Nothing so exciting to report today. I didn't really exercise, but I was active. I went to the pool with my brother and sister. I did a couple laps, but mostly just swam around. As far as food, I made grilled cheese. Since I didn't want to just eat cheese and bread, I made a salad with carrots on top. It was good! I had some fruit for dessert! I'm really liking this eating healthy thing. It tastes good, and it's good for me!
Quote? "Happiness depends on ourselves." -Aristotle. Don't worry, be happy. I didn't do much today as far as exercise, but I still felt good about myself because I was generally active, and I did my best to be healthy, even if it meant doing a little more to make dinner. More tomorrow!!! ~Emily B.

So much fun today! First, I went to a rock climbing center with some friends. I can tell you that my arms will be dead tomorrow. For sure! I've done rock climbing before but I didn't remember it to be this hard. I walked in to the gym and was confident that I could make it to the top. I told my friends we can leave until everyone has reached the top. Little did I know that I would be the last one to get up to the top. I eventually made it! I'm so thankful for my friends who cheered me on as I went up. I don't know if I would have been able to do it without them. It was just another example of what having someone to workout with can do for you. It really pushes you to do your best! It was an awesome feeling. Reaching the top that is, climbing not so much...
Then we went to Bread Co. for lunch. We got a lot of walking in. Every once in awhile I wanted to break out in high knees. I managed to keep my lunch really healthy. I had a salad and a turkey sandwich. It was cold and fresh which was good because of the heat (seriously can it get any hotter?). It was really great! Eating a healthy meal is a lot more satisfying than an unhealthy meal. Yeah, sweets are good when you eat them, but when I eat healthy, I feel really good about myself afterwards. I had a lot of energy today, and it felt good!
After Bread Co., we just explored the city. We found and returned a wallet, and then 20 minutes later, we paid attention to our environments, spotted a man lying on the ground, and called someone about it. I felt happy! Not so much about the man lying unconscious on the ground, but that we helped him out. It turned out to be a minor problem, but still, it gave me a good feeling! If you ever have the chance to help someone, help them. You don't know if they could be in serious trouble, and you'll get a good feeling afterwards, knowing that you did something to make a difference.

Yeah, THIS is healthy...
SO GREAT!!!

Today, I learned that you don't always have to eat green stuff and typical "health nut" food. It can taste good, too. Frozen yogurt? Yeah, that's a low calorie snack! FroYo has some really good frozen yogurt. I put a lot of fruit on my yogurt. It didn't exactly feel healthy, like I was cheating. But it is! It's healthy, and it's great!
Quote of the post...hmmmm, how about this one. "True happiness consists not in the multitude of friends, but in their worth and value." -Benjamin Johnson. My friends kept me motivated today, in the gym and with healthy eating. I love them for it! It showed me how important it is to not just push yourself, but to not be ashamed that you have to lean on someone for help and motivation.

I did double the exercise today! Well, kind of. I went to the pool to swim some laps, and I didn't swim as long I did on Friday or Saturday. After I left, I can home to do some Insanity abs. It went well overall, nothing really exciting to report. I think I'm getting better at the swim workout. The first time I worked out in the pool, I went one lap and I was already out of breath. This time, I was able to go two times without running out of breath. It felt good. It rained earlier today so the pool was nice and cool, too!
As far as my eating habits today, VERY healthy...and yummy. I made my sister and I a strawberry kiwi smoothie and I didn't overeat that much. I just had a small lunch with a lot of fruit. Strawberries, kiwis, and peaches! The plate looked so pretty and colorful!
I wore jeans today because of the rain, and they were a lot looser! If I keep getting rid of this weight, I might have to go shopping again. I'm not sorry at all! In fact, we went shopping today. I wasn't able to get a size smaller, but I'm going to get there. Soon. Maybe not by the time I go back to school, but a month after that? That's if I work out every day. Maybe a month and a half after that.
Today's just a happy day so this quote makes sense! "Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions." -Dalai Lama. I CAN NOT wait to go back to the doctor for my yearly checkup. She's not very forgiving when it comes to being overweight, which I guess I understand. She gives disappointed looks and you can practically hear the "tsk, tsk". I can't wait to show her how I've been getting healthy! Just one more person I get to prove wrong!
Tomorrow's going to be fun! I'm going rock climbing with friends! What a workout!
Have a good day!!! ~Emily B.

