Red Light Green Light

Getting back on track.

That’s the saying, and that’s the way that I’m going to ease myself back into healthy habits, by treating my health like a track, or a road, or a city lane. Really, any place where a stoplight could be found is what I’m envisioning here.

At the beginning of the year I got a small little pocket calendar. It was free, it has a pixilated scenic picture on the front, and it is now going to measure my progress and slim me down while I’m in school for this spring semester.

Each day I will mark on the pocket calendar one of three colors. Green for good (I had a really productive day), yellow for average (I could have done better today), and red for (I don’t want to talk about it let’s just move along to tomorrow).

Red light green light style I’ve created a plan that seems wonderfully capable of working for me at this moment in my life where I’m easily discouraged and disappointed in my health behavior.

Not a perfect start, but a start non the less!

Each day is entirely subjective and up to my interpretation of red, yellow, or green; the calendar is general enough that I am not always comparing myself and coming up short; and this little plan is still enough to motivate me to along at the sight of the red days being engulfed around green and yellow squares.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m adding some goals along with this tracker to add some punch to my progress, but I think this seems like a great way to not beat myself up over the bad days while gradually easing myself into a healthy lifestyle again.

Getting Others on Board

Both of my parents are overweight. My brother has horrible eating habits. My boyfriend does not exercise. My friends would rather eat cake than carrots.

All around me it seems that the people I care about do not want the same thing as me. I’m not trying to coerce them into joining me on a weight loss excursion, but I would like them to take into account how difficult it is for me to be with people who are not only not participating in my activities, but whose actions go directly against my healthier lifestyle.

But how to tell your mother that even if you don’t eat seconds, it doesn’t mean you don’t appreciate her cooking?

How to tell your father that if you’d rather run on the treadmill in the morning than go out for donuts, you still love spending time with him?

To tell your brother that a whole bag of chips does not equate to a serving size seems an impossible task.

Telling your boyfriend that going for a walk is jus as nice as video games would be a struggle.

I have some ground work to lay down over the next few weeks while I’m back at home during winter break. And I think it’s about time that I set up a support system for myself so that my setting is actually working for me rather than against me.

A Recruiting Challenge

I am so in love with this idea to create a free and supportive 30 Day Challenge in order to promote fitness and exercising during a time when the winter chill sends me straight for the heater and hot chocolate.

However, I’m a bit surprised at how difficult it is to find people willing to participate. I have a solid group of a few people who seem genuinely enthused, but the rest of the people that liked my post seem hesitant.

But what could be better than motivation, new friends, healthy and fitnessy information, feeling good about yourself, and the potential to win prizes?!

I’ve even taking to searching around on some other people’s blogs and inviting them to check out this awesome challenge (hopefully without sounding too creepy).

I promise that I only want to get people involved so they can exercise, stay fit, blog about their experience, and be that much happier for the next 30 days, is that too much to ask? I think not.

So leave me a message if you’re interested and spread the word, because ready or not the 30 Day Challenge (which needs a snazzier name at this point) is coming soon!

A Challenge Most Definitely!

Yesterday, I discussed the possibility of creating a 30 Day Challenge to keep us responsible for our fitness despite the chilly outside temperatures and the seasonal pull towards hot chocolate.

Today, I am pleased to announce that the challenge has garnered some interest. I’m looking to get a few more people interested in participating (which shouldn’t be difficult considering you have the opportunity to WIN something moderately spectacular).

Joining this challenge would be free and it’s pretty laid back in terms of commitment, but pretty high in terms of fun and effectiveness!

The person and runner up with the most points will receive a prize, and there are a variety of ways in which to earn points:

• 1 point per blog reference (with link back) to this challenge
• 1 point per hour exercised (cumulatively)
• 1 point per pound lost

Email me every 10 days with your total points for those days and I’ll compile them in a list (honor system people!).

Meanwhile, throughout the 30 days I will be reblogging some of your posts related to this challenge, sharing some healthy fall fitness tips, and providing some positive encouragement and motivation, all while sharing my journey as well.

But I’m getting way ahead of myself since this challenge wouldn’t even begin until around November 3rd. For now, if you’re interested in joining us just email me at healthyhappyhello@yahoo.com with your name, email, reason for participating, and two goals for this challenge.

