Probiotics

In case you don't know, probiotics are good bacteria that you can take, either drinking or in pill form, that help your digestive tract and immune system. I'm going to try and take these more often. I have a lot of digestive problems for some reason. I've always had a really sensitive stomach unfortunately. The things that bother my stomach the most are stir fries and salad when not washed properly. It's funny, I can eat a double cheeseburger and fries from McDonald's and have zero tummy problems, but sauteed vegetables can leave me out for the night. I've read that stir frying vegetables can be bothersome to the stomach and it's better to either steam or bake them. However, I feel like stir frying is the most tasty and easiest. Anyway, I'm going to take more probiotics to hopefully help me with my digestive problems. I haven't done a ton of research, but the little I did do said to take them often. I plan on getting some at Kroger whenever I go grocery shopping. They sell an 8oz container in the nature's market section for like $1.50. I know it's under $2.00. So if I pick one up every time I go grocery shopping, I should be good to go.

Boo

I've been bad the last few days food and exercise wise. Well I did better yesterday. I ate slightly better and went on a run and did some squats and ab stuff. I'm back up to 113, which obviously isn't bad, but it makes me a little sad. I've gotta work on not depriving myself of sweets. Because I NEVER used to crave chocolate and sweets until I started eating healthier. But I always deny it to myself, but that just leads to binging. So I bought an entire box of chips ahoy cookies for myself (Daniel got a box for himself too cause we couldn't agree on one). I have one row left. All I can do it get back on track which I'm doing.

I'm proud of myself for going running though. I don't mind running, it's just getting out the door that's the hardest part. It's so weird how that's always the case. I guess I had some extra motivation though from how bad I ate this weekend. My weaknesses right now are beer, chips and salsa, and toast (either rye or 9 grain I think it is). The toast I don't mind as much, because it has fiber and helps me from getting nauseous when I take my vitamins. I know I probably use to carbs at work too. But yeah I'm excited to see what running does for my body, because cardio and diet are supposed to be how you burn fat. I'd like to start doing physical stuff 5 days a week. I'd like to do yoga one day, then strength and running the next or something. Just to clear it up, when I say "strength" all I do are bicycle sit ups (right now 2 sets of 25) and squat 3 sets of 10. The weight is 20 + the bar weight. I should probably increase both of those soon. I know it's not much, but it's something.

I'm gonna try not to post weight updates from day to day, because it's pointless. I know the number really isn't important. I'm mostly interested to gauge what I'm doing. Figuring out what works and what doesn't.

I Did It and Bird Watching

I got to my goal weight of 110! I gotta say it doesn't feel like how I expected though. I expected to look a lot thinner than I do. Honestly, the only thing I'm concerned about are my butt/thighs.  It's funny, once I saw I hit 112 I got really excited, but started eating worse. But still got down to 110 and have consistently weighed that for the last 4 days. Now I want to work on building muscle. I really wish I had a gym membership, but we can't afford that right now. I'd really like to start jogging soon. I don't plan on running miles on end but I'd like to slowly build up. Master running 1 mile then maybe 2. I just really want to be fit. I know cardio is a great way to burn fat. I tried jump roping, but ended up getting frustrated with how often I was missing the rope.

Yesterday Daniel and I had a date night! That was really nice. I know this is weird, but we bought a bird feeder. Daniel really wanted to and I thought it sounded like a good idea. We bought a cheap one a week or so ago and it's already chewed up by squirrels. The new one we bought is metal. We put habanero seed mix in it since that's safe for birds but it burns squirrels mouths. For some reason birds don't have the taste buds to taste the heat. We learned this from the very knowledgeable and nice woman that owns the bird watching store we went to. After that, I was bad and got a medium java chip frappichino and then Daniel got froyo. After that we went out to dinner (needless to say I wasn't very hungry and neither was he) I also didn't eat very healthy then either but that's ok. No regrets. After that, we went to see Iron Man since we hadn't yet. That was pretty good! Over all we had a great night. I think it pooped us out cause we were in bed by like 11.

