Living and Loving Life!

View from my balcony

Greetings! I write to you from my amazing vacation up north in Minnesota. I am enjoying swimming, walking the trails, mini golfing, and most of all being with my family. My blog is about my journey on the weight loss journey, but there are so many more parts of this journey that aren’t just working out or tracking what you eat.

As I am able to sit down and spend all of this time with my family, I have found realized how lucky I am to have a support system like them. They support me on this life long journey that I have started, and stick with by my side no matter what. Without them I would not be able to accomplish all of the things that I have done so far. I have literally changed my entire world around, and they have decided to go along on the ride with me. I can’t tell you how much easier it makes this tough journey.

The second thing that I have realized is how much I have bettered my life by choosing this path over the other path that I was on. I am able to walk where ever I want and not get tired. I am able to fit in the go karts and speed around the track with my little sister. I was able to put on a swim suit that I never thought I would be able to wear in a million years, and feel confident enough to be around people. They may not seem like big things, but they just reconfirm the hard work that I have put in, and the total lifestyle change that I have made worth it. It makes it worth it to me.

The advice that I can give you about losing weight and creating a healthy lifestyle would be to find the things that matter most to your in your life. Take them  and let them inspire you to be better than you are now. Better than you think you can be, and don’t be afraid  to use them to patch the holes on your journey to a healthier you.

Hope everyone has a good week, as I know I will spending time with my family. Better get going to the Pool now!!!

I Don't Sweat I Sparkle :)

As I get ready for my vacation , I have been working out harder than normal. As my achey body got stuff ready for tomorrow’s circuit workout, I decided that I was going to wear my cute workout outfit. You may now be laughing, but there are actually really cute workout clothes, and I personally feel that dressing in a cute outfit to go workout can make your workout that much better.

Like everything else in life if you  feel confident and good about the way you are looking and feeling , you are  going to have a better workout. I have noticed that when I workout in the morning, and I feel like I am going to have a good day, my workouts are more intense. I am not saying that your workout clothes have to be designer labels, but if they make you feel good and motivate your workouts, that is really all that you can ask for. It doesn't matter if your wearing Under Armour, or if you are wearing Wal-Mart. It all works, and as long as you look good GO FOR IT! I am telling you, It will make you feel not so drab and depressed as you head to your next gym visit.

This doesn’t mean that you need to go out and spend lots of money to buy cute workout clothes so that you will be motivated to workout. As Pinterest has taught me, you can take your old faded workout t-shirt, and make it into something that the person on the treadmill next to you will be jealous of. Here is the link to one of the cute shirt ideas that I have found !http://www.pinterest.com/pin/8303580536080620/ .

So my motivation for my morning workouts is to look cute while doing them. So go get a new workout outfit if you can, or fire up Pinterest. Why can’t you look FAB while working on those ABS?

 

Vacation All I Ever Wanted !

I hope this week goes fast, because I am going on vacation. YES!!! This is exciting, but yet also a stressful time as far as making your vacation healthy.

Craguns in Brainer MN

When you are on vacation you want to be able to enjoy yourself, and you can within limits. Like all of the other posts that I have done, I am a firm believer that you can enjoy all things in moderation.  Some things that I like to remember is that you have to enjoy life, but there are a few things that I do when I am on vacation to make sure that I am keeping on track, while being able to enjoy myself.

The first thing that I do is make sure that I am getting all three meals. Just as if I were at home I need to make sure that I am eating breakfast. I know that on vacation there can be a lot of meal skipping, but eating the three important meals of the day will ensure that you do no over indulge when it comes to a meal. There is no “ I didn’t eat breakfast so I can gorge on whatever I want”.

Secondly, on vacation you are usually still very active.  You  are site seeing, swimming, walking, and doing all sorts of other things, so don’t try to sell yourself short when it comes to exercise portion, you are doing more than you think.  Also, don’t be afraid to workout. Just because you are on vacation doesn’t mean that you don’t have to be active. I have looked, and found free classes that I am going to attend in the morning. This means I still have time to be with my family, but get my workout in.

Lastly, don’t forget to track your food. This will help you see what you are eating on vacation. I know that it can be hard on vacation, because a lot of the time you are eating out. Try to find healthy options on the menu. I know that my family and I try to go to sit down restaurants where we are able to look at things more closely to eat. I know that I look up in my Fitbit tracker or my fitness pals to see the calories in the meals of different restaurants that we go to.

Don’t forget to remember that you are on vacation. I know that I will probably eat something that I will regret later, but that’s the magic of living the lifestyle and not being on a diet. I don’t think that being  where I am at now would be worth it if I could not enjoy one small treat on a vacation with my family. The experts may not agree with me ,but sometimes you have to do things your own way to make it work for your lifestyle, and so far it boosted me so far on my journey to a healthy life.

