You Always Want What You Can't Have...

My #1 Rule with Eating = Don't skip meals and don't do meal replacements!!!

Why this rule? I LIKE FOOD!!!  Oh, also I will cave and binge...

hahaha so true...

Explanation: If I go on a "diet" of some kind, it's most likely going to restrict me from certain foods. For example, the "Juice Diet" is really popular right now. I definitely think that juicing has some amazing benefits, but the plan tells you to drink all your calories! There is no problem to drinking your fruits and veggies, but only in addition to what you're eating. Basically, if you can only drink juice for so many days, or you can only eat one meal a day and the rest juice, your body will soon crave the things you are telling it you can't have! Eventually you will get frustrated and revert back to eating, possibly bingeing or hitting the nearest fast food joint because you've had enough!

My overall advice (because it is the ONLY way that truly works best for your body) is this: Don't deprive yourself of the foods you love just because you are wanting to lose weight. If you love certain foods, don't omit them completely. No, I'm not telling you to eat a Big Mac everyday or stop by Starbucks each morning for your favorite latte. I'm telling you that you should use those types of foods as a reward for eating better overall. 

Eat your healthy and fresh fruits, veggies and lean meats and your good grains daily! Eat only the serving size, count your calories, and do this 3-4 times a day at your meals. Then, reward yourself at night with that amazing ice cream sitting in your freezer! BUT, only eat 1 scoop, or one serving! This is your reward for your good habits that day, but you're not overdoing it! Another example is giving yourself a reward one-day-of-the-week type of deal. Eat clean through the week as you're tracking everything down in your journal, and then go out to eat Friday night! Or, meet your friends for lattes at Starbucks on Saturday morning. Better yet, do both! 

To sum it all up, if you love food like I do, the moment I tell myself I can't have it, I want it even more! I have learned that all the "fad" diets out there and only drinking your calories in the form of a meal replacement shake or something will only work for a while. I had to make a change that would LAST indefinitely. You can too!

If anyone needs help with food options or what foods to buy or what meals to cook while thinking this way, let me know! I would love to help! And as always...thanks for reading :)

*You Are What You Eat*

So to me, being defined by what you eat kind of bites. (No pun intended)

MY #1 RULE = Don't skip meals and don't do meal replacement stuff!!!

Why not?

Because...it's dumb. Seriously. 

(Read my post "You Always Want What You Can't Have" for further explanation.)

I guess I never really understood the depth behind that annoying phrase "you are what you eat" until I got serious about losing weight. I used to be annoyed when someone said something like this around me because then I felt guilty for eating what I wanted. With the old me, I liked eating what I wanted, when I wanted it. A quick stop by McDonald's or Taco Bell on the way to wherever was a frequent occurrence for me. That meant, a small burger sounded good or something and I stopped for it. No one would see. No one would judge me. I didn't have to tell anyone. 

Am I really the one who had this problem?

When I started running more seriously, I realized very quickly that what I put in my mouth affected me through my workouts. If I ate a huge meal at dinner until I was gutted or had a #1 Whopper meal with cheese for lunch, I most likely wasn't about to run that day. Why? Because too much food or the types of food I ate caused me to feel...lethargic and lazy, which was the physical part. It also made me feel worse about myself and the way I looked, which was the emotional part. It's kind of a sick cycle, huh?

I mentioned in my first post about my fitness journal that I bought from GNC. I started writing down what I ate, and eventually started counting calories. I am currently on my 5th journal, and I can't imagine training without one. I seriously recommend this to anyone. Writing down what you eat can really help you phsycologically to see what you're taking in and how much. It really feels good to look at your day at a glance and see good choices and good amounts of those choices. It makes you feel pretty gross to look on the page and see all the bad choices you made that day. Psychological = Feelings. A lot of us eat based on Feelings.

I recommend reading this website before you start. It really helped me get started. http://www.stepbystep.com/how-to-keep-a-fitness-journal-81530/

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OK. Now to the "What To Do Next" part!  I can't guarantee that it's going to make you happy at first becuase you are used to eating what you want. I won't sugar coat anything either. You're not going to hear me saying, "Oh, go ahead and have that Krispy Kreme in the Teacher's Lounge or Break Room for breakfast. It's not going to hurt." Instead you will hear, "Don't make that choice because you will not feel good about yourself when you have to write it down in your journal and see how many meaningless calories you just ate because of food lust."

Bottom Line =  If you want to see your body change, then you have to change what you put into your body. PERIOD. Your food choices are literally 50% of the weight loss journey. 

