Introduction and Getting Started!

“Is it easy? No! ... It has to be a conscious decision.”

~Bob Harper

 

This Blog's Purpose

I am not a nutritionist, fitness trainer or a doctor. I am a wife, a mother of 3 and an entrapraneur. I decided to start this blog after several friends of mine kept inquiring about my daily diet and fitness routines. This blog serves many purposes. It will consist of my daily diet and workouts, tips for working out at home, how to overcome popluar excuses for not eating right or working out and updates on my weight loss progress. It will serve as my accountability 'partner' in my weight loss journey. With this blog you, a real person, will get to see how a healthy lifestyle change works for me, a real person. I hope you enjoy taking this journey with me!

About Me

I have struggled with my weight most of my life. I was at my heaviest during high school, weighing in at 175 pounds. I didn't have a normal exercise routine (outside of my cheerleading schedule) nor did I really watch what I ate (which was a lot of fast food). I look back at pictures of me in high school and I am honestly disgusted with the way I looked. Since then I have been on a weightloss rollercoaster. It's a difficult ride.

I know all the excuses for not eating right or working out; I have used them all myself. That's all they are though! It really is possible for everyone to find the time to work out and eat healthy. You have to decide if your health is more important than the excuses you are making. Do you really want to look healthier? Feel healthier? I can't imagine that too many of you would answer no to to either of those questions. If you did, then this blog isn't for you. If you didn't, then WELCOME!

Hard Work and Motivation

Getting fit and eating right requires hard work and dedication. You have to have the desire and be willing to work hard or you will not succeed. You will not get results overnight. You have to be patient and keep at it! If you discipline yourself enough, you will see results. I promise! There are no miracle pills that can make you skinny. You have to change your lifestyle. You have to eat right and exercise. There is no way around that. I know this doesn't sound appealing but once you start on this path it will be come routine; your new way of life. And as weird as it sounds, I bet you will actually ENJOY exercise! Yes I said enjoy :-). If you are willing to work hard everyday, it will pay off.

Everyone needs motivation! I have to remotivate myself almost daily. Find something, someone, someplace that motivates you to adopt this healthy lifestyle. I have several motivators! For me it's looking good in a bikini for our trip to Florida this June, feeling more energized each day, looking sexy for my husband, teaching my kids how to be healthy, etc. I think about all of these things each day; especially when I am feeling to tired to workout. Once I remind myself of my goals it rekindles my motivation and I am ready to workout!

My Weekly Work Out Routine

I am going to do my best to spell out my weekly workout routine. On this blog I will list the things I like to do weekly for exercise but I plan to post daily updates on my diet and exercise as well. Some of the things I like to do and do do weekly are: Zumba, run/jog/walk on treadmill, PowerPlate (full body vibration) exercises, yoga and strength exercises. I will get more in depth on each of these workouts in future blogs.

Right now, I workout for at least an hour a day (some days more) at least once a day on average 5 days a week. There are some days where I will do an hour on the treadmill and then an hour of Zumba. Other days I may do an hour on the treadmill and then 15-20 minutes of a PowerPlate or strength workout. I don't always workout twice a day but I do at least twice a week. Eventually, I would like to go from workingout 5 days a week to 7!

You may say you don't have time to workout every day but YOU DO! You know what your daily schedule is and for most people, your probably on a pretty scheduled routine. So FIND TIME to do it! Get up and hour earlier, workout on your lunch break, after dinner, etc. Anyone can make time to exercise, you just have to WANT to make time. I know you are busy, we all are. For me, not only am I a wife and mother of 3 but I have my own cleaning business, photography business, property rental website business, I work full time from home for a management company and I am a part time cheerleading coach. I am the defination of busy but I make time each day to workout. If I can do it you can too!

So stop making excuses and MAKE TIME!

My Diet

Again, my diet will be spelled out in more detail in a later blog but I will tell you a little about it now. For a few years now I have tried everything. Diet pills, counting calories, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, etc. and nothing has made me feel full along with giving me the results I wanted. My husband has been trying to get me to do the ABs diet for a long time and I kept blowing him off. Well, I will admit it, he was right :-) He was on the diet before and had great results. The best part is that it's not hard to follow! You don't have to eat weird foods. They are good, healthy foods that taste great! What's cool is that you can eat stuff that those fad diets say you can't like nuts, peanut butter and dairy!

Basically, the ABs diet is really just eating healthy and focusing on protein. I have been doing it for a week now and I love it. I feel full. I get to eat things I like. I feel healthy!

The diet is centered around 12 foods called powerfoods, identified by the acronym A.B.S.D.I.E.T.P.O.W.E.R. Each letter is the first letter of one of the food groups featured in the diet: almonds and other nuts, beans and legumes, spinach and leafy greens, dairy products, instant oatmeal, eggs, turkey and lean meat, peanut butter, olive oil, whole grain breads and cereals, extra protein whey powder and raspberries and blueberries.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/206404-the-abs-diet-food-list/#ixzz1tG5Igd7u

The Abs Diet claims to help you lose weight, build lean muscle mass and improve different aspects of your health, including lowering blood pressure and fighting both cancer and heart disease.

 I love this diet and I know you will too! Here is another great article for the ABs diet http://diet.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Abs_Diet 

If you try this diet too, let me know what you think! I hope you love it as much as we do.

What's Next?

So I have given you the basics of my routine and what this blog will be about. My next post will be my detailed workouts and diet for this first week. I will give you my measurments and weight (yes you will know my weight) so you can see how I am transforming with this plan I have started. I will weigh myself each week and take new measurments every 2 weeks.

Please do not take this blog and it's contents as medical advice. Everyone is different and what may work for me may not for you. If you have any health concerns, please talk to a doctor.

I look forward to your feedback too! If you start a new, healthy lifestyle I would love to know! We can take the journey together :-) Feel free to post any questions or comments you may have. Hope you enjoy!