Ughhhhh.

Today was not good exercise wise. I didn't reach my 250 calorie goal....in fact, I was about 100 calories short. And it sucks. I'm putting on weight, which baffles me. I guess I'm eating more than I realize, which means I'll probably have to go back to keeping a food diary again. I might not calculate calories though. That was way too much of a hassle last time. But, I can tell by looking at what I've ate whether I've done good or not.

I also need to give my workout variety. I've been doing the same exercises, and they're not really working my whole body. I do a lot of cardio and arm exercises, but that's about it. I need to look for exercises that target my abs, since that's what I'm really wanting to work on.

I'm also going to cut out my snacking after dinner. The only thing I'll have is my post-workout smoothie. I've found that I look forward to my smoothie, and it's a great incentive to actually workout. Plus, it's a great way to soothe my sweet tooth. I was craving chocolate earlier, but my strawberry-banana smoothie has hit the spot! :)

I'm not going to let today discourage me. Even though I'm feeling kind of crappy because of all this, I'm determined to get past it. I'm determined to have more good days, and I'm determined for tomorrow to be better. I will not let today get to me.

Improving Myself

I used to always go into each new year thinking, "New Year, New Me!" And that's a saying that you see everywhere. It's like we all have to reinvent ourselves each year and become something else. But this year, I'm not doing that. There is no "new me". I like who I am. And the people in my life like who I am. So why would I change that? So, no new me...just an improved me. I'm going to work on the things in my life that need to be worked on. This is the year that I conquer certain things in my life, and I'm really excited about that aspect!

I have been exercising the past couple of days, and I'm really proud of the progress I'm making. I've made it a goal to burn at least 250 calories a day, and so far, I've surpassed that each day. And I only have 82 calories left to burn until I reach the goal for today! :) I've also started noticing the difference in my body since I've been working out like this. I feel my sides slimming down and my "love handles" slowly disappearing! Yay! :)

I'm also trying to be better at spending and saving and monitoring my money. I still live with my parents, so I don't really have any bills to pay, but I know that will change in a few months. So I'm trying to start now on teaching myself how to manage my money. I've got a spreadsheet set up, and I track all of my spending. This way, I can look and see what I'm spending my money on, how much I'm spending each month, and how much I'm saving each month. I've also started doing something that my dad has been doing for a few years now. Heo saves all of his $1 bills and all his change. Each year, he's managed to save over $1,000 by doing this. So, I've started doing it, too. And I'm putting it directly into my savings account. I made my first deposit last month, and it was $8.50. But that was after just a week or so of saving. I'm hoping to have more put in this month. And I've noticed that I don't really miss the $1 bills or the change that much.

I'm pretty excited about this year. Big things are going to happen, and I can't wait! :) And I'm also looking forward to improving myself and coming out of this year even better than I started it. :)

It's A New Year!

So I know I dropped off the radar after my 30 day challenge. I got really busy with school and the holidays and vacation. I also stopped my exercising after those 30 days, and that was a mistake. I ended up gaining the weight back, and I started feeling horrible again.
But it's a new year. And this year, I am determined to lose the weight. I graduate in May, and I'm hopefully going to start a new internship in the fall. And I want to be ready for those thing. This will be a life changing year for me, and I am determined for it to be the best year so far. And that means I need to get healthy.

I started getting back into exercising last week. I got up at 5am Monday-Friday to do a 5-minute running workout I created using EA Sports Active for the Wii. I know that 5 minutes doesn't sound like much, but it woke me up and got my blood going. It definitely helped me focus on the day. I would also exercise every night. And I was feeling really good.

However, Atlanta got hit by a snow/ice storm this week, which means that I've been stuck in the house. I've eaten more than usual, and I haven't exercised like I should have. I did get back to exercising tonight, and I was really proud of myself. I worked out for about 45 minutes and burned 254.4 calories. That's going to be my goal for every day--to burn at least 250 calories a day.

I'm going to be posting in the blog with my updates on the weight loss adventure. I noticed that when I was doing the 30 day challenge, I would not make excuses for not exercising because I knew I had to be accountable and update my blog. So that's what I'm going to do this time. No more excuses. This will become the thing that keeps me on track this time.