Consistency . . . sucks but it is key to success

In the past I have gained and lost weight and gained and lost weight more than a few times, like many of you who are reading this.  The main difference between those times and this time was consistency.  Although it is not always fun consistency is what will help you lose the weight and keep it off.  Most people have lost weight at some point in their lives only to slowly but surely put that weight back on.  

We fool ourselves into thinking that since we have reached our goal weight now we can have fun, eat whatever we want, skip the gym and drink.  Unfortunately this is not the case our body simply does not work that way.  I am not saying that you can never eat pizza or cake again but even after you have reached your goal you do not have a free ticket to just go crazy.  Over time this will put you right back into square one and you will have to buy new, bigger clothes, feel like a failure all over again and then start climbing back up the hill.  

Consistency is the easiest and hardest thing to maintain while making a lifestyle change.  The majority of people who are trying to lose weight follow their diet during the week and then not only cheat but go completely nuts on the weekend.  Not only are you skipping the gym but you are eating out two, probably three times and most of us are drinking too.  In your mind you think, "I deserve to have some fun, I was good all week".  I agree, you do deserve some fun but not three days worth!  In those two or three days of fun you have honestly completely wasted all of your hard work the previous five days.  

Not only do we constantly over estimate the amount of calories that we are burning but we also under estimate the amount of calories that we are consuming.  This is especially true when in comes to beverages.  Not just alcohol but lattes with all of the milk (even fat free) and syrups, frappuccinos, sodas and juices you could be adding over 500 calories to your day without even realizing it.  Then consider the dressing on your salad, the extra cheese on the sandwich and those birthday treats on Friday at the office.  Then you drive to work, sit at a desk, drive to the gym and probably do not even give 100% when you are working out.  So if you really sit down and our honest with yourself how good were you at this week?  

I strongly recommend using a site or app like myfitnesspal.com and a heart rate monitor to track what you consume each day vs what you expend.  By all means have a cheat MEAL once per week or on your birthday but having a cheat weekend each and every weekend is only going to keep you running in the same uphill spot week after week wondering why you aren't seeing results.  It is not always fun to say no to the cake and ice cream but it is fun to buy smaller jeans!  This doesn't mean you can't go out for lunch sometimes but when you go out make better choices.  Have Chicken Noodle soup instead of Cream of Broccoli, eat a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a deep fried, ranch one.  Take it one day and one week at a time and you'll get there.  Before you know it everyone at the office will be copying you and packing a lunch every day too!

A day in my stomach :)

The most common question people ask of me is, "What do you eat?"  Here is a breakdown of what I eat on a daily basis.  I pretty much eat the same exact thing each day to maintain consistency and to make it easier to pre plan my meals.  A great tool that anyone can use for free is myfitnesspal.com and there is also an app.  You can  input your specific information i.e height, weight, activity level and weight loss goal in turn it will generate a specific number of calories, fats etc for you to work within.  You can also set these number manually.  Once you join, feel free to friend me if you would like, lesterlie09.

Meal 1(breakfast/pre workout)
1 cup liquid egg whites
1 individual serving Trader Joes Steelcut Oatmeal

Meal 2(post workout)
Whey Protein shake mixed with water
2 sticks of Frigo Light String Cheese
3 oz of Fage plain Greek Yogurt

Meal 3
3oz of Boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 mission carb balance tortilla
1 white cheddar rice cake
2 wedges of laughing cow light cheese

Meal 4
1/2 whole wheat PBJ sandwich with reduced sugar jelly and all natural peanut butter
1 white cheddar rice cake

Meal 5(bedtime)
1 casein protein shake mixed with water-Beverly International Ultimate muscle protein is my favorite

While I was still in the weight/fat loss stages this would vary based on progress and now that I have lost weight but want to build muscle I am slowly adding more Carbs, Fats and Proteins to put that weight on appropriately.
I also must stress that I eat this EVERY DAY, I only have a cheat meal every few weeks or once a month, I do not drink even on weekends.  Consistency really is your best friend when you want results.  If you binge each and every week you will rarely make progress and see lasting results.

Flatbread pizza mmmmm

Today I made my boyfriend and I healthy pizza and I must say it was quite delicious.
There are minimal ingredients and it took 30min total from start to stomach.

