Healthier lifestyle - Part 1

Let me first say that,  1.) I am obviously not a health expert. 2.) I still fall a little short and have more than 1 cheat meal a week (y'all, this is HARD) 3.) I am still learning. Matthew and I talked last year some about when we would get engaged, married, our future, etc. Normal conversation for a couple who has been dating for awhile. While Matthew completely had me 100% convinced it would be sometime in the spring/summer of this year and then get married in late fall. I thought I had plenty of time to loose some of the extra weight I had gained when I moved out. I kept telling myself I would start once the new year got here some and then really hit it hard once early spring got here. LOL then December 22nd happened and we got ENGAGED! :) Literally one of the best nights and I literally started thinking about how I was going to have to start my better eating habits a lot sooner than I had planned. Seriously it's so funny trying to plan everything out when God has it all planned out already. My eating habits were awful. I never really cared what I was eating as long as it was good. We were eating out dinner anywhere between 3-4 nights a week. That is so embarrassing to put on here, but it's true. My breakfast usually consisted of a coke and a pop tart. Lunch was sometimes a hot pocket, sandwich or I would grab fast food. My snacks during the day would be pop corn or another coke from the vending machine. My biggest downfall was Chick-Fil-A and cokes. I would sometimes drink anywhere from 1-3 cokes a day. I was unhappy with the way I looked and wanted to workout and eat healthier but didn't really have any motivation. I did attempted the workout challenges on Pinterest but usually only kept it up for a week, if that long.

I sat down one night before the new year started and made out my goals. I contacted one of my really good friends who is a senior exercise science major. She loves working out and lives a very healthy lifestyle. She is going to be testing soon to become a personal trainer. So we'll call her my personal trainer. I knew I wanted her to help me and give me some tips. We got together one night a couple of weeks ago and went over everything. From the foods I like and need to be eating to the foods I don't like but should be eating. Also, the kinds of workouts I need to be doing to target the areas I want to work on. She showed me what she eats for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. She even let me try some of the things I didn't think I was going to like so I wouldn't go buy it and waste money if I didn't like it. She made me out a workout plan and is letting me workout with her.  We started working out this past Monday, but I have been eating better since the beginning of the year. I have completely given up cokes. I haven't had any in 29 days. 29 DAYS y'all! I rarely eat out anymore and when I do it's either a salad or Subway. I occasionally eat other places, too, but I watch what I eat there...unless it's my cheat meal. I get one cheat meal per week, and yes I love it. Another shocker...I haven't had Chick-Fil-A in 29 days either.  I measure out everything I fix instead of pouring 2 pounds of cheese on my taco (exaggerating a little there, but you get it). I pick the healthier option when I have the choice. I have turned down dinner with friends when they are going to get fast food, or bring my healthier option. I drink a ton of water. My goal is to drink 64oz of water a day, but for me that is HARD. I have gotten better though. I have an 8oz cup that I keep with me and I refill it all day long. Which also makes me have to make multiple bathroom trips(tmi?), annoying but I keep telling myself it's good for me LOL. Right now I'm drinking about 56oz a day every now and then I can get my full 64oz and I'm hoping to meet my goal of that everyday.

My biggest thing is planning and prepping. For me this is crucial. Planning what I'm going to eat the next day so I don't have to run to grab fast food or Subway everyday, because even that does have more calories than I would like for lunches. And prepping so I'm ready in the mornings and can just grab my lunchbox and go.  Since January 1st I have lost 5lbs and have about 30 more that I would LOVE to loose by our wedding (170 days!!). I lost the 5lbs from just eating better and smaller portions, as we just now have been able to start working out this past Monday and I haven't weighed myself yet. From losing that 5lbs I feel great and very positive about this healthier lifestyle.  I am being 100% honest/real when I say giving up cokes was the best decision I could have made for this lil healthy journey of mine.  1.) My face has cleared UP. I struggle with acne like I was 15 again and I've been seeing the dermatologist and on prescribed medication for it for the past 3 years. It would have been GREAT if he would have told me to change my diet. I'm sure even if he did I wouldn't have listened. I read a ton of articles about how one of the leading causes for acne is sugary drinks. I still didn't think it was true. Turns out IT IS! For me at least.  2.) I feel A LOT better. I read articles on this topic, too. How you will feel better and have more energy. I tried giving up cokes before but it only lasted a week or two and during those weeks I would have the worlds worst headache and give in and have a Mountain Dew. 3.) I honestly think some of that 5lbs I've lost so far came from giving up cokes. I think I've had 1 light lemonade so far and the rest has been water. My sister gave up cokes last year and went over a year without coke and she dropped 8lbs immediately from it. It is hard, very hard to change your eating habits from what you were used to for so long, but the results are so completely worth it. Even the small 5lbs I've lost made me dance around like a crazy person. Haley, my personal trainer, has been SO helpful and patient with me. Encouraging me each step of the way. From encouraging me to push it a little harder at the gym to going grocery shopping with me to help me pick out only healthy things. She has helped me set goals and is determined to help me get my butt in shape. I told her I will more than likely whine, want to give in, want to quit but to keep pushing me and tell me to suck it up. And she has done just that. I can't say how helpful she has been so far and we are only in the beginning.  I know this was a long post and I still have more to share so I am breaking it up into two posts. Tomorrow I will share with y'all some tips she has given me. What I am eating. Healthier options for snacks, breakfast and even desserts. I will also share with you my workout plan she has for me over the next three months.  Some of my goals:  -Lose 1-2lbs a week. The healthy way, working out and eating healthier and smaller portions. -Drink more water -Start adding more weights. -Run a little bit longer. -Only ONE cheat meal per week -Workout 4-5 days a week. With 1 day of complete rest and 1-2 days of active rest.

As cliche as this sounds, I am doing this for our wedding, for me, and for Matthew. I want to look and feel my very best on our wedding day. I want to be confident on our honeymoon and in shape. I know without any doubt at all that Matthew will continue to love me just as much no matter what size I am, but I want to look good for him, as I am sure a lot of newlyweds do. Matthew has never said anything negative about my weight or unhealthy eating habits, it's nothing like that at all. I just want to be in shape, because right now I am completely out of shape. I get super embarrassed at the gym when I can't do something or can only do one set of something, but like Haley tells me every single time, Everyone has to start somewhere and I will work up to it...the results will come eventually, it's not going to happen over night.

Goodness, this is a long post, if you made it through all of that I'm proud of you! I would love for you to come back tomorrow to read part 2 :) Happy Thursday...tomorrow is FRIDAY! 

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Healthier lifestyle - Part 1