Day 1!

Hello!! My name is Michelle, a 5'10" 20-year-old McGill University student, and I'm starting a blog that will hopefully catalogue my life a little and assist me in attaining my goals of increased fitness and health. Although I believe I am a relatively overall fit and healthy person, I believe that living a life with greater exercise and better (healthier) choices could, and hopefully will, help me by increasing my energy levels, better sleep, and ultimately a happier life.

To be clear, this is not some kind of New Year's Resolution which will end in a couple of weeks, if not days. I have been meaning to start some sort of blog for a while now and found this time of my life to be perfect; I just arrived back from a semester abroad, which, although terrifically fun, didn't assist with my goal in changing my habits for a healthier lifestyle, and am now settling back into 'reality', which I believe is a good time to start this little endeavor.

Like most people who try to lose a little weight and be a little more healthy, the first time they decide to make a change usually doesn't result in much. After all the candies and chocolates and chips are tossed from the pantries, sugary cereals replaced with healthier ones, and a healthy food impulse stop at the grocery store has left you with piles of green food items in your fridge, most people seem to find themselves falling back into old habits after a couple of weeks. I myself am definitely one of those people who has tried and failed, and tried and failed again at turning her life around and setting herself, forever, on a path of good decisions and regular fitness. Although I can't guarantee that this will be that time that the ideal habits will end up sticking, I hope it is. Hence the title, Fourteenth Time's the Charm!

Now I'll tell you a little bit about what I plan to change and my goals. I believe how I'll structure my little program will be based on weekly progress; I find daily progress checks to be too frequent as I am also a full time student who can't exactly pause and reflect on my change of energy or weight or other factor at the end of every day and write about it. However, I do plan on writing at least a blurb about my day's activities to keep my life in check and keep an eye out on any emerging habits as well as any relevant notes on anything. Plus, it makes it easier to remember what I have done if I ever need to look back. I plan on logging everything I eat and all of my exercise activities throughout the day, as well as a weekly weigh-in to see if that has changed at all given the changes in my lifestyle. In regard to food, I intend to eat as little carbohydrates and dairy products as I can while maximizing the amount of vegetables and fruits that I consume, at least for the first month. Plus, adding a lot of water throughout the day.

In terms of exercise, I hope to do a little movement everyday. Something that I was recommended to do was stretching tapes at least once a day to help with my joints and muscles; I recently found out that I have a little bit of curvature in my spine, as well as uneven legs, so the stretching should assist in loosening any tight areas that I have in my body. I will be following tapes made by Miranda Esmond White, a well-known physiotherapist who has worked with countless professional athletes and who has only received perfect reviews.

As of today, January 7, 2013*, I will start my journey to greater health and fitness; this date doesn't exactly represent anything special but I chose it because it is the first day of classes.

Wish me luck!

Food Log
Breakfast: 1 bowl of Bran Flakes with 6 strawberries and soy milk
Snack: 8 celery sticks
Lunch: Multigrain bagel with veggie cream cheese
Dinner: 2 onions with a zucchini and 2 cans of tuna, stir-fried with a little bit of olive oil and soya sauce

Exercise
2 x 30min walk

Weight
151.8lbs

End of Day Notes
I left my apartment to head to school at 9:30am, knowing I would be gone until about 6pm. The only food I brought for this period of time was my bag of celery sticks and a kiwi. What I learned from this is that I can't not eat food, and if I'm eating mostly vegetables and fruits, I should be eating more than that. My stomach couldn't stop grumbling so at around 2pm I had no choice but to go across the street and get something a little more filling to eat. So, in the future, I now know I need to bring more to eat or I will starve!

*My internet is kind of crappy and it wouldn't let me publish the post so I apologize that it's a day late!