Make a Healthy Change in Your Life

If anyone ever tells you that a year won't make a difference in your life.. Then look at the pics below.

This photo above is me, last May 2011 with my father in law when my family and I went to see him in Michigan. Almost to the day a year ago. I was 30 + pounds heavier than I am now.

Here I am today

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't make a difference. Even in one year you can make a HUGE difference.. Imagine the possibilities to change your life for the better. To eat healthy, to lose weight, to be physically active. All of this is in your reach.. you just have to get up. That first step is the hardest you'll ever make and trust me it doesn't get easier the thinner you get. You just have to want it more than a chocolate donut!

One day at a time, one workout at a time. You didn't gain the weight in a day and you won't lose it in a day either. When I took that photo above with my father in law I was working out at the gym. The scale did not budge for me for months.. yes, months.. But I kept at it because it was doing more than not doing anything at all, and it was! I just couldn't see it for awhile.. so don't give up because you don't see any results because it IS doing something. You just may not see it right away!

Now I'm down from a size 14 to a size 6. I don't know a single soul that has ever regretted a workout, but I have heard many complaints, me included, of not getting out and exercising.

This is not an instant fix. It took you awhile to put the weight on, don't expect it to come off in a couple months. This needs to be a lifestyle change, not a diet. Diets NEVER work. Your weight WILL come back on. Because you took the weight off in an unhealthy way and your body knows it. You have to change for good, it just can't be temporary. If you want to be thin for the rest of your life, then you have to eat that way for the rest of your life.

It pains me to hear friends and people I come across that are going on diets to lose their weight. I know from past experience that these just don't work. I am living proof of weight coming back on when you do a diet plan. I did Slim Fast after my youngest son was born. My 35 pounds came off in about 4 months. But look at me back in 2011.. I gained it all back over the course of 4-5 yrs.

You can't deprive yourself of foods you enjoy, you also can't take away the balance of your foods either such as carbs, protein, fats. Your body needs a healthy balance of all three. Atkins takes away the carbs then you lost all the fuel your body needs to function. You take away the protein and you are eating away the muscle in your body which is pretty counter-productive since you want to build it not eat it away. You just can't do it with success. You may reach your goal weight, then what? You've now taken away your muscles and wreaked havoc on your body internally. You may be skinnier but you've put yourself in a situation of malnutrition. Can you really eat that way for the rest of your life to keep it off? No, you will eventually be right back to where you were and possibly more..

You have to change your life.. one day at a time, one thing at a time. Starting with your meals. Change your breakfast, then your lunch, then your dinner.. Start eating more veggies.. substitute your condiments with low calorie condiments. Mustard has no calories and is all natural verses ketsup which has calories and in most cases have High Fructose Corn Syrup which is horrible for your body. Eating sugar is fine, but don't substitute it with fake sugar. That will ultimately do more harm than good in the whole picture. Splenda, NutraSweet etc is all fake and it's better to give your body the real deal than the fake stuff anyday.

I can't stress this enough. Fake is bad, real is good! If you can buy all natural then do! Get rid of all that is processed. The harm this is doing to your body long term is huge. If you can buy organic that is even better. If there is only one thing you can afford to buy organic please choose meat. Meats are just packed with hormones. That is the number one trigger of puberty issues in young children. They are growing, and developing earlier and earlier. Not because we are evolving.. it's because they are being ingested with hormones. We have no idea how this is going to affect this next generation as they age.

My number one thing that helped me through this journey was writing down EVERYTHING I ate. I used to write it in a spiral notebook but now I calculate everything on myfitnesspal online.  If you can exercise 3-5 days a week for at least 30 minutes a day and write down what you eat, then you are on your way to a healthy weightloss plan. You don't need a diet, you don't need a program. You can do this on your own with no extra cost to you.

To lose a pound a week you must eliminate 3500 calories out of your diet a week. That's 500 calories a day you need to get rid of. Either by taking it away from your daily calorie consumption or by burning it off by exercising. For me, I am 5' 2" and for me to lose a pound a week I must consume 1380 calories. If I want to maintain the weight I'm at then I would eat 1880 calories. Make sense? If I ate 1880 calories and I wanted to lose a pound a week then I would have to burn 500 calories by exercising.

Exercising doesn't mean you have to go run a marathon. You can workout by just walking, and then lead up to a faster pace or longer distances. You can workout at home with exercise videos, ride your bike or roller blades. Lift weights with simple hand weights you can purchase at any big discount store. This doesn't have to be a complicated thing. You don't need a gym membership or a motivational coach or program. It's not about what activity you do, it's about getting your heart rate up so it will work efficiently and burn calories.

I started out my exercising by walking. My pace increased and I was at the point where it was just easier for me to run as I was walking so fast. Then my love of running kicked in and here I am over a yr later running races and just running to run! You will be surprised how enjoyable exercise can be. Try things out, see what you like and don't like because if you get it in your head you must walk or ride a bike to get fit and you hate it then you will never get up to actually do it and then what? Find something that clicks with you because if you can then you will definitely want to get out and do it more often and guess what? It will lead to weightloss if you are watching what you eat each day..

You can do it!! One workout, one meal and one day at a time...