Let’s do this people!

A Challenge Perhaps?

With the winter weather comes a waning enthusiasm for exercising and committing to my health. I’ve begun to struggle with getting myself to trek across the windy chilled campus and I find myself craving carbs and continually seeking the warmth of my bed and the comfort of my books.

I need a kick in the pants to loosen my pants, especially with Thanksgiving right around the corner!

I’ve been looking into various 30 day challenges but they all seem to require a physical presence, too much of a commitment, or even payment (GASP!). So instead of waiting around for the stars to align (when I’ll probably have eaten myself into a carb coma), I was considering starting a challenge of my own.

Basically, it would involve self tracking the amount of time you exercised and the amount of weight you lost over a 30 day span.

• Points will be given for each pound lost, each blog post about the challenge, and every hour of exercise – with the winner being the one with the most points.
• Email me with your points every 10 days (honor system style people) and I will share them in a post.
• I will aim to reblog any inspiring/motivational/struggling posts related to this challenge.
• I will aim to blog at least every other day so that others can feel free to share their experiences and seek support in the comments.

AND the winner and runner up will receive a super special surprise (under $20 because I’m a poor college student).

For right now, I just need to know if people would be interested in participating in this challenge. Please leave a comment below if this sounds like something you’d be interested in participating in, share this around if you think you’d know others who would be interested, and feel free to provide any pointers or suggestions for the structure of this challenge. I’d like to know that we can find at least 10 committed people before beginning this adventure.

Bingeing, the Right Way

Finally, something that combines my obsession with excess and my habit of optimism.

Hey, Those Goal Things Actually Work!

A few days ago I decided to create a list of October goals related to health and fitness. I’m a big fan of goals, though I haven’t really spent too much time on the monthly goal bandwagon.

I followed up with this whim by taking out a note card and etching down some things that I figured I’d be pretty happy to see happen this month. They included:

1. Run a race
2. Begin 10K training
3. Have 2 bad days
4. Attend 2 group fitness classes a week

And surprisingly, I’ve already seen steps being taken towards these goals.

1. Run a race — I’m signed up for a 5K around the University of Maryland on Sunday the 6th. I’ve been sticking to my running quite well and am thrilled to be starting this month off on the right foot. Or the left foot, we’ll see once I actually begin the run.
2. Begin 10K training — Printing the schedule was definitely a good start.
3. Have 2 bad days — Last month I had 3 days where I overate terribly and binged on a lot of the food in my room. I feel as if it’d be unreasonable for me to expect perfection from myself, so I’ve limited the times I’d like to stumble to two. Well today, as on many weekends, I found myself in the Danger Zone. I had just eaten my second kashi bar after munching on some carrots and hummus when I went to reach for the cereal. Then I stopped and thought. Do I want to waste one of my bad days this early in the month? No. I put the cereal back down and started this post.
4. Attend 2 group fitness classes a week — I love the group fitness classes that our school offers, and I know that if I make sure that I attend them I’ll feel happier from varying my workouts and getting better results.

Already the goals of the past have shaped my decisions of the future. And I couldn’t be more grateful. Even though I ate about 350 unnecessary calories tonight, my stomach is no where near bulging and I feel proud of myself for recognizing the behavior before it got out of hand.

Even if these goals see no other actions being taken towards them, I’m grateful for this tremendous start to the month of October.

Caution: Approaching the Danger Zone

Anyone who has ever been on a health kick/dieted/tried to change their lifestyle is fully aware of the Danger Zone. The Danger Zone is a place where you suddenly find yourself after a long day with too little to eat and a mound of work that needs to get accomplished before you can even begin to think about sleeping the stress of the day away.

After working a Color Run on campus for 5 hours with only a bowl  of Cheerios to tide me over, I could sense I was heading towards certain trouble. Then after a meager long overdo lunch of a peanut butter sandwich and an orange, I could see the Danger Zone coming into clearer focus. When I realized that I would be stained blue all day and didn’t have a hope of making it to the gym, my eyes started casually glancing around for that familiar yellow tape. And now that I have a whole list of chores to complete (involving homework, studying, laundry, shopping, and writing papers), I am staring down the bright and risky entrance that is the Danger Zone.

