Peace and Blessings,
My name is Tiffany and I am a on-and-off dieter. At the end of each year, I look back and say it's time for a change. Well, 2012 was no different, except I had a lot more avenues for support in the area of healthy living. All of a sudden I had Facebook groups and connections on LinkedIn buzzing about healthy living. I thought, Great, this is my time!!! And I am claiming, This is it. So here is my lil' introduction on my journey.
My name is Tiffany and I am a on-and-off dieter. At the end of each year, I look back and say it's time for a change. Well, 2012 was no different, except I had a lot more avenues for support in the area of healthy living. All of a sudden I had Facebook groups and connections on LinkedIn buzzing about healthy living. I thought, Great, this is my time!!! And I am claiming, This is it. So here is my lil' introduction on my journey.
I am more than 100 pounds overweight and very tired of carrying all this stuff around, so I'm guessing with this umteenth' try, and I plan on doing things a little differently. I have always been told that if you write out your journey you have a better chance at succeeding at your goals and this is my journey with the help of +Cindy Barrymore and Herbalife.
Just a little background on me, I have been dieting off and on since high school. When I look back at my pictures I now know I was tripping:
Please don't hate on the 90s' style!
Back then, I was on the cabbage soup and "surgery diet." I also tried Atkins diet, which I hated the most out of all the ones I have tried. But I would lose the 5 to 10 pounds per week, then go back to my same old eating habits. I was thankful for gym class because I had the opportunity to workout daily, which is the only reason I didn't look like I do now. Whew!
Back then, I was on the cabbage soup and "surgery diet." I also tried Atkins diet, which I hated the most out of all the ones I have tried. But I would lose the 5 to 10 pounds per week, then go back to my same old eating habits. I was thankful for gym class because I had the opportunity to workout daily, which is the only reason I didn't look like I do now. Whew!
In 2002, after college graduation and really hating my size, my cousins encouraged me to try the Herballife diet, which was great and had wonderful success with my daily visits to Crunch Gym that I miss dearly. That gym was the bomb and so encouraging. I hate they left the Chicago area.
*Tip - Make sure you join a gym that fits your needs, not just your pockets. A variety of classes and helpful staff will make a huge difference in you wanting to go to the gym on a daily basis.
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College Years :(
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But I worked out four to five days a week, sometimes twice a day and lost 25 pounds in two months!!!
Yay for me. But as it always goes... the weight came right back.
Quickly moving to today, my goal is to lose 45 pounds by June 2013. I am now back working with Herbalife armed with knowledge, Coach +Cindy Barrymore and a membership to XSport Fitness. It's an ok gym, but they do have some great classes and I love my trainer, who is very encouraging and doesn't let me boss him around which I appreciate.
Well, this is my story and I'm ready for this change. I've been successful in the past and know it will work going forward.
If you are dieting, here are some good sites I use to help me come up with some different dishes and other sites I use while dieting:
Meal Planning:
- Real Simple - They are sooo easy to search and find good healthy veggie meals
- Fat Secret - All-around great site for anything.
- The Realistic Nutritionist - great recipes that are healthy and good.
Diet Research:
Fitness Program:
- MyFitnesspal.com - Wonderful site to track food from your phone and also has a group feature for you and your friends to encourage each other.
- Fitclick.com - website and app. I use this to find routines when I need to change it up.
- Cardio Trainer - wonderful android app to help you track food, workout and help you during your workout with a program.
- MyJEFIT - an app I use to track my weight training
Do you have have any sites you use or apps that have helped you? Please share. I love finding new resources.
My goal is to update you once a week on my progress. Now, off to the healthy living race.......
With Power & Encouragement,
Tiff
This fat ‘gots’ to go: I'm too cute for it!!!
Congratulations on your milestones so far. What you’re doing isn’t easy. Otherwise, everyone would be at an optimal weight.
ReplyDeleteLove the photos! If we’re all honest with each other, we all have at least one period in time in which were “fashion challenged” to where we look back at cringe at what we wore. Considering Prince, Madonna and Michael Jackson were heavy fashion influences on me in school, you can imagine what I looked like every day back then. Plus, I also had my “goth” phase, which I still occasionally sport.
Be proud though because everything you’ve done has brought you to where you are now, which isn’t a bad thing. Hopefully, with changing times comes wisdom.
I don’t want to just talk about Herbalife, but I do like the fact that that the plan is easy in that for both of us, two shakes a day with one healthy meal is an ideal weight-loss plan.