The following criteria are things that you HAVE to do in order to get the results that you want:

1) Plan your meals for the week and ONLY buy those items at the grocery store (not just what looks good on the shelf)

2) Eat clean meats as in Salmon, Chicken breasts and some lean beef. (Clean just means more fresh and nothing processed)

3) Always buy fresh veggies and fruits. Spend most of your time and money in the produce isle. 

4) Don't eat out much! (If it can't be avoided, just order a small, more fresh choice)

5) Count those calories! (I will explain...)

Instead of going on and on about menus and meal plans, I think giving you a list of thing to buy at the grocery store will be most beneficial to get you started. Too much at the beginning of your journey can be overwhelming!

To lose the most weight the fastest, here are the 4 food groups that need to represent your fridge and pantry:

PROTEIN = eggs, chicken breasts, canned tuna, wild salmon, lean red meats, greek yogurt and protein powder (I use GNC brand of Wheyabolic Protein. I buy it at Sam's Club for about half the price than it is at GNC).

CARBS = Old fashioned oats, sweet potatoes, black beans

FATS = Coconut oil, avocado, flaxseed, almond butter or natural peanut butter, almonds, almond milk

PRODUCE = spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, zucchini, cucumber, apples, blueberries, bananas, coconut water

~Since I'm a visual person, here are some photos of what I eat throughout the day:

Breakfast = 1/2 cup oats with a little 

almond milk, 1/2 cup blueberries,

 coconut water (280 calories total)

Snack = Greek Yogurt (200-220 calories total) 

This brand is my favorite, but any kind is ok

 as long as you're getting 10g+ of protein.

Lunch = Green Protein Shake 

(I know it's green, but keep reading for ingredients! It's soooo yummy!)

Handful of spinach, 1 cup almond milk, 1/2 banana, 

1/2 cup berries, apple or peach, 1 scoop of vanilla protein powder

(300 calories total)

Snack = Sesame almonds *my favorite*

(I get these at whole foods stores)

1/4 cup (140 calories)

Dinner = Teriyaki Salmon and sauteed zucchini

*OMG* sooooooo yummy!

1 portion of salmon, 1 cup of zucchini (315 calories total)

I don't eat anything after dinner, but I drink a lot of water to help digest all the food from the day. So let's count the calories from these example meals...and we get 1235-1255 calories total! Of course, I only drink water throughout the day so you don't have to add calories from drinks! :) This is a great way to start thinking about your calorie intake. I limit myself to 1500 calories per day, so this type of example would be perfect for me, plus maybe one more snack or protein shake!

If anyone is interested, I can help you develop a great eating plan! 

The biggest thing is to not just do this some of the time, but CHANGING your eating habits to these examples INDEFINITELY!!

Time to Get Physical!

Ok. So I'm not going to bore you all with different types of workouts you can do. I have done my share of workouts at the gym and home video workouts. I'm going to write about what I'm most passionate about and what has WORKED for me:

1) Set a LONG TERM goal and a SHORT TERM goal.

2) RUN. RUN. RUN. (FIRST)

3) INSANITY. (LATER)

• Set a long-term goal for yourself, as in how much you would like to weigh. Make sure that this weight is ideal for your height and gender. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, a long term goal might be to lose 50 pounds.
• Next, set a short-term goal. This is VERY IMPORTANT. From the previous example, 50 pounds to lose will take some time! In order to not get weary and impatient with your long-term goal, set a short-term goal to achieve first. This will give you a HUGE sense of accomplisment and PROOF that you WILL make you long-term goal. For example, decide that you want to lose 20 pounds by a certain date or time-frame. Once you make that goal, then getting to your 50 pound long-term goal will be SO much more rewarding and exciting :)

• Don't be afraid of the word RUN. It's the least expensive exercise that one can do. It also WORKS. I don't care what your size or shape, it WORKS for everyone. This type of cardio to get your heart rate up and running is great at burning calories fast! I really do recommend to sign up for a 5k and then starting a training schedule. If you try to go out and run just to say you ran, you WILL fail. You have to have a goal. You have to have a reason for going out the next day and running again. If you tell yourself that you want to run so that you will lose weight, great! But, keeping track of your daily runs is VITAL. You have to be accountable with yourself or someone close to you. I definitely lost a great amount of weight by running. It really helps get you leaner, so that you can later focus on toning your muscles the way you want them to look. Enter INSANITY.

