Day 2

Today was another good day.  Oddly, there was no workout for today.  My logic tells me with the little amount of calories I'm putting in this week, that my workouts are working hand in hand with my body adjusting to the calorie decline.

Again, 1200 calories today.  One thing that I've learned in just the first two days of this is how much we, or maybe just me, think about food.  I like to remind myself that I need to eat to live and not live to eat.  So much of our culture has brainwashed us to always gravitate towards food.  I am realizing that I don't need a ton to be able to survive and get by.  (I do realize that I can't go forever with 1200 calories/day, but it's the principle).

I forgot to take pictures of breakfast and lunch today, but here was dinner, it was tasty!

Grilled shrimp on mixed greens (lemon juice and salt and pepper) and quinoa with almond slivers.

Breakfast was 1/3 cup of cottage cheese, almond slivers, and 2 apricots.

Lunch was a pita with 3 oz of beef with mustard and lettuce. Sides of red peppers and cucumber!

Hope you all had productive days!!

Day 1

And we're off! The first week of my fitness plan has started! As far as the diet, this week I am eating 1200 calories a day for just the first seven days. It is a "jump-start" to get everything going. Coincidentally, the workouts aren't too bad yet. I burned 300 calories in my 30 minutes, which isn't horrible. I think it may coincide with the low-cal diet. The workouts are basic right now, but it's good to get the basics in before I move on to the hard stuff. I'm excited to get week 2 started as I'll be able to eat a bit more, but also have much challenging workouts. First, I must get through this week.

This morning I took before pictures and measured my stats. I'm debating when exactly to post the before pictures.

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were very tasty today, and the snacks weren't bad either!

Scrambled egg whites, feta cheese, chopped up tomatos all in a pita. And fresh melon!

Chicken Wrap with tomato and lettuce, celery, and red bell peppers 

Cod, steamed spinach, small baked potato, and Asparagus

STATS:

Weight: 215

Body Fat %: 19.4%

I also measured my chest, arms, waist, hips, and thighs. We'll see how this all goes!

Full Exposure

I am starting a whole new workout plan and diet. I've gotten to a point where I've hit a plateau, and actually gained some weight (fat and muscle). I've been working out and dieting consistently for over a year now and though I've changed some things throughout to keep things fresh, I've gotta start something new. Something completely different. And something that minimizes my mistakes and helps my discipline.

That's where the Les Mills Pump workout comes in. I made an investment into my health and fitness and am going all out. The workout has become famous in many gyms all over the world. They made it into a home DVD workout series, and I'm excited to get it started. They've provided me a workout calendar for 90+ days, and a whole diet plan for that time period. No joke, they have given me everything I need to eat and do for the next 90 days. And the food recipes look good!

So, by all out, I mean all out. I need to motivate myself like I never have before, so I'm thinking of posting before, during, and after pictures. AND maybe posting some video blogs along the way. What do y'all think?

To be honest, I am embarrassed of how I've let myself, my weight, and my health get to be the way it is. I know I can do this, I just gotta fight through it all. Because of that, I really want to put myself out there to motivate myself to a healthier me.

For those of you who would like to join me on this journey, feel free to stay tuned and follow my blog. This is a friendly and encouraging place for us all. I hope that opening up and exposing some of my weaknesses (both physically and mentally) will encourage others to do so wherever they see fit.

I plan on starting my 90-day plan on Sunday, as I spend the next day or two getting my grocery list together to start off my first week.

I AM EXCITED!

Friendly Encouragement

As I sit here on a plane flying back home from a physical therapy school interview, I ran out of things to do and decided that hey, I could write an entry for this blog that I created. Probably would be a good idea. I know so many people create blogs and then fade off writing them. I hope to not be one of those people…

Anyways, I want to keep this one brief, as it’s been a while. I want to encourage you all to keep up with, or start again, your workouts and healthy eating habits.  This past semester I’ve learned so much about the human body from some of my classes. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but we have to treat our bodies like we care about them. Take care of your body by feeding it the right fuel and by exercising often. There are so many benefits that you will start to see.

P.S. I will do my best to write more now!

Eating is Living

Or is it Living is Eating?


