So as far as today goes, exercise went down the drain. I haven't really gotten any good exercising in. In the eating aspect of getting healthier, I'm having a healthy choice strainers dinner. It's Creamy Tomato Basil Penne. Yummy! I realize that I haven't posted in awhile. I was on vacation. I did REALLY bad on vacation as far as eating so we'll just leave it at that. I really want to forget that week as far as what I ate. I did do as much working out as possible. The first full day we biked eight miles. The third full day we walked at least four miles on the dunes. It was amazing! We went to the island that's off the shore, and there we biked all around the island. So I think I did as best as I could with working out. I definitely did not do as well with my eating habits. Since I'm back at school though, they've been better. All last week I ate three meals a day. I snacked every once in awhile, but the only snack I had in my room was oranges so it was all healthy snacks. I'm not going to eat as much pizza as I did last year. Just looking at it I see all the grease, and I kind of like the idea of putting fresh food in my stomach instead of grease, cheese, and more grease. I mean, what's not to like about that....
Quote: "You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do." -Henry Ford. This makes sense. I can't say I'm getting healthy when I'm just talking about it. So I have to take action. This week, I'm going to try to go to the rec everyday. I have breaks between all my classes so I shouldn't have any excuse to not go. Hopefully, I'll get other people to go with me too.... ;)

Crustless Skinny Quiche

Ok so I missed yesterday so this post counts as two. Yesterday was just a bad day as far as eating goes. I had pizza, and because I hadn't eaten much all day, I had more than one slice. I didn't feel bad yesterday, but I sure feel bad today. Never going to happen again. I really want to find more healthy foods that taste good though. I feel like I haven't actually tasted anything in the past week. Hopefully, it'll get better? I worked out a little less than normal because we went to the gym a little later and so I had a limited amount of time to do my workout. I just did the elliptical for only 25 minutes and did some weight machines. I don't think I did anything to do any difference, but I tried to dabble in everything.
Today was much more successful. I ate very healthily. I made that quiche I kept saying I'd make. It turned out really well, don't ya think? It's probably the healthiest recipe that's ever been made in this house. Seriously, we don't eat healthy.  My mom was out, and she called and said we'd order Chinese when they got home. I told her no way, and started making dinner immediately. I'm surprised the everybody liked it! And that it turned out well! I also worked out for an hour and a half today! Full workout; 30 minutes on the elliptical and all the weight machines that I needed to do. I wasn't going to leave until I was finished.
Which brings me to my quote: It's the picture....I didn't feel like typing it out. ~Emily B. On vacation for the next week, will report my working out on Saturday!

So today wasn't as successful as yesterday. At least, it didn't feel as successful. I didn't think I ate as healthy as I did today. Dinner looked good. The only thing that wasn't healthy, I guess, was the fried chicken. We also had mashed potatoes and broccoli. I was going to make the quiche, but I got home too late from the pool to make it in time for dinner. I had lunch, just a peanut butter sandwich. I looked at the container. There are 290 calories in one serving of peanut butter! Geez, it seemed so healthy. So I have to cut out peanut butter now. Meh...today is just a down day. Today, gettting healthy seemed like a chore. I also had some peaches. It probably seemed healthy, but, in hindsight, it's not because it's covered in light syrup. I didn't drink the syrup, but I don't think I'm going to have canned peaches anymore either. I didn't drink anything but water though so I'm pretty sure I got my 64 ounces and more! 

Pumpkin Brownies - Dr. Ox recommends
them for those trying to lose weight......hmmm

I didn't do my workout all at once. Today was pretty scattered. At the pool, I did ten laps pretty much nonstop. I'm proud of myself for doing that. I couldn't do that before. Then, I came home, and right before dinner, I ran for 8 minutes on the treadmill. Then, after dinner and a couple of errands, I went to the gym and did the elliptical for 20 minutes because the gym was closing so that's all I could do. I'm pretty sure I looked like a maniac. I ran as fast as I could into the gym, speed walked to the locker room to put my stuff away, and then hopped on the elliptical, putting in my headphones as I started. I REALLY wanted to get a good chunk of time in before they closed. Overall, I don't think that today was as successful in the workout, maybe because it was all spread out. Tomorrow, I'm starting early because it's going to be a busy day. I'm not leaving the gym until I'm tired and hurting all over. I'm losing inches around my waist! I'm getting so close!

Quote (from Pinterest...why did I ever doubt it?!?!): "Suck it up and someday you won't have to suck it in." -Pinterest. Today felt like a chore, and I was craving sweets all day, but I've got to trust that it'll all pay off in the end. ~Emily B.

