So I suck, but I suck cause I've been in the planning stages of revamping my blog. I've got so many ideas but I wanted to check in and say hey and see how everyone has been doing and give some updates on how I've been doing.
Sooooooo I kinda hit a wall my weight loss dropped from 3 pounds a week to around one or two, this fall in comparison to the summer, so i decided the time had come to do something different. I joined a new gym and got a personal trainer. I've been doing it now for a month and the results are in! I lost 12 pounds, 1 inch in my chest, 1.5 inches in my waist, 2.5 inches in my hips, 3.5 inches in my thighs and 1 inch in my calves ( I gained an inch in my biceps, but I have have kinda thin arms so that's okay that's muscle!) for a total of 8.5 inches lost. The big shocker was my body fat percentage, it went from 45.3 % to 28.5% ( I made my trainer do it twice to make sure it was correct) I lost 16.8% body fat!
I am a happy girl right now, I worked hard this month. Pushed myself in ways I didn't think I could push myself and it was amazing! I'm even more excited for the next month, I found a kettlebell training place (kettlebells are something I am extremely passionate about) and in one evaluation session I learned so much of what i was doing incorrectly. So I'll also be doing that three days a week.
My goal for next month, is another 12 pounds, I'd like to lose at least 10 inches and another 2-4% body fat. Of course if it doesn't happen it's okay, as long as I tried my best I'm happy!
How is everyone doing this month? Are we keeping up with our goals? Are we working as hard as we did on January first? If not, get back on that horse, this weight is not gonna come off by itself, you've got to remember to go strong no matter what, even on your bad days!
Love you guys!
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Going Out and Having Fun!! (With No Guilt)
So in case you were unaware I am a young single girl (know any hot, professional, nice, younger guys send them my way please ;) ) anyway that being said I do go out occasionally for dinner and drinks sometimes a movie and I've had to learn how to go out and not feel guilty the next day about the calories I ingest.
First I'm gonna tackle the movies, I don't snack at movies at all. No popcorn, No candy and I buy an overpriced bottle of water to drink. I know it sounds impossible, but honestly you are going to ingest 500 plus calories mindlessly during the movie and you just don't need it. First rule of thumb don't go to the movies hungry. Eat dinner first whether at home or a restaurant those calories are going to be better for you calories (nutrient rich) than a bucket of popcorn and a pound of red hots and if you're full then the smells won't make you as hungry and it will be easier to say no. If you absolutely NEED popcorn get a small one, no extra butter, no extra salt, it's plenty buttery and plenty salty all on it's own.
Next drinks, drinking probably won't make you put on weight but it does inhibit weight loss. So here are few tips to drink caloricly responsibly (because we all know not to drink and drive right? I hope so!) Don't drink a whole lot, we don't need to plastered to have a good time, I have three drink maximum on a night out that's enough now I'm not able to drive, but I'm not falling down drunk and its probably about 400 calories I ingested here, that's my snack maximum for the day. Also if you get plastered and you feel like crud the next day you aren't gonna want to work out, so not only did you you drink lots and lots and lots of calories, you don't burn them off the next day, that is bad, bad , bad. So three drinks, no hang over and work out the next day! Now what should you drink? No beer, not even light beer, honestly beer is liquid bread, are you going to eat a whole loaf of bread while on a diet? NO, so don't drink it either. If you loooove beer, have one, only one and make it a light one. Clear alcohols are the best, light rums, vodka, gin these have the least amount of calories and are always good mixed with a diet drink. Margaritas, i love me a margarita, most restaurants have a skinny version, this is great! TGIFridays has two skinny margaritas both only 130 calories. This is how you don't blow your work out at the bar :)
Dining out. When you go to a restaurant be smart okay? First ask yourself how much do I eat out, if your answer is once or twice a month go for it, treat yourself don't worry about it, that Alfredo pasta is not gonna kill you, you are good the other 28-29 days out of the month. If your answer is more like mine and you go out to eat 3 to 4 times a week (dinners and lunches, I told you I had an active social calender) you need to be more aware of what you eat. Stay away from cream sauces and fried foods. Eat lots of salads (not salads with fried chicken on top) and soups. Soups are a good way to one fill you up because it has lots of water and not get a lot of calories. The soups need to broth based not cream based, so get the minestrone over the cream of potato soup. Sandwiches are good, anything covered in gravy is bad (I'm from the south). Baked potatoes are good, make sure it's small about 5 ounces if you get cheese no sour cream, if you get sour cream not cheese. Veggie plates are great, at Chilli's i get the veggie tacos, super good very filling and I don't eat all the tortillas. Skip the desert, get some coffee instead. :)
Can you go out and have fun? YES and you should. If all you do is work, gym, home you aren't living and the whole purpose of being healthy is to live a better life. I believe in living in the moment, so if I REALLY want some pasta and white sauce I'll get it, but i am also aware I will have to put an extra hour on the treadmill the next day to work it off. So go out, have fun, but have fun responsibly and you won't have to stress about the extra calories. Always go strong no matter what!! :)
First I'm gonna tackle the movies, I don't snack at movies at all. No popcorn, No candy and I buy an overpriced bottle of water to drink. I know it sounds impossible, but honestly you are going to ingest 500 plus calories mindlessly during the movie and you just don't need it. First rule of thumb don't go to the movies hungry. Eat dinner first whether at home or a restaurant those calories are going to be better for you calories (nutrient rich) than a bucket of popcorn and a pound of red hots and if you're full then the smells won't make you as hungry and it will be easier to say no. If you absolutely NEED popcorn get a small one, no extra butter, no extra salt, it's plenty buttery and plenty salty all on it's own.
