Sticking to New Year's Resolutions

We are officially 3 days into the new year. That spurt of enthusiasm you had on New Year's Eve to change yourself for the better is by now probably waning. 

"Most people are not going to keep their resolutions all year long. They’ll start out with the best of intentions but the worst of strategies, expecting that they’ll somehow find the willpower to resist temptation after temptation. By the end of January, a third will have broken their resolutions, and by July more than half will have lapsed.

They’ll fail because they’ll eventually run out of willpower, which social scientists no longer regard as simply a metaphor. They’ve recently reported that willpower is a real form of mental energy, powered by glucose in the bloodstream, which is used up as you exert self-control.

The result is “ego depletion,” as this state of mental fatigue was named by Roy F. Baumeister, a social psychologist at Florida State University (and my co-author of a book on willpower). He and many of his colleagues have concluded that the way to keep a New Year’s resolution is to anticipate the limits of your willpower."

-NY times (read the rest of the article here) 

So far, I've found it helpful to write down short daily updates on an online journal. This keeps me on track and inspires me to stick to my plans. 

How about you? What are some ways you all try to stick to your resolutions? (If you made any at all.)

LOL Wednesday

Happy Hump Day! Wednesdays are probably the most "meh" day of the week for me. My week pretty much goes down like the following:

Monday- ...Why am I awake right now...

Tuesday- ...Why is it not Friday... #homeworkhangover

Wednesday- Dammit, it's still not Friday. Oh well, at least it's halfway through the school week.

Thursday- Today is Friday. I believe it is so, and thus so be it. ...(5 minutes later) Dammit, it's Thursday.

Friday- T.G.I.F

Here are a few memes I found to bring a little laughter to your day; enjoy! They are all totally random and unrelated.

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My train of thought on Tuesdays...

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How shit goes down in AP U.S History

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This one reminds me of the punniness of my biology teacher.

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Chillax- YOLO post

I like to take at least 5 minutes each day to totally let go. I also realize how terrible that sounds. Anyways, let's just continue under the illusion of me possessing a high maturity level...

If I'm feeling stressed, depressed, self-pitying, or if I'm just already chilling and enjoying myself- I try to take a few minutes each day to just stop. Generally I'll put on some super chill reggae, sit up straight, and let go of all the negative energy. Once all my negative energy has been lifted, it can be replaced with positive vibes.

I then usually proceed to have a private dance party in my bedroom and jam out to Shakira or Britney.

I've found that this ritual helps A LOT in calming me down and allowing me to truly live in the moment. Life is only so long, so why spend it stressing out in a situation when the exact same thing would happen if you weren't stressing? Of course, I don't mean to just slack off, but if you've got a big test the next day, then does studying while stressed out help you more than studying with a relaxed and pliable mind?

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination."
-Jimmy Dean

Whadday'all think?
Do you do anything to calm yourself down and chillax?

Senioritis

I've mentioned being stricken with Senioritis quite a number of times here on TTD, and I'd just like to clarify.

Senioritis
noun. A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors. Symptoms include: laziness, an over-excessive wearing of track pants, old athletic shirts, sweatpants, athletic shorts, and sweatshirts. Also features a lack of studying, repeated absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known cure is a phenomenon known as Graduation.
In other cases, senioritis may show signs early on in birth, then progressing in elementary school, middle school, and the beginning of 9th grade. This usually means that the student goes to a bad school where he or she (usually he) has to take stupid, nonsensical courses, and question the validacy of the system.
Senioritis usually can be diagnosed by the student himself or by colleagues of the student such as a teacher.
Treatment for senioritis: Continue to slack off for the rest of the senior year

This is the absolute correct definition, people. I got it off urbandictionary.com, which we all know to be the epitome of truthfulness. I dare you to look up "strawberry shortcake" on there. It's a concept I honestly do not know how to grasp.

BT dubs, my mom purchased a dangerous substance yesterday.

Yes, I know that it contains palm oil and sugar and all that healthy stuff. And no, it's not even exceptionally good, definitely not as good as the original because it tastes kinda greasy thanks to the greater oil/lower sugar content. But we all already know those technicalities will not deter me from melting chocolate into it and consuming vast quantities...
Lately I've been on such a nut butter kick. This "natural" Skippy peanut butter tastes absolutely amazing with chocolate melted in, though is barely tolerable on it's own.

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Day of eats #2

"Slept in" until nine today, which is actually pretty late for me. I'm an early riser and generally wake up at around seven or eight in the summer even though I don't fall asleep until at least eleven at night. However, I still have trouble waking up and/or functioning with minimal sleep during the school year. FML.
Semi-brunched on a bit of leftover chicken,

 

 

2/3 of a 'naner & peanut butter (gave 1/3 to Lulu thanks to her big ol' puppy eyes),

 

 

 

 

and give or take a couple spoonfuls on the go... plus one with some goodies

 

 

 

 

I wasn't super hungry at lunchtime, so I had a nice bowl of broccoli and a couple teaspoons of avocado, which I didn't bother to take a pic of.

 

 

 

 

My friend came over and we had a bit of a failed experiment with making cake in the rice cooker. Apparently my rice cooker is more temperamental than her's. It turned out okay-ish and I will post it later if I can find out how to bake it in an oven. The slightly burnt bottom did not stop me from having two slices with some pb frosting.

Yummy dinner of basa fish + stir-fried broccoli.

