Healthy Organization

Recently my mom and I went to AZ for a mini vaca/check out possible retirement for my parents. While there we both enjoyed the sun by basking in it by the pool of our hotel. Upon doing such, I realized something....I'm not the fit little 18 year old I used to be. Let's just say I'm glad the only person I knew was my mom so I didn't overly care what I looked like in my bikini, but I would much rather not see the sight again, haha! Now I have of course realized after larger jean sizes and needing a new bra fitting that I have, obviously, gained weight since high school. No, it isn't like as though I will cross paths with someone from high school and they can't recognize me because of the amount of fat I've obtained, but I have become much to comfortable in flowy, comfy clothes. Not to say that I should be skipping around the office in a body hugging tank top and shorts! But it would definitely be nice to feel comfortable again in my swimsuit. However much I do fully believe that I would much rather be 140 and enjoying a good ol' bud light clamato and some mild boneless wings with ranch...I would also like to be 120 enjoying those things once a week instead of every night, haha! So I have finally decided to actually buckle down and try actually making it to the gym and eating healthier. I want to not only switch up the chips and chocolate for veggies and frozen yogurt, but I want to actually start cooking supper on a regular basis, instead of once every two weeks haha!

The biggest thing I have come to realize with this change I'm wanting to make and after doing "research" (or more so just taking in information for the past year or so from watching the biggest loser and such) is that this will take some work. This isn't a diet. This is a lifestyle change. This isn't eating fruits and veggies for a month to lose some weight and then going right back to the way things were and "expecting" to keep the weight off. So first things first, I went grocery shopping last night. I went with the intent of buying groceries because we were basically down to ramen, ketchup and a couple cans of soup in the house.  (Ok, so it wasn't THAT bad...but you get the picture :P)  Now before I went to the grocery store last night I had already decided in my mind that I wanted to get lots of fruits and vegetables and I had looked up a bunch of healthy recipes that I would like (I'm really picky :S) and decided to try to get some of the ingredients for those recipes. Once I got to the grocery store I decided I would avoid the chip aisle all together and do my darndest to only get "healthy" things. Now, of course, I am not willing to give up my delicious, fatty foods all together. I am willing to make changes, but I know I am not about to quit fattening foods all together and beer and I just get along too well for me to quit drinking it, haha!  The other thing that I have realized is going to be really hard for me, is the fact that my boyfriend, Drew, is not overly about eating healthy. He would be totally fine with a bologna and heavy-on-the-mayo sandwich. So it will kind of be like shopping for two people. He is all about supporting me in this and will eat some of the healthier things I cook, but he's just not going to be as into it as I am and getting him into the gym would be worse than pulling teeth. But, he is at least supporting me and ok with all this.

So after getting groceries last night, I got them all home and completely over-hauled my fridge. I literally took everything out of it and did a spring cleaning on it. Since I had recently gone through it and gotten rid of anything that had expired, there wasn't much to throw out, but it gave me the chance to get it all cleaned and organized.  (And let me tell you, after a couple years of not being fully cleaned, it was ready for it!) So this is what it looked like after I cleaned it out.

All the drinks I kept to the left, where they have been kept, but all the fruits and veggies I just bought I kept in easy access on the top two shelves. I used to put them in the bottom drawer, but then would forget about them and they would go bad before I had even attempted to eat them. So with them now in plain sight I will be much more likely to go for those as a snack instead of other not as healthy things. The bottom remained condiments and such and the only thing I'm not sure of at the moment is where left overs are going to go, haha! I do want to go to the dollar store or walmart and get some rectangle/square shaped bins to keep fruits and veggies in. I just put them in a couple bowls I had on hand, but the bowls take up too much room. So that will be on of my next purchases. The bottom drawers ended up being "drinks". The left one is where Drew keeps his pop and the right one has liquor in it. I'm lucky enough that I so rarely drink pop it will be easy for me to just not drink it at all anymore. 

After having purchased all those fruits and veggies, I decided to make them even more easily eaten by putting them into their own little "snack packs".  I am a very lazy girl. Yes, very lazy. If it isn't easy to grab and go, I may choose not to eat it. Yup, that lazy sometimes. Also, with such a busy lifestyle, sometimes I just don't have the time to make something. Working two jobs in which the first goes from 8-5 and the second starts at 5:15 doesn't leave time for me to get something to eat in between. Working at Applebees as a server you would think I would be walking around all night so I would be burning calories. Well as much as that may be true, I would usually turn around and eat something from Applebees. And that something would usually be wings or fries or a salad. And I mean I would eat some lettuce with my dressing. Yeah...not good!! 

A good thing to remember about salads. Just because you're eating a salad doesn't mean it's healthy for you!!! Look at the ingredients in the salad. Is the meat on your salad fried? How much dressing did you put on it? How much cheese is on your salad? Does it contain anything that is fried? Some salads contain tortilla strips which are basically deep fried chip strips. Not healthy!!! Also, ask for your dressing on the side and just dip each bite in a little bit of dressing. Then you aren't over doing it. If your salad comes with sour cream or any other additive, get it without. You would be amazed at how fattening a salad can really be!!

Now...back to my "snack packs"..