Next drinks, drinking probably won't make you put on weight but it does inhibit weight loss. So here are few tips to drink caloricly responsibly (because we all know not to drink and drive right? I hope so!) Don't drink a whole lot, we don't need to plastered to have a good time, I have three drink maximum on a night out that's enough now I'm not able to drive, but I'm not falling down drunk and its probably about 400 calories I ingested here, that's my snack maximum for the day. Also if you get plastered and you feel like crud the next day you aren't gonna want to work out, so not only did you you drink lots and lots and lots of calories, you don't burn them off the next day, that is bad, bad , bad. So three drinks, no hang over and work out the next day! Now what should you drink? No beer, not even light beer, honestly beer is liquid bread, are you going to eat a whole loaf of bread while on a diet? NO, so don't drink it either. If you loooove beer, have one, only one and make it a light one. Clear alcohols are the best, light rums, vodka, gin these have the least amount of calories and are always good mixed with a diet drink. Margaritas, i love me a margarita, most restaurants have a skinny version, this is great! TGIFridays has two skinny margaritas both only 130 calories. This is how you don't blow your work out at the bar :)
Dining out. When you go to a restaurant be smart okay? First ask yourself how much do I eat out, if your answer is once or twice a month go for it, treat yourself don't worry about it, that Alfredo pasta is not gonna kill you, you are good the other 28-29 days out of the month. If your answer is more like mine and you go out to eat 3 to 4 times a week (dinners and lunches, I told you I had an active social calender) you need to be more aware of what you eat. Stay away from cream sauces and fried foods. Eat lots of salads (not salads with fried chicken on top) and soups. Soups are a good way to one fill you up because it has lots of water and not get a lot of calories. The soups need to broth based not cream based, so get the minestrone over the cream of potato soup. Sandwiches are good, anything covered in gravy is bad (I'm from the south). Baked potatoes are good, make sure it's small about 5 ounces if you get cheese no sour cream, if you get sour cream not cheese. Veggie plates are great, at Chilli's i get the veggie tacos, super good very filling and I don't eat all the tortillas. Skip the desert, get some coffee instead. :)
Can you go out and have fun? YES and you should. If all you do is work, gym, home you aren't living and the whole purpose of being healthy is to live a better life. I believe in living in the moment, so if I REALLY want some pasta and white sauce I'll get it, but i am also aware I will have to put an extra hour on the treadmill the next day to work it off. So go out, have fun, but have fun responsibly and you won't have to stress about the extra calories. Always go strong no matter what!! :)
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Progress Report Time (and other nifty stuff)
Hey guys so a friend of mine told me it was time to put a new picture, the one I have up is from August and I'm down about 30 pounds since then. The pic I'm gonna attach to this blog was actually about a month ago and I'm down another 13lbs since then. So it's me at 260 and I am actually down to 247! YAY I thought this was gonna be a bad week but I weighed myself Thursday and had lost three pounds. I try not to focus on pounds as much, because it fluctuates sooo much and I focus on inches and pant sizes and how I feel and how I look.
I think the most important thing when you're trying to lose weight the right way and change your lifestyle is focusing on the small goals and keeping your eye on the big picture. I found this great little book at Target for 20 bucks called a Fit Book. It's a book that is a three month plan and you break your work outs (and food) down by weeks then by days. You put your 3 months weight loss goal and your weekly weight loss goal and your rewards for reaching your goals. It also allows you to write down and plan your workouts. I love it. Last week I didn't reach my weight loss goal, so no reward right? Well not exactly, I did do all my workouts and I tried my best so I still gave myself a small treat. If I hadn't tried my best and done all my workouts I wouldn't have treated myself at all.
So see it can't all be about the weight loss. I'm slowly learning that (VERY SLOWLY) and I'm learning to appreciate my pants getting to big and buying size 14 and size 16 jeans, a size 14 pair of shorts from Kohl's last night (shorts in December?!?! Hey I live in South Texas it could totally be 90 degress on Christmas day!) and size large dresses from stores I've never been able to buy clothes in before.
There are a lot of things in life that are out of our control, mine in particular and I'm a control freak that really likes to have everything in a nifty(total word of the day!) little box but I can't put everything in a box like I would want. One thing I can control is my workouts and how well I do there. I run till my thighs and calves kill me, I lift till everything hurts and I do so much abs it hurts to even touch my stomach. I let my body get out of control when I let myself get so big, and I will never do that again.
So having trouble keeping yourself honest with your workouts or tracking how much you really do? Go get this fit book. It is great tool to keep you honest and in control and on top of everything. Always go strong no matter what, even when you don't feel all that strong in the end it's so all worth it.
*Fitbook on Amazon.com : http://www.amazon.com/fitbook-by-fitlosophy-fitbook001-nutrition/dp/B002LU3DFG
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Benchmarking Our Lives
So in case you didn't know I am six months away from turning 30, wow it's very crazy if you think about it. I'm not at a place in my life where i thought I would be when I was like 20. If you asked me at 20 where i would be at 30 I would've said I'd be, successful, employed, fabulous, living in a big city anywhere but in Texas, married, probably a couple of kids and a house. All of this is not where I am, I'm still in school, I'm single with no long-term relationship on the horizon, no children (besides my doggy children), still living in small town Texas, I do have jobs but not career type jobs and I'm still living with my parents. We tend to gauge our lives by where we are "supposed" to be and by where our friends are. I am at the age where my friends are getting married and having kids and at times I feel kinda left behind.
I don't want this to sound all woe is me, because that's not me. I love my life, I love who I am, I love what I've accomplished but I can't help but feel left out at times. I've decided to put my school kind off again this semester (I'm only going to go part time) because I really need to finish getting my final 80 lbs off before my 30th birthday in six months. I kind of feel like I'm prolonging my real life by doing this, but I also know it would be a wasted semester anyway.
Being on this journey I have learned about so much more than just how to lose weight and keep it off. This journey has taught me so much about life, love, relationships, people and how I fit into this world. I've reached a point in my life where a LOT of my close friends are finding their soul mates and getting married and are having babies, and I am happy for them but a part of me is like hey what about me! We tend to benchmark our lives, a lot like I mark my weight loss, however life does not work on a schedule. Even if I had finished school at 21 or 22 I still wouldn't be were my friends are in their personal lives because how can you share your life with someone if you don't know who you are? That was me my entire 20's, living day to day slowly sabotaging myself because I didn't know who I was.
