New Year = Fresh Start!

happy new year!!

i'm resolving to take better care of myself, mentally and physically, so that i can get the best out of my life :)

i'm going to do this a few ways:

1. i'm going to start a "good things" jar. 

Throughout the year, write down memories that make you smile. On New Year's Eve, open it up and reread all of the good stuff that made the year wonderful.

2. another jar.. this one will be where i deposit $1 for every workout i put in. screw the outfit idea.. i'm thinking amazon :)

3. a good friend of mine got me a juicer for xmas!! so this weekend i shall start my first ever juicing fast to detox and get loaded with awesome nutrients. depending on how it goes i may push it to a 5 day fast and perhaps make it something that i do once a month or so :) the movie "fat, sick and nearly dead" seriously inspired me to do this..

and 4. i'm going to make getting to the gym part of my normal routine and habit! i did it once and it needs to happen again! i felt my best when i was eating clean and hitting the gym on a regular, consistent basis. i will be a beast.. i have goals i want to reach, results i want to see.. and NOBODY will stop me!

so that concludes what i have in store for myself in 2013. i'm going to make this year count <3

Bad Becky :/

i've been soooooooooooooooooooooo lazy lately :(

been to the gym like.. twice.. in the last month or two. it all started with fighting off a nasty cold which then turned into a breathing issue (thank you, lifelong asthma).. then BACK into a cold! after all that i just lost my motivation and that's very very bad.

but i'm all better now! and my financial hardships will be coming to an end both in december and even more so in january.. so no being stingy with my gas when it comes to getting to the gym! my eating has been so-so.  again, once the financial hardships are behind me, i'll be able to really kick my healthy eating into high gear with LOTS of produce ALL the time. i'm looking forward to that! another reason i'm looking foward to that is because i WILL be investing in a good juicer as a means of getting as many nutrients in me as possible to help me really get going. i've never looked forward to the winter season as much as i am right now :)

one thing that always gets me motivated is looking at the "health & fitness" category on pinterest.. so i'm gonna be all up on that shit until i get back into a good routine with getting my ass to the gym more often so i can feel "fuckin' ace" :)

3 Months!

..that i've been vegan 

and it's wonderful :)

What My Heart Says

selfishness vs selflessness...

love of self vs love of others.

i'm selfless because if the day ever comes where i find myself in a situation where someone else's mercy on me will be the difference between me being well and me being unwell, i would hope they would be a selfless person also.

i hope that no material or momentary thing will ever mean more to someone than my life, my well-being and my desire to not suffer while on this earth.

i've made a vow to never do that to anyone else.. human or animal. life is life.. and to each individual being their life, well-being and desire to not suffer is important to them.

no material or momentary thing will ever mean more to me than that.

i send my love into the universe in hopes that i receive it back in my time of need.. and it feels unbelievably good to know that i'm doing what i can, no matter how small it is, to make the world a tiniest bit better for someone, something, somewhere.

Feeling Good

i haven't been as motivated to hit the gym as i used to be but i still make sure that i go AT LEAST once a week. though that isn't as much as i'd like to go.. it is more than nothing.. and that's what i did for years before so i still give myself credit. i also acquired an ab lounge from a coworker who was wanting to get rid of it.. so on the days that i don't get to the gym i can at least get on that bad boy and knock out some ab work. but today i DID go to the gym! i ran/walked (with incline) a mile followed by a mixture of leg, arm and ab weight machines to wrap it all up. i treated myself to my once a week naughty treat french fries from my favorite fast food joint (though i no longer partake in burgers.. i occasionally treat myself to some fries!) i probably shouldn't be doing that but, hey, i gotta do something bad or i'll go bananas.

i've also decided that my scale no longer shall reside in my bathroom. the temptation to jump on it daily or a couple times a week is too much for me to fight.. and i'm easily affected by a lack of results (since my weight loss is a slooooooooooooow process) in the sense that i get down on myself if nothing happens but i'm working really hard and eating really well. so i threw that sumbitch in my hallway closet and now i'm not focused on it. i want to make sure i only focus on feeling good, not weighing less. so maybe i'll weigh myself once a month or so just to see if what i'm doing is working.

