Inspire Yourself

Today is all about YOU.

When I first started this weight loss journey I was in a very dark, sad place.

I wanted to be like everyone else, in shape, pretty, successful, etc.

So I started to workout and lose some weight.

I would be super motivated for a week then lose focus for a week.

Then back on the grind for two weeks and then lose my focus again.

I was a yo yo dieter/worker outer (haha new word) all the way!

And the reason I never succeeded is because I would look to others to inspire me to change, or workout, or eat healthy, or do anything.

And it shouldn't be like that.

Now don't get me wrong, it is absolutely 100% awesomesauce that people look to others for inspiration! I do it all the time! I follow tons of people who inspire me to continue on my weight loss  and my personal growth journey.

What I'm saying is wrong is that you shouldn't look for inspiration in others when you haven't found inspiration in yourself first.

When I finally realized that I am responsible for myself and my efforts that's when things started to change. That no one is going to change me until I wanted to change myself. I started doing things I never did before, put in more effort than I have done before. I was starting to put in the amount of effort that I saw in the people that inspired me.

I had finally INSPIRED MYSELF.

I finally FOUND MY FIRE.

Remember, it's YOU who is going to have to get up off that couch and put those socks and shoes on and put in some work.

If you don't inspire yourself, you'll NEVER get better at anything that YOU want to do.

YOU are responsible for YOU.

If you don't find that FIRE inside of YOU to do EVERYTHING YOU possibly can to make yourself better, you can't expect someone else to do it for you.

It's like getting a personal trainer and have the trainer lift the weights for you.

YOU have to do whatever it is you want to do YOURSELF.

And please don't take this post the wrong way.

I think it's amazing when others inspire others to change, but deep down those people found THEIR OWN FIRE inside to help themselves push even further.

I look for inspiration EVERY DAY to add fuel to MY FIRE.

On instagram I follow a lot of accounts that motivate and inspire me just by some of their quotes or captions they have on their photos.

On pinterest I look for a lot of healthy meals, stuff to do with my kids, tons of DIY projects that I never finish, etc.

On facebook I look for fitness groups, or mom groups, or kid groups to see if I can learn anything new and see if it works for me.

INSPIRE YOURSELF.

FIND YOUR FIRE.

Everything and everyone else contributes after.

Love y'all!!!

Holy PANTS!

Well today I was able to sneak away for a couple of hours and decided to go shopping and get a pedi.

The pedi didn't happen...damn it!

I just want a damn pedi y'all!

Anywho I was looking around Ross today, and found some cute clothes for everyone.

When I go shopping I can't just buy for myself.

Everyone has to get something or else I don't think it's fair.

Anyways, I decided to try on some jeans because right now I only have one pair of jeans that fit. Granted they are getting a little baggy but nothing too crazy, and I don't want to go out and buy all kinds of clothes right now because I am still in the process of losing weight, so there is no point in buying clothes that won't fit me in about a month or two.

So I grab two pairs of the same style of jeans but two different sizes (normal size and one smaller), thinking that there is no way that I'm going to fit in the smaller size but I can see how much further I have until I do.

I go to the dressing room and I put the size on that I wear now and they fit and were a little bit big. But they would work.

But I looked at the other pair thinking I shouldn't even try them, but something told me to just go ahead and try.

I prayed to little baby Jesus that those smaller size jeans would get past my knees!

And guess what, they did.

I begin to slide them up further thinking my thunder thighs will stop them...NOPE.

They kept going.

I continued pulling them up thinking ok, these baby making hips will pretty much stop them in their tracks.

NOPE, those baby making hips didn't stop them.

So I had them pulled all the way up.

I was scared to button them up because I didn't want to have a white chicks scene where the button goes flying and breaking the mirror.

Well I said screw that damn mirror...(just kidding don't want 7 years of bad luck)

I just told myself to button them up and see what happens.

Took a deep breath, and a zipper zipped up and button buttoned up later.

And BOOM.

I JUST FIT INTO A SMALLER SIZE!!!!

This is HUGE for me!

It's hard for me to fit in smaller jeans because I have a pear shaped body.

Big hips, thighs, and butt.

Plus I'm tall (5'9) so it makes it harder to find jeans.

So that means I am down 5 pant sizes!!! HOLY PANTS!!!

If this isn't a kick of motivation I don't know what is.

Here is the pic of me trying on them "skinny to me" jeans! :)

 

LOOK AT HOW MANY PANT SIZES I AM DOWN!!! :)

 

I CAN TELL THERE IS A DIFFERENCE IN MY FACE :)

AND JUST SOME MOTIVATION FROM MY PINTEREST!! :)

Tell me about when you were able to fit into a smaller pair of jeans!

How did you feel? Did it motivated you to push harder? Did you see results sooner?

Love y'all!

"If you fail to plan, you're planning to fail"

And that is what I did for about half of this week. I planned to fail...lamesauce.

I'm not going to lie. I was off my A game, but hey we all have our up's and down's. It's part of life, what can you say?

I have been having knee issues for almost a week now. I tried to workout and I could barely do 5 mins before my knee was hurting BAD. So I stopped working out for a couple of days. And let me be honest it was making feel depressed! I finally started seeing results and then I had to stop! Ugh!!!

So I am the first one to admit that I am an emotional eater. No idea why, but I am. So I went a little crazy. But I still tried to walk to at least get SOME movement in.

And also since I wasn't working out like I normally do, I stopped planning. I wasn't motivated to.

ULTIMATE FAIL.

How can I tell you guys how to plan and be organized when I'm not even practicing what I preach?

DOUBLE ULTIMATE FAIL.

I did my weekly meal plan for the family that I keep on the fridge at the beginning of the week like I normally do, but I didn't plan one for myself. And I also didn't plan my workouts.

So today, I sucked it up and told myself to get my shit together.

And that is what I did.

I got my planner out and started writing down everything. INCLUDING my workouts. I am going to try my hardest to workout. My knee feels a bit better so it’s time to get moving!

And of course I had to face that stupid scale.

Good news is that I only gained 1 pound back. I was thinking I had gained back at least 5 pounds or something. And I didn’t. Thank you little baby Jesus. So now I am super focused to get that 1 pound off and then some!

11 (I also round up because of ounces) more pounds and I am at my halfway point!!!

How awesome is that? I can’t wait! I feel the victory, I can even taste it. THIS WILL HAPPEN.

And PLANNING is key.

Just because you had a rough day or a few days, doesn’t mean for you to just throw in the towel and give up. It means to pick up that damn towel, put it in the dirty clothes basket, whip out your planner and get to planning!

You need that kick in the ass to get shit done.

I’ll be that kick in the ass.

I’m evening kicking myself in the ass to get this stuff done.

I have goals that I plan on meeting, and I will get there by one planned out day at a time J

#itdidnthappenifthereisnophoto haha

Protein shot! Haha sorry about my nappy hair. Sometimes I let it go wild ;) haha

Halfway Results on 30DS

Hey everyone!

So I wrote about being part of a 30 Day Exercise challenge (here) and I am doing the 30 Day Shred.

Ugh Jillian scares me...

 

Anywho I thought I would share my results so far since I've past the halfway point.

 

Also I took the "before" pics in July 2014 which was before the challenge started, I used these ones because I weighed the same and all my measurements were the same (when I weighed and measured myself on Aug 3rd). So might as well use them!

 

Also this is my first time showing this much of my body, please please PLEASE don't be too harsh on me. It took a lot to show these photos. I am a mom of two beautiful children so my body doesn't look like it once was. And this is a scary thing for me to reveal. TIA :)

 

The biggest reason I am showing you these photos is because I want to show others that they can do it too if they put their mind to it. These are results I got within a matter of 2 1/2 weeks from doing Jillian Michaels 30DS, zumba 3x a week, started eating protein with EVERY meal, eating smallER portions of everything, as well as upping my water intake.

 

And most importantly please excuse that nappy ass hair of mine ahaha!

 

 

 

 

 

Here are my results so far:

 

Bust: Down 1 1/2 inches (great...I already don't have anything there...)

Waist: Down 1 1/2 inches (woo hoo!!)

Hips: Down 1 inch (never expected that)

R. Thigh: Down 1 inch (don't know how that happened)

L. Thigh: Down 1/2 inch (don't know how that happened either)

L. Arm: Down 1/2 inch (woo hoo on my way to JM arms, apparently one arm at a time...)

 

That is a grand total of 6 inches!! And I have lost 2.4 lbs!!

 

I am very happy with my results.

I didn't expect those numbers at all, especially my lower half because that is my "problem area".

I can't wait to see what my results will be at the end of this which is Sept. 13th.

 

Remember, if I can do this, so can you!

I know it's hard to find that motivation, but try to.

NO ONE CAN CHANGE YOU, BUT YOU.

 

Love y'all!

 



GOALS.

So I am going to write out my goals for the rest of the year.

When I do set up goals I put them in their own category that way I don't feel overwhelmed by having a lot of goals on one sheet.

