For the past few weeks, I've played with the idea of starting a new weekly post. Now that I'm done living in dorm rooms, having a lot of things to look forward to in the coming year, and having a bit more time on my hands, I'm really looking forward to dedicating myself to regularly working out, cooking more, and watching what I eat. While I do enjoy working out, and I do enjoy eating healthy, I also really enjoy sitting around marathoning tv shows and eating cheeseburgers. I was thinking about how I can hold myself accountable to sticking with eating cleaner and working out more consistently, and I thought...well, I've been documenting most other parts of my life on the internet, why not this?
This will never be a healthy living blog. My plan is just to do a quick post every week about what work outs I did, what food I made, and overall how I'm striving to live a healthier and fitter life. I want to share what my weekly goals are - I've always said that the way to achieve a long term goal is by breaking it up into little goals, and trying to live a healthier life is no different. My long term goal is to lose 25 pounds. When you look purely at the numbers, I'm slightly in the overweight category, and while I know that I'm a healthy person otherwise, I want to strive to be healthier, and a part of that is being in the normal weight category. Trust me, that's not an easy or fun thing to admit on the internet, but I also want to go into this being honest. Here's how I plan on achieving my goals, in the short and long term!
through watching what I eat:
Two years ago, CR and I had a lot of success doing the Four Hour Body. We both lost about 15 pounds relatively easily. We spent most of our days at home studying, so we were able to control our diet really well - there weren't any temptations in our homes, so we didn't really deviate from the plan! Once clinical rotations started, we still tried to follow the diet, but life got busy, we spent less and less time at home, and the time we were together, we wanted to do fun things like get cheeseburgers and eat dessert with our friends. That, combined with those months of not living at home, and we're basically right where we started. Our (because we're doing this together again) plan is to eat pretty similar to that diet again - high in vegetables and lean meats, low in carbs and dairy. Due to my PCOS, losing weight is not the easiest for me. I can't just cut out cereal and soda and lose weight. I have to actively work on my diet, and for me, that includes not eating simple carbs most of the time. We already cook like that at home anyway, so now it's more about meal prepping during the week so I have those meals to take for lunch, and working on self control at times when I'm around other food that isn't the healthiest. So the plan is Sunday-Friday, we eat clean. Eggs and beans for breakfast, veggies and meats for lunch and dinner, and vegetables and protein (jerky, eggs, etc) for snacks. I plan on keeping track of calories on My Fitness Pal (lets be friends! I'm fhasselhof). On Saturday, we have a cheat day! We get to go out for brunch with friends, grab a pizza for dinner, and enjoy those meals together. 10% of our meals for the week are whatever food we desire, and the other time we focus on delicious healthier food. It's the right compromise for us.
through exercising more and intentionally
In June, when we had a month off to study for Step 2, I did six weeks of the BBG / Sweat with Kayla workouts. I liked having organized work outs listed out for me, and with them lasting only 28 minutes each, it wasn't a giant time commitment. I felt stronger and leaner after that time. Then sub-internships happened, and working 75 hour weeks meant that the first thing to stop was work outs. I have one week of EM left, and then I have a month of vacation, so it's the perfect time to really get into that routine. I also have recently discovered spinning! I know, a little late on that band wagon ;) I found a nice little studio around here, and with a New Year's deal, have purchased unlimited classes for the next three months (bonus part about living in a low cost of living area? 3 months unlimited classes cost me just over $100). So the plan is 3 days of BBG a week + 2-3 spin classes a week. Having specific plans in place means I'm less likely to go to the gym and just half ass my time on a treadmill for twenty minutes. I'm scheduling my workouts a week ahead of time, so I can't back out of the workouts. Especially since I know how have to show up here every week and confess what did and did not happen!
through weekly goals
Like I said, achieving a big goal is about breaking it into little goals. So for this, it's no different! More about my goals for next week below.
through treating myself for my hard work
Part of that is through cheat days - I love all types of food too much to just say "nope, never again!". Other parts of that is, of course, cute work out clothes! I've always really liked Old Navy's work out clothes - they hold up well, they fit me well, and have really lasted. Currently in my cart I have a high waisted cropped pair of pants (my favorite style) in a cute black + blue pattern, a tank top, and a pullover (because the BBG work outs currently are happening in my cold garage).
THIS WEEK'S:
meals:
exercise:
- Wednesday: 60 minutes of spin (18.5 miles, 590 calories burned)
- Thursday: BBG abs + arms
- Friday: 45 minutes of spin (13.5 miles, 371 calories burned)
weight lost: 1.6 lbs
goals for the upcoming week:
- Drink 100 ounces of water/day
- Do 3 BBG work outs + 3 spin work outs
- Try one new recipe (maybe these tuna cakes?)
A few people have asked if there's a way we can make this interactive, and I really love that idea! I'm just not quite sure how we go about it - do you guys want to share what work outs you did and what new recipes your tried in the comments section? Do you want to just follow each other on My Fitness Pal? Do you want to make a Wellness group on facebook? I'm definitely game for anything!
ps. I can't not for the life of me come up with a good name for this series. What do you guys think? Weekend Wellness Update? Working on my Fritness (fran+ fitness - CR loves making up new words with my name). The 90/10 list?