" Life doesn't deal the hand you want, it deals the hand you need. Whether you believe it, accept it, want it or not, it is what it is. Be content with your own hand. STOP trying to rush life, just let it happen. Learn to live out the life dealt. What will be, will be!"-Antonio Talbert
I don't want this to sound all woe is me, because that's not me. I love my life, I love who I am, I love what I've accomplished but I can't help but feel left out at times. I've decided to put my school kind off again this semester (I'm only going to go part time) because I really need to finish getting my final 80 lbs off before my 30th birthday in six months. I kind of feel like I'm prolonging my real life by doing this, but I also know it would be a wasted semester anyway.
Being on this journey I have learned about so much more than just how to lose weight and keep it off. This journey has taught me so much about life, love, relationships, people and how I fit into this world. I've reached a point in my life where a LOT of my close friends are finding their soul mates and getting married and are having babies, and I am happy for them but a part of me is like hey what about me! We tend to benchmark our lives, a lot like I mark my weight loss, however life does not work on a schedule. Even if I had finished school at 21 or 22 I still wouldn't be were my friends are in their personal lives because how can you share your life with someone if you don't know who you are? That was me my entire 20's, living day to day slowly sabotaging myself because I didn't know who I was.
" Life doesn't deal the hand you want, it deals the hand you need. Whether you believe it, accept it, want it or not, it is what it is. Be content with your own hand. STOP trying to rush life, just let it happen. Learn to live out the life dealt. What will be, will be!"-Antonio Talbert
I think that quote is perfect, one of my best friend's in the world who is marrying her Prince Charming in May constantly talks about wanting to send a thank you card to all her Ex-Boyfriends thanking them for not wasting her time and teaching her what not to look for. I think this is kind of great. I don't regret anything in my life, because I learned from it. I learned I was really unhappy at 430 pounds and that i wasn't living I was existing. No more existing for me, I'm going to live. I'm going to have that amazing full filling career, plan and had have that ridiculously expensive wedding to my Prince Charming when he does decide to appear and sweep me off my feet and I will have a couple of great kids. I just probably won't have them by 30 and that's okay. It's my life and I make the rules.
Life is hard, no one promises you happiness you have to find it. Do I know exactly what I want? Not completely, but I know I know myself a little bit better now at 245lbs than I did at 430lbs, so things change and I'm single at 29 years old and that's okay. I'm almost done with school, am I gonna go to medical school like was my mom's dream? Nope and I'm totally okay with that I'm gonna work on making me happy and when I am happy that's when I know this journey will be over. So here is to the next six months, because by July 12th, the day I turn 30 I will be 180 pounds (or darn close to it) and I will know more about me and I will be one day closer to the rest of my life. So here's to never settling, never giving up (or figuring out) our dreams and going strong no matter what.
Surviving the Holidays!
Oh my goodness I haven't blogged in a very long time! I have missed y'all and this page. Life has been super hectic but in a good way. The holidays have kinda taken over my life since before Thanksgiving, but I have been really good at keeping up with my exercise and diet routine. I actually lost weight during Thanksgiving week which was a really great thing I was kinda proud of myself. According to the National Institute of Health the average American gains about one pound over the holiday season. This is WAY less than than the 7-10 pounds we all think we might gain. So I don't think eating those extra cookies at the office Christmas party are what is dangerous for those of us trying to maintain a healthy weight or trying to get some weight off, but what is dangerous is falling out of our exercise routine.
Every one's New Year's resolution is to lose weight, be healthy, and I think for some of us it's because we have fallen off the work out wagon so to speak. So how about this, how about we enjoy the holiday cookies, not stress about our food input this Christmas and focus solely on our exercise output. Don't not go to the gym just because you are busy, can't do a complete workout because you have to go Christmas shopping no worries as long as you still do something just don't get out of your routine. If you keep your exercise routine it won't be a big deal to go back to things after the holiday season has settled down. I think this will also include eating better after the cookie temptations have gone away. If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times, the exercise portion of your diet and exercise plan is more important than your diet. So if you're going out of town for Christmas do some research, figure out how to do some exercise in your hotel, or maybe your gym also has a gym in the city you are visiting or just go for a walk or a run, it doesn't really matter what you do as long as you keep your body in the mood for exercise.
Do not stress about your weight during the holidays, have fun, enjoy the season with people that love you, eat some fudge but remember stay active and go strong no matter what!
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Having a bad week..
Hey y'all,
So if you ask anyone I am an upbeat, bubbly full of life kind of girl. Always have a smile on my face but this week has been kind of hard on me. Without boring you with details there's been some family issues and some romance issues and this week was just hard. I think a lot of people would use this time to not go to the gym and I didn't, i don't think you should either.
You know they say when life gives you lemons make lemonade. Well I'm not always up for the lemonade, and sometimes the bitterness of the lemon teaches us not to forget important lessons in life. I guess this week me and my lemons went to the gym! When your feeling down working out is good, it raises endorphins and I don't know about anyone else but I always feel accomplished after a good hard work out, way more accomplished than I would feel bumming on the couch eating bon bons.
So when you hit rough patches in life (and we all do) don't let the rough patches take you away from your goals. Don't stop being active, having a fight with your husband go for a walk, clear your mind a bit and maybe you will see things better. I just know that in the past a week like this would have just brought me really low and I wouldn't have wanted to do anything, but I knew for my body that just wasn't the right thing. So i went to the gym and tried my hardest to literally exercise some of my inner demons out. It didn't work, but I lost two pounds this week so i did some good.
