Finally!

I finally made a decent smoothie today! Yay! I took a break from green smoothies and just had a strawberry and blueberry smoothie. I added two drops of vanilla stevia to sweeten it. It was really great :)

Sorry for the lack of a picture, I drank the smoothie too fast!

Some Days Will Be Hard

I knew that some days would be harder than others when I started this. Today was one of those days. I woke up feeling good, but when I weighed myself I was up a little bit from yesterday (which is why I hate numbers. I felt good and I know that today's number was more realistic, but it still made me feel bad. Boo). Then I sat down with my mom and my sister and we planned out the week's menu, which was difficult because we've never used these recipes before. We also have to try to keep my dad and brother happy, but neither of them are on the plan my sister and I are on (my mom is sort of following our plan right now). That made it even harder.

Then we went to the grocery store. That was awful. I had grabbed an apple for breakfast with the intention of making myself some eggs for protein, but I got caught up in meal planning and the eggs were forgotten. I was so hungry by the time we got to the store. I just wanted a biscuit or bread or something with carbs. The cravings for carbs will go away, I hope. Until then I need to eat before shopping and avoid the bakery!

Today was sample day, so they were cooking sausage. Man I wanted that sausage - it smelled really good and we walked past it like 7 times. it was tempting, but I didn't have any. Instead, I had some pumpkin seeds on the way home.

Once we got home I had my fail smoothie and painted some flower boxes. My run today wasn't awesome either, but I got out there and did it.

This evening was better. Dinner (our first planned meal using the new recipes) was fantastic. We watched the Big Bang Theory as a family. My sister figured out a way to make Greek yogurt palatable (add coco powder, a packet of stevia, and some vanilla. It kind of tastes like cheesecake). 

Overall, it wasn't that bad of a day but it was the hardest thus far. I need to remember to grocery shop on a full stomach - that would have helped solve a lot of my problems today! 

Kale Fail

Oh man, guys. I failed epically today. I got some kale to make smoothies with and I tried it out. It was awful - way worse than the iceberg lettuce fail earlier this week. I just did kale, ice, lemon juice, and water. Turns out the lemon juice wasn't enough to make the kale not so kale tasting. I didn't even bother taking a picture, seeing as it tasted like grass (and my camera got washed...). 

I'm pretty bummed that I keep striking out with smoothies - I was really hoping to have at least one smoothie a day to knock out a veggie or two. Any suggestions for a green smoothie that actually tastes good and contains some veggies?

Apple!

Today's smoothie is a lot better than yesterday's. I made it with an apple, green tea, lime juice, and ice. Yum!

Before and Day One

In order to have before and after pictures, you have to have to remember to take the before pictures, right? I remembered at about 10:30 last night to take the before pictures. So, here they are.

Before from the front

Before from the side

Here's my day one information:
Height: 5'1"
Weight:182.6 lbs (the 184 was what I weighed at the nutritionist's, 182.6 is what I weighed on my scale at home)

I'll do pictures about once a week and post my information at the same time. Week one, let's go!

Enough Lime?

The smoothie actually looked pretty good...

Ugh. Well, here's a teachable moment. Iceberg lettuce does not belong in a green smoothie. I'll say it again. Iceberg lettuce DOES NOT belong in a green smoothie. I managed to salvage it somewhat by adding a ton of lime juice, but the darn thing still tastes like bad lettuce. Bad, bitter lettuce and lime juice, yum...

For those who are curious, I cubed an apple and put it in the cup, jammed as much lettuce in there as I could, and then blended. I then put in ice, water, a ton of lime juice, and blended.

And the beautiful reaction shot. Ok, it isn't that bad, but it's pretty nasty.

 

I can drink it, but it certainly isn't pleasant. Oh well. Live and learn, right?

Let's Get Serious

Well hello Internet.

Let's get serious for a minute, shall we? And a note before we begin. I am hesitant sharing this information with you. It is highly personal. I know I'm overweight and I know that I'm unhealthy. Honestly, I find it kind of embarrassing, how unhealthy I am. So, I haven't told people (and by people I mean my friends and most of my family). But if I don't let people know, I won't change anything. So please, be respectful. This is something that takes a lot of courage on my part. There's a reason people say that it's rude to ask a woman's weight - it's really personal information. Keeping this in mind, I'm going to go for it.

I am a 20 year old girl. I am 5'1". I weigh 184 pounds.

I am really very unhealthy. I don't eat well, I am not as active as I should be, and I carry my weight in an unhealthy way (around my middle). This is all compounded by my height and my family history.

So what am I going to do about it?

Previously, I tried changing my eating habits. It didn't work. It was way to easy for me to justify a cheat or to convince myself that whatever I was eating wasn't that unhealthy.

I also tried working out. By myself, it didn't really work. Again, I could justify not working out (I'm busy, I don't feel well, etc.). It was too easy for me to convince myself that not working out was ok. I tried going to a trainer as well. That worked while I went, but I couldn't sustain it. I didn't know how to modify the exercises for home and didn't really know what to do for a good workout at home.

Moral of the story? I have difficulties changing something by myself and I have difficulties sustaining programs.

I'll ask again - what am I going to do about it?

Three things. First, I went to a nutritionist. She set me up on two programs. The first is a basic diet that I will follow until the middle of June. Then I am starting the SHAPE program. This is a very strict diet for between four and eight weeks. After that point there is a three week reintroduction of grains and such, and then a lifestyle plan that will teach me how to eat in the real world (and in the cafeteria at school :) ).

Second, I found an app. Well, my mom found an app. This app is called Zombies, Run! and it is a huge blast. The basic premise of the app is that you are a runner collecting supplies for your base while avoiding zombies. If you are interested and want to learn more, check out their website here. I'm using it to motivate my exercise - it's easy to use and I find the story compelling enough that I did two of the 5k training runs in one go. Which for me, a person who hates running, is a huge deal. I'm also using some kettle bell videos for some weight training on days I don't run. Once I get back to school, I'll be working out with some of my ROTC friends. They are willing to workout with my friend and I, so I'm using my desire to not totally humiliate myself next semester to motivate my workouts this summer.

Third, I am writing this blog. I'll be posting pictures, my weight, and stories of my journey. For me, accountability is key. At school I would tell people that I was going out on a run and then I would have to go because I told them, even if I didn't want to go. This blog will help with that.

Now let's take a moment and talk about my goals.

• I want to be healthy.

And... well, that's it really. Most of my other goals are based off that that one goal. For the sake of thoroughness, I'll list my other goals.

• Lose weight
• I don't have a number in mind. I just want to be healthy. But, for the sake of quantifying things, I'll say around 140 pounds.
• Increase my endurance
• My family has been running 5ks lately and I've been running them as well. I use the term "running" lightly. I am really slow and I have difficulties running for a long time. I've been working on my endurance for a while and can fully run (at my slow pace) a 5k, but I'd like to increase my pace and be able to run for longer.
• Get stronger
• I'm working out with my ROTC friends next semester, so I want to be able to lift around 50 pounds, and be able to do a reasonable number of sit ups, push ups, and pull ups.
• Clear up my acne
• This is my one purely cosmetic goal. I've had some pretty bad acne for the last two or three years and I've used medication to clear it up. The medication worked for me, but there were two problems. One, I don't want to have to use medication to prevent my acne for the rest of my life. Two, after about a year I get really bad at taking my medicine. For me, the medication worked but didn't really suit the way I live.

So those are my goals.

Let's do this thing.