Diet Pills, Fad Diets, Right Size Smoothies, Blah, Blah, Blah

The truth of the matter is... the ONLY thing that works is watching what you eat, making smart choices and exercising!  That's it!  If you could pop a pill, drink a smoothie, sprinkle something on your food or perhaps wave a magic wand and have Jillian Michael's body then I feel confident we would be a planet of fitness models! 

Americans spend $40 billion dollars a year on weight-loss programs and products and I am one of them... WAS one of them!  In this past week it seems that every second commercial on the radio is related to weight loss!  Why?  Because 69% of women list losing weight as their #1 New Year's Resolution!  We allow these pathetic commercials to draw us in... to make us think that there is going to be some way possible that one day one of these "miracle cures" might work!  Well... have they??? How many years in a row have you committed to lose weight?  Again, I know this from my own personal experience.  Hell, who doesn't want to swallow a pill or two a day and be ready to stroll the beach in a bikini two months later never having changed their diet or hit the weights?

Losing the weight, getting into shape, becoming a healthier person, feeling more confident about yourself and making the positive changes are going to take time but I can't stress enough how GOOD you will feel when you decide that you are really going to do it this time!  Set small, short term, obtainable goals - commit to doing 20 minutes on the treadmill 3 days a week for the first week.  When you do that reward yourself with something... maybe a new pair of tennis shoes, new workout pants. Then, for the next week challenge yourself to do 45 minutes 3 days a week and so on.  Don't sit down and decide that you want to lose 40 pounds in a month!  That is unrealistic and unhealthy!

Everyone knows and everyone has been told that eating healthy and working out are the only answer despite this fact the search is on for a quicker, easier way to get it done. In the meantime we are all just getting fatter, lazier, unhealthier and depressed.  The solution... DECIDE TO MAKE A CHANGE!!!

Okay, so I gotta tell you I searched high and low... on every computer I have to find some pictures of me back in April 2010.  They do not exist.  That is sad!  I was so ashamed and disappointed in the way that I had let myself go that I couldn't even take pictures?!  Think about it for a second... how many pictures do you have of yourself if you aren't happy with your weight?  I actually didn't realize that I was avoiding getting in pictures with people until now! I promised that I would share these!

So here's a picture from June 2010 - 2 months into the workouts and cutting back on the calories:

I had lost some weight already so I am not at the full 170 in this picture but somewhere within 10 pounds of that I would say. Honestly, as much as I LOVE going to the beach... I hated being there looking like this.  I wore a cover-up to walk out to the beach, laid down on my towel and hardly even got up to go to the water (no matter how hot it was outside!) because I was so embarressed about the way that I looked!


7 months later, in January 2011 I took this picture:

Kindof hard to tell the changes here because of the angle but I was down to about 150 at this time.   I had been working out regularly and was keeping my daily log of food as best as possible but I wasn't as consistent as I could have been but something is better than nothing right?!


6 months later, July 2011:

First, you love the hair, I know!  Back at the beach and starting to like it a little bit more! :)  Not as humiliated getting up and going to the water as the year before by any means!  I am down to 141 and 25.9% body fat at this time and had my calories at about 1200-1500 per day.  I was writing most meals down by now but not going back and evaluating my results v/s my intake and workouts, etc.  My plan needed some tweaking!



November 2011:

Someone really needs to clean that mirror!  :)  136/23.9% body fat.  The main difference is I started writing down everything that I ate (religiously) and then evaluated my calorie, fat, carb and protein intake every three weeks from September to November.  This allowed me to make some adjustments to the diet to obtain the results that I wanted a little quicker!

I hate to look at the first few pictures of myself.  I don't like the way that I looked and it is embarrassing to put them out for people to look at BUT if I can ignite the desire of ONE person to get up and "grab the bull by the horns" and decide that they too want to change then I don't care!! It will all be worth it to me.  I really, really want to help women recognize their full potential and learn how to take care of themselves and take some "me" time!  Your relationships will improve, your mood will improve, your health will improve, your body will improve!!

Heading to bed now to get my beauty sleep!  Have a great night!