Weight Loss Update and Cheat Meals

Hey there! First off, I'd like to see that this update is a bit overdue-- I meant to post weight loss updates every month, and so I was actually supposed to do this update last week, but I hadn't realized that it had been a month already, it went by so fast. So that being said, I have lost a total of 19 pounds since the beginning of this fitness journey. Which is really exciting, because that means that I'm more than halfway to my goal, which is 30 pounds. Unfortunately, I can't say that I've changed my lifestyle too much from my last update post, meaning that I'm still trying to walk/jog/run 5 miles a day, eat clean, sleep at least 8 hours a day, and drink a minimum of 64 ounces of water. But what I can talk about today is how I've been dealing with unhealthy foods, as well as some facts and tips about cheat meals that will hopefully be as helpful to others as they have been for me.

It is important of course to be maintaining a balanced diet composed of healthy and nutritious foods, but it's okay to have a cheat meal once in awhile as they can actually help you to lose weight for these reasons:

1) They reset hormones responsible for metabolism and insulin regulation.

2) They replenish glycogen for increased energy.

3) They keep calorie-burning and fat-torching mechanisms high.

So I was talking to someone about the adjustments I have made to my diet and they asked if I only ate clean, and I said no, I definitely believe in treating myself, and these benefits show that they shouldn't make you feel guilty when you are having a cheat meal. But there are certain things to keep in mind when you decide to treat yourself:

Know how much and how often
Try to keep your calorie count between 500-1000 calories more than your usual daily calorie intake. If you've just started working out and eating healthy, it is recommended that you only have one cheat meal a week. As you get leaner, you can allow yourself up to two or three cheat meals a week. Personally I never really plan my cheat meals, I just save them throughout the week because I'll usually encounter a meal where I didn't know where/what I was going to be eating so that I can then allow myself to indulge knowing that I have saved myself for that meal.

Eating in moderation
Don't just go to town on your favorite food, as calories can add up really quickly; so try to keep to serving sizes. I've found that if I'm craving something, usually it'll only take a little bit of that food to satisfy my craving. So if I'm having intense cravings for ice cream, I'll just have a spoon or two and then I won't really want much more-- I don't know if that will apply to everyone though. I just know that for me the following spoons aren't as good as the first ones, so it really isn't worth the calories for me to be eating more if it isn't really a difference to me, if that makes sense. It also helps to put your portions in bowls (I like to do smaller bowls, so it looks like I have more food than I would if I put it in a bigger bowl) or in plastic bags rather than having the whole dish in front of you or bringing the whole box/bag of the food with you because I find having such a large amount of food with me is pretty dangerous, if you know what I mean haha

Satisfy your craving
I feel weird promoting eating unhealthy foods, but I think that if you are really craving something you should just eat it. Because if you want a donut and choose to eat an apple instead, chances are you're still going to have that craving and end up eating that donut after eating the apple anyways!

Eat consciously
When I say this, I mean to focus on your food when you eat. Like don't watch tv and eat at the same time, or you'll eat mindlessly and before you know it, all your food is gone. Also if you're deciding to cheat, you'll enjoy your food a lot more if you just sit there and actually appreciate what you're eating. You can tell I'm a foodie because I'm telling you to give your undivided attention to your food haha

So those are all of my tips for treating yourself, now let's talk about making healthier decisions for those times when you don't have too many options for what you're going to eat, and you don't want to necessarily take a cheat meal. I think this has been one of the hardest parts of this journey for me, besides the initial starting of a healthier diet. I don't really have many desires for unhealthy food anymore, as they make me feel tired, sluggish, and sometimes even nauseous now. But for the past couple of months, which has been pretty much the entire duration of this blog, being healthy on the weekends has definitely been a struggle for me. Pretty much every weekend I've noticed that I've had some sort of event; parties, get-togethers, and trips out of town. These have really made it hard for me to stick to my daily goals because the food at parties and restaurants usually aren't the healthiest, and going out of town gave me little time to exercise. It's so ironically painful that all of these events have been occurring during my fitness journey, I almost wish they all happened before I decided to be healthy! Haha but it's okay, it's taught me how to make healthier choices in situations that I normally wouldn't, and also I don't want people to feel that they have to worry about what I'm going to eat when we eat at a place that serves predominantly unhealthy food, and I don't want to avoid eating out just because I'm afraid of letting go of my health goals. So here are a few ways that I've come up with to help make the best choices possible when eating at restaurants:

