1 Year Fitness Progress (Plant-Based/Vegan, BBG, & "The Pill")

February 2016 -> March 2017

Although I feel vulnerable posting these pictures of myself, I am proud of the work I have done and the progress that I've made choosing to live a healthier lifestyle. I will be talking about this past year, the first real year of taking my "fitness journey" seriously. When I say "fitness journey," I mean eating more fruits and vegetables, taking care of myself physically and mentally, and working out regularly. By no means am I training for a sport or striving to be an Instagram model, I just want to feel good, and I believe when you feel good and you take care of yourself, that reflects on the outside.

In the picture on the left, I had just started nursing school, I had just begun Kayla Itsine's BBG program (previous blog post on that here), and I was still not making the best choices in regards to my food.

In the picture on the right, I am more than halfway through nursing school, I am about 10 months in eating a plant-based diet, and about 10 pounds heavier.

When I look at the differences between the two pictures, the first thing I notice is my stomach. My tummy has always been a source of insecurity for me. I see that it is more defined, I have that "V" now, and my "muffin tops" are a bit smaller! The next things I notice are my legs & booty! My legs look thicker and stronger, and although you can't see my tush here, it is firmer, bigger, and more lifted. My boyfriend has noticed these changes the most and it wasn't until I looked at the difference between these two photos that my body really has changed.

So, what have I been doing differently?

1. I stopped the BBG program several months ago. It is a great program and I still do Kayla's workouts from time to time, but I was getting bored of it and I wanted to try something else. Now, I mostly walk, do kettlebell workouts and other workouts I find on Pinterest. I listen to my body and tailor my workout to that, while still trying to push myself. About 2 months ago, I also started going to yoga once a week. I. love. yoga. and it has helped so much with my balance, listening to my body, and my strength.
2.  I eat a plant-based/vegan diet. I also listen to my body and pay attention to how I feel after I eat certain foods. Within the past couple months, I have especially noticed how my body, particularly my gut, feels after eating carbs and sugar. They tend to make me feel bloated, weighed down, and fatigued so I have been trying to cut those out as well and replace them with vegetables and fruits. I also try not to eat when I'm bored and meal-prep as much as possible. Being a full-time college student and a part-time 3rd shift worker at a hospital, meal-prepping is the key to staying on track.
3. I went off of my birth control pill. I went off of the pill at the end of 2016. After I did this, it was like the fat, particularly on my abdomen, just peeled away without changing anything else. I went off of the pill for various reasons - but mostly I didn't want to be taking hormones anymore. I have been battling with (self-diagnosed) anxiety, depression, and moodiness for the longest time. I originally went on the pill in high school for my acne (this was before I was sexually active) and when I went on it, it was like I bloated up (I gained so much weight) and became a totally different, unhappy person. I felt like I was living in a fog. I finally decided it was time to stop taking it and it is like the fog has been lifted. No, I am not ready to have children just yet so my long-term partner and I have been using other birth control methods. I am so happy I decided to stop taking the pill, it is one of the best decisions I have made, particularly in regards to my mental health.
4. Lastly, I am kinder to myself and my body. I focus on how I feel instead of how I look. Yes, it is awesome to see progress, but it is more important to feel better. I feel myself getting stronger, being more confident, having more mental and physical energy, and being kinder to myself when I slip up (at work, in school, with my diet, anywhere). I try to focus on the long-term as opposed to short-term and that seems to help as well. I want to age gracefully and live not only a longer life but have a better quality of life, too. Age and other uncontrollable health risk factors aside, I believe the work you put into your body is the work you get out. Treat your body right and your body will be good to you, too.

Thanks for reading! Feel free to ask any questions or share your own opinions or experiences.

