Some Practicals!

SO....some practicals for this week!  Here are a few suggestions on some little things you can do to help you start your weight loss/healthier living lifestyle:

1. Write down your goal!

Only 3% of people in this day in age actually write down their goals, yet those 3% are the ones that are successful. So go ahead and do it! Write down your goals! Stick then all over the place. On your fridge, on your computer, on your bathroom mirror....keeping your goals in mind helps more than anything, and writing it down finalizes it in your mind. What is it? A pair of jeans? Being able to run a race? It needs to be specific, and attainable. Be realistic, but don't be afraid to dream big too.

My goal right now is I want to be able reach the P90X level in my workout by Christmas, and be able to do 500 repetitions in my AbsRipper workout. Challenging? Yes. Realistic? Yes. Possible? YES!

2. Get a food journal

Recording everything you eat and drink is going to no only open your eyes to how much you might be eating and how often, but will also be an encouragement to go back in read as time goes on and your habits start to change. In your journal, I would suggest breaking your entries up by day. For each day, write the time you eat, what you ate, how much, and what you were feeling when you ate it. The goal here is to help you start to see patterns in your eating habits. Do you eat when you are bored? Depressed? Whenever you feel like it? Finding out about yourself in this sense is going to be extremely helpful in finding ways to overcome bad habits.

3. Find an exercise venue

I may not be a health expert or anything, but I do know that you cannot lose weight and gain muscle if you don't exercise. There is no way around it friends. You just gotta suck it up and do it. I know working out seem daunting and time consuming, but I am tellin you: it works. The secret here is you need to find active things you enjoy. Nobody wants to be miserable when they are working out. That by no means helps our goal of thinking positive thoughts ;) So yes. Find something. Join a gym. Sign up for a class! Zumba, cycling, swimming, hiking, tennis....the possibilities are endless. Just make sure it is something you are going to stay committed to. And there is no rule that says you have to always do just one thing! The point is learning to incorporate activity into your life, not necessarily always put it in it's own category. You have to work hard though. No beating around the bush. Taking the stairs is not gonna cut it. For weight loss purposes, you need to be getting at least 45 minutes of good, hard activity per day. More on that later...

4. Get a food scale and measuring cups

Portion control. Portion control. Portion control. No more guessing. I challenge you this week to measure everything. Look on the back of the box next time you go for the cereal. You will be shocked when you measure out the portion size, I am just tellin you. But you know what? It really isn't that bad. You will learn to eat portions eventually and not feel deprived. Your ice cream will look like a golf ball, your steak will seem pathetic, and yes, you will look at 1/2 cup of cereal and be like, "Are you kidding me?!" But just suck it up, and remember what you are making all these sacrifices for. "NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS FEELING GREAT!" -Jillian Michaels

5. Get the materials you are going to need.

I suggest a good water bottle (start drinking that water folks!!!), some exercise clothes, a pair of tennis shoes reserved for your workouts, equipment like a yoga mat and hand weights, (these can be good if you are going to be an at home exercise video person like me!),good, upbeat music for working out, and a cookbook for healthier eating. Also, there are countless blogs, websites and places to get tips for purging your kitchen.

One final thing.

I cannot recommend the program Weight Watchers enough. It is just really amazing. It addresses everything I have just talked about, and their whole approach to weight loss is just great. I strongly encourage you to join. It really opened my eyes and gave me hope for my weight loss journey. Check out their website here.

And for exercise motivation , check out Jillian Michael's website. This girl inspired me so much to stop whining about my weight, and just suck it up and get tough and fight for what I wanted, which was to be strong and healthy. She has so many tips and inspirational things to say, so I greatly encourage you to check her out too!