To get started you need:

1) flatbread-I used Flat out, light original whole wheat flat bread

2)Cheese-Jewel brand fat-free Mozzarella Cheese 1/2 Cup

3)Tomato Sauce-Hunt's Tomato Sauce 1/4 cup

4)Meat- Pre-cooked Sausage-Jimmy Deans Turkey Sausage Crumbles/Hormel Turkey Pepperoni-(1/2cup  or 10 slices)

5)Baby bella pre-sliced mushrooms  3oz 

6)Olive Oil 1 TBSP

7) Seasoning of your choice-Garlic, basil, oregano, pepper-To taste

You can obviously put whatever toppings or combination of on your pizza I am just showing you what I made. 

Directions:

1)Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2)Spray a cookie sheet with Pam(yes it will stick, I promise)

3)Spread 1/4 cup of tomato Sauce on flat bread

4)Spread 1/2 cup of shredded cheese over sauce

5)Add Topping evenly on top

6)Drizzle with olive oil (optional depending on fat needs, I like to use it to soften the mushrooms)

6)season to taste

7) Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 mins depending on desired crispiness

The breakdown nutrient wise for the ENTIRE sausage pizza (1/2 is pictured above) is:

Carbohydrates:27 grams

Fat:21gram(depending on olive oil. w/o olive oil MINUS-14 fat grams)

Protein:33grams

Content was calculated using Myfintesspal.com recipe feature

Eat for your body not your emotions

Since birth we have been conditioned to eat emotionally.  This is the American way, eat for your birthday, eat to celebrate your job promotion, eat when you are sad, eat when you are happy.  Eat, eat, eat, eat for every reason imaginable except for nutrition.  

We are all guilty of this, myself included which is half of the reason why the entire country is overweight. We reward our children with snacks for good grades, potty training, behaving at the grocery store and countless other things that should be expected of us in normal life.  Which then spills over into our eating habits our entire lives.  There is nothing wrong with enjoying our food or getting excited over food but we should not choose what to eat based on how we are feeling or occurrences in our every day lives.  

Throughout this journey that has been one of my biggest challenges.  For example, this Friday I am attending a birthday party for a great aunt, she is 83 years old and the party will have all of the evil pleasures associated with parties.  Cake, cookies, pasta salads, casseroles, wine, crackers and three different kinds of cheese balls to name a few.  Most if not all of the attendees will partake in all of these snacks and then some until they are bursting at the seams.  This is going to be a huge struggle for me even six months into this whole lifestyle change.  I will eat out of my Tupperware in the car before arriving and be asked a gazillion times do I want (fill in the blank) and then I will be silently judged for not accepting.  Meanwhile my subconscious will be screaming at me to just eat whatever I want, even though I know I can't, shouldn't and will over do it.  

The major shift in the way I am now retraining my body, brain and emotions to think about food is not that I cannot enjoy what I eat because I honestly do but to enjoy what I eat not only because it tastes good but because I am eating only what my body needs to function, grow and maintain itself.  If I give in to the pressure and eat the cake, cheese ball, wine and crackers not only will I disappoint myself but I will see it in the mirror and feel it in my body almost immediately after.  Once your body has become accustomed to not over indulging it quite literally rejects poor food choices and makes you feel gross.  Not to say that any of these things stop me every time but when I give in I definitely pay the price emotionally and physically.  

It really is not our fault that we are programmed this way but it is our fault that we continue to make the choices that keep us on that path.  The next time you go to a party and can't help but eat some of each thing on the buffet table or have that second and third piece of cake.  Stop and think for 5 minutes about why you want to eat it.  Do you want to eat it because you are caught up in the excitement, because you are hungry, because you had a bad day, because your body needs that to function or just because?  Then make the decision, to eat or not to eat.  

Our emotional state is often our own worst enemy when dieting.  Even when you are having the worst day imaginable and you want to cry eating that pint of ice cream is only going to make you feel worse about it in the end.  Find something to substitute as a healthy comfort food.  It sounds so lame but it exists and can be done. I love eating white cheddar rice cakes with one wedge of Laughing Cow Cinnamon Cream Cheese spread.  It is not only low cal, low fat but it is sweet and delicious!  Take small steps and eat an individual sized 1 cup container or ice cream instead of the whole pint and go from there.  Think before you eat.  

I used to have a life . . . now I am on a diet

Once I got the hang of planning my  meals and packing them up ahead of time this new way of life was a breeze, or so I thought.  Then the inevitable and awkward happened, my friends wanted me to go out to eat!  Seeing as everything in American culture is centered around food dieting successfully can present not only emotional and physical challenges but social as well.  People want you to eat what they eat, they want you to drink what they drink and they want you to do too much of both.

