Staying On Track

Some days motivation can be hard, other days it seems life gets in the way and before you know it your day is gone. You have made it through your day without exercising, and this can leave you less motivated to continue on your journey to health.

Don't lose heart! It is easy to give up, it takes work to keep going. Don't be a quitter!

If you still have a little bit of time left during your non-exercise day then you can make a small commitment to complete that day, say 10 minutes. Walk 10 minutes on the treadmill, walk around the block once or twice, do 10 crunches.

If you went to bed without exercising remember that there is always tomorrow, and don't let your tomorrow go by without getting back on track. If you feel a lack of motivation the next day simply set your goal lower. Again 10 minutes is a good starter point. Most times when you do your 10 minutes you'll find yourself motivated to do another 10 minutes and then by the end you've worked out 20 minutes, and that is pretty good for having no motivation!

Remember keep moving forward, everything counts, and just think of how proud of yourself and healthy you will feel when you have reached your health goal!
and as the Health Guru Says...

Until next time,
Alaina

Starting Slow

The immediate reaction to most things is to jump, or rather dive, head first into an endeavor...Okay this may not be your first reaction but it is mine. This time around I had to remind myself that in order to succeed I needed to commit and then came some honesty time:

If I am going to commit to something than I have to start out knowing that if I take all of the fun out of that something in the first week I will just get bored. I had to decide that I would take my time. I couldn't just rush into it.

My first week I decided to focus on getting my body up and moving. I decided to set and commit to a small goal. (Remember a lot of little steps add up to one giant step.) So I committed to walking at least one mile each day on the treadmill. I realize it's not much, but if I started out trying to follow through with an unrealistic goal I would lose hope and give up. Therefore I chose a small goal. I also chose to give up seconds and watch my portion sizes for the first week. So...

Week One Goals: 

Walk (at least) 1 mile on the treadmill (or outside). 

Watch portion size.

No seconds.

This went well. I kept track of my exercise using my Noom Coach app and I logged my meals by cup size into the app both to keep track of what I was eating and hold myself accountable.

My first week went swimmingly! I achieved these small goals. I will be following this post with my second week goals and so on, so keep watch.

If you are just starting out on your journey feel free to use my first week goals. If you have a success story or a motivational tidbit please feel free to share in the comment section.

Until next time good luck on your journey!

Alaina

Flour-less (Gluten Free) Brownies by SkinnyTaste

Since starting my "Get Healthy" journey I have chosen to eat healthier. Eating healthier can be trying at times, especially when you have a sweet tooth like mine! Not to mention that eating the same salad day after day can get old REALLY quick. So after some searching I found an AMAZING blog; SkinnyTaste! I have to say that Gina, the chef, has created and shared some amazing low-calorie, healthy recipes. I prepared the Flour-less Brownies today, which are only 144 calories per brownie. They really are amazing! These brownies taste so moist and delicious and really hit the spot when your having a chocolate melt down. You can kick your craving without kicking your diet. I love it!

 

This is one of the brownies I baked.

   

   If you want to see how truly yummy the brownies look and find the recipe visit Skinny Taste! This recipe is for sure a winner. I am now preparing to make her Stuffed Buffalo Chicken Breast, and I am sure it will be equally as yummy! 

The Desire to Be Healthy

   Most people start their journey with the desire to lose weight. Their main goal: lose weight. This is a fine goal, but when you don't see results fast enough hope begins to wain and defeat sets in. I know because this is the feeling I got both times I attempted to lose weight in the past.

   Each time I would start out all "gung ho" and motivated believing that if I just pushed myself a little bit harder I could achieve weight loss. However as weeks went by the needle on the scale only moving slightly I soon lost hope and eventually gave up. Once defeat set in I comforted myself with food which only led to gaining more than I had started my weight loss journey weighing.

   My attitude needed to change. My perspective needed to shift. This time instead of focusing on losing weight I decided to focus on getting healthy. Yes, losing weight is a part of being healthy, but health involves other aspects as well.

   Health is not only about weight;

Health;

The condition of being sound in body, mind, or spirit. 

The general condition of the body.

   Let's break that down a bit. The condition of being sound; in good condition: solid and strong. Therefore the very definition of health can be interpreted as being solid and strong in body, mind, or (and) spirit. So when you are focusing on becoming healthy you change your focus from your appearance to your overall well-being.

   How do you go about doing that? Well you first have to make the choice to be okay with who you are right at this very moment. Decide that you love yourself enough to make the necessary changes. Choose to put forth the effort to be who you want to be, but remember to love yourself along the way. You are the only person who can change you. No one else is going to do the work for you.

   Loving yourself right now, choosing to be okay with yourself does not mean that you have to stay the way you are, it means that you have to choose to love yourself enough to choose to make the changes that will allow you to enjoy life to the fullest. It means that you care enough about yourself to get healthy!

   If you continue to follow Calorie Friendly I will be sharing more motivation, success, weight loss tips, and what I have been doing on my journey. Please feel free to share you motivational story or your success in the comment section. I love hearing about others who are on a journey to get healthy. It helps keep me motivated!

Let's Get Healthy!

I have been dieting and exercising for 36 days today...this is my 3rd attempt to lose weight after having children and the first two attempts were failed miserably but this go around I have actually had success! This is day 36 and I have lost a total of 18 pounds. I realize that doesn't seem like much so here's the details:

I started out weighing in at 143 pounds...

after 36 days of exercising and watching what I eat...

I am officially down to 125.

Here's what I did:

My first step was to desire to be healthier and lose weight. If you do not have the desire to change than change will not occur.

My second step was to do some research and find some motivational tools, so I downloaded the Noom App on my phone and decided to give the Noom program a try.

Here's the skinny on the Noom app:
Basically it is an app that will send you daily reminders to exercise, log your meals, and motivational articles with advice and tips.

I have never thought about counting calories because I did not know how, but the Noom app basically does this for you as long as you log your meals with your portion size. So I began counting calories. I know that "counting calories" has a bad rep...it sounds stressful and time consuming...and it comes with certain stipulations like self-control and controlling portion size...but if you want success than you have to be willing to put in the work. Commit.

In addition to counting calories I started exercising. My exercise regime is not too strenuous, I walk at least 2 miles on the treadmill each day in addition to doing 25 crunches and 25 leg lifts on each side. There are days where I will step it up a bit and walk a bit further or add in some planks (the planks have been increasing because my focus has went from getting the weight off to toning while getting weight off...I really need to work on my stomach).

Anyway...36 days of this and I've lost 18 pounds...so if I can do it you can too. I will be sharing recipes and exercises (including videos) that I have found useful as well as some motivational items.

If you would like to find more low-calorie recipes to aide in your success you are welcome to follow me on Pinterest: Follow My Calorie Friendly Foods Board