My favorite view of the entire walk. This is the only spot open enough to see the lake. Everywhere else is blocked by woods.
I finally took some pictures while I was walking! I went a little over three miles during this walk, I jogged a little bit of it. It started out a bit cloudy when I fist headed out, but the sun came out soon enough and a cool breeze was brushing against my face the entire time. It was wonderful. I've been eating really good the past few days, I've been having scrambled eggs almost every morning for breakfast. It's the weirdest thing, but they sure are delicious! I also came up with a new salad, at the moment I'm calling it the buffalo burger salad. It's pretty much a hot 4 oz. turkey burger smothered in buffalo sauce, chopped up on top of a salad, with onion and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese. For dressing I used buffalo sauce mixed with ranch. It's really good! I've also started seeing some roots forming on my hibiscus stem, I can't wait until I can plant it! I'm feeling really good lately, even though I've not slept great the past few days. The bike situation is still not fixed, but I guess I can't really complain about that, my dad's been really busy lately. Maybe I can swipe my brothers bike for a few days while I'm waiting. Alright, I think it's time to go for another walk before it gets dark out. If I want to get over ten thousand steps today I'll need it. Besides, when did walking twice in a day ever hurt someone? I'll post again soon!
The view of the street from the edge of my driveway.
The oak in our front yard is still holding on to it's leaves.
I think this budding rose is a little late to the game.
Yep, that's what I had for breakfast, green orange juice. It's really orange, celery, spinach, ginger, but I can't really taste anything but orange with a hint of celery. Not bad at all. Yesterday I went a little nuts exercising, I walked in the morning and after lunch. The end result of me taking over 13,000 steps, or walking about five and a half miles. I'm really hoping to be able to do that more often. But today wasn't one of those days. I went to help a friend pack her grandmothers stuff for a move. I enjoyed it, but it doesn't lend to me getting much exercise. I'm probably doing the same thing tomorrow, but I might try to get a walk in before hand. I've been doing ok with drinking enough water, but I'm only averaging two of my 32 oz water bottles each day; after that, I just get sick of drinking it. I don't usually drink other stuff like soda or other flavored drinks, so water gets a little bit boring after a while. Another thing when I went to my friends grandmothers apartment, is that she was very kind and gave me a large stem cutting of a flower she called "Angels Wings". From her description of there being several different colors, I believe that it is a Giant Hibiscus cutting. One of the different kinds being an angels wings hibiscus. I was instructed to keep it in a glass of clean water over winter, and to plant it in a pot or in the ground come late spring. I really hope it grows, I love flowers! Who knows, maybe by the time I plant it, I'll have lost a bit of weight! A special thanks goes out to her for a hopefully lovely plant! I'll see you on Monday!
This is one type of giant hibiscus called a Fantasia Hibiscus.
The flower is about as big as a persons hand spread out.
I got my bike! But I haven't gotten the chance to fully put it together yet. There might be something wrong with the rear gears/axial, and the front tire is warped, so I might return it and get a new one, but hopefully my dad and I can get that fixed soon. Other than that the first half of this week has been normal, except I'm talking about the old, overeating extravaganza normal. I feel tired, distracted, and a bit grouchy all of the time. And, like most of my family, I know that I'm not the most pleasant person to be around when I'm grouchy. I'm back on the bandwagon today though, and I added a new feature to my blog! I'm posting how many steps I've taken at the end of each day. So even if I don't write a post that day, you'll be able to see what I've done for exercise. Typically it's over 5,000 if I exercised that day; if I don't, It's going to look like 2,500 or less. My apologies for this post being so late, I'm really rethinking my writing schedule. I'm actually going to try something new with exercising. My brother and I have been walking together in the afternoon, so I might actually get bike riding and walking in each day. I'm going to wake up at 7:30 am like normal and go bike riding. Then after he gets home from college we'll go walking! He's always being a goof and joking about stuff when we walk, and he always keeps a very fast pace. I really need to work hard to keep up with him, and often times its almost like doing interval training! It's always so encouraging when he does it with me though, so it's worth it! My diet is going to go back to "normal". It will be the good, nutritious normal though! I'll tell you how that goes Friday. Hopefully I won't get a sugar headache. See you soon!
Kale isn't too tasty plain, but really good in juice!
Today hasn't been bad, but I'm just lacking motivation to walk. I got my regular school done, and I've been eating very good, but the thought of exercise, ugg. My mom has been really encouraging though. She made juice for us this morning and has in general been awesome. And now I know that I actually like apple, celery, kale, ginger juice. Not too sweet, but also not too bitter. Ginger is really nice in the juice, it adds an extra zing to it that I personally love. I had veggies with ranch and three meatballs for lunch, that was really good too. I am hoping to still get in some walking today, but hopes aren't very high for that. Other than that, there really isn't much to report today. No catastrophes, no slip ups, no worrisome issues. So I guess it's going to be really short today. I'm going to go do something, See ya!
