Just To Say.....

I SUCK.

It's pretty obvious that I am a miserable failure. Lol. Coming home has been terrible to my health and my fitness, and I have fallen completely off track. It's hard being here because I have no gym to go to, and my family by NO means eats healthy. I do what I can, but I can't wait to be back in Clarksville and at school so that I can hit the gym hard and be back on track. I'm going to start over on my 365 thing when I get back to school, and I am going to hope for better results this time, something that I STICK with.

What is your new year's resolution?

Let's Play Catch Up

It was my every intention to write in this blog once at least every two to three days. It's been a little over a week since my last post, but here I am to update! Everything is kind of dragging right now, because it is time for finals around here and all I want is to go home! I got to spend this past weekend home and it made me realize how excited I am to go home for over a month! I have so much to look forward to. But clean eating and working out is an entirely different story at my house and it will be tricky. But I know that I can do it. I haven't been hitting the weights as hard as I have been wanting to, but I am going to force myself to get into it heavier. I have been feeling really sick and crappy the past few days, I am thinking it is probably because I am not eating like I should be. It's so hard to completely change your diet. I know it will come in small parts though, little changes all the time! Last Monday when I weighed in, I was at 100.4 and it got me so down. But I snapped back pretty quick and realized it was probably stomach and leg fat I was shedding, and today when I got on the scale it said 101.6. So maybe it's progress, maybe it's water weight, who knows? But that's okay either way. The pics to the right are from last week, one with a 15lb dumbbell because I am increasing all the time on my arms, which amazes me! The bonfire is from at a friend's house, had a great time. And that's the same friend's baby that I am holding. I fell in love with that little man. I can't wait to be out of college, be a wife, and be a momma. But those things will come. I am realizing that right now it's my responsibility to make sure I am taking care of myself so that I can be the best wife and mother that I can be, inside and out! The bottom picstich is just some random shots from the gym, you can't tell very much from those pics but my muscles in my legs are increasing like crazy and it's awesome to see my hard work pay off! The pics down here to the left are from this past weekend. I took a picture of my house as we were driving up because I was so excited to see HOME! I got to see my favorite girl (my German Shepherd), spend time much needed time with my family, put up the Christmas tree with my grandma and my best friend, and go Christmas shopping with the best friend ever. I had such an amazing Friday. I never had the chance to workout, but I managed to do so on Saturday morning. I took this NASTY protein shot that I never plan on taking again! But it was a great amount of protein. I spent Saturday doing what I love most...photography. It was for my uncle's non-profit organization. We had a blast and a great turn out. Then I went out with my parents and little brother. Sunday we spent the day Christmas shopping. When I had to come back to Clarksville I literally had an anxiety attack. I don't want to be back at all! I can't wait to go straight back home tomorrow and spend time with my family! Sorry this isn't the most "fitness-y" update. I will get back into the swing of things. 

***I couldn't get the pics to work right, so some of the text doesn't make sense. But here are all the pics I was referring to:

Clean Eating & Healthy Skin [Plus Days 4-6]

It's kind of hard for me to write a blog post every single day. There just aren't enough hours in the day! But I am doing absolutely nothing with my Saturday night so I figured I'd post about the last three days and catch up on the blog, and let everyone know how I am doing and what I have been doing. I also want to talk about a couple different topics on this post. I mentioned I am clean eating in my last post. So I want to talk about what clean eating is exactly, and what I am doing differently in my diet. Also, I want to touch on healthy skin a little bit. But first I'll get into the past few days!

