23 Days

They say it takes 23 days to form a habit. Well, I'm going to try!

Every week, for the next few weeks, I am going to change one bad habit.

Week #1: no baked goods or candy bars.

...Heaven help me....

Just Call Me Linus

Today was one of those days. One of those "my aunt flow is visiting and I just want to lay on the couch and eat everything in sight" days. And guess what, I did. I am ashamed to admit that I have no control when it comes to my fun week.

Other than food, the only thing that brings me comfort when I feel like crap is my tiger blanket. I have had this baby for almost 10 years and I reach for it any time I need to wrap up to get warm or feel better.

Maybe if I carry around the blanket everywhere I can overcome the need for food comfort.

Just Call me Linus.

Potstickers and Edamame

If your life is as busy as mine, its not always easy to cook dinner every night. If you are weak like me, a pizza sounds like just about the best thing ever on those busy nights. And if you are even more like me, you shove the pizza into your mouth, satisfying your craving, and then feel incredibly guilty for the next two days.

Well ladies, I have a solution for those crazy busy nights. Frozen edamame and postickers! These can be found at almost any grocery store.

I talked about this in one of my past posts, but edamame is really good for you, and super tasty! Just heat them up in the microwave and add a little salt for flavor. I don't reccomend eating the shell, its not that good. And don't go for the already shelled edamame, half the fun is pulling out the pods with your teeth. These babies run about 100 calories per half cup of pods and are a great source of protein so they fill you up. Not bad eh?

Potstickers, oh potstickers. I have loved you for so long. These babies are just so dang good. There are several ways to heat frozen potstickers. I recommend putting them in a pan with a little olive oil and 1/4 cup water (for about 5 potstickers), cover for 6 minutes or until water is absorbed and then uncover and let cook until the bottoms are dark. Most postickers run about 50-60 calories each. Really not bad considering the deliciousness they bring. Dip them in low sodium soy sauce for a great main dish.

This tasty meal will take about 10 minutes tops to make and only has 300-400 calories in it! Sounds good to me!

Lose It

Alright, so the Lose It app... I. Love. It. End of story.

It is probably my favorite (and least favorite) feature of my phone. You can track your daily calorie intake, exercise, and weight loss goals. It comes with literally thousands of food entries already from Wendys to steamed broccoli to different brands of graham crackers. There are tons of exercises on there from running to tennis to home repair (what?) and it tells you how many calories your body weight should lose doing those activities. You can also add anything that isn't on there already. Then it stores all of the food/exercise that you have either selected or entered on your own for easy finding later.

The hard part is being honest with yourself everyday. Sometimes I have to just realize how crappy I ate that day, and it sucks. but this app keeps me on track! It makes me want to work out just so I can see my calorie allowance go up for the day!

If you don't have a phone that accepts this app, not to worry, just go to loseit.com and start there!

New Beginnings

Happy New Year Everyone!

I am thankful for new beginnings. I sure need one right now. I have had a two-week food fest and I am SO ready to get back into my routine. Or, start a new routine, yup, that sounds even better.

I am not the type of person that loves making new year resolutions- why wait until the new year, shouldn't I be able to make and accomplish my goals at any time? This year I am giving in and making a few new goals regarding my health:

1. Write a new blog post at least once a week. This is just one extra thing I can do to stay on track.

2. No Soda. I have done it before, I can do it again!

3. Limit my fast food and sugar intake. I know that I cannot go cold turkey, it just won't work with me. I do know that I can really cut back and be totally fine. The last time I lost weight I said goodbye to candy and all those great sugary treats. I have done it before, I can do it again!

4. Get plenty of rest, exercise, and time for myself. I want my whole life to be healthy, not just my percentage of body fat. I want to make sure that I am not only physically healthy, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually healthy too.

5. Use the Lose It app on my phone EVERY DAY. It is a great way to stay on track of my food intake and exercise. I will write another post about the awesomeness that is Lose It at a later time.

These are my goals for 2011, what are yours??

Something good for myself

"I want to know that every day I am doing something good for myself." This is one of the reasons I want to live a healthier life. I want to do something good for me. At the end of the day I find so much satisfaction in the fact that I ate right, or I went for a run, or I declined the offer to go get a soda. I did something for me! I even feel like my pants fit looser, which is probably one of the best feelings in the world.

So all of you readers out there, because I know there are SO MANY, go ahead and be selfish-do something good for yourself! I bet you will love the feeling :)

Motivation

It always seems like I have plenty of things that "motivate" me, but never enough to take action.

My motivation includes:
Not needing a liver transplant (should be a huge factor right? Well, its easy to forget about)
losing the weight before I get pregnant
looking better in a swimsuit
more self confidence

But the latest motivation is probably the most petty. I want to wear these straight (not skinny, not jeggings) jeans from American Eagle. I really really love these, and I know the only way they will look good on me is if I were to drop a few pounds. Right now they would only bring out my flaws.

So, here is my plan. If I can lose 10 pounds, which would also allow me to drop a pant size, I will buy them. Man, why does it have to be so hard?