1. Research the menu ahead of time
A lot of restaurants will give you the calories on their menu online, which I think is really helpful and something I personally like to do before I go to the restaurant to be aware of some of the healthier choices I can make. I especially like this because sometimes its really hard to tell what would be a healthier option and what wouldn't be, as I've often seen salads and grilled chicken sandwiches, items that are usually associated with being healthy, being higher in calories than burgers and fries. There are also apps dedicated to menu items of common restaurants with the calorie counts that you can download, which I've also found to be really helpful as it's accessible and very convenient having the menus of all those restaurants being all in one place on your phone. All in all, it's just always good to be informed about what you're putting in your body.

2. Look for lighter alternatives
One of my favorite places to eat is Chipotle, and has been my go-to place to eat when I need to pick up something fast. Chipotle has a nutrition calculator on their website for each thing that you can have added to your bowl or burrito of whatever your getting, which is pretty cool. I also really like that the ingredients they use will still help you reach your daily nutritional needs. So when I go there, I get a burrito bowl and skip the rice (but you can get brown rice if you'd like), and get chicken, black beans, tomato salsa, cheese, lettuce, corn, and guacamole, and I only eat half the bowl and save the rest for another meal. Each of these I would eat alone if I was at home, as they all have their own nutritional benefits. Chicken has protein, beans are good for your heart, guacamole has good fats, you get the idea. Another healthier alternative that I tried recently was getting my burger lettuce-wrapped, which they call protein-style at In-n-out, and I know that Red Robin and Carl's Jr. will also make their burgers protein-style if you ask them to. I've found that a lot of menus are offering all sorts of different healthy options now, such as bottomless broccoli at Red Robin, whereas before all they offered was bottomless french fries, which actually made me really excited to discover, not going to lie. Sometimes there's even a section of the menu devoted just to lighter dishes, or you'll just have to look a bit longer for healthier options, but I'd say it's definitely worth it. All of those alternatives that I mentioned above, I really enjoyed and would definitely recommend!

3. Drink a lot of water
It's recommended that you drink at least a cup of water before eating a meal so that your stomach will be more full and that you won't overeat during your meal. I found that this is really helpful because I often don't realize how full I am eating until after my meal, and then when I'm super full it's too late and I'm uncomfortable for the next hour or even longer. But if your stomach is filled with a good amount of water, then you won't have that problem of being full for so long because water goes through you pretty quickly. This is how I survived an all you can eat Italian dinner at Maggiano's; I think I drank at least eight cups of water during that meal to keep myself from eating everything because I love fried zucchini, calamari, chicken parmesan, and pasta like it's nobody's business, haha.

All in all, I still definitely struggle with temptations when around unhealthy foods, there have been many times that I've indulged myself more often than I would like. But even when eating out so often, I haven't stopped losing weight yet-- the least amount of weight that I've lost is a pound a week, though my goal is two pounds a week. But it's okay, what's important is to remember that I'm trying to live a healthy lifestyle, and that I don't need to rush to into losing weight. I don't want to kill myself to lose the weight and consequently do it in an unhealthy way, because that would defeat the purpose of my decision to follow a healthy lifestyle. In addition to that, so far this journey has been a really positive thing in my life, and I don't want it to become a chore that I dread; I want it to continue being a change that I'm really glad to have committed myself to. So in conclusion, it's not like I'm never going to eat a cookie again, I'm just trying to make the best choices for what will make me feel the best. Even though unhealthy foods are at times more appealing, healthy foods never fail to make me feel more energized. It's also beneficial to not eat unhealthy foods as often, because then I have ways to reward myself and eating those foods is more special to me. I just want to try my best to keep a balanced diet and to be happy with myself. And I want you all to be happy with yourselves too; whatever lifestyle you want to live-- pursue it.
As always, thank you for reading.

Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

Today I'm going to share the recipe for what I think is my favorite healthy meal that I've tried so far: sweet potato fries! They're pretty easy to make, they're filling, they're baked instead of fried, and all of the ingredients cost me less than two dollars (and I only made half this recipe, which still made 2-3 servings!), so I could easily see myself making these when I'm in college! Here's how mine turned out:

(Sidenote: This wasn't the whole batch, I gave some to my brother before I took this picture, haha)

And now for the recipe!

Ingredients

- 2 Sweet Potatoes (1 lb each)
- 2 tbsp of Olive Oil
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 1/8 tbsp Pepper
- 1/8 tsp Garlic Powder
-1/8 tsp Paprika

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil (tip: I like to use baking sheets with edges so I don't have to worry about the fries falling off when it's time to take them out of the oven)

3. Wash and peel your sweet potatoes, then cut them into 1/4" fries

4. Put the potatoes into a large bowl and drizzle them in oil. Add in the spices and mix all of it together, making sure to coat every fry with oil and the spices

5. Spread the fries out on the baking sheet (if you want them extra crispy, try to have them spread apart so that they aren't touching each other)

6. Bake for 20 minutes, turning the fries occasionally or until crisp.

Enjoy!!

Matcha Green Tea (Starbucks Order)

Alrighty, this is going to be a super short post about my what I've been getting from Starbucks, as I've been getting a lot of questions about my order. I figured it'd be a good idea to post the order here on my blog so that it will be an easy place to reference for those who are interested in trying it out! So what I've been ordering is a matcha green tea, which looks like this:

This is a trenta, the largest drink size, but the order can be made in any size. So what I ask for when I order is, "A trenta water with four scoops of matcha" and that's all, super simple! But that's just my order for those who have been asking. You can of course get a smaller size, especially if you just want to try it out. Here are the number of scoops in proportion to the different sizes:

Size - number of scoops of matcha

Tall (12 oz) - 1 scoop
Grande (16 oz) - 2 scoops
Venti (24 oz) - 3 scoops
Trenta (30 oz) - 4 scoops

Basically what they charge you for in this order is the matcha itself, as they just ring you up for a cup of water and pressing the "add matcha" button, which is a flat rate of $0.80 cents no matter how many scoops you get! Also you can order the drink either hot or cold, just make sure to specify if you want it made with hot water or if you want it iced. So I've really been enjoying getting this eighty cent drink every day, as I know it's helping to boost my metabolism, and it's extremely refreshing and tasty as well! Others have been trying out this order, and have really been liking it to my surprise! Sometimes I wonder if healthy things taste good to everyone, or if I've just convinced myself that they taste good because I know it's good for me! Like to be honest, the first time I tried this I really didn't like it, but then it grew on me really fast and I don't know why! Haha all I know is that I'm addicted now, it's that good to me. I'm really glad that I discovered this order, as it gives me something to look forward to everyday. The venti size is supposed to be equivalent to drinking 10 cups of matcha, and so the trenta size I get is equivalent to 10+, which is awesome because it only takes 3-6 cups of green tea to boost your metabolism. Also matcha green tea is more beneficial for your health than regular green tea, because it contains the grounds of the whole leaf, whereas in regular green tea you are just steeping the leaves and therefore are not drinking the nutrients that are not water-soluble. So with all of these benefits, I think it's definitely worth it's eighty cents! I hope you give it a try and let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!

Exercise and Motivation

Alright guys, it's finally time for some exercise talk! I had stated in the introduction of this blog that I would write about healthy foods, tips, and exercises, but so far I've pretty much only covered foods and tips haha. And to be honest, the reason for that is because I haven't really been doing a lot of intense workouts yet. Because so far I've already lost 14 pounds, which is almost half my goal by the end of this project, and that's without doing any kind of real workout routine. All I do is make sure that I walk about one and a half to two miles during school, and then run a mile when I get home (usually to Starbucks, not going to lie) and then I walk another two or three miles in the evening. So really, what I've been doing to be active is nothing impressive at all, I wouldn't even consider it exercise. But I am expecting to plateau soon, which means that I will be reaching the point where losing weight will be a lot more difficult, as my body is adjusting to all of the healthier changes that I've been making in my life. But that's okay, because I want to move onto the next stage of this journey and continue to challenge myself. In the beginning of this blog, it was very challenging for me to make healthy choices in my diet, and to meet my minimum of ten steps, five miles. But now, I don't get many craves for bad foods, and I enjoy going on my walks/runs because it's invigorating and makes me feel good throughout the rest of the day. And so now that I'm expecting a plateau, I need to start kicking up my exercise a notch. Okay, so I think that's enough background of why I need to start exercising! I wanted to write this post about exercise so that I can help others who need to change up their workout routine, or are seeking motivation, as well as to prepare myself for the next steps that I will be taking to enhance my fitness journey.

