Journey To A Healthier Me, Part 1

Ok so I’m on my “healthy” kick again…..for the uptenth time! Trying to get healthier inside and out! 

Physically:

Exercising at home! I’m not trying to lose weight just trying to maintain my sexy! :-D 

I have gained a little weight the over the past three years..tummy not as flat as I’m used to. You know how your belly sticks out after you eat..well these days I have that “I just ate” look going on all day...everyday….not cute!

So I have to do something about it before it becomes a REAL issue. I don’t believe in paying for a gym membership..that would be a waste of money for me. I’m so off and on, more off than on, when it comes to exercising but this time I’m going to stick to it! 

I’m a slim chick as it is so I plan to only work out maybe 2 times per week no more than hour each time. I was thinking I should start with an easy exercise routine so that I can get into the habit of exercising. So Saturday I was looking at the Exercise TV channel on On Demand just to try to get an idea of certain exercises that I could incorporate into my own workout routine. As I was flipping through the list of videos, they had a section dedicated to walking.

I checked it out and it’s a walking at home program. I found two that I like and that I will do twice a week. The first one is Walking At Home with Leslie Sansone. The one that I will be doing is the 3 mile walk. It’s a 45min workout routine, which is perfect! No equipment is necessary, and she actually worked up a good sweat! Leslie has many other videos that I think are cool! You can visit her site at http://www.walkathome.com/ I plan to get the 5 Day Slim Down DVD for my mom and I. You can choose to do 1 mile a day or the whole 5 mile workout at once. 

 

The other one I liked was by Chris Freytag, its Walking Cardio Shape Up so she adds weights into her routine for the sculpting sessions. It’s 45 minutes as well so I plan to do that one. I bought a resistance band so instead of using the weights I may just substitute the resistance band, we’ll see how that works! You can preview or download Freytag’s workout video at Exercisetv.tv. 

 

I noticed that these workout routines actually incorporate the exercise moves that I was planning to put into my own routine…just helps for me to create my own routine because sometimes I just find it difficult to follow these instructors but these walking routines are actually easy to follow. Easy, yet effective, and especially good for your heart health. I have to set aside the days that I plan to work out. I think Wed and Sat will be good days.

Now as far as food, I don’t eat a lot of unhealthy stuff. I’m a salad lover even though I’m not sure if my salads are still healthy after I add all the things I like to eat in my salads as well as the dressing. Junk food is my weakness! So cutting back on my sweets and chips are necessary. I found a new love, Nutella, so that will be my life saver when I have a chocolate craving. I don’t eat chips a lot but sometimes I go on a chip binge..ha!! I won’t totally stop indulging in cookies, cakes, chips, or my favorite, Reese Peanut Butter cups….but I will do it in moderation. I’m trying not to add sugar to my cereal even though I use raw cane sugar. I tried adding cherry flavored craisins to my frosted flakes and it gives me that extra sweetness that I crave. I need to try that with my honey nut cheerios to see if that works the same!

I have switched to eating vegetable pasta by Ronzoni. It’s very tasty! Me love it! :-D 

I cook only brown rice at home, but when I go out or when I order take out I get white rice. The restaurants and fast food joints use short grain brown rice and I prefer long grain. I don’t really fry food at home but I’m in love with fries! LOVE’EM!! I eat more veggies then meat…love my sautéed squash with peppers & onions either with brown rice or over some veggie noodles w’italian dressing. I am totally watching my sodium intake. Some veggies like green beans and corn I can’t eat the frozen kind (unless it’s corn on the cob) so I still buy those in the can, but now I get the ones with no salt added. I don’t use table salt on my food unless I cut up some cucumbers and tomatoes to eat with a meal and I season them with salt/pepper but that’s not that often. You have to start small and work your way up to getting totally healthy…eating healthy ain’t cheap so do as well as you can with the budget you have.

Stay Blessed....Stay Healthy!