Keep It Simple weight loss tips...

I have struggled with my weight all my life.  I came into this world believe it or not too small weighing in at 3lbs.  I started out fighting for my life to put weight on.  As I grew up that wasn't a problem anymore.  I put on a lot of weight and remember weighing close to 160lbs in the 6th grade.  My struggle continued as I was always trying to get my weight down.  As I got older I lost the weight and is of course a lot smaller now than I was as a child.  Most people look at me now and don't believe me when I say, "I used to be fat".  I always tell people I have fat genes.  I am the girl who people think looks fit on the outside, but on the inside I am always on a "diet".  I pretty much have to always watch what I eat and exercise.  So I can say I have lots of experience with how to lose weight.  Losing weight after having kids seems to be the hardest, and I'm happy to share what has worked the best for me!

5.  Water

Don't drink your calories, eat them!  So instead drink lots of water.  Water is needed to hydrate your body to allow your body to function properly.  Also it helps to cut down on eating when you are not hungry.  The next time you have a craving or think you are hungry, drink down some water instead.  Juices, sodas, and other sugary drinks can add up to unnecessary calories when you are trying to lose weight.  Save those calories to eat food to fuel your body!  I usually drink mostly water all day, and maybe one other non water drink a day like green tea or almond milk.  If you can't stand the taste of plain water, take Weight Watcher's hint in the picture above and infuse your water with fruit.  I constantly keep a 32oz water bottle in the fridge full of mint leaves, lemons, limes, and orange slices.  It helps to give the water taste and makes me drink more.  If you don't know how much water you should be drinking, well try this formula: Take your weight (ex: 150lbs) and divide it by 2 (150/2=75) and that's how many ounces in water you need a day.  So 75 ounces is like 4.5 16oz water bottles a day.

5.  Motivate Yourself
Don't look to others to motivate you, you have to motivate yourself!  I often fell into the trap of waiting for my hubby to motivate me to get results, but after years of FAILING I finally found my own motivation to get to where I wanted to be.  It wasn't just one thing to get me going, but I was sick and tired of being sick and tired of being unhappy with my naked self in the mirror.  Yes I was the type that would run past the mirror trying to hide my body from myself.  The day came when I was tired of looking at the spare tire I called Mommy Tummy and said "I can do this".

Heck no that's not me...not yet!  A picture is worth a thousand words though.  Find different ways to motivate yourself, and when you are struggling, keep your dream body in mind.  The ways that I motivate myself is by subscribing to different fitness magazines.  I cut out articles, pictures, recipes, quotes, etc and paste them into my fitness journal (that's another post).  I also have different motivation and health and fitness boards on pinterest to help motivate me and post on my phone and computer to remind me of what I am trying to accomplish.  I also follow other health and fitness junkies on you tube (leansecrets, fitness blender, tiffany darlyn, hey fran hey, beautifulbrwnbabydol, hangtightwithmarc, etc), facebook (blackwomendoworkout, tiffany boydston, fitness model/writer jamie eason, female fitness models, fitness motivation for ordinary people, etc), and Instagram (fitsporate, bikkinibodymommy, shantonio73, mindovermunch, followthelita, mankofit, etc) to give me daily motivation as I scroll my phone a million times a day.  I am the type of person that has to stay motivated. So I constantly have to surround my world with motivation.  I also rely on buddies that I can report to, to hold myself accountable.  I join different challenge groups online such as beachbody coaches Facebook challenge groups.  These are the things that help me to motivate myself.  I am the most excited about writing these blogs to help me continue to be motivated so that I can motivate others!

3.  Exercise

It's Jillian Michaels, America's favorite trainer! Okay maybe she is just my favorite.  I have a love/hate relationship with Jillian.  I love to hate her and hate to love her.  She is tough and mean, but her workouts are awesome.  I also love her whole philosophy on living a healthy lifestyle.  The bottom line is if you want to get long lasting results, you have to get off your butt and MOVE!  Not all of us were blessed with awesome genes to where we don't have to workout but still look great.  That may be good to some, but to me I workout not just to get the body that I want, but to have a healthy body.  There are so many benefits to exercise beyond losing weight.  I always use my father-in-law as an example.  He is in such great shape (he is a runner and in his early 50's) that when I show friends his picture, they often think it's my husband's brother.  My husband tells his soldiers that his Dad can outrun them (even the 18 year olds).  My father-in-law is very diligent about his workouts because he preaches that he does not want to be a victim to the many diseases and ailments African Americans suffer from.  He does not want to be on every medication in the book.  He exercises to live a long, healthy life.  

