Legos of My Life: Healthy Body & Lifestyle Choice.

So in one of my last postings I talked a little about how I was cleansing my body and working out more. I have been in kind of a rut lately with then end of classes nearing and so much work at once so I have held back working out everyday just so I can get all my work done in a short period of time. With that being said I haven't stopped eating healthy. That is a life style choice that I continue to pursue. I also got a job at the beginning of April at a daycare in a higher up gym 5 minutes from my house in Valdosta. I LOVE it and with working there comes free membership. I just got my membership card yesterday so I am pretty psyched to start working out on these nice machines with TVs on them! How fancy. Yes I still pay for the gym on campus and yes I still go there. I am going to start swimming over summer in the indoor pool and I still go there after classes.

Anyway I started this "life style" (not diet) on Spring break with my family who are all losing pounds fast! Which I just want to reiterate that I am not doing this to get skinny but to be fit. They're are two different things. I have gotten a lot of weird responses when I tell people that I am going to go work out and stuff. But another reason why I do it, is because it lessens the stress I uphold everyday. Not only does it lessen the stress it also can help you sleep better at night and stretching can make you more flexible. There are many benefits of working out like helping your heart and blood pressure, so don't think that just because I work out I want to get skinny. I'm skinny but I want to be healthy.

So I have some pictures that obviously show my stomach and where I started on this journey and some food pictures of what I eat. I am poor so I eat a lot of fish, corn, beans, cabbage, water, and carrots. A lot of people say that eating healthy is expensive (which it is) but I have actually found that I have been saving more money by eating healthier. How? Fresh food goes bad quicker. I eat cabbage and carrots that week and don't but chips and bad stuff because those things made with saturated fat can uphold to longer times of usage. Obviously wheat bread is more expensive than white bread but I found that if I go to Big Lots on their bread days you can get Nature Valley Wheat bread (like a 3$ bag of bread) for $1.40 and I just get a lot and freeze them. I get organic peanut butter with the oil you have to spread in and jelly. Even though this isn't they BEST healthiest meal, it's a step in the right direction. There are always better OPTIONS. Just like fish is always better than mashed potatoes and mac and cheese.

Now there have been cases where I have eaten birthday cake or something like that but there are ways where you can make the birthday cake healthier by taking out the harmful stuff like butter and eggs and substitute it for something else like pumpkin or applesauce. And if you do eat a cupcake from a bakery do it once in a while but not everyday. It's okay to eat normally, and its okay to eat regular food in the right proportions.

Things to look out for though as a college kid:
-Alcohol. Wine in general literally turns to sugar. Don't drink a whole bottle in one night ladies. This is the same as beer for dudes, you see the beer gut, you know what that is.

-Cheap dinner boxes. Some of them are okay if they include preparing chicken in them, and if they are the meals that call for ground beef, go try ground turkey. Its less in fat, tastes the exact same, and is .20 cents cheaper.

-Mashed Potatoes and Mac n Cheese Boxes. Although these are $1 and are yummy most are carbs, saturated fats and trans fats. Saturated fats are oils that are turned into a solid which is no longer the healthy oils that your body needs so stay away from them in bags of chips as well. If you want mashed potatoes go grab a potato and mash it yourself, at least you will know what exactly is in your food.

-Chips. If you are going to buy chips go for the healthier route and get either Chips and Salsa or Jalapeno Kettle Cooked chips. Jalapeno chips spark up your metabolism but only eat them in the right proportion. No more Cheetos.

-Sodas and Juices. First of all if your a poor college kid you probably shouldn't be wasting your money on drinks when you have a water faucet at home. 1) water is free, (if you don't count the water bill) and 2) water is healthier. If you don't trust you water company buy a Brita filter, they are only 8$ to start off and would be the same amount of money you are spending on the soda cans.

There are always things you can do to get healthy and on a budget. If I can do it anyone can do it.

This is my goal body (picture I stole from pinterest)

And these are my pictures in order of my progress. They aren't the best pictures but you can definitely tell how my progress is going. This was my very first day, you can tell that I am kind of boxy and not an hour glass shape.

Right here we can see my lower stomach started to flatten from doing like 20 planks throughout the day. Which planks are my favorite workout.

At this stage you can start to see my hour glass is starting to form.

This is my last picture for now. I am still working toward my goal! You can see the water I've been drinking has flattened my stomach along with my planks and my "hour glass" shape is actually there. It's not perfect but it's a start to my goal and I am pretty proud of how well I am progressing. And you can kind of tell I'm sun burnt in this picture! And I put on 50 SPF!!