 

 

 After dinner (and really all through it) I was CRAVING peanut butter like a mad woman, so I spent some quality time with a LOT of Skippy's. Plenty of peanut butter "lettuce wraps," which is pb spread between romaine lettuce. A cal-free/guilt-free pb vehicle better than celery because you can load more creamy goodness on it!!!

Random Ramblings

Whoooo!
The workout today was reallllyyy tiring. But reallllyyy fun. I would say that I've been looking forward to it all week...but that would make me look like an exercise fanatic with no life...?
Not that it isn't already obvious enough.

The ZWOD was probably an 8.5 on a scale of 1-10 for difficulty (personally, anyways), and although I love Zuzana, she did seem to be having a hard time keeping up. Oh well. I guess we all have our off days. And besides- her workouts are not only terrific, I believe they're a fantastic way to get your boyfriend to quit his porn addiction really inspirational body-wise. Abs and Ass baby. Though I guess in my case I really need to work on toning my upper arms, a.k.a my problem area...

Okay I guess I should've put a disclaimer at the beginning of the post stating that I am so tired and rambl-ey (I hope that's a word. If not, it is in my world so deal with it) nothing I say is creditable to my sane state of mind. Or I guess it is because when I am in a totally rational/calm frame of mind I generally think all my options through before doing something stupid and then do it anyways... so I'm really just skipping a step in my decision-making that probably doensn't impact my decisions anyways.

I have a feeling when I look back at this blog post later I won't know whether to cry or to laugh. It' an interesting paradox that my parents display at all my antics.

What are you trying to tell me, legs? (+ a mini rant)

I confess:
I've skipped two long runs in two weeks. It's not that I don't want to exercise- I've still worked out every day I can fit it in- but somehow running has lost it's appeal to me. I do love it, but I'm not a "natural runner," and though I did a 5-mile run two weeks ago and a 3 mile run just a couple days prior, I still get out of breath the first warmup lap around.
I thought at first it was just because I needed to take a rest day, but after 2 days of not working out due to running back and forth between activities, as well as speech sectionals, I went out for a jog on Thursday and still felt off.
My stamina in jumping rope, interval sprinting/HIIT, and other cardio even seems to be improving.
It's just the steady-state runs longer than 2-3 minutes I've been struggling with...
I think I'm just going to do more HIIT session on the treadmill, as well as tabata bodyweight cardio routines + plenty of strength training/moderate lifting and pilates.

Interval training burns more fat/calories anyways, and I've got a goal to shed 0.5- 1 inch from my waist and at least 0.5 inches from my thighs before I head off to China and the land of the negative-in-american-sizes-due-to-vanity-sizing females. Seriously though, girls in East-Asian countries are tiny; a size Medium there is a size XS here.

I'm already bracing myself for all the "Oh my, the American Food does make girls bulky!" I'll be getting from my relatives, and I'm a size 0 at 95 lbs and 5'0. But that's a whole 'nother post for a whole 'nother time. And don't worry about my self-esteem; I've grown up in a society where people simply tell you their opinions of your physical appearance. I know I shouldn't take it as anything personal, and as my mother says, I've got skin so thick 'an armandillo would be jealous.'
She could've been talking about my elbows, but... I will choose to take it as a compliment for vanity's sake.
Ohhh crap I've already ventured into rant category. Ugh I hate to start on something and then leave y'all hanging, but I really don't want to get into my body image issues and expose deeply repressed teenage chinese barbie somewhere inside of me. (Yes I just read that and it made no sense... just go with it.)
I will post something that explains why going to China is a real head trip for anyone without a 23-inch waist later, as well as my training plan for the next week.

To get back to the foot we orignally started on:
Any suggestions about my lack of stamina while running?

Friday the 13th

Check out the sexilicious jewelry I'm rockin':

They were given to me by a little boy at the church I tutor at on Tuesday nights. (I'm not Christian, but who could say no?)
It's a program solely maintained by a very kind couple, to help kids that are less fortunate than I am with their schoolwork, and I definitely enjoy the feeling I actually did something meaningful and contributed to this world. Call it suburban girl's guilt, whatever, but I am grateful every day for the opportunities I was born into and my parents have worked hard to provide me with.

Now that I've said something that isn't totally nonsensical and doesn't make me sound like a spoiled brat...

Proceed with the announcement:
I've gotten an Academic Letter this year for maintaining an A- average or higher; my grades aren't where I exactly want them to be right now (yes in stereotypical asian fashion, I don't consider an A- an A, and anything below that is worthy of a total hair-pulling freak-out session) but I'm still pretty psyched about the acknowledgement of my efforts.
Not that this makes up for walking around in a zombielike state all year due to a vicious cycle of too much caffeine and not enough sleep.
But I can't complain (too late) : I've already pledged my sleep, social life, and sanity, to the Ivy Leagues.
Anyways, just thought I'd try to convince y'all that eating chocolate, working out, and taking pictures  of grapes aren't all I do in life.

Since it's Friday and I don't have any after-school activities today, I did a 30 minute pilates strength routine

and then knocked out 55 minutes of cardio kickboxing.
Planning on heading over to my friend M's house tonight for some "profound pizza."
I won't actually be eating any pizza though since mom made dumplings and I just couldn't hold out...

The specks in it are from the whole wheat flour my mom uses; she uses 1/2 AP and 1/2 whole wheat for the dough.

Happy Friday the 13th y'all!