Slow and Steady.

 

 

I have been taking pictures along the way and I am so glad I am so that I can compare and see how far I have come, but even the little small improvements are nice to see.

 

I started concentrating on my abs alot more like I said in a previous post and I just wanted to post a few pictures of my progress!

 

 

 

 

Its slow and maybe not that noticable but its happening and I can feel the difference.

 

It took more than a day to put it on, it will take more than a day to take it off!!

Stay motivated and get to it : ]



Self body image.

Do not spend time hating your body. It gets you no where. I spent a year completely unhappy and hating my body and it only made me stress and gain more weight. Was I really as bad as I saw myself... no I wasnt, but I was extremely hard on myself and I can tell you right now it only hurt me.

 

Self body image is really hard to handle especially when your not where you want to be, but you have to stay positive its the only way you can truely move forward.

 

I can't tell you how much more energy it takes to hate your body than it does to find things you love! I also can tell you that even when you reach your goal your still going to find things you dont like.. For example I used to have awesome boobs... like seriously. Working at Victoria's Secret for 3 years I am allowed to say that because I have seen all kinds and I know I should have been more appreciative of what I had. I didnt give that a thought at all when I started losing weight, but my nice perky boobs were hugely affected by my weight lose and now sadly I look like I have had 4 kids and it has put a dent in my confidence. I chose though to focus on other things that I love about my body and try to remember that boobs are always fixable ;]   What I am trying to get across is you are never going to be all the way satistfied which is a good thing it gives you an opportunity to improve constantly, but there is no need to be negative. "Your body hears everything your mind says so stay positive and get to work!!"

 

 



Whats next?

 

 

I am always asking myself, whats next. After I met my goal I thought well what can I work on next. So I made it a goal to maintain my weight and have been pretty steady so far plus or minus a pound or two! Now my goal is to get abs. Not crazy man abs, just nice defined abs... I want to look good naked!! Me and my friend Nicki have decided thats what we are going to do. We were talking the other night at the gym and she said I like telling people I am going to the gym because then I cant back out or people will start to think I am lame!! So I am telling the world or the "blogging" world... I will have abs in a few months.

 

 

 

This girl has an all around amazing body, but her abs are seriously the bomb!!

 

 

 

Its going to be hard and alot of it is going to be how I eat because they say the abs are created in the kitchen but I am so up for the challenge!! I love testing myself its amazing how far you can go once you set your mind to it!

 

 

 

 

 



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!