Today we are talking about my current plans of improving my lifestyle. I am really trying to buckle-down and implement working out into my everyday routine. I have a goal, a project I like to call "Operation Freshman Fifteen" or perhaps "Operation Little Black Bikini". The goal is to drop my weight to what it was during my freshman year of high school. I won't say what that was, but as someone who has always been thinner, it is a very challenging task to accomplish.
At the beginning of the year, I had put on a lot of weight, more than I ever had before. After my husband had deployed for the third time, I got into shape, dropped ten pounds and felt amazing. But after my weight loss goals were reached I kind of "lost the plot", and didn't maintain like I should have. As those of you who have read my previous blogs know, I love fast-food, doughnuts, pizza and well, anything that is deep-fried. I didn't go super nuts, but I did enjoy the naughty things as often as I wanted, and all my hard work of toning the trouble-spots, disappeared.
So now, here I am, back at it again. My sister-in-law mentioned "the Biggest Loser", so I looked into it, bought several cookbooks, dvd's and really bought into the healthy lifestyle that Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels teach to the "losers" at the ranch. Actually, if you were to look around my living room as I write this right now, you would laugh and feel obligated to ask me quiz questions based on the piles of books at my feet, and on both sides of the couch around me. Yes, I've studied the material, thought long and hard, and put together some practical tools to make my life easier and to really utilize what I've learned.
The Tools:
* Three, one-month workout calendars
* Twelve, one-week menus, complete with three main meals and two daily snacks & shopping list
* Three weight-lifting gym workouts, complete with rep, sets & weight tracking sheets
* Weekly weight, workout, water and vitamin tracking sheets
* Daily nutrition/portion check-lists, to assure I'm eating all my fruits and veggies.
Needless to say, creating these tools has taken a lot of time and effort, but it really becomes worth it when I am trying to decide what to eat or which workout to do. I don't have to think about it, I just look at the sheet, and chose from seven days-worth of options. It really makes life a lot more simple. Also, the menus with corresponding shopping lists make grocery shopping a breeze! Instead of meal planning for the week (which usually takes 20min to a hour), you just print out one of the weekly menus and shopping lists and go to the store & do your shopping. When you come home and you don't have to figure out what to eat. So, so nice!
So, I'm nine days in, feeling great and on track.
The plan is try to lose the full amount of weight between now and December 25th.
Three months + 15 lbs = 1/3 of the weight per month.
Diet
Each day I will be consuming around 1,200 calories. And not just any old calories, but I'm eating only the good stuff. I'm using the "biggest loser" as my guide, and the 4-3-2-1 rule with WHAT to eat.
4+ servings of fruits & veggies (2 each), 3 servings of lean protein, 2 servings of good, whole grains and 1 naughty extra. But again, I'm not just blowing those 200 calories, I'm utilizing them to eat good fats. My favorite is instead of putting mayo on a sandwich, I use avocado. It's good fat and it's totally delicious!! Hey, if you're going to eat something fattening, it might as well be both healthy for your body and totally YUM!
I'm getting nearly 100% of my recipes and meal ideas from "The Biggest Loser". I've tried lots of different recipes so far and have been surprised and delighted with everything I've tried.
Excercise
The plan here:
5 days a week I will be working out 90 minutes, in 3-30 min increments
2 days a week I will be working out only 30 minutes - to give myself a few "rest" days.
I've decided to give my best effort; during both down days and 2/3 of the long, 90 min days. I figure, if you're going to do it, you'd better give it your all, instead of only "kinda" doing it and not seeing the results you want for all your time & efforts. I only have three months to lose 15 lbs, and as a smaller person, losing that kind of weight is a lot harder than if I was larger and had more to lose.
Let's face it, my body is pretty efficient at metabolizing food on it's own, but there comes a point where you really have dig deep, sweat, get out of breath and WORK for the extra edge. It's going to be super tough. I don't expect it to be easy, but I do expect results. You might say I have to channel my inner Jillian (Jillian Michaels) and push through it, when I'm feeling tired, sore or when I just don't want to workout at all. We'll see how the project goes.
By-the-way, in case you are wondering what diet/exercise has to do with my/your "inner beauty", well first, God has given each of us only one body, and we should take care of it. Life is precious. Secondly, we should to all things to the Glory of God, (even lifting dumbbells and eating spinach). Thirdly, our bodies are supposed to be a temple for the Holy Spirit. Whether you believe that or not, it stands to reason that if we only have one body, we should take care of it, not trash it. We can either chock our bodies full of caffeine, pastries, butter and cream everyday (or worse, drugs and excessive alcohol), or spend a little time every day working at attaining or maintaining good health.
Side note: when I lose a little weight and gain a little tone makes me feel amazing about myself! While that shouldn't be my primary focus or only focus, it's OK to spend a little time taking care of yourself, whether that means getting more sleep, eating better, taking vitamins or getting more exercise. To focus solely on your exterior is wrong, but that doesn't mean you should neglect your outside either, (not bathing or brushing your teeth would be a BIG mistake :)). Let's work on our "Inner Beauty" from the inside --> out!
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