Zumba Update!

So, as of today I have had three Zumba classes. The first one was only 20 minutes long, and I felt like I was going to die. The second class, which was on Monday, was a full 50 minutes. It was exhausting! I was so sweaty by the end of it, sweatier than I think I've ever been. I also got a really bad cramp in my abdomen during it that didn't go away until we were finished. The day afterwards my shoulders and calves were really sore, and they were even sore today when I woke up. Class today was still exhausting and I was still really sweaty, but I felt like I was able to keep up for longer periods of time, and I didn't get a cramp this time! I think I really like Zumba, although there's no way I'd be willing to do it on my own. Hopefully as the class progresses I'll get even better at it.

The Second First Day of Class!

It's always a little weird starting college again, because you don't just have one first day of class. You have two, or maybe even three if you have a class that only meets once a week. To me it's a little challenging, because I get so stressed out about starting new things, that having two or three days of newness is stressful.

On Thursday I had only two classes, which was nice, even though later I'll have labs and whatnot to fill that time. First I had Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion. I don't think I'll really be interested in all in this class, but I need more credits outside of science, so this seemed like an easy A. I appreciate the teacher, because she knows most people are taking it for easy A's. A large part of the class is that we have to choose a TV show that has something to do with witches, and watch and write about it. We also have some "fieldwork" to do, which seems like a pain, but overall the class doesn't seem like it's going to be completely awful.

Next I had Quantum Mechanics, which I can already tell is going to be awful. I've had the professor before, and even though I love his excitement towards teaching, he doesn't understand how to best help his students. I am just hoping to survive this course.

Other than that I am just trying to keep everything balanced as the semester really begins and I have more and more work that starts to pile up. Wish me luck!

The Semester of No Excuses!

Class started today, and made me want to die. This whole getting up early, having to put on clothes, having to see people and use my brain thing doesn't work for me. I guess it wasn't that bad once I got there but still. Over the break I evaluated myself and decided that I make way too many excuses for myself. Of course I can't do dishes, I have homework to do... but I should really finish this TV show first... I realized that there's no good reason for me to do less than I would like, even if I am tired.

However, after the first day I do feel quite exhausted, and all I really want to do is take a nap and eat everything in the apartment. But I'm going to be at least a tiny bit productive in that I might do a load of dishes, or maybe organize my class binders.

The classes I had today were Second Semester General Biology, Fundamentals of Psychology, History of Women in America, and Zumba. ...So far, Zumba is my favorite. Biology seems fine. I don't particularly like biology, but I think that it will be better than last semester because it's less molecular and more big picture. My only major complaint is that because of the way the class is organized, unless you put a lot of extra work into the class, I don't think you can do extremely well. There's no way in hell I'm going to read labs for prelab quizzes, read the textbook, go to a weekly discussion outside of class, AND go to lecture. I may just be extremely lazy, but I think that that's a lot to ask of someone who has other classes.

Psychology is going to be an easy A. I'm absolutely positive of that. I am also absolutely positive that I will fall asleep during every lecture. I'm sorry, I respect psychology, but the fundamentals of psychology are basic... They're the FUNDAMENTALS. There's no need to spend half a lecture going over what makes psychology an actual science.

History seems like it will be interesting, but it's also a class filled with a bunch of liberal arts majors, who seem like they'll have opinions on women's issues... Which could make me hate the class. Other than that it seems fine, just a lot of reading.

Zumba was so HARD. We didn't even spend half the class doing actual dancing, but I was so sweaty and out of breath. I also looked like a complete fool trying to follow the instructor, but I'm excited to get better at cardio.

Expanding The Blog!

Well... I can wholeheartedly say that I have failed my diet. I think the main problem was that I was on break, and didn't have anything to keep myself busy. When I'm bored, instead of finding something productive to do, I prefer to eat everything in the house. I think that I was doing alright, except then I went to visit my parents, and of course I didn't diet or exercise while I was there.

Another factor was that while I was home I caught this nasty flu that is going around. I felt alright for the first few days, which allowed me to catch up on the workouts I missed while I was home. In one day I did something like 180 sit-ups, 80 push-ups, and over 4 minutes of planking. But after that the flu hit hard, and I was in bed for about five days. I have no intentions of catching up on the rest of the exercises, but will try to complete the daily ones once I am fully recovered from the flu.

So, since I've failed miserably at eating better and getting fit, I will not be focusing entirely on that. Instead I will be expanding to include various things that I find interesting and/or deem worthy of blogging. The first expansion: School! I start classes this Wednesday! I'm expecting it to be super stressful since I am taking 5 classes, a PE course, AND am taking a MCAT-prep class.