I bought sugar snap peas and baby carrots and put a few of each in these little plastic baggies. This makes it so easy for me to just grab it and take it with me. If you are one of those people who absolutely can't eat veggies without dipping them in something, put a light dressing in a small container to grab and take with you as well. With the sugar snap peas and carrots, they are full of enough flavor for me to not need anything to dip them in. 

I then took the strawberries I bought and I washed them and cut them up right away and put them in containers like this so I could easily grab them and go. My mom told me also that to preserve any berry longer, rinse them in a rinse of 10 parts water to 1 part vinegar. Rinse, not soak. I haven't actually tried this yet, but my mom is a pretty smart cookie and I trust her judgement. :) So I will definitely be trying that later!!

One other thing I tried is mini snack/salad idea I found on Pinterest (imagine that, haha!). I did alter it to my liking and haven't tried it yet, but I made them last night and put them in my fridge for when I'm ready for them! Here's what they look like.

I will add a bit of Italian dressing to them when I'm ready to eat them, but they are just a spinach leaf, grape tomato and chunk of mozzarella cheese. Here's how I made them.

You'll need spinach leaves, toothpicks, grape/cherry tomatoes and a string cheese stick.

You can use pre-made cheese balls too, but I thought it was easier and cheaper to just cut up a stick of mozzarella string cheese.

Stick the toothpick through the end of the spinach leaf (I had to dig a bit to try to find the bigger spinach leaves), then through the cheese, then through a tomato and through the other side of the spinach leaf and voila!!! They look so delicious!!! And they were really easy to make! I think they would be good for party appetizers as well! 

On this journey will also be the lifestyle change of more activity. Whether it be going outside for a walk, going to the gym, playing volleyball or softball with friends, doing a workout DVD at home, anything!!! I just need to actually start doing things every day! I have had a gym membership for about 2 years now and I rarely use it. I cannot count the number of times I have paid $30 a month for nothing because I never even went to the gym. But now, that's going to change! Even if I just go to walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes or something like that, it's better than what I was doing!! The one thing I am lucky in with this is that I have many friends that I know will be willing to do things with me like this. Especially my best friend of whom got a gym membership at the same gym I'm at so we could go together, haha!

Next is drinks. I have already stated that I am very lucky in the fact that I don't like pop very much. The only time I ever get it is when I go to a fast food place.  I have already started a while ago to drink more water, but I will be drinking even more so I can actually try to get my 8 glasses a day at least. The only other thing I usually drink is milk, of which I drink skim because it's a bit healthier, and beer. Yes, that delicious golden (well red for me haha!) beer. This is something that I have had the hardest time with because after a long day of work or after anything stressful, I instantly want a beer to take the edge off. Well that has to stop. No, I'm not going to give it up. I just want to drink less often. Instead of having a beer every night I want to just drink on the weekends or for special occasions or something. This one will be the hardest for me because it's become such a "nightly" thing. But I'm bound and determined to change that!! And I guess one a night isn't the worst thing ever, but still. The last thing for this category is a tea I found that I want to try. I have become much more of a tea drinker lately and when I found this I figured it was worth a try.

Doing a detox for your body is (personally) never a bad idea. No, I don't think it should be over-done or anything, but its usually good to do it once a month or so, in my eyes. The first detox I found on Pinterest was a three day detox... Day one, nothing but water. Day two, 5-6 servings of fruits and water. Day 3, 5-6 servings of vegetables and water.

Are you kidding me!!! Not eating for a day! I know that is probably good for a detox, but I'm hungry by 9 in the morning!!! Haha!!! So when I went grocery shopping and happened to find this I thought it would be a good try!

Here's the info on the other side of the box.

And the other side says:

Get the Most Out of Every Cup

Bring water to boiling and steep 5 to 10 minutes. For a stronger effect, use 2 tea bags. Drink 1 to 3 cups any time during the day, up to 10 tea bags a day. Because it has no harsh laxatives or diuretics, Peach DeTox is mild enough to be used every day for up to 30 days.

So I guess we will see how it goes...Again I haven't tried this yet, but I figured it would be worth a shot since I am trying hard to eat healthier and such. The last drink I usually have is one cup of coffee in the morning during the week at my job. So I am going to start having a cup of this tea instead and see if it works for me. After I have used all the tea bags (16) and I'm doing ok with it, I will just switch to a different tea in the morning and maybe buy this every other month or something if I like it. Time will tell on this journey!!

My goal weight is 120. Now I don't expect to lose this in a couple months or anything and I also am under the knowledge that gaining muscle (if I even do) could change that weight as well to be higher. All I know is that I don't want to be a "fat" slob anymore. I want to feel energetic and I know a lot of the reason I don't lately is because of my eating/drinking/not working out habits. 

So, here's to a new start, to not waiting for a certain time to start, and to a new lifestyle!

Wish me luck!!! And if anyone else wants in on this journey just let me know! Haha! I'd be happy to share ideas and keep on track with people! And anyone that ever wants to go for a walk or do something active get ahold of me! I'm so excited that it's summer time! I'm so excited to get outside and get active!!! Thanks in advance for all the support and any feedback I can get! :D

Wishing everyone well!

XOXO,

Fair