Quit saying its too hard, quit telling yourself you can't!

Some fitness folks out there are anti-cheat meal because they believe giving into a craving or a temptation will only open the junk food flood gates. Others believe a cheat meal is a good way to reward your hard work and also stay sane. For me personally I think its ridiculous to say that there are certain foods I'm never going to eat again. In the past my struggle with cheat meals was that I felt guilty. I felt like that was flushing a perfect week down the drain. My mentality on this changed once I started seeing the after a not so perfect weekend my weight on the scale was still the same on Monday morning as it had been Friday. In my head, eating out for dinner or snacking on some chips and salsa was going to make the scale go up. But I've been proven wrong time and time again. Now I'm ok with a not so perfect weekend. This doesn't mean that it's ok to go crazy though. If I'm craving a big pancake breakfast, then fine i'll make it, but this means the rest of my day needs to be on track. I don't look at my weekend as a chance to go wild and eat any and everything in sight, but if theres something in particular I'd like to snack on or have for a meal, that I don't allow myself to have on a regular basis, then I'm gonna go for it (in moderation). This works well for me for because I have made so much progress that I don't want to revert back to my old ways. I'm happy with shopping for a size 6 body instead of a 12, so I know that even if I do have say pizza for dinner, I'm only going to allow myself 2 slices because I don't want to over do it like I always did in the past. Cheating doesn't mean pigging out, but a little indulgence here and there won't hurt when you give 110% all other times.

It's really important to know that nutrition is a major part of weight loss and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. My #1 trouble area is my tummy, it's the first place I put weight and its the hardest for me to lose. Now I could do all the crunches in the world, run until I can't anymore, and bust my butt doing hours of cardio, but that will only get me so far. Abs are made in the kitchen. If you want you're tummy to be flat, you have to eat clean, thats all there is too it. Now definition and that six pack comes from ab work, but losing the goo is part cardio, but a bigger part nutrition. Have you ever really looked at a food label before? All those grams of added sugar, all the fat, the sodium...none of that garbage is good for us. Half of that sugar is added, and most of the times its one of the first ingredients listed. The sodium makes you bloated, and the sugar and fat well you know what that does. It goes straight to your love handles, or hips, and it sits there. And it taunts you every time you look in the mirror. Now you would think that would get us to stop eating it. We know bad food = a muffin top = not happy with what we see, yet we still throw that bag of chips in our shopping cart, we still come home and eat 5 cookies to make ourselves "feel better" after a bad day. Why are we torturing ourselves??
If you go to any bookstore or search their inventory online, the amount of diet books that are available is ridiculous! And to me, reading them is a big fat waste of time! We all know how to lose weight, I mean really its not rocket science. We know that bad foods and lack of exercise is going to make us fat. And we all know that choosing healthier foods and regular exercise will not only keep us in good health but will also shed unwanted pounds. So then why the need for all these books? Because people want an easier answer. We want something that won't take much of our time (because heaven forbid we miss our favorite tv show) and we don't want something thats too hard or going to make us break a sweat (because heaven forbid we push ourselves). Instead of spending the money towards a gym membership, tons of people spend that money on diet books and pills that will never get them one step closer to feeling better about themselves. All they'll gain is a library of books, the knowledge to be able to change, and a cabinet full of stimulants that didn't work as promised...but a sense of accomplishment and pride, they won't find that. It would be completely ridiculous for me to start applying for jobs in the healthcare field. I haven't put in the hours of studying, the years of schooling, I haven't worked hard for a nursing degree, so how could I expect to get a job in that field? It's completely unrealistic. A well paying job only comes after you've put in the time and work to complete the training. The same applies to losing weight. You will not see the results you desire unless you are willing to put forth the time and hard work. You can't expect to drop a size or two if you're only doing the bare minimum. You won't lose that tummy if you're constantly making excuses for why you can't give up certain foods.
When you first start its hard, and you may feel like you don't really know what you are doing. But there are so many resources out there, so many other people who have decided that they want more for themselves. And the longer you stick with clean eating and a work out routine, the more it starts to become second nature. I no longer look at what I'm doing as just trying to lose weight. This is my life now. This is who I am, who I've become. Working out is not something I need to find the time to do, just like I have to be at work at 9am, I have to be at that gym by 530am.

Excuses Excuses

I've done a blog about excuses before but lately more and more people have been asking me what I've done to lose weight. And just like before, I still get the same reactions. "Oh thats too hard" "I could never give up those foods" "5am is too early." Everyone is full of excuses, if It's not one thing it's another. You're damn right though, it is hard, and 5am is EARLY. Of course I'd rather sleep in, of course I'd love to eat pizza and ice cream, but do I want those things more then I want a long healthy happy life? NO WAY. We've got one shot to get it right and after 24 years, I'm tired of settling, are you?

I stole this next part from Tony Horton's website. http://tonyhortonsworld.com/closet-garbage-eater/  There's no better way to say it, so I'll just let him tell you...

Closet Garbage Eater

"You know who you are. You’ve got all the answers and your lousy at taking sound advice because it’s easier to be lazy. The tilt-a-whirl of disappointment goes round and round and you pretend everything is okay. You’re not fooling anyone and everyone else knows what you’re up to. It’s easy to lack self discipline because you’re not alone. Misery loves company.

I’m sick and tired of hearing why you can’t stop eating crap. Stop blaming your thyroid, boyfriend, childhood and ancestry because it’s not working. The problem is your inability to face reality. The real issues are your lack of accountability, willpower, determination and the lousy company you keep. It’s also your lame plan or lack there of. Your reasons why suck and you don’t tell the truth about what you stuff in your face when no one is looking.