Day 4 (Thurs. Nov. 29th, 2012) -
I kind of love waking up with the moon and walking to the gym. There's something so empowering about getting more accomplished in a few hours than a lot of people do in whole entire day! This day was an especially hard day in the gym, probably the first hard day I had since starting this 365 journey. It was arms day. And I hate working out arms. They are my weakest feature and it shows when I'm in the gym. There were about 7 girls in there for a fitness class (which is weird because they normally have those upstairs in rooms). These girls were GORGEOUS. I'm talking pretty faces, and great bodies. G R E A T bodies. I immediately got discouraged. Working my biceps become even more of a challenge. But as soon as they left I was able to pick myself back up. It should NOT have been this way! I should be confident at all times! No longer should I let other women dictate how I work out or how I feel about my own body. It's a work in progress I guess. My aunt really helped me out just by reminding me that everyone has to start somewhere, and those girls had a starting point just like me. I did some pull-ups with the pull-up machine and I couldn't finish because my hands were begin to blister so bad. Let me tell ya, that HURT! I want to invest in workout gloves but I also don't want to be a wimp. Lol. I found an incredibly awesome app on my iPhone. It's called MyFitnessPal. You can put in your current weight, your goal weight, age, etc...and it will tell you how many calories you should be consuming a day. You can roll everything you eat and it will keep it in there for you. It has pretty much EVERY food on there! Every brand so far! It's awesome and it's FREE!!! I would highly recommend it to anyone. My diet was super easy and great. For breakfast I had a whole wheat bagel with crunchy peanut butter. Yum. Lots of yummy apples throughout the day! It was an overall good day!

Day 5 (Fri. Nov. 30th, 2012) -
Yesterday was an AWESOME day. I felt like a total boss/beast/whatever you want to call it in the gym. Probably for the simple fact that is was legs day! Yeah! I could work my legs all day every day. I love it. I can already see muscle building in my legs. And a lot of other places too for that matter. Even though it's awesome to actually see progress, I am focusing more on how working out makes me feel. I am not going to allow myself to get down if I don't see progress, I'm just going to continue pushing myself. There is nothing better than the way I feel when I leave the gym, knowing I gave it my all and did something great for my body! I totally messed up my clean eating last night with hibachi grill! Lol. But it was yummy in my tummy. Scallops, rice, and chicken. I don't think it was as bad as it could have been, and I have decided once a month (at the end of the month) to treat myself...but not too extreme!

Day 6 (Sat. Dec 1st, 2012) -
First things first...HAPPY DECEMBER! This is my favorite month ever. I love Christmas so much. I woke up in the Christmas spirit, wanting to do some serious Christmas shopping! I can't wait for some shopping! Instead I cleaned the apartment today and did a crap ton of laundry. I got a lot accomplished before noon! I was checking out my nose in the mirror and it was way too covered in blackheads. PLEASE, give me all your healthy skin tips!!! (More on that later.) Today I was going to take it easy and rest but I ended up walking to the gym and working out for about an hour and a half to blow off some steam. It felt GOOD. I love being able to take out my emotions on gym equipment. ;) I feel gorgeous and confident right now and I love that! Just happy as can be...all thanks to working out.

So, What Exactly IS Clean Eating?
I am by no means an expert on the subject of clean eating. I have only just begun. I decide to devote myself to clean eating because I want to feel better, not just look better. And let's be honest with ourselves. We cannot expect what we are doing to our body to affect us if we don't change what we put INTO our body! Here are my general clean eating diet guidelines:

-No processed foods
-Lean meats only
-No white flour, wheat only *This means no white bread, no white rice, and only whole grain pasta
-FRESH fruit
-FRESH veggies
-Be sure to read the labels. You want to know what you are putting into your body.
-Eat meals with fewer ingredients. Less is more!
-5-6 small meals per day

It's not easy but it's totally worth it. I have been eating apples, a lot of peanut butter, spinach, wheat, brown rice, etc. My stomach feels a lot better just from making small adjustments. I know I have a long way to go with the clean eating thing and I can't wait to have even more progress. If you have any recipes you want to share with me, PLEASE do so! I need all the help that I can get! I found a picture on Pinterest with all sorts of smoothies to try. I want to try them all! They sound pretty good and have great ingredients for the most part. I'll try and post that this week for you guys to check out.

Healthy Skin - How Do I Get It?
Okay, what girl doesn't want clear skin? I know I do! Those blackheads that came out of my nose today were unacceptable lol. My skin fluctuates between dry and oily and I really struggle to find balance. I know that drinking a good amount of water can really help clear up your skin. When it comes down to it, I don't know much about taking care of my skin and I could really use some tips. I have been trying researching it but I would like some advice from you all! So if you have any skin care tips, please please please, share them below in the comments!

That's all I've got for right now. I get more and more excited about this blog and my fitness journey every single day! But I want to extend it to things like the skin topic I just wrote about. Just an all around blog for the girl who wants to be healthier and more vibrant.

