My new favorite website

I want to share with you a website I have been using for the past couple weeks.  It was really helped me understand how many calories I am and should be eating.

It is called Livestrong.  Right now I am signed up for the free version.  While you don't have access to all of the cool features the website has to offer, there are enough free features to make it worth while.

First, you set your calorie goals.  This is based on your height, weight, age, weight goal, and activity level.  It estimates out a calorie number you can strive to meet each day.

Now this is tracking website that helps you determine how much you are eating and what the nutritional value of the food you consume.  If you don't like writing down everything you eat, then you will not like this website.  I always thought I wouldn't need to do that but it really isn't too hard.  There is a great database of foods with all of the nutritional value already plugged in.  Anything from fruit to brand name products to Walmart's Great Value Brand.  It is all there.  They even had my gummy vitamins!

It then keeps track of what you ate.  Although a big portion of what you look at is the calories, it also gives you an indication of nutrient goals such as fiber, sodium, protein, and sugars.  This was the part that surprised me the most about the foods that I ate.

You can also keep track of how many glasses of water a day you drink.

You can also put in your exercise and the amount of calories you burn.

As you can see in this last screenshot, the top of the page totals your daily calories and tell you how many you have left until your reach your daily calorie goal.  If you exercise at all, it subtracts those calories from your total.

Another fun feature is that you can enter in your recipes into the website, and it will generate a nutrition label.

This is my recipe for Spinach and Artichoke Lasagna Roll-ups.  If you want to full recipe and directions, head over to Beth's Journey where I found this recipe.

This is really helpful for people who like to make their own recipes, or for recipes you find online or in a book that don't have the nutrition labels on it.

When I first tried this website a couple weeks ago, I was not a calorie counter at all. However, I was frustrated that I was working out and trying to eat better but seeing very few results.  I was scared of getting obsessive about counting calories and thought I would just enter in a few days worth of food to see where I was.  Since then I have tracked my calories every day and have enjoyed seeing my progress.

Since I have started logging in every day, I have steadily begun to lose more weight.  I am not on a strict diet at all.  I still eat dessert and go out to eat, but I am realizing that it starts to add up and you have to make choices if you want to indulge yourself.  Some days I go over and I don't beat myself up over it.  I just start again fresh the next day.

Livestrong is a great tool and it even has apps for your iphone or smartphone.  Since I don't have one I still have to do it the old fashioned way, but luckily I am around a computer all day to enter my food.

I am still figuring out how to best utilize this website, but I think it would work for anyone trying to lose weight, maintain their weight, or just seeing how healthy they are eating.

On a similar note, I had a surprise last week.  I came home to an opened package sitting for me on the coffee table.  The hubby saw his name on the package and was curious, but it really for me.  My mom sent me the Rocco DiSpirito Book I mentioned a few weeks ago.

The recipes look amazing! It is so interesting to see what foods to use in place of unhealthy ones.  I bought some ingredients to try a few recipes this week.  However, I am really looking forward to making some of his desserts because he uses some very unconventional ingredients for desserts.  If I make them I will let you know if I give them my seal of approval!

So thanks Mom (since I know you read my blog religiously)!

These Are My Confessions

I am glad to see that I still have readers!  Thanks for keeping on coming back to visit my blog.  I will try not to leave you hanging so long next time.

Today I have some confessions I need to share.  Sometimes just saying them out loud/typing them on the keyboard helps relieve that pressure from carrying around those heavy thoughts.  Usually I keep things pretty light around here, but there has been a lot going on in my life lately.  I need to unload.  Most of them have to deal with my fitness and food goals, because that is where I am the naughtiest.

And although my confessions do not relate at all to the ones Usher is singing about here, I feel like it still helps to listen to the song.  Music Therapy - I am telling you,  its amazing!



So here we go...

1. I purposely skipped out on going to the gym for 12 days.  It wasn't because I wasn't feeling well, which might have been true at least one of those days.  I have many excuses, none of which are good enough.  This gym membership is supposed to be there to keep my accountable, but it isn't going to work if I just choose not to go because the weather is too nice out or I just want to sit at home on my computer.

2. I may have eaten at least 3 of these delicious margarita cupcakes, all at once and came back for more later.  My self control is almost zero, and I am an emotional eater.  These two factors do not work well together, and have caused me to be at a point I never wished to be at.

3. I am a bejeweled addict.  I blame the hubby.  He got me started and now I can't stop playing.  Sometimes I play so much and I just zone in that I am barely paying attention to what I am doing.

4. I have been sneaking Mt Dews. Sigh.  Not the throwbacks, but the bad-for-you regular Mt. Dews.  It is just so good.

5. I bought two dresses recently, knowing that it was probably going to make money tight at the end of the pay period.  I was right- money got tight, and I love my dresses.  Since I barely ever buy clothes for myself (despite what people may think by the way I talk) I will forgive myself entirely for this one.

6. I have been pulling away from friends and people out here in Columbia.  I know that it is 99% sure that we will be moving somewhere, we just don't know where yet.  It is hard to say goodbye so I have been pulling away from friendships to make it easier.

7. I know what I need to do to meet my fitness and food goals.  I just choose not to do it.  I am comfortable living like I do, this is how I have lived for 22 years.  Change is hard.  I even tried to tell myself this week that it isn't worth being in shape and healthy, and I almost believed myself.  I know what I need to do, but I need to keep that motivation going.

