StephanieShine’s BodyBlog

Woke up ambitiously early today to go to the campus gym for the first time. I had a rather large breakfast but suddenly felt heavy and sleepy. I am not sure if I was looking for an excuse not to go to the gym at this point but I decided that I might not be able to afford the membership if my art materials are going to be expensive. I wouldn’t know how much they would be until later tonight so I decided not to risk it. I happily went back to sleep for another hour.

I had my environmental statistics class today. It was much less awkward and time went by quicker. I was surprisingly hungry by the time our lunch break came around and rushed to grab a cliff builders bar from the convenience store on campus. After class I met my friend who drove me to the store to buy **Coffee** and some aspirin.  The first drawing class was held today and only one other person showed up. There are supposed to be four students. This means that the course could possibly be cancelled =/ I would get my money back fully but I really need the credits. Not having this class would mess up the rest of my schedule. Yes I already have my complete college plan all laid out. I wouldn’t mind taking summer classes again, I quite like the relaxed atmosphere but it costs around three grand. $500 a week is certainly more than I would be paying if I took a community college course back home and only get 3 credits instead of the 4 credits that are given by on campus courses. I’ll know by tomorrow.

I took about a 30 minute walk at dusk and besides walking through a cluster of bugs several times it was very nice out. Good fresh air!

After being bruised and very stiff from move out day and carrying all my stuff down stairs and across parking lots, I had a strange idea. This morning I went into the basement with my scale in hand and lined up 3 empty totes. I filled one with dictionary’s and other books and magazines and it totaled 75 lbs. I filled the other 2 with random other junk I found in the basement, pieces and parts of old furniture, all the bottles of laundry detergents and softeners and even a small old tv. Those totes totaled 50 lbs and 30 lbs.

I did squats and deadlifts with the largest tote, although this was kind of awkward because of the shape/size of them. I did barbell rows with the 75 lb tote, then dropped to the 50 pounder after a few sets. All while doing sets of ab work and push ups as rest. Later I want to try chest and shoulder exercises with the lightest tote. I do sprints in my backyard pulling the totes although getting them all up the stairs out of the basement, and then down the back porch stairs without anything spilling out would be a workout in itself!

This was a free workout and saved me an $8 one day pass, plus gas, to the gym. When I come back home in the summer I will definetly get a month membership but with me only being home for less than two weeks it isn’t worth it.

The Good
Have Fruit & Veggies Every Day - Mixed Fruit and a Cucumber Bean Salad
Lift 4 Times This Week Minimum - Shoulders & Cardio Today
Don’t Spend Any Money - Bought 2 Odwalla Bars and a Naked Blueberry Drink with Meal points - So that doesn’t count as money
Try A New Food Daily - Banana Protein
Study Anatomy A Solid Hour Daily - Yay! Accomplished =] Even recited some muscles while working out

The Not So Good
Write At Least 4 Articles - None today but I got alot of views on my articles
Remember Supplements - Even with them sorted out and sitting
Wake Up & Go To Sleep At The Same Time -  Couldn’t sleep til 2 am last night and woke up at 11. Not sure how things will go tonight. Its 11 pm and Im not even drowsy =/
De-Clutter 1 Clothing Drawer - Not today

Goals For 4.12 to 4.18

Have Fruit & Veggies Every Day
Lift 4 Times This Week Minimum
Don’t Spend Any Money
Write At Least 4 Articles
Remember Supplements
Try A New Food Daily
Wake Up & Go To Sleep At The Same Time
Study Anatomy A Solid Hour Daily
De-Clutter 1 Clothing Drawer

This morning woke up feeling well rested and optimistic. I bought Vitamin Water Rescue Green Tea for $1.49 and sipped that while doing some urgent morning things at the registrar office and the library. Then I sat down for a proper breakfast of plain Chobani greek yogurt with a scoop of whey protein mixed in. I bought the greek yogurt yesterday for $1.39

For a free lunch in the dining commons, I had a cucumber salad overloaded with chickpeas and kidney beans with sunflower seeds and probably too much Light Ranch. I topped it off with 2 pieces of my grandma’s fudge as a treat. Instead of a traditional dinner, I snacked my way through 5 pm. I had a serving of Sara Lee Chicken Breast. Tasted great, not too watery, not too salty. I paid $3.49 for a half pound, so a little expensive. I was upset that Shaw’s has Wild Harvest Turkey at the deli, but not chicken. My consience got the best of me and I went searching for both the Wild Harvest and Sara Lee poultry suppliers and found nothing. If I am going to be eating expensive chicken then it better well have had a great life!

As I got hungry throughout the night I snacked on an Atkins bar, which tasted incredibly processed. I also had some fair trade, organic white tea. I usually like green tea, but this one was good. I will probably have another cup later. To end my dinner grazing I had an ounce of roasted peanuts. I’d rather have them raw, and roasted was all I had in the dorm. Only got to about half my protein intake so far. I need to pay more attention to having protien with each meal - Atleast 25 grams! Carbs are a little higher than I would like and fat is low-moderate. That single Atkins bar had 10 grams! Good thing that was the last one.

