I…. Workout…. (1 OF 6 WEIGHT LOSS BLOGS)

STEP 1: Getting down to the issues

All right Loves…I have gotten some emails lately on what you can do to keep that weight down or to simply shed some extra loving off.  Many of you that know me now don’t know that I actually have struggled with weight issues my whole life and when I first joined the military I was on the weight management program.  Many reasons for this were my basic composite body type.  It is what worked for my ancestors and passed on down the generations.  It couldn’t have possibly had anything to do with the 64oz Big Gulp of Dr. Pepper I used to drink in high school. The funny thing is I never thought of myself as overweight, I wouldn’t even use the word fat.  I would say I was a bit thick. LOL…Anyways…I tried everything when I joined the Air Force. Starved myself, Diet Pills, Working Out, etc…If we fast forward 15 years now, I can now share 15 years of professional fitness and personal advice to help you get where you need to be.  And guess what! I’m going to give this to you for free.  No personal trainer required. You are going to need a pair of running shoes, a good sports bra, and an open mind.  So let’s begin….

First Step: Self-Evaluation: Why do you want to lose weight?  Now if it is a health answer then I am good with that, because I know you really want to do it for a reason.  We are human, and many of us need a reason to do something.  But if you are trying to get ready for a reunion, or possibly a cruise, I need you to realize, that once you lose a certain amount of weight, unless you make it a lifestyle, you will gain it all back plus 2/3’s more.  I can almost guarantee it.  So think of your weight history and remember a time of where you still ate healthy, were partially physically active, but if you wanted a cheeseburger, you ate it.  This is your normal weight.  I am 5’2…and I would say my comfortable weight without really trying to maintain a healthy life would be about 140 pounds.  I am comfortable there.  At this time I am 125 pounds.  Did you just see that 15 pounds difference from a comfortable weight to a desired weight?  So in saying this set a realistic goal.  My goal could be 115 pounds, and I might be able to get there. But could I honestly eat only white fish and egg whites for the rest of my life? NO…So there is no reason I ever need to be that small. 

Once you have set your desired and realistic weights, I want you to set your goal 5 pounds below your actual weight now.  You have to reach your realistic before you can reach your desired weight. Plus, if you’re overall goal is to lose 30 total pounds.  That’s a big goal.  The average person loses between one to three pounds a week.  So that would take about three to eight months depending on how much weight you lose. Thus, a 5 pound goal is very realistic.  Once you set that goal, pick a small reward for yourself and follow thru and buy it for yourself when you reach it.  This could be a new shirt, a purse, a pair of earrings, a book, anything, and if you are short on money, then maybe a set appointment for a bubble bath, or a desired meal when you reach it.  Here is the catch….You have to maintain the 5 pound weight loss for 48 hours before you can redeem the reward. The reason for this is I want you to put a positive connotation to losing weight but you need to realize what it took to get you there.  I would hate for you to work so hard to lose 5 pounds and not feel the motivation to keep going.  So are you following? 5 pounds at a time….And I don’t care how long it takes for you to lose the 5 pounds, 1 week, 1 month, all I ask is that you keep focused on your goal. You are done when you decide you are happy where you are at.

This is the bottom-line...It’s all about a lifestyle change. You need to dedicate yourself to a positive lifestyle change.  You know I write a lot about self-worth…loving your body, loving yourself.  Well it’s time to love you first.  I need you to charge that this is not a diet.  You are doing this to make you happy! Think positively...CHOOSING TO BE POSITIVE AND HAVING A GRATEFUL ATTITUDE IS GOING TO DETERMINE HOW YOU ARE GOING TO LIVE YOUR LIFE.

So over the next 6 weeks, I have charged and dedicate myself to sharing my professional advice to help you.  I am doing this because I love you.  Many of my friends know although I am a personal trainer, I really never enjoyed training people, however, I do love taking care of my friends, and that is what I plan on doing! 

HOMEWORK WEEK 1

I will discuss eating tips and meal plans in our next  weekly blog… So until then…I need you to read this blog, read this blog, and read this blog.  Do some self-evaluating…

How is your self-identity? What is your 3 favorite attributes (Physical)

What is your overall goal?

