Shedding My Skin

So, this always happens to me. I go through this phase. I shed what was once me and recalculate. I'm really trying to figure out the adult I want to be. The 30 year old I want to be. Who I am. What I stand for. Being a good friend. Finding a career that I absolutely love! Have a family. Get married. Travel. More animals. Happiness. I want so bad for things to just go together and without too much struggle, I think that is achievable. I want so much to be this person that I value, respect, and look up to.

My first 3 obstacles that I am going for (from Sunday to Saturday) are to call all the girls about bridesmaid dresses. Do they want me to go with?? Will they need help? Tell them to take pictures. ;)

The second obstacle would have to be getting active. I need to start working out. I want to lose weight. I want to be healthy. I want to have children one day and I want to be able to keep up with them. I want to have cool looking clothes that I'm proud to wear and defines who I am. I want the increased self-esteem.

The third obstacle is getting my car washed. The interior and exterior!

These are totally attainable goals. I will do it. xo

Remember to Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables

*Fruits*

Green Grapes – Vitamins A,C,D,E,K, Protein Fiber, Folate, Magnesium, Zinc

Kiwi fruit – Vitamins C, E, Fiber, Potassium,

Green Apples – Vitamins A, C, E, K, Protein, Fiber

Pears – Vitamins A, B, C, E, K, Fiber

Honeydew Melon – Vitamins A, C, Calcium, Iron

Limes – Vitamins A, B, C, E, K, Folate, Calcium, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc


*Vegetables*

Broccoli – Vitamins A, C, E, K, Protein, Folate, Fiber, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron

Arugula Lettuce – Vitamins A, C, Calcium, Folate

Kale – Vitamins A, C, K, Protein, Fiber, Folate, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron

Collard Greens – Vitamins A, C, K, Protein, Calcium, Fiber, Folate

Romaine Lettuce – Vitamins A, C, K, Folate

Spinach – Vitamins A, C, B, E, K, Protein, Calcium, Fiber, Folate, Magnesium, Iron

Artichokes – Vitamin C, Fiber, Folate, Magnesium

Celery – Vitamins A, C, Protein, Fiber

Peas – Vitamins A, C Fiber, Folate

Onions – Vitamins, A, C, K, Calcium

Sprouts – Vitamins, B, C, Folate Potassium, Iron

Asparagus – Vitamins B, C, E, Protein, Calcium, Fiber, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc

Swiss Chard – Vitamins, A, C, K, Potassium, Iron

Olives – Vitamins A, B, C, E, K, Calcium, Potassium, Iron, Zinc

Avocados – Vitamins C, B, E, Protein, Calcium, Fiber, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc

Green Beans – Vitamin C, Protein, Fiber, Potassium, Iron

Cucumber – Vitamins B, C, Protein, Calcium, Fiber, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc

Zucchini – Vitamins A, C, Potassium, Folate

Soybeans – Vitamins A, B, C, K, Protein, Calcium, Potassium, Fiber, Lysine, Magnesium, Iron, Zinc

Time For Me to Fly

I've been thinking about typing on here for a while. You see, I start things, but never finish them. I do it ALL the time. I have a million journals..4 or 5 pages long...haha. It's quite funny when I think about it. Why do I do that? It's like I get bored with myself or with what I'm up to at that time. It's as if I'm driving and a fork in the road comes along and I'm like, "See ya, I'm taking this route now.."

Even right now, I was about to check out another website. Abandon ship here and come aboard another ship. To me...that is an inability to keep focus, inability to finish things, getting bored, forgetfulness. I look at all these words and they are soooooooo negative. Inability, forgetfulness...

I keep shouting to myself.. "stop being so hard on yourself!" And really, I am! I'm soooo hard on myself. It's so frustrating! But, I think I'm going to stop that. I've been listening to positive vibes lately and have been really inspired! Law of Attraction, baby! ;)

I'll write more later.

Bye Self. xo

2 Simple Keys to Long Term Exercise

I’ve been working out at least 4 days a week since I was a freshman in high school. I’m now 26, so I feel like I have a solid understanding of how to stay consistently motivated and dedicated to an exercise regimen. I’ve read numerous articles with widely varying tips on how to accomplish this. These tips range from the simple act of getting a gym membership all the way to the intricacies of documenting a well defined set of fitness goals and personal rewards for accomplishing these goals. I’ve even read that getting dressed in gym clothes or making a commitment to walking the dog is enough to get the average person motivated.

While I don’t doubt the legitimacy in some of the suggested methods I’ve read, I don’t really think that they hold the key to long term exercise motivation and commitment. A regular exercise routine can be extremely redundant. The redundancy will eventually bore the average person out of their right mind. So even tough joining a gym, finding a workout buddy, and documenting fitness goals is a good start, it won’t exactly keep a person motivated 6 months down the road. In time, most people will start thinking hard about all the enjoyable things they would rather be doing instead… at which point the battle is lost.

So, what’s the key to long term exercise motivation? There are actually 2 keys, 2 very simple keys, music and variance. Motivation is usually driven by the desire to accomplish something, but it is kept intact on a moment to moment basis by continuously stimulating the mind. If the mind isn’t stimulated, it will rapidly lose desire for the original goal. In order to create a desire for exercise, you have to stimulate your mind by making exercise an enjoyable and adventurous experience, which is exactly what music and variance add to a long term exercise routine.

Music – Music makes us think, it gets us going, and it sets our stream of consciousness on a positive course. Both fast beat and slow beat music have the same stimulating effect on the mind, so alternate between the two while you exercise. Also, discovering new music that you like is one of the most rewarding experiences. Once you overplay all your favorite artists, start plugging their names into the various Web 2.0 music recommendation sites. These sites will assist you in discovering new bands and artists based on similarities to music you already like. Use your exercise time to rediscover your favorite artists, discover new ones, and build a massive collection of music that you will enjoy for the rest of your life. It won’t be long before you realize that music makes exercise fun.

Variance – No matter how wonderful an activity is at first, if it is performed in repetition over the course of several weeks it will ultimately become a dreadfully boring experience. Keep things fresh! Do a variety of different exercises each week. Your gym has numerous exercise machines, free weights, and pieces of cardio equipment. Ask a trainer for help if you need to, or just be adventurous and figure it out for yourself. Watch other people and learn. Just make sure you always start off with very light weight or speed settings when you are unfamiliar with an exercise. Once you have all the exercises down, start randomly alternating through them on a weekly basis. Do 3 or 4 sets of 3 or 4 exercises 3 or 4 times a week. Never do the same exact exercises in the same exact order 2 weeks in a row.