Then I break them down by steps and what steps needed to be taken each month.

MY GOALS:

Fitness Goals:

- Be a certain weight by my birthday in November.

- Meal Plan

- Portion control

- Focus more on lifting

- 3x a week cardio

- increase water intake
- Look into Yoga

School Goals:

- GET A's!

- Get all work done in a timely manner

- Try to stay ahead
- Always go to school unless I'm dying or someone else is dying. Only valid excuse lol

Home Life Goals:

- Fix up the yard

- Keep adding more grass

- Garden boxes

- Train Milo (the puppy) to NOT chew on every. single. thing. he. sees. UGH!

- Being more organized. Spring cleaning anyone?

Personal Goals:

- More organized

- Being more positive

- More patience with the kiddos and the boyfriend and especially Milo haha.

- Being more productive

- Read more

- Learn to say NO.
- FINISH PROJECTS. (what, no one else starts DIY projects and don't finish?)
- Take time for myself

 - Try my best and don't get discouraged because I didn't hit a goal but was near it.

 So to show how I accomplish these goals, this is what I do.
I'm going to pick "Be a certain weight by my bday".
My birthday is in 10 weeks. I want to lose about 22 more pounds before then.
That's an average of 2.2 lbs PER week.
Is it doable? Yes.
ONLY if I eat clean and train hard, BUT I know myself and I know I'll slip up, so I will try my best and see what happens. See there? I am kinda hitting 2 goals at once. (Fitness & Personal Goals)

So I then break it down further.

I know I'm not going to eat 100% clean. Ain't no body got time for that.
So I am going to try to meal plan, and make my meals ahead of time so that why I can try to eat as healthy as possible, and learn portion control. I will mostly be doing this for only breakfast and lunch. I have a menu for home on what the family is going to eat for the week, and since the kiddos are at school it helps to only have to meal plan for 1 person rather than 4 with healthy eating and I don't want to be making food 24/7. Busy mamas know what I'm talking about :)
 (another goal I will be accomplishing off of Fitness goals)

I know cardio helps MY body lose weight so I will be trying to add running to my workouts 3x a week. (another goal being met)
I normally go to Zumba 3x a week but lately it's been hard to get over there just because I live about 30 mins away :(

So in order to meet my goal I know I should be consuming around 1400 calories.
I went to a few different websites to see how many calories I should be consuming in order to lose 2 pounds a week and got the same answer from them all.
So MFP is going to be my BFF for the next 10 weeks!

And I also know that in order to lose a pound in 1 week you have to burn around 3500 calories, so therefore my goal is 7000 calories burned PER week.
Again I know that I may or may not reach that goal of burning 7000 calories a week but I will definitely try my best!

I then write down my schedule for food, workouts, etc all in my calendar.
My calendar is pretty much my life.
Has all my bills, grocery lists/sales, school stuff, kids schedule, appointments, etc.
So if I have it scheduled in there, then it's happening.
I usually put AM or PM to let me know when I'll be working out.
If it's AM it's usually right after my kiddos go to school.
If it's PM it normally after my kiddos go to bed.
SO if you think having a calendar to help you plan, you can get a personal planner or go to this WEBSITE, where there is super cute free 2014 printable monthly calendars.

Here are a few pictures of some of my calendars that I use.

I want to eventually have everything scheduled by time just to increase productivity.
So being more active in planning and keeping track of everything will help me accomplish another goal of mine, which is to be organized.

So as you can, my goals kind of go hand in hand.

I'll keep trying to meet my other goals and I'll keep you updated on how things are going :)



Have a great day!

Motivation!

So let me just start off with this. I am a yo-yo dieter ALLLLLL the way.

I get super motivated and start counting calories, eating healthy smaller portions, even pumping out 2 a day workouts couple times a week. say what?!?! Then I get distracted for a day and all of a sudden 2 boxes of lucky charms has been consumed with a whole 1st season of some kinda show has been watched on Netflix. What? Doesn't everyone do that in a day? To each their own haha.

 

And right now I am PUMPED!!!

I am doing all of the above. Minus the lucky charms and Netflix.

I am doing a 30-Day Exercise Challenge (hover over the 30DEC) from Heather who has an awesome BLOG! (hover over BLOG & check it out)

I am also doing Zumba about 3x a week.

I also am on my feet about 5x a week from my job.

SO I would say that I am putting in some work.

 

Have any of you done 30DS?

I'm on level 2 and let's just say I better have some JM arms at the end of this, and be able to wear some short shorts without scaring everyone.