In my mind, I have to worry less about counting calories, although we should be mindful of that third meal to make sure it falls within range. It’s not a license to pile your plate high, but to be thoughtful in your choices and to leave room for days to cheat with a sweet or two.
Also, the great thing about the shakes, as opposed to not eating, which I know a number of people do, is that you’re still giving your body the essential nutrients. Certain types of fasting program may cleanse the body; however, they don’t fortify the body the way eating and drinking healthily do.
What I sometimes wonder when I listen to stories similar to yours is, What exactly is different from the previous years when you dieted and stopped? Or when you didn’t practice a regimen at all? What was your breaking point to where you’ve been able to increase your discipline and stay on tract better?
For me, it was seeing my energy level decrease and family members becoming obese, as well as relying on everything but proper diets and exercise to lose weight. I know I’m doing more activities, between work, family commitments and school. But even on my days off, I was feeling tired. I also struggled with adult acne, which has improved since I changing my diet. My energy is much improved because I’m giving my body better fuel to run on.
You talk about me working with you—I’d say we’re working with each other. When I help other people, it makes me want to be a better role model. I also learn from others through listening. Otherwise, I have struggles, too. You can’t spell “struggle” but one way.
Like you, some days, I don’t like going to the gym, especially during my monthly cycle and when it’s cold outside. The ridiculous rationale for the former is that exercise can alleviate cramping (after day one, which if you’re like millions of other women is the most difficult day).
How I get around that is I exercise at home on those lazier days. (I think also finding an exercise buddy, so that you can push each other when the other person is slacking is a great resource, in addition to the online and social-media avenues you talked about. Those have been valuable to me, as well.)
When I think about all the really great things I have in life, like relationships, monetary and material things, and education, for example. Couple that with just some of my achievements, in general, all of those take work. Anything worth having takes work and discipline. Marriage takes work, so does going to school, and being fit.
I have many questions I ask myself when thinking about health. Some are (1) What’s the cost of not working toward that goal of staying fit, (2) How much work am I willing to put into it, and (3) Is it worth the work?
ReplyDeleteWhen I think about some family members who are overweight, the cost—and I was talking to one of my grandparents about this—could culminate into heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, and shortened lifespan.
As hard as exercise can be, getting a disease or a condition through non-activity is worse. It becomes more work to maintain health once a person becomes stricken with disease. When you’re overweight, your body metabolizes less efficiently and you’re asking your liver, for example, to work harder to eliminate waste from the body. The heart’s also working harder to keep blood circulating throughout your body. Those are just some examples.
Sure, I have those days where I don’t want to work out, but I ALWAYS find some alternative to replace being sedentary.
I have Comcast TV, and I noticed just last year that it has an on-demand fitness channel with different types of exercises on it, and I work out with that. Having a huge TV makes the task even more fun. I do a handful of pushups whenever I think of it and have the opportunity. I try not to sit down as much. When I do sit, I turn them into squat exercises. In addition, I wear leg weights when I’m out running errands. I do my three sets of plank positions a couple times a day, holding each one at least 30 seconds to strengthen my core.
If these sound like simple things, then great, I know folks will do them because they’re not unreasonable or impossible, and they’re certainly better than doing nothing.
What does the “calorie count” site (and more importantly your doctor) say about your desire to lose 45 pounds by June? I just want to make sure you’re not pushing yourself too hard, but going at a healthy and reasonable pace. This way, you don’t hurt or tax yourself, and also that you don’t set an unattainable bar. I don’t think for one minute that you can’t lose that amount of weight. I just want to make sure the timeframe isn’t too drastic.
There are studies that suggest that if you lose weight in moderation in a way that doesn’t veer so drastically from your normal routine that you’ll stick with it and succeed.
How much weight have you lost so far? And what’s your ultimate long-term goal? I’m thinking the June weight-loss as a short-term goal. I gather that among your long-terms goals is to eat healthy. Any other goals?
You talk about ice cream. If you haven’t already, one of the ways you can make that particular recipe healthier is to use nonfat, sugar-free ice cream. I eat Edy’s and it tastes so good, I can’t even remember what the regular ice cream tastes like.
What did you dislike about the Atkins diet, and why didn’t you persist, since you were actually seeing results?
I have other words to add, but for now let me digest (no food pun intended) a bit more of what you talked about.
Are you seeing a difference in how you feel with the falloff of exercise? Why have you fallen off? What happened to the encouragement of your personal trainer?
ReplyDeleteHi Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteYou once mentioned that you were watching some great fitness videos on YouTube. When you get a moment, can you please share one or two of the channels with us?