As far as exercise goes, I didn't get a chance to. I did do Insanity high knees in the parking lots of all the stores we went to! Going into the store and leaving the store as well! It wasn't a full hour of Insanity or anything like that. I'm going to the pool tomorrow after church so I'll get some exercise time in. I did eat healthy today. While I was out with my family, I ate Subway and tonight we had baked chicken, potatotes, and green beans. It was a well balance meal and very healthy (I think). Well, more tomorrow! ~Emily B.

Chocolate truffle

OK! So....good and bad news. Good news! I swam 30 laps today at the pool and I lost another pound! I haven't seen that number on the scale in three or four months!!! I got really tired during my workout and I was practically panting. It was terrible! But I felt good! I went off the diving board again...twice! Once again, my brother helped me out with the workout. I'm starting to realize how much of a benefit it is to have someone there to motivate you. When you've got someone that keeps saying telling you to keep going, it's kind of hard to stop because you don't want to disappoint them. So that was the good part of the day.
 Bad news, I relapsed...I had two chocolate truffles....they were so good. Look at it...it was just staring at me. Healthy eating is really hard...I'm learning in my behavior modification class that one way to change one's behavior is to make competing behaviors less likely to happen by increasing the effort it takes to get it to happen. I think that's why I keep going back to unhealthy foods because they're easier to find. There isn't really anything good and healthy to eat. I need to fix that, somehow. It's difficult. I'm a broke college student so it's not like I can buy healthy food for the entire family.
Some friends from high school and I had a small Olympics themed get-together tonight. (Queen Elizabeth and James Bond? Very cool!) That was where I got the chocolate truffles. We also had pizza and spring rolls which were different, but very good! I tried to make something else healthy to balance out the meal so I attempted to make a fruit pizza. Worst kitchen fail of all time! I attempted to bake the fruit pizza in the oven...on a plastic pan. I didn't really think. So I ended up almost burning the house down, fruit and fruit dip,and some weird peach glaze. I kind of balanced it out...it would have been nice to serve fruit in a different way, but I did my best. I think I'll attempt to make it sometime soon...with a metal pizza pan this time!
In honor of the 2012 Olympics, today's quote comes from an Olympic athlete from 1996. "And then in life, you always have to try, and today, I may not have succeeded, but I am happy to have tried to beat my record." -Noureddine Morceli. So today I might have taken a step back. But I did swim 30 laps today. Yesterday I swam 25. Tomorrow I hope to swim more and work off those truffles. While they were REALLY good (my friends are awesome cooks), I can have any more sweets. I'll just fall off the wagon again. And even if I can't eat healthy like I plan to, I'll just have to make do with what I have and just cut back. Today, I don't think I did my best as far as eating. But I do think I did my best as far as working out. So, working out, doing fine. Healthy eating something to work on. More tomorrow! ~Emily B.

Today was so great!! I dropped 2 pounds!!! And I mixed up the workout. Instead of working out in the basement, I went to the pool to workout! My brother, who is probably the most fit person I will ever meet, kept me going. Since it looked like it was going to rain, not a lot of people were there so I wasn't too worried. I had a lane to myself so I could focus. Having someone there to keep me going helped a lot! He counted the number of laps that I had done, and since he works out, too, he knew when I was getting tired and told me to rest. He gave really good pointers and I'm really thankful for that! We didn't get to stay as long as I had liked, but I did feel like I gave it my all, and that's what counts right?

