Lifestyle changes

Lately a bunch of my co-workers and I have really been adopting a healthier lifestyle.  Like most people who work 8+ hours in an office, I have developed a "sedentary lifestyle."  I started my job back in August, and by November I had gained nearly 25 lbs!  (Because I was so thin to begin with, most of that weight didn't bother me, but I felt awful- like a blob). 

I'm not going to lie and say that I exercise frequently.  I don't.  After 8 hours of sitting at work, I am too tired to exercise for an hour.  It would seem logical that after doing nothing (well not nothing, but you know...) my body would crave exercise, but no.  It's just like Sir Issac Newton's first law of motion states, "An object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion."  Yep that includes our bodies.

Something had to change, I decided the first thing I would do is change my eating habits.  I haven't eaten fast food for about five years, but I still ate a lot of crap.  Since May I have adopted a 60% Raw Food diet.  I have fresh juice (cocktails from my juicer, not Ocean Spray) or a fruit smoothie for breakfast every day of the week.  For lunch I have a great big salad, with fresh ingredients.  Twice a day I have either Greek yogurt, fruits, vegetables, or nuts for a snack, sometimes I add salsa, hummus, guacamole or other dips.  And then I eat dinner (this is usually the un-raw part of my diet because it consists of dairy, meat, etc.).  I also only eat grains (breads, pasta, etc.) that are whole grain, or sprouted grain; and I've started to order fish whenever I go out to a restaurant (I've never eaten fish until now).  I also have cut way back on soda.  I try to drink water (with lemon), and I'm down to about one Pepsi a week and I usually don't finish the can.

Most of the time, by the time I get home from work, I am still so full from my lunch and snacks, that I don't eat a whole lot for dinner.  The great thing is that I am eating as much as I want, and I'm never hungry.  Plus, I have energy. 

I often watch the M's (or other little kids play for that matter) play and they never get tired.  They are constantly running and jumping and essentially P90Xing (seriously, the plyometrics workout is what we all did as kids on a daily basis!).  I often think to myself, "What I wouldn't give to have their energy," and now, I actually do!  Because of the extra energy, I've lost about 15 of those 25 pounds gained at the end of last year.

And if all that wasn't enough, I sleep better!  I actually get tired, and stay asleep for 8-9 hours!

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I also recently just started exercising again (haven't done anything since finishing P90X last year), and have been doing the Cardio Barre workout.  It's essentially ballet on crack.  Yesterday I graduated from the Introductory workout to the Beginner workout, and that crap is hard!  I don't know how those girls bend like that, but I certainly can't!  Anyway, it's really challenging and fun! 

PS, if you're interested, I only bought the DVD. and made my own barre out of PVC pipe.  They sell a barre on their website for almost $200, so I googled instructions on how to make one.  If ended up using PVC pip and it cost less than $10.