What's working for me?

Well let's see...

Food:

Of course, I'm watching what I eat. No more mindless eating. I don't eat to fix a bad mood either. Though I do still start my day with a Coffee (or "Coff" as my sisters and I call it). I eat constantly throughout the day. I'm sure that my way isn't perfect and it may not work for everyone. I still have plenty of tweaking to do. But at least what I am doing has helped me get this far and it's helping my metabolism get back on track. I never really liked the idea of sitting down to 3 big meals a day anyhow. This way is more like "foraging", keeping a steady, smaller amount of food in your system. It's not probably ideal what I eat. But as I've said before, it's baby steps. The steps I've taken have done well for me even if they aren't ideal. I mean, I loosely keep track of calories in my head as the day goes on. I keep portion sizes small of course. But I don't, at this point, make sure it's the more "balanced" type of meal with like a protein/carb/fat or whatever type of meal. I'll get to that later. It's a goal. (And I don't beat myself up if I eat a piece of cake at a birthday party. I'm not going to fool myself, at this stage of the game, into thinking I can be perfect. Give yourself some slack every now and then. Just be reasonable.)

Exercise:

And as far as working out, I change it up every month. After about 4-6 weeks your body gets used to whatever routine you've established so you have to change it up to keep your body challenged. The first month my routine wasn't too fancy. I started slow cause I didn't want to overwhelm myself and burn out. I'm on my second month of the work out and I stepped it up a notch. Now I switch from a list of things to do for lower body one day and a list of things to do for upper body the next. I'm not working out on the weekends really. Only if I happen to miss a day during the week. But again, it's a goal. (And, no, I don't beat myself up if I miss a day of working out. The end result is that I AM working out. It IS a part of my life. It's a new lifestyle, a new habit. I'll work out the next day. It's not going to discourage me or get me off track. Keep it in perspective people.)

***The most important thing, I think, is to do what works for you. Everyone is different. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Don't try to do what someone else does just because it sounds good. Listen to your body. Your body will try and tell you what it is capable of. I'm no expert, though I hope to be one day. I just really did a lot of trial and error and tried to find what worked best for me. If I had all the money in the world, I know, for me personally, Boot Camp/BC would have been the way for me to go. There's people there to encourage you, there's friendly competition, and you've got a knowledgeable trainer there showing you what you need to do and holding you accountable. But since I can't afford that right now, I had to really do some soul searching to do it all on my own. I pulled from what I learned in BC to use for my current work outs, and that helps a ton. But it was really just about me deciding enough is enough. No more excuses. I decided I have no choice but to suck it up and depend on myself, not anyone else, to get me where I need to be. And that's what we all need to do, eventually get to a place where you don't have to depend on anyone else to keep you fit, as your end goal. But at first, if you need BC, go to BC. Or if you need to work out with a friend, work out with a friend. Whatever you need to do, just do it. Just do something. Something is always better than nothing. You have to care enough about yourself to do the work and ignore any lazy tendencies or excuses. I'm no saint. I don't love working out, another goal I'm working on, but I do it anyhow. There's been plenty of times where I've been angry with my treadmill. I've shouted at it, stomped on it, thrown a little fit, even prayed for God to help me get through it. But I kept going and didn't give up. I got myself into this mess and I'm the only one who can get me out of it. Be angry if it'll help you deal with it. It's tough starting out, but just don't quit!

I'll post examples of my food/work out next. The end message here is this, for the love of all that is healthy,

j u s t   d o   s o m e t h i n g !