So the plan to update the blog every day this week has already failed haha. New plan: I will just update all the workouts on Sunday. That way if you want to follow along with me during the week you can!!! And after that the workouts will be the same for a little while. So for tonight's blog I've decided to cover what I've done to get to where I am now, which is what most people ask me about. I really can't believe that I've lost about 45 lbs. It really doesn't feel like it. I know I'm a lot healthier, confident, and active but the time just seemed to go by so quickly, it really seemed EASY.  I was inspired to lose weight by my 70 year old physics professor. He's 70 and he lost 50 lbs within 8 months. I just thought to myself, "If an old man with a burnt out metabolism can do it then why can't I???". He told us his secret was just eating a net of 1900 calories every day. This is me not even a year ago. 

Okay so I'll try to break this down into steps or at least put into some sort of chronological order. 

First Step: Take some pictures of yourself like the ones shown above at the same kind of views. This will be helpful because you will be able to see your body changing week to week. Then google image some pics for inspiration. They can be before and after pictures of women who succeeded, fitness models, etc. Just something that will inspire/motivate you. 

Second Step: Start to track what you eat. This was the hardest part for me but also what i believe to be THE MOST IMPORTANT PART. Not that it was really that hard to do, it was just a little annoying. If you can do this well for a month then after it becomes a piece of cake. I used caloriecount@about.com to track my calories. It let's you upload meals, tracks your nutrition, macro nutrients, and already has a lot of foods in it's database. But you've gotta be diligent. I bought a kitchen scale so I could count calories for things that don't have a specific serving size like chicken, bananas, etc. I even use it for cereal, ice cream, and dressings because it's more accurate and it's actually faster than pulling out a measuring cup. Count EVERYTHING even butter, oil, dressings. Those calories add up and it's surprising how many calories you can actually accumulate from those. I know it sounds like a hassle but I'm just tellin you what I did and it worked for me. After a while of doing this, I got so used to making up serving sizes that I could do it without having to measure (I can perfectly measure out 15 g of peanut butter and 11 g of honey now haha). Plus you get used to your routine and you figure out what foods work for breakfast, lunch, dinner snacks, etc. 

How much should you eat? I would NOT set your calorie goal anywhere under 1500 calories a day and even 1500 is low. A calorie goal between 1500 and 2000 NET calories is probably good. My calorie goal was 1800 calories a day. You should try to split your calories up into 5 small meals or 3 meals with snacks in between. Spreading your meals out like this can prevent you from feeling "starved" and ruining your diet later on in the day it also helps balance your energy levels throughout the day. Drink as much water as possibly possible!

Third Step: Buy a calender that you can write this stuff down on. Every day I would just write the calories i ate and the calories I burned (Example-Calories: 1759 Exercise 650). It was just one of those things that gave me a good feeling at the end of the day. Like checking off a list. Also, if I fell off the wagon writing it down prevented me from staying off track for too long because I would see the progress I was losing. I also weighed myself once a week and I think I took pictures about every month, but if you wanted to do it every week, more power to you. I did NOT weigh myself every day. Your weight fluctuates all the time, so weighing yourself frequently just causes obsession. When you weigh yourself week to week, you see the real progression. Also weigh yourself in the morning, after the bathroom and before eating breakfast. That is your most accurate weight. 

