A Nice Update

It is getting closer and closer to the day I move out of the apartment. Amanda and I have been packing up stuff little by little, trying not to get caught the last week with a lot on our plates. So far, we are doing alright.

One thing we have been doing that has me very happy is we have began cutting a lot of crap out of our diet. We have instituted calorie counting in our daily lives. On top of that, we started exercising a little which has shown above average results in very little time. I already feel better when waking. I've adjusted my diet to fall easily below the recommended calorie intake without being unhealthy about it. I find myself eating substantially smaller meals every 3 hours without feeling a starving sensation. The first couple days were a lot tougher than it is now. I call it the "shrinking" effect. After going through a hungry stomach after toning down the amount of food I consume, I would feel full after eating one of my smaller meals. Should I try to consume more in one sitting like in the past, I would feel like I am ready to explode, as if my stomach had gotten smaller.

For our exercise routines, we have purchased the help of "The Biggest Loser" game for the Nintendo Wii. I must admit, the game was developed with an excellent pursuit to actually form a workout routine around what you want to accomplish. The have routines for people who would just like to lose weight, the have routines for people who just want to tone their body, the have routines for people who just want to stay in shape, and they have programs that would fit anyone's needs. My favorite is you submit measurements of your body. You go on to tell them your age and height. They do a calculation then advise you which part of your body you should be working on (they were spot on when I did my measurements).
The game builds a workout routine around those parts of your body.

I chose the 12 week program that focuses on weight loss with emphasis on the parts of my body that needed it the most. I chose to do 6 workout days with one day off. They do hard exercise routines the first day, then yoga the next to relax the muscles, then mix it up again. Their calorie counter is awesome, though I downloaded the "Livestrong" calorie counter app for the iPad. You can also create one on the website www.livestrong.com.
They have an excellent database that makes researching calories for food a lot easier. I recommend this to anyone pursuing a weight loss regimen.

For the health of the mind, I stumbled across a very excellent blog by an interesting woman named "Dena". Her story is excellent and her posts bring you close to the feeling of a bath in the soul of life. I recommend her blog/site, EvolutionYou. I have found that Dena and I share many of the same inspirations, such as lessons prevalent in Buddhist teachings, as well as life-altering adage from the heart of Paul Coelho. Dena motivated me to research "minimalism", which I will implement as I continue packing my things. Great timing, right?!