Resolution Revolution

It's that time of year when gym memberships skyrocket, New Year's Resolution time. While I'm guilty of having a weight loss-related resolution, I started my process months ago. I feel I can reasonably be one of the people who are annoyed at the sudden influx of newcomers to my gym and hog all of the equipment when I know they'll stop coming after the second week in February. This is pessimistic, I apologize. I truly do hope people achieve their health goals for the year...just as long as my gym equipment is available.

I may not be too affected by the Resolution Revolution because I pay a little lot more to go a gym with mostly elderly folks. What I like about my gym is the layout. You've been to those gyms where the men stand in front of the mirror doing curls just to impress the women, right? I hate that. I'm at the gym to sweat, breathe hard and not look cute during downward dog. My trainer at the gym said to look for one thing when deciding on your gym: "If the cardio equipment faces the weights, you've got yourself a meathead* gym."

The weights area is completely segregated from my gym's cardio area and I love it. Because, honestly...

Why doesn't healthy food taste good?

Here's another piece of helpful information if you're new to the world of health and fitness: some health foods require an acclimated taste. For me, it was the taste of plain green tea. I had to find a kind of green tea I could drink without adding anything to it. From there, I could drink all teas without adding sugar or honey.

Lipton Green Tea with Orange, Passion fruit and Jasmine

I'm now trying to get used to the taste of plain oatmeal, plain Greek yogurt, kale and quinoa. I find that adding berries to both yogurt and oatmeal is really helpful, but I've yet to have plain quinoa or kale without making a grossed-out face. Any suggestions are welcome.

Fitness Magazines

What do you think? Do fitness magazines help promote fitness in women, or do they continue to harm our self esteem by parading images of women and celebrities on their covers when we think, "I am never going to look like that." We buy the magazine in the hopes that it will offer us some magical solution to losing weight and toning up.

The truth is, there is no magic pill, no magic move, no magic food to make us thinner, more beautiful or more toned. Work out as intensely as you feel comfortable and teach yourself about the basics of nutrition. Learn what works for you, your body and your lifestyle.

And drinking water and eating right...

Celebrities usually create poor social expectations...

But there are a few for whom I can applaud for giving the finger to expectations. One celebrity I admire greatly is Jennifer Lawrence. Beautiful, healthy, AMAZING actress and funny. I am proud my 13-year-old sister looks up to her.

Drink your water, ladies! It's probably the most important thing you'll put in your body today.

It all comes down to this:

“I’m never going to starve myself for a part… I don’t want little girls to be like, ‘Oh, I want to look like Katniss, so I’m going to skip dinner. That’s something I was really conscious of during training, when you’re trying to get your body to look exactly right. I was trying to get my body to look fit and strong- not thin and underfed...I would rather look chubby on screen and look like a person in real life.”

I'm not an alcoholic, but...

I enjoy a good cocktail or two on the weekends. The problem with these cocktails is the amount of calories and sugar typically involved. What's a girl to do? Thankfully there are more options coming out for women looking for low-cal, low-carb options when drinking. I am a HUGE fan of SkinnyGirl Cucumber Vodka. I pair it with sprite (or diet sprite, if you like) or club soda and lime. You could also muddle some cucumber in there, too. I'm usually too lazy to do this.

I'm a vodka fan, which, in terms of alcohol, isn't a bad choice. I don't drink beer because...gross. I am becoming more of a fan of wine, but only the sweeter kinds like riesling and moscato. However, the added sugar in these varieties goes against the point of low-cal, low-carb.

Here's an article from Weight Watchers to help you make your next bar selection: http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=56111. Let's hope I can remember this "good" vs. "bad" list on next weekend's trip to Vegas!

Fit for the Wedding

With a wedding just six months away, I've got a lot of work to do. With my goal weight being 135, current weight being 180, I have 45 lbs to lose. I am about 5'7" and carry most of my weight in hips. Unlike Shakira, my hips do lie. I mention this goal weight of 135 with the proverbial grain of salt. When I last went through this dance of working out and eating right, I weighed about 145 and was very happy. Had someone told me the tricky part was to continue working out and eating right, I'd still weigh 145.

I currently belong to an awesome gym and I work out with an awesome gym buddy. She and I are also on a trial run of Weight Watchers. So far, it's working extraordinarily well for her, but I'm not sold. I'm glad to have a tool to track my food and what I'm eating, but it gives me too much freedom. I am a person who need clear guidelines on what I should and should not be eating. I get 30 points every day, 48 extra points for the week and activity points for the workouts I complete. What does that mean?? My Healthy Choice frozen Greek yogurt has four points, but diet soda has zero points? Mind you, sugar should not be a main staple in your diet, avoid it if possible. But I'm a woman with a sweet tooth and I, personally, would rather eat frozen Greek yogurt with natural sugars and ingredients than fill my body with artificially created ingredients found in diet soda.

You might have picked up already, but my style is to eat natural foods and workout hard. My ideal meal plan for the day is as follows:

Breakfast
Oatmeal with blueberries OR a smoothie with OJ, frozen fruits, Greek yogurt, spinach and oats

Lunch
Mixed green salad with feta, veggies and chicken, fish or turkey OR whatever I can find in my work's cafeteria that looks fairly healthy and delicious (like a non-creamy soup or wrap)

Dinner
My fiance and I try to have a very similar dinner every night: Chicken breasts or fish baked in tinfoil with seasonings, a vegetable and he refuses to eat without a carb like pasta or french bread (I swear, I never hardly eat the pasta or bread).

I find it frustrating that I eat mostly healthy foods, but I still struggle with my weight. I suppose it could be my cravings for chips, sweets and my fiance's metabolism that allows him to eat Dairy Queen and still lose weight. When we moved in together three years ago is when I started to gain this weight....I think I know who's to blame.

So, ladies (& gents), stick around for recipes, inspiration, workout plans, my progress, women's issues, body image and our society's influence on women.