Health Goals

At the risk of doing something that is highly overdone, especially in the beginning of a new year, I figured I should type up some of my current goals for getting healthier. I know I'm in the same boat as many people...this is our year! We're going to finally get healthier. Losing weight is awesome but the main goal is to get healthy and I mean it.

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I've always had extra weight and have always wanted to get rid of it. My weight fluctuates a bit but I feel like overall I've tried to stay fairly healthy. Keyword: tried. I'm usually pretty active and have worked several labor intensive jobs. But it always seemed like I'd eat the worst when I worked the hardest. We (the girls I worked with) were just exhausted all the time that when we finally got a chance to eat we would eat whatever was the fastest because we had to get right back to work! I shouldn't place all the blame on my previous job(s) but trust me, it didn't help. Especially because in our minds, hey, we're working really hard, let's "reward" ourselves with food. Bad thinking!

So now, upon entering the new year, 2013, I'm ready to buckle down. I have no excuses! I've got a great, supportive husband who will eat better with me, cook with me, work out with me and so on. There's a world of motivation and workouts on Pinterest and we belong to a great gym. No more excuses!

I want to:

• Lose weight
• Drop pant sizes
• Lose inches
• Tone up/Strengthen my muscles (I'm no weakling but I want to be stronger)
• Feel more confident
• Be healthier

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How I plan to do it:

• Gym 3 days a week--Couch to 5k program, lots of walking/elliptical, and weight training
• Lighter workout at home 2 days a week--Walking Dead Workout for now
• Eat more salads! Every day would be ideal
• Take daily women's multi-vitamin
• Drink more water--8 glasses + 
• Eat more fruits and vegetables--DAILY
• Eat less wheat products (we only eat whole grain/wheat, but could be limited)
• Continue to avoid processed food, fried food, refined, bleached, enriched, high fructose corn syrup, etc
• Don't eat out or highly limit it, twice monthly max
• Yoga? (I know it's supposed to be great for you but I've never tried...input?)

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All of these things are basically the same for my husband as well. He doesn't need to lose as much as I want to but he wants to be stronger and healthier.

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I decided to write this down on my blog in order to give myself more accountability. I would LOVE any kind of support and motivation from my readers and friends! All the nitty gritty scary details like weight and inches are staying in a secure Excel file on my computer...not brave enough to put that out there! Maybe when (not if! Need to be more positive too) I reach my goals! Maybe.

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My husband and I have talked about it a million times but we really need to buckle down and get serious. We want to live LONG, HEALTHY lives together. I don't ever want to be hampered down by a preventable disease. The decisions we make today effect our health later on in life.

Follow my Health and Fitness board to see some of the cool stuff I've pinned regarding health and fitness! That's where all of my pictures came from for today's post. I try to pin fun workouts and motivation along with other health tips and tidbits.

Are you trying to do any of these things in the new year? How are you going about it? Also, any suggestions for fun home workouts once we complete every episode for The Walking Dead Workout?

Till next time,
Catherine

Green List

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I know in the past few years there has been this "green" movement. A lot of people see it as just another fad, some people do it because it's "cool," but others do it because they want to make this planet a better place. I'm in that third category.

Ok don't freak out, I'm not a crazy hippy. I'm not going to go out and live in a tree so it won't be cut down! I believe that God gave us dominion over the earth and that we are to be good stewards of it. Obviously we don't take the best care of this planet that keeps us alive. I'm going to go right ahead and say this too...I don't believe in global warming! There has been and probably always will be different cycles of hot and cold times. You're entitled to your own opinion as I am to mine.

But again, I think we're supposed to take care of the creatures on this planet as well as trees, plants, etc. It's simple, really. If we cut down all the trees, there won't be enough greenery to clean up the CO2 and spit out oxygen for us! We just need to do better, that's all. There's no reason to go nuts and live in a dirt house eating only greens the rest of your life. We just need to implement simple steps to take better care of the earth.

I want to give you a list of simple things to do that will save you money but will also contribute to improving the planet, your health, and the local economy. These are all easy things that my husband and I do on a daily, weekly, monthly basis.

My personal green list:

• Turn off the lights when you leave a room
• Don't turn the heat/AC on until you absolutely have to
• Buy local! Especially meat, eggs, and dairy products
• Use cold water to wash your clothes, trust me, they'll get clean!
• Unplug anything you don't use often like your toaster oven, blender, TV in a back room, etc.
• Buy curtains that help block heat from getting in/escaping through your windows. Like these. 
• Instead of driving around town, park somewhere near a lot of shops and walk
• Visit your local Farmer's Market on Saturdays. Spending $10 a week locally drastically improves the local economy.
• Take shorter, slightly cooler showers
• Eat at home! You save gas and money and chances are it will be healthier!
• Wash your dishes in the dishwasher, it uses less water, and it's less work!
• Grow plants! Any plants! You can easily grow garlic from an existing clove, pineapple plant from a stem, celery from the bottom of the stalk and many more! All of these can be kept indoors.
• Compost your food scraps. 
• Buy a reusable lunch bag and ditch the brown paper bags!
• Buy reusable sandwich and snack bags like these Snack Taxi ones!
• Reduce!
• Reuse!
• Recycle!

When it's cold, bundle up with fuzzy blankets and snuggle with your husband! It's mid-December and we have yet to turn our heat on! Ok yes it gets pretty chilly on occasion but I'm not freezing to death! Ok, ok...I know there are plenty of people who can't handle the cold but it's really not that bad for us! I like to say, "You can always put more clothes on, but you can only take off but so much!" So bundle up!

The more that we go to our local farmer's market, the more I realize how accessible farm-fresh eggs are! If you just commit to buying only local cage-free/free-range/organic eggs, it will be one positive step for encouraging local business and humanely obtained eggs.

We actually haven't started composting yet but plan to get a small composter that we can put on our patio. Something like some of these maybe. Or maybe I could make one like this. I really like this one called The Worm Tray. When I still lived with my parents, we always composted everything! It was just second nature to put food scraps in one bucket and recyclables by the door for my dad to put in the bins. We lived in the country so my dad used the compost for his garden and took the trash and recyclables to the dump every couple weeks.

It's not the most extensive list but start somewhere! Try to implement a few of these ideas into your routine this week!

Do you do any of these things? What would you recommend to someone trying to be more "green?"

Till next time,
Catherine