also! whole foods has opened here in town!!! i didn't go on opening morning because i knew it would be chaos.. so i decided to go on my day off a few days after it opened. i went with my friend and my mom.. and it was still pretty chaotic! but they had lots of great deals going on and i was THRILLED to see that for just about every product there was a veg counterpart available. i even enjoyed a big, gooey, hot slice o' vegan pizza from the pizza kitchen.. it was mind blowing! i will definitely be getting an entire pizza one of these nights.... and probably eating way too much of it while watching movies :) i've also started making my own veggie sandwiches (jimmy john's let me down big time last time i bought a sandwich from them). i get a big loaf of french bread at walmart.. mash avocados with lemon juice, s&p and garlic powder (bag & freeze, then defrost a chunk when you want to make a sandwich!).. then i add cucumbers, onions, black olives, jalapenos, s&p, lettuce and dijon mustard. SO GOOD! i get three giant honkin' sandwiches from one loaf and it saves me, not only money, but disappointment from buying them at a sandwich shop!

Three Things Not To Debate: Religion, Politics and.. Vegism?

i'm new to the veganism game so i fell victim to getting involved in an online debate on a very popular social network. man, talk about draining! (in my defense it was a couple of people vs. me regarding a picture i posted about the silliness of folks thinking animals are the only way to get protein)

i have a difficult time ignoring things that are being said/done that step on my toes and my feelings anyways.. let alone when it's someone claiming to know more about a subject than me even though i've done so much research that resulted in many, many facts and they have, well, their opinion. how on earth do you argue facts with someone who truly believes their opinion, not scientific research, is all the fact they need. how am i not smart enough to know that you cannot argue with someone like that lol.. yeesh! sometimes i wonder if i'm a complete idiot for thinking you can actually educate someone who feels they are fully educated already.


from my argument i learned these things:

• i notice i have high blood pressure when i'm in an argument lol..
• if someone is lacking the ability to empathize, you cannot expect them to feel bad for the harm they do to others
• if you have zero people who share your way of thinking it can be very overwhelming to share your truth because they think you're loco and you think they're blind
• people in denial will dismiss facts as being propaganda/exaggerated because it's convenient and the easiest way to ensure they sleep well at night

so after the whole ordeal was over with (because i stopped participating) i referred to my favorite book these days, "Vegan's Daily Companion" by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. she is also the host of the podcasts
i enjoy so much. she's an excellent advocate for animal rights and is a strong source of information to look to for answers to questions you might not normally think you'd ever have. sure enough i found the page she wrote about not letting yourself get overly involved in discussions where everyone isn't open minded enough to receive any new information. problem is, my side of the discussion is having the information and the other side is lacking information... so of course it's gonna come off as me preaching and looking like a total turd. but i honestly cannot handle someone telling me "cows were created to give us milk.. and all the animals we eat are made to be eaten". really. REALLY!? could YOU ignore that sort of statement?? lol :) i know i couldn't. but in the end it was all pointless. my blood pressure was a bit worse for wear at the end of the night and i just had to end it all by telling the others that i still love them.

i've chosen to receive the information science and common knowledge has given me.. that paired with my true love for all animals just will NOT allow me to be blind again. but you cannot open someones eyes with force.. you can only try to be an inspiration and hope that someone else, anyone else, will be awakened by your compassion and want to follow suit :)

Took A Break.. Back On Track

i lost my motivation this past week :( i don't know how it happened. i want to say it was because i simply ran out of steam.. but i worry that that's me trying to justify being lazy. all i did was go for a walk around the neighborhood (about one mile) on one day and then today i did a mile & a half at the gym. it's not like i've been busy.. i've just been, well, tired and wanting to stay in the sweet, sweet A/C :)

i've realized that when i lose my motivation there is one thing i can do that brings it right back.. and that's to visit my "fitness" Pinterest board (you can check it out here) where i've pinned many inspirational things and images that inspire me to get up and do something. that's what i did this morning and it made me get my rear end to the gym with a quickness! i do want to make sure that i'm being fair to myself, though.. people give me a lot of credit for being really motivated and always having enough steam to kick my own ass.. but i'm only human and no, i'm not some ridiculously hardcore athlete (though that is something i would like to add to my personal qualities someday!). i'm still an out of shape girl who works a lot and is trying to do her best.. even if her "best" is a week of not going super hard but still making it a point to do a little something. i deserve to give myself a break, a rest, an excuse sometimes so that i can mentally recharge myself.

so i'll just keep turning to my inspiration when i need it most and pushing myself the best that i can :)