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Back in the swing of things.

top - H&M, necklace - Forever 21, earrings - Primark, rings - etsy & H&M, bracelets - Primark & various places

(these were taken when i got home so plz excuse my face & unpainted nails ;P)

Today was the first day back at school - a day i've been dreading for months now!  It's sad to think summer is over, it's so hard for me to let good things, like the feeling of complete bliss & freedom (minus work & summer hw) go.  Had so many good times this past summer!  It feels SO strange to be sitting in a classroom again, i did not miss it at all really!  It's so strange to think today was my last first day of high school.  Next year i'll (fingers crossed) be packing up & moving into college dorms.  So crazy to think about - wish time would slow down a bit :'(

We had a late start to school (freshmen had this orientation thing in the morn') so my friends & i went out to breakfast.  I had some super syrupy pancakes, crispy bacon, & some delish cinnamon raisin toast!  I do like a big breakfast :').  It was boiling out today so i just wore one of my new fave tops from H&M, which i tucked the front of into a pair of light wash denim cutoffs (also H&M), i carried around a bright red cardigan from my grandma to cover my shoulders/legs with as our AC system in the school is so dodgy - it's freezing in the morning & fluctuates between hot & cold the rest of the day.

As far as classes go, i'm taking a ton of really different classes in comparison to previous years since we had so many hours to fill each semester.  This semester i'm taking orchestra (if there's one thing i miss about high school, it'll be this class!), AP calculus, anatomy, approaches to critical reading, AP Spanish, world literature, and sociology.  My schedule is pretty good i think & i'm happy to have at least one friend in every class!

Hope everyone else who started school recently is doing okay!  Best of luck everyone, we can make it through this year. ;)

♥

wednesday summary

Please excuse my frightening hair in these photos haha, we did water polo in gym today.

♥ Day one of exams was today!  All i had were orchestra, Spanish, & gym, which we only really had an exam in Spanish which was a breeze.  The next to days will definitely not be so easy, i have physics & honors pre-calculus exams tomorrow and history & honors English on friday.  Not looking forward to those :(  I also have this journal thing as well as a portfolio due for math on monday.  Hence the FML picture lol :(
♥ I recently joined my school's AFS club - mainly because we have one seriously gorgeous German exchange student this year (of course to get involved in my school too...ahem..).  I'm sure those of you who follow me on Twitter are sick of hearing me tweet about how much he looks like (a hotter) Rob Pattinson - he really does though haha :/ - but if you knew him, i'm sure you'd do the same ;)
♥ Only three more days of driver's ed left & then hopefully i'll have my temps!  Fingers crossed i pass the two written tests & the DMV is open on friday....
♥ Anyone watch the Skins US premiere on monday?  I already talked about it a bit on Twitter & on Formspring, but i actually quite liked it.  A lot of people were saying (before it premiered) that it was going to ruin the original version, etc. but i honestly though it was pretty good.  Although i do admit that i'm a bit mad that now everyone here in the US knows about Skins!  Just a warning, never watch it with your prude mother in the room...
♥ I don't think i've featured my Scrabble ring in a post yet!  I got it for Christmas & i loves it.  A few of you were wondering where i got it from and i got it from an Etsy store - here's the link.  It actually came broken in the mail (i totally understand this though, it had traveled a long way!) & so i hot glued it lol.  I then broke another time (accidentally, obv) so i had to hot glue it back together once more.  Will have to get some more heavy duty glue!

Hope you're all doing well <3

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monday summary

fatty status!

♥ Well, not much to report to be honest - i've literally been in bed all day, eating brownies, watching Gossip Girl, & being kept warm by my frog-printed rice bag that my mom made me :).  (But Laura, shouldn't you be in school?)  Yes, yes i should be.  Kind of a long story, but to sum it up i guess i just didn't want to go.  I blamed lady problems for the reason i couldn't go to school today because really, who can make you go to school if you're feeling miserable?  We only have two days left of school this week (then Christmas...WOOOOO) so i suppose i can suck it up!

