30 Day Squat Challenge!

Ok, so I don't know how successful I'll be, but I've decided I'm going to take on the 30 Day Squat Challenge.


I'm glad they included a video because I've got to review it to make sure I do my squats correctly!

What Your Body Really Needs When You Have Cravings!

I stumbled across this on my Facebook page and thought it would be worthwhile to share here.

My cravings sometimes get the best of me, but I never attributed it to a lack of a particular mineral. 

This is so easy to understand and follow.  Definitely something I'll refer to often!

Fitness Apps

Since I do not own a cell phone (oh the shame!) I carry my iPad with me everywhere I go and  am always looking for ways to keep accountable - whether it's reading a book, logging food on Sparkpeople, or checking in with the Fitbit app. Thru various blogs I learn about new apps to use with my students, as well as fitness and food apps. While some of these can be found in the app store for iPads, others are for the iPhone but work well on the iPad, as well. These are just a few of my favorite fitness apps:

• Everymove: Rewards for Being Active
• Fat 2 Fit (provides a fascinating way to look at your personal data. There is also a webpage with similar tools and articles)
• 30 Day Fitness
• FitYou (I would LOVE to set up challenges with workout buddies one day!)
• Happy Scale (much like the website Trendweight)
• Lose It! (as an alternative to SP for logging food an exercise)
• Higi (also a website - Find a station near you and log health data. Our station just opened at Rite Aid and I am hoping to go try it out today!)
• Gorilla Workout (I have only downloaded the free version and have not yet tried it)
• Ninja Fitness (same as Gorilla, I downloaded the free version. I did the Agility Level One workout today and thought it was pretty fun).

What Does it Mean to be Fit?

To me, being fit means living a healthy lifestyle.  Am I doing that now?  Well, to a certain degree.

According to Livestrong.com, there are six things that need to happen in order for us to maintain a healthy lifestyle:

• Eat healthy
• Move your body
• Say goodbye to bad habits
• Reduce your stress level
• Get a good night's sleep
• Control your weight

Taking all of that into consideration, I think I've got at least 4 out of 6 under my belt.

I personally need to work on moving my body more so that I can better control my weight. What do you need to work on?

Sunday's Motivational Article - Thinking Your Way to Healthy Weight Loss

From Dr. Oz and Every Day Health

Tips for maintaining the right attitude for weight loss

Sunday Ponderings

In the past two and a half years I have become obsessed with numbers - BMI, waist to hip ratios, calories in vs calories out, daily steps .... you name it. I've downloaded apps, read articles each day, synced my fitbit to at least half a dozen sites, and yet with fitness, health and happiness as my ultimate daily goals, this means I have to be productive and succinct with my "on computer time." I start each day with some kind of workout. Quite honestly, I love the workout videos on SP, as well as my Jillian Michaels dvds (or what I can find of her on Youtube). If it's not a video, then it's the elliptical or strictly weight training. Then I get on the computer for 30-45 minutes for emails and logging.

I've found that keeping all of my links on one webpage (I use Thoughtboxes for my links, and UStart.org for my blogs) allows me to quickly get thru my reading and logging routine.

How do you stay organized and maximize your "on computer time"?

Finally, my mini goals for July - after weighing and measuring on Friday - are to keep within a 2-3 lb range of Friday's weigh in, eat more fruits and veggies and less carbs (this may be tricky on our trip if we are not indeed mindful, so I will enlist Ron's help), and get back to 10,000 steps per day at least 6 days a week. My ultimate goal for 2014 is to walk 1500 miles and I fell off the wagon a bit in June so I will have to push the steps/miles to catch up and meet this goal.

Low Carb Flavored Meringue Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar-free strawberry Jell-O® mix 1 cup granulated no-calorie sugar substitute (such as Splenda®)

6 egg whites at room temperature 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2.	Cut about 1/4 inch off a corner of a heavy gallon-size resealable plastic bag, and push a large-size cake decorating tip (such as a star tip) into the opening. The fit should be tight.
3.	In a small bowl, stir the gelatin mix with the sugar substitute. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites with cream of tartar and salt until stiff peaks form. As you beat the egg whites, gradually add the gelatin mixture, about 1 tablespoon at a time. Spoon the fluffy mixture into the prepared plastic bag, and gently squeeze and twist the bag to force the meringue mixture to the decorating tip. (Do not seal bag, so that air can escape.)
4.	Squeeze the bag to place golf-ball size dollops of meringue mixture onto the prepared baking sheets. For a decorative effect, twist and lift as you place the cookie on the sheet, to make a pretty shape.
5.	Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are set and dry, about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Do not open oven door while baking. At end of baking time, turn off oven, open oven door, and allow the cookies to slowly cool in the oven before removing from baking sheets. Store in airtight container.