I love this quote...it really helps on those OFF days!

• INSANITY is an at-home DVD program created by Beach Body and led by workout enthusiast, Shawn T. I apologize beforehand if I overuse the term, insane. Because it is. I searched the thesaurus to find a more appropriate synonym, but it doesn't exist. My favorite ones are "madness, hysteria and lunacy!" Ok, so I'm not helping. The best part of the meaning behind these words is that the OUTCOME of the insanity that you go through in this program is SWEET, SWEET VICTORY with your body. This video program costs about $120 and you can find it at beachbody.com. You push play EVERY day and 60 days later, you feel like you just accomplished the impossible and that is PRICELESS. 

If you think a minute goes by fast, 

you haven't worked out with this INSANE guy!

So, to review! If you want to lose weight period, don't Google anything! Don't buy pills! Don't just eat better! Start RUNNING. I'm going to say this short and not so sweet. You have to start TODAY. Not tomorrow, not after the holidays, not next Monday because it's the beginning of the week, TODAY. Whatever bad food choices you've made today, LET IT BE GONE. Whatever working out you have NOT done today, RUN LATER.

NOTE:  If anyone who reads this is READY to change their lifestyle and get off the couch, I am ready and willing to HELP! I can help with a training schedule for running a 5k, or any distance race for that matter. Anything I can do to help you achieve your goals, I'm here! 

This was me...until NOW

2009. My best and worst memories...

April 2009 with my husband, Wes.

I had just graduated from Indiana University, took the trip of a lifetime with my best college friends, and traveled to Argentina to work on my Spanish fluency. Those are the best memories of that year.

I had also realized early in the year that I was at the heaviest weight of my life. 252 pounds. Ugh. Worst memory. That may be the first time I have publicly shared my weight history in numbers. Feels kind of good, actually. I weighed myself for the first time since probably high school when I returned from the Cruise with my besties. I remember wanting to know and figure out a plan of action since I hated being the fattest friend of our group.

My habits/lifestyle were something of this nature: didn’t really work out but perhaps the occasional trail walk that made me feel good for about 1 day, didn’t really monitor what or how much I was eating, felt sorry for myself every day, felt like crying every time I got dressed in the morning, and I absolutely did NOT feel good enough for my husband which hindered our relationship on several levels.

Sad story? Yep. Happy ending? YEP! Keep reading :)

The summer of 2009, I made a promise to my younger brother, Landon. He signed up for the Navy and headed off to boot camp. You see, we are pretty tight. Not having him around was going to change things for me. Knowing that he was going to be getting physically fit for 8 weeks and coming back to see his family again, but changed, I wanted to show him that I could change too. I promised him that I would start running and getting more active and lose weight by the time he returned. I wanted him to be proud of me and my choices, just as he wanted me to be proud of his. So, for the next 8 weeks, I decided to do the Couch to 5k Plan from Hal Higdon. (www.halhigdon.com) 

I literally remember being able to run for about 60 seconds, then having to walk. But I came back to the road every day. In September of 2009, I ran my first 5k in 41 minutes at the Hoosiers Outrun Cancer 5k event. 

1 Week after race ~ Breast Cancer Walk with

my girls from David's Bridal.

2010. Getting pregnant and letting go again...

After losing 42 pounds from the previous summer, my husband and I were successful at getting pregnant. Losing the weight helped with my fertility. However, being new to the prego thing and being afraid that I would lose the baby, I stopped running or working out at all. With that decision came letting go slowly of my better eating habits. I was 210 when I got pregnant and gained 37 pounds with the pregnancy. Great. Back up to 247. I had my first son in December. After he was born, I spent a few months recovering from a hard delivery and going back to work. "Not much time in my schedule" for anything else but work, baby and chores. I used quotes to emphasize what I now see as an excuse. 

Me at 5 months along...

2011. One pound at a time...

During the summer, I was finally off from teaching my first year. I was offered the Varsity Girls Basketball Coach position and took it in a heartbeat. This was my sport, all the way. I knew I had to change again, and this time get more serious than a 5k. If I wanted to keep up with these girls in practice, I had to bring it on!

So then came P90X. I did about 70% of this program and felt pretty great. I could have felt even better if I did 100% of the workouts, but it was my first real attempt at a high-intensity program coming from no previous commitments. 

