If you're still cute at the end of your workout...you're doing it wrong.

Nothing sweeter than a cool breeze through the screen door after cardio.

Today: 2.5 miles in 32 minutes 

Not bad considering I've avoided running for awhile now!

Here's something I'd like to address: My appetite. Guess what? I like food. No, I LOVE food. I love shopping for it, I love cooking and trying new recipes, I absolutely adore the smell of my kitchen at dinnertime! Pinterest is the greatest thing since sliced bread - the possibilities are quite literally endless.

I've always had a fairly healthy diet, improving or lapsing here and there, but never out of control. My biggest problem was eating too much! I never realized how many portions I was eating in one sitting. Even the healthiest fresh prepared meal can be unhealthy if I'm eating enough for two or three people. I started trying all these different methods you hear about from Cosmo or your mother...

"Use a smaller plate, you'll eat less."

"Try eating with chopsticks, it slows you down."

"Chew slower."

1. I'm clumsy by nature. Smaller plate means higher chance of me dropping food off my fork anywhere BUT my plate. Also, my "small" plates are approximately the size of one piece of toast. Not happening. 

2. I tried chopsticks, but trust me when I say - you will look ridiculous eating majority of your food. Chopsticks are strictly reserved for that once in a blue moon guilty pleasure take-out you get from Thai Cuisine. (Go get the curry pad thai. You will thank me later. You're welcome.)

3. Chewing slower makes me feel like a cow. Trust me, I grew up next to this place: 

             

    (Go get the Tractor Trails ice cream. You will thank me later. You're welcome.) 

Though all of the above failed, I did find a few things that work. 

- Don't eat in front of the TV. You might not realize it, but with all your focus on the screen in front of the couch, you're eating far more than you need. This also counts during Netflix/Hulu time on the laptop. 

-Snacks are totally cool. No one ever got fat from too many fruits and vegetables. Throw an apple in your backpack. Carrot sticks? Go for it! My favorite? Plain air-pop popcorn. 

-Try to eat with other people! Conversation is going to slow you down, giving your brain time to realize that there is food in your stomach and small intestine being digested. Don't have anyone to converse with? Talk to your cat. 

He totally gets me.

When you eat alone and shovel food as fast as you can (Trust me - I get it. Woke up on more than one occasion late for class), those chemical signals that tell you how full you are don't have enough time to fire and register with your poor cerebrum. This science also applies to the reasoning behind not eating while watching TV. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself - tons of evidence based articles out there. 

Long story short, I'm not eating nearly as much as I was a year or two ago. One well-balance and proportioned plate fills me up, I don't need to go back for seconds, and I feel full and energized! 

Living true to my blog's name.

I'm not giving up.

School has been beyond overwhelming. As soon as it began last September, all I could do was think, eat, breathe, and sleep occupational therapy. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but I completely plateaued in regards to my health and fitness. 

Though I was solid in not gaining any weight, I certainly didn't lose any. Though, you know what? I'm not too upset about that. I remember reading somewhere recently, not sure where (probably Reddit...addicted) that  weighing yourself on the scale only measures your body's impact against the force of gravity. It's not helpful in the very least. I'm not setting foot on that scale again. 

Instead, I'm forcing myself to make time for better life choices.

My diet is healthy. No where near a super-vegan, calorie-counting, crazy keep-track of each percentage of nutrition I put in my mouth everyday type diet, but more of a "I'm going to cook and eat my food fresh, drink a ton of water, and make good life choices when I eat out or snack". I give you example #1: This past semester we had to teach our classmates how to do something. It didn't matter what, as long as you were teaching. An amazing classmate of mine taught us how to cut a pineapple. Sure, I could have googled it, but for some reason watching her dice up an entire fresh pineapple has inspired me to buy one every week for about a month now. Yum! Why wasn't I doing this sooner? Love me some fresh fruit and natural sugar! 

My workout routines are becoming, for lack of a better work, routine. So many people have told me they get up early and get that workout done in the morning. Me? I'm nearly cheating on my boyfriend I love my pillow so much. I ride the struggle-bus getting up any earlier than 7, so that's out. Some of my classmates are super-motivated awesome people, and workout during our break between morning and afternoon classes. Me? I love to give myself cognitive detox time and munch on my apple and salad while staring off into nothingness until I have to turn my brain on again in a few hours.

The boyfriend has been on leave these last few weeks before he has to report to his next station. He is super-fit, super-motivated, and always moving. Seriously, he's pretty awesome. What wasn't so awesome what having him drag me to the gym everyday to lift while he was here, and it just so happened that dinner-time workouts totally fit into my schedule. 

It was painful, it sucked. I walked like I had just gotten off of a horse after "leg day"....for THREE DAYS. 

Guess what? I just went...by myself...and did LEGS! I feel GREAT! And I love the boyfriend to bits and pieces for getting me moving again. Sorry I got super-grumpy on "arm day" sweetie. Love you! 

I'm back, I'm motivated, and after a couple weeks of on/off lifting I really think I can do this. I have to do this. I won't be updating frequently, but I'm still here and busting my rear end. I promise!! ;)