Ellen's Health Journey

 
THIS! I love it! This right here! Click!

This is, like, salvation. It's a 50-minute walking interval workout.

Walking, you may think, scoffing. Walking isn't real exercise. Walking is for losers who can't run, you may say, adjusting your monocle and sipping your Earl Grey tea. (Apparently you're a British villain who hates walking. I don't even know.)

Um, anyway. I was talking to my group text this morning about how I get up some mornings and I go down to the basement, prepared to work out and just think: I HATE this. I hate exercise. And my friend Esha said You don't have to hate exercise! Do something you like! And I thought, what do I like to do that involves moving. What about moving slowly? Like, eh, walking? I mean, I don't mind just taking a stroll. Especially compared with running, which I despise. So I saw this article with a workout that claimed to burn 400 calories in 50 minutes. And all you have to do is WALK. (Yeah!!!!)

So I did it, and it was totally fine! I just listened to some music and walked for 50 minutes. I had to adjust it because my treadmill doesn't even have a 15% incline, and the 10% makes my calves scream in pain. So I switched between 4% and 7%. Still burned 375 calories. Not bad! Then I did my usual abs+arms stuff. I highly recommend this workout if you hate running/exercise! It's like the non-exercise-exercise :) However, if you're like me, note that you will be jogging at 4mph, not really walking. For some reason it hurts my calves extremely badly if I speed walk that fast, so I jog. And the article says "If you don't want to get your heart rate up" & "If you don't want to be sweaty'' Um, wrong. Both happened to me. But for me, that's a good thing :)

Health Update: Okay, so, if you've been reading this little blog of mine (I'm gunna let it shine) you'll know that I have had some issues with protein intake and that I've experimented with protein shakes and yada yada. And after I gained back a pound, I decided to seriously rethink my eating plan. I've basically been going off of the philosophy It doesn't matter so much what you eat, as long as you take in fewer calories than you burn. This philosophy may work for some people, but I know that every metabolism is different, so I've really gotta try something new.

So, today I'm going to the store and getting a ton of meat. Turkey, chicken, salmon. And also some vegetables. Broccoli, salad stuff, cucs. And also some almond milk. Because I'm going to try very hard to go on a limited-carb-and-dairy diet. YES. I'm going to try to go without my two favorite types of food. AAHHHHHH. I don't want to. And clearly this is not going to be a permanent change. But I need a new strategy for weight loss. And I know that eating lots of carbs is bad for you, even if they come from fruit, dairy, and whole grains. Because carbs stick to your body and protein doesn't.

Here's the thing. I've been working out every day, and I've been limiting my calorie intake. That isn't working. And I'm desperate here, people. I was talking yesterday about the Right Size diet with the two meal replacement smoothies. How stupid. (I did it yesterday by the way.) That stuff has more carbs than protein. It's also packed with sugar. I read articles saying it's just a dumb scam. The only plus is that it forces you to eat way fewer calories in a day (which, like I said, isn't even a good strategy for me.) I'm not going to avoid carbs completely! Here are some good carbs:

 Leave me a comment if you have any experiences/opinions about the low carb/dairy diet! Also, I'd love recommendations for proteiny foods to try. Like, does anyone know of a non-meat/eggs-food that has more protein than carbs? PLEASE clue me in if you do.

-Ellen