How do you view your diet?  Yes, diet.  Everyone has a diet.  A diet is defined as "food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health."


Do you view it as "I eat to live" or as "I live to eat"?


I am not writing this to make people feel bad, but we really need to consider what we're putting into our bodies and what our bodies are giving back to us.  I have been on the dark side of these phrases.  The "I live to eat" side, and I often fall back to it.  I like food.  A LOT.  I'm not going to hide it.  But, I have also learned things about my body that are clearly better for it than others.  Everyone's body's are different and different in how they react to what you put into yours.


Those people with great metabolisms (God bless you, you lucky lucky people) can eat a lot of different things and not have it effect their body composition (whether or not that effects your health in other ways, that's for a different post in the future).  Those of us with not so great metabolisms, well, for me anyways, I've had to learn what I can and can't eat so that my body goes in the direction I'd like it to (lately it's been either trying to lose weight or just maintain).  But that also depends on what type of exercise I am doing as well.


Typically if I'm wanting to maintain or lose weight, I have to remind myself "Eat to Live" and not "Live to Eat".  It may seem very simple, but it helps so much.  It keeps me accountable, and not only that, but it also makes me really appreciate what I'm putting into my body (and to be honest, I am actually enjoying eating fruits and veggies).


Another thing that kind of ties into this discussion is "Do you love yourself?"  This isn't to be confused with being conceited or egotistical and all into yourself.  There is this show "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" (which is on Monday nights on ABC 9 ET, you should watch) where a guy who is specialized in transformation works with someone for a year to try and help them tackle their problem with obesity.  They take the hour of the episode to show the whole year as the client progresses towards their goal.  It really is moving.  I bring this up because Chris, the transformation specialist, told one of his clients when his weight came up on the loading dock scale, "That's a weight of someone who doesn't love themselves.  At some point, you stopped caring."  Think about it.


Shouldn't we love ourselves enough that we make the right choices of what we put into our bodies so that we can live easier and longer?  The older we get the harder it is for us to accomplish certain things.  Daily tasks become more difficult.  Exercise is limited based on your health conditions (not just weight, but things like bad knees, hips, backs, etc).  We should take advantage of the time we have now to make our lives easier as it is supposed to get harder in the future.


I'm not sure where each of you are at with your body composition, whether or not you are in the underweight, normal, overweight, or obese categories.  But I do know something: what we put into our bodies now will inevitably effect us down the road.  I'm not saying you shouldn't ever eat bad foods again (I still plan on enjoying certain foods throughout my life), but I am saying we should make a majority of our diet include healthy foods so that we can enjoy life as long as possible.

Why Health Drill??

Many reasons.  For one, there were a lot of other blog names taken.  Combine that with some impatience and this is what I've come up with.  (I will not oppose other ideas after explaining the purpose of this blog)  Health for obvious reasons, but Drill as another word for exercise, but also a way for this site to be a drill of health.  Not to beat into your heads or shove down your throats, but a routine exercise (or drill) that we go through to help us stay healthy.

But why Health Drill?  I realize there are probably other blogs that do the same thing that I am trying out here, but for the longest time I've wanted to start writing myself.  About something I am passionate about and about something where I can help others.  Exercise has always been a passion of mine, and I love food too, but I've come to appreciate the two together as I've adventured into many diet and exercise routines throughout my young life.

I envision this blog being a place full of questions and encouragement (pertaining to health, nutrition, and exercise - and maybe some other fun non-sense) to all those who read it.  I want anyone and everyone of all ages, gender, weight, experience, etc. to feel comfortable coming to this blog and contributing to conversation and community.

Yes, a lot of it will be based off of what I've been eating lately or how I've been exercising, or the two combined, but I will also bring up discussion from things I've read recently, seen on TV, discussed with a friend, or something someone has brought to my attention.

In this world, there are a lot of success stories, but many many failure stories as well.  Most of the stories told are the ones that end up being successes.  We have all experienced both.  Don't let previous failures affect your future successes to come.  For me, I am hoping this new adventure with this blog will provide not only a success story for me and my constant struggle to be healthy, but for everyone who reads and becomes a part of this community - even if it is just a small success story once a day.