Avoiding the Sabotage & Food Pushers

It’s been a week since new years, a week into having made a resolution of some type to be healthy. Every body was on board the first few days, now everyone seems to be sabotaging your resolution. Sound about right?

A few ways friends, family, and work can be sabotaging your health:

1) Eating out to socialize

2) Pressure to “try” foods

3) Work snacks & breaks (i.e Donuts, cake, etc.)

4) The spouse/significant other pressure

5) The “its only one” phrase

6) Birthday & holiday celebrations

7) Ordering food at work as a group

There is always something or someone that is going to challenge a healthy lifestyle on a regular basis. One of the things I didn’t list above is the biggest obstacle sometimes: You. Having a strong mindset and the ability to say no to yourself and others is the key. Learning to say no is hard when you really want to say yes.

Few ideas to help keep the healthy lifestyle going past the first week:

1) Suggest potluck dinners – Homemade meals are healthier, cheaper, and you can sample more things!

2) Go out for Tea or Coffee instead of a meal– Skip the desserts & opt for fruits on the side

3) Bring your own snacks to work — fruits, veggies, nuts & other healthy packaged snacks to skip the treats provided by your work or co-workers. Counter offer veggies when they offer you sweets.

4) Bringing meals to work– controls food, portions, cost and saying no when others are ordering in. Saying “I already brought a meal” or “I have these amazing leftovers but thanks”.

4) If you fall off the bandwagon, get back on right away. Don’t let it become a cheat day or week. Being healthy doesn’t have to start on a Monday, its already a hard enough day.

5) Talk to your friends & family — Why your new healthy eating is important to you and how you need their support. Also explain the details of your healthy eating, what you are cutting out and what you do like to eat.

6) When saying no doesn’t work try other phrases such as:

• “Maybe later” Stalling isn’t saying no and food pushers are soothed to know that you will have it later.
• “I don’t like […]” Less pressure for something you don’t like instead of something you “can’t” have

Pump It Up — Workout Songs

The holidays are coming to an end and pants just don’t button up as smoothly. It’s busiest season at the gym, new memberships, post-holiday frantic workouts, and new years resolutions to be healthy. To make the best of your limited time after a much awaited wait for every single machine. The best way to get the most of any workout is to have your heart rate at the optimal level. Best way to do it, some great music to help you get pumped up and in the zone.

Pump it Up Songs:

• Little numbers — Boy (My favorite warm up song)
• Wake Me Up— Avicii
• Counting Stars — One Republic
• Roar– Katy Perry
• Summertime Sadness — Lana Del Rey
• I Need Your Love –Calvin Harris
• Demons — Imagine Dragons
• All Night — Icona Pop
• Royals — Lorde
• Fighter — Christina Aguilera Playlist with all the listed songs. What are some of you favorite songs?

Elf for Health Challenge

I’m determined to do more than power walk through malls this holiday season– so I quickly signed up for Elf for Health without over thinking it.

The holiday challenge of Elf for health is the mastermind of Lindsay & Ella, be sure to check them out. Also, if your interested it’s not to late to join.

The elves work with a assigned buddy to motivate and support… just like elves should.

I have officially finished my first day of the challenge. Cue in happy dance. Meatless Monday was a breeze with a yummy tofu burger for lunch.

Check out my journey on instagram and others with the hashtag #elf4health or better yet join in! my instagram is http://www.instagram.com/shotofgreen

Happy Holidays, stay happy and healthy!

Back to School Essentials Giveaway

It’s Back to School Time! I’ve paired with five other bloggers from Her Campus Blogger Network to bring all our readers a huge giveaway. We’ve got you covered for all back to school aspects — School, Fitness, Fashion & Beauty

Prizes to be won: 

1) Shot of Green– Fitness Giveaway : Kyodan slip-less hairband, pedometer, Blum organic facial qipes, travel size Secret deodorant & two 100 calorie pack Emerald cocoa almonds

2) The SLS Blog – Fashion Giveaway- (1) $25 Forever 21 Giftcard 

3) Emma Elise – Beauty Giveaway- Marc Jacobs rollerball trio set 

4) Fashion Geek Tv – School Essentials-  Pink stylish tumbler, iHome earbuds, inspirational journal, “Keep Calm” notebook, and set of three cosmetic pouches

5) Styles I Like – Fashion Giveaway- $15 J-Crew Gift Card – Dress to impress 

6) Sound of Charm – Beauty Giveaway – Bag of beauty essentials 

For my portion of the giveaway on Shot of Green, I’m hosting the Fitness aspect of our Back to School Giveaway. Even if you’re not in school I’ve put together items that are essentials for any gym bag.

