My birthday was a few weeks ago
(yay! happy birthday to me!!)
I realized
This body of mine is not getting any younger so I need to treat it right.
Unfortunately, gaining weight is the easiest task
I dont have the high speed metabolism my little sister does
She can easily eat a whole box of pizza, wings and a pint of ice cream and fit nicely into her size zero jeans
....
All my life I've always had to watch what I ate
(my weakness is sweets)
It was pretty easy when I was younger
I could drop five pounds at the blink of an eye
so as much as I tried to stay on the healthy track, I knew I could sneak in a few cheat days and loose the extra pounds by the weekend.
But now that I'm older
This body of mine is less forgiving
So today I decided to take a healthy living challenge!!!!
Healthy living is NOT a diet
It's NOT about weight loss
It is about replacing bad habits with good ones
Taking care of yourself from the inside out
Because
I noticed that the healthier I am, the better I feel
I'm more motivated and just plain happier
So
how am I doing this?
Well
Working out is the easy part for me
I must go to the gym at least 3 times a week for 1.5 - 2 hours
My gym routine starts with running
I must run
If I haven't run
I haven't worked out
3.5 is the absolute minimum (for my laziest days)
but I always shoot for 4, 4.5 or 5
The goal is always to do the first mile in 7mins
(a goal i got after watching a guy do a 6:30min mile on the treadmill. I was pretty amazed)
After running its weight lifting and abs
I've noticed that women tend to shy away from weight lifting
That used to be me cuz I didn't want to turn into muscle woman.
But
....
It takes a whole lot for women to build muscle
You would have to be lifting extremely heavy weights frequently
When it comes to my arms, I don't go over 20 pounds
I just increase the reps
so lift away!
Next
Eating right
Unfortunately, and I learnt this the hard way, you can work out as much as you want
but if you don't eat right
you will gain weight
So my healthy living challenge is really about food
Trying to drastically decrease my intake or processed foods
Sweets are my number 1 weakness
So, trying my best to replace the junky sweets for fruits
More veggies
More lean meats
and
...
COOKING MORE!!!!
About cooking:
I love it!
It's relaxing and artistic for me
and I blame New York for my lack of cooking as much as I would like
Before the move, I had a nice big spacious kitchen to cook in
I would turn up my music, get in the zone and cook up a storm
loved it!
But now, living in my tiny little space
I'm not as inspired
So when I do cook
Its always something quick and easy
...
I decided to start cooking more and being more creative
And so
I made this yummy salad
Arugula with salmon, butternut squash, zucchini and carrots
And
My new snack food
Edamame cooked with sea salt
So
That's my healthy living challenge
Good luck to me!
...