I don't even want to think about level 3. No thank you.

 

 

People ask where does my motivation come from.

Well it comes from a lot of different places.

 

First - there is my Pinterest (hover over pinterest). Now if anyone has a "pinning" problem, it's me. I'm on that thing err day all day! No Lie! Ask my boyfriend, I'm always showing him this or that on there. haha

 

Second - there is my Instagram. I follow a lot of people who have similar goals as me.

 

Third - I follow a lot of fitness pages on FB. I even have my own PAGE on there. I'm not as active on there as I would like to be, but hoping that is going to change soon! That is where I am part of the 30-Day Exercise Challenge (hover over 30DEC). And some other challenges as well!

 

Fourth - I am OCD about calendars. I don't know what it is. I like having calendars EVERYWHERE! It's pretty crazy. haha. Well I schedule when I am going to work out. I kinda have to now that I am in school as well as my kiddos. So schedule is KEY!

 

Fifth - jeez this list is long haha I also keep quotes and visual motivation everywhere! I have quotes on my computer screen, my phone screen, on my bedroom wall, protein shake mix on the counter, etc. I always keep that stuff in front of me to remind myself to NOT GIVE UP!

 

AND Sixth - all the encouragement I receive from the places I listed above! It's great to hear that I inspire someone or when I have someone cheer me on! It's such a great feeling knowing you have people rooting for you. I love it and it's my BIGGEST motivator.

 

And speaking of motivation, here are some quotes I love!

 

Have a great day!

 

 

 

 

Pinterest

Update!

Well it has definitely been awhile since I've took the time to sit down and write on here.

Too tell you the truth I really miss it! This little piece of the internet that I like to call mine has helped keep me accountable for everything that I want to do. Mostly my health.

First thing first.

Has my health gotten better? It has I would say. Not as well as I have wanted BUT that is my own fault because I didn't put the time and effort into it as much as I should have. I think if I would have been focused the entire time during the past year, I would have seen more progress. But hey oh well. This journey is tough and you've got to live and learn.

So here are my progress photos so far!

The left is from July 2013 and the right is from this month. I've lost 40 pounds so far.

 

And also some other great exciting news!

I am back into college! This is a HUGE step for me. I'm not going to lie, I honestly never saw myself going back to school. I feel like I am too old and that I lost my chance to ever have that college education. I felt that I had to focus on my children now and just work a dead end job to support us. Also I didn't want to be in my 30s by the time I actually had a career to actually live the lifestyle that I've always wanted. I'm extremely terrified of going back to school. When I was younger I was so focused on school. I was pretty much "too school for cool", that is how focused I was. Then I had baby #1, which through everything out the window. I did go to school after my daughter for my medical assistant certificate. Which I got by the way :) That job didn't go anywhere because where I was living there were no jobs for that. Everything was about an hour or even longer away. So I just started working my booty off. I worked, and I worked to support my daughter and I. Then baby #2 happened. Then I started to work harder, and harder. I got two different jobs to support my kids and I. I did go to school for a few different things during this time period but something always came up. So finally I just gave up on school. It wasn't getting me anywhere except for in debt.

My boyfriend and I have been living together for about 6 months or so, and school always seems to come up. He always encouraged me and I would say "oh I'll eventually go" while in the back of my mind I was thinking "yeah right". Finally it got to the point where I needed to go to school. I'm tired of having a dead end job and not getting any closer to the career I want. So I had to bite the bullet and put my big girl panties on and get enrolled into school which happened yesterday. I was definitely out of my comfort zone. But I am glad I took the plunge. I realized that I was letting embarrassment block my way to getting what I want out of life. All my life I was the girl who did good in school and that had her life planned and then life happened. I was embarrassed that I wasn't living up to what everyone including myself had pictured for me. And I am so hard on my kids about school because I don't want them to make the same mistakes that I've made and I want them to successful in all aspects of their lives. But who am I to be hard on them when I am not even hard on myself. I want to lead by example and show my children that education is extremely important and even though I am in my mid 20's and that most of my friends are graduating with their master's by now that I still took the step to get my associates and eventually my master's. Yes I will more than likely be in my 30's by the time I'm done, but at least I can say that I did it, and I can show my kids that they can do it too.

Everything else in my life is doing great! The kids are now both in school! I'm glad that they are doing well and making new friends. The boyfriend and I are going strong and celebrated 1 year yesterday!

How are you doing with your fitness goals? Has there been a time where you let embarrassment stopped you from accomplishing something, if so what was it, and most importantly how did you overcome that and accomplished your goal?

Have a great night!