• Pedometer- Did you know the average person takes about 10,000 steps a day. How do you measure up?
• Kyodan No-Slip Headband- Workout out without having to worry about your hair or hairband
• Blum Natural Facial Wipes Organic Cucumber + Aloe Vera – Prevent clogged pores by removing any makeup pre-workout, and wiping away sweat and grime post-workout.
• Travel Size Secret Deodorant – No one wants to deal with body odor, so it’s always helpful to have one handy
• 2 Emerald 100 Calorie Cocoa Almonds-  Feeling the post workout munchies? Satisfy them with a healthy snack.

Pictured are some of the prices to be won. There will be one winner per blog.

The giveaway can be entered by clicking on the link. Good luck everyone!

** UPDATE!! We had a technical issue with our giveaway, entries went through two different rafflecopters. If you entered the Back To School Group Giveaway, please double check that your entry was completed through the correct widget! We will be emailing those who need to re-enter. If you shared the giveaway with your followers on Twitter, Facebook, your blog, etc. PLEASE delete it and reshare a link to the post on my blog! Thank you so much everyone, sorry for the inconvenience, and good luck! **

 

Celebrating Transformations & Getting Back on Track

I’ve been overjoyed because I’ve managed to reach my goal weight by eating healthy over the last two years. Its been a long journey but it doesn’t end here. It’s a lifestyle. I don’t plan to go back to eating fast food or anything  and everything that catches my fancy.

My before picture from 2010 is one of my heaviest weights at 150. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but I barely hit 5’1, and I struggled up one flight of stairs. I was in the worst state of my life physically and mentally. Today I weigh in at 105 lbs but have the same energy I did when I was in middle school. All due to clean eating, a simple gym routine, and a whole lot of motivation.

I might have reached my goal weight but I realized that it’s not about the numbers on the scale. The last few months I’ve been wanting to tone my body. Nothing drastic like being able to bench 100 something pounds. I just want add definition to my body. Heres the thing though, I’ve been pretty bad about hitting the gym recently. By recently I mean I haven’t been to the gym in a month. Insert cringe face. I don’t want to start spewing out excuses BUT I have a mostly legit excuse. I switched to working night shifts at the hospital. I work one full time job, 1 part-time job, and volunteer. Finding the time in my schedule to work-out seems nearly impossible. Its seems impossible but all I really need to do it find a way to schedule it in. So I’m going to start penciling in my fitness days. I’ve started the process of working out at home again I just need to make my way to the gym soon. Baby steps right?

On a brighter note I celebrated my success and partly out of necessity bought quite a few things for my wardrobe. Below is the haul from Express for which I’m finding ways to wear out! I also made good use of Poshmark to build up my wardrobe on a budget. What can I say, I just need a excuse to shop.

Driven by Motivation

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison 

Living healthy has been a process as I fall and I rise. Motivation is the driving force in keeping me from falling back into old habits, pushing myself to improve, and helping me maintain all my hard work. Today after a long time I’ve thought about what motivates me now.

Sometimes motivation comes in the simple form of a transformation picture, a quote on pinterest, or a compliment from a friend.

I keep going because I :

1. Never want to to be ruled by my illnesses again
2. Want to less self conscious– no baggy clothes or finding ways to hide “trouble areas” 
3. Love the energy I have now
4. Can be the change for my family, friends, and future generations
5. Want to smile when I look in the mirror
6. Am too proud to ever go back
7. Want to be toned
8. Want to be a inspiration to others
9. Am proud of myself for getting this far
10. Want to be Strong, Healthy, and Happy

This has been a great way for me to look at why I keep going to the gym, why I try to eat clean and healthy. Its been hard the last few weeks since I’ve taken up a second job. Temptation is around me literally everyday at work in the form of cookies, cakes, sweets, and take-out food from co-workers and gifts from patients. This just helps remind why I need to be strong.

What is your driving motivation?

Prepare to be healthy– Food Prep

Rushed mornings, hectic days and exhausting nights. 

How many people complain that they don’t have the time to be healthy, its easier and faster to buy something from the cafeteria.

I once read the quote “how do you expect to succeed if you don’t prepare?” 

Taking a few hours of time one day a week for food preparation is a great way to not only eat healthy but save time, money, and hassle of preparation. If preparing food for the whole week is not a appealing idea it might be easier to cook a few times a week and make extra to use as leftovers for lunch or dinner later.

Food preparation can be as simple or extensive as you desire. Cutting up veggies and fruits for meals later or making meals for the whole week.

Here is a picture of my simple food prep of cut up fruits for the week. My other picture shows my huge 4 lb container of strawberries that I got on sale. I love being able to pick up large amounts of fruit on sale and using it for later by freezing it. I prep and freeze it to use for smoothies or homemade yogurt fruit cups. I also have some beans on hand that I sprout, boil, and then put it in the fridge for use in soups and salads.