Another successful day! As far as eating goes, I ate REALLY healthy. I had only negative calorie foods today. I woke up late so I didn't eat a big lunch. I just had some strawberries and cauliflower. With the cauliflower I had a little bit of dressing on the side, but I minimized the amount that I used. Strawberries as always were amazing! For dinner, nobody cooked or anything, so I just made myself a salad with a little bit of cheese and balsamic vinaigrette dressing (once again, minimizing the cheese and dressing). I also had two plums. I don't know if that was ok, but I figured they were small and also had negative calories. I'm going to try to make a Crustless Skinny Quiche that I found on Pinterest tomorrow so we can all eat healthy, but who knows if that's going to happen. :)

Love this! 

My workout went great! I burned at least 300 calories today. I burned about 200 on the elliptical and 100 on the rowing machine. I also did a little weight machines including the hip abductor/adductor, the abdominal curl, and the leg curl. I have no idea what the difference is between abductor and adductor (I don't even know if I spelled that right), but I love how they have highlight the muscles that the machine targets. I just looked at the pictures and went to each machine that targeted what I wanted to target, specifically my calves, thighs, and stomach. It felt pretty great, and I spent about an hour and a half there.
I went shopping today, not to buy, just to look around. I had an amazing feeling! I've been having problems with my calves for awhile. I can't fit into boots because they're too small. I tried on a pair of boots...AND THEY WENT OVER MY CALVES! It turns out I've gotten rid of an entire inch around my calves!!! I was so happy!!! I can't wait to get rain boots and a nice pair of dress up boots! (I can be skinny and taller!)
OK here's a quote. (I picked this because I don't have to find a quote for the next ten days!) "10 Reasons For Weight Loss 1) To Love Myself Again" -Pinterest. This is part one of ten; the next nine will be over the next nine days! Before I started this workout, I'm going to be honest, I didn't like the way I looked in the mirror. I was unsatisfied. I really really REALLY want to look amazing! I've got SO many reasons to get fit now! I'm realizing them more every day! I don't think there's any reason to stop except that I get tired sometimes. But why should that stop me? I can sleep at night! I love this! I'm getting more and more excited for school everyday!! ~Emily B.

Good day today! I went to the gym again for about an hour. I felt like I targeted every problem area today so I think I did my best. I might go swimming tomorrow as well. I'm feeling really energized. Exercising gives me something to do. I like it a lot better than just sitting at home on the couch. All summer, I've felt bored, waiting for school to start again. Then, when I started that first day, things kind of looked up. I need something to do at all times. I can't just sit around. It keeps me awake. I'm really enjoying myself! 

As far as eating goes, it was good today. I only had some strawberries for a snack. For dinner, I had fish (some of that omega 3!), broccoli and cauliflower mix (negative calories!), and noodles. I had water to drink instead of the Kool Aid that my brother made. There's a LOT of sugar in that, and I didn't realize that. I should drink more water anyway. I'm going to work on that. Sixty four ounces of water everyday. I definitely haven't been doing that. So that's my goal for today.

"Fat, I'm gonna BURN you. I promise." -Pinterest pin. This thought was going through my head today at the gym. School is getting closer and closer, and I can't wait to look my best! ~Emily B.

Today was a pretty good day. I went to the gym today. Yesterday we got a membership to the local gym so today was my first time there. I didn't really spend all my time on one machine. Instead I just checked out every machine so that tomorrow I can go and know what I want to do. I did make sure that I put my best in on every machine. I would finish a set and then go to another machine. On a couple, I went back to do a couple more sets towards the end of the night. It was pretty good, and on some of them, I felt it working. I could feel my ab muscles working immediately on the abdominal machine. There were some machines that I didn't even know existed! I genuinely can't wait to go back tomorrow.

YUM!

"Strength doesn't come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn't." -Rikki Rogers. I don't think I learned anything today, so I thought this quote of inspiration would do for today. I'm only 6 pounds away from a healthy weight range. I'm going to get there before my doctor's visit in two weeks. It'll happen. Just wait and see! :) ~Emily B.

PS. Did you know strawberries have negative calories? A calorie free snack that's also sweet? Perfect!

Today was a great day! I ate as healthy as I could, and I think I succeeded (at least for part of it)! For breakfast, I didn't do so well. I had potatoes that my dad made for everybody after church. I wanted to have  Cheerios, but we were all out. So I had potatoes. Then, I went out with friends to the mall. At the mall, we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. I restrained myself from just getting whatever looked good, and tried to get the healthiest item on the menu. I ordered a tossed green salad with vinaigrette. It was very good! I stayed away from the bread. I didn't want to eat too much as I didn't have time to exercise at all today because we were out all day. We also had cheesecake. While it's definitely NOT healthy, it was a nice treat! I think that's all I have to say today.
Quote: "The ultimate reason for setting goals is to entice you to become the person it takes to achieve them" -Jim Rohn. Today, I was given some advice (by a very wise elder). I was told that I should set a goal to reach ten minutes and that running is also a mental game. I will attempt to run for 10 minutes straight tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.... ~Emily B.