Anyways , I am going to be getting ready all week by hitting the gym, and eating healthy! Hope everyone has an awesome week! I can’t wait for mine to be over so my vacation can start.

 

Start Your Day Off Right

 

 

Every morning I wake up and do the same thing. I have created a routine that is easy, and works for me. My morning routine always ends with one thing, and that is breakfast.

 

Before I had started my journey, I was a sporadic breakfast eater. If I didn’t get breakfast, I would make up for it at lunch. That is the problem. When I don’t have breakfast if gives me the mindset that it is okay to binge on the things that I want to eat, because I skipped a meal. This is totally wrong.  For me, eating breakfast sets the stage for the rest of the day. It kick starts my body, and gives me the boost to make it until lunch time. I believe that what I eat for breakfast sets the stage for how the rest of my day will go.

Wonder why eating breakfast is so important? This article on the Shape’s (http://www.shape.com/blogs/new-year-new-breakfast-guest-blogger-kristen-james )website talks about why breakfast is important, and some suggestions of foods that set the stage  for a great day. For me, I usually eat Special K, or whole wheat toast with just peanut butter and fruit. I keep it pretty simple, and always give myself extra time to be able to grab some breakfast before I head out the door. If I know that I am going to crunched for time, then I make up something the night before that I can easily take with me as I run out the door

So start your day off right. Eat your breakfast! Your body will thank you, and so will your waistline.

I Am Only Human

I am only human. When I started my journey to weight lost, I wanted to maintain that one crucial aspect of my life. I didn’t want to live a life where I ate lettuce and water every day for every meal.  Today I was able to go to a family reunion, and of course there was mouthwatering food there. For a mere second I decided that I was going to let my guard down. I wanted to enjoy my family, the food, and the beautiful weather. I enjoyed some salad, and some sweet treats. How did this have me feeling on the drive home? GUILTY!!!

Then I thought to myself, why do I need to feel guilty. To live a life where I was not able to eat sweets, what kind of life would that be? If I am not doing it every day it will not hurt me. In the moment it can be hard to get over the fact that you just ate 1 brownie, 1 pumpkin bar, and a cookie. It can make you want to crawl in a hole, and just plain give up. 

I have to tell myself that it didn’t take a day to take it off, and it is not going to take a day to put all the weight back on. This does not mean that I can go hog wild all of the time, but it means that I can be a human. I can enjoy have great food and being with family.

The great thing about this journey is that tomorrow is always a new day. I may have taken a detour today, but am now on the straight and narrow. To give myself piece of mind I started tonight by enjoying the weather on a 2.5 mile walk.

Be human, eat cake, and know that tomorrow is a new day. One bad day won’t ruin your journey. It is a weight loss, weight management, and weight watching journey.  You can’t eat sweets every day, but you can let them on your journey once in a while.

It's Just Like Christmas!!!

I am so excited! I just posted a couple a days ago how much I loved using the My Fitness Pal app on my phone, but I have gotten myself a new fitness toy. That is right a fitness toy.

The other day when I was talking to my weight loss coach, she asked me what I had done to reward myself for the hard work, time, sweat, and tears that I had put into losing my 150 pounds. I told her that I went out and bought new clothes, and she said that that was something that I had to do. Had I taken the time to reward myself for the two years and continuous hard work that I put into making my healthy lifestyle. Well to this I answered no. I had thought that getting new clothes was enough, but when I thought about it she was right. I decided that I wanted to reward myself with something that I would use all of the time.

So I finally busted out some of the money that I had been saving and bought myself a Fitbit Flex. I just got it tonight, and I must say that I am in love. I got it out right away, put it on, and took it for a spin. I went on a three mile walk, just so I could see what it does.  It tracks my movement, tells me how many calories I am burning, and sends it to my computer. It also has a app that syncs to my phone. I am able to put in my food that I am eating , puts in my calories that I have burned, and lets me know what I need to eat to make sure that  I reach my calorie goals.

Tonight I think I will try one of the features that is very interesting. I can track my sleep cycles, and set and alarm on my bracelet that will vibrate to wake me up. I am so excited to be able to use it for the entire day tomorrow.  I love being so excited about something that is going to help me keep going on my healthy life journey. Hope to give everyone an update later on my thoughts as I get to use my new gadget more!

Have a Happy and Healthy Weekend!!