♥ Speaking of Gossip Girl... John Patrick Amedori (aka Aaron).  MMMM ♥.  I totally recognized him from somewhere & it wasn't until i Googled him just now that he was in Stick It!  Oooh, i love him.  Kinda wished he would've worked it out with Serena in season two..i guess Dan & Serena were just meant to be haha.

♥ Been considering semi-permanently dyeing my hair again, it would be the same color that i did last time.  I think i would miss my kinda-ombre hair though :/.  I'm also worried that if i did dye it, the color wouldn't be consistent on all my hair, since the ends are bleached.  Anyone know if it would all be the same shade of brown or if it would be lighter on the ends?  Haha :/.

♥ I've wrapped the gifts for my sisters & my dad, i just have to put something together for both my parents & go shopping for my friends!  I already have an idea of what i'm going to get them, just have to pick it up & wrap it.  I actually love wrapping gifts, some people find it a pain but i quite enjoy it!  Just put some Christmas music on and you're good to go :)

♥ Guess who's back to blogging again?!  Zoe!  Woot woot.  I think her blog was the first that i read religiously, and it's still one of my favorites.  So glad she's back (hopefully for good this time! ;)

♥ Four to follow: Aimee, Julianne, Katherine, Indah ♥

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what i wore ♥

I haven't done a proper 'outfit of the day' in a while, but i've been determined to get these started up again, but improved a bit this time!  (Not to say this is much of an improvement ha :/).  So it's out with the 'mirror pics' & in with trying to take decent photos of my outfits.  The lighting in my entire house is definitely not photo-friendly, and even if i do find an okay spot to take photos, i have no place to put my camera!  Quite annoying actually.  I have to add, i absolutely hate the pink background on these photos.  I took them in my room (hence the pink walls) - i need to paint my room!  Getting sick of this color anyway.

tank - Forever 21

cardigan - H&M

high-waisted shorts & necklace - Charlotte Russe

 L-R: Pacsun, Forever 21, Charlotte Russe

This outfit's really not too interesting, but i tried something new & realized i quite like it!  It's wearing leggings with a shorter top, but wearing a skirt or shorts over the leggings (but under the top) - wearing leggings as pants is no-no for me!  I'm probably going to try the skirt-leggings combo tomorrow, with another cardigan & top.  (Exciting isn't it?) haha.

I did a presentation for history yesterday on Woodstock, and it actually went really well!  I'm probably not the only one who feels this way, but i find things a lot easier to talk/write about if it's something i actually am interested in or something i enjoy.  That's why i chose to do a presentation on Woodstock and why i'm choosing to do my English paper on The Beatles ♥.

Anyone else as excited for Christmas as i am?!  My friends & i have been planning so many fun things to do in the upcoming month and i cannot wait :).  I might be doing a Christmas wishlist sorta post, but i'm not too sure if it'll be interesting at all, haha.  We'll see!

I'd really like to hear your feedback on this post, would you like to see more of these?  Otherwise i won't go through the trouble of taking the photos & such!  Plz let me know ladies :)

xoxo

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Monday Summary ♥

 ♥ Currently nomming on some delicious banana chocolate chip bread that my grandma brought over yesterday (best bread of my life omg) & some butter popcorn that i've recently become obsessed with.

 ♥ These photos are actually from a few weeks ago that i found lounging about my computer.  Apparently my hands wanted to make it into every single picture.  I rarely wear my hair up with good reason - my hairline is so weird/my forehead is huge & my hair never seems to do what i want it to!

 ♥ Been feeling really down ever since the weekend started.  My dad has been unnecessarily mean & verbally abusive toward me and my sisters and mom.  Can't believe one person can make you feel so bad about yourself.

♥ Junior year is TOTALLY kicking my ass.  It's so hard balancing school and getting good grades, while still maintaining a life.  I miss kindergarten!

♥ Been listening to a ton of Brandon Flowers lately.  He is such a talented, beautiful man and artist.  This music video for Only the Young is so amazing, there's just something about it :).  I swear it's impossible for him to back an even somewhat-bad album ♥.  Love love love!

