Fit For Life

First off--my 25th birthday was a resounding success! Older brother and I headed to Panther Creek like I'd indicated. We did not, however, run. We hiked at a very steady clip. The entire trail, there and back, is 7 miles of absolutely gorgeous scenery. We've had amazing weather, and Saturday was no exception.

Some photos (my camera died almost right off the bat, but I was able to resurrect it for the end photo):

My brother asked for a less-cheesy smile. This is what I gave him instead.

The photo doesn't do it justice, but this entire bend of the river is walled off by stone. So cool!

This is at the very end of the hike--quite the precarious climb down, but worth it! 

All in all, a fun day in nature. I was (and still am) super sore afterward, though. We followed up with lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant and cooled off with frozen margaritas. 

Recently I've decided that Evan and I need to add some more fitness into our life. Since he got the desk job, his life has become very sedentary. And while I run several times a week, I'm still not as active as I'd like to be. 

Neither of us needs to lose massive amounts of weight, but he's lost a lot of muscle that's turned into some flab, and I've got some softness in places I'd rather not. 

I've already been slowing transitioning us off red meat and more into grains (like quinoa, which I can't get enough of), but it's not been enough. Last year we did a cleanse in which we cut out all processed foods, white flour, sugar, carbs, dairy, etc. We felt really good afterward, but pretty quickly fell back into our unhealthy eating routine. 

I like to cook. A lot. But I'm severely lacking in motivation most days, and our grocery store produce section sucks big time--and there's no where else to shop. Therefore, we have a tendency to go out to eat when we don't feel like cooking, and we all know what a trap that is. 

Since our move to the new house is fairly imminent, I'm trying to empty our pantry, so I've been cooking at home about 90% of the time the past few weeks, and the difference we feel even there is amazing. I always try to cook healthy. We don't have snacks hanging around the house, except for stuff like nuts and fruit. So I figured it's gotta be the fast food junket we've been enjoying. 

I follow Women's Health Magazine (@WomensHealthMag) on Twitter, and today I saw that they're cross promoting the Fit For Life Summer Challenge with Men's Health. 

Check it out! There are some interesting things to think about in there, plus workouts for all kinds. I don't know if we're actually going to partake in the challenge itself, but I printed out the eating guide and some of the workouts. 

Are you active? How do you try to incorporate fitness into your daily routine?