Post Decluttering and Goals

I really have a hard time finding out what to do post "decluttering stage" of minimalism. Maybe I should start reading. I've always wanted to get into it, but haven't since I've gotten older. I used to be a bookworm up until mid-middle school. Most nights I just end up browsing pinterest, facebook, instagram, and the blogs I read. That's about it. It gets kind of old after a while. I also like to just sit outside on the back porch and surround myself with nature. Daniel and I spend all off our time together when we get off work and usually spend the nights before we go to sleep on ourselves. He'll usually play xbox, go on his computer, write/play music.

I wish there was a park near us. I got spoiled by the old city I used to live in where there was like one park every 3 miles. I really like to go for walks and just talk with Daniel. Usually it's hard getting him to go on walks with me though :(

I was just out of curiosity reading an old post I wrote on my old blog about being my "fantasy self". I've surprisingly accomplished a lot of the things on there, which makes me happy! :) And I gotta say I'm a much happier person for doing these things. Some examples were do yoga 2-3 times per week, drink 4 cups of tea a week, eat more vegetables, drink more water, don't drink soda, take biotin daily. There were more than just health related things on there, but it turns out those are the ones I've accomplished. It really feels nice to set goals and meet them. I suppose I'll write a list of new goals. I have some on there from my old list as well. They're sort of in categories.

- Get enrolled in a hair program
- Set up various doctor's appointments

- Stick with weight lifting
 (Just for squats I really don't want to get bulky)
- Possibly start running
- Experiment more with cooking
- Drink less alcohol
  (That sounds bad. I really don't drink that much, but it's really not good for you
   especially when you start adding mixers. It's bad for your health and building muscle/losing fat)
- Work on eating healthier snacks
  (The snacks I eat aren't the worst, but not the best either)

- Find more activities for Daniel and I to do together
- More date nights
- Go on more mini-vacations
   (camping trips, weekend trips. I don't see this increasing a lot, but maybe taking one every 5 months
    or so)
- Spend more time with family

- Get all the trim in the house painted


I'm sure there's more small things, but those are the most important to me. The hair one and doctor's appointments are so difficult for me 1) because of anxiety and 2) because of money. So we'll see. I'm going to start tackling this next set of goals.

Breakfast Diners

For some reason, I've really been wanting to go to a breakfast diner type place. It's probably because that's like my favorite type of food. I know it's not the healthiest, but there's something so comforting about breakfast at a diner. I'd like to go to my FAVORITE breakfast place I think it's called The Original Pancake House (I should know this). It's in Atlanta and it is AMAZING.

I've really been wanting to do coupley stuff lately. Which isn't usually cheap. I've been wanting to go on a romantic camping trip. Just embracing the fact that I have a partner and a soul mate. Being appreciative.

Hair Struggle

It seems every week I want to do something different with my hair. It gets really annoying after a while. I haven't mentioned it on this blog, but a while back I wanted to grow out my natural hair color. And I did for 8 months. Shortly after I got married, I got really tired of the way my hair was and dyed it dark again. My natural color wasn't long enough for me to really tell if I liked it or not. I was just impatient about it.

Now I'm wanting to grow it out again for some reason. I think it's been like two months already. But now I'm taking vitamins and eating much healthier, so I think my hair will grow faster.

I just always see pictures of girls (for example the type of women/girls on the blog http://remainsimple.tumblr.com/) who look to be easy going, care free, relaxed. I know that's a weird description, but I can't think of any other way. Simple I guess. Just that sort of natural style. Her whole blog is just lovely.

It kind of goes back to the whole embracing your body idea I was talking about earlier. So we'll see what happens, whether I stick with it or not. I think I'm ready to give it another try though.

Correction 13 pounds!!

I'm even more ecstatic now, turns out I was reading the scale wrong! The little notch that I thought was the 115 notch was actually the 110 notch. So yes I weigh 112. This is awesome! Because my ultimate goal weight is 110. But that's with no exercise. But since I've been exercising, my number is going to be higher to account for muscle weighing more than fat. Wow I just realized this is the lowest I've ever weighed since I've got older. I'm so happy now! All my hard work is paying off!!

Comparison is the Thief of Joy

I'm not sure who said that quote, but it's a good one. Comparing yourself to others will only bring sadness and dissatisfaction. Anytime I ever feel jealous of someone or something, the thing that helps me get over it is remembering that you cannot be that person. You can only be your best self. Put that energy towards becoming what you want to be. As an example, if you want to be thinner, stop getting jealous about skinny girls and start eating better! 

You can only be your best self. 

