Get Your Fitness On

So once I started going to college (while everyone else binges on beer and pizza) I decided to make some lifestyle changes by being more conscious of what I eat and drink and making exercise a daily occurrence. I even hired a personal trainer to give me a kick in the ass whenever I needed it to make sure I stayed on track and didn't fall off the wagon. Once I lost 30lbs and went down three sizes I was confident enough to part ways with him....especially since a personal trainer costs money...money that is now spent on paying back student loans and saving up for other costly things such as...a wedding...and a house....ya know, other big people things. Now that I've been on my own for quite some time and achieving many fitness goals, I can say that there are some people who just don't get it when it comes to staying healthy and being fit. Sure I'll be the first one to tell you that I'm no Jillian Michaels, HOWEVER I do have some common sense and have learned from many amazing fitness trainers who have helped me along my fitness journey. Shout out to Elite Warrior Training (EWT) and Title Boxing Club!

Before and After

 1. The Calorie Counter

Sure it's fine to count calories especially if your calorie intake is really high, but if you log every little item into your iPhone without understanding WHERE those calories are going...you could be setting yourself up for an epic failure equal or greater to Kim Kardashian's first marriage. I think all of us have that friend who says, "OH! It's okay if I have this since it's just 100 calories!" Little do they know that the 100 calorie pack of whatever might just be filled with fat or sugar.

2. Dieting

If you want to keep the weight off for good you should just throw the word "diet" out of your vocabulary along with the Oreos and Pringles. Diet means temporary and I know when I wanted to kick that extra weight, I wanted it gone for good which means I needed a lifestyle change that included balanced meals and getting my ass to the gym or doing some kind of physical activity each day. Sure they always say that you should never deprive yourself of something so you don't end up eating a whole container full of cookies later, but the whole idea is just being more conscious of what you're eating and cutting unnecessary calories out. I for one was devastated when I found out that I was pretty much drinking half of my calories with Starbucks lattes in the morning and wine on the weekends (a lot of it). Moderation is key...and consuming a whole bottle of wine is a bit of a stretch.

3. The Excuses

Just shut up already and exercise. I don't care who you are, if it's important enough to you, you will make time to workout or maybe you're just not motivated enough? When it comes to me personally, nothing motivates me more than thinking about how good I'll feel AFTER the workout and how I'll feel if I don't.  Especially now that my wedding dress is thrown into the mix, all I need to see is a picture of it and I'll be damned if I miss core day at the gym. Even when my knee injury hit me I still managed to work around it even though it would have been a fantastic excuse to stay at home all day watching Hoarders re-runs.

4. Skinny vs. Fit

Another pet peeve I have is when girls confuse being skinny with being fit. Being skinny doesn't necessarily mean you're fit. I remember when I ran my first 5k and passed some 95lber on the first mile and at that time...lets just say I still had a significant amount of weight to lose. I think we all would be a little happier if we focused on being more healthy and fit than striving to fit into a size 00. I mean lets get real here, especially if we've practically killed ourselves at the gym for a month and we see that the scale doesn't reflect our hard efforts....get ready for World War III right? When I first started losing the extra tires I had around my midsection I for sure was one to rely on the scale weight WAY too much and felt like I wanted to stab it every time it said I gained anything. Liam Neeson had nothing on me. Now that I incorporate a lot more weight training into my routine, if I were to base my goals around what the scale said I would cry myself to sleep each night. Exercise, eat clean and be healthy. Done. Now go do it.

5. Am I There Yet?

If you're overweight and have big goals, obviously you won't go to bed after an intense workout and wake up the following morning 10lbs lighter. This shit takes time so slow your roll and stay focused. You don't need to go all crazy sauce and drink protein shakes and go vegan but once I spent more time realizing what was in my food and avoiding things that would clearly disrupt my fitness goals, you just feel better even when you're not working out. You can live at the gym and it still won't matter if you suck down Big Macs everyday.

Okay, I'm stepping off of my soapbox now so I can start doing box jumps with it. The moral of the story is that I've struggled with fitness goals, achieved them and anyone who is actually focused on their goals can also be successful if they spent more time doing and stopped trying to avoid exercising any way they can by doing ridiculous liquid diets and starving themselves.

Now that I just finished my fitness rant, I almost forgot to mention that I finished the Get Lucky 7k race with one of my fav ladies on St. Patrick's Day weekend. It was freezing and we even had to run along the lakefront in snow and misty rain crap BUT we did it and conquered all. Laura even beat her best personal record which is a major win!