November Goals

This month I really need to focus on losing a couple pounds and making healthier food choices.

To that end:

1. I will do at least 2 cardio workouts and 1 strength workout per week. I will also do one pilates class per week (starting next week for the pilates).

2. I will post my lunch (hopefully) and dinner choices each day - the weekly menus are posted so hopefully I'll be able to make healthy choices in advance.

3. I will have no more than 2 snacks per day.

4. I will eat breakfast everyday (I used to do this without fail, and for some reason I've got bad at this recently).

5. I will take all my vitamins plus the "green pills" and cocoa beans every day.

Fingers crossed for this all working out! I'll try to post every day or every other day with an update on how I do!

PS I just weighed myself and I'm 135.6 lbs, so fingers crossed for getting below 130 by Christmas!

Good News...

I got a phone call today from my first choice law school (which I applied to binding early decision) letting me know that I've been accepted for their class of 2015!

I am so incredibly beyond excited!

The other really nice thing about getting in is that it takes a little bit of the pressure off me this semester, grades-wise. I mean, my grades do still matter and it's (very) important to me to do well academically, but it's not like if I get one B my law school dreams will be dashed! The other good thing about it is that I perform better on exams when I'm not feeling as pressured, so hopefully this means I'll actually do a little better than normal!

Plus, it's just really nice to have what I'm doing next year sorted!

Anyway, I should probably get back to studying for my politics exam (game theory) tomorrow, but just wanted to let you all know!

So obviously I didn't quite succeed with blogging a decent amount...

But I'm here now!

This is just going to be a super short update, because I'm in the middle of studying for midterms. I submitted 6 law school applications last weekend (well, two weekends ago now), so I'm anxiously waiting to hear back from them. I still need to finish & submit a lot more, but I'm so busy with exams that that's on the back-burner at the moment. I also applied binding early decision to my top choice law school. They barely accept anyone early and my number's (GPA & LSAT) are below their averages, but who knows! Maybe it'll work out. I'll hear from them sometime in the 15 days after I submitted the application (so within the next week). I'm expecting to get deferred to "regular admission" (ie I won't find out for a while, but it won't be binding) or possibly flat out rejected (but hopefully not!). Depending on what happens I'll have some decisions to make next week! One part of this that's particularly scary is that if you get in they phone you, otherwise they email you. That means I've been completely paranoid every time I get an email. I've also had a couple nightmares about it... (oh dear!)

I'm also in the middle of midterms. Unfortunately I have 4 - one for each of my classes, over the course of 4 days (which is unusual). I had econ on Tuesday, psych today (Wednesday), art tomorrow and politics on Friday. Econ didn't go as well as I was hoping, and I'm also not sure at all how psych went (it was multiple choice, but there were a couple I didn't know). Anyway, regardless of how those ones went the main thing is to keep my focus for the next two.

Art is proving to be a real killer - I have to memorize 85 photos, when they were made them, who made them and how they were made (as well as a much of terms etc). Anyway, better get back to doing that!

Wow, I fail

And haven't blogged in almost 2 months. Really not good.

My goal for this week will be to blog at least every other day :D.

The thing that's been eating up all my time recently has been getting back to school/choosing courses/thesis (I have to write one! Urgh!) and law school applications.

I'm taking social psych, intro to microecon, game theory (which is hard! But I feel like I'm learning a lot) and history of photography.

I'm not sure if I've talked about this, but I'm applying to (US) law school(s) at the moment, to start next year. I wanted to go straight from University to law school, because if I start working I don't think I'd be able to get myself back into the "school" frame of mind. Anyway, I have a bit of a difficult situation because my GPA is mediocre (3.3 ish. Which is good, but when places have a mean GPA of 3.9 for accepted students...), but my LSAT (the standardized test you have to take) is good. So, it's even more impossible than normal for me to have any idea about my chances at a particular school. (Also, they're not due until February or something, but they have rolling admissions so it's seriously advantageous to apply early.)

I'm probably going to end up applying to 12-15 in the US (which I know is totally ridiculous. I was advised to apply to 10-12, but I'm risk-averse and I'm so unsure about my chances of getting into these various schools). I'm going to be applying to one early. If I get in, it's binding. I'll find out 15 days from when I submit the application (which will probably be this week or next week). Anyway, all pretty nerve wracking!

With regards to being healthy etc, I have been AWFUL about going to the gym. I just haven't gone in so long, mostly because I've been so busy with law school apps. I did have a bit of a wake up call over the weekend though - I started getting ill (not with anything serious, just a cold/flu), but I realised that I'm going to be much less productive if I get ill. (And I'm pretty sure that the reason I started to get ill was from eating too much sugar and not looking after myself well enough).

Anyway, I promise more updates this week!

