Simplisitc Goal Setting

This year I have so many BIG GOALS for myself and for my family. Of course health goals, but also spiritually and financially. I used to be one of these people that just went through life with no plans, no goals other than just getting through the day. I had big dreams but had no idea how to get there and didn't do anything to make it happen.

Through my weighloss journey I have learned a lot about myself and reaching small goals. Even a big goal of 60 pounds lost my first year!

What is a goal?

A goal without a plan is just a dream. Boy am I good at daydreaming! Being off in la la land won't get you anywhere though. You always have to snap back to reality at some point.

What do you want out of life? The first step is writing it down! Make it real. Please make sure that it is realistic...you don't want to set yourself up for failure. Make small, even tiny goals to start with. This is what I did in the beginning. The big goals scared me. Making a change can be scary. Baby steps are better than no steps.

Then put a deadline on your goal. For example, one of my goals for my family is that we own our own home in 2018. We currently rent and we are out growing the space daily! One of my health goals is to put on more muscle. I am focusing this year on toning up. 

So tell me, what is it going to take to get you to that goal? This is your plan. The ACTION that will help you reach your desired result. For the home goal I've got a lot of earning to do and a lot of saving to do! To put on muscle I am going to weight train 3x per week. Is it going to be hard at times? I am sure it will be. I also know that anything worth having takes work and will be worth it in the end.

Don't get to overwhelmed. Keep the process super simple in the beginning.


Recap, figure out what you want and write it down, put a deadline on it and make a plan to get there. Sounds easy enough right? Allow yourself to dream but put some action into it! Don't worry if you aren't sure how to "get there" at first, wherever THERE may be. Get creative. Think outside of the box. It may seem impossible but darling, nothing is impossible!

My Weightloss Journey...One Year Down

Life has turned me upside down the past few weeks. Our home was opened as a provisional foster home and we have two new little ones. My daughter had an appendectomy, my husband has a hiatal hernia, my husband's car broke down, the two new little have both been sick separate times, we had hiccups in getting my stepson here for Christmas break and I have been swamped with paperwork to get certified for fostering. I've definitely been humbled this month.

I've managed to stay on top of tracking my food and getting my workouts completed. I didn't lose any weight last week but I also had an unwelcomed visitor. I did splurge on Christmas Eve and Christmas more than I wanted to.

I have one more week left of this year and I want to lose ONE more pound. This would put me at 60 lbs lost for the year. Even with PCOS, that's an average of 1.15 lbs per week. Although there were plenty of weeks that I lost nothing...

I keep getting compliments and questions about my weight loss. People ask if I am at my goal weight and a lot of them seem to think I have lost enough. The reality is I still weigh 178 lbs. I am still a size 13/14. I am super happy about that but I know there is still progress to be made.

Rather than focusing on the scale, like I have my entire life, I am going concentrate on strength training. I know that to change the shape of my body I have to train with weights. This will be a learning process for me.  

This is the first year that I have not given up midway through and gained all of my weight back. What exactly did I do to lose weight? I tracked all of my food intake. I use Weight Watchers' previous points system. I made sure to keep up my intake of supplements. I love AdvoCare. I workout. True story. lol I love FitnessBlender videos on youtube.com. I drink plenty of water and get plenty of sleep. Easy enough, right?

I would say the two things that made the difference was giving it to God because I know I can't do it on my own and I committed to the process through affirmation statements. Have a support system if at all possible. If you don't have one at home or work you find one online. I love Instagram because you can follow real people on their fitness journey and find inspiration and motivation.

I gladly welcome others to join me on this journey to get healthy! :)  

My Favorite FitnessBlender Workouts

I love working out with FitnessBlender on youtube! I have been working out with them since I started this journey in January. I highly recommend them! They have over 350 full length videos to choose from ranging from beginner to advanced.

One of the first videos I started doing was low impact cardio. Twenty-two minutes of quiet, no bounce cardio. There is not a warm up or cool down included but you can easily add one yourself.


