mission: get healthy - day 1 & 2

As I mentioned before, I have become newly motivated and inspired to get my butt in gear and start getting healthy.  I've had a constant struggle with my weight and my level of fitness and my overall outlook on myself in general for as long as I can remember, and I am so sick of feeling this way.  So 2 days ago I began my new way of life...of being healthy!  I'm hoping to keep track of everything I do so I can see my results and see my progress.  I'm really excited about this - I know it's going to be a lot of hard work, and I'm sure there are going to be days when I break down and have something I shouldn't, but I am really going to give this my all!

June 7th: I started my healthy lifestyle - I had been eating oatmeal (the old fashioned kind, not instant) with raisins and dried cranberries, but once I looked at the sugars that are in those two things, I decided unsweetened apple sauce would be a much better choice!  So that's going to be my go-to breakfast from now on I think.  I might try adding some cinnamon since that's supposed to be really good for you too!  For lunch I had a roast beef wrap:  flour tortilla, 1/2 tbsp of cream cheese spread thin, 3 slices of roast beef (I am cutting this down to 2), ranch dressing, ceasar dressing, mustard, sprouts, lettuce and tomato... SO GOOD! :)  And for dinner I think we just had some leftovers and a salad.  

I was able to do my weights and some sit-ups in the morning, and I did 25 mins of our recumbent exercise bike.  It was really hard for me to go that long, but I pushed myself and was quite proud that I did it :)  Mom and Dad have an infrared sauna at the house here, which is supposed to be really good for you and also burns calories, so I spent 15 mins in there as well.  

June 8th:  I once again did my weights and recumbent bike exercises today.  This time I spent 28 mins on the bike and burned 201 calories!  I was quite proud of myself ;)  I spent 20 mins in the sauna this time, but I turned it down to 120 degrees instead of the 130 it was at yesterday.  I also wrote down the exercises I'm doing with my weights and how many reps I can do with each one, so that I can see the progress I'm making.  Slowly but surely wins the race!  

I felt like I ate really well today - I really feel like I can stick with this!  I had my oatmeal in the morning, as described above.  For lunch I took some tuna mixture and at it on rice crackers (this has been a family favourite forever...mom and I both had two each).  I also found that Motts personal sized apple sauce only has 50 calories and 0 grams of fat, so I bought a 6 pack of them for lunches...I had one of those today too.  Mom has found that walnuts are supposed to be really good for you, but they are very high in calories...so she measured out 1/4 cup of them into a baggy and we shared them...it gave us about 6 or 7 walnuts each.  It was plenty though, for a little boost.  I had taken an apple to snack on, but never needed to use it.  We have both upped our water intake a lot - we're drinking about 6 cups a day at the moment and plan on trying to increase that to the recommended 8, if not more.  For dinner, mom had put some chicken in the crockpot and we cooked up some barley instead of rice to put the sauce over.  We also made a gigantic green salad with all sorts of  veggies.  We had scoured the salad dressings in the grocery store this afternoon, comparing labels.  We found a light ranch that we liked, and it was very yummy.  it's just a store brand though, so unfortunately it won't help those of you not in Victoria! :)  So I watched my portions on my chicken and had a small thigh and small leg, about a cup or so of barley with probably about 2 tbsp of sauce (give or take...we weren't measuring!), and then loaded up on salad :)  I was most definitely full, and still am! 

We used to eat barley all the time when I was younger - we would eat it in place of rice a lot of the time, and even pasta.  We've eaten spaghetti sauce on it many times, and it is delicious!  The barley itself is really good for you, so I don't feel like I'm getting empty calories like I would from white rice.  We could do brown rice instead, but or our family, I think most of us prefer the barley anyway :)  We got a jar of really nice Classico spaghetti sauce to have in the fridge, to mix with any leftover barley in the next few weeks, to take for lunches.  It has very few calories and very little fats, and it was one of the only ones without any added sugars - the ingredients were very simple.  So that's kind of the mind frame we're heading in - simple and healthy! :)  I will be interested to hear everyone else's recipes and lunch and dinner ideas!

I am extremely pumped about this whole thing - I love the fact that I am accountable to my mom and Cheryl and all the other ladies in our little group :)  I would hate to have to email Cheryl and tell her that I didn't to any exercises today!  So it's really motivating me to make sure I do.  And the healthy eating thing is sure to pay off in the end....it's definitely not going to hurt!  So I hope to keep blogging about it and keep track of my progress.  If anyone has any tips and tricks and ideas, I am so open to anything!  

Thanks for listening!  Wish me luck! :)