Day Five

Today is my fifth day of working out every day.  I started doing the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD on Day Three and I love it!! You can check out the details of the 30 Day Shred HERE!

I snapped this picture from my front porch this morning just after I finished working out!!  What a beautiful morning here in Missouri!!!

I'm doing Level One and I use 5 pound weights.  The workout is 28 minutes from warm up to cool down.  The movements aren't complicated.  Just physically challenging since I'm out of shape.  I still can't keep up the entire time and I do have to modify the pushups (think girl pushups on my knees!).  I still have to stop sometimes and catch my breath, but I only stop for a few seconds then pick right back up.  I know I won't see any results standing there watching her exercise, so I keep going!!!

My muscles are sore, but a good kind of sore.  I can tell I'm getting a little bit stronger each day.  I've done a little research and it seems like most people spend 10 days on Level One then move to Level Two.  Right now Level One is plenty for me.  I'll let you know when I move up to Level Two.

I'm doing pretty well on my goal of eating less and eating healthier food. This morning I had a protein shake for breakfast, and I have baked chicken with broccoli for lunch.  For my evening meal I try hard to eat no carbs.  My body just can't handle carbs very well so I don't eat them often.  That's tough for me cause I love potatoes!!!  But potatoes attach themselves to my hips so I rarely indulge.

I am not swearing off Diet Coke forever, but I want it to be a treat, not just something I drink when I'm thirsty.  Focusing on drinking lots more water.  I haven't had a Diet Coke since last week!!

I'm five days into this journey and I'm excited.  Do I love setting my alarm 45 minutes early so I can exercise before work?  Honestly, no.  I am NOT a morning person.  But for my life, exercising in the mornings just works better.  If I wait until after work it's easier to make an excuse to NOT work out . . . and believe me I speak from experience.  In the mornings I have NO excuse but my own laziness.  I don't inconvenience anybody but ME in the mornings.  So I'm committing to setting my alarm and getting up early and working out in the mornings.

As I said in the beginning, I promise to be honest.  If I skip a workout I will let you know.  If I totally blow my healthy eating for a day I will share it.  And I will share my progress on losing weight.  I weighed myself this morning and I'm down 2.2 pounds since Day One.  

FIVE DAYS IN AND A LIFETIME OF BETTER HEALTH TO GO!!!!!

 **Disclaimer - This is NOT a paid advertisement for Jillian Michaels or 30 Day Shred.  She has never heard of me.  I purchased this DVD on Amazon and paid for it myself.  Just giving you my honest opinion.

 

Day Three

Today is Day Three of my healthy lifestyle journey.  Here's an update.

On Saturday morning I did a 30 minute workout at home.  I didn't think I'd really done much until I tried to go down the steps from our porch late morning. My legs were shaky!!  I'm really trying to make good food choices but it isn't easy for me.  I love food.   For breakfast I had overnight oats made with unsweetened almond milk.  I also attended a baby shower for my beautiful daughter-in-law Saturday afternoon.  I had already eaten lunch so I skipped the sandwiches and dessert.  Instead I opted for a small salad and some grapes.  I drank water.  For supper I fixed pork steak and a salad.  I ate a small portion of the pork steak and a big lettuce salad. 

On Sunday I again had the overnight oats for breakfast.  They really are tasty.  For lunch I ate a small piece of the leftover pork steak and a salad.  For supper I fixed 2 small beef steaks and I ate one small steak and a salad with ranch dressing.  I had a banana for my snack, and some cashews.   I walked 1 mile Sunday afternoon and did a 25 minute workout Sunday evening.  I'm still making up my workout as I go along.  I'm doing lots of arm lifts to the front and side and over my head with the 5 pound weights.  And I hold the weights while I do squats. Ouch.  My legs are SORE!!  I have an exercise DVD I bought months ago.  I've never even opened it.  Tonight I'm going to open it and try to work my way through it. 

I did some meal planning over the weekend so I have 5 portions of chicken tenders and brown rice, enough for every day for lunch this week.  I brushed the tenders with a little bit of olive oil and sprinkled everything bagel seasoning on them.  The brown rice is just plain, made with water.  

Speaking of water, I read that a great weight loss tool is drinking half your body weight in ounces of water each day.  This is tough for me.  I'm not a huge water drinker.  I love Diet Coke and tea with artificial sweetener.  But I'm trying to make better choices so my GOAL is to try to drink NO DIET COKE this week, and to drink very little tea with sweetener.

I promise to be honest with you all.  If I skip a workout I'll tell you.  If I blow it and make a horrible food choice (like pepperoni pizza or a bowl of ice cream) I'll tell you.  I'm very serious about these next 97 days, but I'm also human.  I won't be perfect. I'm not vegan or vegetarian and my idea of "clean eating" will probably look different than yours.  But I'm really hoping that the accountability of making this very public on my blog and on Instagram will KEEP ME FOCUSED ON MAKING BETTER CHOICES!!!

Had a great sermon yesterday at church!!  We studied Rahab and how courageous she was.  Courageous faith.  That's what I want to have.  Courage to stand for Jesus no matter what.  

Snapped this picture Saturday evening.  Psalm 19:1  "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands!!"

Have a blessed day!!!!

Day One

Just being honest, I have not taken very good care of my body these past few years. I have not exercised.  I have eaten too much of the wrong foods and not nearly enough fruits and vegetables.  I have not made my health a priority. Ten years ago I lost 30 pounds. I have gained it all back.  I’ve tried everything in the book. Weight Watchers. Atkins. Starvation. Beach Body.  Low fat. No fat. High fat no carb. I have literally tried it all. And it all works ... for a short time. Then the diet stops and the weight comes back on. A vicious cycle. So today I find myself overweight and out of shape AGAIN. It’s so frustrating. Maybe you’ve been there. Maybe you’re there now.

I have found a young lady who has inspired me to quit dieting and get healthy the old fashioned way. Moving more and eating healthier. Her name is Marga Banaga and she lives in the Philippines. You can find her on YouTube and other social media.  She has a 20 minute video on her initial 100 day journey to eat clean and work out daily. She lost 30 pounds. She looks so healthy !!  So strong!! So amazing !!! So I’ve decided if she can do it, so can I.  Now her clean eating looks different from mine. She eats shrimp and salmon. No other meat. Hello, I live on a cattle farm in Missouri so my clean eating definitely includes meat. But she eats lots of fruits and vegetables and healthy carbs. She drinks a ton of water. And she works out every single day. Nothing fancy. Just moving her body in good old fashioned exercise.

So today is my Day One. I’ve done a 30 minute workout on my own this morning. In my living room. I tried to remember some basics from every exercise class I’ve taken. I have a mat and a set of 5 pound weights and my floor. That’s it. No gym membership. My muscles are sore already. But I’m committed. Today starts my journey toward eating clean and working out. A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE. Nothing extreme. Nothing difficult. Just CONSISTENCY!!!  I can do this. And by making this public I’m holding myself accountable.

I promise to be brutally honest. I’ll share my successes and my failures. What worked. What didn’t. What I’m eating. What my workout consists of. Some meal preparing. And I’ll share my progress. This morning was hard. I’m out of shape. But I did it. And you can too.

ONE DAY AT A TIME.

Following Christ . . .