Better Routines

So lately I have felt so sleep deprived! I've been going to bed around 6 a.m. and waking up around 12 p.m. I do NOT recommend this sleeping pattern. I want to slowly get into a better routine starting tomorrow since I'm going out tonight and that will consist of drinks on the beach ;)

Nothing beats a night on the beach with a cocktail or 10! I'm excited, aren't you??

I rearranged my bedroom yesterday. After moving my queen sized bed and dresser every possible way, I ended up just turning my bed long ways from it's original arrangement. Thank God my helper was patient with me! I like my room better this way. Before it was all open and spacey. Now it has more of a comfy vibe. 

I really don't know why I just told you about my bedroom. Back on topic...

Aside from not wanting to be sleep deprived anymore, I also want to set an eating/gym schedule. 

My gym membership was "supposed" to expire in September, but "I guess" the contract says somewhere in fine print that if I don't tell them I want it to expire, then it won't? Yeah it doesn't make sense to me either! So instead of paying 60 dollars to cancel it, I'll just pay the 20 a month forever & ever. I also decided I should start using the membership again. Tomorrow. 

I think I'm going to try and make my sleep/health routine look something like this until I start working again...

7 a.m. - wake up

7:30 a.m. - Gym

9 a.m. - small breakfast

12:30 p.m. - Lunch

5:30 p.m. - Dinner

11 p.m. - Sleep

But who knows how successful that will be.

Do you have a daily routine? If so, what does yours look like??

Monday Motivation [From my heart]

I've started a restricted calorie diet - If I do good until next Thursday then I'll buy a new phone as a reward. Today I woke up with motivation. I usually have to convince myself to do good. I still want to be at my ultimate goal weight by August, when I turn 20. Current motivation.. Hm, do you know who Portia de Rossi is?

you know, Ellen's wife! I didn't know who she was until a few nights ago and apparently she went from 130 pounds to 80. She had an eating disorder of course, that she overcame and became healthy again. But you know, a true eating disorder is never overcome. No matter how healthy and beautiful a person may be after the fact, their weight is something that will always be a deal to them. Whether it's a minor or big deal, a eating disorder is always there. Mine is anyway. Yeah I'm one of them. Don't freak out! I'm not trying to starve myself or make myself sick anymore, these posts are to keep motivated in a HEALTHY way. But of course my ''disorder'' has never gone away. I guess that's why I even post these. My weight is something I think about CONSTANTLY. It always has been since I was a little girl. I truly admire people like Portia who were able to stop and be healthy! I stopped and gained weight. I stopped and felt like everything went downhill. I stopped and have been on a constant up and down battle to become healthy again. I have no further knowledge of her story but I did order her book online last night. I'm excited to read it. 

I don't really have a steady source of inspiration at the moment because things go through my head constantly. One moment I could be thinking of a reason I really really want this but the next there's something else that's the reason. I guess my true intentions have always been for modeling. I did some modeling when I was 15 and ever since and before that, it has been a dream of mine. To have a body like a model and just be perfect. When I watched Black Swan and Natalie Portman's character said how she wants to be perfect, I could not relate more. That scene, that small scene touched me the most. I know this must sound superficial and I am truly sorry and I don't want you to think bad about me. I am just a girl trying to live a happy life. Goals to improve myself make me happy.

Better Options

 

Lately I've taken an interest in reading labels - calorie labels on different foods and their serving size at the grocery store! I was at Winn-dixie a week ago wandering around looking at the calorie intake of random items. People must have thought I was crazy, but hey the way I see it is the more labels I read the less I'll have to next time. I was having fun with this though, and I was having fun seeing how there are many, healthier choices for some of my favorite foods! I liked being able to find substitutes for some of my favorite foods with fewer calories. Here's are a few different substitues.

Milk

   Vs.  

I'm not a fan of milk. I never sit down to have a glass of milk, the only time I drink it is when I have cereal and the kind of milk our fridge carries is whole. When I eat cereal it's not for the milk I only like it added to make the cereal soggy. I would probably be able to just use water if the thought didn't totally gross me out. Yesterday while grocery shopping I was trying to get a bunch of healthy things and came across this coconut milk. I thought sense I love coconut that I'll probably like this. But what got me is it being only 80 calories per cup versus 150 per cup. So I bought it for the days I want some cereal.

Chips

   Vs.   

I can't lie, I sometimes like to snack on chips. Mainly when I'm eating a sandwich, I like to put chips inside to give it a crunch! I'm strange. With special K chips you can eat 27 of them for only 110 calories, while with the Lays chips you can only 17 for 160 calories in one serving size. So that means if you want to eat the amount of calories special K chips gives with the Lays you would only eat about 12 (and we all know 12 chips isn't enough). Yesterday was my first time trying the special K chips and they pretty much have the same flavor as Lays! I could totally live with these instead of Lays.

Bread

   Vs.     

