20 Time reflection

   

           Through my 20 time project I wanted to start living a healthier life style both in how I eat and how I exercise. As the past few weeks have gone by I have truly noticed the effect my project has had on my body. To me living a healthy lifestyle is super important and something I want to continue even after we've finnished this project. I believe that teaching people to eat and exercise properly could make major changes in their lives. By being educated about something you understand why your'e doing it and the impact it makes. If more people understood the difference between eating healthy and eating unhealthy or exercising vs. not exercising, I think they would put more effort towards a ahealthy life style and actually have fun with it. The project itself wasn't necessarily difficult for me, it was finding the time to exercise. With having school and working atleast five hours almost everyday there isn't much time left for exercising. I didn't have any roadblocks besides time constriction so once I was able to work around that my project continued as normal. Through this project the thing about this kind of learning that works best for me is not dieting, but just choosing to eat healthy. So many people think that in order to lose weight ( or in my case gain muscle) you have to go on some sort of strict diet that your'e going to hate. However thats not true, Just eating healthy can work wonders for your body and I prefer it over dieting any day. The thing about this kind of learning that is a challenge for me is being able to consistently work out and stay active with having a job and school. However I would consider my project a success, when it comes to changing your lifestlye in a healthy way results don't exactly come quickly so progress seems slower. I belive I have become more knowlegebale throught this project. I pay more attention to what I am eating and learn more about what exercises are good for me.The 20 time project helped me become better at not only writing, but public speaking. Even though the only time we have spoken about our projects to an audience is at the fair I found that it actaully helped me. Being able to talk about something I am passionate about and know a lot about was really nice. I appreciated having people there that actually were interested in what I was saying.I do think the 20 time fair should've been held during school hours instead of so late after school. Students can have really busy scheduels outside of school and aren't always necessarily able to change it. I think that since it is a 'in school project' the fair should've been held during the hour of the class your'e doing the project for; just like the way the senior projects were done. Students doing this project should make sure they are truly devoted and interested the the subject they have chosen. If they aren't the project will get boring and they'll have less motivation to reach their goal. I will continue towards living a healthy lifestyle after this project is done because I want to go into health and fitness as a career, being healthy is something im truly interested in. Over all I think the 20 time project was a pretty good experience, I enjoyed being able to learn more about soemthing I am passionate about. Once students are given the oportunity to choose what they learn ( as we were in the project) I belive it will truly modivated them to learn more on their own.

Personal Training

The weather is finally getting warmer, I have always liked running and working-out outside over being stuck inside. Lately I have been doing a lot of biking and running because I just can't pass up the opportunity to enjoy the nice weather. The workouts I do with the guide I purchased are going well also. They are also getting harder each week, but without hard work and dedication I can't expect any progress. I have become so used to eating healthy that eating certain fast foods or junk food will actually upset my stomach and make me feel extremely sluggish. I would much rather go home and make a good healthy meal that will fill me up over wasting money on food that is terrible for my body. Along with food I find that if I go a day without drinking water like I normally do I feel extremely dehydrated. Lately there hasn't been a whole lot to write about besides the progress I have been making, this makes my blogs seem repediative and lacking a whole lot of information. None the less progress is always being made and one thing that I have decided through this project is the direction I want to go in career wise. Ive decideed to go into health and fitness, I want to get a degree as a physical therapist and then go into personal training. While it isn't a high income job it would be something I would enjoy, and to me I would rather enjoying my job than make a ton of money doing something I hate. It would allow me to stay active and encoursage/help others to be healhty and active. 

Being healthy

As summer is getting closer I realize how much more I want to accomplish my goal of being a healthy and fitter person. Having a jump start before summer even starts will help me get into my ' summer workout schedule' a lot easier and makes me really happy with my project choice.Running has always been something I've enjoyed; it's realaxing, clears my mind, and improves my body. It's great to start seeing the results from running. I can again see the muscle in my legs that I was starting to lose from all the days of not running. With working five days a week and having school sometimes running becomes hard; this is often when I am glad I have the ' Bikini Body Guide' to workout with. Each workout is only twenty-eight minutes long, but it's definitely a hard work out that makes me sweat. These workouts for perfectly into my day and help me feel accomplished at the end of the day. 

