Week 1 & 2 - My Transition to Organic

Two weeks ago I decided to start Body Revolution over again and update my blog with the progress. I also decided that now would be the time to finally start running. I have to say that it was a huge success!
 

I’ve decided not to post anything about weight loss or how many inches off my waist I’ve lost for the simple reason that I’m not keeping track. To me this entire thing is about a healthy lifestyle and that is my main goal not weight loss. At the end of the 90 days I may post before and after pictures but I’ll decide that later. Although I do highly recommend this program for anyone who is looking for weight loss.

Exercising

The first week was a great start! Jordan even worked out with me for the first 3 days. We had so much fun together! The program comes with Cardio DVDs that you do on Wednesday and Saturday. Unlike the rest of the DVDs that you switch every 2 weeks, the cardio you only switch every month. I didn’t really want to do the cardio ones again as I wasn’t the biggest fan of them and I’m kind of sick of them now so I decided I’m slowing going to work my way into running on my cardio days. I’ve been pushing off running for so long as there is always an excuse – "When my cardio is just a little better I’ll start running" or "When I get to this certain point in my fitness routine or achieve this milestone then I’ll be ready to run". I was listening to one of Jillian Michaels’ podcasts and she advised a caller to stop putting it off and to just do it right now. I really related to that and decided to stop pushing off running and just go out and do it. Wednesday was just a walking day since Jordan came with me so we had a nice time just walking around the Drake Landing neighbourhood and looking at all the houses on the ridge. Saturday was my first official running day. It went so much better than I expected! I ran more than I ever had before in my life! Usually I would run for maybe a block…maybe before I had to stop and walk for a bit. I still needed to take breaks here and there but they weren’t as often or as long. I got to a certain point on my way home and challenged myself to run the entire way room and I did it! I was so incredibly proud of myself! Each day my workout circuits are 30 minutes but my run only lasted 20 minutes so next time I’ll have to plan a longer route.

Exercising for week 2 went just as well as week 1 if not better. I still gave 110% in my strength training on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I haven’t missed a single day in the first 2 weeks! Other than Sundays which is a rest day. The only thing that made week 2 difficult was my shin splints from running on Saturday. I was limping around pretty good from Sunday to Tuesday. By Wednesday my legs weren’t hurting as bad but I decided to keep with last week and go for a walk. Since Jordan wasn’t with me I went for more of a power walk. Again I only walked for about 20 minutes so I’ll need to plan out a longer route next time.

 

Saturday it was cold and misty out so I decided to run inside on the treadmill. I really wanted to run outside but really didn’t want to run the risk of getting sick which would put me behind in my circuits. I decided for the 30minutes I would do half running and half walking at the highest incline. I ran the entire 15 minutes without stopping! Another major accomplishment for me. While I was running I just kept telling myself that I could do it. Normally I run for a maximum of 2 minutes before I tell myself I can't do it and then I lower the speed. I then realized that all of my previous notions that I can’t run was all just fear in my head and telling myself I couldn’t do it. Sure my cardio isn’t the best and my shin splints feel like they limit me sometimes but that doesn’t mean I can’t do it! As long as you tell yourself you can do it you really can. Did my legs hurt the entire time? You bet! But again I just kept telling myself to keep going and that the soreness was only temporary and wouldn’t last forever. Me quitting on my goal of running is what would last forever.

Nutrition

With starting over I also made a goal for myself to lead a healthy lifestyle. I just want to be clear that this is not a diet at all, just eating healthy to take care of the body that I was given from my Heavenly Father. Watching the Biggest Loser really helped me to realize the importance of what foods I’m putting into my body. As well I have been doing a lot of research on organic food. Before in my attempts to eat healthy I’ve allowed the weekend to be my cheat days to eat whatever I want. This time, I am trying to go the whole 90 days of my program eating a healthy lifestyle. I made it through my first week! We had birthday cake at work for a colleague’s birthday and for Easter for my nephew’s birthday and I was able to pass on both. I even decided to try a little bit of organic and bought some organic bananas. That’s all Wal-Mart really had for organic produce so that is what I went with. To be honest, they tasted so much better than regular bananas!

For week 2 I decided to branch out a little more in my organic buying and went to Superstore where they have more variety. I got organic oranges and apples this time as well as a few other items in the all natural section like spaghetti sauce, quinoa, and olive oil. My sister Katie has been vegetarian for 3 months now and has just recently transitioned to vegan so she was telling me about quinoa this week. I’ve been wanting to buy protein powder to add more protein into my diet but I didn’t want to buy some uninformed so I figured my sister was a good source since she needs to supplement protein into her diet with not eating meat. I’m glad I didn’t go ahead and buy it as she was able to give me some great tips such as quinoa which is really high in protein! I made it into a Greek Salad this weekend with homemade lemon zest dressing and it was fantastic!

http://www.artoflivingwell.ca/recipes/salads-sandwiches-a-wraps/290-quinoa-greek-salad

As well, for the apples and oranges, to my surprise again, the organic tastes so much better! I haven’t tried the spaghetti sauce so I will have to let you know on that one next post.