Track It or Pack It

Have you ever thought about the food that you eat in a day? I never used to, but when I decided to take my healthy lifestyle to the next step, it was a must. I had lost quite a bit of weight just by starting to exercise, but exercise isn’t always everything. What fuels your body  can make or break the progress that you make while you are trying to get healthy. Tracking your food is a great way to see how you are fueling your body. You would be surprised at some of the food that you’re putting into your body that you might not necessarily realize. Everything that gets put into my mouth gets put into my app. That quickly helped me get rid of the munchies that I so often got.

In today’s world, technology is awesome. My Fitness Pal has been my compass on my journey to a healthy lifestyle. I was able to type in my weight, height, how much I wanted to loose or maintain, and it told me the calories that I could eat to achieve these goals. You would be surprised how much success you can have when you are really in tune with the food that you put into your body.  For me, I don’t like to see the calories of the bad things that I want to eat, so I try to find a healthier alternatives. I can track my weight; see where I am lacking nutrition wise, and make decisions on what I can and cannot have.   With this app I am also able to track my workouts.  This feeds into the net calories that I have obtained. This way I can make sure that I am getting enough calories to sustain my body, but not to many that would jeopardize my success.

I track so I don’t pack.  It is my compass that points me on the right path in my life long journey.

 

Pound The Alarm

It is 6:30 in the morning, and your alarm clock goes off. You don’t have to be to work until 8:30 so there is no reason that you need to be up that early. It is so tempting to hit the snooze button and roll back over, because who wants to get up and go run at 6:30 in the morning!

This is the situation that I found myself in this morning. The dreaded alarm clock went off, and I thought wouldn’t it be nice to get skinny by lying in my warm bed where I know that my body isn’t going to hurt afterwards. Somehow, I managed to kick myself in the butt and go to the gym. It isn’t easy, but I had to think of the one thing that always keeps me going.

It isn’t fun to get up in the early morning to go workout. When you think about it though, why not start your day off in the right direction. I have noticed that since I have started working out in the morning I am more energized, feel more positive for the rest of my day, and am able to enjoy my night. Working from 8:30 to 6 every day, I was trying to work out at night. I was not able to see my family, and was working on my homework late into the night. I’m not saying it was the easiest decision I have ever made, but it gets easier every day.

What gets me out of bed to head to the gym is various different things. First, I make sure that I schedule my day. I put down into my planner that I will work out from 6:30-7:30 in the morning.  Next, I make sure that all of my workout gear is out so that I can grab it and go.  For me, going to bed the night before at a decent time helps me be able to wake up and get my butt out of bed. When I actually make it to the gym I make sure that I have a good playlist to listen to, and try to find different exercises to try and make it more fun.

It isn’t always easy, and well almost every day I take a ride on the struggle bus. However, I am dedicated to living a healthy lifestyle, and this is my biggest motivation for everything that I do. I’m adding miles to my Journey every day. I just gotta keep on plugging away.

 

Mind Over Matter

      As I gazed at myself in the mirror today, I had the strangest feeling come over me. Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and wondered who was looking backing at you? It doesn't happen very often, but today was different. I looked at myself for the first time and thought “Wow, you have really done something”. Many people have told me that I look great, and that I have done such a great job on my weight loss. I however, have never really taken the time to appreciate myself. I have never given myself a pat on the back to say good job.  Today, I looked at myself in the mirror and after two years gave myself a smile.

At my biggest weight

     For me, I have never taken the time to appreciate the weight that I have lost. I have continuously have been more scared of gaining any of the weight back farther than enjoying the new body that I am in. I constantly look back at pictures and wonder how I let myself get that big, but never look at a picture now and think that I look good.  When losing weight, it is hard to get rid of the image of the person that you used to be. It is not easy to see the totally different person that is right in front of you in the here and now. It is hard to concentrate on the good in life, when you are constantly scared of going back to where you were before. The fear is good to an extent, because it keeps you from going back. However, the fear can come to points where it rules every part of your life.

    I have decided that it is time to make a change in my life. Losing the weight and exercising are just pieces to a whole larger puzzle. I want to be able to have a better self- image of myself. I think that many times people don’t realize the impacts of losing a significant amount of weight not only on the body but on the mind. Sure you can see the results, but you don’t necessarily see what happens within the mind of the person.

    It is the time in my journey to start working on all aspects of my life, so that I have a healthy mind and body. I have decided that now is the time to start realizing and celebrating the great achievement that I have made. Time to start helping other people with their journey’s, and time to let myself know that I have made it this far and I am NOT going  back to the former person that I used to be. So when you start to see the pounds come off, celebrate it. You have worked hard! Let the you that has be inside all along come out for everyone to see. That is the next challenge in my personal Journey to Health.

Taking the time to smile at my success