When classes start, I AM going to try to be better about exercising and eating right. I expect it to be easier because I'll have things keeping me out of the fridge. I don't know if I will continue to count calories, but I do expect to log what I eat. And I will be attempting to do the calendar exercises, as well as my PE course. I'll post small updates about my fitness levels/progress, but expect a lot more about school.

As a bonus, enjoy this adorable picture of yawning cat.

Days Nine, Ten, Eleven, and Twelve!

So, while my friends were visiting I made absolutely zero progress towards getting fit. I did not watch what I ate, although I don't think I went too crazy with food. I didn't exercise at all. In fact, most of the days were spent sitting on the couch watching all of the Harry Potter movies. The only thing that might have been beneficial is that I got the flu, and so I was drinking a lot of fluids (not water cause bleh). While I am still sick, I am going to try to get some exercise in, as long as I'm not horribly ill, because who knows how long this flu will last. Wish me luck!

Day Eight!

Day Eight didn't go well at all. My friends are visiting me for a few days, so of course we aren't going to diet and exercise. Yesterday I think I barely stayed under calories, but that's only because I only ate dinner. I didn't do my calendar workout, which I feel kind of bad about. The day they leave I plan on making up all of the days I miss... so that'll be quite the workout.

Day Seven!

Yay! I'm super proud of myself for making it through an entire week of blogging/keeping track of what I eat/exercising(-ish). Yesterday I managed to stay under 1,200 calories, and I remembered to do my calendar workout. I didn't drink enough water :(. I wish I was better at remembering to drink it, but I'll just have to try harder. I didn't eat hardly anything yesterday, probably because I woke up late and went to bed relatively early. For breakfast I was healthy and had a bowl of Kashi Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond with 2% milk... Then I had to get my car serviced, and while I was waiting I decided to walk to Starbucks. I was going to go for the pumpkin spice latte (380 Calories in a grande), but they just stopped serving it so I went with a grande white peppermint mocha... And I didn't know until later, but it has 520 Calories!!! So that's where most of my daily Calories went :(. I should probably stop drinking Starbucks altogether, but that's not happening. For dinner I had a frozen Michelina's Tortellini Alfredo, which sounded good. It had alfredo sauce, cheese tortellini, and broccoli pieces in the sauce. It was HORRIBLE. It didn't taste like food really... just a weird plasticy/broccoli taste. But... it was only 240 Calories.

In terms of exercise, I was challenged by the 12 push ups and the 30 second plank. I got really out of breath and was almost sweating by the end of it! It makes me feel so out of shape! But this morning I actually felt a little sore, so at least I know the exercise is working :)

Weight: 137.1 (I found the scale!)
Body Fat: Unknown

Breakfast: Kashi Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond. 200 Calories.

                 2% milk. 61 Calories.

Lunch: Grande white chocolate peppermint mocha. 520 Calories (D8)

Dinner: Michelina's tortellini alfredo. 240 Calories.

Snacks: N/A

Approximate calories in: 1,021

Exercise: 25 sit-ups, 12 push-ups, 30 second plank

Water: Under 2 liters :(

Day Six!

Well, today didn't go well. I left the house, which was a good change, but I left only to drive for a really long time to visit my Dad. I didn't eat particularly well, but not particularly badly either. I did go over calories, but not by very much, and I think that my snack choices were much better than they have been the last few days.

I did exercise today, but nothing more than the "Fab-abs January" told me to. Do you know how I know I'm out of shape? Because the exercise is actually starting to become a challenge! It's hardly anything and I find myself struggling towards the end of it!

 I didn't reach two liters of water, but I did get about 1.25, so that was better than yesterday. Because I'm in my hometown, and I don't feel like I'm going to die as soon as I leave the house here, I might end up exercising outdoors in the next few days! I hope so, because I think the combination of having nothing to do/staying inside all day has been making me feel a little depressed. Wish me luck!

Weight: 135.7 (I don't actually know since I don't have a scale here)
Body Fat: 34.4% (same)

Breakfast: 1 banana with a tablespoon of peanut butter. 205 Calories.

Lunch: Grande pumpkin spice latte. 380 Calories (D8)

Dinner: Marie Calendars chicken pot pie. 430 Calories.

Snacks: Kashi Go Lean Crunch! Honey Almond. 200 Calories.

             3/4 cup 2% milk.

Approximate calories in: 1,296

Exercise: 20 sit-ups, 10 push-ups, 30 second plank.

Water: 1.25 liters

Day Five!