Ceasar Chicken Wrap w/ Freckled Fruit Salad

I went out for dinner with my family yesterday. I was kind of apprehensive about it because my mom had said something about a burger. A burger usually means Burger King. I was worried. I'm trying so hard to eat healthy, and we go to a fast food restaurant. Well, we didn't. We went to Red Robin! It was great! I tried really hard to find a healthy option, but I didn't want something too big. I also wanted something that tasted good (of course!). I was successful! It was one of the best meals I'd had in a really long time! I ate slow and tried that 21 bites thing. I heard that if you take a bite and chew it 21 times, it slows down your eating and you feel full faster...or something like that. I definitely didn't eat the entire platter! I only ate 1/2 of the wrap and a few bites of the fruit. It was really good! I definitely recommend it!
"Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you're probably right." -Henry Ford. Last time I posted, I was really close to giving up. I hadn't seen any measurable results, and since I had been working out for a couple weeks now, I expected to see at least something. But then I realized that I really should be working harder. If I don't work out every day like I promised I would, I'm not going to see results. I should work out every single day for the rest of the summer. When vacation comes in August, I will find a way to work out. I don't know what it will be, but I will find a way. And I will post everyday, whether or not I workout. That way I have some accountability for not putting in my full effort. OK more tomorrow! Hopefully! 

One thing I learned today? DO NOT STOP WORKING OUT. I didn't work out for the past four days because I was on vacation. Actually, I was only on vacation for two days. The other days I was just feeling lazy. Today I was feeling lazy today, but I was also getting frustrated for no apparent reason. I don't know why, but I heard that one way to relieve stress is by exercising. So I was just like fine, just do it. I'm not going to look great by sitting here. So I got up and went down to the basement to work out.
During that workout, I regretted every minute of not working out the past few days. I couldn't even make it through the entire workout. So I caught my breath, then went to the treadmill. I ran for 2 minutes without stopping which is an improvement, but not where I want to be. I haven't seen a significant change, and I guess I shouldn't expect a significant change, but I at least want to see some sort of change. When is that going to happen? I only have a couple weeks until I go back to school. I don't know if I'm going to have the time to work out during school (hopefully I will).
Also this weekend, my eating habits went down hill. If you're going to go to an amusement park, you better not be hungry because you'll eat whatever comes to your mind. I really wanted a funnel cake, a pretzel, ice cream and a slice a pizza. Thank goodness I didn't have any cash on me or I would have gotten those things. We had pizza for lunch the second day. It so darn hard to keep eating healthy. The cupcakes weren't hard to stay away from. Actually, they were disgusting, and I ended up giving them to our chickens. Don't make pink lemonade cupcakes whatever you do.
"The best motivating is self-motivating. The guy says 'I wish someone would come by and turn me on.' What if they don't show up? You've got to have a better plan for your life." -Jim Rohn. I really need motivation right now. I really need it to slap me in the face. It was so hard to do the workout today, and the fact that I stopped after the warm-up made me regret not working out. There's not going to be anymore of that. Tomorrow I'm going to workout. Wednesday I'm going to workout again. I'm not going to have any excuse for skipping the workout. I'm going to try to drop 4 pounds this week. I'm cutting back on my eating and pushing harder on my workouts. It's going to happen. It WILL happen.

So I ended up making a recipe from Pinterest! It's not healthy, but it looked good, and it was the only recipe containing all the ingredients that I had. They're pink lemonade cupcakes, and, actually, I don't know what to think of them. They smell weird, and I haven't tasted them yet. I don't know if I'm going to eat them, but it was nice to make something anyway. And I was completely bored...

Anyway, the workout today was the same as yesterday. I was a little crunched for time so I just did the 15 minute ab video. Seriously, this video is amazing. I really feel like I'm actually doing something. I felt the results from yesterday, and I dropped 2 pounds! I was so happy to see that! You know, I don't think I'm going to eat those cupcakes. I think I'm really making progress, and I don't want to screw it up!

"With self-discipline most anything is possible." -Theodore Roosevelt. I think I've got the working out part under control. There's just a few times that I get off track, but I'm told if you get off track, as long as you get back on track, you're doing pretty well! I've just got to curb my eating. Start eating healthy. If I'm craving something, I should find something else that will suffice. I can't just give in. I have to have self-control! Gotta buckle down and just do it! Till tomorrow!  ~ Emily B.

