I decided to start this blog post with the accomplishments of the year so far and then explain the story. Its been 9 months and so far I have lost 50lbs, I am in a size 12 jeans, size M in tops, smaller bra size lol and I workout 5-6 days a week. The picture below shows me and my daughter at Christmas 2017 and the picture on the right is of us in September of 2018.

A note before you continue reading…this is not a lose weight quickly scheme and I am not selling a brand or asking you to sell a brand for me. This is about being accountable, reducing my calories and being consistent in exercising…but making all that easy and giving you access to the things that helped me!

My story:

After two years of constant travel for work, don’t get me wrong I loved it, but it took a toll on my body. At the beginning I was making good choices on the road with food and exercise but towards the end of last year I had gained some weight (about 20lbs), on top of the fact that I was still trying to lose weight (ugh).  So after returning home from Christmas I decided that this was the year I was taking control of my life. The day before Christmas I was offered a new position at work that did not require as much travel and allowed me to work remotely.  This was the push I needed to jump start 2018 for me.

As I was planning this new year I randomly stumbled across an app that would change everything, Healthy Wager! If you want to lose weight then I highly recommend that you sign up for this program (click on this link). The premise is that you say how much you want to lose, how long it will take you and how much you want to put in the pot each month.  I chose 50lbs, 9 months, $50 a month.  My payout is $1500 for winning my wager.  I also signed up for 4 mini challenges during the course of the last 9 months to add $300 more to my winnings. Now I had a way to stay accountable but I still need to manage my calories and exercise.

I had been using My Fitness Pal for a few years (this is still a good option) but I had gotten complacent so I decided to mix it up and added the app Lose It to my phone to track my calories.  I log in every day, good or bad I keep track of everything! The fun part of the app is that recipes can be shared among friends too. When I started in January I was allotted 1700 calories per day and 140g of protein (getting all my protein in is still a bit difficult but I try).  Since I am still looking at losing about 15-20 more lbs I am following a plan that aims to lose 1-2lbs a week, so I am now allotted 1300 calories per day.  I would say that about 27 days a month this is pretty easy but of course there are always a few days where I go out to dinner, have a glass of wine, etc. When I hit my goal I will follow a maintenance plan but not sure what that will be yet. I have been sticking to a healthy diet filled with lots of protein, veggies and some fruit, not many fats or white carbs. So now that I had a set my goals around my eating it was time to think about exercise.

For about a year, when I was not on an airplane, my daughter and I were doing the Beachbody Cize workout. This workout was not too difficult and did not hurt my knees and hips which were somewhat damaged in a childhood illness. It was a great way to start my routine but by January I was ready for something more. Since I have the Beachbody on Demand program (see my products page for a link) I chose to do a combination of workouts by Chalene Johnson…TurboFire, Chalene Extreme Burn 1 & 2 (weight program), Recharge (yoga program) and Extreme Abs.  I am very faithful to my 5-6 days a week workout and find that even on my rest day I end up going for a walk or hike with Fennie.

So I know some of you may not be ready to commit to all of this but honestly its mostly about food so if you do anything I would say sign up for Healthy Wager  and track your calories in Lose It. When it comes to weight loss it does not really matter what eating plan you work with but its still all about calories in vs calories out. It takes a 3500 calorie deficit to burn 1 lb so it helps if you have exercise in your routine but start with a program you like and aim for 30 minutes 3 days a week to start.

I am very excited to see what I can achieve in the next 9 months, maybe one day I will be able to see my abs haha. Realistically I just want to feel healthy, happy and have lots of energy and of course go on vacation! I hope you can achieve your dreams too and if you want to chat feel free to contact me anytime.

Happy Travels and Healthy Living!