Path to a New Me Week 1

So I promised myself I would do this, even though I hate talking about my weight. I posted a week ago about my goal to lose weight, and said I would update weekly, so here we go. I've gone through many phases since my freshman year of college where I count my calories and exercise and feel great, and then I easily fall off the wagon. HOWEVER, there was a point my freshman year where I went to the gym 3-5 days a week and just tried to eat well, and that's really when I lost 13 lbs of the dreaded freshman 15. 

This is more than a goal to lose weight, it's about changing my lifestyle. And let's be real for a minute, I LOVE food, and cheese and I have a very strong relationship (another thing I inherited from my dad according to my mom). My goal is to become a "clean eater" for the most part. I want to look in the mirror and feel good about the way I look. I'm going to focus less on counting calories and more on listening to my body. When I count calories I have a habit of obsessing over the number, don't eat as well, and compete with myself to see how few calories I can eat. I want to focus more on paying attention to if I'm actually hungry or not, and cutting out the majority of my sweets. A large part of this has been inspired by the story of Daniel in the Bible. Daniel refuses to eat the king's rich delicacies and instead insists on eating food that God has prepared for his body and what will make him healthy. He states that he and his friends will eat the food God has given them (ie healthy food) for 10 days, and if they aren't stronger than the king's men they will then eat the king's food. Of course, they end up being stronger than the king's men. This story has actually inspired The Daniel Plan, a whole foods diet about honoring God through healthy living and exercise. It focuses on staying away from gluten because of a lot of the refined and enriched flower we tend to eat, and how that isn't the kind of wheat we should be getting, so I'll be trying a lot of gluten free recipes. For more about that, go here. I want to honor God in how I treat my body- I want to take care of it the way He intended, and this includes exercising and putting good things into my body.

So, today I decided to type up my food diary, goals, and lifestyle changes, and I'll go ahead and share some of that with you...

Goals: lose 15lbs, run a 5k in September

Lifestyle changes/rules:
- walk everywhere possible (to and from class) for those of you unfamiliar with UGA's campus, there are hills EVERYWHERE. It's about a ten minute walk to my class and consists of walking downhill and uphill again, so by walking back and forth to class, I'm doing an extra 20 minutes of walking.
- Eat something light every few hours. I've found I do much better this way, keep my hunger down, and actually consume the same amount of calories. I usually eat 3 meals and 2 snacks throughout the day
- If you can't pronounce an ingredient, don't buy it/don't eat it
- Live by this:

Pinterest helps a lot and is where I've been able to get a lot of inspiration. It's also way easier for me to eat well while I buy my own groceries and cook for myself than being on meal plan. Not eating junk boils down to something simple...I don't buy junk. 

Today was weigh-in day and I'm happy to say that I lost 1.5lbs. Now, I know that's not much, could be water weight, or a variety of other things, it's still 1.5 lbs lighter than I was last week. A friend of mine is training for a 5k with me, so we run 3 times a week (walking and running) for 30 minutes, and I try to get in a good 1 hour workout 2 times a week. We are doing the couch to 5k plan, and for more on that, go here. 

I've also set a goal to try a new recipe each week, and last night my friend Elise (the one running with me) and I tried a cauliflower crust pizza (gluten free). 

Ingredients:
-1 head of cauliflower
- 1/2 cup shredded cheese
-one egg
-oregano

Steps:

1. cut cauliflower into pieces and then chop in food processor (we used a blender) 

2. put cauliflower in microwave for 8 minutes

3. put cauliflower on a paper towel and absorb the moisture out of the cauliflower (this is a step we didn't do, and the crust fell apart slightly)

4. combine cauliflower, one egg, oregano, and cheese in a bowl

5. place mixture on a greased cookie sheet

6. bake in oven at 350 for 10-12 minutes

7. take crust out of oven and add sauce and toppings

8. bake for another 10-12 minutes

Overall, I will definitely try this recipe again; it was very yummy!

I know a few people who read this have said that they, too, are trying either lose weight or eat better, so I hope this helps others. It really helps me that I have a running partner and friends who eat well, so they don't tempt me to eat junk and we can try out new, fun, healthy recipes together.

As always, smile, God loves you!

Some Pinterest inspiration: