One of these days...

One of these days I'm gonna figure out how to manage this "healthy lifestyle" thing! Just apparently not today. I know, I know...it's a long road and it is impossible to be 100% perfectly healthy when it comes to food/drink. Today was a better day than most...so far I have had skim milk, water, and tea as far as drinks go (no soda!) and foodwise could have been worse. Breakfast - 90 calorie fiber one brownie. Lunch - Strawberry banana orange juice smoothie (no AC...didn't wanna cook!) Snack - Wheat thins and cheddar cheese. Dinner...well...a sloppy joe and french fries. And I am now chasing that with peanut butter M&M's. Oops. :( I'm tellin ya...it's hard to tell myself no! There is always tomorrow! It's all about making more good choices than bad. I need to keep repeating that to myself. On Monday morning I also plan on starting a running program on the treadmill downstairs. The Couch to 5K one has really caught my attention. I will post about that on Monday, though. :) Have a GGGGGGREAT evening!

FINALLY! A SUCCESSFUL SMOOTHIE RECIPE!!!

Today is a GREAT day! I have been searching for the perfect smoothie on and off for about...4 months I'd say. Well I am happy to report that I have found it!!! I have found my perfect smoothie and I am ridiculously excited about it. :)

Now...this smoothie is sort of a rather unsightly color...but trust me...it tastes AWESOME! It was a really pretty pink before I threw in the spinach. Now that I've finally found a good recipe, I'm going to try and mix it up a little to see what works and what doesn't. This is what I started with this morning:

Technically...I never even used the basic recipe on the back of the Dole bag which was a cup of juice and a heaping cup of frozen fruit. I threw in some plain nonfat yogurt and spinach, as well. I think from now on I might leave the yogurt out. I was thinking I could start adding yogurt and getting the extra benefits but...I just really don't like it. :(



Big giant bump in the road

Yeah...this hasn't been going as planned so far. No worries...I'm not giving up! I just need to learn to be more strict with myself instead of always thinking "oh well I can start making healthier choices tomorrow." I must say...it's hard to pass up fast food when you are always running across Clarksville babysitting...especially short notice babysitting gigs. However...if I want to see the results that I am aiming for then I am going to have to learn to start telling myself "NO!" I need a game plan and that's what I am currently working on. I am about to start putting together some homemade 100 calorie snack packs to throw in my purse when my Super Babysitter symbol appears in the sky (Batman reference...heh). (Oh hey! Plus SB can stand for Super Babysitter OR Shelby Burkhart! ;)) Another thing that is seriously going to help me out a TON is...........

MiO liquid water inhancer! (I have the exact bottle in the kitchen but quite frankly taking a picture of it, e-mailing it to myself, saving it to my computer, THEN posting it on the blog seemed like WAY too much work. Don't judge me...it's super late and I wanna sleep!) But this stuff (especially the strawberry watermelon) is AMAZING. It tastes wayyyyy too good to have none of the bad stuff in it. I'm sure plain ol' water is better for you in some way...but hey...I don't like plain ol' water. But if you're a cheater like me...this stuff is yummy. :)

Here's to hoping I can get myself on track soon!

Goodnight all!

No apple today

This morning has already been a disappointment. I found a recipe yesterday for cinnamon apple oatmeal that looked SO GOOD. I woke up ready to make it and...the apples that were sitting on the counter yesterday were gone. :( Bummer. BUT, I did not let this tiny bump in the road upset me too much...(although I'm still not entirely over it, yet. ha.)

I almost gave up this morning and put off my eating healthy for another day. There were so many other breakfast foods calling my name...none of them very healthy options, however. But instead of calling it quits, I reached for my handy dandy Carnation Breakfast Essentials! I love this stuff and I've been drinking it on and off for breakfast since high school. It's pretty fantastic so if you are ever looking for a good quick breakfast drink, well look no further! Mixed with 1 cup of skim milk brings the calorie count to 220, which isn't bad seeing as I'm attempting to keep my "big" meals to between 300-400 calories. (Hey...a smaller breakfast calorie count means a little snack before lunch, right?) Even another plus to this stuff is it contains 21 vitamins and minerals including: 13 grams of protein, 25% of the daily value of Vitamin E, 50% of the daily value of Calcium and Vitamin D, 140% of the daily value of Vitamin C and last but not least, Iron (always a plus for me since I always seem to be a little anemic). And the last plus is...it's yummy. :)

The beginning of a new adventure!

Good evening! :) This is (hopefully) the beginning of a major journey that I have attempted more than once before. This is my healthy lifestyle blog. This is going to be a place where I write about the good times and the not so good times I encounter while trying to eat healthier and exercise regularly. What caused this sudden decision, you ask? Well, I always worry about my weight and how I look (I know, I know...love yourself as is...blahblahblah) and I just feel overall unhealthy and icky. I am too young to feel icky all the time! I want to start making healthier choices and I want to look in the mirror and absolutely love what I see. Why keep worrying about what I look like when I can change it, right? I have some goals and I am going to try to accomplish them slowly. I usually rush into a super crazy diet and it flops within days. I am trying to make this work! Here are some of my goals...

1) NO soda (Not such a big deal really)
2) ONLY 8 ounces of sweet tea a day (a MASSIVELY big deal!)
3) Begin a new running program
4) Be able to run a solid 20 minutes straight 12 weeks from now (scary!)
5) No fast food (unless it is Subway)
6) Drink at least 2 bottles of water a day (I'm not a big water drinker so I'm going to build up.)
These are the goals I am going to try and accomplish within the next couple of weeks. I am not the kind of person who can stop doing things cold turkey. I am going to seriously have to ween myself off of sweet tea for sure. However, I think with support from my friends and family...this might just work. I am definitely going to try my very hardest. Well, there's my intro. See ya!