When the first social eating invite came I was nervous, I had not told anyone what I was doing yet and I did not want to screw up and start from scratch because of one over sized, butter soaked, calorie and fat infested meal.  Initially I was going to say no and make up an excuse why I could not go but I still wanted to have a life and friends so I went ahead and accepted the invite.

Before going out for my first socially awkward diet meal(there are many more to come) I made sure that I ate my prepared foods before leaving the house.  I know myself and if I go out to eat hungry I will fail and eat and probably eat the most disgusting thing on the menu.  When I arrived at the restaurant the waiter of course wanted our drink orders, mine was water.  My friend looked extremely surprised because normally I am quite the vodka drinker, drinking vodka leads to a buzz, which leads to bad choices, which leads to failing on my diet.  I took a deep breath and explained that I had signed up for this X Training and was on a diet and workout plan which had just begun.  She was surprised and happy for me but of course immediately said, "one drink won't kill you"  well my friend it will.

The next feat was avoiding dinner, I had considered just eating a plain salad but as you know if you read the previous posts I like to eat everything.  If I start with a salad it will be the gateway drug to ordering more so I declined food as well.  This did not sit well with my friend either, "you aren't even going to eat?" she said.  While I was comfortable sitting and talking while she enjoyed her meal most people are not comfortable if they are the ones eating.  It just does not seem right to them, the whole point is eating together.  I explained that I knew this before I came and I wanted her to enjoy her dinner and not worry abut me because I was okay with it, I just wanted to talk and catch up.   Dinner continued, she ate, I drank water and we had a great time.  I left very satisfied with my diet and goals still intact.

Over the past 6 months since I embarked on this mission there are many people that I simply do not see or hear from as much or at all.  This is because they simply do not understand how you can interact socially without eating and drinking in moderation or excess.  I do not judge them for that, they may feel like they "can't" invite me or maybe my determination makes them think twice about that giant burrito and you will find that many of your "friends"  will react with jealousy and self doubt as you progress and lose weight.  Then there are my other friends, the friends who have cheered me on from the beginning, who will wait in the car while I eat out of my cooler, who make coffee dates with me knowing I can drink coffee or tea and they can snack and chat.  These are the friends that I truly appreciate and cherish.  The ones who make me feel better when its Thursday night and I am watching TLC instead of burning up my money and calories at the bar.

When your friends and co-workers beat you down or become more distant (whether they know they are doing it or not) do not let it discourage you.  Take the initiative and call them, let them know that it is okay with you if you are a spectator at the bar or restaurant because it is your choice and you are happy with it.  Do not let the Friday office donut rotation tempt you while people wave snacks in your face and make fun of you for making healthy choices.  Deep inside more than half of them wish that they had the resolve that you do and in the end you will feel so much better having made those choices.

I am not perfect, over the past 6 months I have failed,  I have cheated, I have become frustrated and wanted to skip the gym or order Chinese because I am human.  When I do fail I don't beat myself up over it, I move on and vow to make it up and make it better but really sticking to it the next week.  The thing that has changed the most and makes it worthwhile to me is the difference in how I feel.  If you would have told me 6 months ago that I could work a 10-12 hour massage shift and not need coffee or red bull I would have laughed in your face.  But it is true, I don't have more than my normal morning coffee and a green tea each day now.  I feel so much better physically and emotionally that I do not ever want to to back.  Getting up at 4:30 or 5:00 to workout is exciting to me, each new day is a new challenge and a new day to see my body change.  Nothing feels better than when the results are obvious to you and those around you.

There are still people who act as though they do not notice that I am 30lbs smaller or those who say, "I don't like muscles", or "you are too skinny".  To them I say, tough, I feel good, I look good and I am not judging you or your choices.  Do not let other people project their insecurities onto you or your goals.  Think about the people you can inspire and how good it feels to buy a smaller pair of jeans or have someone at they gym say, "you look good!"  Think about that when Ben and Jerry's is calling to you from the freezer.