Today was good. Nothing new really. I didn't do the actual video in the Insanity sequence. I did the abs video. Today, I just felt like I needed to target my abs, and so I did. I'll get back on track tomorrow. Today according to the schedule was a rest day, so I think it was ok to do something different. It's going to hurt tomorrow though! I'm going to bake tomorrow. I'm going to make healthy treats for my family. I don't know what I'm going to make, but I was on Pinterest (the best website ever!), and I found a few ideas. Who knows? I might make all of them! I'm feeling ambitious! I might make dinner and lunch, too! Speaking of Pinterest, I found my motivation there too. "Of course it's hard. It's supposed to be hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. Hard is what makes it great. " -A League of Their Own (1992). I've never seen this movie, but it looks good. I kind of enjoyed the workout today. Sounds crazy, right? I felt the burn, and I felt like I was actually doing something, not just running out of breath. I wasn't exhausted at the end and I felt my abs working. It felt great! It was still hard, but I kept going. I pushed a little further. I CAN NOT wait until college starts again. It's getting closer and closer, and that keeps pushing me and pushing me! Ok, more tomorrow! ~Emily B.

I didn't work out on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I tried to do this plan for at least 21 days to make it a habit, but that didn't work out. I did work out today, though. It wasn't bad. In fact, it was easier to do this video the second time around than it was the first time. I made it basically all the way through the warm up. All I kept saying was that it was almost over. I might have been lying to myself a little bit, but it kept me going at least. The first part of the actual workout seemed WAY shorter than last time....then it got harder....I can't wait for the day that I can do this entire video the entire way through. It's going to happen. At the rate I'm going, maybe not as soon as I thought, but it's going to happen eventually. I just have to keep going. "Courage doesn't always roar. Sometime courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'"-Mary Anne Radmacher. Today wasn't an awesome day, but today wasn't a bad day either. It was just an OK day, but I still tried my best and that's gotta count for something! :) See ya! ~Emily B.

     Today, it was hard to start the workout. My workout was really late tonight; I almost decided to just do it tomorrow. But, then I remembered this blog, and what I wrote a couple of days ago. If everything else fails, thinking of this blog and my overall goal is really getting me going. At ten thirty at night, I wouldn't normally get up and be active.

     One thing that Shaun T keeps saying is the word push. ALL THE TIME! I can hear it in my head right now. "Push push push". Today, it really helped. I didn't watch the video as much as I listened this time. I saw the move done a couple of times, then closed my eyes and pushed. When I did the mountain climbing exercise, I looked up at the ceiling. I visualized myself moving to the top. I got into a rhythm that I hadn't felt before. It was amazing! 

     There were a couple of times that I had to stop to catch my breath, but I got right back into it. It wasn't like a couple of days ago where my mom had to peel me off the floor! I took a couple of breaths and started again. It felt great! In fact, I felt like the workout went faster today. By the end, I was out of breath, but kind of ready for more! Bring it on! 

     "Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." -Jim Ryun. Did you know it takes 21 days to make a habit? That means that in...12 days working out will be a habit. Like it's a habit for me to bite on my nails. It'll be like second nature. I don't know it that's entirely true, but it'd be nice to think that working out is just like biting my nails! But I have to remind myself to keep going at full speed. I can just exercise at a comfortable pace, I have to keep pushing! Keep going!!!

    One problem that I did run into today was eating healthy. How do you healthily cut out bad food? I haven't had anything sweet like candy or ice cream (OK I had ice cream, but it was a special occasion and I felt bad about it afterwards) in the past three weeks. I went to the mall, and everywhere I looked I saw a really yummy food. Auntie Anne's on one side and Dairy Queen on the other. It's REALLY hard to start eating healthy, too. I'm enjoying working out (I never thought I'd say that), but healthy eating is proving a challenge. I tried doing an online food tracker thing, but that didn't last very long. I never knew what to enter because I didn't know the calorie count and other things. I guess that's the next obstacle!

     By the way, thank you to everyone who's been reading and commenting on this blog. It means so much to me when I see complete strangers as well as friends wanting to see me succeed! It's really keeping me motivated! Thank you thank you thank you!!! OK, more tomorrow!!! ~Emily B.

