Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Eat Healthy. Be Healthy.

This cute, little graphic is the lock screen on my phone. Every time I look at it, it makes me happy. It's a constant reminder of the journey I'm on to a better me. I want to be healthy, and something as simple as this little slice of watermelon is helping me get there.

I decided on May 12th (Mother's Day) of this year that I was done being lazy, overweight, and sick all the time. I didn't really tell anyone about my decision because I was nervous about failing and everyone knowing about it. I told my husband and I told my friend Nicole.. and that was about it.

Since then I've been eating better, way better. (Although anything would have been an improvement from my previous diet, that's for sure. The first month was the hardest. It was so easy to fall back into bad habits. In the past I have used food for comfort, so naturally in those first few weeks when I would get upset about something I would immediately look to food (mostly carbs, my weakness) to "cheer me up." After a few times of that, and then waking up the next morning feeling like crap (both physically and mentally), I started to turn to other things to cheer me up instead. Like the gym, playing with my boys, reading, etc. My biggest obstacle so far with my diet is my craving for late night snacks. I always want BAD food right before bed. It's probably just out of habit, but man... so tempting. I've allowed myself popcorn before bed if I'm still really hungry (YOLO, haha, but that's even slowly being cut out. My most favorite part of my changing diet has been adding in a protein shake after my morning workout. I like to use chocolate protein and mix it with unsweetened almond milk, YUM. Tastes a lot like chocolate milk, just better for you.


I have learned to love my "me" time at the gym in the morning. I usually do 30-45 minutes on the elliptical while listening to music, usually my 90's station. The Price is Right is usually on one of the TVs while I'm in there, so I also like to mentally tell the contestants how wrong they are between my high intervals. I have good memories of watching "Come on down" (what I called it as a child) with my grandma while my parents were at work. Every day, she would bring me an oatmeal cream pie, mmmm. Funny that now, 20 years later, I'm watching the show from an elliptical burning off 300 calories rather than eating them. 

After cardio, I do weights/strength training. I know a lot of girls that don't like weight training, they are afraid it will make them "buff." I like the way I feel after lifting. Stronger, healthier, it rocks. I like seeing the changes in my muscles. I like becoming stronger, being able to lift more weight every week or hold it for longer. I know if I cut out the weight training and just did cardio for 90 minutes every day, the pounds would drop way faster. But, I'm not in this just to get skinny, I'm doing this to get fit, strong, and healthy. 

Today, I'm at 27 pounds down. Still, a very long way to go, but sometimes we need to be reminded of how far we've come already (especially on weight loss journeys). 


That picture on the left is so hard for me to look at. That wasn't even my highest weight either. I'm not ready to reveal what my starting weight was back in May, but it was my highest weight ever and I'm never going back there. For now I can tell you that my ultimate goal is to lose a total of 100 pounds. I can also tell you that my first "big" goal is to be below 200 pounds and I'm still not there yet, almost though (: When I do get there I will be rewarding myself with a new tattoo. 
The jeans I'm wearing on the right are two sizes smaller than I wore 3 months ago, and yes.. maybe I was showing off my new boots (: 




4 comments:

  1. You look absolutely fantastic!!!!!!!!! :) So proud of you for starting this journey.

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  2. Congrats! That is the best feeling to see the results! Great job!
    xo-
    Tiff

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  3. You look great! I really struggle with carbs too, but nothing tastes as good as being fit feels!

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  4. Congrats! Those are some impressive results. You should try doing the Spartan Race next year!

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