There is no better motivation to stick to your journey to a healthy lifestyle than before and after pictures of people who have actually done it!
I stumbled on this blog with a funny name that I thought I’d share: MotiveWeight.
Photo Credit: MotiveWeight
Photo Credit: Shuttershock
I want to share a post I read today on Tiny Buddha that has helped me gain perspective on the emotional side of my weight loss journey.
I have been pretty down on myself because I have not been working out or eating clean. I started getting into “What’s the point?” thinking. This article has reset me mentally. It addresses three common phrases we tell ourselves that can sabotage our growth.
As is often said: Strive for progress, not perfection.
Photo Credit: Bri McKay via Our Savory Life.
I have said over and over again that the biggest realization I have come to in my weight loss journey is that diet plays the biggest role.
The trouble with me is I don’t know how to cook. Well I should say didn’t. I have been learning–and executing quite well I must add–some simple recipes. My college diet of ramen and cheese is over 🙂
I want to share some of my favorite recipes right now. Like what’s cooking in my oven as we speak – Paleo Sweet Potato Fries. It is easy, delicious, and healthy. If I can cook it, anyone can.
This recipe is from Bri McKay’s awesome site called Food + Love.
More than half the foods we eat are “highly processed” foods. A TIME article describes highly processed foods as “multi-ingredient industrial mixtures that are no longer recognizable as their original plant or animal source.”
According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the figure is at a whopping 61 percent.
Most of us don’t realize that we are eating processed foods. I think this is where apps like Fooducate really help educate us about our diets. According to an article by TIME, we tend to stay away from famously processed foods like Twinkies and sodas but we don’t realize that sports drinks or cereal, for example, are highly processed too.
Like I’ve said before and continue to realize everyday, diet is everything. It is scary to see how much processed foods have no been ingrained into our culture.
Photos courtesy of Stephen Odom and Mitch Frink Photography / Via mitchfrinkphotography.com
I had been wondering a lot about what keeps people motivated to continue on their weight loss journeys and I stumbled on a Buzzfeed article that shed some interesting insight.
In Here’s How This Man Quit Drugs, Alcohol, And Junk Food and Lost 125 Pounds, Stephen Odom listed six things that helped him:
1. Rewarding oneself: This made me think about how my restrictive diets every time I try to lose weight always leads to me craving and breaking to those foods. For Odom, it was junk food, for me it’s things like buttered toast.
2. Focus on a short term goal: He so aptly says that looking at the macro weight loss picture of “I want to lose 125 lbs” would seem so daunting, it would demotivate anybody. So instead of saying “I want to lose 15 lbs,” I should start saying “I want to lose 2 lbs this week,” and take it one day at a time.
3. Start small: Gradually eliminate unhealthy food from your diet rather than going cold turkey, Odom says.
4. Cook healthy meals you enjoy: I enjoy cooking but healthy food usually tastes pretty bland to me and I can’t keep it up after two weeks. So I’ll need to do some research on this one. Any website tips?
5. Do actions that build your self-esteem: Odom replaced running to food for comfort with “esteemable” actions like cleaning his room or riding his bicycle when he was feeling down.
6. Reward yourself: Again, instead of restricting yourself, enjoy those things you think are weaknesses (but in moderation).
I am going to try to approach my journey using Odom’s tips. I’ll let you know how it goes 🙂
Today was the first time in three weeks where I did not follow my diet or workout. I have been so busy with work and school, I just decided to take a day off.
Starting to feel like I will never be able to lose these 15 lbs; feel like just giving up.
How do you stay motivated during your weight loss journey? Please let me know in the comments section below.
Go Outdoors. Nature makes me forget it’s work 🙂
This week was a good indication of the kind of results you can get using Focus T-25 without following the meal plan. I ate out a lot this week because my friend was visiting from out of state and so even though I did all my workouts, the results are not great.
Weight: 124 lbs (3 lbs gain)
Waist: 29 cm (no change)
Bicep: 11 cm (no change)
Thighs: 20 cm (no change)
Diet is everything!
Two weeks ago, after beginning to watch a lot of documentaries about food, health, and fitness for this blog for class, I started to get sick of the sight of meat.
In a weird way, it was like everything came together in one moment.
Firstly, I was junior head of the environment club in middle school and high school so I am well aware of the environmental detriments of eating meat. Secondly, I love animals. I did not, however, realize how my love for them could be linked to choosing not to eat meat until I watched videos of the mass production and torture of cows, chickens, pigs, goats, etc. on farms. I was crying through these documentaries. Finally, as I have gotten older, I have really begun to embrace living a life that is consistent with my values. All of this came together and I woke up one day and the sight of meat made me nauseous.
I was afraid I would feel weak without the protein from meat but, on the contrary, I have felt more energetic. My midday slump has gone away. I don’t feel the urge to take afternoon naps anymore.
I was cooking a beef stew yesterday for the family I live with. It didn’t feel right not to taste the food I was cooking for others, so I thought I will just have a tiny spoonful. As soon as that spoon hit my tongue I started gagging and I had to spit it out. It was gross and impressive at the same time 🙂
I think, for me, meat is history.
i run for my mom 