Keys to Sticking to Your Goal!

It's easy to say "Starting Monday I'm going to eat better and start working out!" I know I've said that line many times in my 30 years. That first Monday you're all pumped up, but once Wednesday rolls around the motivation can somewhat fade. Then it gets harder and harder to stay motivated.  Sticking to a healthier lifestyle can get confusing and frustrating, especially in the beginning, but here are some things that have really helped me.

1. Find a Workout You Can Enjoy - Knowing you need to workout for the day can be daunting at times, especially if you don't enjoy the workout.  Whether is running, aerobics, riding your bike, make sure you enjoy it.  I personally have come to enjoy Chalene Johnson as a fitness instructor and have loved TurboFire and Chalean Extreme, so working out is a little easier for me to start, even on those days I really don't want to exercise.
2. Spend Time at the Grocery Store - After spending hours at the gym and not seeing results did it finally hit me, my diet had to change.  I couldn't just exercise 1-2 hours a day and expect to see the results I wanted, I needed to change my eating habits too.  Once I changed the way I ate, the pounds dropped off.
   
   In the beginning figuring out what and what not to eat can be extremely frustrating.  I suggest spending some time at the grocery store and finding items you might like and really reading the labels.  Things to consider:
   
   - Amount of calories PER SERVING
   - High in fiber and or protein (these keep you fuller longer)
   - Low in sugar
   
   When in doubt consider the ingredients.  Ingredients you can't pronounce?  Lean towards food that are not so processed.  After spending some quality time at the grocery store you will find items that you enjoy eating and your food list will just grow every time you go back to the store.  Here are some of my "go to" items. 
3. Share Your Goal with Others - They'll be asking you about your progress and looking for changes, a little pressure does help.  Accountability can be that little push you need sometimes.  Plus, I've noticed that those who know will often be very helpful too.  When going out to eat, at times friends will take my diet into consideration and choose places where there are more healthy items to choose from.
4. Be Accountable to Yourself - Only you can push yourself to make the changes.  If you mess up one day then just start again the next day.  Don't give up.
5. Patience is Key - Gaining weight is easy and can happen quickly but losing the weight takes hard work and determination.  Don't beat yourself up if you haven't lost as much as you think you should have.  Concentrating only on what the scale says can be deceiving.  You might not be seeing that scale go down but you could be gaining muscle and losing inches. 

I wish everyone the best in their weight-loss journey.  The hard work will pay off!

Three Steps Forward, One Step Back

As much as I hate to write this, I must say that my weigh in today was nothing but disastrous.  I gained 3 pounds!!!!  I really didn’t want to tell anyone since it’s kind of embarrassing, but I have to tell the truth on my blog, good or bad. 

Not being on a schedule this past week and a half really messed me up.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved being on vacation and spending time with my munchkin but I kept putting off working-out and wasn’t keeping track of calorie counting.  

I was so excited last week when I started noticing some changes but now I feel as huge as a house!  Well I can’t let this get me down, I got to suck it up and move forward.  I’m going to make this week an awesome week and hope to see some great results next Monday!

Next time I want to cheat a little on my diet I'm really going to have to ask myself “Is it really worth it?”

Adios Baby Belly: Hard Work Pays Off

Adios Baby Belly: Hard Work Pays Off

Hard Work Pays Off

I never thought I'd put my weight online or even my "fat" pictures, but I did and I'm still alive.  Getting used to counting calories and squeezing in workouts hasn't been easy but seeing results makes it all worth it.

1. Clothes Fitting Better – No my clothes aren’t falling off of me but they do feel more comfortable and I think I’m getting my waist back!
2. Not Completely Dying During a Workout – The first week of working out was tough but it slowly getting better.  Don’t get me wrong, TurboFire is still kicking my butt, I’m still following the modified versions.  I can’t do the full jumps or burpees yet but I’ll be there eventually.
3. Skin Clearing Up – My skin really gives me away when I’m not eating healthy.  But since I’ve started eating better I’ve noticed that my skin is clearing up.  Bye bye adult acne!
4. Accomplishment – Seeing these small changes has made me feel better about myself.  I know I’m not where I want to be yet but it’s good to know that I’ll be there soon.  I feel thinner, more toned and stronger.  Can’t wait to see more results

Cheese Temptations

On the 12th day of my workout program my husband and I went out with friends to The Melting Pot.  I figured it would be a little overwhelming and tempting so I planned my day to have more than enough calories to use and not feel so restricted.  All the way to the restaurant I had my game face on, nothing was going to side track me from my allotted amount of calories.  But to see that glorious cheese fondue on the table, well that was the end of my calorie composure.  Bring on the next three courses! 