    

       Today was a fairly easy day. The Insanity video was more about resistance than cardio. It was like intense yoga. It wasn't as exhausting, but I still felt the burn! It felt good, but it hurt like crazy!! Somehow, when I feel the burn, I feel like I'm doing more that when I am out of breath. When I saw that the video said Cardio Recovery, I was like, ok, easy enough...not. But, it felt good.
       I didn't work out with my mom today because our schedules didn't line up. We still are working out together though! I did my workout in the afternoon, and, when she got home, I had the video all set up for her, so she could work out. I left her a note of motivation as well! I love getting into shape, but having someone to workout with is even better! We talked about the workout just like we talk about our day. Having someone to work out with is great because it makes it seem like it's not a chore. It's something that can be enjoyed! 
       I couldn't really find a quote that applied to what happened today or what I learned, but I did find this. "What a man [woman] accomplishes in a day depends on upon the way in which he [she] approaches the task." -Arland Gilbert. I like the fact that approaching the task in a positive way can make it less daunting. Saying that I can't do it or it's going to be hard isn't going to cut it because I'm going to give up quicker. I went into the workout thinking it was going to be easy. Well, it wasn't, but I don't like to admit that I'm wrong, so I kept going and finished strong!  Overall, I think it was a good day!!! ~Emily B.

When I started this plan to workout, I didn't think that I would enjoy it. In fact, I thought I would have a hard time doing this whole thing. I never liked the idea of working out or going to the gym. At school, I went to the gym because friends went. After just a week of working out, I actually enjoy it. During the workout, I hate Shaun T and all the extremely fit people with their six pack abs. After the workout, I feel tired but accomplished.

I was so close to quitting. There were so many reasons to quit today. I didn't have my mom and my sister working out with to help me keep going, so if I quit, nobody would know. Dinner was also being made upstairs, so I smelled it and it smelled amazing! I hadn't eaten much today, and I was starving! I was also really tired. It would've been so easy to just stop, go watch TV, and take a nap. I did the same thing when I was up late doing schoolwork. When everybody was in bed, I told myself that I would just shut my eyes for an hour or two and I'd get back up and finish. Then, I'd say another hour and another hour until it was the next morning, and I had gotten no work done. 
"Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared to believe that something inside them was superior to circumstances." -Bruce Barton. I realize now that I can't keep putting things off until I feel like it. I'm never going to feel like working out. I'm not going to feel like finishing the workout. I have to push myself. When I don't want to finish, that's when I have to push myself harder. Sure, there are going to be times when it seems like quitting would be easy. My mom keeps telling me that the easy road is not always the best way to go. 
Actually, I'm having more fun with this road! Yesterday, I went to the pool with my family. I usually hate going to the pool. I feel like everyone there is judging me, and I don't like that feeling. Yesterday, was totally different. I wanted to go to the pool. I even went off the diving board. Not just jumping either; I dove! I loved the feeling that I got when I accomplished that! Slowly, I'm going to get better! I'm starting to push myself more because I've been working out for a week! An entire week! I'm not a very committed person. My New Year's resolutions last about 2 days. The fact that I've been working out for this long is pushing me to keep going! I can't wait for school to start again because I'm going to look and feel great!!! More later! ~Emily B

So I didn't work out Friday and Saturday. It felt weird, like I was doing something wrong by not working out. I didn't realize that after a week of working out how much I would miss it. While it was nice having a break, I felt like I really needed to get back into the "old" routine. I really needed to get into shape, and I wasn't going to do that by missing two days. So yesterday, I made it a point to workout. I finally found the workout schedule for Insanity, and I started a day early with my mom. I never thought that I would be this excited to do Insanity! I started from Day 1 doing the Fit Test. It was hard. I was still a little sore from the last time, and I really just wanted to lay on the floor and stop. It was surprising, but my mom was the one that got me up! She was the one that kept me going! It showed me how beneficial it can be to work out with someone else. I don't think I would have finished the work out if she wasn't there to keep me going! It was an awesome feeling!  I think I've got the work out part under control for now with her to help me! One thing that's going to be difficult is the eating healthy part. I was looking for a healthy snack, and there was nothing that in the house that I wouldn't feel guilty about eating. I want to get healthy, but just working out isn't going to cut it. So today, I'm going to go to the store to get healthy snacks. And maybe I'm going to make dinner, a healthy dinner. Oooh, here's a good one...."Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of acheivement." - Foster C. McClellan. So I'm going to start small. There's the possibility that this could turn into something really good! But there's the possibility that I could fail, but I'm not going to let that happen. I'm going to "fan the right sparks" as much as I can! Let's do it!!!!

