Monday, March 1, 2010

Be Healthy

It's March (crazy huh?) so it's time for a new resolution to tackle: be healthy.

I have never been athletic. In high school, I started trying to take up exercise. Not that I looked like I needed it, but I didn't want to be the skinniest person to get winded by a couple flights of stair. (It's so annoying when people look at you and say "You don't need to exercise." The thing is: Everyone should exercise.) And I figured that some day eating whatever I wanted would catch up with me (Hello, that day!) and if I started doing healthy things now I would either never reach the point of having to start a for-real diet or if that point is reached, I could just step up my existent regiment.

I have yet to establish a consistent regiment though. And I've developed a bit of a muffin top. Hopefully this month I can start something that sticks. For forever.

On the exercise front, I want to workout 4-5 days a week. I like working out in the morning best and last week I actually worked out four mornings for 20-30 minutes. Hopefully this will continue and hopefully I can add in some strength (crunches and arm weights). The earlier it gets lighter out , I'll run outside. Otherwise it's to the apartment gym. (And hopefully when there's a house and no apartment, I'll get some kind of exercise equipment for cold, dark or rainy mornings.)

As far as what I eat, I'm currently avoiding foods with ingredients I can't pronounce and making sure I have an apple lying around instead of a box of Tagalongs. In the spirit of full disclosure, I actually have six boxes of Tagalongs sitting by my desk right now, waiting to go into storage until after Easter. Some say that Lent is about more than giving up candy, and I agree, but Lent is also the only thing that can get me to give up candy. (I'm doing other more spiritual things too, in case you're curious.) And I'm not opposed to eating candy, I just eat way too much of it. Oreos do not make a proper snack, even if I've had a rough day (Or so I'm trying to convince myself.). They do make an excellent dessert though.

Any healthy snack ideas or secrets to sticking to a work out plan are much appreciated! (I hear I need to sign up for a 5K.)

7 comments:

Jillian said...

I like to keep a container of Stauffer's animal crackers on my desk at work. They come in that cute teddy bear-shaped jar, and you get 16 crackers for only 120 calories and they are very filling. Also, I like frozen grapes - the red kind. :)

Katie said...

Excellent ideas! Thanks Jill! :)

Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog said...

I gave up chocolate for lent... otherwise I'd probably be eating some of the chocolate from the bowl in the break room right now!

I like to pretend that fruits are desserts by making smoothies, fruit parfaits, and eating cantaloupe with a spoon. Having that sweet after a meal really helps with the mental part.

steph anne said...

I love cheese strings and smoothies. Now it's March I'm motivated to try harder on losing weight. Good luck!

thegamerswife said...

I am so rooting for you and your new healthy habits! We don't keep any snacks in the house and that's really helped out. If they aren't there, you don't reach for them! When I started to get into running I tried the C25K program. It really worked for me because it had small attainable daily goals. I really want to start getting into exercising daily again and think I might get back into that! I still haven't run that 5K!

Katie said...

Thanks for the snack suggestions everyone!

And I did do a Couch to 5K plan once, but I might need to find one of those other 5K training plans. There are all kinds at runnersworld.com

stefanie said...

Yay! You should totally start running. It's the greatest feeling in the world. :)