One of my overall resolutions is to live a healthier lifestyle. I’ve been one of those lucky ones who have been blessed with a good metabolism, so I’ve never really had to worry about what I eat or exercising for that matter. I’ve also never been the active type, but more of the “sit in front of a computer all day, and watch TV all night” type. But somehow, over the years, I’ve shrunk rather than getting larger. {As shocking as this sounds} most of my clothes from elementary school that I still have {but would never wear} still fit. My clothes from my high school years are actually a few sizes too big now. While I’m thankful for that, I have begun to realize it will likely not last forever, and now that I’m working full time and spend 40 hours or more sitting at a desk in front of a massive 27″ computer screen, I figured now is probably a good time to start making some changes.
The first change I made was cutting the majority of the caffeine out of my life.
Backstory: When I was in high school, I only drank soda. Soda for breakfast, soda for lunch, soda before bed. I would actually have panic attacks if I didn’t have soda. That’s when I realized it was really bad and decided to give up soda. For 2 years, I drank flavored water and teas {and an occasional Sprite}. In college, I developed an unhealthy obsession with Monster energy drinks and was actually buying them by the case. If I wasn’t drinking Monster, it was Mountain Dew. I decided that probably wasn’t great, so I, again, went back to teas and water. Fast forward to the past year or so, I kept up with mainly drinking tea and water, and then my mother bought a Keurig. She was the only coffee drinker in the house so it made sense to her, but the Keurig made it easy to quickly make a cup of coffee and soon everyone in the house was drinking coffee. I would bring a 20oz. travel mug to work each day and on the weekends I’d have at least 2 cups a day.
The first day back to work this year after the holidays, I was dragging my feet as I got ready {because who really wants to go back to work}. I ended up rushing out the door because I like to be early to work, never late, so I quickly threw my lunch together and decided to skip the coffee. More than a month later, and I haven’t had coffee at work. I do have a cup on the weekends, and I occasionally splurge for Starbucks, but overall, the coffee habit is gone. Some afternoons {when it’s really slow at work or I have somewhere to be later that night} I pick up an energy drink from the vending machine, but gone are the days of multiple sodas, energy drinks, and cups of coffee. They’ve been replaced with bottles of water. I’m trying to track my water consumption, and have been using an app on my iPhone called Habits Pro. I got it for free during a sale, but it looks like the developer created a new version that’s free called Track & Share. It’s not the prettiest app, but it’s the best app I found so far.
That leads me to another change, being more active.
My job requires me to sit in front of a computer all day, and although I love the wonderful Apple products my work has provided me with, I’m quickly realizing it’s damaging effects. Sitting in front of a 27″ display has really messed up my eyes. The good thing about all the water I’m drinking now is I’m forced to take more frequent breaks from the computer to walk to the other side of the building where the bathrooms are – good for my eyes, good for my body, and I’m staying hydrated. It’s still a work in progress though and sometimes I do forget to get up and move around. I’m currently saving for FitBit’s new Flex activity tracker which is supposed to be released in the Spring. Until then, I’m using an app on my phone called Moves to track my steps. {I forget to bring my phone with me a lot though so this isn’t too accurate.} I’m hoping that the Flex, given that it’s always on me, will solve that problem.
My third change – exercise.
If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you may have picked up on my latest obsession with workouts from Tone It Up. I know I’m not going to be tiny forever, so I might as well get in the habit of working out. Not too mention, I’d really love to not be out of breath after climbing one flight of stairs or my 10 minute walk from the parking lot to my office. Being able to fit in a size 0 doesn’t mean you’re healthy. Each week, I get an email from Tone It Up with a workout schedule. I plug the workouts into my Filofax and I generally try to stick to them, but sometimes I do change them up. Yesterday for example, I added the Bikini Sculpt workout from the DVD because I wanted more of a challenge. The hardest part of working out for me is getting the motivation to do it. I love the energy I get from working out. I love the results. I love that I can walk to my office without huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf trying to blow down the three little pigs’ houses, but when I get off of work, after 8 hours in front of a computer, I’m ready to be in sweat pants, eating dinner, and watching a movie. So today was day one of my decision to try waking up earlier to work out before work. Needless to say, I woke up early, only to reset my alarm back to it’s normal time and climb back in bed. Tomorrow we’ll try again I guess.
My last change comes out of necessity of the third change – eat healthier.
I’ve never been one to eat much. I don’t pig out on sweets and snacks {typically}, and I’d rather have an apple over a candy bar {or broccoli over french fries} any day. I love food, don’t get me wrong, I do pig out, and I do eat but I hate preparing it, or going to get it for that matter, so it’s easy for me to not eat much. A typical week day for me would probably consist of a granola bar for breakfast; a sandwich on whole wheat bread, apple sauce or cottage cheese, and some snacky item (gummy snacks, chips, wheat thins) for lunch; and dinner is either whatever my mother decides to cook, or some crappy microwaved burrito type thing. That lifestyle probably worked while I was lying around the house all day, but now I’m actually being more active. I’m not working out to lose weight, but to be healthier in general so I’ve had to pay better attention to what I’m eating, and how much so that I’m not dropping weight. I don’t know that I’ll ever be one to count calories or keep a food journal, but for now I’m just trying to eat better foods and a bit more of them.
Do you have any resolutions to be healthier {I assume most people do}? How’s it going for you? Feel free to ask any questions or share tips. I’d love to hear them.
According to Andrea 