I've been struggling with my weight\self image every since I was a teen. I was always bigger than most girls and always struggled to lose weight. I used to try crazy cleanses that ruined my system, used to go on all these diets, but nothing ever worked because... um I love food. haha
Anyways.. I've come a long way as most of my friends know, most people that I've recently met can't even recognize me in my old pictures. It's been a long journey with ups and downs and I believe i'm still on that journey and always will be, because the goal isnt losing weight, the goal is an overall healthy lifestyle, which you guys have probably heard many many times.
Ive changed a lot of my eating and exercise habits, I've learned a ton, tried out a ton, and just want to share some of the small little things you can change throughout the day that can make a big difference over time.
First of all though I want to be discreet and hope you realize that every body is unique and different, and what worked for me might not work for everyone. Also, i'm not an expert so please do your research, just as I did.
I still haven't gotten to my desired weight or size but I definitely have had some crazy progress over the years.
Heres some things that I've learned and have worked for me.
+ The first and most important thing anyone could do is to listen to their body. If your body reacts to something negatively, stay away from that. If you see progress from something, stick to it.
+ Don't be scared to experiment, but do your research. Like I said some things work for people that might not work for others. See what works for you and stick to that. I've tried cutting out meat, then getting it back in my diet, and my body felt the same whether I ate meat or not. I've tried different cleanses, teas, workout programs, etc. and just stuck to what made me feel best and what I trusted to be healthy for me.
+ Take it one day at a time. Make small changes not drastic ones. Maybe try eating sweets only once a day, or eat carbs one time less than usual. It's easy, and with time you could challenge yourself more, eventually eating as healthy as you've always dreamed of. For me, thats gonna be a long process.
+ Its all about balance. I have cheat meals pretty much every day, but with that I try to stay active and make sure I also eat super healthy for the rest of my meals. If I fully cut out foods that aren't the healthiest I know that I eventually will break, and go on a binging spree eating anything that's in front of me. If I let myself have waffles for breakfast, I know I can handle the rest of the day without eating any more sweets or carbs. Once again I love food, and I think food should be enjoyed, and I am not down to eat rice and chicken every day. I love trying new places and trying new foods.
Once again it's all about balance, if you eat a lot, make sure you stay active and get a workout in, the next day try to eat healthier or less.
+You will have bad days and that's fine, girls.. we have em once a month for sure! So its ok to sometimes let yourself have that ice cream jar. Maybe just share it with someone ;) But don't beat yourself up over it, remind yourself that tomorrow you won't go on a sugar binge because once again, balance.
+Learn to love yourself now, the way you are. I never agreed with america being ok with obesity or unhealthy lifestyles, I think everyone should strive to be healthy. But I do know hands on that if you don't love yourself at the moment, you won't truly love yourself at 10 pounds less, or a few muscles stronger. Because loving yourself means accepting that you are Gods beautiful creation made in His image, no matter what. You learn to love yourself, you learn the importance of taking care of your body and will have the desire to do so. Im still working on this one.
Ok, so we went through all the things you can do to prepare yourself and make the journey easier, but here's what I've been loving in the physical aspect of it all.
+Intermittent fasting:
A lot of people get scared when I first introduce them to this "lifestyle" but it's really nothing intimidating. And no, unless you are an exception and have a special metabolism, it doesn't damage your stomach. I've been doing it for about 5 months and I don't wanna go back.
So basically what I do is I eat for 8 hours in a day and fast (don't eat) for 16. No, I don't eat the whole 8 hours, I have two-three filling meals within 8 hours. I start eating at noon, and don't eat after 7. So I pretty much just skip breakfast. And it works for me because I'm never hungry in the mornings and if I eat late at night I feel sick in the morning. I also don't do it during the weekends to give myself a little break, I just eat whenever, because weekends are for going out and eating late.
For some people it'll take getting used to because you will feel hungry at first, but after a week or so you won't even notice.
And an even better thing to do is to get a workout in right before your first meal. Its fat burning dreams!
Once again, I'm not an expert so i'll share some videos and articles about it, but basically its great for weight loss, and building up your immune system.
To make it as simple as possible when you go into fasting mode your body first uses the food you ate and burns it for energy, but once it's used all that up, it turns to your fat cells for help, and this pretty much just happens while you're sleeping, a time when you don't even need energy. So, you burn fat while sleeping, who doesn't want that?
Anyways if you're interested here are some informational vids that got me into it.
+Intuitive eating:
This is simple, and goes along with listening to your body. I don't always follow through with this but I try. So a lot of people turn to calorie counting, or micro and macro tracking, and i've tried that, but unless I wanted to be in competitions or something this is just too much work and too complicated for me. So intuitive eating really interested me because it's super easy. All you do is eat when you're hungry and don't eat when you're not. Stop eating if you're full, keep eating if you're not. Pretty much don't stuff yourself. Super easy, super effective.
+ Calorie in Vs. Calorie out:
the equation to not gaining weight or even losing weight. Just burn more calories than you eat.
+Hiit:
has changed my view of cardio, its short for High intensity interval training.
So why I love hiit is because its pretty much made for quick fat burning. This one is a bit hard to explain but you pretty much do 20 minutes or more of slow, fast, slow, fast cardio.
So lets say i'm on a treadmill.. I pick a steady speed like 3.. so I fast walk at speed three for a minute thirty and after the minute passes I do an outburst of cardio and sprint as fast as I can for 30 seconds... I do this constantly for twenty minutes. (If it doesn't make sense the videos I linked do a way better job.)
Personally, I like to do 10 min of hiit on each machine at the gym (stairmaster, treadmill, elliptical, bike) and the best part is you can also do it outside, or at home if you have a staircase ;) and anywhere you please, the possibilities are endless.
Why I love hiit: you sweat twice as much aka burn way more fat than regular cardio, and it takes half the time, plus the workout flies by!
Another amazing benefit is when you do regular cardio you're not only burning fat but you're also burning muscle, with hiit you burn fat by replacing that fat with muscle, and muscle is essential for burning even more fat. ;)
This is essential for people who are trying to gain muscle mass, those people need to stay away from regular cardio and really give HIIT a chance.
Anyways, just check these out and then try it out for yourself.
+Weight training:
its simple, you just lift weights. Some people think lifting weights will get them bulky but it won't, unless you're eating crazy amounts of food. The truth is, muscle pretty much burns fat, and if you do weight training, even when you're done and you're driving home your muscles are still working, burning that fat. I love weight training because I love challenging myself, I love trying out new workouts and I love pushing myself to lift heavier than I did before.
I could go on and on about everything I've been learning lately about the gym, about fat loss, about healthy living. But once again i'm no expert, I learn from trial and error and I learn from ordinary people who got results. Theres so much information on youtube and all over the web. And over the year I became passionate about learning even more about the body, how it works, and what keeps mine healthy. I just wanted to share the main things I practice in reaching my goal of a healthy body and a healthy lifestyle.
I learn the most from some of the youtube channels I follow,
Some are vlogs, some are informational, and all are super informative.
Once again, everyone's different, these things might not work for you as they do for me, but you'll never get anywhere If you don't try new things.
So if you're interested (btw i follow mostly girls, cause im a girl..)
But go check out the
Gymshark channel its super inspirational (theres guys there too)
with that:
Nikki Blackketter
Jazmine Garcia
+++Abby Pollock (she focuses on solely information, and I learned the most from her channel )
Robin Gallant
Also check out Buff bunny
Last but not least have fun, don't let fitness or healthy eating be something you dread, find ways that You enjoy and that work for You. and remember "no matter how slow you go you're still lapping everybody on the couch."