Incorporating Fitness

Hello, Everyone!

Happy first day of Spring! Being in Florida, I get to be blessed with much better weather than most of the states this year. But I am sure many of you are excitedly welcoming Spring! I Hope the weather improves for all of you that are sick of Winter!

With the approaching nice (or better) weather (and some very motivating words from a personal trainer I follow on Instagram), I was kind of once again motivated to try incorporating exercise into my routine again. I usually do the work out thing for about two or three weeks. And then I either get bored, lazy, or both and stop. Or I don't see results as fast as I want and end up getting discouraged. But this time, I want to make it more about fitness instead of just about losing weight. I want to make some healthier lifestyle choices and I really want to keep it going this time.

The first thing I have to do is change my eating habits. I am a junk food junkie! I love all the cakes, cookies, brownies, carbs, and sugars sooo much! But I noticed that I am starting to really make my body feel blah. There is no better way to describe it other than to say blah! So my plan is to cut down drastically on that stuff. I have decided to limit my carbs for the day to only having them sparingly at dinner time (not any easy thing for a Puerto Rican chick!). I also want to incorporate more fruits and veggies into my eating habits. This is hard for me because I am so incredibly picky. I do not like most fruits or veggies. It is mostly a texture thing. I hate the way these things feel in my mouth. Solution: make healthy smoothies/slushies. It is really amazing how throwing all the "good stuff" in a blender can make it taste so much better! (by the way, I welcome any healthy smoothie recipes you may stumble upon! (;). And then, of course, I am allowing myself one cheat day a week. For me, it will be Sunday. This is my plan for changing my eating habits.

So far, the eating thing is going very well. I have been doing this for a little over a week now. For most people, that may not seem like any time at all. But I gotta start somewhere! Plus, I usually don't make a whole week when it comes to changing eating habits. So far, I am proud of myself! I am not craving the sweets as much as I usually do. If I do start carving sweets, I eat a spoon of peanut butter. It helps. Plus, I keep reminding myself that I can have it on Sunday. And I eat more often. I munch on different meats and stuff throughout the day. I think these habits might take some getting used to. But since I don't really feel deprived or hungry, I think this is a change that I might be able to keep. At least I hop I can!

I also needed to work out. I actually like the way I feel when I work out. But as I said, I get lazy, bored, and/or discouraged. This time, I am approaching the work outs differently too. Even though I need to lose weight, me working out is not going to be focused on losing weight. It will be focused on establishing healthy habits and doing something good for me. To combat boredom, I follow a few different personal trainers on Instagram that have so many varied exercises to do, most of which I can do at home. So I try not to do the same work outs two days in a row. There are so many work outs available for free all over the internet/facebook/instagram/pinterest/etc.... that I don't think boredom should be a problem this time. And, of course, I give myself one day of rest (also Sunday). So far, I am doing well with this too! One of the things that really helps is when my two-year-old daughter tries to exercise with me.This makes me feel like I am setting a good example for her, which is also one of my goals.

It has been a little over a week since making these changes. And though I haven't really seen much weight loss yet, I feel so much better. And that is more important! I will continue to try to make healthier choices and live healthier. I hope that I can make these changes a regular part of my lifestyle so that I can be healthier and set a good example to my kids.

Thanks for reading my post today! Sorry it was so long. What are some ways that you try to live healthier?