 

I don’t know if it’s all in my head but frankly I don’t care because to me it tastes better and is a healthier option. Yes it does cost more but Jordan and I have meal planned so well these last 2 weeks that we’ve barely eaten out at all which has helped cut down on costs that we can put toward buying organic. Plus if it tastes better and helps my body to feel better than an extra dollar or two is worth it to me.

 

Katie also got me interested in all natural food so I decided to check out the All Natural Foods store in Okotoks. They have an amazing selection of stuff! I really wanted to find healthy all natural snacks for the weekends so that I’m not feeling completely deprived and setting myself up for failure. I found all natural trail mix and popcorn that I really enjoyed having this weekend for snacks while watching General Conference. I love having snacks for Conference so this was the perfect alternative to candy and chocolate. The popcorn especially since Jordan and I went to the movies and the smell of popcorn almost did me in. I love movie popcorn! Now I can still have what I love but in a healthier option. They also had a good selection of free range meat that I’m interested in trying. So far the experiment with organic and all natural is going really well! I really liked having conference this weekend as it gave me a chance to make some really good and healthy breakfasts. Saturday morning I made whole wheat pancakes with strawberries and Sunday was eggs and turkey bacon. Apparently Jordan loves the turkey bacon but me not so much. I really prefer regular bacon but this is definitely a healthier option as it created no grease in the pan! This weekend I also made some healthy dinners for us like an apple and honey pork roast I found on Pinterest (http://mycrossfitpaleojourney.wordpress.com/2012/07/05/crockpot-honey-apple-pork-loin/) and a Sausage and Goat Cheese Pepper pizza recipe I found on The Biggest Loser website (http://www.biggestloser.com/nutrition/recipes/sausage-and-pepper-goat-cheese-pizza).

Both were really good but I think I would use less meat on the pizza next time and add more veggies. I was really confused because the recipe said sausage but the ingredients only had ground turkey. When you mix the turkey with all the spices it actually does taste like sausage! I’m excited this week to try making spaghetti using spaghetti squash for the noodles (http://www.biggestloser.com/nutrition/recipes/jacksons-spaghetti-squash) as well as a "fried chicken" recipe (http://www.biggestloser.com/nutrition/recipes/winning-fried-chicken) again from TBL website. Seriously, that website has not let me down yet after trying about 4 recipes so far.

 

Brand New Year! Brand New Me!

I think I am officially the worst blogger ever! It's been just over a year and absolutely 0 posts. Not a single one. Now I'm to that same point that I get to when I've lapsed in my journal writing - "Where do I even start?!"

So I'm going to do what I do with my journal and just start from today - or this year. I know it's a little late to have a New Years post but I'm going to do it all the same.

For 2013 I've made a few goals for myself. I didn't make too many because I'm a firm believer that you can make new goals every day and try again every ever day or new week.

Goal #1 - Become a runner!

I've watched the people outside in the summer going for a run or jog and I've always been jealous. My cardio has never been great and I'll run 2 blocks maximum before I'm done and need to walk. And to add to it I see all these posts on Facebook of people doing marathons and I get even more jealous. So this year I have become determined to finally be able to run!

Last September I bought the Jillian Michaels Body Revolution. I had starting noticing that my clothes were no longer fitting and I had probably gained about 15 pounds. So I had bought this program to try and get back into better shape. With all of my travelling back and for to Edmonton for work, I wasn't consistent in the 90 day program. So as of Jan 1 I started over at the beginning again. I've had a lot of trouble in the last year with shin splints but this program has absolutely taken care of that problem! The first 4 weeks are fairly low impact and works it way up so now I can be confident that I can become a runner without worrying about shin splints! Aside from that, I am completely loving this program. Watching The Biggest Loser gives me inspiration to be a runner too. If they can run a few miles then so can I! It also has helped me to understand the importance of what foods I'm putting into my body. I'm doing much better with eating healthy and can happily say I've lost nearly all of those 15 pounds and starting to gain a bit more toning. Loving it!

Goal #2 - No excuses!

I don't think I would label myself as a lazy person but I will definitely say I make a ton of excuses! Especially with the busy work schedule that I have it's easier to make these excuses. "No Excuses" has become my new motto and I find myself way more productive than I used to be. A few expamples are - I wash the dishes more often now instead of using the dishwasher all the time, I make lunches for Jo and I, I wake up every morning at 4am before work to exercise, and this week I have started meal planning! I've even applied it to work so I'm giving 100% every single day. I feel so much better at the end of my day that I've accomplished so much and I find I'm sleeping better too because I've been so active. I've always been someone who wakes up every hour or so but lately I have been sleeping right through the night which has been so much better!


I have many other things that I try to work on consistently each day/week but these are my 2 major ones for the year. And of course I'd like to keep up to date with some blog posts and maybe even develop my blog look to be a little more more personal instead of the standard templates. Any tips?