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.