Going strong!

I know I've missed a few days. If anyone actually reads this...SORRY!!! I've been sorta busy with my new lifestyle. I've been trying to hit my calorie goals every day and shopping for healthier foods, plus working out (PS, my new iPod makes it MUCH more pleasant to do so!!!). I'm coming along very well! I've lost 5 POUNDS in a week!!! It seems to be getting easier to plan my meals and hit my goals. I will be to my ultimate goal before I know it!

I've decided that once I reach my goal, I'm going to go all-out on a new wardrobe, plus I'm going to start getting my nails done again, which I haven't done in quite some time. If I get to that goal...no, not if, WHEN, I will definitely deserve it!

Feeling so good!

Today was a good day! I'm beginning to feel the positive effects of living healthy. I have more energy, I'm in a better mood, and I'm sleeping better, and it's only day 3! So exciting! Oh, and even more exciting, I'm coming into the digital age. I ordered an iPod! I'm sure music will help me stay motivated to keep moving, and probably pick up the pace a bit as well. I can't wait to get it and load all my music on it! I'm such a nerd :)

Victory is mine!

I am so proud of myself today! I managed to stay within my ideal calorie range, as well as the other important nutrients I'm tracking daily, plus I had a great workout! Go me! I find it much easier to plan my meals ahead and put them all into my nutrition tracker at the beginning of the day. That way I can see my calories for the day before I've actually eaten them. It's very freeing because I don't have to worry about it as long as I stick to my plan. Now I'm looking up recipes on Spark Recipes to make for the rest of this week's dinners. All the nutrition facts are there so I can plan my whole day for tomorrow, right now. I'm starting to like these changes :)

Bad Mother Nature! Go to your room!

Yeah, so yesterday and today weren't so good. Let's just say that I hate Mother Nature and she hates me equally. She gives me cravings and an insatiable hunger that it's very hard to ignore. So I blew the weekend. Tomorrow is a new day, however, and it's much easier to stick to a routine during the week, so it should be much better than this weekend was. I start at the gym tomorrow. I'm sure that once I do one workout, it will remind me of why I used to do it so much and will give me that much more motivation to keep on keepin' on :)

Day One...sort of

I ate as I normally do today, to kind of gauge where I'm at as far as meeting my nutritional needs and such. I'm good with carbs, protein, fat, etc., but with calories...that's a different ball game altogether. I ate well over 2000 calories today, while my dietary needs are 1350-1700. Ouch! But now at least I know what I'm doing wrong and I can fix it.

I went to Trader Joe's today to pick up some healthy fare for this weekend/next week. I got some organic hummus and some Kashi TLC crackers...DELICIOUS for a snack, some BabyBel light cheese, Laughing Cow light (I love cheese!), and some stuff to makes salads for lunches at work next week. I picked up some natural, pre-cooked chicken breast that I will use to give myself a protein kick, some grape tomatoes, baby spinach, and lettuce. I have some sort of light dressing...Italian I think...and voila! A perfect meal...with some BabyBel on the side of course! Dinners are a bit more challenging. This weekend we're having spaghetti with extra lean ground beef and organic spaghetti sauce (marinara), and grilled chicken breast with rice and sauteed veggies. Yumm-o! Tonight we had TJ's jumbo cheese ravioli, which put me way over on my calories because I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Today I indulged, tomorrow I really start watching myself and counting things BEFORE I eat them :)

Over all, I'm feeling very confident about sticking to a plan this time and hitting my goal...hopefully surpassing it. I do have an iron will when I truly want something, and I want to be healthy more than anything right now. I CAN DO IT!