♥ Three to follow: Chrysanthemum, I Heart Vintage x, RottenOtter's Thoughts ♥

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My Last Week of Summer in Photos ♥

Well, today is my last day of summer vacation.  Summer 2010 was an amazing one, the best summer i've had in years.  I wanted to spend the last week of it in total relaxation, but as some of you may know from me constantly tweeting about it, i had a lot of work to do (still do actually, but you know me - procrastination nation!).  Although i had soo much stuff to accomplish, i ended up trying to manage my time as best as i could - balancing relaxing, blogging, completing my summer homework, & soaking up the last week of being free as much as possible.

Reflecting back on my summer, i realize all the fun times i had *sigh*.  The best night of the past three months for me was definitely going to Summerfest & seeing Passion Pit..ah-maz-ing (read about that here :).  The song "Sleepyhead" by Passion Pit is my song of the summer - it will always bring me back to that night & this past summer whenever i hear it.
But i digress..........

I had the idea of taking photos throughout the past week so i could kind of give you all a glimpse of what i've been up to!  I hope you ladies enjoy this & i hope you all had a spectacular-super-fantastic summer ♥.

Formspring / Twitter / Tumblr

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Back-to-School Supplies! ♥

Now, i'm one of those people who absolutely dreads getting up at 5:30 AM five days a week & going to a place filled with people i don't particularly enjoy (school, ahem), but i have to admit i love shopping for school supplies - folders, notebooks, pencil cases..the whole lot.  I mentioned on Twitter about a week or so ago that i wanted to share all the goodies i got for the coming school year, and i got a surprising amount of people who wanted to see as well!

This may not help those of you whole are already in school (i hope it's going well for those of you who are!), but i thought i'd go ahead & share anyway.  I got all of the school supplies mentioned at Target, besides the bag which i bought at Forever 21.  I hope you all enjoy!

This year (i'm a junior if you're wondering :), i wanted to infuse my school supplies with colors & cutesy things - compared to my supplies from last year, which were dreary & quite plain.  I want to be able to have these things kind of brighten up my day a bit, because i don't know about you, but school can put quite a damper on my day.

I'm also a folder & notebook person, i don't really like lugging around bulky binders with looseleaf & a mish-mash of papers sticking out of them.  That being said, i got a folder & notebook for each of the classes i needed them for (all but orchestra & gym).  I tried to get the folder/notebook for each class to match (or at least go together) to organize me a bit more, but to also make them cute of course :).  I also got what i call a 'take-home folder' (because i'm still in elementary school at heart haha), and this will hold all my extra papers, as well as my homework for that night.  I would've gotten an assignment notebook as well, but apparently my school is supplying them for us this year.

Yesss, a Michael Jackson notebook!  I knew i just had to get it when i spotted it.

I'm going to get totally hated on for having a Hello Kitty folder..mhm, people at school just don't know when to leave others alone!  Whatever ;).

This last notebook/folder set, by the brand 'Greenroom' are made with paper containing 70% recycled fiber & printed with non-toxic soy-based ink..love.

The 'take-home' folder i was talking about earlier, as well as a pink 4 GB flash drive & a flashy pink glitter pencil case (only about $3!).

A closer look at said pencil case ;)

And of course to store all this & more in, you need a fabby bag.  This one, as mentioned before, is from Forever 21 and was around $34-$35.  It's massive inside, where it has two open-pockets & one zip-pocket, and it also has a zip-pocket on the outside.  This bag came with a detachable longer/adjustable strap as well.

I don't use the same bag for school everyday, i do switch off bags for school depending on my outfit, but the more bags to choose from, the better!  And i didn't have a tan/nude color bag so... :)

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Of course along with getting all the necessary supplies for school, i went back-to-school shopping for clothes as well (several times, haha :P), which i might do a separate post on ♥

Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend so far..last one before school starts for me :(

Let's all make this school year a fun, yet productive one, hmm? :)

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