Next week at the gym I'm really gonna amp up my workout. Here lately I've been doing only about 1.5 hours of cardio and about 45 min of resistance. I'm gonna try my hardest to do 2 hours of cardio (stair master for an hour and run for an hour) and then an hour of resistance, plus my swimming 3 days a week. I need to shift my minds focus off of things I can't change and on to things I can which is my workouts. So this week is gonna be an experiment (hey I'm not a scientist for nothing). Let's see how my calves love me come next Friday, hopefully they are still speaking to me!
So lets just all try and remember to not let things bring us so far down that we stop pursing our goals. I'm not just talking work outs here, if your having a bad week don't skip class, or work, go on like nothing is wrong because in the end if you skip out on your life the only person you are hurting is yourself. So like my mom always said fake it till you make it and always go strong no matter what! Love you guys!
So if you ask anyone I am an upbeat, bubbly full of life kind of girl. Always have a smile on my face but this week has been kind of hard on me. Without boring you with details there's been some family issues and some romance issues and this week was just hard. I think a lot of people would use this time to not go to the gym and I didn't, i don't think you should either.
You know they say when life gives you lemons make lemonade. Well I'm not always up for the lemonade, and sometimes the bitterness of the lemon teaches us not to forget important lessons in life. I guess this week me and my lemons went to the gym! When your feeling down working out is good, it raises endorphins and I don't know about anyone else but I always feel accomplished after a good hard work out, way more accomplished than I would feel bumming on the couch eating bon bons.
So when you hit rough patches in life (and we all do) don't let the rough patches take you away from your goals. Don't stop being active, having a fight with your husband go for a walk, clear your mind a bit and maybe you will see things better. I just know that in the past a week like this would have just brought me really low and I wouldn't have wanted to do anything, but I knew for my body that just wasn't the right thing. So i went to the gym and tried my hardest to literally exercise some of my inner demons out. It didn't work, but I lost two pounds this week so i did some good.
Next week at the gym I'm really gonna amp up my workout. Here lately I've been doing only about 1.5 hours of cardio and about 45 min of resistance. I'm gonna try my hardest to do 2 hours of cardio (stair master for an hour and run for an hour) and then an hour of resistance, plus my swimming 3 days a week. I need to shift my minds focus off of things I can't change and on to things I can which is my workouts. So this week is gonna be an experiment (hey I'm not a scientist for nothing). Let's see how my calves love me come next Friday, hopefully they are still speaking to me!
So lets just all try and remember to not let things bring us so far down that we stop pursing our goals. I'm not just talking work outs here, if your having a bad week don't skip class, or work, go on like nothing is wrong because in the end if you skip out on your life the only person you are hurting is yourself. So like my mom always said fake it till you make it and always go strong no matter what! Love you guys!
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Fitness!!!!!
Hey guys! How was every one's week? I'm still having Internet issues so the only computer access I have is at work right now bummer, but I'm hoping that changes this week (hoping!). Anyway I hope everyone had as good a week as I had, I lost five pounds! Woo hoo time to celebrate. Now i know my body and any week I have a big loss is going to be followed by a week of little to no weight loss. Its totally okay, the numbers on the scale while important are not near as important as being fit.
So Wednesday my grandmother calls me to ask me what I want for Christmas, my reply, kettlebells. To which my grandmother responds kettle-what? What are you cooking (I come from a group of very domesticated kitchen-orientated women) and why would a kettle be shaped like a bell? I told her noooo nana a kettlebell is this exercise tool I use it is basically a canon ball with a handle. The Russians developed it to train their army and man is it a good training tool. Unlike dumbbells the kettlebell's center of mass is extended beyond the hand, allowing for swinging movements. What is so amazing about a kettlebell workout is it engages your core, strengthens your back, legs, shoulders and arms and is a resistance and cardio workout in one. For an hour's work you do what should have probably taken two hours.
I recommend the kettlebells to anyone a man or a woman. They vary in weight from 3lb all the way to 35lbs so as you get stronger all you have to do is move up in weight (i'm actually going to buy a 15lb kettlebell this week, I'm currently using a 10lbs one). You don't have to spend any money on videos to teach yourself how to use a kettlebell, I learned how to use it via Youtube! The best informative videos are by a girl named Marianne, her channel is all about kettlebells from beginner to advanced. Her channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/Kitty8Tim and she also has a more informative website: http://www.myomytv.com . Check it out. You can get really cheap kettlebells at Wal - Mart (even cheaper at walmart.com) and you don't have to go to a gym to use them. Do it home all you need is some space and about an hour and you will have an awesome full body exercise! Try it and remember while your swinging your kettlebell to go strong no matter what!!! Bye guys!
So Wednesday my grandmother calls me to ask me what I want for Christmas, my reply, kettlebells. To which my grandmother responds kettle-what? What are you cooking (I come from a group of very domesticated kitchen-orientated women) and why would a kettle be shaped like a bell? I told her noooo nana a kettlebell is this exercise tool I use it is basically a canon ball with a handle. The Russians developed it to train their army and man is it a good training tool. Unlike dumbbells the kettlebell's center of mass is extended beyond the hand, allowing for swinging movements. What is so amazing about a kettlebell workout is it engages your core, strengthens your back, legs, shoulders and arms and is a resistance and cardio workout in one. For an hour's work you do what should have probably taken two hours.
I recommend the kettlebells to anyone a man or a woman. They vary in weight from 3lb all the way to 35lbs so as you get stronger all you have to do is move up in weight (i'm actually going to buy a 15lb kettlebell this week, I'm currently using a 10lbs one). You don't have to spend any money on videos to teach yourself how to use a kettlebell, I learned how to use it via Youtube! The best informative videos are by a girl named Marianne, her channel is all about kettlebells from beginner to advanced. Her channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/Kitty8Tim and she also has a more informative website: http://www.myomytv.com . Check it out. You can get really cheap kettlebells at Wal - Mart (even cheaper at walmart.com) and you don't have to go to a gym to use them. Do it home all you need is some space and about an hour and you will have an awesome full body exercise! Try it and remember while your swinging your kettlebell to go strong no matter what!!! Bye guys!