Thank you for reading this. Please leave comments! I need your motivation and encouragement and I want to hear what you have to say!
*Don't forget to post your clean eating recipes and skin tips! :)

Hello! [Purpose + Days 1-3]

Hey everyone!
My name is Nastassia and this is my blog about my journey to a healthier, fitter lifestyle!

I am 20 years old and a college junior, with a huge desire to be successful both inside of the gym and out. I used to work out a good amount, but I ceased a few months back. When I worked out before, I never really pushed myself to new limits, and I never followed the proper diet to coincide with my working out. Therefore I never saw results, which is probably a huge contributor to why I stopped working out. But for awhile now I have been really down on myself and decided it was time for a change. Not a small one, but a lifestyle change. No more excuses, no more sitting around treating my body like it's nothing. If you want results you have to work for them! So 3 days ago, I got off my butt and kicked it into gear, harder than ever! I decided to commit to 365 days of clean eating and consistent and balanced working out. I expect that by the time those 365 days are up I will be happy with how everything went and I will have made my lifestyle change.

So I invite you to follow me on this journey for the next 365 days. Hold me accountable! Make sure I am in the gym! Challenge me with new routines! Give me clean recipes to try! The whole 9 yards! I need YOUR support! So please feel free to comment on here and let me know your thoughts, any advice, or anything you feel like posting! I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Day I will weigh: Mondays
Goal weight: 120lbs

-I am taking pictures every Monday as well, but don't feel entirely comfortable posting pics of me as of right now but possibly in the near future!


Here's how my first 3 days have gone:

Day 1 (Mon. Nov. 26, 2012) -
Weight: 102.0 lbs
My goal weight is 120lbs. I have a long way to go, but I know with focus I can achieve this goal! It may take awhile but I WILL get there! Today I worked out my legs. My workouts aren't really organized as of this week but starting next week they will be completely in order! I have an awesome friend helping me with new workouts and showing me how to do them properly and how to balance my workouts for the best results. Trying to remember I need to stay hydrated!

Day 2 (Tues. Nov. 27th, 2012) -
Today I did triceps, biceps, calves and abs. I included extensions, dips, curls, etc. It was a decent workout but I don't feel like I pushed hard enough. I feel like I am holding back but almost scared to push harder for fear of failure or pain. I have to get past this.

I made my first SUCCESSFUL clean eating dinner! I baked free range chicken tenderloins, made lima beans, and brown rice. It was pretty tasty and I think I did a pretty awesome job. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about replacing white rice with brown rice, but I could barely tell a difference and it turned out okay. I want to learn plenty more recipes so I don't grow tired of the same meals all of the time.

Day 3 (Wed. Nov. 28th, 2012) -
I feel AWESOME today! Ate clean all day without even the temptation of any "non-clean" foods, and felt great about it! Pushed myself hard in the gym today thanks to an awesome friend (Tyler!), and really felt the effects of heavy lifting both physically and mentally. It was absolutely empowering to stay positive and push myself to try new and difficult workouts. I thought I couldn't do it, but I gave it a go and I ended up doing workouts I'd never tried at all before and I rocked them all! I was doing more weight than I imagined I could for day 3 and I couldn't be more proud of myself. I did see a girl in the gym today who was pretty fit and doing workouts way too advanced for me and I got pretty down. I just really want to be able to do the same things. But I perked up pretty quick, because every body is different, but every body is capable! I know that with endurance, I will get there, too. I am learning to focus on improvements rather than the ultimate goal! Just the way I feel by itself is enough to keep me at this! After my workout I had a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat. Then a couple hours later I snacked on some beef jerky. A couple hours after that I had a turkey and spinach sandwich on whole wheat bread, and recently just had a fruit cup to snack on. No belly aches, no stuffed feelings, I am feeling great! I need to increase my meals every day and make sure I am eating plenty. I also need to make sure I am drinking plenty of water every day, which was a big improvement from yesterday to today, but I need to be doing even better.

Tomorrow is day 4 and arms day, and calves and abs. I am looking forward to hitting the gym, even at 6 am! I just hope I can keep up this positive mindset and push through when it becomes even more difficult! Working out just makes me feel so darn good about myself and I seriously look forward to it so much. I feel so much more positive the past few days.

Starting next Monday, when my workouts are actually organized, I will document them in this blog as well for those who may want to see or even try out the routines! Thank you so much for reading this. I NEED all your encouragement!

Love you guys!