Where's your motivation?

I never would have accomplished this goal without it... Motivation. It wasn't something I had alot of, or even had everyday. At first it didn't come easy to me. My motivation was something I had to wake up and find every single day!  Wether it be a saying or a picture of a fitness model or an old picture of myself... maybe even the way my pants felt on me that day. 

All I want to get across in this post is no body can give you motivation, you have to come up with it yourself. How many times have you tried to start a diet and quit??  How many times have you told yourself you would go work out and then made an excuse?? How many times have you set a limit too food and went back for seconds and thirds??  Take all those times that you gave up, that you quit and use them as motivation. Look at others and use that as motivation!

Be careful with that last one though.. Its easy to look at others and want to have what they have, but its also very unrealistic. No one can imitate someone elses body exactly, we are built differently!  Don't covet, compliment and aspire to be better. Look at that person and tell them how great you think they look and then turn around and run twice as hard so someone can look at you that way!!

You have to wake up every morning and remind yourself why you are setting the goal you are setting. Don't let your brain talk you out of it, if it was important to you yesterday and the day before than it is still important to you today. 

Stop asking others what keeps them going, dig deep down inside yourself and find that passion. Put your heart into it! Its just like having a relationship ( a healthy one anyways) , you do what you have got to do to make it work. You get out what you put in. You dont stop loving someone when it gets bumpy, not if its true love.. you work through it and keep going. Losing weight is the same thing, you do what you have to do to get what you want to get, you dont give up and you dont half ass expecting to get full results. 

I still struggle. Even after losing 52 lbs I still wake up in the morning and crave smores pop tarts... or I go to work two jobs almost everyday and when I finally get off I just want to go home get in the shower and skip the gym, but I look down at the size of my legs or the stretch marks left on my stomache and remind myself why I do the things that I sometimes dont feel like doing.

Even if you lose sight for a day or two, fake it till you make it. Don't hold on to the bad days. So maybe you gorged and didnt go to the gym today, dont wake up tomorrow and think that you might as well do it again. Its a new day and another chance to work your butt off literally!!

This goal you made, its not an overnight goal. It will not happen fast, and you wont see results right away. You have to want this and you have to keep wanting it for the rest of your life.  Its weight loss, its slow and steady. But I promise you if it is important and you keep at it, give it awhile you will see results. Others will see changes, and you will be so glad that you didn't give up on yourself. Never do it for anybody else or your motivation will fade. Do it because its what YOU want.

I hope that you know that you can do it. It is possible. Just work hard and keep at it!!!!

p.s I will be a better blogger when I get my computer fixed!! I plan on posting recipes, work out ideas and different web sites that have helped and keep helping me : ]





A year later.

Its been 1 year since I decided to make a life style change. I cannot repeat enough what a tough but rewarding year it has been. It makes me want to cry and laugh and yell at the top of my lungs that I have come so far!! I have so many more plans to accomplish but  definitely reached a big one and I am giving myself a pat on the back!!

I just want to thank everyone who has supported and gave encouraging words its really helped me come this far!

Day in the life.

Ok so a billion people have messaged me on Facebook asking for ideas on what to eat or what my exact meal plan for days.. instead of typing it over again I am going to put ideas up on here so its easier to just tell them to visit my blog : ]

To start off, this is the food plan I followed the first 6 months of my weight loss, with no exceptions, no eating out, no sugars and definitely no soda or juices.

A day would be waking up and eating a fruit and a glass of water, an apple or banana somethin quick and easy and then I get ready for work, about a half hour so my body works on digesting that, then before I leave for work I make a smoothie or protien shake, use different fruits and almond milk or spinach and peanut butter with protien, those you just have to experiment with and see what you like and then a glass of water after your shake..

when I have more time, some times I cook egg whites and salt and pepper with a fruit

then about 2 hours later I will have a snack, either celery and peanut butter, carrots or broccoli, organic fruit snacks, maybe some greek yogurt and some organic granola!

then lunch I usually have brown rice or quinoa (like rice but a little more of a nut flavor) and roasted veggies, I just stir fry bell peppers and mushrooms and squash and onions in a little bit of olive oil and use spices to flavor them sometimes I will throw in black beans! Other times I have whole wheat chips with homemade salsa and 1/2 an avacado.

then later when you feel hungry but not ready for dinner eat another snack, veggie chips, fruit, or any light snack that doesnt contain any sugar or processed or packaged. Meaning it is a fresh produce.

then dinner is usually lighter, maybe a salad or lettuce wraps, or black beans and more veggies!!