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Starting a Work Out Plan
Hey y'all how's your Sunday treating you? Watching football??? Vegging on the couch while your team scores that amazing play (or gets the stuffing kicked out of them)? Either way I hope you are having a great day. So I was talking with a friend last night and she has decided she wants to get into shape, she's put on about 40 pounds since having her children and realizes it is only gonna get worse if she doesn't decide to do something about it now and she wanted some advice on starting. Should she get a trainer? What diet should she follow? How much should she work out? Stuff like that, stuff I wondered about before I started exercising.
Something I think I need to make very clear, is I am a broke college student. I work several jobs, pay for school and books and car payments and insurance all on my own, so I don't have funds available for bad ass trainers and expensive pre-planed meals and I for sure do not have tens of thousands of dollars for a radical weight loss surgery. So I taught myself all on my own.
Now before you start any weight loss program you should see your doctor, find out if you are healthy enough to actively loss weight, if you have any limitations the doctor will tell you and you can work around them.
So you want to loss weight, you've decided enough is enough I am gonna get active and get healthy! Awesome! Where do you start? I started slowly, I was lucky I had access to a gym on campus and I started going three times a week for about 30 min to an hour each time. I would do 30 - 45 minuets of cardio and then do so resistance work to start conditioning my muscles. But lets say you do not have access to a gym and you can't afford one. Well here are some easy tips to get you moving toward you work out goal.
1. Do not start a diet yet! Now I know I will take a lot of flack for this, but I think it's true. I was exercising for about two months before I changed my diet. I believe in "a the little bit at a time" approach and I also believe that getting physically active is more important than a diet. So lets change one thing at a time, lets get you moving first.
2. Start small, do not start going for an all out run five days a week. Firstly you run the chance of hurting yourself if you go from bam non-active to trying to train like an Olympic runner and also you will frustrate yourself when you can't complete something. Try walking, go to the high school in your area and walk around the track for 30 minuets. I recommend exercising in the morning, now if this means getting up at 5am to go for a walk before your kids get up do it. Working out in the morning puts your body in a burning mode all day long. So REALLY try to exercise in the morning, eat some oatmeal and go for a walk. IF you absolutely can't then do it in the evening, just do it and stick with it.
3. Give your self mini-goals. So my overall goal is to lose 210 pounds by July 2012 (when I turn 30!) but through out my journey i have had lots of mini goals. For example in the beginning I could only run 3 miles in an hour on the elliptical, i would give my self two weeks and in two weeks i would push my self to run 3.15, then 3.3. Stuff like that, very realistic, obtainable goals. And then i would reward myself in some small way, my reward to myself when I reached 4 miles in an hour was new work out clothes. Yours could be going to see that silly movie you're dying to see, don't go see it UNTIL you reach your goal however.
4. Once you've been working out for awhile (one or two months) start to work on your diet. Again START SLOW, I started by eliminating fast food restaurants one by one. Then I started eliminating excess fat from my diet (switched to 2% milk and low fat cheese) then tackled kicking out high fat proteins from my diet and figuring out recipes that included vegetarian proteins.
5. Now you're set, you're motivated, you're eating right, weight is dropping off like bees on a hive? Right? Well maybe it was and now it's slowed down a little? Now you have to work on keeping your workouts fresh, play with muscle confusion. Working out is not a place where you can be a creature of habit. Don't just run, run and do push ups, go swimming, go walking one day instead of running, keep adding weight to your resistance work out, do some yoga (this is all examples of stuff I do by the way). You have to keep your body guessing and working in different ways to burn existing fat.
If you can do those five things (and you can, because I did and there is absolutely nothing special or different about me and you) then I promise you will be on your way to a healthy life style.
Do you need a trainer? Nope do some research, get started on your own, get motivated ON YOUR OWN, you can do it. Do you need a dietitian? Nope do some research, the Internet is a great place to learn and if you learn how to do it on your own then it is much easier to follow. Now I'm not saying that trainers and dietitians aren't great resources, they are, and if you can afford it DO IT! I would have loved to have someone there in the gym telling me exactly how to work out, I may have lost even more weight in the beginning, but I could not afford one. If you can't afford one don't think you can't do it on your own, YOU CAN, it may be a little harder and a little slower, but really losing weight and get healthy all starts and ends with you. So go strong no matter what!
Something I think I need to make very clear, is I am a broke college student. I work several jobs, pay for school and books and car payments and insurance all on my own, so I don't have funds available for bad ass trainers and expensive pre-planed meals and I for sure do not have tens of thousands of dollars for a radical weight loss surgery. So I taught myself all on my own.
Now before you start any weight loss program you should see your doctor, find out if you are healthy enough to actively loss weight, if you have any limitations the doctor will tell you and you can work around them.
So you want to loss weight, you've decided enough is enough I am gonna get active and get healthy! Awesome! Where do you start? I started slowly, I was lucky I had access to a gym on campus and I started going three times a week for about 30 min to an hour each time. I would do 30 - 45 minuets of cardio and then do so resistance work to start conditioning my muscles. But lets say you do not have access to a gym and you can't afford one. Well here are some easy tips to get you moving toward you work out goal.
1. Do not start a diet yet! Now I know I will take a lot of flack for this, but I think it's true. I was exercising for about two months before I changed my diet. I believe in "a the little bit at a time" approach and I also believe that getting physically active is more important than a diet. So lets change one thing at a time, lets get you moving first.
2. Start small, do not start going for an all out run five days a week. Firstly you run the chance of hurting yourself if you go from bam non-active to trying to train like an Olympic runner and also you will frustrate yourself when you can't complete something. Try walking, go to the high school in your area and walk around the track for 30 minuets. I recommend exercising in the morning, now if this means getting up at 5am to go for a walk before your kids get up do it. Working out in the morning puts your body in a burning mode all day long. So REALLY try to exercise in the morning, eat some oatmeal and go for a walk. IF you absolutely can't then do it in the evening, just do it and stick with it.
