The numbers game....

today I want to play a game.....

A number game if you will

no not that kind of number game lol

the kind involving everyone's most hated tool that they have in their house

the Scale

people are always intrigued as to how long I have been living a clean lifestyle and how much weight I've lost how much a week did I lose etc etc etc

I also get those people that come to me and say "i've been in the gym busting my ass for two months and I've only lost 5 pounds. what am I doing wrong?" my answer to them is simply this

you're weighing yourself.

I'm not saying that I don't weigh myself because I do BUT I don't attach myself to the scale.

As you go throughout your day your body weight changes so in the morning you may have gained two pounds, according to the scale, but it could be a multitude of things water weight, full intestines, the list goes on and on....

I weigh in every saturday morning at the same time each week that is a healthy way to track weight weighing yourself once a week at the same time on the same day makes you accountable for your weight loss goals...this saturday though will be my last weigh in for the month of March due to the fact that I am starting a bootcamp next week and I want to see what a month in the bootcamp does for my body and I want it to be a drastic change.

weighing yourself once a month on the same date at the same time is a healthy option to otherwise you become so dependent on the scale and  when it doesn't give you the number you wanted or think you deserved you get frustrated and think this isn't working why am I doing this and give up all together....

one of the biggest motivators to myself in this journey that has keep me going, besides losing weight and feeling great, is measurements.  I measure myself once a month at various spots on my body.  I do both bicep's (little unknown fact for you is that everything that you have a pair of on your body one will be bigger than the other see you learned something lol) I measure around my stomach using my belly button as a guide my hips about where my pants sit and both of my upper legs  I then add all them up and, along with my weight, write it down on a calender that hangs right next to my door of my bedroom.  it's something I have to see each time I go out of my room and makes me visually accountable for keeping me focused.

another great tool to use is pictures.  I knew that before I started my weight loss journey I looked like this

the picture on the right is me at the end of september and the picture on the left is myself at the end of October you can see a small difference there
I religiously took my pictures on the first satruday of the month and would put them side by side to see my progress coming to work...I did this for three months and then life happened and while I still ate clean exercised and took my measurements I didn't feel the need for taking a picture anymore....so randomly I decided to take another picture one day in the mirror about three days ago and it turned out like this




I know I am laying down lol but that's the best I could do with my imageing on my phone lol

so I thought ok so I've lost a little bit i can tell in my stomach

it wasn't until I took these two pictures and merged them and this is the final result




see what taking pictures can do for your progress and motivation?!?!?!?  I look completely different now and seeing these two pictures side by side it gives me a boost of confidence and motivation that I need to keep on moving on!

so basically what I am trying to say here is that don't just keep jumping on a scale after a few days of working out thinking that you're going to see great results it takes time

you didn't put the weight in two weeks so you defintley won't take it of in two weeks

one of my favorite sayings is "never give up what you want the most for what you want right now" and it's true I know I am a work in progress but each day i wake up I'm better than I was the day before...

until next time guys!

live healthy be healthy!!

you are what you eat......

so it's no secret that the lifestyle I follow allows me to eat really well and clean six days a week and one day a week I can have a "cheat" day.  it allows me to get my cravings out give in to my sweet tooth go out with friends and have a beer or order that fried piece of shrimp that sounds so good with french fries and ketchup.  but after this past weekend I have had a "lightbulb" moment......

all your life you hear that you are what you eat and you don't really think about it until you think about it this way.  Food effects everything.  Our social life, our home life. our digestive track, our mood, our views on ourselves........
wait
did I say our mood?

what could food have to possibly do with our mood?

I'm glad that you asked....

when you become so involved in a lifestyle that consumes you and you have had that second "-ion" moment that I described in a previous blog your brain starts to view food differently.  It sees it as what it is meant for nutrition.....that's simply it.....so when my one day comes around that i can eat whatever i want I wake up ready to jump start the day and dig in and eat until i feel like i could get sick.....

about half way through the day, usually around noon, another feeling sets in......depression

food weighs heavy on our emotions....we all knew that otherwise we wouldn't have those "emotional eaters" out there would we?  usually after I eat something that is "bad" or something that my brain tells me "we aren't getting nutrition from this" the mood sets in and that's when the bad feelings start coming out....

I feel fat worthless effortless and just an all around waste.....so it occured to me yesterday while my cheat days are important to me to keep my metabolism revving high and training my digestive track how to properly draw nutrients from the food that I consume on my cheat days maybe instead of going overboard and eating what ever I want for the WHOLE day I am going to implement something new on my next cheat day....

hopefully this will lift my mood and I will still see improvements in my weight loss

I also took on something that I didn't think that I would ever do I signed myself up for a bootcamp that starts March 4th.  I'm scared but I know that if I don't start pushing myself past my limits that I won't see results....I think this will be both healthful and beneficial for me to to kick myself in the pants be sore for awhile and truly see what my body is capable of

I am going to try to make it my personal goal to blog at least every other day this week it's good for me to put this out there and expose myself to other people and one day I hope to share this story with a client of mine and encourage them and give them the support that I receive day in and day out from all my friends and family!!  Until next time

live smart and live healthy!