My Sister

...is 19, about a year and half younger than me.

For a long time, we didn't really get along so well. Anyway, as of a year or so ago she's been ill. I call it "illness x", because no-one knows what it is. She's had a bunch of symptoms, including

• hormones way out of whack
• polycystic ovaries
• chronic fatigue
• extremely hormonal/pms-y
• serious digestive issues
• serious bloating
• acne

She's also at college in the US. She's really smart (which caused issues between us for a number of years), and she's also majoring in science. She's just finished her first year.

She's been struggling with all these things for a while, but things got much worse this summer. She also spent a lot of her summer going back and forth to doctors appointments, and is now taking about 10 pills a day. She also hasn't really made any progress with finding out what it is or what's wrong with her.

She's meant to be leading an orientation trip, but I just can't imagine she'll be able to. She was totally exhausted and had to take a rest after going shopping for two hours. I just can't imagine her being able to lead an outdoor hiking trip for 4 or 5 days.

I'm also really worried about her ability to successfully complete next semester. I mean, if she can barely last a morning of shopping I don't know how she's going to handle a semester of college.

This whole illness has changed my relationship with my sister. I've always been a very maternal type of person, and I like to mother people. My sister hates me mothering her, but now she's becoming more open to me looking after her, which is good for us.

Anyway, I'll be writing more about my sister and our relationship later, but she's having a tough time with everything, as are the rest of us!

Driving Test!

I know I haven't blogged in a while :S. I need to get back on that!

Anyway, I've had a UK driving license for over three years. I found out that all I need to do to get a US driving license is to do my states written test, so no road test! I've been putting it off for ages. For some reason my state has a really tough written test - you need to know things like the penalty if you're caught drink driving for the second time, how snow and ice affect trucks vs cars, the driving restrictions you're under if you get your licenses at various ages. Basically, its actually pretty tough. Anyway, the really good news is that I passed! And I now have an American driving license, in addition to my UK one!

This is my last week in lab. I'm not sure how I feel about it. In one way, I can't wait to finish and see my family and be on holiday again. On the other hand, I have sort of enjoyed my summer in lab, and I've enjoyed getting to spend time at school not working all the time.

I'm going to see The Help tonight, I'm excited! I'll let you know how it is!

Riots

As I'm sure most of you know, there are a bunch of riots going on in the UK at the moment. It seems to me like a small number of people are causing a lot of trouble through their mindless actions. Personally, I don't think there is any excuse for that kind of behaviour. My family is, thank goodness, not anywhere near the trouble. My boyfriend's Dad and sister are closer to some of the riots, but luckily not the most serious ones. I'm hoping that everything at home gets sorted out soon, without any more deaths and violence.

Goals for This Week!

The wonderful Ali nominated me to do the seven links "challenge". I'm working on it as we speak, so you'll see that soon!

On the goals/resolutions front, I completed my exercise goal for this week.

As of today, I am:

• Time: 4hrs, 29 minutes/3 hrs, 20 minutes
• Calories: 2347/2100 kcal
• Time in Zone 1: 2hr, 17 minutes/1hr, 20 minutes (it's totally fine to go over)
• Time in Zone 2: 1 hr, 31 minutes/1 hr, 30 minutes
• Time in Zone 3: 35 minutes/30 minutes.

On the food front...mindful eating is difficult. And I'm still looking for more advice on it. I got a book out of the library today, called Savour. It's written by a nutritionist and a Buddhist Monk and it's all about mindful eating. It's geared towards overweight people trying to lose weight (which I guess isn't exactly where I am), but so far it's still really interesting. I'll let you know how the book is.

I've been doing much better at holding my tummy it - it's definitely becoming closer to habit which is a good ting!

On the vitamin front I've done well. I missed one day, but that's not the too bad.

I'm not going to be picking my new goal to "bring back" till Wednesday, because I want to do each thing for a week!

Exercise!

I actually went to the gym today, which is good. I'm working hard to complete my "workout" that my heart rate monitor gave me for this week.

I have a polar FT60 monitor and it's great. It's really useful for me to be able to see where my heart rate is during different types of exercise (and it means that I can see how many calories I burn when I'm lifting weights!).

(I like it because it's pink! But, I'm pretty sure that any HRM would do the job!)

Anyway, like I said, my monitor gives me goals every week that adjust based on how well I did with my goals the week before.

This week my goals are:

• Time: 3 hrs, 20 minutes
• Calories: 2100 kcal
• Time in Zone 1: 1hr, 20 minutes
• Time in Zone 2: 1 hr, 30 minutes
• Time in Zone 3: 30 minutes

The different zones correspond to different heart rate intervals. I actually changed the original settings on the watch, because I didn't feel like they encouraged me to push myself at all (N.B. This is just what works for me, so I wouldn't advise anyone copy this). So, my current settings are:

Zone 1: 120 - 150

Zone 2: 151 - 170

Zone 3: 171 - 200.