 Your horrendous eating habits is the American terrorist within. If the level of disease caused by unhealthy choices continues at this alarming rate then we will destroy ourselves without any help from the bad guys. Fad diets, pills and miracle potions used to lose weight never work in the long term and they never will. Dozens of studies show that calorie control diets that still allow you to eat forms of unhealthy food always fail. I’ve never met anyone who started a “weight lose only” diet and stayed on it. So you lost 50 pounds and kept it off for 5 years. Why did you gain it all back in 6 months during year six? Are you proud of that?

 When diet deprivation becomes too much the closet eating begins. Your reasons for falling off the wagon are plenty and you’ll defend them till you’re blue in the face. Good for you for choosing the option that required you to be lazy again. Choosing gluttony is no way to build your manifesto my friend. What is your reason for being on this earth? Why do you really put that garbage in your mouth? Do you want to know why? Do you want to look at it closely? Do you care enough?

 The simple answer is choice. I hope you weren’t expecting something more complicated. How do you choose what to be? How will you work to be better than before? Who will you surround yourself with? How long will your better choices last? Will you continue to be the closet garbage eater or will you finally get your act together, stop making it about you all the time and begin to be an example to the people in your life who need your help?" -Tony Horton

When to NOT push yourself

There are days when I don't feel like going to the gym, I feel sleepy or lazy or just not 100% when I wake up, but I push myself because I keep the bigger picture in mind. But sometimes there has to be an exception to the "push yourself" rule. I've run in the rain, worked out with bad allergies or a cold, but sometimes a sickness drags us down so much that our body really just needs some extra rest. The past couple days I've been battling a bad cold or sinus infection, can't really tell what it is. It's causing some nasty sinus headaches, sore throat, swollen glands, stuffed nose, fatigue, chills, and cold sweats. Yeah, it's been a ton of fun. Started Saturday night and by Sunday I was a hot mess. I woke up Monday feeling no better and knew working out was not going to be an option, my body literally just didn't have the strength to get up and walk around. I set my alarm for 4:50 this morning planning to only miss that one gym day, but I got up started hacking and sniffling and Steve yelled at me to get back in bed and let my body rest. Thank goodness for him because my crazy butt would have headed to the gym. I laid back down and had to think about the bigger picture, two days missed is better then possibly a week missed because I pushed my body further into fatigue. I should be good to go by tomorrow, but even then a light workout is probably going to be better for me then to jump in and going 1000% to make up for the workouts I lost.

Because my inner progress has not yet caught up with my outer progress I have a hard time dealing with this whole thing. I'm currently struggling with a phobia of gaining weight. It's a pretty ridiculous actually, I mean missing a workout probably isn't going to help me lose anything, but it's not like I'm going to gain 5lbs because of it, as long as my nutrition stays on point. These are the things the inner part of me is struggling with. Nutrition can be tricky when you're sick though. If you're like me you completely lose your appetite. Yesterday I was literally forcing myself to eat, but everything I ate either tasted funny or had no taste at all (because I can't breathe) lol. I was also dealing with an upset stomach for whatever reason, and pretty much only wanted to eat crackers and 7up (so not paleo). Ok so whats my point, 1. rest is important if your body is telling you it needs a break. 2. The mental aspect of losing weight is something that needs to be addressed. Talk out any unhealthy behavior or negative feelings you may be having with someone you trust. Lucky for me my boyfriend keeps me sane and keeps me focused and is honest with me if I'm being ridiculous.

Fitness icon Jamie Eason. This woman is FIT, and she has alot of great info on bodybuilding.com as well as her facebook page.

Drum roll please...

Ok so this is a pretty big milestone in my weightloss journey, and I felt like I needed to share it with you all. This is also a first for me, never in my almost 25 years of life have I owned one of these.
Look what I got this weekend...

Woot woot! ;-)

 Now all I need is for the weather to warm up.

Nutrition is such a huge part of losing & maintaining weight. You can exercise all you want but to really achieve serious results and live a healthy lifestyle, you have to be aware of what you are putting into your body. The more I learn the more I see how important it is for the food I eat to fuel my body, not just satisfy my hunger. I have decided to take my 30 day paleo diet challenge to another level. The longer I do it the easier it is becoming. It has forced me to be creative and find new foods to enjoy that I would not have done had it not been for the diet. My tummy feels happier on paleo. I'm not having any digestive issues, I never feel bloated or stuffed, and I haven't had any headaches (i'm prone to migranes) since I've been on the diet. I figure, why give something up that is giving me such positive results? Now I'm not saying I will never eat another piece of bread or scoop of ice cream, but for the most part I plan on striving to be paleo 100% during the week. Weekends and special occassions will be times that I will allow myself to "cheat" if I feel like indulging or satisfying a craving. I'm not only striving to meet a weight goal, but for a healthier life. I want to feel good all the time, I want to do more good then harm to my body, and I want to be able to educate others.
Now here is my plug for the day...
Snacking is important but most of us reach for chips or candy throughout the day. Fruit is good but sometimes we need more substance. Try something natural, healthy and yummy...
http://www.larabar.com/about/larabar-101

Look at me now, look at me now...

This entry is going to be short and sweet and to the point! After 8 LONG weeks I am so proud to say that I ran today! Pain free. This is a pretty big day for me, means I can slowly start building up and training for a run this summer. I'm pretty gosh darn excited.

Ok, so for todays blog I just wanted to post a couple pics. A little 'Before & After' (After meaning, current weight, not end goal). This is also the first blog that I'm finally going to tell you what my heaviest weight was and what my current weight is now *gulp*...oh goodness, here goes nothin.

Believe this was 2007, at my heaviest. Size 12, about 155 lbs?

I HATE this picture, but I want you to see how far I've come :-/

Bay to Breakers 2009

23rd Birthday

Fall 2010. Weight was in the high 140's, Size 10

Drum roll please....

5/1/2011

Weight 136

Size 6/8