Jenn's Losing It

Water. I know I don't drink enough of it. So I figured this would be the best monthly challenge to get back in the groove of things. For the next 31 days the challenge is simple. Drink water ~ eight ounces, eight glasses per day.  Comment or share this post if you're in on the challenge. It's summertime here in Connecticut and the weathers been hot, so drinking water should be no problem!

Well. Week one. Always the hardest when you're making a change. Especially when you're a foodie like myself and when I say foodie, I mean junk foodie. Guilty. I've been drinking more water, moving more and watching my portion sizes. Tough to do when you've been on a food free-for-all for the last month.  So after making just the one small change of being accountable for what I eat and sharing it with all of you, I lost 3.2lbs this week. I'm very excited and having such a great first week definitely gives me the motivation to keep going.  I started a WW Active Link Challenge this week as well. This way I can get a clear picture of what my current activity level is and how to add more activity in. I can't even wrap my head around fitting time in for exercise right now, BUT, if I want to be successful I will need to find time. Today also marks the beginning of a new month and I'll be starting a new challenge for the blog as well. I'm doing a 31 Day ...

SHUTTERSTOCK If you're used to working out before or after the daily grind, here's a suggestion: start incorporating fitness into  your workday. Some recent cool research shows that a sweat session can have a positive effect on your job performance. Here are the details: It Fuels Your Creative Juices Ever notice how desk jockeying all day can leave you feeling so uninspired? Then this is for you: A new study published in the  Journal of Experimental Psychology demonstrates that simply taking a walk during office hours can score you a creativity surge. Study authors conducted four separate experiments, asking subjects to take part in a series of creative exercises while doing some combination of sitting, walking, being rolled in a wheelchair, and/or walking on a treadmill. The results demonstrated that walking indoors and outdoors triggered a burst in creative thinking, with the average creative output rising 60 percent (!) when a person was walking.  MORE: ...

                               Today is my FRESH START FRIDAY.  I'm hitting the reset button and starting from the ground floor. No excuses. I'm making time for me and taking charge of my health and nutrition. Here's my 30 day short term goal: 1. Track my food. Everyday. No skipping, no lying on portion sizes. Write it down.  2. Move. Even if it means taking a walk around the block before going into work in the morning and before heading home. Those are times I'm kid free!! 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes are a good start.  3. Drink more water.  Sounds fairly reasonable, but it's time to make time for me.  I'll be posting my food diary on Instagram #lilyboxing, if you want to check in on me. I'll cross post the really good ones onto the Facebook page.  I want to get back to where I feel good enough to start running again and boxing. I love both of those things. I felt a...

Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post; tableware from Crate and Barrel SMOKE SIGNALS   SEP 25, 2013 Few foods conjure the fall season like acorn squash. It's a gourd, for one thing, and we associate gourds with autumn; and its orange-y flesh suggests the season's signature color. The sweet flavor of the squash is brought to the fore by the simplicity of the preparation. SERVINGS: 4 - 6 INGREDIENTS 2 small (48 ounces) acorn squash, seeded and cut into 1-to-2-inch wedges 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil Kosher salt DIRECTIONS Prepare the grill for indirect heat: If using charcoal, when the coals are ashen, dump them onto one side of the grill. If using a gas grill, preheat the grill with all burners on high. When it reaches a temperature of 500 degrees, adjust for indirect grilling. With a two-burner grill, turn off one of the burners; with three or more burners, turn off the center unit. You want medium heat. For charcoal, you should be able to hold your hand about five inches ...

iStock/Thinkstock You may have read in the past that eating mini meals throughout the day is a smart way to  lose weight . The thinking there is that by grazing every couple hours, you never get to that point where you're starving—meaning you're less likely to wolf down way too many calories in one sitting. But a new multi-university study, published in journal  Appetite  this month, claims that  all of the research thus far on eating small meals throughout the day is inconclusive —and as a result, mini meals should not be touted as a smart weight-loss strategy at this point. So how'd the researchers come to this conclusion? They analyzed all of the previous studies done about meal frequency and found that the majority of them used self-reported data—which, in the dieting world, is considered pretty unreliable. So we asked Keri Gans, R.D., author of The Small Change Diet , for her take on the results. "Most people don't understand what a small meal is—so the people...

Shutterstock What’s the cost of one workout? If you hire a personal trainer, it’s not just  sore muscles : The average trainer charges $26 an hour, according to an American Council on Exercise survey—which means just three  workouts  a week could set you back more than $4,000 a year!   Not in your budget? No worries: You can borrow some trainer-approved techniques. The IDEA Health & Fitness Association recently  surveyed  2,818 personal trainers and revealed the five types of exercise equipment the pros are most likely to use with their clients. Lucky for you, we have  workouts  to help you put these handy tools to use! 92% use resistance tubing or bands Try this:   The 15-Minute Exercise Bands Workout 91% use stability balls Try this:   The Stability Ball Workout for Flat Abs 89% use barbells or dumbbells Try this:   The Power Pairs Dumbbell Workout 84% use foam rollers and small balls Try this:   Roll Your Way to a Fit Bo...