i'm awesome

Once upon a time I ran for 16 minutes on Tuesday! And my knee felt awesome. Having a running buddy has seriously made a world of difference. He pushes me to go farther and faster (even though most of the time I do not want to) which is awesome because it's making me a better runner. I can feel myself getting into better and better shape and I am feeling awesome.

Food wise, I'm not doing all that great. I'm still eating a lot of fruits and veggies, but I'm going out to eat a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Like, every single night of this week. Fail. But hey, I'm a poor college student and I need to eat as much free food as I possibly can!

i'm doing great even if this blog is not

Well, I've been so busy being active lately that I haven't posted on my healthy habits blog. I discovered the secret to physical activity. Find someone to do active things with. In the last week I have been on two awesome hikes, gone on two runs and played ultimate frisbee twice. I love that I've been so incredibly active and it doesn't even feel like a hassle or a burden to get out and get some physical activity in. It's just hanging out with someone that I want to spend time with and it's so fun. I also feel AMAZING. I have huge amounts of energy all the time and even though I've been getting a little less sleep, I don't feel as tired. I am having a blast and feeling great about myself too!

On a note about my eating, it has been pretty good! I ate a lot of home cooked meals this week (as well as a couple of out-to-eats...), and I've been having green smoothies almost every day. It's surprising, but they fill me up really well and I have definitely felt differences in myself as I've been consuming more fruits and veggies. I had red meat twice this week, but oh well. This girl will probably never say no to a burger.

All in all, I'm feeling great about my healthy habit goals! The goal for this week is to be better about bedtime...we'll see how that goes!

green smoothie

Today I made a green smoothie. 

Ingredients:

 Frozen peaches, 

half a frozen banana, 

spinach 

water.

 It was dang good and I got at least 3 servings of fruit and veggies!

pilates

Well, my exercising and health habits have been less than good this week because I have been working 14 hour days. But today after work I decided that I really wanted to work out. I didn't really want to run because it's dark outside, so I found a Pilates video on Netflix. It was 40 minutes long so I thought maybe I would just do half, but all of a sudden, the 40 minutes had flown by, my heart was pounding, I dripping in sweat and I was gasping for breath. You can bet that this will be something I will do more often. Running is great but it needs to be coupled with some cross training and this was a great way to work my muscles, especially in my legs and core. Pilates feels great!

bangerang!

Well, I didn't run today and had resigned myself to ditching out on my exercise for the day. Then I found about ward sports night. I peppered a volleyball with two other girls for a half hour and then played ultimate frisbee for an HOUR! The sprinting, jogging, stopping, walking, seemed to be a good combination for my knees. They felt fine. By the time we finished, they were just barely starting to hurt. So I felt really good about that.

Playing games like this is an awesome way for me to get my exercise in because I can go for longer, run harder since it's a competition, and I also get to bond with people I've just met and make new friends. Best of both worlds right there. The best news is that my ward does sports night every Tuesday. I've never been the sporty girl, but you can bet that I will be there every Tuesday!

weekend recap

Friday I ran right after work for 8 minutes, felt awesome. I ate a ton of fruits and veggies and had three water bottles.

Saturday was a good day. I slept in until 10, had some spiritual nourishment at the temple, ate a lot of strawberries and vegetables, went on a 10 minute run and felt great.

Sunday was my day of rest. I read almost a whole book, had a great time at my new church, ate some chicken and carrots. It was good times.

call me fruity

I'm trying to incorporate more fruits, veggies and whole grains into my diet and less red meat, processed food and dairy. I'm making little changes at a time, but I feel pretty good about what I accomplished today. So far I've eaten a banana, apple, green beans and strawberries and I have plans for a broccoli, cauliflower, carrot medley with my dinner. Little things like eating more fruits and vegetables make a big difference!

running report

My sophmore year of high school, I was a running machine. I ran two half marathons and then got a stress fracture in my foot. I've been trying to get back into running every since then, with little success. Now I'm trying yet again by starting very small and babying my knees which struggle.

So, I want to give a little report of my running the last couple of days. Yesterday I ran for 10 minutes after work and walked for 10, then today I ran for 6:30, walked for 2 and ran for 2. I wish I could go out and run 6 miles like I used to be able to, but I know that I can only do so much at this time, and I am slowly going to work myself up!

This is a healthy habit that is very important that I keep up!

new endeavor!

Welcome to Amberly's Healthy Habits! I decided to start this blog to help facilitate a lifestyle change inspired by a semester of not doing my best, by discussions about veganism, and mostly by a desire to invest in myself now so that I can reap dividends of good health when I am older.

Overall, I am not an unhealthy person. I try to watch what I put in my body and exercise, but I've decided that now is the time to really crack down on my health habits, to document my goals and my progress and to hold myself accountable.

I realize that it's important to start slow, so I have some very small goals as I start on this endeavor:

• Drink more water. I've started taking a water bottle to work with me every day and I have the goal to drink two full water bottles in the 8 hours that I'm there.
• Eat more fruits and veggies. Right now I'm getting about 2-3 servings a day but I want to start eating more like 5-6.
• Eat less processed foods. This is hard when I'm in the break room at work and all I want to do is eat eggos, airheads and cookies.
• Eat less red meat. Really all that you need is 3 oz. a week and I'm probably eating more than that.
• Exercise! Right now I'm starting with 20 min a day and will increase. I'm not worrying about mileage right now, I'm just focusing on getting out there for a certain amount of time.

And long term, I hope to be able to run with my wonderful roommate Ashley when she moves out here in 4 months again! I also hope to do another half marathon. It's been 4 years! But I know I can work up to it.

Thanks for stopping by! Encouragement and advice are welcome.