Why do you think you turn to food? Do you do this when you are happy? When you are sad? Content?

What are your favorite three meals?

Google Clean Eating and read about it

RULES!!!! Starting today…..

No Soda

Limited Diet Drinks, Juice, Alcohol

Drink lots and lots of water…Lets purify that body (Plus your skin is going to look great)

Daily Multi Vitamin

No Added Salt on foods

No Fried Foods

If you plan on participating in this 6 week plan…please message me or simply respond to this post so I can reach out to you.

See you next week in my YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT BLOG…..

Don't Hate the Player...Hate the Game

What an epiphany! When your brain finally takes the lead over your heart.  I wonder why it takes so long for an individual to realize something, and in turn decide to try the same thing over and over again, only to reach the same means to an end and ultimately repeat yourself.  The most important lesson from this is do you change what you do, completely close yourself off, live guarded, or find a way to live smarter?  Wouldn’t it be so much easier if we had a manual to help us understand what we should do; or maybe an activities book?  Do you remember the ones that gave you an option of how you wanted the book to end?  For happily ever after, please turn to page 62, for your chance you meet the Real Prince charming please turn to page 78.  Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Always knowing that your outcome is what you chose.  Life unfortunately is not written like this, and I reach out to you to not fall into the mouse trap and wish it was.  You see if life was exactly as you wrote it, you would no longer live your life, but your life would live you.  There would be no choice. You would simply do what was laid out before you.  And isn’t that what is so beautiful about life; never really knowing what comes next.
 

The element of suprise....There is a surreal adventure to not knowing.  Think of how simplistic our lives once were.  We now complicate our source, and the crazy thing is that we don’t complicate it necessarily with tangible objects, but we complicate it, thinking about what we could do better, what could have been, or shift the focus on us internally for some sort of blame to why you aren't where you should be at in this time of life. "When is it my time" you scream to yourself.

A common trend I see is when we dont like the outcome we would want, or unable to turn to page 78 for our ultimate destiny, we reach not at what the present is, but look deeper into our insecurities.  As if your insecurities have ever done anything good for you, lol, it is now the one area you reach to. We reach for the pain, instead of the present.  Do we do this so we can really feel? Is it like a negative attention our brain reaches for? Thus, we are not giving our heart or our brain what we really want or truly know, so we turn to page negative 64 to feel something.  I ask these questions, because I recently felt this and have no idea why I went to the negative in this situation.  I knew the outcome; I was okay with it and was ever grateful of my present moment.  I really can say I was happy at either the gain and or the loss in my brain.  I FINALLY WAS IN TOUCH WITH REALITY AND SPOKE THE SERMON.  So why when the actual moment presented itself, I romanticized the idea and let my heart feel more of a loss then my brain accepted.  As my brain knew I wasn’t losing anything.  I had gained a great deal.  I knew and felt love. I felt a confidence I hadn’t felt in long time. I felt empowered. And the epiphany over many lessons I had learned over the past year, had finally fell into place.

So why do we choose hurt instead of happiness?  We don’t!  It’s not a conscious decision.  We choose happiness over hurt; knowing that hurt is inevitably on the horizon.  Once it is time to hurt, we lose sight of why we chose to endure this pain.  We forgot that we knew the situation would change dramatically…literally, overnight.  New friends and new love would be thousands of miles away, forcing distance between you and your source of happiness.  We choose to disregard this harsh reality, or at least set it aside while we pursue happiness. As Shakespeare said; “It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all”.  Many times, the game isn’t fair and the loss is seemingly inevitable due to circumstance.  Yet we still choose to play.  So what are we upset about?  That the game isn’t fair?  Or that we knew the game wasn’t fair, but still chose to play?

So in the end, enjoy the present, and know…that what you felt was real. You gave love and were loved.  Enjoy those simple pleasures of life.  God sending you an angel to remind you of something you have missed something you were searching for.These are tiny messages needed to understand and enhance you. Its all about the experience, or the game per say.  And what I finally realized when I turned to the hurt, got over it, and smiled at the thought of him.  I realized that I hadn't lost the game at all, we simply had ran out of time. And I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to play.