Hi there, my name is Sara, I am 34, a mother of two awesome boys who I adore so much and married for almost 13 years to my best friend. I have an awesome family which include siblings, mother, father, grandmothers and friends who I adore ! Jan of 2011 was my official date of starting my journey but I had started doing some work on my ” inside emotions/ emotional eating ” in November and had start ed in the 280′s – I decided it was time to make some changes in my life ! I had made attempts before but they all turned up to be empty attempts. Looking back, I know the reason I had never succeeded before was because I ” wished ” I could do it and wished the weight away but anyone who has lost weight knows..wishing, will not do the needed work !!
I started in a size 24 pants and now I am in size 14 / 16 ( tops were 3 – 4x ) and now M – Xl ( depends how they are made ) I will say that strength training is key and I have traded a lot of fat for muscle, I do not to date have any loose skin but have another 20 – 30 lbs till goal. As of today, June 29th, 2012 I am down 79 lbs – I decided to fully commit and made up my mind to make some long lasting life changes – I hate the word ” diet ” when I hear the word it just makes me think of temporary instead of permanent. So I came up with some changes I felt I could make forever. I soon realized I was not not simply trying to lose weight, I was saving my life and I wanted to be healthy & fit, strong.
For years I could not figure out the ” why ” why was I stuck and why could I not seem to do the needed work so before I began anything, I had to do some soul searching and figured out my why’s – a lot had to do with fears, fear of failure and once this mask of obesity was gone fear of the unknown. I will be honest in telling you all, that the pain of living so many years unhealthy is much harder than any pain of getting healthy – This is not my before / after picture..It is my before and current picture as this is a journey is for life. Something I will add from a mother’s point of view is, when my boys grow and need guidance from me, I do not want to ” say ” you can do anything to them with empty words. My hope/prayer is that I will show them by example that we CAN do anything with hard work, dedication, determination, passion, self love and belief. Belief that we are worth it !! The BEST gift we can give ourselves and the ones we love is a healthy self, my changes are allowing me to live in ways I never dreamed possible and you can do this as well ( Aug 9th update ) I am now training for a 1/2 marathon in October Prince Edward Island Marathon
Here are some of the biggest changes I have made, in no particular order
1) Food….When I started I was a stay at mom and I think I tasted everything I gave to my children, finished off food they left but did not take the time to sit and eat during the day so at night after they were in bed I would consume hundreds of calories. NOW I eat 6 times a day and keep an eye on my calories. I now practice clean eating as much as I possibly can, avoiding processed foods and everything I eat is a conscious decision with the intention to fuel my body. I do not have off limit foods but would be honest in saying there are a lot of junk food I avoid, I try not to eat cakes and cookies, these were staples in my old diet along with chips and soda so they are all limited to the rare occasion now. I do eat a lot of raw veggies and fruit – I do not worry about the natural sugars from fruit. * Also, when I started I used an app called ” lose it ” it was a place to keep track of calories consumed and how many calories food items were..this was very helpful for 1st 3 months and it was strictly to let me know how much I was eating after I made many changes like cutting out junk and soda. I try to stay around 1400 calories and do not use exercise calories I earn but in saying this, I am not currently keeping track of calories.
2) WATER WATER WATER – water is KEY so so so important !!
3) Vitamins – I take an Omega 3 daily and I need an Iron for my anemia
4) Exercise !! My goal is to exercise at least 5 days a week and to really bring it, burning as many calories as I can in little time. I like the pattern of at least 5 days of cardio ( I LOVE running ) and to do strength for at least 30 mins every second day. I found when I made bigger goals like 2 hours or 7 days a week, I would miss altogether anticipating that I needed to exercise that long. I LOVE intervals – 5 mins treadmill, 5 mins weights ( do this for 30 – 40 ) mins. I also love to hike and bike in the warmer months .. got to have ab work in and close to daily as possible – sit ups, push ups, a plank or two and in place jumping rope to get the heart rate up. Of course being active with my family is 7 days a week goal !
My favorite workout video is Leslie Sansone Walk Away the pounds videos, there is one for every stage a person is in and I use the 5 mile fat burning one and boost the entire 5 miles and this helps for running endurance and to just break things up. (
forrás)