The shame of getting started

You need to go on a diet but you don't know where to start and you don't know when to start.  But more importantly and tragically you don't want to admit that you need to or tell anyone that you are dieting.  The hardest and most difficult and most shameful part of getting started is admitting that you need to.  Admitting that you need to start a diet or as I like to call it, lifestyle change is admitting that you have already failed.  Whether it is failing to maintain your ideal weight, size or visual you have already failed.  This is discouraging enough because who wants to fail again?  Guess what?  If you never admit defeat and say that what you are doing is not working or what you have tried did not work you will be failing yourself for the rest of your life.

Many people do not want to tell anyone when they begin a lifestyle change which is understandable.  If you tell people they will know if you don't make it.  They will know you are cheating when you eat that pizza at the office on Friday.  They will know if you fail . .  . again.  When I first began my change I didn't tell anyone either for these same reasons.  Part of me was embarrassed and part of me was afraid of failure.  In fact even after I started and was seeing results and sticking to my plan I still did not tell anyone until people directly asked me what it was that I was doing.  My opinion is that you do not need to announce to the world that you don't feel good about yourself or that you want to lose 10lbs.  Announce it to yourself.  You need to do it for you.  Not your boyfriend or your sister or your husband, do it because you want to feel better and see the difference.  

Getting started on a diet and exercise routine sucks for sure I won't lie.  The exercise part was okay for me because I was already a regular gym goer.  I was going to the gym and accomplishing nothing but I was going so now at least I had a purpose.  But the diet was my fear and gave me anxiety like you would not believe.  I didn't want to eat "healthy", I didn't want to watch what I ate.  I wanted to go out with friends, drink, order pizza, eat ice cream and basically stay overweight. 

My saving grace in all of this was discovering on online diet and nutrition program called, X Training.(www.trainwithx.com)  X Training is a husband and wife team with years of experience in the fitness industry who up until 6 or 7 months ago worked exclusively with natural bodybuilders.  Then they realized that regular people need help too, which is where you and I come in.  I contacted X Training, sent in pics, filled out some questionnaires, bought a food scale and I was set.  This was in December of 2011.  

When I first started I only told my immediate family and my boyfriend.  The first two weeks were two of the most frustrating weeks of my life.  X Training does not tell you WHAT to eat but they tell you how many Carbs, Fats and Proteins you should consume each day and you fill in the blanks to hit those goals.  They also provided me with 8 weeks of workouts to do on my own, at my gym with guidance in the form of online videos etc if I had questions about what something was.  But like I said going to the gym was not the problem, food was and I struggled.  

Never before in my life had I planned my meals beyond bringing a sandwich to work with me.  The first week or so I would just pile random food into a lunch bag and eat as the day went on.  Only to get home at the end of a 12 hour day and find out that I needed to eat 800 more calories 75% of which was protein!  Not only was I not eating enough in general I really was not eating enough protein.  Needless to say it was a struggle.  

After the first week I realized I had to do something else or I would lose my mind.  I bought containers with built in ice packs (fit and fresh) and sat down at the computer (myfitnesspal.com) and created 5 meals to eat each day that met my goals.  I then packed these into containers, 5 days at a time and took them with me everywhere I went.  This is when my life changed for the better . . . forever.  

Below Average is the new average

In general today we have set our standards lower for everything from customer service and job satisfaction to grades and quality of life in general.  Over the past 20 years  what is considered to be "average" had changed drastically to the point where the "average" of yesteryear is above average today and our current "average" is far below average.

For example the current average weight of a man or woman has increased by 20lbs since the 1960's.  The average weight of a man in 1966 was 163 lbs compared to 191 lbs today, that is a huge increase!  The average weight of a woman in 1966 was 140 lbs compared to 164 lbs today.  While the average height in each category only increased an inch. (http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/healthcare/a/tallbutfat) It would be nice to think that people in the 60's were simply too skinny or Mal nourished but that is not the case.  They were active, ate at home and did not have all the wonders of modern technology to keep them rooted to their couch or desk while their waist lines slowly increased.  We have simply become immune to the face that our average is unhealthy in more ways than just our weight.

Our finances have become below average as well, in America the average household has $15,696 in credit card debt. (according to creditcards.com) By no means am I a financial expert but that seems like a lot of debt for the "average" household.  In this age of excess where we consume more of everything whether we need it or not it weighs down our bodies as well as our wallets and our minds.  Which in turn weighs us down at work.
In America we eat more, spend more and of course work more than any other country.  Statistics say 85% of men work more than 40 hours a week and 65% of women work more than 40 hours per week.  Americans work 137 hours more than Japanese workers per year, 260 hours more than British workers and 499 hours more than french workers. (20somethingfinance.com) No wonder we have not time to spend on ourselves!