It's funny, I actually don't get that feeling that much anymore. I used to all the time. I guess once you accept that a weight gets lifted off your shoulders. 

Embracing your body

I'm not gonna make this super drawn out, but I've recently switched to a natural deodorant! Lol. Since breast cancer runs in my family, I figured its time to switch to an aluminum free alternative. I've been using a powder deodorant from Lush called "Coconut". You'd think it smells like coconuts, but it doesn't. It's not a bad smell, but not super delicious either. Anyway, I've kind of been enjoying getting away from the harsher deodorant. The deodorant doesn't prevent you from sweating, but it absorbs your sweat. As you can imagine, it doesn't 100% cover your natural odor. But for some reason this doesn't bother me. Recently, I've been interested in being more natural. I mean I don't think they had dove and speed stick in biblical times. It's strange, but it feels better to be more true to my natural self. I even tried switching to a more natural face wash,  but that hasn't been panning out so far. Maybe it's because I've been drinking more caffeine than I usually do. Anyway, weird subject, but I felt it was worth sharing. Consider giving up aluminum enriched deodorant and opt for something more natural! 

I've lost 8 pounds!

Since I've started "eating healthier", I've lost 8 pounds! It feels really good. I'm still not where I want to be, but I'm definitely making progress. We finally caved in and bought a scale (which is why I'm just now finding out). I feel like I'll probably lose more too since I'm now eating even healthier than I was a week ago. Daniel and I watched the documentary Forks Over Knives and we're converted. We're probably not going to become vegans, at least not now, but we've drastically changed out diet. Daniel is eating as a vegan for a week to detox a little bit. I would've done it with him, but I had just bought some cheese and Greek yogurt ice cream. Which is funny since I don't usually eat that much dairy. 

I've done this by 

1) significantly cutting back how much we go out to eat 

 We probably only go out twice max per week now (at least me, Daniel gets lunches at work and eats out)

2) not eating much dairy 

 Besides my recent shopping trip, I really haven't been eating much at all

3) healthy snacking

This one is tough for me. The last few months I have been bad about the snacks I choose to eat, but the last week has been much better. I'll typically snack on fruit of some sort. I bought hummus, but I need to buy some good veggies to dip it in

4) eating A LOT of fruits and veggies

 This is what I mostly eat now. I'll have a sandwich here and there, but I've got a lot better about eating my fruits and veggies

5) doing my yoga DVD at least twice a week

I'd like to do it at least 3, but some weeks I don't 

6) not drinking soda or other sugary drinks

If I drink something it's usually either water or hot tea, more recently I've been brewing my own cold teas (other flavors besides your standard sweet tea) occasionally I'll have a diet soda, but not very often

7) no artificial sweeteners

I have been using stevia which is a natural sweetener for my teas and such

8) not giving up

This is probably the cheesiest, but most important thing. I've eaten many an unhealthy meal since I decided I wanted to change my health, but I haven't given up. I came very close, but I didn't. Consistency is they key to success.

Overall I really haven't been super strict with myself, or maybe I have and don't notice it. I have a goal in mind which is keeping me on track. However, like I mentioned I'm ready to get more strict with myself. Eat less bread (I've been on a rye bread and peanut butter kick lately), close to no meat (I've been eating vegetarian all week besides a bite of a burger I had at work today), stick with healthy snacks (I need to remember organic corn chips and black bean dip that has cheese in it don't count as healthy snacks). I'd really like to start incorporating more leafy greens into my diet, but unfortunately, my history with greens isn't the best. I have a really hard time digesting them :( which is accompanied by excruciating stomach pain. I'm hoping as I eat more veggies my stomach will adjust better. 

I'm proud of myself. I've finally made the change I've always wanted to make with my health and I don't see myself going back to the way I was. 

Why I'm going to try and stop shopping at Forever 21

I really want to stop shopping at Forever 21. I'm so tired of spending money on poorly made clothing. I'm tired of buying dresses that shrink after one wash, shirts that have crooked seams, and wasting money on these things. Sure their clothes are cute and trendy, but I'm really tired of it. We'll see how long this lasts. I'm thinking Plato's Closet is where it's at. That's where I buy most of my clothes. Well there and Forever 21. You get so much more for your money there, it's buying second hand (but still in good condition), and usually the clothes are much better quality.