As of today, I am:

• Time: 2hrs, 32 minutes/3 hrs, 20 minutes
• Calories: 1188/2100 kcal
• Time in Zone 1: 1hr, 40 minutes/1hr, 20 minutes (it's totally fine to go over)
• Time in Zone 2: 30 minutes/1 hr, 30 minutes
• Time in Zone 3: 17 minutes/30 minutes.

The other really really good thing about me going to the gym is it means that I'm not sitting around my room, bored. The real problem with that is that that's my "highest risk" time for mindless snacking. I've realised that I'm absolutely fine with food everyday up until the end of the day, after work, when I'm just sitting around watching TV. If I'm at the gym, I'm doing something, so I don't even think about food!

Resolutions and Review of Resolutions from Last Month

I’m a bit late with my resolutions post for this month, but here it is….

Resolutions from Last Month

Exercise – Swimming

This did not go well. I did definitely swim more than I otherwise would have, but not nearly enough. Swimming just takes so much time and I never feel like I get as good a workout as when I’m running or on the cross trainer. Also, with my new skincare regime I was reluctant to start mixing things up by getting my face covered in chlorine a few days a week. I am going to keep trying to swim more…

Food – Eating Beans

I did well on this one – I have beans almost every day for lunch and I really like them. (To me) They taste good and keep me full. I’m definitely going to keep having them for lunch

Other – ACT

This was good, I guess. “I guess” because I don’t think I’m far enough into the ACT book to see any big changes yet, but I am certainly getting through the book which is good. I’m going to keep working on this one.

Resolutions for This Month

Exercise – Heart Rate Monitor

I have my heart rate monitor, so for this month my resolution is going to be to complete my target exercise program on that every week.

Food – Eat Mindfully

I want to try to eat mindfully. I’m getting stuck in a really terrible rut with my food – I keep binging and eating crappy food, even though I know it’s not good for me, that it doesn’t make me feel good, and that I don’t even particularly enjoy it when I’m eating it. To me, mindfully is going to mean focusing on my eating – the tastes and textures of my food. It’s also going to mean no eating and snacking while I’m doing other things. If I want a snack, fine, but I’m not going to eat it while I’m on my computer or reading.

Other – Pull in Tummy When Standing

I posted on this earlier. This is both a vanity thing and I’ve also been told I should tuck my tummy in when I’m standing to support my back. My best friend is also trying to do this – so we’re going to be keeping an eye out for each other on this front

I’ve realized that I’m getting bad at some of my previous resolutions – I’m flossing my teeth less and taking my vitamins less. So, to that end, every week I’m going to pick a resolution that I liked and “bring it back” ie make sure I do that thing for one week. I am also going to be checking in on my resolutions weekly, to try to help keep myself motivated, and to update everyone on which resolution I’m “bringing back”. Haven’t decided which day I’m going to do that on, but probably sometime over the weekend.

This week I’m “bringing back” taking my vitamins every day.

21!!

It was my birthday over the weekend so I’m now officially 21. That means I can d rink legally in the US! Which, I guess, is exciting. 21 is a really big deal for Americans because of the whole drinking thing, but coming from the UK 21 isn’t such a big deal. I also don’t really drink that much, so being able to drink legally isn’t a huge thing (it’s still exciting though!).

Being the super cool person I am, I spent my birthday with my 80 year old grandmother. One of the other people in my lab was actually a little mean about it, and wouldn’t stop laughing. It did kind of upset me actually. Nevertheless I had a great time with my grandmother. We went out for a couple of nice meals and we also went to see a Cirque de Soleil performance, which was a lot fo fun. For those of you who don’t know what they are, theey’re a little like a circus but they do much more daring acrobatic type things. There are people jumping off trapezes and catching another one coming towards them, tightrope walking and carrying someone else on a chair. The whole thing makes me a bit anxious, but overall it was a lot of fun. The whole weekend was great, and I still can't believe im 21!

Skin

My skin has got so much better since I started my new skincare regime, in a really short period of time, which is obviously great. My forehead used to be covered with red marks and bumps and they’ve almost fully disappeared. In the new regime, I’m only washing my face once a day in the evening with my normal face wash. I’m also making a big effort not to prod and poke at my skin, which I think probably made the biggest difference. This is a bit tmi, but I also got a blackhead remover, which has helped with my nose. I also got some witch hazel to put on after to keep my pores small, and I think that’s also helped. Witch hazel is alcohol based, so is a little drying, so I’m probably just going to use it 2 or three times a week.

In other news…Catie has lost 5lbs, which is great! She still has about 45 to go, but that’s still a great start. We’re going to measure tonight to see if she’s lost any inches!