This is Jeremiah, my awesome
brother. And yes, that day of fishing
was catch and release!
Annnd ACTION!!! I'm doing it again. No, not apologizing for the busy week I've had... Well, that too, but that wasn't what I was getting at. I'm doing another week of raw! Sort of... I'm eating all raw for breakfast and lunch and only a little bit of cooked stuff at dinnertime. No refined sugar and no grains. I'm not alone either, My older brother is doing it with me! I'm so excited to be able to do it with him, I love him so much! This last weekend was horrible for me, I gained back almost all of what I had lost in two days, two days!!! I didn't even know that was possible! It's not like I was super horrible either. But hey, at least the jeans I just got into still fit! I'm really just trying to figure out what the balance is between eating a little too much and not eating enough. So far that's been unsuccessful. I either don't make enough, and am starving in a hour or two, or I eat too much and gain weight. Bah! I sure wish this was simpler. On a high note, I ordered my bike today! It might be here by Friday, but I'm going to guess I get it next Monday or Tuesday. And it's going to be bright green! (my favorite color) I can't wait to be able to do something other than walking! Today I haven't walked yet, and I only have 1,500 steps on my pedometer. So I'm going to go for a short walk yet today. I don't know if I can get to 8,000 or not, but I'm still going to try! Especially since the sun decided to finally come out today, there have been too many weeks in a row now where it's just been rainy and miserable. But it did give me the chance to start reading a book called "What's So Amazing About Grace?" Written by Phillip Yancy. It seems very interesting so far. I'm nearly through the first chapter. I'll give you an update on what it's about as I read it. Alright, that's all for today, I'll be writing a post tomorrow, and I need to get some stuff done. I'll be back tomorrow!
I'm skipping weigh day! Seriously, I am. I didn't do horrible these last few days, but nor did I do the best I could have done. So I'm guessing I've gained a couple pounds. I'm not weighing because I don't want to discourage myself. What matters is that today I'm back on track. My breakfast of egg salad and celery was great, even if I got full before all the celery was gone! I missed my Friday post because of company, not a huge deal, but I sure would like to get a little more consistent with posting. There were a few times this weekend when I successfully avoided what I call "crack snacks", which are just sugary kind of stuff, one of which was a DQ blizzard! That was huge for me. But then I gave in last night and had half a bag of skittles while watching Person of Interest with my family. It's incredible, only half a bag and I was getting jittery by the end of it. The effects of sugar after you've been off of it for a few weeks is shocking. After the smallest amount, you just want more. Sugar is very addicting, it's no wonder why teens have such a hard time losing weight with it so widely available, and much less expensive then healthy foods. This weekend I also got a new pedometer! My last one stopped working after accidentally putting it though the washer with my laundry. I check my pockets, but somehow it got past me that time. I'm going to aim for a minimum of 8,000 steps in a day, while actually going for 10,000. I find that pedometers help with motivation, I mean, what number would you rather see? 2,000 or 9,000? I know what my answer would be! Alright, I need to go get something done. Maybe I'll try my hand at that pesky thing called school. I'll see you Wednesday!
When avoiding sugar, I find it helps to think of it a poison.
Yep, that's what I had for breakfast, green orange juice. It's really orange, celery, spinach, ginger, but I can't really taste anything but orange with a hint of celery. Not bad at all. Yesterday I went a little nuts exercising, I walked in the morning and after lunch. The end result of me taking over 13,000 steps, or walking about five and a half miles. I'm really hoping to be able to do that more often. But today wasn't one of those days. I went to help a friend pack her grandmothers stuff for a move. I enjoyed it, but it doesn't lend to me getting much exercise. I'm probably doing the same thing tomorrow, but I might try to get a walk in before hand. I've been doing ok with drinking enough water, but I'm only averaging two of my 32 oz water bottles each day; after that, I just get sick of drinking it. I don't usually drink other stuff like soda or other flavored drinks, so water gets a little bit boring after a while. Another thing when I went to my friends grandmothers apartment, is that she was very kind and gave me a large stem cutting of a flower she called "Angels Wings". From her description of there being several different colors, I believe that it is a Giant Hibiscus cutting. One of the different kinds being an angels wings hibiscus. I was instructed to keep it in a glass of clean water over winter, and to plant it in a pot or in the ground come late spring. I really hope it grows, I love flowers! Who knows, maybe by the time I plant it, I'll have lost a bit of weight! A special thanks goes out to her for a hopefully lovely plant! I'll see you on Monday!