The point that I am trying to make is that it is extremely easy to over consume and binge in this day and age in this country.  So what if you are 15 or 20 lbs overweight, your neighbor is probably 30 lbs heavier than you so you can look at them and still feel good about yourself.  So what if you are $10,000 in credit card debt, your boyfriend is probably $5,000 more in the hole than you.  So what if you work 50 hours a week, the guy at the desk next to you never even goes home!  If we are constantly comparing ourselves to the norm today we will never succeed and never meet our goals.

When I first began to lose weight people all said, "you weren't fat before, you didn't need to lose weight".  By today's current average I was not but based on a healthy weight and body fat percentage for my height I was definitely overweight and I was feeling it.  I was tired, crabby and addicted to caffeine.  Once my weight loss became obvious I was even ridiculed for being "too skinny" at a size 4 which is actually a normal, average size.  Not until people saw that I was adding muscle as well did anyone seem happy that I was losing weight.  Do not let the "average" people in your life be your standard for comparison.  Find those people who are "above average" and strive to be them.  Find your own standard for yourself and strive for that.  Settling for less is too easy and will get you nowhere.

Find the people in your life who can save money and not accumulate debt, the people who are "too skinny" and healthy, the people who go on vacation every once in awhile and find out what they are doing and how you can do it too.  Don't settle for being overweight and in debt for the rest of your life. As a society we have lowered our standards in every aspect of our health and well being for the sake of keeping up with the Jone's.

My body is fit but my mind is fat

Today is just a few days short of exactly 6 months from the beginning of my mission to change my body. While my body has definitely made a complete 360 my mind has yet to come around.  Inside I am still the same girl who ate entire bags, boxes and pints of whatever I wanted until none of my clothes fit anymore. Every single time I walk by a mexican restaurant, ice cream shop or even a candy bar I get excited.

For as long as I can remember I have been a binge eater, not the kind who eats it all and then makes it come back up again.  Not the kind who feels guilty after a pint of ice cream and goes to the gym.  Just the kind who only feels satisfaction when the bag is finally empty, it's a relief when I know there is nothing eles in there for me to eat.  Only then can I stop.
When I was a little kid I would always throw up in my bed at night.  It got to the point where my mom would send me to bed with a bowl and if I missed I knew how to clean it up myself.  At the time everyone thought I just had a sensitive stomach but looking back I was just eating too much and my poor little stomach couldn't hang yet.  I would sit on top of my parents clothes dryer and look at the snack cupboard.  My favorite thing was the Snackwells Devils food cookies, I cannot even count how many times I took down a whole box of those and I was probably ten years old!

Some people may say that this is not binge eating, that a child cannot be a binge eater but binge eating is often not something that is learned but that is genetically passed on to you.  Just because you binge does not mean that you can't function, have a weight problem or even a commonly recognized eating disorder. Most people binge at some point in their lives whether it be a bad day at work, a break up or just a moment of hunger where you lose track of how much you needed to eat.

By the grace of genetics and habit of being active I have never had what most would call a weight problem.  Overall most of my life I have been of average weight and sometimes above or under, not due to a good diet but due to being physically active and having the genetic makeup to be well proportioned.  But as I got older and closer to thirty I continued to eat the whole bag of Twizzlers or cookies or whatever it was that day and I continued to be active but it just wasn't enough anymore.
Last summer my family went to Wisconsin Dells for a weekend.  Upon arrival my oldest sister looked noticeably fit and by fit I mean RIPPED!  She was lean and muscular and looked hot.  I on the other hand had a muffin top in my size XL boy short bikini bottoms and was not feeling so great about myself that weekend.

My sister had been secretly training for a figure competition and was working with a coaching team for diet and exercise.  She mentioned to me that they were going to be launching a new program for non competitors who just want to lose weight and be healthy.  I wanted to do it but I did not want to pack a lunch, give up sweets or any of the other things that losing weight entails.  So I did what most people do and told myself that I was going to eat better and figure it out on my own while still eating pizza once per week, working out at 50% intensity and having no real grasp on the amount of food that I consumed each day.

A few months later as my sister got more fit and won her first figure competition I could not take it anymore.  I wanted to be fit too!  The new program had yet to launch so I sent it my pictures and information and waited.  December 17, 2011 was my first day of my new lifestyle, or so I thought.