I also love a good kickboxing session! Punch and kick out your aggression! Get out of here fat!

A few months ago I started doing tabata or HIIT workouts. They are my favorite go-to workouts. HIIT stands for high intensity interval training. The great thing about these workouts are that you do them at your intesity level. So pretty much anyone can follow along. I can't do a lot jumping so I typically modify when needed.


If you don't have a much time, FitnessBlender has more than a handful of quick workouts. Sometimes I do a quick video before work and a quick one after work if I am pressed for time.

Here are links to my favorite workouts. Enjoy.
Quiet Cardio Low Impact
Fat Blasting butt and Abs Tabatta
Crunchless Abs Workout
Cardio Kickboxing
Barre Workout for Butt and Thighs 
Tank Top Arms Round 2 


Weigh-in update! I weighed in on Friday 12.16.16 and I was down two pounds for the week. That's a total of 59 lbs! I'm under 180 which was my first mini goal. Guess it's time to set some more goals!

Celebrating Non-scale Victories!!!

I have had 3 non-scale victories this week and it's only Wednesday! I forgot how awesome they feel! I have been so focused on that scale not budging much over the last few weeks that I have gotten a little discouraged. I have still pushed on though. In the past this would have been the point that I threw in the towel. Did I mention this is my 4th time to lose weight? I also have PCOS which likes to play games with my hormones and can make it more difficult to lose at times.

Okay so on to the positive stuff!!! Monday I was super exhausted! Plus I have been stressed. I really wanted to binge eat. I had a ton of cravings and I only have 14 Flex points left for the week (which I plan to use on Thanksgiving). I had just went grocery shopping and had some junk in the cabinets. I have not complete convinced my family to go 100% healthy and they are a small army that overpower me! ha (I do encourage serving sizes and moderation) Needless to say we had bags of chips and sugary cereal to name a few. I contemplated and tried to justify my need for sugar and carbs for about 10-15 minutes. Instead I went and took a bath. I wasn't hungry anyways and it was 9pm. This may seem small and unimportant for some but when you are an emotional binge eater and you are stressed THIS IS HUGE! I almost always give into to my ridiculous cravings.

Yesterday we had our Thanksgiving celebration at work. We had didn't do a tradition feast but there was still a lot of unhealthy options. Luckily there were enough healthy options to pick from. My dear friend made a gluten free veggie lasagna. The real non-scale victory was staying away from the dessert table! Did I mention that I LOVE sweets? They are my kryptonite! Victory #2!

Another friend gave me a ton of her clothes that she doesn't wear anymore or never wore at all. I was super stoked. I love a good deal! ;) So I mentioned to her that I had a pair of the pants on and she mentioned them being size 13/14. I told her no, I thought they were 16. Got me thinking...so I went and checked. Sure enough they WERE a size 13/14!!! I didn't even know! At the beginning of the year I wore an 18/20. Victory #3!

There it is. Three things that I am super grateful for. Small things that matter. I am working on loving my body for what it is and what it can do now instead of hating it for what it's not. This includes not letting the scale define me. Yes, I need to be within a healthy weight but as long as I'm working daily at achieving that I am okay with it taking as long as it takes.

What are some of your non-scale victories that you need to celebrate?

Importance of Journaling

Some women love shoes...I love journals and notebooks! I love putting pen to paper. I have my food journal with me at all times. Only way for me to track properly. I usually have a smaller notebook about 5x7 or a smidge smaller. This way it can easily fit into my purse.

I also keep a prayer journal. I find it easier to talk to God this way. Usually if I start to pray out loud (technically in my head) next thing you know I'm over in left field off on another tangent. Writing helps me stay focused on the Lord and to show all of my gratitude...and of course pray!

I only have a few pages left in my prayer and food journals. You know what that means! I got to take a stroll down the stationary aisle. I ended up with two new journals and then two super cute composition notebooks. I couldn't decide which I liked best...so I got them all.

My prayer journal has the scripture of Psalms 118:24 on the front. "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it". In love! I usually get up about 5:30 am to start my day and this will be a great reminder to be joyful!

