Weight loss and getting healthy can be so overwhelming! There are so many programs out there telling you to do this, don't do that, eat cabbage soup, take this pill, take these vitamins, so many opinions on what you should do!
I'm going to break it down for you into very simple things that you can do so you can start to lose weight and feel amazing today.
Before we go over what you should do we need to get out of certain mindsets. This is not going to be easy, anything worth doing is going to take work, sacrifices, dedication, motivation but mostly a desire to want to change. You will not lose the weight overnight, it took you a long time to put on the weight and it will take you some time to lose the weight. You will have moments of weakness, moments where you eat a chocolate bar, a donut, bag of chips, a party size bag of M&M's (I may or may not have done that last weekend, ugh). You will want to give up, you will want to quit, you will want to skip your workout but when you have those thoughts you have to dig deep to find your why and push through.
You deserve to be healthy, happy and live an amazing life :)
Let's start with the Don'ts. These are things you are going to have to stop if you want to lose weight.
1 - Cut the alcohol. I love my wine in the evenings, it's my saving grace but it's not good for me when I am trying to lose weight.. Alcohol is loaded with sugar and carbs which are not necessary for you when you are on this journey.
2 - Cut the sugar. Get rid of the cookies, snack packs, white bread, pastry's, donuts, candy, chocolate. Sugar has a really bad effect on your body and if you want to lose the weight it has to go!!
3 - No soda or pop or whatever you call that fizzy crap that's loaded with sugar and chemicals. It's a chemical shit storm and quite possibly one of the worst things out there that you can put in your body.
4 - Stop eating out. Drive-through's, fast food, even subway, Starbucks, just stop it all. Yes it's convenient but it's crap food and you don't know what they put in that food.
5 - Don't eat food from a box. Lean Cuisine, those pre-packaged meals they are loaded with sodium and chemicals. You don't need them. Make a meal instead ;)
6 - Don't eat 3 hours before bed. When you sleep that's your body's chance to burn the deep fat, the fat that's hard to lose. But if you eat before bed your body will want to burn what you just ate first and depending on how much you eat your body could be burning it all night.
7 - Don't stop at your goal. Just because you have reached your goal doesn't mean you are going to go back to eating McD's for breakfast, lean cuisine and a coke for lunch, snacking until midnight and eating a large bag of M&M's every weekend! This is a lifestyle and if you go back to your old habits, you will gain the weight back. Yes I said it, you will gain the weight back.
Now that I sound like your grade 8 health teacher who tells you not to have sex until you are married, here are things to Do!
1 - Plan. You need to plan your meals. Set aside some time and make a meal plan for the week. Breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner (if you need a small evening snack then add it in) If you don't plan what you are going to eat, you will get off track and made unhealthy decisions.
2 - Exercise. You have to do cardio and strength training. You don't have to do 4 hours a day but you should do at least 30 minutes of cardio 3-4x a week and strength training at least 3-4x a week for 30 minutes. Do not skip the strength training. Strength training builds muscle and muscle burns fat while you are at rest. So when you are watching the football game you can relax and know your body is still burning fat!
3 - Take it one day at a time. Each meal, each workout, each drink of water, take it one by one, day by day. Have a bad day? Get over it and move on.
4 - You have to weigh yourself every week. Pick a day of the week and weigh-in that morning. This helps you stay accountable and on track. BUT....do not weigh in any other day of the week. Only on the day you choose.
***If the scale tells you you went up or down, remember that the scale does not define you. It does not tell you how wonderful of a mother you are, how good of a person you are, how amazing you are as a partner. It's just a number but keep track of it to keep yourself accountable.
5 - Stay motivated. After about day 3 you will want to give up. You will want to eat a pizza, chug some beers and eat some M&M's and tell your trainer that your dog ate your sports bra so you can't make your workout. But don't. Figure out what motivates you; whether it's weight loss tv shows, quotes, trainers, a friend, your Mom...keep those things close to you. Plaster your house with motivational quotes, change the background on your computer, watch the biggest loser. Use inspiration that's around you to motivate you to get where you want to be! I love watching the Biggest Loser and Extreme Weight Loss, they keep me so motivated and give me some really good ideas!
6 - Eat and drink. Your body needs nutritious, healthy foods to function properly. You have to feed it so it will let you lose weight. Starving yourself, eating less than 1200 calories a day will not help. In fact, it will have the opposite effect and make your journey a lot harder than it needs to be. Drink water. Drink it like it's no one's business!! Drink at least 10 cups a day and yes you will have to pee, you may have to move your office into the ladies room at work but drink up!!
7 - Do realize that this is a process and you are human. You won't lose 10lbs in 2 days. You won't wake up with abs after doing one workout. This is going to take time, it's a process. You are changing bad habits that you may have had your whole life, it won't happen over night! You are going to fail. You are going to pig out one night. You are going to drink a bottle of wine (or two) with your bestie then order a large pepperoni pizza and possibly onion rings on the side. You will make mistakes. You will wake up in the middle of the night and sleep eat those M&M's in your bedside table (what??? sleep eat?? yes it's a real thing....don't ask me how I know) These mistakes are just that, mistakes. Pull up your thong, get it out of your butt crack and move on. Shit happens, mistakes happen. Do not dwell on them.
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