New chapters!

Okay so!

I'm officially a college graduate, and I'm officially moved back in my mom's house for a couple weeks until my summer job starts. Good news about this- my mom tends to cook really healthy, with lots of veggies at each meal! We also live right by a bike path, so I went for a nice walk this morning. I'll probably do some yoga and such later too. I'm going to try and do this every day too. Yaay!

I'll be moving in for my summer internship in a few weeks, which is going to be a whole other kinds of challenging. Meals are provided five days out of the week. Lunch is usually food bank food, which is full of calories to make up for the kids who maybe don't get to eat breakfast or dinner. Low income and such. Dinner is usually provided by little other church ladies, meaning it's fried, pizza, with lots of dessert. And generally bad for you. So I'm going to make myself a list of rules to help me get along this summer and not gain the weight I've lost and more.

1. Always double up on fruits and vegetables. Even if they're green beans, eat them. You'll feel better.

2. Avoid desserts at all costs. Unless it's homemade banana pudding or something, those cookies aren't going to taste as good as you hope they will.

3. Get to the gym as much as possible. Things get crazy and sometimes you don't have the time, but go as much as possible. You'll feel better about life.

4. Do yoga as much as possible before bed.

5. Avoid those morning trips to Chick-fil-a and Starbucks. Especially Starbucks. You don't even like coffee, and caffeine makes you crazy.

If I think of any others... I'll add them. Still working hard!

Vegetables, yes!

Things have been going well. I went and worked out four days last week. I went and did Zumba yesterday, but I skipped this morning. I accidentally messed up my foot yesterday, and then Zumba'd on it, pushing me to the point of limping. I decided skipping the gym this morning was in my best interest. Besides that, I'm totally exhausted because of hormonal type things. I mean, went to be a little before 11 last night, work up briefly at around 12:30 when my boyfriend came home and acknowledged him, then fell back asleep. I even slept a little later until about 9 today too. Still exhausted. Oh well. I did go to yoga today though! Also, I think my roommates took her bike home this weekend :( No more biking for me.

I'm trying this thing where I'm actively eating more vegetables. I'm trying to make my lunches almost entirely vegetables. Today I had some tabouli my mom gave me this weekend and some carrots and hummus. I have a lot of leftover frozen vegetables, so I'm thinking I'm going to start eating this for lunch. I'm also making sure I get my salad each night at dinner, so that's another nice bunch of veggies. Om nom nom.

Not a whole lot else going on here. Trying really hard to work on my candy consumption, especially after my mom got my so much yummy Easter Candy! But hopefully me offsetting that with healthier snacks is going to help with that. Yay!

Working working working!

Phew, busy.

Just got back from Zumba, which I mistakenly ate dinner about an hour and a half before Zumba. I made it through, but it was less than fun. Moral of story- tough it out and don't eat until after working out. Also, I'm going to go on a bike ride again tomorrow morning. Yaaaay.

I think I've gained back a few pounds. Either that or I'm retaining water because of my hormones and stuff. I know your weight can fluctuate a lot due to water, so I'm not terribly worried, but it still bums me out. I've been feeling kind of down on my body recently, and I think it's because I fell off the working out thing (though I'm getting back on it now!) But every time I do Zumba or something, I feel everything jiggling around and it makes me so self conscious. I mean, I know you're supposed to have some body fat, especially women, but my butt jiggling around makes me especially self conscious. I gain weight in my butt, hips and thighs, so that where all my fat is, jiggling around. Though the good news, supposably it's better to gain weight in those areas instead of on your stomach, in terms of heart health.

Also, eating better is getting hard, because I'm moving in two weeks and I don't want to buy all sort of random food. I'm making fried rice style quinoa tomorrow though, so I'm excited about that. Nice vegetarian dish, and I know it'll make me feel good. I think once I move out to California (since that's when I'll really have control over my diet again) I'm going to try and start eating vegetarian two or three times a week. We'll see if that works out though.

Also, there's a 10 pound cheesecake in my refrigerator. That's right, 10 pounds of New York style cheesecake, in my apartment. My roommates gets one every year for her birthday. Oh dear... temptation temptation.

Cycling FTW

I know, I know, I've failed at updating this thing with any sort of consistency. BUT things are still going well. I've been kind of bad about going to the gym, and this weekend I was gone at a retreat and ate a bunch of junk, but I'm getting back on track. Plus, two people in the past week have told me I look skinny! Hooray!

I went to Zumba Monday, but my friend who leads the class had a commitment at the normal time for Zumba today, so I was just going to hit the gym for an hour. Then I went outside and realized it was BEAUTIFUL outside. So I thought maybe I would go for a walk, but I live in a kind of sketchy area. Then it dawned on me- my roommate has a bicycle. I could go cycling around campus and in the neighborhoods! My last cycling experience about a year ago was less than pleasant, but I figured I could make on the roads, since last time I went off roading and ran into a million trees.