Second day of awesome! I dropped another pound! I think I ate pretty healthily today. As a snack after my workout, I had a handful of cheerios. I actually like cheerios better dry than with milk. They were really good. I think it really hit my parents today that we need to start eating healthy. I think it's going to start getting better. We're going to go through the house and throw out the unhealthy stuff and stock up on healthy stuff. I'm starting to use my behavior modification skills. I know that it's easy to eat unhealthy food because it's easy to get to, especially in this house. So if we stock up on healthy food like veggies and fruits, it'll be easy to get healthy because the only food around is healthy. I'm trying to make sure that we make healthy snacks, too. Right now snacks are our house are Ramen noodles and popcorn. Not healthy at all. I guess it keeps me from snacking all the time, but like a couple of days ago, I was just feeling down and out of sorts, so I just started snacking. So now we'll see if we can get healthy as a family! We'll see how it goes.

As far as exercising goes, today was good. I did the same thing as yesterday. Today, I only exercised with my sister because my mom wasn't home yet, but it turned out well! She did the treadmill for twenty minutes while I did the ab video. Then, after she finished, I ran on the treadmill for five minutes straight then walked a minute, alternating for twenty minutes. I ran a little longer than yesterday so I still felt like I did my best!
Quote? No quote, not really. There's a picture! That's some good motivation! More tomorrow! (Actually later today....) ~Emily B.

Good day!!! Good good good day!!! Waaay better than yesterday (or the day before). As far as eating goes, fairly good. For dinner, we had grilled burgers, gravy, noodles, and mixed vegetables. Balanced, healthy, and, of course, yummy! I think my parents finally realized the importance of being healthy because they've started really paying attention to what we have to dinner and what we snack on. It's nice to see people who really have an impact starting to take charge. After a healthy dinner, we let our food settle, then went downstairs and started out workout. This time my mom and my sister joined me.
At the beginning, it didn't seem like we were going to do very well. Not even two minutes into the workout, my sister went upstairs to get her tennis shoes so she could do the treadmill. My mom stayed with me and did what she could because her knee was hurting her when she jumped. Anyway, we went through a couple videos, including two yoga videos, another Insanity video, and then finally settled on an ab video. My mom had to stop in the middle so she just sat there coaching me. It really pushed me to go harder.

That pretty much sums it up.

Something that I haven't yet mastered is moving with my core. When I'm doing some of the ab exercises, my legs hurt, and I don't really feel it where it's supposed to hurt. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I'll get to the bottom of it eventually. Then, when the ab video finished, I wasn't satisfied, so I went to get my tennis shoes on, and ran on the treadmill. I was so proud of myself. I was on the treadmill for a total of about 23 minutes. I only walked for about 10 minutes, but the rest I ran at a jogging pace. I can't believe I did that. I ran for at least 4 minutes straight at one point. I think what helped a lot this time was music. Pandora is genius, by the way. Did you know there's a workout genre station that has all upbeat music? Before, I kept telling myself, ok, I'm going to make a workout playlist. Then, I was like I don't want to go through all those songs so I never did. Thankfully Pandora already did that for me! So I kind of sang along to the music as I ran. I was genuinely having fun with my workout! I was smiling while I ran! I HATE running! It was totally new!
"Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit. You are what you repeatedly do." -Shaquille O'Neal. Today went well, really well, but I have to get better. I have to get into the habit of doing well. This quote is to push me to do better, to repeat what happened today and heighten the intensity. Let's go. ~Emily B.

Bad day. Just a really bad day. I didn't exercise. I couldn't go to the pool, and I felt too lazy to go downstairs and do an Insanity video. I just felt bad about it, too. This evening was not an enjoyable one. I was moody and didn't want to be bothered. I don't even think I ate well either. I had a piece of cake (BAD), fruit (GOOD) and tilapia and rice with broccoli and cauliflower. I'm glad we ate a healthy dinner. Mom asked what I wanted for dinner, and we needed something easy. I told her we had to have something green and healthy, NOT grilled cheese, like yesterday. So we settled on that. It looks healthy and was just as yummy.
Now I'm just tired and I want to go to bed and start over tomorrow. Seriously, as soon as I wake up, I'm going to do something active. I don't know what it will be or how intense it will be, but I need to get up and get moving. "Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, this time more wisely." -Anonymous. I'm starting over tomorrow. We'll see how it goes. ~Emily B.