Healthy Hills

I've been meaning to blog for awhile now but life got busy. It took a while for me to find my footing with balancing 2 kids, but I think I'm finally getting the hang of it. I wanted to restart my blog life off with something that's become important to me: my health. I don't know if it's my age or becoming a parent or seeing the effects that aging has on my family, but over the past year I have become more and more conscious of my health. 

Me and my loves

Like I said before, it took a while for me to find my whole footing with parenting 2 kids so my health took a back seat until I decided to get serious about it in December. My husband and I competed in a weight loss competition with my sister and her husband that started the day after Christmas and lasted for one month. During the course of that month, we tracked our calories and tried to cook healthier dinners at home. We ate a lot of whole wheat foods and I tried to really cut back on eating anything processed. I attempted to see fruits and veggies as snacks instead of cookies or chips. We of course won the competition by losing a combined weight of 22 lbs. Woot woot!!!

My favorite salad: spinach, grilled chicken, and strawberries with a lite vinaigrette dressing. 

Ever since then I have been gradually losing weight and becoming more active. I joined our church's Run for God program for the second time back in January and ran my second 5k in April. It went great! My time can definitely use improvement but I was just excited that I ran a whole 5k just 6 months after having a baby! Along with running I've been playing church league softball. We had such a fun season! I'm so sad that it's over! 

Running my 2nd 5k!

My husband and I made it a point to stay active even while we were on vacation. We ran a couple of miles on the beach and even rode our bikes to get groceries one day. I've learned that it's a lot easier to stay active when you make it fun and when you have someone to enjoy it with! 

After our blazing hot afternoon run!

My weight loss started to slow down a lot last month so I decided to try something new. One of my friends recommended I try Beachbody's 21 Day Fix (here's a link to her coach's page). I excitedly signed up and started on July 7. I chose this program because it had a nutrition plan as well as a workout plan. Once I finish I'll post more details and my before and after pics, but so far I absolutely love it! 

I've learned lots of things over the past several years as I have started working toward a healthier me:

• Be prepared to do the work and commit! The 21 Day Fix is working great for me now, but I wasn't ready for it a year or two ago. I've tried quick and easy fixes but that only works temporarily. 
• Make it fun! It's a lot easier to quit when you hate what you're doing. Have workout friends or running buddies. I absolutely loved the 2 running groups that I've been a part of. They have been so much fun and have kept me accountable in my running and workouts. 
• Take baby steps! I tried to do a diet/lifestyle change all at once and it did not work out at all. I hated it! It was too much too soon! I picked one thing a week or a month to change. One small change I made a few months ago was I started using unsweetened almond milk for my smoothies rather than regular milk. For a little while that was all I changed in my diet. A little bit later I started buying plain Greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt (this is something I'm still getting used to). I love using plain Greek yogurt not only as a yogurt, but also as a replacement for sour cream or mayo. 
• See food as fuel! As Americans we love our food and we love to make extravagant dinners and desserts, which is fine; however, essentially food is to fuel our body. We place a lot of social and emotional importance on food. We even have what we call "comfort food". The last few months and years I have been trying to reprogram my mind to see food as fuel and not just something you put into your body at a social gathering or when you've had a rough day. 
• Stay active! The more you move the better you'll feel, well the better you'll feel eventually. When I first started my workouts, it was really tough and I was really exhausted. After just a few days my body started getting used to it and I began having more energy instead of less. It's amazing what just a little bit of exercise can do for your body. 
• Love your body! God only gave me one body to use to glorify Him so it's up to me to take care of it. I don't want to miss out on anything that He might have in store for me because of the poor health choices I've made.

Obviously I'm human and make lots of mistakes, but I'm just trying to be a better, healthier version of the person than I was last year. I'm exercising more than I was a year ago. My refrigerator is full of more vegetables and healthier options than it was a year ago. I have more energy than I did a year ago. (Yes, I realize I was pregnant a year ago, but you get my point). My main goal is to be a healthier version of myself, whatever that might mean. Who knows, next year I might be running a half or a marathon. Probably not, but hopefully I will be improving on my 5k time! I'll leave you with one of my favorite motivational quotes:

"In moments of doubt, close your eyes and imagine yourself a year from now. Then get back to work."