Snacking, Done Right?

Okay, so I am proud of the changes that are happening in my life.

I am a little less stressed. I have begun to lose weight naturally, without truly trying. My challenges so far have been to journal, manage my time more wisely, and drink more water. Those three changes alone I feel have gotten me far. On top of the weight loss, I am in a much more stable place emotionally too. That makes me happy.

So the holiday season is upon us... I actually thought about making a challenge about snacking last week because Halloween was on Friday and that would be more beneficial to you that may be reading this. Since I decided to stay true to myself and the changes that I needed to make, I stuck to my water intake.

Now I feel as though I can tackle the next challenge, snacking. I do not know about you, but I snack... a lot! I snack on anything convenient and easy. I may snack on chips, snack bars, or whatever is around that does not require a lot of work. The only problem is the way I eat my snacks is considered "mindless eating".

Within the last few weeks, my daughter has begun to eat regular food instead of baby food. My daughter craves and loves anything fruits and vegetables. I guess that was a GREAT pregnancy craving. She is helping me to snack healthier, but I am not with her 24/7 sadly. My challenge will be to snack healthier! SMART goal: I will eat healthier snacks that are low calorie and filling by preparing snacks ahead of time and logging them each day this week starting 11/2/14.

I will try (HAHAHA!) to make a list for this blog and take personal pictures of my healthy snacks. Let me know that I am not alone! Tell me who you are, what your personal challenge is for the week, and your end goal!

Enjoy the cooler weather!

Did you think to drink today?

No, not wine though I know there have been studies done. I mean water. Our body is made functionable by water. Without water, we would die. If you're a prepper or know womeone who is, it is why they usually have at least one giant container of it. 

To learn of all the health benefits like helping you lose weight, making your skin glow, and giving your body the fluids it needs to run properly and give you more energy, go to google and type in "water and health". I know ands are not needed in a google search, but I like using them. You'll discover all the facts you need to know! 

*If you go to websites such as WebMD or Mayo Clinic they make statements that you don't have to just drink water to get your water intake. 

Anyway, I am lucky if I get 16 ounces of water a day. It's why my skin is always so dry (and a part of the reason why a pregnant woman's skin glows). I am too busy during the day that I don't remember to drink up until I'm on break and then I'm way past the point of being thirsty. 

So to help me with this weeks challenge will be two things: 1- marked water bottles (awesome idea on my HYDRATION post from June 2012); 2- There's an app for that! I'm using a free one. I'm not sure if I will like it yet or not, so I'm not name-dropping. 

The challenge for this week: to drink at least 32 ounces of water a day. (Yes, I know the standard [64oz], but I also know me... I suck at drinking up! If I end up drinking more, then I'll surpass my goal!) 

So join the challenge, get healthier one step at a time! Modify the water challenge to you. If you do comment below, let me know I'm not alone! 

How much time do you have?

I was inspired by this picture I saw on Pinterest. The website it originates from is http://theberry.com/2014/04/15/daily-motivation-25-photos-449/

How many hours a week am I wasting? I decided to calculate my hours since I clock more than 40 hours at work.

68 hours is a lot of time left in a week. I'm pretty sure I know where most of my week goes... Driving, spending time with family, and being on my phone (Facebook, Pinterest, Internet). That's a lot of time that I have available to be productive! Ultimately, I want to make an overall lifestyle change. It will be difficult to do if I'm stressed and if I waste my time. So my challenge this week is to track (physically write down) what I am doing with my time. Hopefully I can make some positive changes happen and if you join me, maybe you can too! 

Do it like the GUYS!

So I was reading an article in Self's November 2010 magazine titled, Lose Weight: like a guy. I think the whole article had some great ideas, but the one that stuck out to me the most was to have a one-track mind. Men tend to focus on one issue at a time. If he is at work, he tends to focus on work. If he's at a party, he tends to focus on having a great time. Women multi-task. It is something we do so well. For example, I listen to music, write, and think about things that I need to do later either in the day or in the week. My life is full of doing many tasks at once.

This tip makes me ponder though, what if when we worked out, we focused on our work-out? If we focus on our run and what muscles are being used and how we feel, I wonder how much better we might do. The author, Tula Karras, suggests doing one thing to lose weight like removing soda from our daily diet. Men typically focus on one thing like removing beer from their diet. Women typically do everything at once like eating less, going to the gym daily, cutting out soda, and etc.

Karras feels this is why women typically fail. I agree with her. When I was student teaching, my focus was not on losing weight, but I did. I made two changes and I saw results. I was moving all of the time instead of sitting and I ate a lot less than I use to.

So she challenges us, and now I am challenging you, pick your worst diet habit (eating out all the time, drinking soda, etc.) and a challenging fitness goal that you can do (zumba, spinning class, running, etc.) for 4 weeks. What are your results?

I am going to to the challenge with you!
The 4-week challenge

My bad diet habit: drinking 3-5 cans of diet soda daily. :(

The challenge: Drink 1 or no cans of soda daily!

My challenging fitness goal: Work-out 240 minutes (4 hours) a week!

I am starting this Wednesday, December 29, 2010.
After 4 weeks, Wednesday, January 26, 2011, I will let know how great I feel and see if there are any results!

French Fries

I am like the biggest addict to fries. Ever. In fact, if anyone remembers me from my show choir days, while we were on tour we had to introduce and say something about ourselves. I mentioned that I love french fries. Everyone just kind of stared at me, but what can I say, I like what I like.

Anyway if you are a french fry addict like I am, I challenge you to give it up for one week. If you're really, super-dooper craving it, I can not help you. If you can, give it up for one week. At the end of the week, eat some. Actually taste them. What do they taste like to you?

I have not had fries in about a week, minus sweet potato fries which are different, and I had fries today for lunch. The taste is not that great. Now, not all french fries are going to be this way but a lot of them (most actually, some experts may even say all fries) are unhealthy for us and after a period of time being away from something so unhealthy, our taste buds can taste the greasiness of it, at least for me I did.

So if you are game, take the challenge!