Now when I say Danger Zone, someone’s first thought may be of a horrifying place where mayhem and madness rule, carrying the very real risk of deadly harm. False. The DZ prides itself on having warm cookies and pizza to greet me with, and there wouldn’t be a care in the world while I was chowing down on popcorn and Twix bars and chocolate and Chex Mix. I just know they’d have some Disney movie or Harry Potter film playing to entice me to stay longer. And in the Danger Zone, the word “work” is the most foul of the four lettered words (both in terms of exercise and school). The real danger comes after your blissful oblivion, when you begin to count up your calories and look at the clock forlornly wishing that Time Turners were real.

But luckily I’ve seen the warning signs. My lack of eating balanced meals throughout the day, the stress I’m feeling towards my To-Do list, and the fact that my morning was eaten away by an exhausting event are all spinning me around in circles and pointing me in the direction of trouble.

So tonight, I’m prepared. I’ve got some water to combat my hunger, I’ve got some plans to study outside of my room and in a public area where binging on peanut butter is not socially acceptable, and I’ve got the knowledge that I’ve made such tremendous progress.

What does your Danger Zone look like? What are some signs that you’re approaching the DZ? What do you do to stay out?

Yes, It’s Worth It

Things have been going pretty darn good for me lately. Pretty darn fantastical wonderful stupendical, in fact.

These past few weeks have seen me exercising like a lunatic, falling in love with the gym all over again, and finding any excuse to get outside and move my body (no matter how embarrassing I may look). And all of my little fat cells absolutely hate me for it; which all my little brain cells love me for it.

Just thinking back a few months ago, I remember trying to hide my general unhappiness with being overweight and out of shape. Mostly, I would eat to make myself feel better about being overweight. Yeah, that doesn’t make sense to me either….though it worked fairly well. While I was eating I felt good. While I was eating I could forget about wherever my worries lay. While I was eating I was content.

And then after the eating I was anxious and worried and disappointed and upset and emotional and disappointed and defeated and sad and angry and disappointed. Which would make me eat more. But eventually everybody reaches their food limit, and there were times when I literally could not continue eating. So then what? Well, then I was stuck with those unhappy thoughts and no way of comforting myself. Cue public service announcement on the dangers of relying on chocolate and peanut butter to solve your problems.

But now that I’ve seen the brilliant and divine light of exercise and healthy eating, I’ve come to a stunning realization.

Eating keeps you happy some of the time; fitness keeps you happy all of the time.

Even when I’m not running around at the gym and shoving apples into my mouth, I find myself in a better mood. When walking around campus, I notice that I’m smiling with confidence. I go home at night and instead of wallowing in self-pity, I do a few jumping jacks and call up a friend. Eating better and exercising has enriched almost every aspect of my life (though maybe not the aspect that involves free time).

While there are days that I struggle and times where I know it’d be so much easier to call up Papa Johns and order myself a whole pizza with mushrooms and pineapple, on most every day, I am thrilled to be alive and actively participating in my life.

It was a tough transition. It is still hard. But it is and will always be oh so worth it.

The 6 Most Shockingly Irresponsible “Fitspiration” Photos

I love this post (as I knew it before it was famous) and wanted to celebrate the fact that someone has deconstructed the messages that we (as fitness wannabes) are being sent regarding health. I don’t know when we stopped motivating ourselves though internal pride and started relying on unrealistic and hurtful comments and pictures. But I am most definitely glad that these messages are being questioned. Stay fit for your health, stay happy for yourself.

Reembody

The Reembody blog, up to this point, has been a thoughtful exploration of human movement, a subject about which I am extremely passionate.

Today, however, I’m mad and I’m going to tell you why.

I have been planning a blog post for a while on fitness misinformation, and it was originally going to be the same kind of thoughtful deconstruction found in my other installments. But then I read this and it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever found in my newsfeed: so beautiful, in fact, that the rest of the health and fitness propaganda floating around Facebook like turds in a pool started to really, really piss me off.

So thoughtful deconstruction has been postponed for another day. Instead, we’re going to take a good look at a few of those turds and get pissed off together because, when someone preys upon your insecurities in an effort…

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