A great food prepper is The Lean Green Bean, check out her and her readers weekly food prep:
Food Prep Inspiration

 

Updates on my site

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I can now be followed via bloglovin, icon has been added to the sidebar. Another big change is that I have recently been accepted as part of Her Campus Blogger Network! Woohoo! This means exciting new opportunities for me as a blogger and for my readers. Thank you to everyone who has been following me, you guys are awesome. ❤

April Week 2 Update

I love taking pictures of my groceries, I feel like I’m accounted for and its kinda of a mood lifter for me knowing I’m on track. For the second week of April I bought groceries for the first time based on a pre-planned meal plan, and it actually went pretty well. I totaled in at $32 for the week.

I tried Cedar’s hummus for the first time to eat with veggies at work and I was not a fan, at all. I ended up just having the veggies, maybe because it was store bought or because I tried the wrong combo (spinach and artichoke). I’ll probably stick to homemade hummus unless anyone has some recommendations.

The second week of April I went on a trip to Dallas for a health conference for a volunteer program I am participating in. The program centers around University Of Pittsburg’s Health Initiative Program that has adults that are overweight or obese that want to make lifestyle changes to lose weight and learn to make healthy choices. I was approached for the program through my community center since I had managed to lose weight and keep it off and I am a RN. So I went with it, it sounded great, I love talking about health and getting people involved.

The conference was long, some-what informative, but very well put together. This was a program that had been around for 10 years and had significant data that helped patients lose weight, decrease their risk or control many diseases such as diabetes. I could see why, its set up as a community system for people to make life long changes.

Everything was great until they served the food. The first day it was pretty healthy but they kept serving snacks for break 10 minute break (which was scheduled every 1 hour to 1.5). Some how the second day things went down hill, they were serving deep fried burgers with fried buns! Even worse dessert was a baklava.

There were literally no other options for lunch, I was left feeling horribly bloated and disgusted. It was that or eat yogurts all day in my 8 hour conference while freezing in the hotel conference room. All of the people attending were some type of health professionals and obviously some what enthusiastic about health. We were all kinda stunned.I have to say it was organizers fault as they ordered the food and not the presenters for the program since they were invited.

My family in Dallas though amazed at my health transformation since I was in high school, still were very upset when I didn’t eat certain foods. It was such a battle. I came out somewhat successful.  I was never so happy to come home and have some home-made food!

My pedometer had walked 786 steps to arrive to me at the conference! 😉

My Check-in

Post Dallas weekend I stayed at the same weight, thankfully. Post Dallas though I feel  like I’ve lost the little definition I did have in my stomach. Sign.. time to get working on that.

Health and Lifestyle — The App Version

Our diet is the driving force of what keeps us healthy; something that should be exceedingly simple and natural to us has become a complicated maze.  It’s no longer a simple struggle on making the right choices between fast food and good food; today we struggle with a complex array of choices in health foods. We have to ask, is it really healthy? How processed is this? Should we eat organic, if so which foods? The list of questions is endless.

The modern way to fix this? Make apps.  When I went shopping for lifestyle and health apps I found a horrifying trend. On 3/27/13 Dominos was the second most downloaded app in the Lifestyle category and Starbucks at number 4. We debate about how to lower obesity and change our lifestyles so we can live healthier lives. Yet here we are.

After being stunned and side tracked in my quest to find healthier apps I was overwhelmed. So many options! So I narrowed it down to a few that seemed download worthy according to user ratings, trends, and app development.

1)Fitness pal- a simple way & free way to keep track of your calories and nutrients for the day and add friends to track progress.

2) Sparkpeople-An app and extensive online community to track your goals (weight loss/gain, support groups,food logs, and many others options). They also have forums according to your goals, health condition and state.

3)Loseit- Same concept of food tracking and goals to help lose weight

3) Noom Weight Loss Coach – Tips, tasks and everything you need from a virtual coach to stay healthy

4) Primal Paleo- How live, eat, and exercise the primal way. What I like is that is a easily navigational app and breakdown of primal foods (by season)

Some other apps /gadgets that I thought would be worth a try for PCOS’ers were:

1) Fitbit – This gadget that has taken over the health community with a storm. Tracks sleep, activity, food and progress through apps, gadgets, and personalized reports to lead a healthy lifestyle. Warning: its pricey!

2) Period Tracker—there are lot of options out there but I prefer and use the free version with the flower symbol because honestly I’m horrible otherwise at knowing how many days are in my cycle or remembering when I had my period and for how long.

 

As of right now I’m registered on Sparkpeople (not as active as I probably should be), Fitnesspal, Period tracker, and recently bought Primal Paleo. Another trend is the simple Instagram by capturing your food choices and following fitness/food bloggers for tips and inspiration.

What do you guys do?