No pop or sugary drinks at all, no candy.

Drink lots of water!

There is a brand of fruit and veggie dip sold at walmart called marketside, its kept in the fresh produce section that is made of all natural ingredients that i love to buy because it tastes great and still is good for you!


If you are having a weak day and you just need chocolate or some kind of treat, I use nutella and have like five pretzels dipped in nutella becuase its rich enough that it gives me my chocolate fix and is not as fattening as the real thing! Be careful with this though, I learned from the book I talked about in the previous post, that if you do need a snack only scoop a little out close the containers put them back in your cupboards sit down and eat slowly, enjoy and then leave the kitchen and brush your teeth. One of my biggest problems is snacking and snacking so that gave me control of portion that I wasnt used too.

its 80% what you eat and how much you eat, just try to be really aware of your portions and eat slower, you will be suprised how fast you get full when you take your time!!

if you feel hungry drink a glass of water and wait 20 minutes, if you still feel hungry then have a snack!! if you dont then your body was just thirsty!!

oh and as for meat I eat it once or twice a month! chicken or tilapa or shrimp im not a huge red meat person, but that is totally up to you guys just dont consume huge amounts of it because it takes your body along time to digest it!

My big thing that helped was dont hangout at your house when your bored... you eat when your bored, go out and do something!! especially now that the weather is so nice : ] I have alot of good healthy recipes on my pinterest page its been an awesome place to get tips and stay motivated!!

Just for giggles!!!





Skinny Bitch

                                     Pardon my language... But I am quoting a book title

I read this book for the first time back in November. It changed my way of thinking big time!! This book is filled with so much information and lots of encouraging words of wisdom. Although there are a few parts I dont support, like the dairy part of it, all in the fact that I grew up on a dairy and was a dairy ambassador and still drink fresh milk at my parents house and love it!! I am also a cheese lover, but have learned to cut back on it! Also they talk about different medications and the affects on our bodies and I have to say I take certain medicines when I am sick... like midol lol! 

Read that paragraph. I love the part at the very end. Dont fixate on how much you have left to lose, keep reminding yourself how much you have lost!!

I have gone through and high lighted parts that I love in my book, I just finished reading it for the second time today and I feel recharged and empowered just like I did the first time I read it! This book is upfront and personal and these ladies tell you how it is! They are fiesty and have mouths like sailors but it makes the book real and funny. I had a hard time reading some of the chapters, like the one about animal cruelty because its graphic and made me feel a little sick, but not only is it good to know about, it needs to be brought to peoples attention... dont worry I am not going to go around wearing a PETA shirt and hating people who eat meat... because guess what even after reading the book I eat meat, I just greatly reduced my animal products to a very small amount.

There is a great chapter in the book that gives you all kinds of things to think about while your eating, it encourages you to carefully pay attention to how your body feels when you are eating, if you feel slow and sluggish and crappy... then its probably bad for you!! Eat slow and chew your food. If your going to snack on something, put a small portion on your plate, seal up the package put it away and sit down and slowly eat your snack. Its dangerous to say you will only have a few, I know I have done that with my banana chips, or pretzels and nutella the next thing I know I have eatin the whole bag!

If you want to learn alot and change how you look at every food product you put in your mouth then read it! Its a good one!

Your fridge... best friend or enemy?

Lets talk food.. My favorite thing ever... almost, besides my family, my boyfriend and my puppies!

Changing how I ate was probably the hardest thing I did, and its not because I ate junk food and drank pop and ate out all the time, I actually ate decent! I struggled with my portions and eating too fast. I learned alot from a book I read called " Skinny Bitches" The book had alot of good reading and some stuff I didnt totally agree with or care to read about.

One of the biggest things for me was my fridge, it was my place to go to when I was bored and feeling snacky. It was filled with all kinds of packaged and processed food that I could heat quickly and inhale even quicker. I read about all the chemicals and preservatives that they add to our food to make it last longer and how it affects our bodies and minds and it totally left me freaked out!

I took an hour one day and I completely wiped my fridge and cupboards of anything that was packaged and processed aside from a few essential things. Like Nutella... haha

I then went to the store and purchased fresh foods. Lots of colorful food that goes bad after a few days because it is in a natural state.  I keep water jugs and coconut milk in my fridge to sip on. I have things that I can eat when I am feeling hungry that wont leave me feeling heavy and sluggish afterwords. I love to eat, and love to enjoy what I am eating, so I try all kinds of things, if I don't like stuff... then I dont buy it again. If I find something I love, I keep a few in my fridge so I always have something that sounds good.

