Goals of the Week

This week marks the start of a shift in my personal mindset. Less slacking, more effort, less over thinking and more prioritizing. 

I took a few days off this weekend because I wanted to up the intensity this week in the gym and in life. Two days in, feeling more sore and mentally strong than ever and have the hunger back for the challenge.

I skipped canning this weekend (going next month don't you worry) so instead of raising money for the kids I stayed here and partied with my friends. That sounds terrible...

The weekend began on Thursday as usual; released from my lab at 8pm I scarfed down dinner and got set to meet with my friends. After a long but fun night I'd intended to use Friday as one last "productive" day. I felt foggy in my career class and brain dead in math, but managed to use the rest of the day to do some apartment searching and socializing. Upon going out I was faced with getting 10 people into a party, stopping a fight (girls can't just hit guys in the face, especially my guy friends. Taken care of) and eating a brownie. Saturday was spent in (first time all year) because it seems canning took every potential party out of campus that night. No complaints. 

So why this sudden change in attitude? Shift in mindset? Well I practiced the art of perspective this weekend. I stood back and took a look at my current life and assessed it. Social, academic, personal and physical. I'm not unhappy with my life, but in order to be truly happy and satisfied one must always look to improve...

Social: Relax around my friends. By this I mean new friends, which I've had no trouble making and maintaining but I do take time to truly be myself around people. Realizing that these girls/guys love me and are incredible people to be around made it easy to relax and be myself once acknowledged.

Academic: Work harder. Every opportunity to learn will be taken and every second available to study will be utilized. Meeting with my adviser this week to determine a minor is getting me excited for the future and bringing new motivation. 

Personal: Stop being so hard on my relationship. Though many of you may not care, I'm dating a guy who, for the first time in my life, I'm not getting tired of. We've been through a lot and he makes me very happy, but since coming to college I find myself comparing us to others rather than focusing on what we've created with each other  Everyone is different and, although we have our imperfections, I love what we have together, I just need to relax and enjoy what comes naturally. 

Physical: Push myself through my dang workouts. If I'm going to hit the gym 5 days in a row, research movements, eat right and sleep well than I better be seeing some results. I've plateaued due to a lack of effort, so Sunday I went all out, added extra work and was mindful through the workout. Same with today, max effort every rep, every set. I feel incredible and it's been two days. That says something.

So you could say this week I got my hunger back. Hunger for success, pride, and happiness in all aspects in my life. I refuse to be anything less than the best I can be, and I'm working now to become that person everyday. that's what State is all about right?

Toodles

Birthday Post!

Welp, it's my birthday!

I know, exciting... I'm finally 19 and feeling really good about it. Lets see how today began...

Wokeup, about 6 Happy Birthday texts on the phone so it was automatically a good day, munched on some eggs and almonds then obnoxiously wokeup my roommate for my birthday workout! Shoulders and back at the gym, killed it and was 20 minutes late to film class but hey, it's a 3 hours class, I got the gist of it. So came home and spent the day getting calls and monitoring Facebook for updates and posts, making sure I liked and/or commented on all. Also had a lovely Mesopotamian exam which was miraculously easy, got some dinner with the girls and went to the mans rugby game. Now I'm sitting here enjoying a nice date night doing homework/ watching movies and feeling incredibly thankful for everything I have. 

Family, friends, acquaintances all took the time to use some form of communication to wish me a happy day. I'm with the ones I love and those I can't see always take the time to send a nice message, and I'm just feeling so blessed to have survived another year :)

My friends threw me a toga party this weekend. My freshman friends. At a house, and they paid for it al. Do you have any idea how insane that is?! 

Long story short, I'm a happy girl today. Killin workouts and eating healthy even on my special day, but I'm so happy to be with everyone and am thankful for all the wishes! Until next time... 

Quick post!
Head over to Marks Daily Apple and join me on the 21 day challenge! In addition to committing hard to eating clean here in college I thought why not challenge myself to a timed commitment as well. Marks blog is probably #1 in the Paleosphere (my word) and it was here I not only discovered the diet, but really began to understand the lifestyle and overall health benefits. There's an incredible amount of info on his site, everyone should check it out!
Click the link below for details!
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-primal-blueprint-21-day-challenge-infographic/#axzz2f5szMmwu

Homesick? Maybe. Thinking? Definitely.