Day five didn't go very well in any way. I didn't exercise, mostly because on the calendar workout I'm doing Sundays are breaks. I had basically zero water, and I didn't eat very well. I also went over calories because in the evening I decided I should eat all of the sweet things in the house. I didn't have breakfast, which is bad... but since I've been waking up so late it doesn't make sense to eat something right away. I had a cup of tea when I woke up, then later I had a second cup and some strawberries. For dinner I had macaroni and cheese with smokies, and for dessert I had some apple pie, as well as a chocolate chip blondie.

Weight: 135.7
Body Fat: 34.4%

Breakfast: Scottish breakfast tea with sugar and milk. 45 Calories.

Lunch: Yogi caramel apple spice tea with sugar. 45 Calories.

            Strawberries. 97 Calories.

Dinner: Macaroni and cheese with little smokies. 610 Calories.

Snacks: Apple pie. 380 Calories.

             Chocolate chip cookie blondie. 170 Calories.

Approximate calories in: 1,347

Exercise: N/A

Water: N/A

Day Four!

Day four didn't go super well. I didn't eat particularly well, and I even indulged in a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte, which was 300 calories I shouldn't have had. I also didn't have as much water as I should have. I did complete the exercise, but not until late at night. And I ended up going over calories because I had dessert when we went home. I probably would have eaten better if I had been at home, but I was out all day. Oh well, tomorrow will probably be better.

Weight: 137.7
Body Fat: 34.1%

Breakfast: N/A

Lunch: Macaroni and Cheese. 413 Calories.

Dinner: Broccoli and beef with white rice. 307 Calories.

Snacks: Pumpkin spice latte, 2%. 300 Calories.

Approximate calories in: 1,019

Exercise: 20 sit-ups, 10 push-ups, 20 second plank.

Water: Under 2 liters :(

Day Three!

Day three went well in that I actually left the house, and therefore got more exercise than I have been. We went to the academy of sciences, so that was a lot of walking. However, I did not eat particularly well today. Because we were driving, we decided the drive through would be a good option, but since McDonald's stopped serving breakfast right when we got there, I had a chicken nugget breakfast. Then, I didn't eat lunch, but had some strawberries when we got home. For dinner I had a chicken tamale, and because I got a super cool stand mixer for Christmas and I figured I should try it out, I made chocolate chip cookie brownies for dessert. I also completed the third day of "Fab-Abs January," and managed to drink 2 liters of water! :)

Weight: 138.5
Body Fat: 34.0%

Breakfast: Chicken nuggets and some fries. 305 Calories.

Lunch: Strawberries. 97 Calories.

Dinner: Costco chicken tamale. 320 Calories.

Snacks: Chocolate chip cookie brownies. 340 Calories.

Approximate calories in: 1,062

Exercise: 15 sit-ups, 7 push-ups, 20 second plank.

Water: 2 liters! :)

Day Two!

Today was much better than yesterday. Even though I wouldn't exactly call today healthy, I didn't just eat sugar all day long. For breakfast I had a cup of tea, for lunch I had leftover spaghetti, for dessert we went out to dinner at Panera, and for dessert we had apple pie. I'm also really proud of myself for drinking 2 liters of water. For exercise, I actually remembered to do the calendar workout. :)

Weight: 138.2
Body Fat: 33.7%

Breakfast: Black tea with milk and sugar. 60 Calories.

Lunch: Spaghetti. 198 Calories.

Dinner: Broccoli cheddar soup with a baguette. 510 Calories.

Snacks: Apple pie. 570 Calories. D:

Approximate calories in: 1,338

Exercise: 10 sit-ups, 5 push-ups, 15 second plank.

Water: 2 liters!

Day One!

So, I don't know how I feel about today. I certainly wasn't as healthy as I could have been. I was under calories, but not because I was eating well. I woke up really late, and then played video games for most of the day. For breakfast I just had an espresso. Later, I ate a few malted milk balls (Christmas present), and for dinner I made spaghetti. For dessert I had a few Oreos. For exercise, I started a calendar program, where at the beginning of the month you do a tiny amount of exercise, and by the end you're doing a lot more. I think this month is called "Fab-abs January." I also didn't get as much water as I should have. Tomorrow I will be sure to get enough water, because I feel so much better when I'm hydrated. Wish me luck!

Weight: 137.5
Body Fat: 33.2%

Breakfast: Espresso with milk and sugar. 77 Calories.

Lunch: Harry and David malted milk balls. 200 Calories.

Dinner: Spaghetti. 280 Calories.

Snacks: Oreos. 240 Calories. 

Tea 0 Calories.

Approximate calories in: 796

Exercise: 10 sit ups. 5 push ups. 10 second plank. Repeated twice. 

Water: Under 2 liters :(