New Year, New Beginning

"I will start slowly and be persistent on my journey to a healthier life"

So today is January 1st 2011, and I am still a little shocked that it is here. Last week I told myself that I could be bad for just one more week, but after December 31st, I had to get my butt in gear with the whole weight loss thing.  So here I am officially starting the blog, about to complain about how badly I ate today (well not too bad), but my eating definitely wasn't that great either.

So here is my 40 week journey to the new, healthier and more fit moi. I hope to be supa hott and supa sexy, but most importantly, I want to be supa healthy.  My mom and I had a conversation today about exactly what we both needed to do to be in the shape that we want to be in.  I think we came to the same agreement that in order to be healthy you either have to cut back the calories or increase the workouts.  Seems like a simple solution right? NOT.  It is not easy to get your rear end out of bed early to workout when you have been stressed out the past few days about some tiny detail about your wedding, or some big project for school or work.  So what can you do? 

As I said previously, MAKE TIME. You are the most important thing right now, so do it.  And if you cannot make time to workout, take time to eat healthy.  According to most doctors, the average person should consume about 1500-2400 calories a day to be fit.  I believe I consume daily somewhere between 2000-3500 calories a day, so this explains why I have some rather unwanted fat around my midsection (among other places).  So in order for me to start losing the pounds I want, I have to either cut back on the calories, or work off those excess ones I consumed in foods.  The best thing to do would be to cut back on the calories AND workout every day, then the pounds will just fall off of my body and sooner than later I will be the shape I want to be.  

So here begins my journey, today January 1st 2011, I commit my time and energy to working out and watching what I eat to I can reach my end goal of 25lb weight loss and a healthier me.  So this is my pledge to me, and anyone that decides to look at my blog.  I solemnly sweat to be consciously aware of what I eat and to put forth and effort to workout at a minimum of 30 minutes a day.  Signed: JLM 

Now I am off to get in my 30 minutes of workout for today! Ta ta for now!

All of Those Sweet Somethings

We all know this feeling... the feeling that if we do not eat that piece of chocolate or that bowl of ice cream or whatever other sweet thing we cannot resist, we will forever be deprived of it. However, we know that if we eat that sweet something, we will have to do X number of push ups, X number of minutes on the treadmill and X number of miles running. So why do we eat it OR the other question, is why do we not?

I am your typical future bride that is trying lose those last 15, 20 or even 30 pounds before I marry the love of my life. Yet as I am typing this blog I am eating that sweet something I couldn't resist. So why do we do this to ourselves? Millions of future brides out there stress themselves out so much before their weddings they either lose too much weight from not eating, or end up gaining too much weight because of the stress. We all have this vision of ourselves on our wedding day as the beautiful skinny bride with long flowing beautiful hair and absolutely no arm fat, and for most of us this is not a reality.

Majority of brides today are either students in college, working full time, or going to both school and work at the same time. And when you fill the day with school, work, homework and sleep, where does that leave time for working out and being healthy? No where. So this is my letter to myself and all those future brides out there looking for a way to balance everything and still have time to work out. And you know what you have to do? JUST DO IT! Nike got it right when they created their motto as Just Do It. When things get tough, and it seems like nothing is working out, just keep pushing and just do it. Life is going to throw all kinds of crazy things your way, and the only thing you can do to overcome those crazy things is to just keep pushing. And always remember to Just Do It!

Now, the next thing I have to say about the getting in shape for your wedding is this: MAKE TIME. There is nothing more important in your life right now than YOU. You deserve to be able to workout and be healthy because if you cannot take care of yourself, you cannot take care of the person you are dedicating your life to in X amount of months. So for the next few months I want you to dedicate yourself to the uplifting and building of yourself. Take time everyday to work out and eat healthy. Being healthy is not something that comes naturally, it is a conscious choice that you have to make in your life. However, do not deprive yourself of all of those "not-so-good" foods that you love. Our society is so bent on finding ways to take the unhealthy and make it just a little less bad for us. I can bet that type of ice cream that you cannot resist has a low-fat, sugar free version of it out there somewhere. So next time you go to the grocery store to buy food, look for the low-fat version of it. I promise it will feel much more rewarding than you could ever expect. Depriving ourselves of things only causes us to desire them more. Its like that psychological trick where you tell someone not to think about something. What do they do? Incessantly think about that thing you told them not to. So instead of depriving yourself, alter your choices. There are always healthy alternatives out there.

That last thing I would suggest for any bride trying to get in shape for her wedding is this: COMPLIMENT YOURSELF DAILY. An article I read in Self Magazine said that when asking women what their best feature was, majority of them said it was their face. Why is it that women choose their face more than any part of their body? This is because we look at our faces daily. We wash our faces at least twice a day, we put lotion on them, and we put make-up on and take make-up off every day and night. We spend a majority of our time pampering on our faces. So lets try something a little different. Take time everyday to look at yourselves in a full length mirror and compliment at least one part of your body that you like. If I were to stand in a mirror right now and look at myself, I would compliment my curves. I was blessed with a very curvy figure and it is something I should be happy about. So next time I look at myself in a full length mirror, I will compliment myself on how nice that pair of jeans looks with my curves. If women take the time everyday to look at themselves and find the things they like about their entire bodies then women would be more confident about themselves. It is as simple as that.

So this is where my journey begins. My ultimate goal of losing 30 pounds, having long beautiful hair and flab free arms is something I am going to work toward, but I believe if I follow these things I have just written I will discover more things about myself than I could have ever imagined. From January 1st until October 28th I am going to Just Do It, Make Time and Compliment Myself Daily, and hopefully this journey will help me be the best I can possibly be for my future husband.