Health Goals

This summer I did a lot of thinking about health and how I feel about it, but I didn't do much to actually keep on top of my heath. However, armed with my new knowledge and opinions on how I would like to deal with my health, I am ready to make some changes and take some action this fall. These are my goals:

1. Commit to some form of cardio, three times a week. This is not for weight loss (because weight loss is not the goal). This is to sweat out the toxins, to have more energy, to have an excuse to be outdoors, to relieve stress. There are a ton of reasons why this should be done - weight loss is not one of them.
2. Take vitamins, daily. Since I do not eat meat most of the time, I do not get a lot of vitamin b12, and vitamin b12 gives you energy. But also, I think it is just important to make sure my body is getting all  of the necessary vitamins - not just b12.
3. Go to bed early, and wake up early. The morning is my favorite part of the day, I am usually just too tired to wake up early and enjoy mornings. Its going to be hard to go to bed early and wake up early - especially in college. But I did it last semester, so I know I can do it again. Not to mention, working out in the morning is da bombbb.
4. Sunday morning long runs. Theres never anything going on at Rutgers during weekends in the morning, so there is literally no reason why this shouldn't happen. Plus, I wait to train for the Philly Half Marathon again, and possibly a Full Marathon some time in January, so long runs are going to have to become apart of my routine.
5. Join the Triathlon team. This is pretty self explanitory. I will meet people with the same goals, and stay motivated.
6. Meditate. Ugh, how I wish I was really into meditating. It seems so relaxing and wonderful. I will try and commit 5 minutes every morning, after breakfast to meditating.
7. Eat a big breakfast. I notice when I eat a big, nutritious breakfast, I am less likely to get really hungry/get cravings for unhealthy foods through out the day.

Do you have any goals this fall?

One habit at a time

I just read a really interesting post by a blogger called No Meat Athlete. It was about how after struggling for a really long time with developing healthy habits, he was able to by tackling one habit at a time each month. I find that concept really interesting because like the blogger, I often spontaneously decide that tomorrow my life will be forever changed and I often end up failing miserably. The problem, as this blogger mentions, is that often people decide to tackel too many habits at ones; eating healthier, working out more, waking up earlier, reading every day .... and all of this becomes incredibly overwhelming. Rather, we should devote a few minutes every day for an extended period of time to just one habit. Then, this blogger explains, at the end of the years we will have successfully developed 36 new habits which is pretty freaking awesome. So I am going to give this a go!

The first habit I want to develop is one that this blogger (named Matt; I just found his name on his blog!) worked on. Matt is a runner, but he explained how he would go days without running sometimes and so to develop the habit he started running everyday for just 20 minutes. I am pretty sure I can take 20 minutes out of my day to go for a jog. I really want to start working daily exercise into my life. Hopefully daily exercise will motivate me to eat better and accomplish my goal of losing some lbs this summer. 

Heres a list of habits I'd like to develop, one at a time.

1. Running every day

2. Meditating every morning

3. Practicing piano for 5 minutes every day

4. Drinking a cup of tea every day

5. Taking my vitamins

6. Making sure to get my 5 serving of fruits and vegetables

7. Replacing my constant chocolate cravings with something healthier

8. Planning outfits the night before

9. Sunday grooming

10. Waking up earlier every day

11. Reading every night before bed. 

Some of these are super simple such as taking my vitamins or drinking tea every day so I know I can accomplish more than one goal at a time. But for now, I am just going to focus on running. I obviously still want to try and take my vitamins and drink tea, but I'll put more energy into those later. 20 minutes of running tomorrow will be so lovely!

The exciting this is, I know this is possible. While I was away at school I started developing quite a few healthy habits such as making my bed, making sure my room is clean before I go out and washing my face and brushing my teeth everynight. These are habits that took time and daily practice to develop, but now I seriously can't leave if my bed isn't made and I always make sure my room is tidy before I go out. Its kinda cool how these things start to become second nature and I am excited to start developing a few more heathy habits!

"I can't wait for the next workout"

So I am pretty sure I mentioned on here that one of my goals this summer is to get into better shape. Well, I have been working on it, and its quite exciting! Yesterday I didn't do as well as I would have liked; to work out I only did a simple relaxing yoga workout, and I had this enormous slice of pizza for dinner. Thats okay though, mistakes are going to happen and I can't change that. Anyways, today has only just begun, but I had a nice protein filled breakfast and I did this workout video: 

The people who make these videos are incredible. Its only a 30 minute workout, but it takes me like 45 minutes because I have to constantly stop and take water breaks or catch my breath or just sit and watch in awe. I really like these workouts though; they're nice and quick, and I really feel it while I am working out and the next day! With a combination of these and other workout videos, running twice a week and a good diet, I hope I can reach my goal by the end of the summer!

Day By Day

So as I have already posted, there are a lot of things that I'd like to accomplish and get done, and thinking about it all makes me so overwhelmed. Just thinking to myself "I want to lose 15 pounds, get into great shape, run 3 half marathons, volunteer, make new friends this semester, go to more parties"; that makes me want to live in a hole. Its so overwhelming and it makes me so sad because it makes me feel like there is no where to even begin. I think I need to look at the smaller picture rather than these huge pictures. I know where I want to be, now I need to set small mini goals to get myself there. I was thinking of doing this as a week-by-week thing, but I think even that would be unrealistic for me right now. Instead, every night before I go to bed I am going to make a little list of the steps I will take the next day, that will help me get to my ultimate final goals. Since I am writing about this now, I will publish my list here tonight.

Mini Goals for Tomorrow:

1. Run 2 miles

2. Eat a really big, healthy breakfast

3. Keep busy and do things that make me happy:

Read, practice piano, talk on phone with old friends

4. Possibly go to mall with Maria and look for new dresses

5. Keep room clean

Speaking of reading, right now I love the book I am reading. I am reading Into the Wild By Jon Krakauer. We started reading sections from it in my expos class this semester, so I bought it in November, and I am finally getting a chance to read it. 

 Its about a boy named Christopher McCandless and well, I don't feel like writing a book report, but the book is incredibly interesting because it includes his story of adventuring into the wild, but it also tell of other who had similar endeavors. Its incredibly inspiring. So many people speak so highly of him, and he touched so many hearts.

That's him in front of the bus that he stayed in while living in Alaska. When I am older, I'd love to hike out to that bus and see what it was like. Hopefully one day I can!

Goals Not Resolutions

Resolutions are so broad which is why I think they never happen. Instead, I decided to make a list of goal's I'd like to have all crossed of by 2013!

1. Run 1/2 Marathons! (Rutgers 1/2, Wildwood 1/2, Philly 1/2)

2. Volunteer somewhere (hopefully hospital or soup kitchen)

3. Take more pictures (I know this is broad, so I am thinking maybe a really basic 52 week project)

4. Practice piano when I am home from school (again, broad. Maybe I can find a specific song to learn)

5. Get into any nursing program for sophomore year

6. Work out at least 2 times a week (and as a result lose 15 pounds)

7. Finish freshman year with a GPA higher than 3.5
8. Post on this blog once a week (or more, but at least once a week)

I will probably add to this list as the year goes on, but for now I think I have some pretty solid goals!