Progress!

It's been almost a month since I last wrote about how motivated I am to lose weight. It's been a bit of a challenge to stick to my diet and exercise plans, especially with all the birthday celebrations that usually happen around this time of the year, but luckily, I am seeing some progress.

 

I've been surfing the web and talking to many of my health conscious friends and realized that a lot of my past choices were hindering my weight loss efforts instead of helping them (i.e. lean cuisines, oatmeal packets, energy bars). One of my excuses for not losing weight is that I am always on the go, and my food choices are made based off of convenience and unfortunately, these choices haven't had much nutritional value. So, for the past month, I've really focused on making fresher, more natural food choices and I've really started to notice a difference.

 

 

For example, I've traded my oatmeal packets for real steel cut oats with no sugar added. I've also upped my fruit and vegetable intake by sneaking them into my meals to add flavor (like blueberries for my oatmeal). I've also cut down on carbs (no more white rice) and have completely eliminated fried foods. I still treat myself to a good hamburger maybe once a week, but sub the fries out for a salad or soup instead.

 

With a combination of those restrictions and an added 5 days of exercise a week, I've lost 4 pounds so far. My first weight in I was about 128.6 pounds. This morning I was 124.2 pounds. I've also lost about an inch off of my waistline and butt. My arms and thighs have lost almost half an inch. My clothes definitely feel loose, but not enough to go out and by myself smaller sizes!

I started this plan off doing Insanity, but I found myself being really exhausted and hating life. I don't think my body was quite ready for that kind of intensity yet, so I switched Insanity out for Zumba and I love it. I feel like it's just the right amount of cardio for me and it really works out my core which is my main problem area. Probably after another few weeks of this and jogging, I will try my luck with Insanity again to help myself tone up.

 

There are also a bunch of supplements and extra vitamins that I feel have sped up my weight loss ever since I started taking them but since this post is getting kind of long, you can contact me if you're interested in knowing more about that.

 

I am 9 pounds away from my goal and I know that those will be the hardest to lose. I just HAVE to keep going so I can say I did it and finally be happy with myself! I have exactly 100 days until my May 5 deadline....

 

WISH ME LUCK!

Time to revamp!!

I've spent a good amount of time talking about how much I want to lose this baby weight. Well, it's been one year now and here I am, still 10 lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight. I've been in a workout and diet rut ever since my birthday back on Oct. 28 and it's been so hard to really get focused on losing weight and getting healthy again.

As more and more time goes by and I spend more time being stuck in a chair and not watching what I eat, the pounds continue to pack on. I have been so disgusted with myself lately and I've digressed so much from where I want to be. It's been really hard lately to not beat myself up about how I look. It's starting to annoy me (and my husband haha) how much time I spend in front of the mirror scrutinzing myself.

New years is always a great reminder that you only have so much time to keep telling yourself that you're going to lose weight before actually doing it. Because before you know it, it'll be 2013 and you'll have the same ol' goal of losing weight and the discontentment just never goes away.

So, as of yesterday, I've gotten back on the weight loss path and I am SO determined to stay on it. I am currently 128 lbs and my goal is to reach at least 115 by May 5th. Here's my plan: 6 out of 7 days of the week, I am going to do at least 30 minutes of physical activity and not eat more than 1300 GOOD calories a day. I'll probably get back into doing the Insanity workout, jogging, and doing my mom's Zumba videos. I know it's going to be hard, but I've really got to keep my eyes on the weight loss prize. I'll blog about it every now and then and hopefully we'll all be able to see some progress.

Here are some before and after pictures that have helped motivate me, so for all you wishful weight losers, I hope it motivates you too.

Snooki

Raven Simone

Hilary Duff

Jennifer Hudson

Jerry Ferrara

Kendra Wilkinson

Jonah Hill

Nicole Richie