       Through this project I have realized one major aspect of the type of lifestyle I want to live. I always want to stick with healthy eating. Eating healthy is something I truly enjoy. There are so many foods out there that are not only healthy, but delicious. I've noticed that since I started eating healthier when ever I have a day where I'll eat good amount  of ' junk food' my body feels different. I will feel tired, lazy and just over all sluggish. I find myself regretting the food choices and looking forward to the next 'new ' day of eating better food. I've started drinking tea daily, either at night or in the morning before school. It not only relaxes me, but is a great natural detoxer. The caffeine in tea is a lot different than caffeine in coffe or pop-it is gentler on your system and doesn't give you the jitters. Tea along with water is definitely on of my favorite drinks. 

    These past few weeks of the 20-time project have really helped me be more committed to eating healthy and exercising. I hope you guys have enjoyed my blog as much as I have enjoyed doing the project! 

Bikini Body guide

On Monday I started a workout program by Kayla Itines called the Bikini Body workout guide. I decided to try this workout program because of the way Kayla has it designed it. The program isn't like any of the workouts I've seen before. It is a 12 week (three months) long program that achieves the not too muscular, but still stronger and toned body type I am working towards. Kayla also mentions that through the guide one of her main goals is to help women reach the state of mind at which they are comfortable and confident with the way they look. To me this really made Kayla's program stick out, unlike other workouts or diets the Bikini Body guide isn't pressuring women to feel like they all should have the same body type or look a certain way. If you stay committed to the workouts and the guide itself the results that are amazing. From the before/after pictures I have seen on Kayla's Instagram account (@kayla_itsines) I can really see that the end result is a stronger and  healthier body. Even though they are only around half-an-hour each, these workouts are by no means easy. Depending on the day ( Legs&Cardio,Arms&Abs,ect.) what workouts you are doing will vary. Whether it be the 24 reps of weighted steps ups or 30 reps of push-ups I can always tell that I've gotten a super good workout. I love to workout and I am super excited to finish the program and see my end result. Check out Kayla Itsines on Instagram if you get the chance! (@kayla_itsines )

Making Progress

   
        This past week I started working on my 20-Time project. Everyday (with the exception of yesterday) right when I got home I went running. Since I am used to running long distance I managed to run 3-5 miles each run I went on; luckily I live in a neighborhood that is perfect for running. One of my goals I want to accomplish while running is to beat my old PR time of 22 minutes for 3.5 miles. Hopefully I will be able to increase my running speed and over all pace through all the running I've been running! Not only did I start being more active, but also my brother did too! After my run he would come outside and we would play a one-on-one game of basketball for around an hour. About a year has passed since I last played basketball, so it felt really good to start playing again! Along with running and basketball; every other day I would include some sort of workout into my day. The lengths of the workouts couldn't of been any better! They weren't too short, but were long enough to give the feeling of a good workout.
    I incorporated healthy eating into my first week of my project as well. By drinking lots of water and replacing junk food with healthier options I was able to keep my body energized and ready to go for the next day of workouts. I managed to purchase a container of GNC protein powder for after my workouts along with protein bars to help replace the unhealthy snacks. The benefits of the protein powder is that it has naturally based protein components that help achieve the best results possible while cutting out fats and carbs found in other protein sources. My first week of my 20-time project went pretty well, it has really motivated me to live a better lifestyle. I look forward to continuing on my journey to be healthier through this project.

Be healthy, be fit, be happy.♡

   Welcome to my 20 time project! I've chosen to make my blog about trying to live a better, healthier lifestyle. Throughout my life I have always been active with sports including:cross country, soccer, basketball and now boxing. To me staying active is a very important aspect in my life; even when I am not participating in a sport I always dedicate a portion of my time to running and working out. Sometimes this is a hard thing to keep up with, when I'm tired or short on time its often the first thing I end up cutting from my day.
   Not only is staying active important to me, but also eating healthy. By eating healthy our bodies are able to get stronger and receive the carbs, proteins, and sugars we need to keep them running properly.  I try to stick with healthy eating, but often find myself eating fast foods or junk food because of lack of time and keeping the necessary amount of healthy food at my house. With this project there are some goals I hope to work towards.

what are my goals?
Through this project I hope to become healthier and more active person. My first goal is to start a workout program that provides a schedule of what workouts to do and when to do them. Rather than loosing weight I hope to become stronger and gain more muscle by doing workouts that won't stress out my body. By adding healthy eating to my project I will achieve this goal not only faster, but in the best way for my body possible.  I plan on cutting out junk food and replacing it with a healthier eating plan, drinking lots of water and getting as much sleep required to keep my body going.One thing I have always wanted to do is to run a marathon, with the help of my 20 time project I hope to be able to participate in a marathon during the  summer. I look forward to starting my project and working toward a end result of being a healthier, happier, and stronger person.

Hope you guys enjoy my blog!
                      kayla