Don't get me wrong, I love me some bread. Especially when it's warm from just being baked and I take a bite and feel like I'm sinking my teeth into heaven. But that kind of bread I only eat on occasions. Once in a while. Sandwich bread on the other hand is for sandwiches, for dipping into soup and when I'm eating a sandwich or dipping something into soup I'm not really thinking about the kind of bread. With sandwich thins you're obviously only eating 100 calories per bun while regular sandwich bread, one slice is the usual serving size.

Yogurt

   Vs.    

I love Yoplait and there's many benefits to eating it, there's many great flavors to chose from. But for me, for right now Activia light is the better choice. Only 70 calories per serving and of course the extra benefits!

Burgers

    Vs.   

I bought Boca burgers - the original vegan ones! I liked them. They taste just like real burgers, I could totally be a vegetarian. These babies have 100 calories each in them. Put one between a sandwich thin and you got yourself a hamburger! Before I would eat so many great value burgers as a snack (Walmart brand burgers). I don't remember the calorie intake of them, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't great compared to these! I can't wait to experience new and healthier burger ideas. I'm thinking of adding cucumber slices or something. Or just pickles? Lol.

Chocolate bars

   Vs.   

Take five bars might just be my favorite candy bar - I just love everything chocolate and pretzely! One day I tried a chocolate pretzel special K bar and BAM, I fell in love! basically a take five has 200 calories for the bar while the Special K only has 90.

Have you made any healthier food discoveries to replace your favorite foods?

If so please share - I'd love to hear ((:

Simple Steps to a Better Life [Health Edition]

I once did a project about this topic in an English class. I picked this topic out of anything else which made me wonder why I haven't blogged about it? You're probably wondering what topic it is I'm speaking of. I'm going to share with you a few simple things (well, maybe a little more then a few) that you can do in your every day life to positively improve your life mentally, physically, socially, and even things you can do in your environment to create a happier you.

Health

To start my with I'm going share a couple things that can improve your health. Wow! When it comes to our health, there are so many little things we often forget about, rarely do we realize that these little things are meaningful things. They have a purpose no matter how insignificant they may seem. What I'm about to say may sound so obvious to you but my point in mentioning these are to give awareness to their importance. I hope you enjoy reading these steps to a healthy lifestyle and come back to read further editions upon simple steps to improve our well being.

1.) Eat breakfast every morning. I'll admit it. I'm a total failure when it comes to this. Ever sense I was little I would hate eating breakfast because it made me feel sick. But truthfully, eating breakfast is one of the best things you can do to guarantee an excellent day. Besides getting the whole bacon and eggs (OMG WAFFLES and MAPLE SYRUP) experience, you're also boosting your metabolism and likely to burn those calories through the day (if you do regular activity, that is) Eating breakfast can also eliminate you from having that groggy feeling. Your brain is more alert and able to function better. Which makes sense because studies show that people who attend school tend to do better on tests when they eat breakfast then those who do not. So eat something in the morning even if it's just an apple. A small breakfast is better then nothing at all.

2.) Drink water. The amount of water we should consume each day is 8-10 glasses. My thoughts when I first heard this is "UGH so much water weight" But after doing my share of research I've come to find out that at the end of the day or next morning there is no extra water weight. In fact, drinking water burns calories. The colder the water, the more calories it burns. Aside from that, drinking water leads smooth clear skin and a better complexion. Who doesn't want a superstar face? Also while we're on the topic of drinking (good drinking) let me give you the 411 on tea. Tea is SO good for you. Of course most tea has little to no calories, but it also has so many great benefits including prevention of heart disease and improving your memory. Next time you're in a store read the back of boxes of tea, a lot of them have their health benefits listed on them.

3.) Get 8-10 hours of sleep. As human nature goes, we like to stay up all night and party. Even if it's not partying, we always seem to have something to stay up late for which isn't very healthy. Sleeping 8-10 hours each night is another simple yet great thing we can do to improve our health and there's so many reasons why, including of course, better skin. Getting the ideal amount of sleep prevents those dark circles under our eyes and the roughness of our skin. You'll soon have that superstar face we all want. The saying "beauty sleep" really does having meaning to it. Did you know that you can actually lose weight in our sleep? Not too familiar with details but if you get a good nights rest, while you're sleeping your body goes through this stage where it burns calories like crazy.

4.) Exercise daily-- self explanatory. Obviously this will help you lose weight, gain muscle, look wonderful. But did you know that exercising is a natural high? Exercising releases endorphins, and endorphins make you happy. It's a fact. Look it up. But if you're not up for some intense endorphin releasing exercise, take an hour walk. Walking clears the stressed mind and can also make you more familiar and appreciative of your beautiful surroundings that are often neglected.

5.) Wake up early. Which means going to sleep earlier (if you're trying to accomplish the 8-10 hours of sleep) OH MY. Waking up early frees up more hours in the day to get things done. But when I say wake up early, I really mean wake up. Don't just roll out of bed early and go about life. Wake up, lay there a while and think. Hop out of bed with a smile. Make your bed up all nice! Shower, brush and floss your teeth. Lol I'm sounding like a mother but my point is when you wake up early, you have all the time in the world to really do these things without feeling rushed. All the time in the world to focus on YOU and your health. So wake up early and live healthy.