It was a AWESOME choice! I had a good time, I can tell I got a good workout because I only cycled for half an hour but was beat when I got back, plus I feel like I'm building muscle in my legs, which is great since all my fat hangs out in my legs, butt, and thighs. I did a little research on the benefits of cycling as well, and I think I'm going to stick with it for the next few weeks until I move back home. I do wish there was a better spot to do it here, but I got spoiled since I grew up right next to a bike path. I'm also thinking that maybe when I move to California I might buy a bike. I can go biking in the vineyards! Huzzah!

Alright, got to do laundry and get cleaned up from my ride. I have some left over minestrone soup and a salad for dinner- yum yum! Maybe some popcorn later if I feel like treating myself.

Over and out!

I'm alive, I swear

Yikes! Things got so crazy, this blog kind of fell by the wayside. I had a theatre conference, spring break, ended up last minute stage managing a show, and all sorts of other stuff. Also, I have a job, so I'll be graduating from college with a guaranteed one year of employment. I'm going to be working in Dallas this summer (my hometown) and then I'm moving all the way to California for an internship out there. Talk about motivation- I need to get my California body ASAP! In any case though, I'm so lucky to be graduating with not one but two jobs. Most people can't say that in this economy.

In any case, I've been eating okay. I didn't work out for like... a month though, which was lame. I've picked the habit back up this week though, so all is good. The challenge I'm facing right now is since I'm moving in about a month, I don't want to be buying a ton of new food, so I'm trying to live off of what I have right now and buy as little as possible. That means a lot of rice, chicken, and what have you. Obviously I'll have to be buying some food, but I'm trying to make moving an easy process. I actually have no idea what to make for dinner tomorrow, so I'll be searching through some recipes today trying to find something. I think something with asparagus is sounding tasty though- on nom nom.

Also, on the subject of moving to California- more good news. I'm going to have gym access for at least another year, since I can get it during my summer internship as well as with my one in Cali in September. No idea how much time I'll actually have to go to the gym, but it's nice to have the option. Also- SO EXCITED ABOUT ALL THE GOOD FOOD IN CALI. Fresh produce, organic markets, I can't wait. I'm going to be dirt poor too, so maybe that'll help me lose weight too (joking, of course). I know things are going to be crazy for the next year, but I'm excited, and I think reaching my weight loss goal is totally possible.

Even though I haven't updated, I've kept off the weight I've loss, and I've noticed my jeans are fitting a little looser. Even my dress jeans, which are normally really tight, fit pretty comfortable now. I'm really glad. The progress is slow, but I'm feeling good.

I promise more updates will happen. Over and out!

I love cooking!

So, things are going well. I didn't get to the gym for the last three days due to being really overloaded with projects, but I'm going to go today. Also, my roommate bought a scale, so I'm gonna weight myself later and see if I've lost any weight or if my jeans feeling large is just an illusion. Good news! Scale says I'm at about 136, meaning I've lost three pounds! This is really encouraging!

I feel like I've been doing pretty well though! I made some awesome barbacoa beef for dinner last night and ate it Chipotle style. Totally worth the four hours I had to let it simmer on the stove. I put the beef over some cilantro lime rice and added some salsa verde I found at the grocery store, as well as a little light sour cream and some queso fresco. According to myfitnessapal, that meals came out to just under 400 calories, which isn't bad considering a Chiptole burrito can run you at least 1000 calories.

I also made my mom's poolside dip recipe, which I'll have to post later. It's basically stuff like tomatoes, bell peppers, avocado, etc with a little lemon juice that you eat with chips. It's a really great healthy snack, since it's almost all veggies. I made it an attempt to get myself to eat more veggies. Lots of chopping, but it makes a lot and it's super good.

I'm hopefully gonna go Zumba tonight, if not I'm hitting the gym. I'm feeling pretty good either way- gonna have some poolside dip and and English muffin for lunch.

Let the games begin.

Whew! I got super busy last week so blogging kind of fell to the bottom of the barrel. But guess what- my show is closed! That means more time to cook, exercise, eat healthy, and blog all about it. I'm so happy!

So some exciting news- I put on clean pair of jeans this morning, and realized they're kind of large on me. My jeans generally shrink some in the wash since out dryer get super hot, and then stretch out over time. But there are nice a roomy. I think this is a good sign! I don't have a scale, so I can't confirm or deny anything, but I'm going to investigate at the gym and see if they have one. Regardless of if I actually have lost weight, it's encouraging.

Also, I'm going to be going to the gym more frequently and for more time. I went for an hour Monday. I was going to go yesterday, but I got very little sleep, and decided sleeping in was in my best interest. I did have my yoga class though. Right now I'm just waiting for dinner time so the gym will clear our a little. I want to make sure I get a elliptical or treadmill, and our gym is small, so you have to go at the right times.

Also, I made some really awesome beef, potato, and quinoa stew for dinner last night. It was awesome, and I've been having the leftover cooked quinoa for lunch. One cup of uncooked makes SO MUCH QUINOA. I swear, that stuff like... quadruples in size. Tomorrow I'm going to make it fried rice style with some vegetables I've got hanging out n the freezer. The best part is I don't get hungry by 2:30, which has been a huge issue for me. Also, my snack of choice right now is an English muffin with a little whipped cream cheese. OM NOM NOM.

In any case, I'm going to be kicking it up a notch over here, hoping for great results. Hooray me!