To my surprise the next day I was searching how many calories I my meal contained.  I couldn't find anything on the Melting Pot website but found a few websites that said my meal had 1400 calories.  That's pretty high but I had 1200 going in, so maybe I didn't do sooooo bad.  Well, lets just hope those websites were right!  Now I'm trying to fit in some extra workouts and subtract some calories for a few days.  Ok, I failed on my first big temptation, but I'll do better next time, promise!

What's She Doing?

Today I got an email from my aunt asking me to explain what I’m doing and what TurboFire is.  So if you’ve thought this too, here you go.

TurboFire is the newest workout program by Chalene Johnson and sold by Beach Body.  Beach Body sells other great workout programs such as P90X, Insanity, Brazilian Butt Lift, TurboJam plus many others.  TurboFire is kickboxing moves choreographed to great music.

My diet regulations come from what TurboFire has created.  Each workout program from Beach Body comes with it’s own unique nutritional guide tailored to the program you have to you give the best results and is high intensity interval training.

Since I’ve chosen TurboFire I’m following that nutritional guide and the 20 week workout guide.  Everything comes with the program, which workout to do on which day, how and what to eat.  Beach Body has really made it so easy.  No more guessing!

See what kind of workout program works best for you!

Weekend Calorie Counting

Jotting down my food entry into my cute little hot pink notebook was a bit of a pain my first few days, but eventually got easier as the week went on.  But jeez…for some reason it was impossible to write anything down this weekend.  I kind of feel like a nerd when I take out my notebook in front of others and enter everything I'm about to eat or just ate.  Oh well….a nerd I will be…..a skinny nerd! 

We’ll see how my second weekend goes.

Im pooped.....

I’m not sure if it’s just life (working, my 6 month old, cooking, cleaning) or if it’s TurboFire, but I'm pooped!  Yesterday I did HIIT 15, its 9-45 second high intensity drills.  Doesn’t sound so bad when you say it out loud but it’s tough, good thing the workout is only 15 minutes long, so it goes by pretty quick.

Plus I got in a little extra credit work out…. running down the street in my pj’s trying to find my dog the escape artist.  Ah what a scene.  Yet again he found a new way to get out of the backyard.  Poor little guy’s dying to get out of the house, he needs a walk….any takers? 

The journey begins.....now!

Well today is the first day of my weight loss journey.  I started out this morning figuring our how many calories I needed to eat.  To my surprise it was 1500!  That seems a lot since I used to only get 1200 calories, but I suppose I am a bit larger than I used to be a year ago so I guess I start off with more then gradually take away calories.  So for now I will enjoy the extra calories.

Today wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but the first day isn’t usually that difficult, it’s the second and third day that really get me. The worst part of my day was weighing in.  I’ve put this day off for a while now because I didn’t want to know how much I actually gained.  Last fall I was around 133 and today I am 175, a 42 lb gain!  I went a bit over board on the food.  I have to say it was fun enjoying all the food, but it’s all caught up with me now.  I’ll just have to stick to my nutrition and workout plan, then eventually I’ll feel better and I’ll have so many clothes to wear, can’t wait!

I was sort of dreading the exercise planned for day one of TurboFire, but once the warm up music started I started to get over that feeling and actually looked forward to the workout.  Day one began with Fire 30 Class which was a 30 minute intense cardio workout with 2-1 minute drills higher intensity, which is tough but fun.  I did have to stop one time to catch my breath, but started it back up again to finish the rest of the workout. I had to follow the girl who modified the workout, but I'm just happy I was able to finish the whole DVD.  The second part of the workout was Stretch 10 Class, a 12 minute class devoted to stretching.  I'm not fond of warm-ups and stretching but it was actually quite relaxing even if there was a fussy baby 5 feet from me not happy that I wasn’t picking him up. 

Overall the first day went pretty good!  The only thing I'm not happy about is posting my measurements and before pictures.  But once I start getting results it’ll get easier and easier.  Now on to day two!

This mommy is getting ready for Turbofire!

Thanks for checking out my blog.  I'll be starting December 6th, please subscribe and share with your friends.  I hope I can motivate you and in return get motivation back to help me through this weight loss process.