3. Give your self mini-goals. So my overall goal is to lose 210 pounds by July 2012 (when I turn 30!) but through out my journey i have had lots of mini goals. For example in the beginning I could only run 3 miles in an hour on the elliptical, i would give my self two weeks and in two weeks i would push my self to run 3.15, then 3.3. Stuff like that, very realistic, obtainable goals. And then i would reward myself in some small way, my reward to myself when I reached 4 miles in an hour was new work out clothes. Yours could be going to see that silly movie you're dying to see, don't go see it UNTIL you reach your goal however.
4. Once you've been working out for awhile (one or two months) start to work on your diet. Again START SLOW, I started by eliminating fast food restaurants one by one. Then I started eliminating excess fat from my diet (switched to 2% milk and low fat cheese) then tackled kicking out high fat proteins from my diet and figuring out recipes that included vegetarian proteins.
5. Now you're set, you're motivated, you're eating right, weight is dropping off like bees on a hive? Right? Well maybe it was and now it's slowed down a little? Now you have to work on keeping your workouts fresh, play with muscle confusion. Working out is not a place where you can be a creature of habit. Don't just run, run and do push ups, go swimming, go walking one day instead of running, keep adding weight to your resistance work out, do some yoga (this is all examples of stuff I do by the way). You have to keep your body guessing and working in different ways to burn existing fat.
If you can do those five things (and you can, because I did and there is absolutely nothing special or different about me and you) then I promise you will be on your way to a healthy life style.
Do you need a trainer? Nope do some research, get started on your own, get motivated ON YOUR OWN, you can do it. Do you need a dietitian? Nope do some research, the Internet is a great place to learn and if you learn how to do it on your own then it is much easier to follow. Now I'm not saying that trainers and dietitians aren't great resources, they are, and if you can afford it DO IT! I would have loved to have someone there in the gym telling me exactly how to work out, I may have lost even more weight in the beginning, but I could not afford one. If you can't afford one don't think you can't do it on your own, YOU CAN, it may be a little harder and a little slower, but really losing weight and get healthy all starts and ends with you. So go strong no matter what!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
The Weekend Baby!!!!
Hey my friends!!! So how was every one's Friday night? I had an amusingly fun night that included dinner out with some really great friends and some adult (not good for me calorie wise) beverages. Oh who am I kidding the pasta I ate at the restaurant wasn't good for me either, but it's totally fine. I'm going to the gym today to run off those tasty adult beverages!
Last night i went out for some margaritas and dinner with my friends that because of our busy schedules we hadn't been able to see each other a lot lately. It's special nights like this that I love being in my new body. I have always been a confident, happy girl, but at over 400 pounds one is going to have some insecurities. One of those for me was eating in public. Now I didn't let my insecurity rule my life and no one should, I still went out to eat with my friends and enjoyed myself, but in the back of my head I always thought oh someone is watching me eating this and that didn't matter what it was and is saying mean things about me somewhere. "Oh look at that fat lazy girl stuffing her face at a reasturant". I don't think like this anymore, someone may still be talking about me for whatever reason ( because not everyone is going to like you and oh well their loss) at a table down the way from me, but I've done something amazing and no one can take that from me.
A lot of people tell me they don't want to use a gym because they are afraid people (the buff dudes or the tiny girls) are gonna stare at them or just be plain mean to them. I am here to tell you this will not happen. It never happened to me and if it for some reason it does happen to you tell the gym staff they will handle it. The people who work for and own gyms are not there because they want to look hot, I think that is a major misconception, they want to share their knowledge of health and fitness with others and they are there to help you more importantly they WANT to help you. That being said I think 90% of people who use the gym are there because they want to be healthy, not pick up people or make fun of people. I've noticed that gym people rarely talk to each other, we all just kind of do our own thing and focus on our workouts. So don't let what other people might say to you keep you from using a gym if you want to use a gym. Gyms are great ways to get motivated, if it hadn't have been for the gym on the campus of my school opening I may not have started this journey. In the beginning I was not a workout oust side type person. If you do pay for a gym or fitness classes DO NOT WASTE THEM, go use them, even if you don't feel like it, it's your money don't throw it away. Like I say all the time, if I can do it anyone can. So get over being worried about what other people think and make a healthy change for YOU! You are the only thing standing in your own way! Have a great Saturday guys!!! :)
Last night i went out for some margaritas and dinner with my friends that because of our busy schedules we hadn't been able to see each other a lot lately. It's special nights like this that I love being in my new body. I have always been a confident, happy girl, but at over 400 pounds one is going to have some insecurities. One of those for me was eating in public. Now I didn't let my insecurity rule my life and no one should, I still went out to eat with my friends and enjoyed myself, but in the back of my head I always thought oh someone is watching me eating this and that didn't matter what it was and is saying mean things about me somewhere. "Oh look at that fat lazy girl stuffing her face at a reasturant". I don't think like this anymore, someone may still be talking about me for whatever reason ( because not everyone is going to like you and oh well their loss) at a table down the way from me, but I've done something amazing and no one can take that from me.
A lot of people tell me they don't want to use a gym because they are afraid people (the buff dudes or the tiny girls) are gonna stare at them or just be plain mean to them. I am here to tell you this will not happen. It never happened to me and if it for some reason it does happen to you tell the gym staff they will handle it. The people who work for and own gyms are not there because they want to look hot, I think that is a major misconception, they want to share their knowledge of health and fitness with others and they are there to help you more importantly they WANT to help you. That being said I think 90% of people who use the gym are there because they want to be healthy, not pick up people or make fun of people. I've noticed that gym people rarely talk to each other, we all just kind of do our own thing and focus on our workouts. So don't let what other people might say to you keep you from using a gym if you want to use a gym. Gyms are great ways to get motivated, if it hadn't have been for the gym on the campus of my school opening I may not have started this journey. In the beginning I was not a workout oust side type person. If you do pay for a gym or fitness classes DO NOT WASTE THEM, go use them, even if you don't feel like it, it's your money don't throw it away. Like I say all the time, if I can do it anyone can. So get over being worried about what other people think and make a healthy change for YOU! You are the only thing standing in your own way! Have a great Saturday guys!!! :)
Friday, September 23, 2011
Lies We Tell Ourselves
My friends! Long time no blog, it has been an ultra busy, emotional week for me. I still made it to the gym even when I didn't feel like it or did not have a lot of time. It may not have been my best week gym wise, but i still pushed and pushed as hard I was physically and emotionally able this week.