As far as eating, my mother-in-law had started documenting everything she was eating in a fitness journal that she purchased from GNC and shared her thoughts with me. I went the GNC the next day, bought one ($14.95) and started counting calories. Yes, yes, yes I know! Ugh, right? Counting calories sucks! It takes too much time, and it's exhausting to look up everything that you eat. I will say that it was hard at first, but after a few days, I really enjoyed being able to see what I was eating and putting into my body. That journal was my own little accountability partner. Once a week, I weighed in on the same scale. One pound at a time, I was really seeing results! This came from pushing play everyday on the DVD player to do my P90X workout and eating different, healthy choices. Since I was seeing results, I kept on doing it because it was WORKING!

July 2011 - Virginia Beach

That fall basketball started. After P90X, I had lost my baby weight, but still wanted more off! Basketball was going good, but I needed to commit to something more. As I pondered and talked to my best friend, Naomi, the window of new beginnings opened. She had been running pretty consistently for a while and had ran her first Half-Marathon. She was training at the time for the Louisville Half-Marathon, which was in November 2011. I knew I couldn't train at her level, so I decided to train on my own schedule and run the same day she did, just not in the actual race. (My team had a game scheduled that day, so I would have to run early!) I was going to run my first 13.1 distance! And, after running holes in my shoes, I did it! On that day in November, she was running in Louisville, and I ran 13.1 on the treadmill at my gym. I stopped 3 times for 1 minute a pop because I felt like dying, but I finished! It took me 2 hrs, 21 minutes. Like I said, this window of new beginnings remained open...

2012. The best my body had seen so far. In and out.

That summer I promised my bestie that I would run the Indianapolis Monumental Half-Marathon with her in November. Before I still could train at her speed, I needed to amp it up. I borrowed a new workout program from my dad to look into. I had to DECIDE to COMMIT to it 100%, no matter how hard it was, or how little time I had. So, I brought it home and stared at the box. My dad had written several quotes about Motivation all over the cardboard. I read each and every one of them. After reading this one, I CHOSE to COMMIT..."Do not worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition" by Abraham Lincoln. I was ready for more changes to my lifestyle, and I really wanted to inspire those around me. Everyone in my life knew where I had been. Emotionally. Physically. Now, they were seeing me differently and encouraging me every step of the way. And so came...INSANITY with Shawn T.

Last day of INSANITY...161 pounds.

I wouldn't be true to this part of the blog if I didn't admit that the change in my eating habits played 50% of the role of losing weight and getting fit. I will post again with my recommendations for eating healthier and enjoying the benefits of NOT eating at McDonalds. :)

Later that fall, my bestie Naomi inspired me again! 13.1 miles in November unleashed some sort of inner beast within me that I didn't know existed. I was officially addicted to being fit and eating healthy. Round 2 of basketball season started and I was outlasting the high school girls. Hoo-rah!

Finished 13.1 in 2hrs 8 minutes!

2013. Knocked up again...Oh well!

So...pregnant again with boy #2. I signed up for my 2nd Half-Marathon with Naomi, 3rd time overall, before I learned the news of my pregnancy. Oh well! I decided that I was going to run in the race anyway! It was in April and I would be a week shy of 6 months along, so I kept running. My doctors assured me that since I had been doing it for some time now, my body was used to it, and it would be fine! Sure enough, I did it!

The back of my shirt said, 

"6 months pregnant, and I'm ahead of you!"

I continued running through the summer until I was 8 months along. At this point, my pelvis started hurting after only 1 mile into my run. I decided to hang my hat until after the baby was here.

Sept. 1, 2013 ~ Due date

*Notice my husband? Look back at my first picture. 

He jumped on the fitness train too! We are one fit couple now!

10 days after Kristian was born, I ran for the first time in 3 months. I went 2 miles. It hurt like the dickens, but felt so good mentally! I went out again the next day...and the next...and NOW...

After 1 month of him being born, I ran in the Hoosiers Outrun Cancer 5k with my oldest son, Cohen. This marked my 4th 5k race, and it was great to run in the same race that got this all started in the first place. I trained by pushing my new little one in the jogger! I am also registered for my 3rd Half-Marathon, 4th overall, with Naomi this November. My husband also signed up with me this time, as well as his sister, Jill and his cousin, Josh. How awesome!

Me and Cohen after the race!

Training with Kristian!

So...that is my story...UNTIL NOW! I am currently at 179 and still going! My ultimate goal is to weigh a fabulous 140 by the end of next summer (2014). Since that's a lot of weight to go, I am setting a short term goal first! My short term goal is to weigh 165 by Christmas. 

Stay tuned for more updates on my journey :)