Reducing waste while reducing my waist

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Such a bad pun, lol. Anyways...
Over the past few months, I have been focusing on increasing the amount of REAL food I feed myself and my family. I cook nearly every night, and it's usually fresh, unprocessed food. I started doing this to take care of our health, but as an added benefit, I've noticed the amount of waste our household is creating has been dramatically reduced. Even with a one-year-old in diapers, we barely fill one garbage bag per week and we put out our recycling bins only every two weeks. Our compost bin is filling up fast.

Have you noticed, however, that more and more stores are packaging their fruits and vegetables in plastic? Even things like bananas, or a single green pepper. I am so happy that farmer's market season is approaching where I live. My plan for the summer is to go to the market on Saturday morning and buy tons of local fruits and veggies, and then plan my weekly menu accordingly. It will be good for my health, my community, and the environment. Win-win-win!

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

FCARMICH 5/16/2013 1:02PM

yes! Report Inappropriate Comment

Still stuck

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Ugh, I have been at this plateau for over a month now. I tell myself it doesn't matter if I lose any more weight; I am in the healthy zone for bmi, I'm pretty happy with how I look and feel. But still, I'm stuck on the scale. Today I'm going for a run (been saying that every day for about 2 weeks, lol). I'm hoping that will be the boost I need to reach my goal weight.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

ALLIBEAR77 5/11/2013 9:33AM

Exactly right, KnewMeToday! I need to remember that the scale is only one measure of success. Report Inappropriate Comment

KNEWMETODAY 5/11/2013 8:40AM

I'm also stuck--and nowhere near my goal weight, but I remember why I came to Spark and why I'm staying. It's not a cure but a lifestyle change. I'm in for the long haul. Report Inappropriate Comment

Exercise shake-up

Monday, April 29, 2013

I am still dealing with a month-long plateau, and figured it's time to change my exercise routine. I work out with my dad and husband, in my dad's home gym. He has weights, an exercise bike and a treadmill. Usually we just do the weights, and I get my cardio by doing videos or being active outside. Last night I suggested we do a circuit. We each did 20 minutes at a station, then switched, with very little rest in between. Man, that kicked my butt! Even though I try to stay active between sets when we are just doing weights, I don't break a sweat like I did last night. In an hour I was toast. Looking forward to doing it again tonight!

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

ONELILPEANUT1 4/29/2013 5:06PM

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MICHELLE2343 4/29/2013 5:04PM

What a great way to switch up your exercise routine. Report Inappropriate Comment

"Calorie Differential Over Time" feature

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

I just checked out this feature and I think it's really great. I'm feeling like I have hit a wall with my weight, and I've had a few slip-ups and lazy days, but when I look at this graph, I see that I am still doing all the right things over the long term. I am maintaining my weight, and I have confidence I can lose the last few pounds. It's nice to have an extra tool to measure my "lifestyle" and not just my weight.

  

  Member Comments About This Blog Post:

ALLIBEAR77 4/24/2013 11:47AM

This is the feature that shows how many calories you burn vs. how many you eat. You can look at the average daily, weekly, or monthly. I like it because it's not about your weight, it's about your lifestyle, and if you look at the long-term averages, then (hopefully) you can see that a few bad days did not ruin everything. You actually don't want to see any drops in the line; you want to see a consistent, healthy range of calorie intake that is an appropriate amount lower than calorie output. Report Inappropriate Comment

CHOCOHIPPO 4/24/2013 11:40AM

Sometimes it frustrates me to look at it as the line doesn't drop as quickly as I'd like, but it is a very cool feature. Report Inappropriate Comment

Happy birthday!

Monday, April 22, 2013

I forgot to mention it was my beautiful baby boy's 1st birthday recently. He and his brother are two big reasons why I am on a path to fitness. I want to teach them to enjoy a healthy lifestyle.