1. Just do it. Today. Right now. Not tomorrow, not next Monday, do it right now. One of the most valuable tips that I have learned is to make small, healthy choices every day. When you are choosing between something healthy and something unhealthy, try to make the healthy choice. Your stomach/body will thank you and your mind will thank you. Yes, that unhealthy food will taste amazing while you’re eating it (for 5 seconds) but what did it do for your insides? Did it nourish your body? Did it have any micronutrients? Probably not. Whenever I eat candy, chips, and any other kind of junk food, my stomach hurts. I believe that this is because when you start to develop a healthy lifestyle, your body starts to crave healthy foods instead of unhealthy foods. Now, I’m not saying I never eat donuts, pizza, cookies, cake, chocolate, ice cream, etc. because we all know that I eat all of that stuff! But its all about b a l a n c e.
“You can’t out work a bad diet” and that is 100% true. During high school and college, I was working out every day but eating complete crap, as well as over eating. And I wondered why I never saw a change. This was because of my diet. I have FINALLY realized that I was holding myself back from the results that I wanted. (Sounds pretty dumb huh?) Yes, I love food. It’s amazing and it tastes great. But I have finally realized that I was just eating to eat. I would eat when I was bored, I would eat when I was stressed. In high school, I was playing soccer and running track and cross country so I was constantly burning calories so I never gained much weight. College was a huge change. I didn’t have practices to go to, or a team to rely on. I have always loved working out, sweating, and seeing what my body can do. But when I got to college I continued to eat everything excessively and on top of that I drank alcohol, a lot. I now think about everything I eat and how it is going to make me feel.
2. Drink more water! Fill up a water bottle before you go to sleep and keep it next to your bed. Drink it first thing in the morning! There are so many benefits to drinking water. I drink a gallon of water a day. At first, this was a daunting task. But now its really nothing. I have even inspired one of my best friends to drink more water (shoutout to you Kayla!!) You don’t need to start off with a gallon. Just try to drink more and more every day. Always keep a water bottle with you. If you don’t like plain water, add lemon or fruit to make it easier to drink!
3. Get rid of all the junk food in your house! It is soo easy to eat junk food when its right in front of you. I know its hard, trust me, but it makes such a difference. It is so much easier to not eat something when you don’t have it in the house!
4. This will take time. Nothing will happen over night. All of those people that you see on Instagram have been working on themselves for at least a year. Make the commitment to better yourself.
5. Don’t let one bad day ruin your progress. If you feel like eating cake or pizza, eat it! Don’t associate food with guilt.
6. The number on the scale doesn’t matter. I would recommend to write down your starting weight. I don’t think that you need to weigh yourself every day. The number on the scale fluctuates so much throughout the day depending on so many things. If you want to weigh yourself, I recommend taking the average of a week of weigh-ins. This will give you a better picture and will allow you to not get caught up in the tiny fluctuations that everyones body makes. I think the best indicator of weight loss is how you feel, how your clothes fit, and how comfortable you feel in your clothes. Some more things to pay attention to are how you are progressing in your workouts by lifting heavier weights or running for a longer time. Or those pants that you bought that were a little tight now fit better. You feel comfortable wearing things that you didn’t before. Those are the things that matter. Being comfortable in your own skin!
7. Workout how YOU want to workout. Not everyone likes to run. You don’t need to run to lose weight. Walk. Swim. Do HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). Bike. Lift weights. Crossfit. Yoga. Pilates. Just get up and get your body moving! Do what makes you happy. If you find yourself dreading your workout, switch it up.
8. Do it for yourself. Find something that motivates you. Your main motivation should come from within, but it is helpful to have external sources of inspiration. My external motivation are all the fitness Instagrams and youtubers that I love watching. Also, choose a short term goal like doing 3 pull ups, doing 10 burpees without dying, or doing 10 pushups by next month.
Join me on my fitness journey, and even start your own journey and share it with me! I will be posting here as much as possible with tips, tricks, workouts, inspiration and everything in between.
