Goal for the week:Dec 10

Goal for the week: Dec 10 This week my goal is to not eat any junk food from this Monday Dec 10- Monday Dec 17. I plan to accomplish this by allowing myself three mini meals after dinner. One mini meal will be a protein bar and a fruit-cup for 290 calories and the another mini meal will be a yogurt and 100 cal pack of almonds for 160 calories. I will eat up to three of these mini meals after dinner when I get hungry. I will be so happy not to have eaten any junk food at night. It is my goal to completely stop eating junk food at night. Will report on Dec 17 what I was able to accomplish. I will try my best. CLM

December Update!

December Update: Well, well well, this month may have just started, but I have not just started! I have been going strong on my walking routine since October. I am headed into this new year feeling more happy and confident than ever! My short walks have really been they key to my success in consistently walking. I walk during my lunch breaks for 30 minutes Monday-Friday. I walk for 30 minutes after work a few days a week. I walk for 20-30 minutes after dinner a few days a week. I walk for 20-30 minutes in the morning a few days week. This walking plan is so much better than when I use to hope I would walk for 60 minutes every morning and never did it. I have also been tracking what I eat and keeping a food journal since October. I was tracking using an Excel sheet and I was not really looking at my calories. Recently I started using Livestrong.com again so that I can track the calories. For the most part I have been unsuccessful at my goal to eat three meals a day with no snacks and no sweets, like my goal to walk every morning for 1 hour it needed some adjusting. Now I follow a six meal a day plan with protein at every meal. I also have certain treats that I allow myself such as pretzels, frozen fruit-bars and sugar-free pudding. I also have frozen yogurt once a week. I am learning to manage just these treats and will be working on this plan of eating and monitoring my calories for all of 2013. I am happy that I don't have to create any New Years Resolutions concerning my diet and exercise, because I am already living out the changes every day. I no longer beat myself up when I make mistakes, when I fall I pick myself up immediately and ask myself a simple question, "What Have I learned?" The answers I find help me to live the next day even better. I am not focused on my body size right now, just focused on what I can do each day to live a healthy life. I know that in time my body will respond to my healthy habits. One thing I am learning to work on is getting a good nights rest. I am training myself to go to bed earlier so I can wake up the next morning refreshed and full of energy. Any way, that is what I have been up to from Oct-Dec. I have also been posting on a fitness challenge on FaceBook,and I made a few videos on youtube. I am continuing on my health journey and looking forward to what the New Year may bring. CLM

11/15/12 Update!

Well where has half the month gone? I am not sure, but I do know that I have managed to continue going for my daily walks. Walking is becoming a serious addiction! I am noticing that the walking does have a cumulative effect, the more I do it the better I feel and the looser my clothes are. I walk in short burst of 20-30 minutes throughout the day. Today I walked at 6:30 am, at 11:00am, at 6:00pm and I am talking myself into another walk at maybe 8:00pm. My eating goal is to have only 3 meals a day with no snacks or sweets. I have had 3 day's so far this month of no snacking. For me this is a victory. By this Monday I should have 9 day's total. CLM

Happy November!

Well for the entire month of October I did manage to track my eating and exercise. I walked at-least 5 out of 7 days every week! I cleaned up my daily eating habits, toward the end of the month I started working on cleaning up evening and weekend habits. I am having some great success and forming daily habits that will give me the results I am after. I have established a body goal for myself an addition to my life style changes. I am aim to be below 200lbs and a size 16-18. I will continue to work toward my goals by tracking my food and exercise and continuing to walk daily. I have stepped my walking up to two hours per day! I only allow myself one 200 calories snack per night followed by a cup of green tea. For this month of November my goal is to stay sweet free, stick to my light snack and keep up my walking routine. I will weigh myself of December 1st and see what I was able to accomplish. For now I am keeping busy working on my actions and not just my goals. CLM

The Difference Between A Diet And A Life Style

I think the difference between a diet and a life style change is whether the healthy changes you are making are truly things you can stick with in the long haul. I think in order to form habits for life they must be balanced and things you can truly live with. Radical extremes get in the way of progress. For me saying I am going to walk for 2 hours 7 days a week is unrealistic, I could do it for a few weeks, but eventually I would fall off, I may procrastinate on doing it in the first place. This is an example of a diet mentality. What I do instead is say I am going to walk for 20 minutes in the morning before work, and 20 minutes most days after work and 30 minutes during my lunch. It is far easier for me to stick to the smaller chunks of time, because I don't feel pressure to get every thing done in one session. I find comfort in knowing I will have another chance to finish what I started. I find it difficult to get away for longer stretches of time and I find the prospect of walking for such a long period daunting whereas the idea of walking for twenty to thirty minutes is doable. I am finding that the main thing I need when it comes to life style changes is to find what truly works for me. No more all or nothing! CLM

Lesson I Have Learned: Salad Should Taste Good!

Over the years I have been very strict about what I will allow on a salad. I have used the salad spray dressing that is 10 calories per serving, I have stopped putting chopped nuts my salad, skipped dried fruit and left cheese off the salad. What I have been left with is a dry boring salad that I cannot bear to eat. I have noticed that I eat salad far less frequently and that it has become quite the chore to eat salad. For a person that does not care for cooked vegetables much I need salad daily! I have been a calorie counter and I have been afraid to order salads fearing the worst that they would be 1,000 calories the highest calorie item on the menu, and mean while I have been busy ordering french fries, fried chicken and fried cheese and rich pasta dishes instead. I think there is a such thing as going over board with becoming the calorie police. I may not mind skipping cheese on my daily sandwich, but I would like to add a sprinkle of low-fat cheese to my salad and I am not talking fat-free greek feta unless that is the taste I am going for. I am bringing toppings back to my salads, a few sprinkles of nuts, dried fruit or cheese may add some calories to the zero calorie salad, but to me it is so worth it!!!!!!!!!! Hey it is bad enough I am passing up the milk shake and the fries and having water with my meal. I will not go on an diet that I cannot live with. CLM PS: Speaking of flavor I use real mayo, made with Olive oil on my veggie burgers along with a little mustard, I figure I am off setting it by eating the 100 calorie bread. I believe there needs to be give and take and balance to cutting both calories and fat. I see now that I really need to eat from all the food groups and not just go crazy in any one direction. I also learned I rather eat light pop-corn than fat-free. CLM

Lesson I have learned: Walking does a body good!

Lesson I have learned: Walking does a body good! Earlier in the day I was feeling so blue. I went for a walk during my lunch break and when I came back I felt like a different person. As I inch closer to 30 I am learning so many powerful lessons about health. #1 I learned that fiber and water go hand and hand. #2 I have learned that walking is better than any anti-depressant. #3 Salad does not have to be a meal, you can add it to a meal. I like to start my meal with fresh vegetables. #4 Fresh fruit is a daily must. #5 I like my yogurt just on the low sugar side. #6 A small bowl of cereal is just fine! #6 When it comes to snacking low-fat is better for me than low-carb! Ice cream, chocolate and fatty chips are not the best snacks for my body. I traded in my high fat snacks for low fat treats such as frozen pops, light pop-corn and sugar-free pudding! Bonus: Today was a great day! I walked at lunch and after work! I plan to rise and shine at 5:45 am to hit the gym before work. Only non-rainy days I will bring healthy snacks to work instead of a sit down lunch and I will put the novels down and put on my walking shoes instead! CLM