There has been a recent influx into my inbox. My facebook, my instagram, and my phone are all getting slightly bombarded by friends inquiring as to what I’ve been doing that has helped me lose so much weight.
This last September I was a whopping 147. That is nothing really that crazy, truthfully. On my 5’8” frame by no means could I be considered overweight. I mean I’m no health professional but I am pretty sure I was hanging around close to what my ideal body weight should be. So why the weight loss?
I have always had the desire to compete in a fitness competition. A few years ago I attended one, I was supporting my friend who was about to compete in his first bodybuilding competition and he wanted to do some research. While there I had an immediate admiration for these people who had so much discipline and tenacity to mold their bodies, like clay. The amount of dedication is unfathomable and extreme. I want it just so that I can say that I did it, that I could do it, that if I could accomplish this, I can accomplish anything.
It wasn’t until this January that I finally got really serious about my goals. I hired a trainer and cleaned up my diet. This right here is the reason I am posting this blog, for all the ladies that have been asking me, “what is your secret!?” Listen up because I’m about to tell you something that you already know… There is no secret. Diet and exercise are what have gotten me this far, 20 pounds lighter and down 2 ½ dress sizes.
I know that isn’t comforting and its probably the opposite of what everyone wants to hear. We all want a quick fix and we all want something easy, especially when it comes to weight loss. I will make a short list of the things I’m doing. My diet isn’t perfect right now, I’m still a ways out from competition shape and I’m certain that my diet will be tweeked as the days go by, but for your average house wives, this list is manageable.
1. Clean it UP.
-No fast food, no junk food, and if you can avoid as much processed food as possible. When I first cut these things out of my diet it was really hard, I will be honest, I missed Nacho Cheese Doritos like they were nicotine, I was craving them constantly, to which my trainer said, “The junk food will still be there, its not going anywhere.”... it was that simple. I don’t have to eat this garbage because it will still be here in nine months. Sure, its hard when the boss buys a pizza for everyone at work, I mean how often does that happen? I have found that whenever I am presented with a moment of weakness I ask myself, “what would an athlete do?” That is a natural question for me because of my goals, but maybe you need to tailor your question to your own life style.
2. Eat grains sparingly.
-Breads, tortillas, pasta, ect. All that really yummy stuff, you can still eat it… a little bit… I try not to eat it. The only thing I will eat is a piece of wheat toast in the morning with breakfast. That’s the goal, if you are going to eat grains, eat them as early in the day as possible. Complex carbs take more time for the body to burn off, the latest I’ll have a piece of toast is noon or 1 pm, but I don’t go to bed at 9 so my times might be a little off. Honestly, just use your best judgement.
3. Simple carbs rock.
-I’m not here for some kind of atkins diet. Don’t get me wrong, I eat protein like a fool but my goals require that I do that, but protein is hard for the body to turn into energy unless of course you are starving it. When I’m feeling sluggish, I reach for an apple, an orange, mango, pineapple, fruit my friends, its glorious. The natural sugars in fruit are simple and easy for the body to turn into fast energy. Fast energy is fast in all respects. You gain energy quick but you’ll also burn through it quick, I can feel the instant I have run out of the energy from my apple. This is a good thing however, it means our body won’t get the chance to store these carbs for later much like our unpleasant complex carbs.
-You can also get these simple carbs from vegetables as well. The only reason I note this is because I stop eating any carbs after about 6 pm. This time works for me, I work most nights until 9 pm and don’t fall asleep until about midnight, that means any lingering complex carbs or simple carbs I have taken in during the day have about 6 hours to be burned off.
4. Oh my gosh water.
-I drink so much water its rediculous. Don’t drink yourself sick, but you should always be toting around a bottle of water. This is the most annoying step. This step has turned me into a literal pee machine. Water is a necessary nutrient, it helps with osmosis which I hear is a pretty cool thing that happens in the body.
5. Eat some meat.
-My diet consists of a lot of protein. At this point I’m drinking 1 ½ to 2 shakes a day. I eat a piece of lean chicken at least once, if not twice a day. When I work, which is every day, I treat myself to a piece of salmon, but I also eat tilapia and tuna… its boring. This step has taught me that food is fuel. It isn’t fun. It isn’t pleasure happy time for my mouth. It is simply fuel to help me keep moving through the day. Chicken is so incredibly boring. My mouth is bored, but I keep doing it because I know that with every single piece of boring chicken I am getting closer to where I want to be.
6. Keep eating.
-I eat small meals every two hours. Much like the water step, this one is annoying. I feel hungry all the time. Its like, “I swear I just ate like an hour ago and I’m freaking hungry again!” I am eating all freaking day. This step means you have to make time to eat and you have to plan ahead. I pack snacks everywhere I go or I’m prepared to spend some money on some healthy food. For me, I just try to keep things as simple as possible because hey, I don’t mind boring chicken. If you don’t want to get bored, you had better plan your meals ahead. Take time on Sunday to coordinate and prep your meals for the upcoming week.
7. The last meal.
-My last meal is always about 2 hours before I plan on going to bed and of course, its a protein. Reason being is you want to once again give yourself time to burn it off, luckily the body won’t store protein like it will carbs and fat. I go to bed around midnight, so my last meal is around 9-10. If you got to bed at 9 you had better put the fork down around 7. If you were following the last step then you should be feeling pretty hungry by bedtime, but guess what? I go to bed hungry every single night.
And thats it. Notice I left out dairy… you don’t need that crap. Maybe some greek yogurt here and there but other than that, ditch it. See what I mean though? Nothing crazy. No fad diet. No fancy pill or magic shake, just a lot of willpower, because what I want for myself in the future is much more important than this single potato chip here in my hand right now. Delay of gratification at its best people.
I did mention that I hired a trainer, but for any of my lady friends reading this blog, you don’t need to take that step. Honestly, just get out and go on a walk or something. I’m not here to belittle exercise because it’s incredibly important, but in the role of weight loss, exercise is about 10%. Granted building muscle mass will help increase your metabolism.. just saying girls, you might want to think about lifting. I hope this helps. Like I said, I’m not doing anything crazy, the list is actually very simple, following the list? That’s the hard part. Good luck ladies and always remember, NEVER SKIP LEG DAY! xoxox
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