The Practice of Healthy Eating and Adventures in Yoga

Happy New Year!!! 

The keys to any weight loss plan are healthy eating and exercise. Easy, right? Not always. 

Exercise is easy for me, I love going to the gym. I love the happy high and the incredible glow. My favorite things at the gym are the elliptical machines, treadmills and the classes. Weight training is not my forte, I think that has to do with the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing. I definitely need some training when it comes to weights. I'd also like to diversify my work outs, learn something new and mix it up. That's where Yoga comes in, something to mix up my week. Yoga is a new adventure for me, my sister Laurel introduced me to the wonders of Yoga. She invited me to a Hot Yoga class at Moksha studio. I was so worried I would look ridiculous, I am not "bendy" or in any way a graceful or flexible girl.. All I could think was "This is going to be a disaster!", not to mention the fact that the studio is heated, which means sweating profusely for the entire 75 minute class!. I couldn't believe how wrong I had been, it was fairly easy, even for a beginner like myself. The heat while at first overwhelming was relaxing. I won't lie, there were plenty of moves that felt impossible, and I don't look pretty doing any of it. But I loved every minute! Yoga will definitely play a big part in this adventure for me. I also purchased a Yoga DVD at Chapters so that I can practice Yoga at home too, and a CD of Yoga music to accompany it. I'm super excited to try it out! 

Eating, who doesn't love to eat? Food is fun and trying new ones is an adventure in it self. 

This is as much about trying new things as it is about making healthy choices. Trying new combinations and keeping food exciting. I am not going to follow any crazy diet regimens, because truthfully most of them do not work, or they work and are then impossible to maintain. I am changing the way I eat for good, so that even after I've accomplished my goals I will keep my healthy habits for life. :) This week was the beginning of my foray in to the world of healthier choices. Not to discredit myself, I wasn't eating cheeseburgers and pizza every day before this. I just need change! It's roughly 4 days in and so far so good. Yesterday my Mom and I went grocery shopping and picked up some awesome stuff to kick start with. Almonds, sunflower seeds, veggies, fruit, rice, quinoa, rice noodles, stir fry veggies, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, rice crackers, etc. I have so many ideas. I downloaded an app for my iPhone that has completely changed the way I look at what I eat. It's called My Fitness Pal, basically you input all your vital stats and then it gives you a calorie count guideline to follow, for instance, for me it says I can have 1900 calories a day because I plan to work out 5 days a week. You can also change the calorie limit yourself to whatever you want. I'm starting with 1400. We'll see how that works out. My favorite part is the Daily Food Diary, you add foods under categories, Breakfast , Lunch, Dinner, Snacks. It gives you all the vital info for the food you add to your list and adds everything up. It is so nice to see it all in list form, gives you a good look at your eating habits for the day. :) You can also track your exercise, weight, and measurements and it gives you daily, weekly and monthly stats. It is awesome! For me it is not about counting the calories, but it is nice to know. 

If you don't have an iPhone, it is an android based app and I'm sure that other providers have similar apps. There's always a handy notebook too. So that's that. 

In other news, I made a fabulous lasagna tonight! It may not have been a low fat dinner, but it was full of good for you veggies and it was sooo good, it was also Gluten Free. Next time I'll make an ultra thin all veggie lasagna. If you ever wanted to make a noodle free lasagna, I discovered thinly layered veggies like mushrooms and zucchinis make a good noodle substitute. :) 

This week:  I will post my before pics. Insert *scrunched up face* here. 

PS. I really hope someone is reading these.  

Much Love and Happy Health

Erin 

 Yoga! Yay!

 Screen shot from My Fitness Pal app 

Simple and True.