February Check-in

Time to check in for February. This month I only worked out 18/30 days (including Mar 1-2), so not a fantastic effort. I also managed to regain 2 of the lbs l lost last month. I don't want to spend time obsessing about it, though. This week was Eating Disorder Awareness Week, and I think it's a good exercise to spend a little time thinking about all that we can do/have done rather than imperfections we still want to fix. I'm at a fairly healthy weight, all of my body parts are operational, and I have become much stronger over the past year thanks to the exercise I've been doing. I have an awesome relationship with my family and boyfriend, plus my two pets at home. I'm fortunate enough to be continuing my education (paid for by my job no less!), and I'm doing pretty well in my classes. Several of days I didn't exercise were because I was caught up in my research at work. I love my job!  I'm grateful to have access to food to allow me to gain those two lbs, considering the number of people that are extremely malnourished worldwide.

That being said, I am going to try something new this month. I HATE food journaling. It's such a pain in the butt! I think part of the reason I don't like it, though, is because it forces me to realize how many calories that treat I want has. I don't usually have time to preplan my meals or obsess over calorie counts, but I'm going to log food at least 5 days of the week. I've logged a few days this past week, and although I haven't always made good choices, it does make me cringe to see the calories some of my food has. Sometimes the thought of having to log it makes me change my mind! The MyFitnessPal app on my phone is fantastic for food journaling.

I also just downloaded an app called GymPact. Starting Monday, I will be paying $5 per workout out of my required 5 days per week that I don't do. However, if I do workout 5 days per week, I get a small amount of money, financed by the people who didn't make their "pact". It's a cool idea! All you have to do is check-in via GPS at your gym and workout for 30 min or more. You also have the option to wear the phone in an armband and have it sense movement rather than using GPS if you want to go jogging, etc. It will definitely help me stay motivated to go to the gym- I don't have money to waste!

One last tool I'll mention. It's an app called Paprika that is AWESOME to organize recipes. It has a built in browser that is able to download recipes straight from websites- no writing anything down! Then you can put those recipes into a meal plan for the week and add ingredients to a shopping list that is organized by section of the grocery store. It's great! My problem is I plan to cook something and then forget to defrost meat or whatever....but I'm working on that. : P