Late Sunday nights= my roomy being out at church and me being done homework early, chillin on some fitness websites. No going out for once, not being surrounded by my usual group gives me a lot of mental solitude. And time to think. 

I have a lot of good things in my life; great friends a loving boyfriend and a healthy body. I'm blessed with a family who loves me back home and who I haven't realized I missed until tonight. Dream school, great opportunities, and endless nights of fun with new friends and old. These things all make me so happy, yet I still find myself critiquing my life and looking to improve, get more or get better. Tonight and quite frequently I find it helpful to take a step back and look at the good, all of it, and think of the fact that in so many ways my life could be worse. 

I've never been one to be easily satisfied. Whether it be physically, with sports, diet, schoolwork or social life I critique myself constantly and look to improve. This isn't bad and has made me who I am today; driven, hardworking, but I find sometimes I lack satisfaction in areas that should be so satisfying. 

My biggest problem is probably with relationships. Boys or girls, I have a hard time letting people in fully and trusting them. Surface wise I'm always happy to meet new people and tell jokes but the deeper level of bonding takes me a while to expose. I've taken care and focused on myself and my health for so long I sometimes forget the importance of a connection with other people. Despite this wall I have I've still managed to make so many loving friends. I have a select few I can truly let my feelings out too, and am making so many more each day who are incredibly fun to be around. 

Physically, I usually like my desire to improve and get better as it has always helped me break out of plateaus. I try to look at myself at least once a day and find satisfaction in a certain area I've been working on. To me, having a healthy relationship with your body where you not only challenge it and improve it, but take care of it and appreciate it. This gives you such a good level of confidence no matter what you look like. Fitness isn't just about lifting, running or being skinny. It's about being fit. All over, and that includes your mind and mental health. 

So tonight, and this week I'm going to work on appreciation. Appreciation of my school, family, friends, body and every relationship I have. 

I'm also reflecting on past memories which is something new. I try to live in the moment and plan for the future but looking back today I've had so many people and experiences in the last 18 years I can't believe it. From childhood until now there's been an insane amount of laughs and smiles I've genuinely enjoyed and never will forget. 

So this blog is basically about fitness/ health, but along with eating well in college I'm striving to be happy over everything else. Fitness, food, relationships and fun are all components to my life and my happiness, and each one deserves equal attention in order to create a fulfilling life. 

So as you can see, I think a lot, deeply, but I'm definitely not perfect and everyone's life won't be the same. But if you strive to create a balanced, well rounded life where each "component" is appreciated and taken care of, you're on a path to success.  Success could be whatever you want, in a small sense, but in a large sense the most successful look back on life with a smile on their face whether they have regrets or not. Happiness first, stress less, and take care of yourself, all over :)

Guru Christy signing off!

Sickness and Sucky Sleep Schedules

Well it happened. I was casually walking with a few friends around campus last night when upon swallowing I realized it had happened; I had a sore throat. See I'm one of those people who rarely if EVER gets any kind of sickness, 1-2 times a year if any. I used to catch something whenever the flu, throwup or allergy season rolled around, but since going Paleo I've managed to come away from every germ filled environment unscathed. So why the change?

I have a hypothesis. I formed it today, really proud of myself actually because I never even use words like hypothesis outside of Chem... anyway, when I woke up with my alarm at 8 and hit snooze. I've never hit snooze in my life... I've annoyingly woken up at 7:30-8 my entire life regardless of when I went to bed or what I did the night before, and I think the last time I took a nap I was about four. But lately around 4 pm I'll stop what I'm doing, go brain dead and just want to pass out into a coma for an hour. interestingly enough, I usually eat dinner around 6/7 and feel fine for the rest of the night. My eating has been consistent, I've felt a lot less stressed this last week than I did the first, and I'm finally beginning to feel settled here on campus. But for some odd reason, for the first time in my life, I'm freaking tired. I'm not saying I'm superwoman but I have never been your typical napping, sleeping until 12:30 kind of teen. 

