Healthy Me

So, after reading my previous blog entry, I was informed by my mom that its not possible for me to reach either of my goals of becoming a nun or a crazy cat lady. Apparently the fact that I'm not Catholic would prevent me from joining a convent. She also informed me that being at the relatively young age of 26 and owning only one cat precludes me from being known as a crazy cat lady. Damn! All my hopes and dreams shattered. Guess I really do have to look into that ARNP thing now...

In other news, last fall I started the process of (very slowly) trying to improve my overall health. Being a bit more active, watching what I ate just a little more closely. Well 2012 is here baby and its time to kick this plan into high gear! To begin, I've joined Weight Watchers. I've heard of great success with that program, and while I tend to stay close to the days allotted "points" naturally, its been helpful in meal planning for me. I've always eaten relatively well (which I partially contribute to growing up with two vegetarian parents) but the hardest part is coming up with new, creative, relatively easy meal plans (i.e. don't just heat up something from a can or a frozen box, even if it does say Healthy Choice on the outside). So last weekend I sat down and went through 1,000+ dinner ideas on the WW website and printed out around 20 of my favorites. Yes, I'm that picky. So my new goal is to try one new recipe a week and last night was my WW recipe initiation. I picked something relatively simple to start: Beef tip and broccoli stir-fry with parmesan couscous on the side. And I have to say it turned out pretty darn well. And if you didn't know, couscous is officially the easiest side dish I have ever made, with the exception of throwing a bag of frozen food in the microwave. So here is the result of my first venture:

(Nothing too special to look at, 

but it was delicious!)

The harder hill for me to climb in my becoming-more-healthy challenge has always been increasing my activity. I'm not a couch potato by any means, but in my hey day (aka high school, ha) I was dancing and doing aerobic activity 12+ hours a week, easy. So now that I don't have multiple competition dance teams that I'm a part of, I have to initiate the activity on my own. I joined a gym where a few of my friends attend and have begun participating in classes. Group fitness always challenges me more because in the back of my mind I feel like I'm in competition with the rest of the room. I don't necessarily have to "win" but I definitely can't fall behind the middle of the pack. Granted, its still a challenge to get my butt to the gym some days, but getting to group fitness has been wildly more successful than getting on a treadmill to run. Largely because the chances of me ever having any motivation, interest, or enjoyment in the act of just running comes out to exactly zero.

So here we are...in a place of moderate health and fitness, and looking to make significant improvements.  I think its possible...just gotta start with baby steps.