Please Forgive Me

I have abandoned my blog the last few weeks, and I apologize greatly to those of you who take the time to check to see if there is anything new.
Nothing new has really happened.
I've been eating really well, and working out 6 days a week for at least 30 minutes each day for the past 3 weeks.
I have lost 5 pounds so far.
Most of my time is spent on Biology, so, nothing exciting is going on.
Hope everything is well with everyone else.

A Little Bit of Everything

Nothing really new and exciting has happened since two weeks ago, it had been a pretty boring two weeks. 

But, I do have a few things to update on and talk about.

So, I am going to start with the 52 Week Money Challenge! 

I was browsing Pinterest on Sunday, and came across this awesome idea on how to save money! 

This blog is where Pinterest brought me to find it! 

It is probably the simplest way I have EVER seen to save up over $1,300 in just 52 weeks.

You do not have to start at a certain day, you start whenever you want, and once a week, you add the listed amount for whichever week you are on into the jar. Make sure you check it off as you go, this will make it easier to remember which week you are on, and for me, gives me something to look forward to. 

I am a very visual person, so when I can see that another week has been checked off, it makes me happy to know that I am one week closer to $1,300.

Sunday night I gathered all of my loose change, $21 worth! That put me at Week #6. From now on, I will add the listed amount every Wednesday (the day I usually get money for cleaning). Next week I know I will not be getting any money, so I added Week #7 and Week #8 on Wednesday. That way, I do not fall behind at all. 

This is YOUR way to save money, so you do not have to follow the instructions exactly. Do it however works for you. 

If you want to start at Week #52 and work your way back to #1 so that you will not have to put in as much around Christmas time, do it! 

If you get paid bi-weekly, add money bi-weekly. You could stick to the same amounts and be done in twice as long, or you could put in two weeks at once (like I did this week) and you will be finished in the same amount of time.

You could even double the amounts each week, and save up twice as much! 

It is all up to you, this is just a suggestion and sort of a push to get your ideas going. 

 The next thing on my list, is the fact that I deactivated my Facebook last night at 8:30pm. 

I finally realized that I was spending WAY too much time on Facebook, and not enough time focusing on what is really important. 

Also, there is just too much drama EVERYWHERE on Facebook. 

All of my friends and family that I talk to on a daily basis have my cell phone number or my e-mail address. So I am still able to keep in contact with them, without the endless distraction of Facebook. 

With my profile being deactivated, I see it as a huge opportunity to be able to focus on my Biology class, as well as on losing weight, without being tempted to hop onto Facebook instead of doing what I know I should be doing. 

Once I am finished with Biology, and have achieved certain weight goals, then I will return to Facebook.

By that time, I am hoping to be so used to not being on it, that I will not want to be on it nearly as much as I was before.  

 To sort of go alone with the deactivation of my Facebook, I thought I would brag a little bit about the last two days. I am very proud of myself, and no I just need to stick to it. 

Yesterday, (Thursday) I got on the elliptical for 30 minutes, I got a total of 3.13 miles, and burned 408 calories! To get the most out of my time on the elliptical, I alternate each minute between a running pace and a jogging pace, it really works my body a lot more than just sticking to one pace the whole time. I also did 60 crunches, 20 before getting on the elliptical, 20 after the first mile (after 10 minutes), and 20 more after the second mile (after 20 minutes). I was definitely happy to get in the shower after that! And shortly after, I had to go volunteer for 5 hours. I was on my feet a lot yesterday! But I slept really well because of it. 

Today, was about the same. A little bit less, but not enough for me to get upset about it. 3.12 miles and 402 calories burned. I did the same pattern as yesterday, and the same amount of crunches. For some reason, today was WAY harder than yesterday. By the end, I was ready to just lay on my floor and die. Not literally, but I was so exhausted! I had a quick snack (banana slices with peanut butter in between and frozen while I was on the elliptical), and then got in the shower. Now, I feel way better than I did when I woke up this morning. I drank a whole liter of water during and after my workout. That's a lot of water to drink in less than an hour! 

I need to find a way to stay motivated and to keep up with working out every day. 

Tomorrow I am getting DDP Yoga, thanks to my Aunt Penny! And will start it on Monday. 

On Thursday, I am going to start going to a Zumba class once a week at my church. It is only $5 per class, so, why not?! 

I figure the more options I have to stay active, the more fun it will be, and the easier to stick to. Doing the same thing over and over again gets pretty boring. 

 Now, last but not least, my fish :) 

They are so cute! I just wanted to throw them in here. 

Same as always, I hope everything is going well with everyone else! 

If you do not have my e-mail address to get a hold of me other than Facebook, it is mercedes.deyoung.215@gmail.com

Hopefully I will have more interesting things to update on next week!