Confidence

Another thing I've noticed is for awhile I let myself gain weight because I rested on the fact that I'm tall.  I'm 5'8" and I've never been a wide person so when I gain weight it just kind of stretches out all over, and it's really noticeable in the mid section.  Well, I decided I'm not going to use being tall as a crutch to be okay with being overweight.  Even though I may look okay, it's still not healthy and I am more determined than every to just be in a healthy weight range for the longevity of my health.

Since I never gave you guys a then and now here it is:

ABS!

The one thing I want more than anything in life is to have ABS! Well, visible abs that is.  I always tell my sister that one day I will have abs like hers.  I used to think that crunches and sit-ups would give me that, but recently some new discoveries have proved me wrong.  While sit-ups and crunches do build muscle if you only do those type of ab exercises it will just build muscle over fat, NO GOOD.  What I find has helped me on my journey is doing exercises that blast fat AND build muscle.  A lot of the workouts that I do with Turbo Fire help with this as well as doing several core exercises.  ABS are all about a strong core and one day I will have my sister's ABS.

February

The first thing I want to talk about is the month of February's progress.  I've lost about 2lbs this month, but I have started developing some muscle from the Turbo Fire Sculpting and Toning classes.  At first I was a little afraid because I wasn't seeing much of a change on the scale, but then I remembered, muscle burns fat, muscle burns fat fast, and gaining muscle burns more calories during cardio workouts.  I also have not measured again, but I'm going to stick to only doing that about every 30 days or so.  In general though I'm feeling very good, and some days I don't want to workout, but so far I've been averaging 4-6 days a week.

The next thing is I've been learning to cook.  I don't ever usually cook, but now I see the importance of cooking your own food.  I'm able to decide on the healthiest ingredients and also can monitor how I prepare the food.  I'm really enjoying it and it keeps the guessing out of how much calories and fat I'm eating when dining out.  So say hello to a chef in training LOL!

Say no to Dieting!

So I forgot to give you all my results from this Tuesdays weigh in.  I lost .6lb which brings me to a grand total of 8lbs in 7 wks which averages to a little over 1lb a week.  I'm very happy with these results because this time around I'm taking my time and really focusing on making small changes daily that will result in better life long habits.  I feel better, I have more energy, and I feel good about myself.

Now lets talk about diets.  Diets don't work.  So just stay NO to dieting and YES to a lifestyle change.  Different things and habits work differently for everyone.  So you don't have to follow someone else's pattern just try some things out and see what works best for you, your body, and your schedule.

Weigh In Tuesday

Today is my weekly weigh in and I am down another 1lb.  Now, on to the important stuff.  I'm finding that some days I do not have enough energy to really do my workouts, so this week I'm going to add more calories to my daily intake and add more veggies.

Journal

One thing that has helped me tremendously is writing down everything I eat.  My friend Amesha first introduced me to My Fitness Pal and I've been using it every since.  I noticed that when I eat bad things I don't write it down because I don't want to see the damage I've done.  So it really keeps me on track looking at what I've allowed to enter my body for the day.

The Scale...

I have learned that the scale should be used as a mere guide.  I can weigh myself 3 times in a day and my weight will have ranged between 2-6lbs so I thought I give you all a little "scale" humor.

Excuses

This week I missed the whole week of Turbo Fire workouts.  I did however make it to the gym for some early morning cardio.  I really had no reason not to do the workouts, I just didn't.  So I've decided that part of changing my lifestyle means holding myself accountable and making fitness just as important as breathing. LOL.  I did also forget to tell you all that I lost another .5lbs which brings me to 205 and some change.  My first goal is just to break 200lbs and we'll see what happens after that.  I did lose a few inches around my waist as well so that a really good plus.  So remember, makes your workouts just as important as anything else in your life and hold yourself accountable when the workouts don't happen.