruit. Until I go home for the holidays. Gym everyday (except exam days.) NO EXCUSES! When I go to visit my housemate from last year, next week, no bbt, bring food with me so that I'm not required to eat rice and/or noodles. I'm keeping in mind that I can always eat "those foods" once I've lost the weight. I'm going to be very harsh with myself until Christmas rolls around. I'm back in the game. I'm back in the mindset for sure. I will succeed. I will do this. No matter what it takes.

[♪ Work it harder, make it better, do it faster, makes us stronger! ♫]