I made some peanut butter balls over the weekend, I'll be posting pictures and what I used to make them on here soon (ie tonight)!

Also, I’ve been asking around to see if people suck their tummys in when they’re standing and walking, and apparently a lot of people do. I know it’s strange, but now that I actually have muscle there (from all my gym trips recently!) I can actually do that, and I’m going to make a big effort with that. It’s good for both making me look like I have a flatter tummy and also to support my weak back, which is definitely a good thing.

Do you guys suck your tummy in when you stand or walk? Why yes or no?

My Breakfast!

I realised that I've never really done a post just on food.

My Ideas About Food

I try to eat as "well" as I can. That means eating a lot of vegetables (especially the green leafy kind, still not really my favourite!) and some fruits (I'm trying to cut down a bit on fruits...diabetes seems like it runs in my family, and a lot of fruits are very high in sugar). I also try to eat a lot of fiber and a fair amount of protein. I'm generally not so keen on animal protein (apart from fish), so I've been trying to eat a lot of beans and tofu. During the school year, I eat in a dining hall, so I don't have many choices with food, which means that I can't go entirely vegetarian.

I think that my biggest food "issue" a the moment is that I have an awful habit of thinking "chocolate/cookies/candy/whatever is bad for me, so it must taste really good, so I should eat it because I'll enjoy it because it's bad for me" (and normally I don't enjoy it all that much, at least not compared to how much I'd enjoy a peach or a piece of watermelon or something else "clean" like that).

My Breakfast!

Today I had one of my favourite breakfasts, which is pretty much what I eat every day at school. I had oatmeal with blueberries, maple sugar and protein powder and I had some of my wheatgrass powder in water with lemon. (The wheatgrass is still not my favourite thing to drink!!). Today I cooked my breakfast in my rice cooker (which technically I'm not meant to have in my room), which means that it was a bit more "oatmeal-y" than normal.

It looks a bit yuck. It boiled over though :(

I got 2 lbs of blueberries at the supermarket last time I was there, so I've

been eating lots and lots of blueberries recently!

And, of course, the wonderful green juice. It's really not all that

wonderful, and it took me a long time to even stomach it, but it's

definitely grown on me and I do think it makes me feel better!

So, that was my breakfast! Yum!

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to prepare green leafy vegetables (kale, cabbage, spring greens)?

My skin...

has got a lot worse since I started wearing sunscreen everyday. I guess that's not really that surprising, but it's still a pain. I have have red spots, and spots in general, on my forehead, as well as white bumps on my cheeks :S.

I've kinda decided that there are two main approaches to skin care - the first is that you should pretty much dry it out (ie the people who think you should put things on spots that basically dry them out). The second is that you should do things like put oil on skin, in lieu of any other kind of face wash.

I've been talking to my friends here about their skin care routines, and I have a plan! I have almost two months before school (uni) re-starts and I've decided that in that time I'm going to try two different skin care regimes (unless the first one works really well). So...for the next month or so I'm going to try only washing my face once a day (in the evening). It sounds totally scary to me, but I really do need to find a better regime. My best friend rarely washes her face because she has very dry skin. I have fairly dry skin, but now I'm putting greasy sunscreen on my face, so I'm not quite sure where I am in terms of dry/oily skin. (And I can't really change the sunscreen I'm using. It was recommended by my dermatologist for people with very sun-sensitive skin.)

EDIT: I'm also going to make a big effort not to touch my face with my hands, because I have a really bad habit of doing that.

How does everyone else take care of their skin? Any recommendations for my second skin care month?

Catie

One of my friends, Catie, has a serious weight problem. She's about 5' 2", and we think she's about 170 lbs. She also carries all her weight on her hips, which obviously isn't great. One of my best friends (also my roommate) and I are on a mission to encourage Catie to lose some of the weight. We've got her going to the gym (for the first time ever!), and that's also great because it means that we have to go as well. We're also trying to work on her diet, which atm is a bit of a mystery to me. She tells us that she eats 900-1200 calories a day, so I really can't work out how she's so overweight (obese even according to BMI). (I'm pretty sure her body isn't in starvation mode because she seems to eat a fair amount when I'm around her.) Her food choices are pretty awful - sugary breakfast cereal and ramen noodles, but still, the calories don't add up. The whole food issue is made a lot more challenging by the fact that she really doesn't have any money to spend on food. At the very beginning of the summer she went shopping with her mom and bought all her food for the whole summer (ie sugary breakfast cereal and ramen noodles), so even if things are less expensive that that junk she isn't willing to buy them.

Anyway, I will of course keep you all updated on how it goes! Fingers crossed!

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to help her/help me help her? I really don't know all that much about losing so much weight...