This is for those of you who have been following me on my quest for a “Muffin-Top Free” life… (and anyone else who cares enough to read… lol! ;) I have reached my goal, (and then some) 4 months after my journey started…. i’ve lost close to 40lbs… I started at 165lbs+ and now weigh in at 128lbs and am a sz.4! This is the least i’ve weighed in almost 10 years!!!
To be honest with you, this is the very FIRST time i’ve ever lost weight the RIGHT way, the HEALTHY way, and made it a COMPLETE lifestyle change… i’ve lost weight before after having my kids I had to lose the “baby weight”, but did so by either barely eating, counting fat grams, food combining, strict rules, etc… stupid, stupid, stupid!! Well this time I knew I wanted to do it right and I needed it to become my lifestyle. NOT something I did till I lost the weight and then went back to “normal” eating again. This is the most amount of weight i’ve ever had to lose… after having my 4th I was tired, run down, and honestly, didn’t care enough about myself to put in the time & effort it takes to lose weight the healthy way. After stepping on my mom’s scale last Mother’s Day and seeing that 165+ (i’m thinking it was 168 in all honesty!) I thought to myself.. OMG! It’s now or never… i’d never let myself weight that much before, i’d actually GAINED weight since having my 4th child. UGH! I looked & felt horrible… I never had any energy, hated squeezing my ass into jeans that were too tight, and hated that my “muffin tops” stopped me from wearing the clothes that I wanted to. All my shirts had to be baggy to hide my muffin tops.
So I started eating healthy & exercising the very next day, NO excuses, no “I don’t have enough time”, “I don’t have enough money to buy healthy food”, “I’m too tired” blah, blah, blah. If there’s *ONE THING* i’ve learned throughout this process is that THERE IS NO EASY WAY & YOU HAVE TO ***REALLY*** WANT IT!! Not, sort of, not maybe, now when you have enough time, you have to WANT IT MORE THAN ANYTHING.
How did I lose the weight? For the first couple months I counted calories, every single calorie I consumed, and I exercised daily (usually 6x week) for 30-50 minutes. I used assorted DVD”s, The 30 Day Shred, Leslie Sansone DVD’s, Jillian Micheal assorted DVD’s, Kathy Smith DVD’s, really, anything I could get my hands on and would mix things up for me! Over the last couple months though i’ve been mostly using my Wii!! It’s my FAVOURITE!! Super fun & you don’t feel like it’s exercise… i’ve been doing the EA Sports Active for the last month and a bit on the high intensity level. Along with that I play Wii Fit (I absolutely LOVE Yoga now and try to get in 1/2 hr a day), and then I walk everywhere, and then taking care of 4 kids and a husband probably helps too! lol!!
After a couple of months of calorie counting and reading up on clean & intuitive eating, I stopped counting calories and trusted that my body would tell me when I was hungry and when I had enough. And it did! Go figure! I no longer crave ‘crap’… I stay away from processed products, no fast food, have cut sugar out of my diet (save for a tsp or 2 in my coffee in the morning) and try to stay away from white flour products as well. My diet focuses on fruits (i’m an addict), veggies, whole grain products, lean meats & eggs, yogurt & full fat cheese! yum! lol! I’m lactose intolerant, so use rice milk instead. AND, I do still have the odd treat here and there, but mostly I don’t want crap. So I will have some dark chocolate almost daily… don’t kid yourself, i’m not a saint. lol!! I still exercise 5-6 days a week, and not to lose weight anymore, not because it’s the “right” thing to do, but because I WANT & NEED it.. my body craves it. I feel so good after getting in my daily workout! Even over the last couple days while i’ve had this head cold i’ve been doing 30 minutes of Yoga because it feels great!! So I do what I feel my body needs.. feeling crappy I wouldn’t do 45 minutes of high intensity exercise, but 1/2 hour of yoga feels wonderful when you’re feeling blah! Fresh air always does a body good too!
My best piece of advice is probably like the good old Nike saying goes… JUST DO IT! You can go full force 100% right at once, or you can take it baby step by baby step, whatever works for you!! For myself, I did everything at once, but I know for some a great starting goal is 8 glasses of water a day and a 20 minute walk, then next week add in eating your 3-5 veggies, then switching over to brown bread from white bread, etc… so do what you have to do to get there, but JUST DO IT! If you’re looking for some inspiration take a peek over at my Health & Well Being blogroll links… these are the women who have inspired & encouraged me through my journey! I’ve learned something from each and every one of them and they’ve inspired me in many ways!! So I thank everyone on that list!
And that’s my post for now… i’m feeling much better today, just stuffy today, I do love being healthy!! I know people who have been sick with this cold that seems to be going around for WEEKS… so 3 days for me, not bad! I can handle 3 days.. LOL!
Have a fabulous day & thanks for stopping by and reading!!
A quote for today:
Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
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