So I want to talk about liars, to quote the really cool Dr. House "everyone lies", and it is totally true. Everyone lies and we mainly lie to ourselves. Yesterday I was watching the Dr. Oz show (I love this show, he has awesome health and diet tips, and I actually follow one of his diets from his show) and there was a woman on there who weighs over 700 pounds and is TRYING to get to 1,800 pounds. She earns money from being a super -sized big beautiful woman (ssbbw) model, and men actually pay to watch her eat. All the sexual fetishisms aside, she claims that she is the picture of health, AT 700 POUNDS! It's not possible and in fact Dr. Oz proved just how unhealthy she was, but it did not matter to her she has convinced her self that she is healthy and what she is doing to her body is perfectly okay. What is sad is that at 410 pounds I did the same exact thing.
I was never diabetic, not even pre-diabetic, I got tested every year because my mom is a diabetic (what is funny is when she first became diabetic when i was 8 years old she was not overweight at all) and has been for 21 years. So diabetes has always been something that scared me, but other than that I come from good genes, no heart disease, strokes anything like that and my family lives a very long time (my maternal great grandmother and her twin lived to be 102 and 103) so other than being fat I have good healthy genes on my side. However at 410 pounds, I did not exercise, I did not eat as well as I should have and I was in fact very unhealthy. That is not what I told myself however, I always said "well I'm not diabetic so it's all good". That was a lie, flat out. I could not walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded, walking around the mall would make my ankles swell and my feet hurt and forget running. These things do not happen to a healthy person.
The best day of my life was when I decided to quit lying to myself and get healthy, I'm now 268 pounds (yay I've lost more this week) and I am the healthiest I have ever been in my life. I can go up three flights of stairs in my university's library with out getting winded and it feels amazing. So if you are reading this and you are overweight and not doing anything about it stop being a liar, get off the couch and walk around the block. You will feel amazing I promise and it does not take much, you do not need to be like me and be balls to the wall all the time. Stop lying and do fifteen minuets of cardio three times a week ( anyone can find fifteen minuets in a day)and your body will love you for it. The world will be a much better place when we all stop lying, I know my world got better when I stop telling my self lies. Have a great friday my friends!
So I want to talk about liars, to quote the really cool Dr. House "everyone lies", and it is totally true. Everyone lies and we mainly lie to ourselves. Yesterday I was watching the Dr. Oz show (I love this show, he has awesome health and diet tips, and I actually follow one of his diets from his show) and there was a woman on there who weighs over 700 pounds and is TRYING to get to 1,800 pounds. She earns money from being a super -sized big beautiful woman (ssbbw) model, and men actually pay to watch her eat. All the sexual fetishisms aside, she claims that she is the picture of health, AT 700 POUNDS! It's not possible and in fact Dr. Oz proved just how unhealthy she was, but it did not matter to her she has convinced her self that she is healthy and what she is doing to her body is perfectly okay. What is sad is that at 410 pounds I did the same exact thing.
I was never diabetic, not even pre-diabetic, I got tested every year because my mom is a diabetic (what is funny is when she first became diabetic when i was 8 years old she was not overweight at all) and has been for 21 years. So diabetes has always been something that scared me, but other than that I come from good genes, no heart disease, strokes anything like that and my family lives a very long time (my maternal great grandmother and her twin lived to be 102 and 103) so other than being fat I have good healthy genes on my side. However at 410 pounds, I did not exercise, I did not eat as well as I should have and I was in fact very unhealthy. That is not what I told myself however, I always said "well I'm not diabetic so it's all good". That was a lie, flat out. I could not walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded, walking around the mall would make my ankles swell and my feet hurt and forget running. These things do not happen to a healthy person.
The best day of my life was when I decided to quit lying to myself and get healthy, I'm now 268 pounds (yay I've lost more this week) and I am the healthiest I have ever been in my life. I can go up three flights of stairs in my university's library with out getting winded and it feels amazing. So if you are reading this and you are overweight and not doing anything about it stop being a liar, get off the couch and walk around the block. You will feel amazing I promise and it does not take much, you do not need to be like me and be balls to the wall all the time. Stop lying and do fifteen minuets of cardio three times a week ( anyone can find fifteen minuets in a day)and your body will love you for it. The world will be a much better place when we all stop lying, I know my world got better when I stop telling my self lies. Have a great friday my friends!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Diet and Exercise
Hey y'all so it's been a couple of days since my last post, and I'm sorry about that but I'm back! Tonight I want to talk about how important it is to eat when you exercise. Now losing weight is simple math, you need to eat less calories than you exert and you will lose weight. And we can all do that, we can all count calories but that's not all what nutrition is about. I exercise A LOT, I work out like an athlete, i run at least five miles a day, and recently i have taken on the StairMaster. Then I do weight work , my average work out is about 4 hours a day, and sometimes I head back to the gym in the evening. Recently I've figured out I am no getting enough protein in my diet to repair the muscles I damage when I exercise. This was making me slow and sluggish and really not able to push myself like I wanted.
Does this mean I'm gonna eat an 8 ounce sirloin a day, no but I wish! There are lots of super healthy lean proteins out there. I eat lots of quiona (which is an AWESOME vegetarian protein), chicken and egg whites. I also never miss a meal, and always have snacks with me. You should eat five (yes FIVE) times a day.
