Time to check in!
Starting to see a little bit of progress, nothing crazy but it was only a month a part so I'll take it! The reason I'm ok with posting these completely unperfect pictures of myself is because I know I'm going to only continue improving my body, I won't look like this forever!
So this is what I've been doing so far to get into shape:
- Give Yourself a Cheat Day!
- You will end up binging if you don't give yourself that one day to look forward to. To be honest, once I get to the cheat day I forget what it was I wanted to eat so bad, and I end up eating healthy anyway! My cheat day is every Saturday.
- Drink Lots of Water! (And Only Water!)
- We've all heard it before, "Don't drink your calories" and there's a reason for it! I would so much rather eat some nice cheesy spinach artichoke dip then drink soda, juice, sport drinks, etc… during the week. So that's what I do! If you want orange juice, actually eat the orange. If you want apple juice, eat the apple. It has valuable fiber anyway! And if you must drink that soda, save it for your cheat day! Make it a treat you look forward to.
- Diet Soda is a Big No!
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The left side is the mouth of someone who abuses meth,
and the right side is the mouth of someone who drinks a lot of diet coke.
Um, no thanks! I'd rather keep my pearly whites!
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- Ugly Smiles
- Everyone I know that drinks diet soda knows that it's terrible for them, yet they continue to drink it. Why?! They just did a study that diet soda decays your teeth just as much as meth and cocaine (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57586640/diet-soda-erodes-teeth-as-much-as-meth-crack-case-study/).
- Makes Fat Stick to You
- Not only is diet soda toxic to your teeth, but also to your insides and your weight-loss quest as well. Diet soda has an ingredient called aspartame in it, when aspartame goes into your body it warms up and converts into formaldehyde (yep, that liquid that they store organs in to preserve them). At 86 degrees F (our bodies typically run above 97 degrees) aspartame turns into formaldehyde and makes fat cells STICK TO the formaldehyde molecules. Staying in your body forever! You are better off drinking the actual sugar in regular sodas because you can excrete it! (http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/12/04/saccharin-aspartame-dangers.aspx)
- Only REAL food, no artificial anything
- I try and avoid all diet anything. Anything with artificial sweeteners are things that I don't willingly eat.
- Know what you are eating
- Look at the Ingredients
- Like I said before, I try and avoid anything with added artificial sweeteners. But next time you break into your bag of Doritos (or any processed foods) take a look at the listed ingredients, if you don't know what some of the listed ingredients are, you shouldn't eat it!
- Fake Food Creates Obesity
- One book I strongly recommend is "Master Your Metabolism" by Jillian Michaels. It's about how all of the preservatives and artificial sweeteners in our food are responsible for America's obesity epidemic. They ruin our metabolism
- Hunter and Gatherers Diet
- If you don't know what it is, don't eat it! I try and eat by a "hunter and gatherers" diet. Pretty much if you can go out and hunt it, or grow it, then eat it. If it has to be made in a factory first, then forget it!
- They say losing weight is 70% diet and 30% exercise, if you don't make the effort in the kitchen then you're not going to see the results in the gym.
- Don't eat after 7 PM
- I try and make my last meal before 7 PM and I don't put anything in my mouth (besides water) until breakfast. And don't skip breakfast! It kick starts your metabolism and should be one of the first things you do in the morning (within 30 minutes of waking up). Any later than that your body thinks it has to go into starvation mode and will begin storing what you eat.
- Exercise
- Walk, Walk, walk
- Sam works, a lot. That means I have very little time to go to the gym unless I can find someone to watch Jake for me. So if I work out, Jake has to come with me! I got a jogging stroller and we go on walks in the morning. Not just your typical walk around the block, I'm talking at least 4 miles walks but usually around 6 or 7 mile walks. In fact I went on an 8 mile walk with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law the other day.
- Fat Burning Zone
- I started off with a 3 mile walk and felt like I had shin splints after it, but now I can go on an 8 mile walk without being sore at all the next day (probably means I should step it up a little). I try and walk fast paced to keep my heart rate in the fat burning zone; for me that's 140-160 beats per minute. Any higher than 160 bpm puts me in the cardio zone and means i'm mostlly just working out my heart. Which is still great! But I'd rather melt off that fat for now. You can calculate you're fat burning heart rate zone HERE.
- Heart Rate Monitor
- I recommend getting a personal heart rate monitor-- I used to have a heart rate monitor that you would just strap to your chest and get on your way but it broke a while back. They run around 100 dollars so I'm saving up to get another one soon. It gives you the most accurate number of calories burned as well!
- Gym Time
- When I can go to the gym I usually do an hour of low intensity cardio. Usually I'll hop on the elliptical for an hour at a 4 resistance (just enough to break a sweat and have my heart rate in the fat burning zone). If I feel like I can go more than an hour of cardio at the gym, and I have time to, I do it!
- After cardio I go do some weights, but this is definitely an area I need to improve on. The more muscle you build, the higher your metabolic activity is going to be. The more you lift, the more calories you will burn (while resting) during the day. If you don't know what to do, go to a class at your local gym. When I was in Ogden I used to go to the Gold's weightlifting class on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. If you are starting from ground zero it's good to go to the classes because the teachers can help show you the correct form. Take it easy the first class, because you will be dead sore. But don't give up!
- Also, don't shy away from lifting weights because you don't want to get "bulky", there is no way (as a woman) you will get "bulky" just by lifting weights. Those women who are professional body builders are doing a heck of a lot more than lifting weights!
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| This is what woman think is going to happen if they lift weights... ahahaha. Yeah not going to happen! |
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That's more like it! (This is my goal body! Follow her on instagram @italianbikinigirl)
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In a nut shell, that's all i've been doing the past couple of months to lose the weight. I still have quite a bit to go to get to the body I want, but I'm not giving up! Losing weight has become too complicated, don't be blind sided by all of the meal plans, work out videos, and supplements. Entrepreneurs are just creating companies to capitalize off of something they know everyone wants--to be in shape! But all of those companies know that there is only one secret to getting in shape… you ready for it? Working out and eating clean! But they can't let people know that can they! ;)
Britney Munday
UPDATE: I lost the weight, and I'm pregnant now! And guess what? I'm going to keep working out, lifting weights, and eating healthy THIS WHOLE PREGNANCY. Because PREGNANCY IS NOT AN ILLNESS. We should strive to be our healthiest when we are growing another human? Don't you agree? Baby doesn't need in n out and nutella to grow strong, baby needs a mama who is eating a healthy diet and maintaining her health. Ya know?! So now, my blog will be focused on keeping that motivation through your pregnancies so you're not stuck with SO MUCH UNNECESSARY BABY WEIGHT at the end of them. No more of that "I'm eating for two" so you grab another big mac... you only need an additional 300 calories a day during your pregnancy... not 1,000. I learned that the hard way! My goal is to have a healthy weight gain of 25 to 35 pounds, if I gain more than that I won't be disappointed because I will have known that I've been staying healthy. At the end of the day that's all that matters. So follow me by subscribing to my blog on bloglovin, by entering your e-mail on the right side of my blog, or on instagram at @britneymunday. Let's do this!