Okay first off, let's talk about how to form your exercise routine:

1. Pinterest has a lot of routines that you can search up, and you can easily find exercises that will work out any area of your body that you want to work on. I also really like the routines where you search a certain amount of minutes, because they'll tell you exactly how long your workout will last, and how long you should be focusing on each exercise within that routine.

2. YouTube has all kinds of workout videos. What I like about YouTube videos is that the person instructing in the video will be explaining to you what they're doing in that routine, as well as doing it themselves so that you can see what the exercise should look like, so that way you'll always be doing the exercise properly and giving your body the most benefit.

3. Join an exercise class! There's so many fun classes that you can take, such as yoga, pilates, cycling, kickboxing, water aerobics... the list goes on. Signing up for classes can be good for forming habits if you're one of those people who say they want to exercise but then never do because of time or laziness. If you sign up for a class, you're most likely not going to opt out of it if you paid already, haha. But really, these classes are a way for you to find which exercises are really fun for you, exercising doesn't have to be a pain! Apparently there are even Xbox games that are designed to make you exercise at the same time, which I think is pretty cool because who wouldn't want to be blasting aliens while getting a workout?

4. Design your own workout; that way, you won't have to follow an instructor or video if you don't want to do some of the exercises they're doing. By customizing your workout, you can be strengthening all the areas of your body that you want to focus on the most without having to skip the exercises in a video or whatever platform you're using that you aren't interested in doing. A good way to keep variability in your workout is to write down all the exercises you want to do on slips of paper, and place them in a cup, drawing them out as you progress in your workout. That way, the exercises you do next are always in a random order, and you won't fall into a rut with your exercises or blank out if you can't think of any. Here are some exercises that all together, will give you a full body workout: squats, lunges, mountain climbers, burpees, planks, push-ups, jumping jacks, bicycles, superman, high knees, and vertical leg crunches. But feel free to incorporate any exercises that you want in your routine, just make sure that you're always pushing yourself! I promise, you'll feel great afterwards. Everything that you put into your exercise routine will pay your health back in full, if not more!

Now, time for motivation! Here are some ways to get you off your tush:

1. Find a friend to keep you accountable-- specifically someone that wants to set goals just like you. That way you guys can keep checking in on each other to see how each of you are progressing, and encourage one another. If you both want to exercise more, change your friend's name on your phone to "go exercise" or something like that so that when they call you, they can remind you that you should be keeping active. Also, if you have an accountability partner, if you're a foodie and you post pictures of some unhealthy food on your social media, your friend can yell at you for not sticking to your goals. (I'm kidding, it's okay to eat unhealthy foods to treat yourself, just eat in moderation! I'll probably do a post about cheat meals and balancing your diet later.)

2. Go run with your dog. I say this because usually dogs can run faster than you, so that way they'll be pushing you to keep up with them and continue running. And you're helping your dog exercise too! it's win-win.

3. Sleep in some of your workout clothes. Then in the morning you'll be most likely to not want to change out of your workout clothes when you're already in them. Or when you wake up in the morning, put on your entire workout outfit, including your shoes and grab your water bottle. Both ways will make it more likely that you'll work out since you're already ready.

4. Work out first thing in the morning. If you get your workout over with in the morning, you won't be dreading it throughout the day, or putting it off. Working out in the morning is also a sure-fire way to wake you up!

5. Prepare ahead of time. Whether it be planning your workouts for the week on Sunday, or assembling your outfit and pre-workout snack ahead of time, being ready will make it easier for you to immediately go out to exercise the minute you have free time.

That's all I have to say about this for now, hopefully I will have more to add on to this subject later as I learn more about exercise and motivation myself. Hope this encourages you to start pushing yourself harder, because I know it'll be worth it. Good luck!