Even when everything in your system says no don't eat I'll burn more calories, it's not true. Eat, eat healthy and eat often. If you're exercising you WILL burn off what you eat and it's all about balance. You have to relearn how to be healthy if you want your weight loss to last your entire life! :)
Does this mean I'm gonna eat an 8 ounce sirloin a day, no but I wish! There are lots of super healthy lean proteins out there. I eat lots of quiona (which is an AWESOME vegetarian protein), chicken and egg whites. I also never miss a meal, and always have snacks with me. You should eat five (yes FIVE) times a day.
Even when everything in your system says no don't eat I'll burn more calories, it's not true. Eat, eat healthy and eat often. If you're exercising you WILL burn off what you eat and it's all about balance. You have to relearn how to be healthy if you want your weight loss to last your entire life! :)
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Getting Started
Hey guys! Sorry it's been a couple of days since my last post, I've had some family issues going on but I promise I will try my best to post daily, I know y'all miss my neurotic rantings when i don't post. So I mentioned in my previous blog I would explain why my weight loss in the beginning was super slow. It's an easy answer I started out gradually.
Starting out slow is I think the best way to do it. I remember when I decided to hit the gym I needed tennis shoes and work out clothes, cause I had none of neither, and I didn't run out and buy 50 dollar shoes and expensive workout clothes. I got my shoes for 9 bucks at walmart and one work out outfit at the dollar store cause it was on sale. The last thing I wanted to do was spend lots of money and not keep up with the gym. I also did not change my diet at all. I kept eating crap, like a huge quesidilla then going to the gym and trying to run, worst work out ever.
Starting of slow was important, at first the goal was 3 miles on the elliptical in an hour, then a month later it was 3 miles in an hour doing intervals, then four miles, now i run five in an hour and run for two hours a day. If I had started with unrealistic goals I would not be where I am today.
My whole philosophy in losing weight is change one thing, I don't care if you weigh 500 lbs and can't exercise, or have bad knees, or anything, just change one thing. Give up sodas, or don't eat bread at dinner, or give up candy five days out of the week. Walk to your mail box, walk your dog around the block anything. I promise you will see a change, not day one, or two maybe not till day 20, but you will see a change and those changes will become addicting. Like me it took me like four months to lose the first 20 pounds and go down a pants size, and I knew then I wanted more, so changed my diet, pretty radically and I was okay with it. Am I perfect when it comes to my diet, no because it's not a diet, I re-taught myself how to eat and if you are morbidly obese and want to get it off and keep it off you will also have to re-teach your self somethings.
So start off slow, but don't ever stop. Keep going to the gym or the park with your dogs. If I can do it anyone can, because trust me I'm a very average person just trying to accomplish a goal like you are! Thanks guys! :)
Starting out slow is I think the best way to do it. I remember when I decided to hit the gym I needed tennis shoes and work out clothes, cause I had none of neither, and I didn't run out and buy 50 dollar shoes and expensive workout clothes. I got my shoes for 9 bucks at walmart and one work out outfit at the dollar store cause it was on sale. The last thing I wanted to do was spend lots of money and not keep up with the gym. I also did not change my diet at all. I kept eating crap, like a huge quesidilla then going to the gym and trying to run, worst work out ever.
Starting of slow was important, at first the goal was 3 miles on the elliptical in an hour, then a month later it was 3 miles in an hour doing intervals, then four miles, now i run five in an hour and run for two hours a day. If I had started with unrealistic goals I would not be where I am today.
My whole philosophy in losing weight is change one thing, I don't care if you weigh 500 lbs and can't exercise, or have bad knees, or anything, just change one thing. Give up sodas, or don't eat bread at dinner, or give up candy five days out of the week. Walk to your mail box, walk your dog around the block anything. I promise you will see a change, not day one, or two maybe not till day 20, but you will see a change and those changes will become addicting. Like me it took me like four months to lose the first 20 pounds and go down a pants size, and I knew then I wanted more, so changed my diet, pretty radically and I was okay with it. Am I perfect when it comes to my diet, no because it's not a diet, I re-taught myself how to eat and if you are morbidly obese and want to get it off and keep it off you will also have to re-teach your self somethings.
So start off slow, but don't ever stop. Keep going to the gym or the park with your dogs. If I can do it anyone can, because trust me I'm a very average person just trying to accomplish a goal like you are! Thanks guys! :)
Saturday, September 3, 2011
I have never blogged before, or ever really felt the need to blog, but now i need an outlet. In April of 2010 I decided I was going to change my life, I was 28 years old and I weighed over 400 pounds. I know that right there sounds very sad, but I was never a sad person. I had great friends, boyfriends (not all at once), awesome jobs, in college, active in a sorority, all in all I had no real complaints about life. But then I saw my self in some pictures from a friend's wedding in January of 2010 and I thought "oh wow, when did I get soooo big?" I have been a big girl my entire life, at birth I weighed almost eleven pounds, then i was a chubby child, a chunky pre-pubescent kid, a fat teenager, and now a morbidly obese nearly thirty adult. So when my college opened up a new state of the art gym, and my friend wanted to start going I jumped at the chance, I started going to the gym and I just haven't stopped.
Now here I am a 16 months later, 135 pounds lighter (still need to lose 100 pounds) and I'm loving it. I never realized what i was missing out on weighing over 400 pounds, the simple things like going hiking or even just walking around the mall without my feet hurting. Or being able to fit in movie theatre seats or not needing extenders for airplane belts.
So this blog is going to be about the journey through the next 100 pounds, i know it's going to be a lot harder than the first 135 pounds, but I'm up for the challenge. I'm hoping this will become a forum of sorts, so i don't completely drive my loved ones crazy, a place where I can talk about and work through all the problems that come from making such a life altering change. So if your still reading buckle-up because I'm sure it's gonna be an interesting ride!
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