~ Rome wasn't built in a day ~ 

Meaning:

All things take time to create. And great things like the city of Rome take a very long time. So we shouldn't expect to accomplish something or achieve success immediately.

The progress that is made when you chose to modify your lifestyle, not "diet", is no different!!  It has been a year and 9 months since I started my "mission" to build a better me.  You HAVE to be ready to make the changes for yourself, you HAVE to recognize that this process will take time, you HAVE to be ready to accept that all things do not go exactly as planned at all times and mostly you HAVE to recognize patience is a virtue and you MUST have that patience!!

I have heard comments suggesting that I am doing unhealthy things to lose the weight including taking diet pills, not eating and/or possibly making myself throw up.  None of this is accurate.  I will tell you that when I very first started working out I took diet pills for a week.  I also recognized at that time that if I wanted to get the weight off and ensure my ability to keep it off that I would have to do away with any "crutches" early on so that I could train myself and my body the right way. I did away with the diet pills and was determined to lose the weight the healthy, smart way so that I could re-train my way of thinking about food and eating and to give myself every opportunity to keep the weight off once I lost it.  

I did not set out at my max weight of 170 pounds and tell myself "okay, I am going to start working out and eating right and I will not eat anything that is not healthy for me, I will not drink a soda, I will not eat sweets, etc."  I didn't do this because that would be unrealistic!  What I did do is take baby steps.  I changed one or two things at a time, consistently, over a long period of time.  I am actually still making minor changes here and there, this far into it and don't picture myself not continuing to grow and learn more and more.

The most important thing for me to stress to anyone that is starting this process or even thinking about starting this process is to set small, realistic, obtainable goals for yourself.  If you don't get to the gym and workout ever then set your goal for the first week to get into the gym 3 days the first week.  If you go home and you sit down on the couch after work and veg in front of the TV for the rest of the night then set your goal for your first week to take an hour off of that TV time and focus on something else - completely turn the TV off and do not sit down!  Go for a walk, clean your house, play in the yard with your kids, etc.  Or maybe you like to go home and snack on a bag of chips while you make dinner for the family?!  For the first week either don't buy the chips or if you already have them at home, throw them out!  Make this one change, for this first week, then next week keep this change and practice it again for week 2 but set your second goal - maybe ditch the chips while you make dinner and  cut an hour of TV watching time out.  See?  Small, simple goals.  Once you do one, the next will come easier and so forth.

I have promised to write down what I am currently eating on a daily basis for the numerous people that have asked.  Again, keep in mind that I did not go from eating out every single day of the week to eating the way that I am now in a one week time period.  I want to stress that it has been well over a year since I started my weight loss goals and my diet has been tweaked, adjusted, modified and reviewed NON-STOP!!  I say this because I know that it would have been unrealistic for me to have modified my diet this drastically when I originally started out!

That said, my diet right now consists of:

• Breakfast - 1/2 cup oatmeal, 3 hard boiled egg whites and one hard boiled egg
• 2.5 hours later - Protein shake and grapefruit
• 2.5 hours later - chicken breast, flank steak, asparagus
• 2.5 hours later - tuna, sweet potato, almonds
• 2.5 hours later - flank steak, chicken breast, 2 egg whites and grapefruit
• 2.5 hours later - chicken breast, 1/3 cup brown rice, 1/2 cup diced red/green/yellow peppers
• 2.5 hours later - large spinach salad with raisins, almonds and raw chopped veggies with balsamic vinegar

I will say again, this was a year + in the making before I modified my diet and became as strict as I am now and the main reason that I am eating like this now is that I still want to tone up and build muscle with spring/summer right around the corner.  Another words, I do not plan on eating like this for the rest of my life.  I have a goal that I am still working to obtain.  Once I obtain the goal then I will incorporate alternate foods into my diet.  The difference is that the foods that I incorporate will not consist of McDonald's, Burger King, fast food of any sort or highly fatty, caloric choices.

I have modified my view on food as much as I have modified my body.  I no longer look at food as a "treat" or tell myself that I "deserve" to eat a bunch of unhealthy food.  I look at food as a way to fuel my body for the activities that I have planned for the day.  You MUST feed your body healthy food that consists of the essential vitamins and nutrients that your body needs to survive... to thrive!  You cannot thrive on french fries, soda and honey buns I can assure you!

It is important for YOU to take the time to look at YOUR daily activities and YOUR daily food intake and determine what YOU need to change.  We are all different.  We all have different levels of activity and different diets so for me to tell you "do this and it will work" wouldn't be fair or accurate necessarily from one person to the next.  What I can tell you is that if you become more active than you have been, change your diet to include fruits, veggies, healthy fats, carbohydrates and protein and steer clear of the "junk food" you are bound and determined to make a difference in your health and well being.  You will notice changes more quickly than you could imagine if you stick to it and continue working towards new, different goals each week!