Motivation as a visual!

Like most people trying to keep their weight in check and working toward a healthier lifestyle, I can struggle with motivation. I'm not super overweight, so often times when I'm feeling lazy I might look in the mirror, shrug, and think "good enough" and proceed to conquer the couch instead of the gym.

So, because I am at the heaviest I've ever been and diabetes is a thing on both sides of my family, I really need to keep myself on track and on the way to a healthier life style. Hence the blog, which keeps me thinking about fitness and staying healthy, and a few motivational things I've found on Pinterest.

One thing I did recently was start a fitness board on Pinterest, and this has helped keep me in the mindset of 'what can I do to be healthy?'

I found a few visual ideas on Pinterest that I have really liked, and so I copied them and took my own pictures!

One is the cup of exercises idea, which I found on Pinterest where they used popsicle sticks with exercises on them and two cups labeled "To Do" and "Done"

I used strips of paper because I didn't have popsicle sticks and made sure to include several exercises that worked on each part of the body. (Core, ab, leg, arm, etc). I made a LOT of these, so I plan on doing a rep of whatever I take out of the cup and see how many I can get through in 30 minutes.

I also found another visual aid that I really enjoy, that I keep by the bathroom scale. Two jars, one with marbles in it labeled "Pounds I want to lose" and the other "Pounds destroyed". This one I really like because it is so rewarding to take a marble from the 'pounds to lose' jar and add it to the 'pounds destroyed jar'!

I have to admit, after Thanksgiving I had to do the opposite of this, where a pound lost became a pound gained, but it reminded me that eating pie does indeed have consequences. Alas.

Lastly, I turned my den where I usually veg out into a pseudo workout room, where I am reminded to exercise if I have not yet done so that day.

I hope any of these ideas might be useful for others, good luck and hang in there!

Pomegranate power!

I mentioned in a previous post that pomegranates are an awesome snack to have and that I peel several at a time and have a ready supply for the week. Pomegranates are great but they are a pain to peel, so let's take a quick look at the benefits of eating these, and then I'll post a few photos of the way I learned how to deseed them and get all of the glorious fruit that I can!

For starters, for anyone unfamiliar with pomegranates, they are these large reddish fruits with thick skins. When you open them up, they are a maze of folded seeds and weird fleshy layers. The seeds are the part you eat, and each seed is surrounded in a juicy red cover.

When refrigerated, the seeds can last for a good two months! They are full of antioxidants that protect against heart disease and cancer, and it's a fantastic source of vitamin C. It is believed that it lowers cholesterol, decreases blood pressure, and may even be beneficial for people with diabetes to consume.

They are typically available year round and have been enjoyed throughout history, but most of all, they are delicious!

3 Super easy steps to deseed that pomegranate!

Step one. Cut the pomegranate in half and immerse in a strainer in water. The layers float and the seeds sink, so it's easier this way to separate the two.

Half a pomegranate in water

 Step two. Roll the seeds off the skin, and remove the floating layers from the water. I keep a trashcan right next to the bowl during this process.

Step three. Remove from the water and enjoy! I put all of this into tupperware in the fridge and take a cup at a time for a snack at work.

I try to deseed several pomegranates in one sitting because this can be such a time consuming process! But so worth it!!

Stuck inside? That's no excuse!

I often find it hard to motivate myself to the gym after a long day at work, so I've decided to do the next best thing; exercise at work!

This isn't for everyone, and it really depends on the kind of work that you do. My job I'm inside a gate house for 8 hours a day, and in the winter it gets very, very slow. This means I can do any number of standing up exercises, and a lot of pacing.

I've used the app Map My Run to help me figure out how long and for how far I've been walking, all while confined to the limits of the gate house. I don't have a lot of space, so the GPS distance might not be accurate, but getting the workout done is what counts.

I also struggle with boredom while pacing the small area, so I try to commit to just a half hour and no longer. I've found that having a time commitment helps me, because I can count down to when I'm done.

Being in such a small area, the ending map of my walk looks a little funny, but what's important is that I walked for a good half hour and any exercise is good exercise!

The map is a bit off. I was only in one of  the gate houses, but the map suggests that I not only left the gate house I was wandered in the next one. Not the case! So it means I may not have walked the half mile the app told me I did, but that's ok.

So it's been a little while...

Ok, so I haven't added a post, well, all summer. Sorry about that. 

You may say I fell off the band wagon, but it's not like I spent the summer lying on the couch and eating pizza pockets. I was working two jobs, one of which was very time consuming and including a LOT of walking. 

I ended a lot of days completely worn out even when I hadn't worked that hard, and it made eating healthy difficult because eating mac and cheese is so much easier than putting together a healthy well balanced meal. 

So, despite all of the walking, and working, I maintained my weight and there was just no change. So, now that it's winter and I'm back to working one job, it's time to start up again. I made a short list of things to start off with, 

Only a few things I am banning myself from having (too many things you're not allowed to have spells disaster!) A few things to have less off, and a larger list of things I think I can do more of. 

One project I found for getting more exercise is should I be too lazy to make it to the gym, I have some slips of paper with exercise on them. I made sure to include arm, leg, ab and core exercises, and I just grab 15 of them and treat it like a chore list. 

I also have been planning my lunch meals out a little better. I may have said this in another post, but I like having an 8-9 hour work day because I can force myself to eat healthy by packing a healthy lunch.

If I don't like what I packed, it's not like I can raid the pantry for a cookie, or open a bag of chips. If I'm hungry, I have to eat what I've packed.

One of my favorite items to pack is pomegranates, because I can buy a few of them, take all the seeds out during a day off (I will have to post a few pictures on a good way to deseed a pomegranate for those who are unfamiliar with the process, I myself only just learned this thanks to a friend) I put all the seeds in tupperware and then pack a smaller tupperware for lunch, and I have enough for the whole week. It's a great snack.

Today's breakfast, lunch and snacks: Pomegranate, green olives and chick peas, kiwi, clementines, carrots, string cheese, an avacado, and chili (arguably healthy but it's nice to have some sustenance food)

If you're like me, you may struggle with making a healthy breakfast in the morning. I have gotten around this by making a nice breakfast at night (usually scrambled eggs) tossing it in the fridge and just microwaving it the next morning. Saves me a lot of trouble in the morning, and eggs are a great way to start off the day!

I'm going to end this here before I start ranting about too many different things!