Eating Healthier

Today's topic is eating healthier. About a month ago I decided it was time to get down to my goal weight of 135. I weighed 145 when I started. On a forum that I am on, another girl was in the process of trying to find a diet that works and mentioned the counting calories, while another mentioned sodium. I decided to mix the two together and keep track of Calories & Sodium.

I went to a website that had a nice Calorie Calculator and entered in my information. It gave how many calories I should be eating to Maintain, lose weight gradually, and lose weight fast. I chose the calorie amount that would help me lose weight gradually.

I also looked up how much Sodium I should be eating a day and it said between 1,100 & 3,300.

In the above pic you can see how I've chosen to log my food intake. Each page has the date, how many calories I can eat, how much sodium I can eat, my starting weight for the week, and my goal weight. Below that it hast F/D (Food/Drink), C (Calories), S (Sodium), EX (Exercise), & W (Water). I then just log it all as I go. My weigh in is on Friday mornings, and I always start the next week with my new start weight. I also go back to the Calorie Calculator to re-calculate my calories at my new weight.

I have to say this is the best diet program I've ever been on. I like it and I've been able to stick with it. The first week I lost 3 pounds, 2nd week 4 ounces, 3rd week 2 pounds, 4th week 1 pound. I am now down to 139.8! Only 4 more pounds to go!

My new Homemaking Schedule

The other day I was trying to think of ways to help keep my house clean at all times. Since having my baby, though the house has been clean, it hasn't been as clean as I'd like it to be. I've also slacked off a bit due to feeling overwhelmed. So I came up with an idea.

My idea was to make a list of things I do on a daily basis, then make a list of things needing done once or twice a week. I then put those things in order of days I'd like to do them on.

My list looks like this:

Daily List
• Unload Dishwasher
• Day Dishes
• Make Bed
• Laundry
• Sweep
• Night Dishes
• Clean Ferret Cage

Weekly List
• Monday - Dust
• Tuesday - Vacuum
• Wednesday - Mop
• Thursday - Dust
• Friday - Vacuum
• Saturday - Clean Bathrooms
• Sunday - Clean out fridge

I also have a list of extra things needing done around the house, such as packing (since we are moving soon), organizing, taking out trash, going through stuff...etc...

I use a day planner to write down everything I plan to do for the day, this includes my; Daily List, plus the thing off my weekly list I'm doing that day, Extras, Errands, Goals I hope to accomplish (more on goals later), and what I have planned for Dinner.

I've found using a day planner to be highly beneficial to keeping me on track!

Lowering My Budget

Photo Credit

Recently I decided I needed to get serious about giving ourselves a grocery budget. I was trying to look up online what a good budget would be for a 2 Adult family. While searching I came upon Money Saving Mom - 31 Days to a better Grocery Budget. Not only did I find excellent advice on lowering our budget, but a lot of other types of advice such as Couponing, and so much more! I spent days reading through her blog.

In her blog she mentioned shopping with cash instead of taking a credit or debit card. So this last week I did just that. I decided on a hundred dollar budget for a week to start out with. I'll adjust it later once I know how much of a budget we actually need. She also said to start Menu Planning, so I gave that a try last week too.

To sum up last week, I took a hundred in cash, plus my list for all the dinners I planned for this week and the result was great! We only got 1 thing that wasn't on our list and that was because hubby found something he was wanting. In the end we spent $49.00! So I now have fifty left over for anything else I might need during the week. I can also use what's left to stock up on some other stuff using coupons, or put it back into savings.

Overall I am very happy with this new way of shopping and I hope to keep up with it! I highly recommend checking out her blog if you are in need of excellent tips and information!

Welcome - Start here!

Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Amy, I am a Professional Dog Trainer & Behavior specialist, a Wife, and a mother to a baby girl. Hobbies include; Spending time with Hubby, Daughter, dogs, training, camping, rafting, snowboarding, wakeboarding, hiking, biking, walking, reading, computer, blogging, writing, making websites, programing, swimming, boating, having fun, and much more!

This blog is going to be about me getting my life back on track. Having a new baby in the house has been a learning process! I am getting into couponing, figuring out how to get things done with a baby around, learning how to save money, make money, overcome shyness, and so much more. I hope to share my journey with everyone who cares to read.

Since I will be taking you through my learning process, hopefully this blog will be of help and you can learn through my mistakes. So sit back, grab a coffee, and enjoy the ride!

Here are quick links to all of my posts!

Budgeting
• Lowering My Budget

Homemaking
• My New Homemaking Schedule
• Laundry Lesson #1

My Weight Loss Journey
• Eating Healthier

My other Blogs
• My Journey Going Vegan
• Talented K9 Dog Training