Its perfectly fine to snack, infact its encouraged, it helps keep your metabolism going all day! Its just important you snack on things that digest in your body and that fill you up! Fruit is always yummy, and my favorite veggies to snack on, carrots with organic dill dip or celery with natural peanut butter!!  I learned a trick, if you feel hungry drink a glass of water and wait 20 minutes, if your still hungry after, then eat something, if your not hungry then you were just thristy and your body was telling you that and you confused it for hunger.

Just remember that whatever is in your house, you will eat so keep it clean and fresh and healthy!!

Daddy's little girl!

Dear Dad,

Happy Fathers Day!!!

Can I just tell you that I honestly believe I have the best daddy ever.

Love this picture!!

Andrew James Yeates is the best dad ever for more than a few reasons!!

He is such a hard worker and an example to my brothers of a good father and husband, and a great example of what me and my little sister should expect.

My dad is a convert to the church and I am so thankful for his testimony throughout my life. Getting older I have realized how much his conversion has meant to me and how lucky our family is to have the priesthood in our house. I am so very thankful for all of the fathers blessing that my sweet dad has blessed me with.

I also have realized that as I have gotten older and that my dad has gotten older he has kind of turned into a softy... Dont let the beard and big manly guy routine fool you :] He is a teddy bear!

His sense of humor is great, he is a pest and sometimes just likes to push your buttons... especially my little sisters buttons, but it makes for good entertainment and lots of laughing later.

He is always trying to make someone laugh, I have many and many of black mail worthy videos on my phone of my dad that I promised him that I wouldnt release to the world wide web, but lets just say if I am ever having a bad day I watch one of them and by the end I am crying from so much laughter!

My dad is stubborn... and if you read my mothers day post so is my mom... That means I got a double dose of stubborn... watch out everybody!! But seriously my dad is stubborn and not the best communicator at times, but thats just him and we love him for it. He has a big heart and cares so much for all of us. He is our big supporter!

His sense of humor is showing...

If you look closely he is missing half of his finger.. My dad is the TOUGHEST man I know!!

Seriously as long as I can remember he has been tough.. and also accident prone ( inherited that from him as well) We have plenty of good stories of my dad getting hurt... a few of my favorites were the brake fluid in the fire.... BOOM... results burned hands and face, broken chairs and burn holes in everything and also a good story to come back with from the camping trip. The top one is shooting that finger off.. with his own gun. It was a freak accident and we are glad it was just a finger!! He didnt even cry haha who doesnt cry when they shoot their finger off??? My dad cause hes so tough :]

I am so thankful for the man I grew up with and can call my dad!

He is such an amazing guy and I am so thankful for his example and his advice throughout life. He has set the bar high for all the men in my life and I am so glad I have him.

He is my hero.

My Guides

I have a few rolemodels.. ya know people that have rockin bods!! I want to post a few on here to keep myself motivated to get to where I want to be.

For starters... Carrie Underwoods legs.... HOLY MOMMA they are rockin!!

I will definitely use that as my motivation on leg days!

This chick... whoever she is, has a great stomache. I am not into huge 6 pack defined abs on women, I love a fit flat tummy though!

This girls got great arms! They are toned but not super bulky!

It always helps me to have in mind my goals and realize that if I work hard I can achieve that and more if I give 100% every single time!

With that being said, I know I cant compare my body to any of these women because we all know that not a single person is built exactly the same hense why I called them my guides!!

I just keep reminding myself that the only thing I have to compare myself with is my own body. I love putting on my old pairs of jeans because it shows me just how far I have come. I am a hands on "show me and I learn" kind of person so seeing how much I have changed from old pictures and old clothes is what pushes me to keep on going!

Find one picture that you can keep looking back on and take pictures along the way so you can show yourself how much your hard work is paying off, I promise you that you will appreciate having them there to look at once you hit your goal weight!!

Almost a year ago I wasnt comfortable in a bikini so I wore cover ups all the time. I was constantly worrying about what I looked like, or comparing myself to others.

Ignore the darling puppy or dont!! Also my belly button ring

 (it is a result of my rebellious 18 year old decisions)

I am comfortable in my own skin. I am not perfect and I am not finished, but I am happy and can layout without worrying or wondering if anyone is looking at me because now I know that the only opinion that matters is my own. I love being able to look at these pictures and see how much my hard work and dedication has payed off!

Keep up all the hard work and I PROMISE it pays off.