Hump Day

It's day 7 of my workout commitment. My wife and I both skipped Sunday, so we've worked out 6 days so far. Regardless of the fact that this morning was a struggle to get on that damn elliptical and go for 20 minutes, I do feel good about what I'm doing. I've had more energy, felt more focused at work, slept better, and didn't feel quite as droppy as I have in the past month or so. I'm trying to figure out how to get yoga channels (for free) using our Roku, and will likely look into that again tonight.

God I'm hungry. Time to cook some eggs!

Day 7:
Weight: 251
Exercise: Elliptical up to 3.5 miles now in 20 minutes

Day 2

20 minutes of elliptical again this morning, this time was energized by listening to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, so I got 3.5 miles instead of the 2.5 I got yesterday. That's it.

So we meet again...

Oh good gravy it's been a while. Since last Summer?! And, as one could imagine, I've done next to nothing healthy during that time. I mean sure, I've been cooking more at home, but sometimes we'll go weeks without a fresh cooked meal. And don't even ask when the last time I worked out was... So we're trying to change that starting today.

For my wife's birthday, she said she wanted us to get healthy together and make that her present. So, two weeks after her birthday (because hey, we're both procrastinators), we're getting started. A 45 day workout commitment. Every day. At least 20 minutes.

So, starting today, I'll be blogging again, more to keep myself accountable than to update the maybe 2 people who will ever read this.

Weight: 252
Workout: Elliptical for 20 minutes, went 2.52 miles.

Now, I need some breakfast; I really need some protein. Eggs, a bit of cheese, english muffin, grape jelly it is. And coffee. Precious coffee.

Juicing... fruit and veggies

So I've been juicing for two days now (though I have had a bit of other food during that time), and it's actually been kind of fun - finding new flavors and going through the prep work of juicing for every meal. Amanda and I did a lot of work together today - hit the farmers market for some produce that we can purchase from local farmers, then to Whole Foods for the rest, washing and cutting up fruits and veggies, and making a blended soup for lunches for the next few days. It was really nice to do that together. We'd gotten out of the habit of making meals together over the last month or so, and I'm looking forward to juicing together.

Side note - every time I say or type juicing, I can't help but think of steroids....I assure everyone we are not doing 'roids. :)

Last night I went to hang out with some friends, and I went the whole night with just one container of Naked juice, a couple bottles of water, and a handful of raw veggies. They were eating steak and grilled corn and drinking wine, but I completely abstained and felt good about it! Though I won't lie, that steak looked delicious! :)

Here are a couple photos of the drinks I've had so far:

 This one was made with a beet, carrots, celery, and apples. Apparently too many beets can actually do some crazy stuff to the body (like paralyze the vocal chords), so you've got to juice it with other things to cut down the strength. This was my first real juice and it was quite tasty!

 This was my breakfast yesterday and consisted of two apples, an orange, and three plums.

Dinner tonight - kale, spinach, 1 granny smith apple, 1 gala apple, 1 stalk celery, 1.5 carrots. The apples really made this drink - it was quite tasty! I also had a half of a bottle of Naked juice that was left over from earlier today just now for a snack before bed.

Tomorrow morning I'll be making our breakfast while Amanda is on her way home from her overnight 12 hr shift. I think I'll make something with plums, nectarines, grapes, apples, and probably a celery thrown in for good measure. Then soup for lunch while at work and another juice for dinner!

Finishing up my herbal laxative tea now (TMI? too bad), and settling in to bed with an episode of Eureka and Warehouse 13. I might make it through one of them before dozing off...

Reboot

Again, it's been too long since I've been here. The wife and I went to New Mexico for a week, and now three weeks later I'm trying to recommit to a better diet. For the next week and half, I will be cutting out lots of things in preparation for a radical fast. I'm cutting out meat, caffeine, alcohol (not that I've had much in the 2 weeks since returning from NM), breads, dairy, and cooked veggies in order to prepare my gut for a raw vegetable and fruit juice fast. We purchased a juicer yesterday from Target, and thanks to some gift cards we had it was essentially free! Going to set that up today and juice some fruit or veggies with my salad for lunch. The thing I will miss the most is caffeine and breads/grains - I'm eating cereal for this week, then moving to fruits soon. God I love cereal.... And today is day one of no coffee and I'm doing ok, but I've got a small headache brewing. I might make some tea later - less caffeine but just enough for my body to react. We'll be doing the juice fast in the week or so before the term starts for like 10 days. It'll be rough I'm sure, but hopefully beneficial. 

I'll try to blog more regularly on how this endeavor goes. 

Oh how the mighty have fallen...

Well, I don't consider myself mighty, but I sure have fallen. It's been way too long since my last post, which is totally an indication of how I've been doing lately on my quest. I haven't ridden my bike or worked out much, and I've fallen back into unhealthy eating practices. BUT, I plan to change that NOW.

Friday my partner and I went to Trader Joe's and stocked up on lots of healthier options for meals. I'm also going to suck it up and start biking in to work unless there is no possible way to avoid lots of rain. I do enjoy riding the bike, especially on the side streets where I can ride safely on the streets. The way to work is mostly downhill, which makes for a nice ride, but of course means the way back involves many more hills, but I don't care how much I sweat going home. I've just got to get in the habit. It'll be so good to do it regularly.

I've definitely noticed a difference in my mood and energy levels since I haven't been taking care of myself. I've been much more lethargic and sleepy. I look forward to that getting better soon. I hope to get some water weight off and get to feeling more peppy before our big vacation in two weeks to New Mexico. We're staying at a nice resort with a spa, pools, and a golf course. Not that I golf, but I will utilize the rest. I'll get my first massage there!

I'll be blogging more, keeping myself honest too.

Until next time.

In lieu of a real post, have a pic of our brand new tattoos! Obviously I'm the star one and my wife is the henna inspired one.