Fourth Step: Exercise!!!! We all hate exercise, right? I used to loathe running with the passion of a million suns. I literally hated it more than anything else. If you had told me 4 or 5 years ago that I would get into long distance running I would have laughed in your face and bet you a million dollars on it. I once gave a talk in church a little over 2 years ago that started with "I hate running"...the talk was on absolute truths.  And now? I absolutely love it. I'm addicted to it. Any exercise you decide to do you're probably gonna hate at first. I still hated it when I started but I remember after the first time I ran anything over 1 mile I was so shocked at myself. I was like, "wow. I can actually do this." Given I had a horrible time. I ran 3 miles in like 35 minutes and it was all down hill. The point is, pick an exercise or exercises and make a schedule. I started following a marathon training schedule where I would run 4 days a week. I also really enjoyed Jillian Michael's work out DVDs. They're challenging but they definitely work you. This is important for your diet because it gives you wiggle room. The days I ran I would track how many calories I burned (calorie count also tracks your exercise and calories burned) and I would make up for those calories by eating more food so I would get a net of 1800 (sometimes I went under but that's alright). So if you wanna go eat at Cafe Rio and have that 1000 calorie salad just spend a little time exercising and "budget" it into your calorie bank account. Exercise is also crucial because when you eat less calories your body adapts to that deficit in calories and lowers your BMR (basal metabolic rate). You want to keep your metabolism up. The way you keep your metabolism up when dieting is to exercise. Exercise forces your body to burn calories, break down fat and sometimes muscle (not what you want), to fuel your body. You want to make sure that you have a small pre-workout meal/snack and that you eat something within an hour after working out (I aim for within a half hour). If you don't replenish your blood glucose, your body will break down muscle to replace it for you. Muscle burns more calories than other body tissues so you want to KEEP muscle. After a work out I like to drink a meal replacement shake, a protein shake, chocolate milk, eat cottage cheese, or a bowl of oatmeal. You can google good pre workout and post workout meals. The big takeaway here is to accurately track the calories you burn. It's always better to underestimate than to overestimate. You don't want to spend all that time tracking your food and exercising to accidentally over estimate your calories burned and eat over your daily calorie goal. Lots of people make the mistake of thinking that they burned more calories and then eating more which is why they end up gaining weight or not losing any weight at all when they're exercising. Believe me, I did it for the longest time. I ran a 5k and was like, "Yah!! That must have been a TON of calories, let's go to Carl's Jr.!!!". Running a 5K? About 400 calories. Carl's Jr Burger in a meal? Over 1000 calories. I did not earn that Carl's Jr, and I overate by 600 calories. 3500 calories is a lb of fat. So if you're consistently miscounting and overeating, it will add up. But remember -3500 calories is a lb of fat lost.  

Fifth Step: Be consistent and be patient. I know it sounds like a lot to handle but it becomes a routine after you try it for a while. Don't focus so much on the weight loss day to day. Focus more on meeting your calorie/ exercise goals every day. The most rewarding thing is seeing your weight go down every week and seeing the changes in your body with the pictures you're taking. Sometimes you'll fall off the wagon, I totally did for at least a month when I was doing finals. Sometimes you'll also plateau and you might not loose any weight at all for a week or maybe even gain. Don't worry about it. Just make a goal to do better the next week. Sometimes I would lower my calorie goal to make up for an off day but just try to be consistent. You WILL reach your weight loss goal if you're consistent. Weight loss is as simple as Calories burned> Calories consumed. 

In Conclusion to this long and boring post, I just wanna say that you can do it!!! You've got to make this about yourself and nothing else. Commit yourself and don't make excuses. For the longest time I made excuses like, "planning meals is too hard", "If I had a personal trainer...", "If I had a different body type...", "I'm just naturally a big girl...". I even had a personal trainer. He didn't help me lose weight, it was me deciding to do something about it. I'm obviously not just naturally fat because I did lose weight. YOU are naturally whatever you want your body to look like. There's really no excuse. You can overcome whatever obstacles are in your way. I never believed that I would weigh the same as I did in middle school. I didn't even think it was possible. Now I do. I'm not unhealthy. I didn't lose weight in an unhealthy way. I was inspired, I made changes to my lifestyle, and I was patient. Doing this really will change your lifestyle. I am totally different than how I was a year ago. I like healthier food and I like being active. Most of my jeans don't fit me anymore and it is a wonderful feeling to have lose jeans than to have to worry about tight jeans showing your muffin top. Looking back, it really does feel like it was easy. The time went by so quickly. Really the first step is just deciding that you're going to do it and actually doing it.  I went from almost 190 lbs  (high 180s) to 145 lbs. My initial goal was to lose 25 lbs.  

If you have any questions I think you can leave a comment on the blog or just shoot me a facebook message. I'm changing up my exercise and eating now to follow a weight training program so I'm not currently following all the stuff I gave you guys above. The plan I'm following can be found in Michael Matthew's book , "Thinner, Leaner, Stronger". I'll be posting the workouts I'm doing now on Sunday. That way if some of you want to try the weight training thing to lose weight or are already at a comfortable weight you can start weight training. 

These are some of the pics I saved for inspiration/motivation.