So now that I've eaten my hard boiled eggs and almonds and as I sit here sipping my coffee, I'm coming up with a few things to do differently to health up my life. 

1. Wash. Everything. Hands, bowls, knives, Tupperware have all been sitting in my room with whatever chicken juice/ day old coffee in them without always being cleaned before the next use. Gross I know, but I've never been a hygiene freak and have never had a problem with sickness; I've always believed it has helped my immune system to not be super sanitary but some of my stuff just looks disgusting.
2. Lemon water and tea. Two of my favorite drinks and home that I'd guzzle religiously, but since coming to PSU I think I've had one glass of lemon water and two cups of tea in two weeks. Lots of nutrients and vitamin C I'm missing there...
3. Sun. I'm used to SITTING, not just walking through the sun for at least an hour a day. Aside from my daily hikes/ outdoor work I'd sit in my backyard and soak up some rays around lunch time every day. It kept my skin clear, made me feel energized, and I mean I had a decent tan that I'm now losing which really boosted my self esteem ;)

There's plenty more I could do I'm sure to stay healthy, but these have been the three biggest changes in my life so far. And by changes I mean controllable changes. Walking everywhere has been a huge change, but aside from tight calves and sore feet I'm loving to frequent movement and fresh air. It really keeps me sane and relaxed and has also helped me trim down a bit since arriving. This sore throat is 10x better this morning (yay strengthened immune system) so hopefully I'll continue to heal throughout the week. For now, off to the gym for chest/ arms day!

College. A time of gaining friends, experiences, knowledge, memories, and also a noticeable amount of weight. I personally have had experience with the ups and downs of weight; the scale goes up, mood goes down, tears fly and things break, and the diet begins. Years of experimenting, stuffing various things into my mouth and doing an equivalent amount of research on food and exercise to that of a Harvard scholar have given me a broad insight to the world of food.
After about 4 years of diet and exercise experimentation I've basically tried it all. Not eating, eating a lot, eating often and eating once a day, exercising into a coma and not exercising at all, high school was probably the most perfect time for me to experiment, mess up and come to a physical and mental place of relative balance. Now I say relative because my life like any other, is always changing. Being a college freshman is prime time to try and stay healthy and consistent with exercise. Right? No? Well while it may be difficult to grasp I find this to be as close to the perfect time to hone my knowledge of a healthy active life while balancing school and partying. It's a challenge of course but we're at PSU; aren't we supposed to love competition??
So for my first post I'll briefly explain my current diet/ give some "Paleo" history. Most times these things are explained in a robotic, wordy, or scientific way so I'll break it down and simply as possible. I follow the pale diet. Like Paleolithic. Like dinosaurs, well cavemen really but you get the point. Think of this lifestyle as that of a "hunter-gatherer", so no I don't hunt the squirrels on campus or steal herbs from the Greenhouse, I simply aim to replicate the diet of a hunter gatherer as closely as possible.
What do I eat... Protein and veggies mainly; think meat, fish, poultry, eggs alongside virtually any kind of raw/ steamed/ roasted veggie. I snack on fruit and nuts, and eat baked sweet potatoes after a workout which I'll explain later.
What don't I eat... Grains, bread, dairy, processed foods, any beverage but water (I drink black coffee and tea as well).
So thats it, pretty simple but there a wholeeeeee range of questions I can hear you saying about my personal diet. Most prominent, WHYY?!! Why would you every give up pizza, bread, cereal, sandwiches, granola bars, oatmeal, MILK (I swear I won't die of a lack of calcium. My bones are actually pretty strong...). These questions will be answered as the blog progresses, you may not even agree with them, but thats fine because I'm eating this way and am currently in the best health, shape, and mental state I've ever been in my life. No I'm not trying to sound like a Men's Health product it just comes off that way...
So to keep you reading I'll stop here. Maybe I'll post later this week or maybe you'll have to wait a week, but this will basically be a documentation of my life, food, fitness, work and yes parties, here at PSU while following the Paleo (or Primal) diet. And no I'm not trying to lose weight, just live healthy! Stay classy