The "yes you can" composition notebook will be my goals notebook. I am starting to write my goals in 12 week increments. As I accomplish goals and find things that aren't working I will need to update them. Three months seems like a great time to re-evaluate. 

The "anything is possible" composition notebook is just for funsies right now.  Who knows. I am sure I can assign a purpose to it.

I pulled a muscle in my left quad so I have been taking it easy today. I happen to have an appointment scheduled with a massage therapist tomorrow but I don't know if that will help? I will talk to her bout it. This is the first time I have had a pulled quad. lol Other than magnesium oil and a bit of heat I'm not sure what to do with it.

While I rest up I am going to start writing in my notebooks. Making my goals super official. To achieve your dreams you must turn them into goals. Then turn your goals into affirmations. Writing time!

Self Image Struggles

I have been struggling with the time change. I feel like I am trying to hibernate! The last few evenings I have been carb loading and trying to pass-out around 7:30pm. Plus there was the stress of the Election...

I have also been struggling with body image lately. I feel stagnant in my weight loss. It is coming off more slowly as the year progresses. Which is understandable. It typically comes off faster at first as you introduce diet change and physical fitness. I keep pushing forward even after I fall down...This week I lost 4 oz. Better than a gain though.

I can remember at one point early into my weight loss journey my resting heart rate was at 94. Did you hear that??? 94!!! That's not good! Now my resting heart rate is about 64/65. So over the last 10 months I have reduced my resting heart rate 30 points. My heart is working more effectively now.

So over the last 10 months I have lost 51 lbs, lost several inches(I need to find my starting inches), a few pant sizes and lowered my resting heart rate 30 points and I still struggle to see that big of a difference. I emotionally feel like I am still 237 lbs on some days.

I am trying to focus on what my body can do rather than what it isn't. I know that I will never have my body back to the way it was before I had kiddos. I gained 90 lbs with my first pregnancy. I didn't just get stretchmarks, I got skin tears. Everywhere. Even the backs of my knees. That cute little belly ring I was once able to wear will never see the light of day again. There is loose skin and sad boobies. lol But you know what? I can walk. I have all of my limbs. I can play with my children. I am otherwise healthy (with the exception of my PCOS and anxiety disorder). My husband thinks I am beautiful.

Why do I put so much value on my outward appearance? Of course you feel better when you take care of yourself. That's not what I mean...but when I look in the mirror all I can see is my "mom tummy" and the bags under my eyes. I am getting older by the minute. I am more than that though. I know this. 

I am on a mission to love my body and to be comfortable in my own skin. I know it has to be possible. It won't matter how much weight I lose if I can't love my body as it is now I will never be happy with it.

Progress of 24 Day Challenge {Day10}

I meant to post a few days ago...then the weekend happened! We went rollerskating Friday night after work, I had a training on Saturday followed by a baby shower and then we visited with my momma for most of today for our birthday, which is tomorrow.

I completed my 10 Herbal Cleanse on Wednesday 10/12/2016. I weighed in on Thursday morning and my scale read 188.0. That's a total of  4.2 lbs from 10/3. I didn't really feel like the scale represented the true progress of the cleanse because Aunt Flo had visited me earlier in the week.

 

My typical weigh-in time is always Friday mornings. I went ahead and got on the scale Friday as well and it read 186.2!!! So I feel this is my more accurate results of the cleanse even though there was one extra day added to the total.

For those of you that don't know, I have PCOS and I typically get multiple warning signs when my visitor is coming. This time I had no clue. There were no crazy cravings, no mood swings and no cramping except a little on the first day. It was kinda awesome. I am usually always miserable a few days before and even after.

I have not taken measurements. I will save that for the end of the 24 Day Challenge that will end on 10/26/2016. I can tell you that my clothes are fitting looser...especially my pants!

Now I am on to the Max Phase and I am excited to build up my core nutrition and continuing to work towards my goals. Stay tuned for the final results!