Update

Hello! I've been looking forward to sharing about this week's post, so let's jump right in. I wasn't sure if I was going to do updates on my progress intermittently or announcement my total weight loss until the end of this journey. But I decided that I will share my successes and setbacks about every month or so, just to hopefully motivate those who are also trying to live healthier but also to keep me accountable as well.

So, it has been about four weeks since I started trying to live a healthier life style. And in those four weeks, I've lost nine pounds as of today. Which is great, because that means I'm on track to lose thirty pounds by the end of March, which is my goal. I'm looking forward to continuing this journey of eating right and exercising and I plan to push myself even harder as the feeling that I've been getting knowing that I'm benefiting my body has definitely been worth it.

As of my past few posts, I've been getting a lot of questions about what I'm doing personally for this fitness journey, so I thought that I would talk about that today as well.
So, my daily routine has basically been to consume around 1,300 calories a day, allotting breakfast and lunch about 320 calories and around 440 calories for dinner, leaving about 180 calories for snacks (These are just estimates, they're about what I shoot for when preparing a meal, but if I eat more or less than those allotments then I just adjust my other meals accordingly). Then as for exercise, I walk/jog/run five miles a day, or more if I'm feeling up to it. I haven't been focusing too much on toning my muscles, but I hope to start that soon. I also make sure to drink a minimum of 64 oz, eight cups, of water everyday. Then after all that, I try to get eight hours of sleep (because did you know that you burn [0.4 x your weight] calories each hour that you sleep? For me, that's equivalent to a meal and a few snacks' worth in calories!) So if you can, make sure to get as much sleep as possible!
So this is pretty much all that I've been doing so far as a routine, but it will most likely change as my weight will hopefully continue to change and consequently will my intake of calories and exercises and such.
To help me stick to my routine and keep on track towards my goal, I use a Fitbit Flex, which is a wristband that syncs with an app you can download on your phone that counts your steps, tells you how many calories you've burned, and how much undisturbed sleep you've gotten. It also allows you to enter in your meals so that you are aware of how many calories you are consuming. Here are some of the foods that I eat frequently, in addition to some other healthy meal options that I would recommend:

Breakfast:

-Green juice that contains apples, bananas, kiwi, mangoes, pineapple, spirulina, alfalfa, broccoli, spinach, kale, garlic, barley grass, wheat grass, ginger, and parsley
-Chia seeds (I'll do a blog post on this later)
-Eggs (I like them boiled, and I don't eat the yolk)
-Turkey bacon
-Bananas
-Oatmeal
-Granola
-Greek yogurt
-Cottage cheese
-Muffins (healthy ones!)

Lunch:

-Salads
-Quinoa
-Tuna
-Bean burrito with a whole wheat tortilla, or you can make a wrap with whatever you like inside
-Fruit (Apples, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, pineapple, etc.)
-Hummus and carrots or cucumbers
-Turkey or roast beef sandwiches on whole grain/wheat bread or you can make a pita pocket

[Sorry I don't have too many ideas for lunch yet, as I bring my lunch to school, which can sometimes limit my options. But I'll continue to look for more lunch ideas and hopefully devote a blog post to that for those who might need to pack their lunch as well or just want something easy and quick to prepare.]

Dinner:

-Salmon
-Sweet potato fries (they're not actually fried, they're baked--I'll most likely do a recipe post for these)
-Vegetables (Broccoli, zucchini, green beans, asparagus, peas, cauliflower, etc.)
-Chicken (White meat)
-Lentils and broccoli
-Turkey burger (No bun) with avocado
-Tilapia
-Pesto (or shrimp) with spelt/whole wheat pasta
-Brown rice

Snacks:

-Dried plums
-Cheese and fruit (I usually eat a banana, apple, or grapes)
-Plain popcorn
-Nuts (Walnuts, almonds, pecans, cashews, pistachios, but try to stay away from peanuts as they contain a lot of fat, but it's okay as long as you eat them in moderation)

[Side note: Personally I wouldn't advise snacking on energy bars, as they often are pretty high in calories, about half of one of my meals, and I don't find them particularly filling. But at times I will eat them in place of one of my meals if I'm running late, and then I'll make sure to balance my other meals later when I have more time-- so just feel free to do whatever works best for you.]

Drinks:

-Water
-Green tea (or Oolong, both are very beneficial teas; there are also many weight-loss teas out there)
-Almond milk
-Coffee (Coffee without creamer and sugar is less than 5 calories)
-Juices/smoothies
-Coconut water or milk

So these are just some of the foods I've been enjoying and have been seeing results from. I'd like to stress that it doesn't matter when you eat any of these foods, I just organized them in traditional meal classifications, meaning that you can eat breakfast foods for dinner, dinner foods for lunch, and lunch foods for breakfast, the order makes no difference. Just remember to not skip meals, and to eat frequently, about every 3-4 hours as it's important in terms of speeding up your metabolism, which will the subject of my next blog post. Also, I've been getting so much positive feedback about this blog that I am thinking about blogging twice a week, as before I was just planning on blogging once, on Wednesdays. In addition, I've found that I really enjoy blogging; it has been fun and I've been learning a lot. So if I add another blogging day, I'll either set a specific day of the week or I will add in a bonus whenever I have time or if I come across some new information that I'd like to share with you all. I hope this post was helpful, thanks for reading!