Non-Nutrition Related: I recycled the vitamin water bottle and the peanuts were bought in bulk. Unfortunately the Chobani containers aren’t recyclable and dont have a lid so they are harder to reuse. The Atkins bar came individually wrapped, but I recycled the box and the pamphlet that came with it. I couldn’t find out where my chicken dinner came from. I should have looked into the source and price before buying it. And not that $1.49 is alot, I could have spent exaclty that on some more high-protein chobani! The tea bags that I bought end up being only .16 cents per bag and I often use the bags twice.

Its been 6 days of eating about 240 more calories and planning nutrient timing percisely. Its going really well, I haven’t been running into any problems with not having enough time to eat or enough time to eat period. It was recently time for a new tub of protein powder, I opted for the 5 lb instead of the usual 2 because I’ll be using it alot more in drinks and other recipies. The difference was less than $10. I’ve stocked up on beans, lentils and trail mix for when enough healthy food isnt avaliable at the cafeteria. I’ve also invested in a microwavable 4 cup container that can be heated or can be chilled with an ice pack. It makes it easier to take soups and veggies from the cafeteria to have for later.
I am estimating spending around $15 a week on food from the health food store. This week I bought 2 containers of greek yogurt, a kiwi as a snack on the walk home and some almond butter. I will probably have to get another container of the greek yogurt (which has 2 servings at 20 g of protein each!) every week because they have a short shelf life. Next week I plan on buying some nuts from the bulk containers, probably almonds or walnuts. I’ll treat myself to a new, different thing each week and expirament with what I like. Frozen fish and chicken are on my list also.

Among all of my little goals, my single 2009 resolution is simply to eat 100 grams of protein per day or more. If I do, well then I am fueling my body and probably building lean mass. If not, here is the catch - I lose $5 out of my ’spending money’ account to use once I get back to college. Its day 1 and things are looking good so far.

Calories - 1,401
Fat - 65 g
Carbs - 98 g
Protein - 106 g

Yay! My best day nutritionally since I have been in college =] It only took me 6 weeks to figure it out lol, now I just gotta keep it up! If this had happened 6 months ago I would have been picky about not getting enough fiber (only 12 grams today)

While I didn’t do any cardio or strength training today, my roommate and I climbed a hill, 5 miles in about an hour. So it definetly was better than just walking around campus.

The plan for the future is to keep staying away from any refined carbs… Just fruits and veggies and occasionally yogurt. And to consume as much protein as you can. So I am now okay with the fact that I will need to be eating more off campus (ie paying for it myself) to get the protein I need. I also need to be consistent with my strength training!! Updates later in the week!

Last week I took all of my savings and put them in an online "Orange" savings account from ING. Already I have earned $25 just for signing up! For the month of September I earned $2.11 in interest, which is double what I would have earned if I kept my money with my hometown bank.

I still of course have to keep that account open as a checking account to transfer money and to use my debit card, which I still get points and cashback for using. In 4 years I will have earned over $800 more intrest than I would have with the old savings account with a less than .5% apy.

Protein Shaker Cup - $2.44 - If I had only washed the one I got for free, It wouldn’t have rotted and I could have saved $. This time I wont let it go one day without being washed.
Propel Water - $1.28 - Good for me. Have to drop bottled water addiction. Didn’t get to recycle it either.
On The Go Coffee Packets - $2.77 - Delicious and getting their use but too much unrecycleable plastic packaging, not fair trade, has alot of unnatural ingredients. Need to find alternative, safe, fair way to have coffee in my room.
Hydrating Shampoo - $2.94 - Bought for roommate, still hasn’t paid me back.
1/2 Gallon 1% Milk - $2.14 - Next time buy organic milk from the natural food store
Frizz Ease Hair Serum - $7.97 - Worthless seeing how I found my old bottle a few days later.
Body Lotion - $1.88 - Also worthless because that week I got some for my birthday.
Face Scrub - $3.18 - See above.
Gallon of Diet Tea - $2.94 - Delicious and I recycled it.
Mixed Nuts - $8.48 - Lasts awhile. Will recycle the container. Buy nuts from health food store from now on.
Motts Natural Applesauce - $1.62 - Too much sugar, still has sketchy ingredients. Just have real apples.
Toasted Crackers - $2.00 - Sketchy ingredients,junk food, unrecyclable packaging.
Straws - $1.16 - Pure plastic waste. Only used maybe 10 of them.
Napkins - $1 - Could have gotten them for free from the DC
Batteries - $1 - Necessary! Even recycled the old ones. Need to get rechargeable ones when these die.
Hand Sanitizer - $1 - Huge bottle, will last all year. No triclosan in it yay!
Styrofoam Cups - Free - Big pollutants, not sure of safety, unrecyclable. Can be used twice. Next time get compostable hot cups.
Club Crackers - Free - Free is Free! And their replacement will be free!
Peter Pan Peanut Butter - Free. Need to get natural almond butter if/when this huge tub runs out.
Fiber One Bars - Free - High Fructose and Maltose Corn Syrups! Yuk! Stay away. There are other ways to get carbs and fiber.
Gallon of Milk - Free - Again, need to get organic milk from blueberry fields natural store.

Ok so most of the stuff wan’t eco-friendly but nothing was over $8. Anything that needs to be replaced I can either get for free, get an eco-friendly version or get an organic version. In October I can only buy eco-friendly, natural/organic or protein. This wont include the expense of getting my moles removed next week.