This is my blog to inspire and motivate myself along my fitness & weight loss journey, the healthy way, without eating disorders, without starving or binging or hating my body. I hope to instill that my body (and every body) is a temple which should be treated respectfully, not punished with junk food and self-loathing. Hopefully it can do the same for anyone who comes across it.
Feel free to ask me anything, comment, critique, console, chat or just say hi. I appreciate any & all support!
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
after getting home from the gym yesterday. I was hyped up on endorphins & caffeine.
coffee is my kryptonite.
my breakfast was feeling patriotic today.
Day 1 Meals
Woke up & drank a big glass of iced green tea with lemon.
M1: Egg white omelet, with onion, tomato & hot sauce
M2: Baby carrots with hummus & light babybel cheese wheel
M3: 2 pieces of toast with almond butter & banana, 3 flax-quinoa crackers
M4: Can of tuna with mustard carrots & onion
M5: 2 baguette slices, cheese & grapes
Throughout the day I drank multiple glasses of water, iced green tea, & ice water with lemon.
(M1, M2 etc just means Meal 1, Meal 2, etc)
Patience
One of the hardest parts of losing weight for me is patience. It’s easy to look in the mirror and feel so disgusted with the image reflected back that you think it’s hopeless, there is no way you will be “one of those girls” the skinny toned beautiful girls. This is something I have always struggled with and being on a healthy diet always seemed like a waste of time when I couldn’t see immediate results as with crash diets. This time around I am putting all my energy into patience and faith. I have to believe eating right and exercising on a constant basis, day in and day out WILL be worth it. I will see results, I just need to be patient and determined.
Goals
As I have struggled with poorly planned “diets” in the past, I think it is very important to set some goals for my new healthy lifestyle. I like to call them goals rather than rules or guidelines because it makes it something worth striving for rather than something you aim to break.
My first goal is to aim to eat around 5-6 small meals a day. Rather than a traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner I think it is beneficial to eat much smaller portioned meals more frequently throughout the day to keep your metabolism running and trick yourself into feeling like you are eating more when you are actually cutting calories.
Portion size is going to be key! A very important thing to learn is what constitutes one portion of any food.
My second goal for this journey is to fit in as much exercise as possible. I aim to hit the gym around 6 times a week give or take, depending on how busy my schedule gets, for about an hour each day. For now I am simply focusing on a lot of cardio, but I will try to incorporate more strength training once I feel stuck in a rut. I typically use the treadmill or elliptical as my machine of choice.
My third goal is to increase my water intake significantly. I know that I have a problem getting my recommended daily amount of water which is an obstacle I must overcome to lose weight. Water intake is a key to weight loss. I will aim to drink at least 8 glasses a day. Minimum.
These are the goals I have set for now, but I will try to update them as often as possible, as I learn what does and does not work for me. I think this is a solid starting point though and I will go from here. :) Wish me luck!
The Reason For This Blog
I’ve never blogged before so this all comes as a new challenge for me, so bear with me.
I am starting this blog because I have decided to make a change in my life and lose weight once and for all the HEALTHY way. For many years I have struggled with my weight and with that, my self-confidence. I have been on a roller coaster of eating disorders and unhealthy attempts to lose weight for too long, I’ve been everywhere from starving myself and binging, forcing myself to purge through vomiting and laxatives and today I am saying no to all of this. I’m saying goodbye to my painful past and hello to a healthy and happier me with a healthy diet and exercise. As today is the mark of the exact midpoint in the year, I am treating it as a sort of new year, or a new “half-year” I suppose, a mark for new beginnings. I see so many girls struggling with weight the way I did, aspiring to be stick thin and accept nothing less as beautiful, but I want to show that you CAN achieve your dream body in a healthy manner, without these toxic methods and misconceptions. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, and it WILL take time but it WILL happen. I have faith in myself and anyone else who hopes to achieve similar goals to mine. I hope I can inspire others to follow me in a healthy journey to weight loss and fitness.