Today went pretty well. Maybe not as well as the past two days. After doing Insanity yesterday, I was really sore. Insanity really is insane. I still wanted to continue. I haven't felt any results (except for my muscles), and I want to feel a change. Yesterday, I created an account to help me keep track of my diet. It counts my calories for me, the amount of water that I drink, and the number of calories that I can still take. I think that if I keep track of what I eat and keep up my exercise routine EVERY DAY this goal shouldn't be too hard to reach. I just have to get past the soreness and push through. Today, I was really close to not working out today and saying that I'll work out double the time tomorrow. I have to remember not to do that because if I say that I'll work out double tomorrow, tomorrow will come around and then I'll say I'll work out harder the next day. I have to remind myself tp keep working out everyday. I have to stay active everyday or my goal of getting fit isn't going to work. I didn't do a video of Insanity today. Instead, my mom and I did Billy Blank's TaeBo Insane Abs. It was pretty hard. I wasn't able to do the entire video, but I still did as much as I could. We both helped each other do the correct exercise do get the most out of our workout. I found that just doing what the video does doesn't help if you're not doing it right. So we didn't follow the video constantly, but we got the most out of each move! Here's a rather funny quote! "People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing-that's why we recommend it daily." -Zig Ziglar. I don't know who that is, but I like where he's coming from. I have to motivate myself every single day. If I don't, it starts to fade away, and when I fall of the motivation boat, it's really hard to get back on. So that's why I have to keep going. I'm going to look great and feel amazing when I go back to school in August!!! See you tomorrow!

Day 2 of my journey went well. This time, I had company! My mom joined me for a video of Insanity. I'm so proud of her. She's not in shape either, but she put her full effort into it, and I'm happy to get in shape with her! We did a plyometric cardio circuit workout video...IT. WAS. HARD. There were moments where I just wanted to stop and do the rest of the video tomorrow, but then I realized, there's people older than me doing exactly what I'm doing. I wasn't going to let them pass me up. I couldn't quit now. I made a promise to myself, and I intend on keeping it. I want to be able to come to this blog everyday, and say that I gave my best. I'm proud of myself and my mom for doing this. I'm going to get healthier to feel good about myself. This past year at school I tried my best to put a motivational quote on the bathroom mirror every morning. Sometimes I succeeded, sometimes I didn't. Other times I think I just annoyed my roommates...but I'm going to put inspirational quotes on this blog every single day for me and for anyone else...I don't know if anyone else is reading this, but if they are, the motivational quote is for them, too! Ok, here's one..."The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph" -Thomas Paine. This is going to get tough, but I'm going to make a promise not to quit, no matter how hard it gets. I'm going to get fit--it's gonna happen! Now I'm going to cook a healthy dinner. Baked pork chops with carrots, potatoes, and celery. More tomorrow!!! ~Emily B.

Yesterday, a friend of mine sent me a list of workout routines. I've been thinking about getting into shape, but I could never find the right motivation to do it. Today, I didn't find anymore motivation, but I finally told myself to get up, go downstairs, and at least walk on the treadmill. So I did. I put on comfortable workout clothes, put on my tennis shoes, and walked and ran a little bit on the treadmill for 15 minutes. Then, I did an ab video from the Insanity workout. I learned something. I'm definitely in terrible shape!! But I have the rest of the summer to change that. Today, I'm going to make it my goal to get in better shape than I am today. I want to be able to start my second year of college, feeling confident and proud of myself. I'm hoping by starting this blog I'll be able to do just that. It's my own personal form of motivation. "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" -Lao Tzu. I feel as though I took that single step today. And I'm going to keep taking small steps to get where I want to be. More later! ~Emily B.