In this month's Self magazine there is an article starting on page 74 with a two-week clean eating plan.  The plan starts with these "7 Diet Rules to Live By":

1. You get about 1,600 calories a day
2. Eat often - as in every three to four hours
3. Down at least 80 grams of protein a day...
4. …and 25 g fiber
5. Cut added sugar
6. Choose whole grains
7. Quit drinking

After laying out these rules, they give you a full week's worth of meals so that you already have an idea of what to eat.  Here are some of my favorite meal and snack ideas:

• Sliced apple oatmeal
• Chili garlic popcorn
• Morning "bento box"
• Apple with spiced yogurt dip
• Sun-dried tomato tuna linguine
• Black bean veggie quesadilla
• Frech toast with fruit

Even though I couldn't eat all of their meal ideas because I'm a vegetarian, I was still able to get a lot of great ideas and it definitely gave me a head-start on my grocery list for the week!

To check out more information on this plan, visit www.self.com.

Where do you go when you're looking for health and wellness inspiration?  Do you look at health magazines, find ideas on Pinterest, or something totally different?

The focus for my happiness project during the month of January will be to start taking better care of myself by taking time to work out and eating healthier.  Obviously, this will have to continue on past January in order to make a lifelong change to my health and wellness.  

Just like I started using the My Fitness Pal app last week, I've decided to add another tool to my arsenal.  This past week I went to Target and purchased the FitBit Flex.  In case you don't know anything about the FitBit, here's some information from their website about the Flex:

This slim, stylish device is with you all the time. During the day, it tracks steps, distance, and calories burned. At night, it tracks your sleep quality and wakes you silently in the morning. Just check out the lights to see how you stack up against your personal goal. It’s the motivation you need to get out and be more active.

Not only does it come in some really fun colors, it also only costs $99.95!  I think that's a great deal for such a helpful tool.

I've only had the Flex for a couple of days, but I'm already excited about the way it has fit easily into my life.  It's fun to check throughout the day to see how many calories I've burned and how many steps I've taken.  I'm very goal driven, so seeing a visual representation of my progress definitely keeps me motivated.  

The thing I like best about the Flex is that it can be synced with the My Fitness Pal app. I track my food and exercise on My Fitness Pal and it automatically gets incorporated into the data that the Flex is tracking for me.  Between the two, I have a great picture of how my day is shaping up.  So if I've eaten a bit too much, I can compare that to how many calories I've burned and make it a point to move some more to balance out the extra food I've eaten.

Next week I'm going to talk about eating healthier and the great eating plan I found in the January issue of Self.

Have you tried any of the FitBit products?  If so, which one did you choose and what are your thoughts on it?

I just hit 10,000 pins on Pinterest!  I'm not sure whether to be proud or ashamed.  It's taken a long time, but is it bad that I've spent that much time going through pins?  Honestly though, I don't really care if I've spent a huge portion of time on Pinterest because I feel like my life is more interesting because of it.  

Here are some examples:

• Making almost 200 new recipes (with some great successes and epic failures)
• Visiting places I never would have known about
• Using a huge collection of inspirational quotes to guide me through tough times
  
• Designing my dream home
• Having all kinds of interested facts to share with friends
• Laughing out loud at some of the hilarious stuff you find
• Getting inspired by amazing photography
• Spending way too much money on re-creating outfits from my fashion boards
• Learning all kinds of life hacks
• Making some really cute crafts
• Giving unique gifts that I never would have thought of myself

I'm sure there are more things I could list, but you get the point.  As much of a time-suck as Pinterest is, it really does add value to my life.  So now I might just go pin some more and work my way towards 20,000!

If you'd like to follow me or check out my pins, here's a link to my profile.

Finding things to pin is the easy part.  What I haven't mastered yet is the art of getting followers.  I see people with hundreds of people who follow them and I always wonder how they do it.  Do you have any tips or tricks on how I can grow my list of followers?

For the fourth month of my happiness project, I am going to focus on health and wellness.  Like most people at this time of year, I have made a resolution to get in better shape.  Other than the wish to become healthier, I also have a cruise coming up and I'd like to be in good shape so I can be comfortable wearing a bathing suit at the pool.  

In order to get my health on track, I've decided to use an app that will allow me to track my calories.  The app is called My Fitness Pal.  You start out by entering your current weight, your goal weight, and how many pounds per week you would like to lose (either 1 lb., 1.5 lbs., or 2 lbs. per week).  At that point the app calculates the amount of calories you should eat per day.  

Using the app on my phone is fairly easy.  At every meal I add the foods I've eaten and it tells me how many more calories I have left for the day.  Once the day is done, it tells me how much I would weigh in 5 weeks if I keep eating the same total of calories as that current day.  It's gratifying to see how your hard work will pay off down the road if you've eaten well for the day.  It's also good to see how your weight loss will slow down if you haven't stayed within your allotted calories for the day.

Over the last week, the app has helped me get a good idea of how much food I should be eating each day.  Even though I've been given a fair amount of calories a day, it's been difficult at first to stay within my allotment. I've been trying to choose healthier foods, but I still feel hungry most of the time.  I'm hoping that my stomach will shrink a little bit so that I can start feeling fuller and for longer.  

I will check in next week and let you know how I am progressing.