I will be taking up biking. No if’s, and’s or but’s about it. I’ve already looked up bikes online at various stores like Wal-Mart and Target; I don’t need anything expensive, just something to get me around, and plan on going this weekend when I get paid. Hopefully, I’ll have enough money left over after bills and saved up from assignments to make the purchase. I’ve already started planning out bike rides using mapmyride.com which is a site my friend uses to map his bike rides. I figured I’d start with 1-2 miles and work my way up. The hard part for me won’t be the exercise – I think once I start doing it and getting out, I’ll enjoy it – but it will be the eating and changing habits. You know they say old habits die hard and I’m getting ready to find that out. I’m just proud of myself for not giving into to taking pills like Fastin or shelling out hundreds of dollars for weight loss help at the Metabolic Center like I originally (thought I) wanted too. I want to do this the natural, healthy way by eating healthy, changing my lifestyle and exercising. It also helps when you read blogs like Caity and get a daily dose of yummy looking recipes that you know are healthy; I may have to try some of them out even though I am not going to go Vegan!

I posted over at Lavish a few days ago about how I am so unmotivated to start exercising and losing weight. It is something that I’ve been wanting to do for as long as I can remember; probably since I started gaining the weight that I have. I’ve gained a good 20 pounds since I moved out on my own which was last August and I attribute that to fast food because it’s quick and easy and having not been a cook when I moved out, I didn’t want to attempt it. I’ve gotten better with the whole cooking thing and somewhat enjoy it now especially since I started buying magazines that have recipes in them. But I still haven’t been able to kick the fast food, mainly because it is quick and easy when I am working all day or I don’t have time to fix a good dinner before work and eat it when I only have an hour in between shifts.

However, I’ve decided that I’m really going to attempt a lifestyle change because I NEED too for MYSELF. I went grocery shopping the other day for the first time in awhile and got back into buying more healthier items. Fresh fruit, diet soda (instead of regular…at least for now until I can stop completely), lean meats and no junk food (except two bags of chips – I do live with my brother). I think I did pretty good. I’m also going to try and start making my lunches and bring them with me to work or class and I am going to go look for a bike this coming week. I am going to add biking into my schedule, SOMEHOW, so that I can get some exercise. This is all stuff I plan on doing without resorting to taking top rated diet pills, if there are even top rated pills. I also am going to start logging what I eat and cook and exercise if I can think of a new domain name.

Here’s to getting healthy!

As mentioned in a previous post, I had a doctors appointment on Monday for the lovely yearly exam every woman has to get and mentioned bringing up the possibility of having PCOS since my period has been MIA or very sporadic over the last four years. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to bring it up mainly because I was afraid of finding out something horrible, but I did bring it up and I’m glad I did. The doctor was really nice and open about talking about it and what some of the causes could be; anything from weight to hormonal imbalance to insulin resistance. She decided that I should get some blood work done to see what my levels were in regards to my insulin, hormones and a lipid panel. I go back on the 27th to talk to her about the results but the nurse said everything was normal and looked good, except I had a slightly elevated LDL (bad cholestoral).

Of course, it’s two weeks away when I’ll be able to find out exactly what all this means but it makes me feel alot better to know that everything is normal and that I don’t have insulin resistance (at least, I assume so if everything is normal) and the level of my hormones is good. Hopefully, when it comes down to the nitty gritty and it’s time to have children, I won’t have issues so long as I lose weight. It’s hard to say right now how my body would be and if it’d regulate itself because I’m on birth control and won’t come off of it any time soon. I’m hoping that I can get my act together and lose the weight I want for the various reasons I have for wanting to lose it. We’ll see though, in time, how things go. But just knowing that things are normal, takes a huge burden off my shoulder and doubt of my mind (for now).

A few minutes ago, I set up the sub-domain that will house my health blog which will hopefully be up and running by the end of the week/over the weekend. I decided that I don’t want to think about the changes I want to make, need to make and will make in terms of me going on a diet. Instead, I would prefer to think about these changes as a change in lifestyle and a change for the better. When I think about the word ‘diet’ I think of strict eating plans, counting calories, this that and the other and while I understand that a lot of DIETS do include those things, I would feel more at ease thinking of it different terms; I guess it’s a psychological thing. So, I have opted to alter my eating habits to include more vegetables and fruit, eating healthy portions, not over eating or eating when I get bored as well as adding Slim Fast products to the mix.

Now you may be think, wasn’t her last post on Weight Watchers? Yes, it was but after signing up and looking around the website I felt really intimidated by it. The website is overally crowded with a bunch of information as well as different calculators to track the points of foods and recipes as well as activities. I thought that tracking points for the foods I eat would be a breeze – you enter the food name, the size of the portion and there you go, you have the number of points for it. But after trying to figure out the point value for the chuck roast I made last night, I was like there’s no way I could keep up with this, especially with my school/work schedule. So, I started looking at the Slim Fast products – after seeing these products were being used in Dez’s diet – and read a meal plan that included the products. It would be much simpler for me to incorparted the products into my diet than it would be for me to keep eating WHATEVER I want and simply adding up the points.

I honestly feel that adding the products to my diet will have better success than me trying to figure out the Weight Watchers program or finding the money to attend. It’s something I really wanted to do but when I thought about it last night, I came to the conclusion that I honestly don’t’ have the extra $40/month right now to even go to meetings. Sure, I’ll have to spend money on the shakes and meal bars for Slim Fast but I would get those any time I go grocery shopping so I really wouldn’t be spending that much more than I already do. It just makes more sense for my wallet and my schedule.

I also asked my mom to look for a Wii Fit for my birthday which will add SOME kind of activity into my day aside from walking to class on campus. It may not be the ideal form of exercise but it will get me moving until I can afford to go to the gym or figure out a schedule to go to the Rec center on campus. I really am determined to do this. I’m tired of the way I feel in the morning, how I feel through out the day and just want to feel like myself again. I plan to make my official start date on February 8th which is this coming Sunday. That will give me the rest of the week to plan everything out, make a list of items I need, as well as wait for my paycheck on Friday so I can go shopping over the weekend. Wish me luck!