I started my fitness journey around New Year's last year and I am proud to say I met and exceeded my goals and have kept the weight off the entire year. It took me about 6 months to get where I wanted to be. The last 6 months has been just maintenance and focusing on building more muscle and increasing my endurance.
I only lost about 9-10 lbs. BUT it felt like a lot more. I think because I built a lot more muscle. I was at about 27% body fat when I started. I am down to 19% now. I was a size 8. Now I am a size 2.
So I quit caring about the scale not moving after 6 months and started caring more about body fat %, inches lost, and overall how I looked and fit in my clothes!
I know many of us are making resolutions to lose weight this year. There are tons and tons of blog posts and fitness pages offering very helpful advice for kicking off the New Year right. I won't rehash all of these tips, but I can share what worked for me over the course of the year.
What helped me personally:
- Holding myself accountable for my weight loss by telling people about it. Facebook. Blog. Instagram. Communities online like Tone It Up and Blogilates. The more you post about trying to lose weight, the more accountable you will become for actually doing it.
- Tracking what I ate in MyFitness Pal. It really gave me a better idea of how well I was doing at actually sticking to my calorie goal/fat vs carbs, etc.
- Completely re-vamping my diet/cooking/recipes/etc. I try my best to cook ONLY healthy meals at home and only have healthy snacks in the house. I try to save the naughty cheat meals and treats for eating out or going to other people's houses/events.
- Live by the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time you are eating right and exercising. 20% of the time you can indulge. I didn't skip Thanksgiving. I ate some Halloween Candy. I had dessert at parties.
- Trying to help others lose weight. I tried to inspire and motivate my friends to join me in my classes or fun runs and eventually got certified to teach bootcamp and barre so I can impact others lives even more.
That's what worked for me. I am in the best shape of my life since high school. AND after two kids. If I can do it, YOU can do it too! By no means do I have a Victoria's Secret model body (and I'm ok with that!). But I do feel strong, fit and healthy. I feel like my clothes fit. That's all that matters to me! I don't need washboard abs or a thigh gap to feel like I accomplished my goals.
So with that said...This is YOUR year! Time to lace up the sneakers and get ready for a lifestyle CHANGE. Who's in?
We have exciting stuff going on over here with my business ;-) I have teamed up with The Dance Center and we are offering two sessions of Barre Fitness and two sessions of Bootcamp this January/February. I am so excited about the environment - women only, kids are welcome to come too. We are actually in the process of setting up a play area for the little people and if I'm lucky, an on-site babysitter. Fingers crossed!
If you live in the area, NOW is the time to sign up!