Most people are not addicted to working out like I am.  Most people hate to workout! If that is you, then get it in your mind that it's something that you have to do and make a plan to "just do it".  Just like you schedule anything else TAKE time for your workouts.  It's only like 4% of your day.  Then decide \what you would like and try different things.  If you have a gym membership...actually use it!  Most gyms have all sorts of classes that you can take.  That way you can try out different workouts to find out what you like the most.  I absolutely love going to zumba and cycling classes at the gym.  If you don't have money for a gym membership, or have my problem, don't have a gym with childcare, then try workout DVD's.  So of course my favorites are those of Jillian Michaels and Shaun T (beachbody's Insanity, Asylum, Focus T25, etc).  I love Jillian's dvds and Shaun's Focus T25 because they are only 20-25 minutes, but you get a hardcore workout that works!  Who don't have 20 minutes a day?  No excuses!  You don't have to try their dvds, but find others that may interest you and make a plan to workout at home.  If dvds bore you, take your kids and dog on a daily walk, or go online for workout plans that you can do around your house.  There are too many free options out there to not be working out.  Facebook, you tube, instagram, pinterest, blogs, magazines, etc just to name a few that offer lots of free workouts.  It doesn't matter what you do, just find something that you like and stick to it!

2.  Eat Clean

Most people think the key to losing weight is to exercise more and eat less.  I thought the same thing for years until I realized that nutrition is about 90% or more of what will help you to lose weight.  Eating less will only get you cranky, irritated, angry, and HUNGRY!  There is no need to starve yourself to lose weight when you can get the best results by just eating clean.  See definition above.  I have mentioned before that I thought that counting calories (it just don't work for me, but works for others), restricting food groups, trying crazy diets, and not eating much would help me to lose weight.  None of that ever worked for me, but what did work and still works is eating clean.  Eating healthy unprocessed natural foods.  

I owe everything I know about clean eating to this lady here, Tosca Reno.  I have read several of her books and followed her principles and got results.  Do your own research and check her out.  I also do my own research to find lots of clean recipes and write them down in my fitness journal or print them out. My current favorite clean eating blog is 100 Days of Real Food   It's perfect for those with families.  Eating healthy does not have to be boring.  Always look for new clean recipes and cookbooks to spice it up and keep clean eating fun.  Lastly, as far as nutrition, what I and many others have found to work the best is to eat 5-6 small meals a day.  It keeps your metabolism fired up and your body satisfied so that you don't consume large meals and overeat.  

1.  Consistency
That's right, my number one tip is to be consistent!  This is one that I struggled with for years.  I have always known what to do to lose weight, but found myself saying every week, "my diet starts monday".  I have always been the queen of eating healthy all day and then blowing it at the end of the day and saying, "my diet starts tomorrow".  My problem was the diet mindset.  I often thought I had to deprive myself to lose weight.  Once I started following the principles above and learning how to have a healthy lifestyle, I was able to be more consistent.  I started to make small goals for myself such as; eat more clean foods today, drink more water today, exercise 5 days this week, do an extra weight lifting set, etc.  The more small goals I made and conquered them, the more consistent I was able to be towards the big picture.  With small goals I would give myself small rewards.  I saw a great post that said, "don't reward yourself with food, you are not a dog".  It's the truth.  Our society and lifestyle revolves around food.  Food is the root of all celebrations.  In trying to lose weight you have to retrain your mind to a different set of rewards.  Some of mine would be to buy a new nail polish color, try out a different workout dvd, or not feel guilty about watching an hour straight of you tube!  So with all this consistency, what about not giving in to cravings?  That's when you plan for small cheats.  You have to have something to look forward to in order to keep you going.  When you are first starting you may want to only allow small cheats like a cheat treat once a week.  One small item.  Once you get closer to your goal then you can work up to a cheat meal.  By then you would prefer to have something healthier anyway.  Sometimes I just crave eating a bowl of fruit.  Now with all that said, I am still not perfect.  Ask my husband and kids if a bag of Lays Salt & Vinegar Kettle Cooked chips last in my house...NOT AT ALL!  I am human but keep in mind my goals.  So every now and then when I do fall off the horse, I just brush myself off, and keep on riding!  

Yes that's me, and yes I'm still a work in progress! Let's get it!