Getting Fit and Nutrition

I have just spent about an hour this morning reading about nutrition and thought I would share the info here as it's also a way for me to remember it.

* Celery with peanut butter is a good thing as long as it's not a lot of peanut butter

* Hard boiled eggs are good and can give great protein

* Drinking tea is excellent. Green and black teas contain a lot of nutrients and things the body needs and can actually help fight off infections and bacterias in the intestines - but don't add milk

* Looks like excerising at least 20 minutes a day isn't enough really for weight-loss. 30 minutes to an hour would be key

* Changing to a vegeterian diet is good and helpful as long as you make sure that things like protiens and B-12's are coming from somewhere with amounts equal to what you get on non-veggie diets

* Organic peaches, spinach, apples and peppers are a good thing. Buy them organic if possible

* There are a TON of healthy looking and tasting treats out there for under 100 calories

* A corn tortilla with mashed black beans and gaucamole is healthy and looks delicious

I got all of this stuff off of a website called SparkPeople. It is a sort of catch-all diet and health website that has a program where you can trakc you weight-loss progress. I joined about 3 years ago with some friends to track our progress. I never liked using it simply because I didn't spend a lot of time on the internet and found it boring. I still somewhat feel that way but believe in the concept for many other people. The thing I am discovering and that I like is that it is a great resource for articles and information. I always get emails and I never read them but now I think I need to start doing that as I learned so much this morning. There is a lot more but I just can't seem to recall it right now.

I have a goal in 2009 to lose 70 lbs. I know, that's a lot. But it is my goal and I am hoping to achieve it. I have made a whole wall diagram out in my garage where my elliptical machine is showing where I am currently and following a line all the way to the end goal. Every 5 lbs I have placed little cards that on one sided say "5 lbs lost" and on the other side an award "buy a book" or such. My hope is to go through the list and have the insentives help me. I have left a good portion of the later ones blank knowing that I would probably change my mind and such before then so why lock-in anything now. I posted the weight-loss line about a month ago and have been watching it every time I am on the elliptical. Honestly, I haven't gotten one reward yet. I was going well then got sick, then lost motivation with my foot pain. BUT I take responsiblity for it and am going to apply myself harder.

I have decided to try a vegetarian diet as I felt great when I did it before. I will still eat seafood though (Alaskan trumps vegetarian) as it is my favorite thing. And I won't let it interfer with my natural desire to try new things. If I travel to a place where a particular meat dish is the national treasure, I'm going to try it. I may not eat the entire thing, may not take more than a bit or I may down the entire bowl. Either way, I, personally, don't believe I will be any less vegetarian for doing so as new experiences is simply part of who I am and I can't deny it and won't. I am hoping to transition to working out in the mornings vs the evenings this week as I am often busy at nights and/or too tired to exercise. Working out in the morning would mean it gets down regardless of how the rest of my day progresses.

I have no idea if I will be successful or not in this but I hope so. My reasons are no longer based on wanting to look good. That may be a side effect but generally I want to be healthy. I want to have a long, healthy, active, fun life and carrying around extra weight isn't going to help make that happen. A friend of mine told me the other day she looks at it as bowling balls. A bowling ball weighs about 10 lbs, give or take. When she thinks of how many bowling balls she is carrying around..... well you ge the idea. Right now I have 7 extra bowling balls I am carrying around. In the last years I have added some of those and I can honestly say at times I feel all 7. So now it is time that I lose them because I can't even begin to imagine how great it will feel to have my hands free from carrying all those damn balls! Oh the things I could do....

I have no idea who, if anyone, is reading this blog but I am using it for me to express myself and if this helps keep me on tracka nd accountable, then so be it. That, again, is the hope.