Beer Belly Blues

Happy late Easter everyone!

I had a weekend full of BBQ's and a little bit of work. Friday night, Dominic and I were able to go out to dinner, a rare occasion these days since he's always working late. It was a real treat. Then we watched this movie "Rubber," which was absolutely ridiculous but pretty clever. Saturday I had to go into work for a while. It wasn't too bad though. Just six hours and it did sort of ease some of my stress about all the upcoming events at work. From there, it was off to a BBQ/Karaoke party. I had a lot of fun but drank too much and too fast, making it an earlier night than I had hoped. Sunday, I went to my folks house for an Easter BBQ.

As with all BBQ's there was quite a bit of drinking this weekend. I didn't feel too bad about this until I logged my food and realized I went WAY over my recommended daily calorie intake once I added all the beer I drank. I found this really cool website, www.mapmywalk.com, that lets you map out your walks (duh) so you know how far you've walked and how many calories you've burned. You can also log your daily food intake and other workouts, ect. It's pretty awesome and I'd recommend it to anyone trying to get fit as a way to motivate yourself. I'm also shamelessly plugging the site because you can add friends on there so you can sort of keep track of each other and have that extra bit of motivation. If any of you all decide to join it, let me know.

That being said, am I going to swear off beer drinking? That seems pretty much impossible with all the events I have coming up, not to mention all the summer BBQ's...being healthy is so hard! And I suppose I could switch to something with less calories like vodka tonics or something but I've never been much of a liquor drinker. Maybe this will just be the motivation I need to be more active to work off those extra calories.

Just Get In There!

I'd like to take a moment to do a little product placement for the ladies. I recently bought Playtex Sport tampons, not because I'm an athlete (see last post on exercise), but because they were on sale. So you can imagine how delighted I was to find that each tampon has a super positive slogan on it, the header of this post being one. Others I've seen so far are: "No distractions...just pure concentration," "Keep doing what you do best," "Play by your own rules," and  "Go play, I've got your back." Ha ha, as silly as it is, these actually do a great job of making me feel better at a time of the month when I would rather scream than smile.

In other news, I officially started my healthy eating habits today. I began the morning with a fruit and yogurt smoothie, had a pear and a string cheese for a mid-morning snack, and ate a grilled chicken sandwich at lunch. So far so good. I get three more meals today and I can't wait! I like to think starting off my day reading a positive tampon slogan hasn't hurt.

Introduction & Reduction

I've decided to start a blog because I've been on here reading friend's blogs for some time now and I really enjoy the online journal as a way of communicating and sharing, and yes, sometimes venting. So, that being said, I hope you enjoy!

When 2011 started, I had two resolutions: the one I always have (get healthy!) and to find a new job. Well, I found a new job almost immediately and started at the end of January. It all happened insanely fast and now that I finally feel settled in my new position, I am ready to tackle "getting healthy." This is always one of my goals and I never follow through for more than maybe a month. I just turned 29 so my thirties are fast approaching and I feel like everything is right with the world except for the way that I eat and exercise. That is to say that my dieting is sporadic and my exercising is non-existent.

I am choosing to do the Abs Diet because it stresses the importance of a well balanced meal rather than cutting certain foods out of your diet, such as carbohydrates or all fatty foods. I also like the focus on portion control and making sure you eat a lot throughout the day by incorporating snacks into your schedule. The idea is to keep yourself from getting too hungry so you don't gorge later. This diet sounds pretty perfect for me since I am not as focused on losing weight, but really just want to eat better to improve my health and energy. But looking better naked is always nice too : ).

I've been reading through the book and am going to go grocery shopping tonight so that I can start right in with the diet tomorrow or Wednesday. They don't make you start the exercise plan until the third week in so I'm not focusing on that just yet. And honestly, I do terrible with exercise plans so I may go my own route there and just start slow by walking to and from work and getting back into yoga. My biggest challenge is definitely going to be with my work schedule. I travel about every other month for work and it's always hardest to eat healthy when out and about.

Now that I've told the whole world about my healthy eating plans, maybe it'll be just the motivation I need to follow through. Wish me luck!