Well how is that for honesty?  That felt good.  This past week has been hard on me in many ways.  However, this week I have been more optimistic and have been trying harder to meet all my goals.  Nothing like getting started again! It's refreshing.  Glad we always have that option.

Stress and Life Style Changes

I have been in a funk the past few days so please excuse my absence yesterday in posting.  Work went from doing literally nothing (like one day last week I answered a few phone calls and that was it!), to getting into one of my busiest times with fall registration.  I like dealing with the students but when you bring instructors in the mix, it makes things very frustrating to say the least.  Very much looking forward to the future, which I hope to share with you later on once we start moving in that direction.

Today I would love to ramble on and tell you how much I am disliking my job, but I am not sure if anyone really cares to read all that.  So, I will just say I am bored, underpaid, surrounded by incompetent colleagues, and conflicting values that I feel like is a disadvantage to the students we are serving.  Although this might not be a very stressful job all the time, I feel stressed out.  I take pride in doing a job well done, and sometimes I feel like I can't fully do that and I am so limited.  I know I am lucky to have a job in this economic climate and others will say every place you work has people/policies you don't like, but I know this is a place that is not for me.  For now I will leave it at that.

Now for some positives in my life:

Today it has been over a week that the only liquid I consumed is water.  This is a major accomplishment for me since I was having either a Mountain Dew or Dr. Pepper every morning.  One of the reasons I have been successful in this is I have made the effort to stop grabbing breakfast on the road in the morning.  Instead I have been having my favorite Kashi cereal - Berry Blossoms, whole wheat english muffins with nutella, or scrambled eggs.  Although today I had to stop, I was running super late, I only got the Sonic Breakfast Burrito and no soda!  We have even gone out to eat a couple times and I just ordered water.  This past weekend I even treated myself to a new water bottle that has a counter to keep track of how much water you consume.

(can you see the numbers on the bottom of the cap)

I do have a specific weight loss goal but right now I am not actively losing weight.  I am trying to get a strong grasp on how to live and eat healthy one step at a time.  Maybe I will start losing weight slowly as I try to enact these changes, but I really want this to be a life-style change.  Just doing a diet to lose a bunch of weight all at once but then craving back all the food I deprived myself of is not what I am aiming for.  

So as of now these are some of the ways I am trying to live healthier:

1. No soda.  Mainly water and trying to get the recommended 8 glasses a day.

2. Taking vitamins.  I recently got these gummi vitamins for adults to help me supplement for vitamins and minerals I can not fully consume.

3. Minimize portions.  This is mostly focused on dinner.  I am trying to understand that I don't need as much food as the hubby.  So I have begun eating off our salads plates which are much smaller

4. Incorporating more vegetables into our meals.

5. Limit the amount of times I grab a quick meal through a window

6. Stopping myself before I get too full.  This is especially hard at restaurants, but I have heard that asking for a to-go box right away helps with the urge to eat everything on your plate.

7. Going to the gym 4 times a week for aerobics classes (that I get both cardio for BodyCombat and strength training in Tone It Up).  Or doing the 30 Day Shred at home when I told have time for class.

8. Keep a food and exercise diary of everything I eat and the amount of time I workout.  Also periodically recording my weight and measurements.

I know that there are other changes I need to make but I think for me it is important to slowly ease into things so that these things become long-term habits.  Hopefully later on I can challenge myself more in making new objectives.

On a different note, I have my first follower! Thanks Mal for following me!  Others feel free to follow me as well!  It is nice to know who is reading.

Sorry for the lack of pictures and all the text today.  It just a boring day!

First steps

Recently I have taken the plunge and made a big investment.  This is a move I have been considering a lot lately, knowing that I needed it to be motivated.  For me it was a risk, and a financial step I wasn't wanting to take.  However, many of those are excuses - I was just scared.

I bought a gym membership!

Wilson's F.I.T Location

It was just such a great opportunity I couldn't pass it up.  There was a great deal in the Add Sheet a few weeks ago, which is like a local Groupon thing for Mid-Missouri.  If you live in the area I definitely recommend signing up for their emails.  They have weekly coupons but then have "Today's Big Deal" which could be anything from 50% Lasik Eye Surgery or a good deal on a gym membership!  For my membership I got a 3 month membership for $70 including all fitness classes and access to the pool.

After going back and forth, the hubby gave me his support and encouraged me to do it.  It is the perfect commitment for us right now with the hubby job searching, and it has been something I had been looking into for months.  So far I have been really happy with my decision.  While it definitely is much smaller and not as updated as the other Wilson's locations, the people there are really nice and it is for females only.  It doesn't get as crowded, and still has everything I need in a gym.

So far I have tried two different group fitness classes:
1. BodyCombat - mixed martial arts cardio
2. Tone It Up - strength training with cardio intervals

The instructors are really fun and keep me motivated.  I love it!  I prefer to go to group fitness classes because they keep me honest.  I don't give up as easy and they are way more fun than just getting on the elliptical.

The hardest thing for me is finding the energy to go after work (I commute 40 minutes each way to work every day) and then get dinner started late.  We aren't doing frozen food anymore so it takes me longer to cook dinner.  The hubby has been so great and even started dinner for me!

I hope to consistently get my 5 days a week of exercise.  When I can't go to the gym I can always hit up my favorite at-home workout: