Tag Archives: after weight loss

3 myths you need to know about weight loss before you start

3 myths you need to know about weight loss before you start

Motivation to stay fit, , , , , , , , , , 
Starting a weight loss journey is challenging. Check out what are the noob mistakes that you make after beginning  a weight loss program.

4 steps to healthy life mindset even if you are lazyWhen you start thinking about weight loss while being overweight, you start with an idea in your head about weight loss. You believe that you know exactly what you need to do in order to achieve weight loss. You believe your only problem is starting and sticking to a weight loss program.

So what are the myths that every noob believes at the start of their weight loss program?

Myth #1:

I have to do an hour or more cardio per day for helping my weight loss

Noobs believe that doing hours cardio will burn off that extra pizza slice they had for snack. If you still believe that you can burn off extra calories you’ve eaten, you’re wrong. Here, let me prove this by giving you an example of how many calories you burn with cardio and how many pizza slices you’ve burned off*:

[table caption=”Burn off that pizza slice” width=”500″ colwidth=”20|100|50″ colalign=”left|left|center”]
Exercise type,Calories burned/hour,Pizza slice burned off
yoga,148 kcal,50% of a pizza slice
pilates,148 kcal,50% of a pizza slice
walking,177 kcal,60% of a pizza slice
belly dancing,266 kcal,93% of a pizza slice
aerobics,384 kcal,134% of a pizza slice
spinning,413 kcal,145% of a pizza slice
swimming,413 kcal,145% of a pizza slice
running,472 kcal,166% of a pizza slice
zumba,519 kcal,182% of a pizza slice
elliptical trainer,531 kcal,186% of a pizza slice
[/table]

* used MyFitnessPal’s calculator based on: a pizza slice has 285 kcal, a person has 59kg/130pounds.

So basically you can see that doing belly dancing for an hour will burn off that pizza slice that you had for a snack, but it won’t make you lose weight. Doing hours of cardio won’t help your weight loss.

Don’t get me wrong, cardio is beneficial for you because it can help you build endurance. It has many other benefits as well, as it can stronger your heart and lungs, reduce stress, make you feel more energized, help you increase bone density, reduce the risk of heart attack, make you sleep better and so on.

But relying solely on cardio for weight loss is naive.

Here comes the second myth:

Myth #2:

I must exercise to lose weight.

3 myths you need to know about weight loss before you start
You can sit on that machine for hours and it won’t make you lose a single pound

This is a lie. In reality: weight loss is only 20% gym and 80% kitchen. It means that you can lose weight by changing eating habits, you won’t need to step into a gym at all. However, everyone knows that exercising has many health benefits, so it is always a good idea to exercise. I am the spokesperson of healthy eating, but if your single goal is weight loss, you can always achieve it by eating less calories than you are currently eating.

I am not a fan of different crash-diets, detoxes, cleanses, but these also work for weight loss (even if they are unhealthy and bad for you in the long run) because the require you to eat at a caloric deficit.

You don’t see fat kids starving in Africa. So chances are, if you are twice as heavy as your healthy weight, then you are eating for 2 people. No matter how much you exercise, you can’t outrun your bad diet.

Myth #3:

Doing a bunch of ab exercises will give me defined six pack abs

No amount of ab exercises will give you great six pack abs. I learned this lesson by doing tons of ab exercises daily to loose my belly fat. It was successful until a point, where I could not lose the leftover belly fat from my bottom half no matter how hard I tried.

I had abs of steel, but they were invisible under that layer of body fat. So I seriously considered the truthfulness of the following statement:

Abs are formed in the gym but revealed at the kitchen. [Tweet this!]

3 myths you need to know about weight loss before you start
You can do 1000 crunches a day and still won’t have her abs

So I’ve tweaked my nutrition, and bamm, visible abs! I considered myself a fool for not making the connection between body fat and visible abs, as well as for not thinking about the importance of nutrition as a component of having abs of steel.

Once I made a mistake of telling the girls at my Zumba Fitness Core class that they won’t get abs of steel by attending these classes once a week, but they looked at me in disbelief, like I was crazy.

Sure, they will strengthen their core and sculpt their abs, but they are expecting flat tummies and six pack abs at the end of the 4th week. Well, reality check: if you keep eating that pizza slice for breakfast every morning, no abs of steel for you lady.

 So remember: in order to lose weight, start eating healthy, pick up healthy habits such as regular exercise. You’ll lose that fat in a healthy way for good!

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Fitness trackers are useless for gym workout: exercise routine before and after wearables

Fitness trackers are useless for gym workout: exercise routine before and after wearables

Motivation to stay fit, , , , 
Searching for the perfect fitness tracker? Don't know if you should get the latest model of that fitness tracker everyone is wearing? Let me share a secret: fitness trackers are useless for gym workout. Don't believe me? Read on.

Fitness trackers are useless for gym workout: exercise routine before and after wearablesI was excited just as you are for getting a fitness tracker for Christmas. A smart wearable was the big thing I thought I was missing in order to level up with my healthy living. But getting a wearable fitness tracker hadn’t affected my workout routine in any way. Trendy fitness trackers are made for lazy couch potatoes, not for people who work out regularly and already live a healthy lifestyle. In order to track your workout routine at the gym you will need a special fitness tracker that is not among the trendy ones currently on the market.

Find the right fitness tracker

Fitness trackers are useless for gym workout: exercise routine before and after wearablesResearched online different wearables and fitness trackers, and I’ve read tons of reviews each of the wearable. Different wearables have different functions that seem awesome at first: tracking physical activity, including calories burned, distance and what type of activity you are doing, such as walking, running, cycling.

I really believed that a fitness tracker would be of help in my workout performance and positively affect my workout routine.

Reading the specifications carefully revealed that the functions I would found useful, such as the heart rate monitor, does not work well when you move around… So what’s the point of measuring your heart rate when you just stand around? I want it to measure it while I am jumping around in Zumba class, so that I know how high is my heart rate when my face gets red. Got really disappointed while researching the fitness trackers: none of the fitness trackers functions could be useful during my gym workout, nor my Zumba cardio sessions.

Then it hit me: all the trendy fitness trackers are made for the lazy couch potatoes, not for our type who are already living healthy and exercising regularly. [Tweet this!]

The only function I thought I would find useful was the pedometer. But I already had a free app downloaded to my phone that worked as a pedometer.

Life after getting a fitness tracker

Although I really didn’t know for what I will be using a fitness tracker for, but it is the popular thing right now – everyone is wearing a fitness tracker. I figured I might as well get a stylish one and jump on the wearables bandwagon. After all, it was Christmas, and there weren’t much things that I needed or wanted anyway. Got to have a wrapped present, because simply saying “I love you” or “thank you for being in my life” is not a valid Christmas present in today’s society.

I settled for a Sony SmartBand fitness tracker, because it’s lightweight, stylish, and as its ad says: when a call or a message comes in, you feel it. Figured at least it will be useful on meetings when my phone is on silent.

How useful are fitness trackers in everyday life?

Fitness trackers are useless for gym workout: exercise routine before and after wearables
A fitness tracker for weight lifting is just as useful as these bands on your wrist.

Pedometer helped walk more daily. Had to be creative to figure out how to walk more to reach my daily goal. The secret how I manage to meet my daily goal of 10 000 steps: take stairs instead of the elevator, go for walk during lunch breaks, walk the dog more often, walk to the store for getting just milk even if it could wait until next big grocery shopping, walk to the market, walk to the bank and doing errands mostly by walking. After a few weeks, it becomes a habit. So I don’t have to think about it anymore, whenever I see an elevator and stairs, I take the stairs. Tip: identify opportunities in your everyday life for walks.

I use my fitness tracker in everyday life for:

  • Tracking steps
  • Smart wake up (my significant other looked forward to this function: no more early morning alarms waking him, my band vibrates to wake me while he stays happily asleep)
  • Letting me know when I receive a message or a phone call.

And that’s it, this is a complete list of the things that I use my fitness tracker for.

Fitness tracker useless in the gym

I found the fitness tracker totally useless in the gym. It did not track any of my fitness activities whatsoever. It only tracked my workout once when I used the running machine for warm-up instead of the elliptical. However, if you are a runner, then you will find fitness trackers more useful. But if you are going to the gym to lift weights and use the workout machines, having a fitness tracker on your wrist is completely useless. Pretty disappointing.

There wasn’t any difference in my workout performance before and after owning a fitness tracker. My fitness tracker just helped me get more aware of my everyday activities.

Will a fitness tracker be usefull with my workout?

Stay realistic: don’t expect too much from current fitness trackers. Here is a list of different exercises types and the usefulness of a fitness tracker for that exercise:

[table caption=”Fitness trackers usefulness for different exercise types” width=”500″ colwidth=”20|100|50″ colalign=”left|left|center|left|right”]
Exercise type,Fitness tracker useful,Remark
Aerobic exercises:,,
Running,Yes,Tracks time running
Cycling,Yes,Tracks time spent cycling
Walking/hiking,Yes,Tracks steps
Zumba,No,Can’t pick up the various steps
Tennis,No,Need special fitness tracker that tracks specific body movements
Anaerobic exercises:,,
Weight lifting,No,Need special fitness tracker still in early adopter phase
Flexibility exercises:,,
Yoga,No,Can’t track anything-showed me asleep while relaxing
Pilates,No,See yoga
[/table]

Right now, even the best fitness tracker in the world is still just that: a wearable tracker.

Let me recap: if you are a regular user, you will find fitness trackers useful. However, if you are exercising regularly, you will need to do a thorough research on the various wearables out there to find the a fitness tracker that fits your type of exercise.

So my advice when choosing a fitness tracker for yourself is to do your research: know what type of exercise you will be doing and what are you expecting from your fitness tracker, know the limitations of the device, read reviews, go see it how it fits your wrist before you buy it.

What fitness tracker do you have? How did you choose it? Is it meeting your expectations or are you disappointed like I am?

If you agree with me, share the blog post with your friends!

How to deal with family saying I am too skinny after losing weight when I am actually just being fit

How to deal with family saying I am too skinny after losing weight when I am actually just being fit

Emotional issues after weight loss, , , , , , 
After losing weight and going from obese to fat to fit my family says I am too skinny. My family is using every opportunity to tell me that I am too skinny, I am not eating enough, being skinny is not healthy, skinny is ugly, I will get sick if I lose more weight and keep up exercising(!!??). So how do I deal with family like this?

How to deal with family saying I am too skinny after losing weight when I am actually just being fit Imagine this scenario: family gathering, family members sitting around the table stuffed with food, eating. Then suddenly grandma turns to you and says:

– Sweety, you are eating like a bird. Here, have some more potatoes!

Your plate and mouth are full of delicious roasted chicken, and while you are trying to swallow that bite of Brussels sprouts and start explaining that you are eating right, your father joins the “conversation” and says:

– Eat more! Skinny people are ugly!

You finally swallowed that bite and start defending yourself by telling them that as they can see, you are eating. In fact, you were chewing when grandma turned against you. Plus you are not skinny, but fit. There’s a difference. And you start flexing your muscles to prove your point. All this, while your husband quickly goes into supportive mode and starts explaining that your weight is in the normal range. You cut his sentence in the middle to inform everyone that if they remember, not long ago you were obese. You worked hard to lose weight in order to look like this. This ain’t no accident.

But they seem like they hear what you are saying but anything that you say does not convince them that this is healthy. For them, you are way too skinny. They loved the fat girl, not you, the fit girl.

Now imagine this scenario repeating itself every Sunday. For the past 8 months. Sunday family time equals living in hell.

Sounds familiar? Then keep reading to find out how to deal with family (or friends) saying you are too skinny when in fact you’ve lost weight and went from obese to fat to fit!

Some of my favorite things my family says to me after I’ve lost weight and went from fat to fit are:

1. “We are concerned about your health”

How to deal with family saying I am too skinny after losing weight when I am actually just being fit
“Here, have my pills, they will make you healthy fat again.”

That’s right, my overweight and obese family members are concerned about me not taking care of myself. My family and relatives with diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, indigestion problems and obesity are giving me health advice. Yeah, I should definitely follow their advice – if I want to end up with those kind of health problems. The thing is: I don’t. It was my main motivation to start living a healthy lifestyle and start working out regularly to avoid all of the above mentioned health problems that I’ve seen my family members struggle with.

Polite reply while dealing with family:

– Thank you for your concern, but I am fine. I have never felt this good in my life before. I am energized, focused and I sleep good. In fact, I have my latest blood test results with me as a proof that everything is okay with me. Care to check?

They never check.

Angry reply while dealing with family:

– I just had my blood test results back. My doctor says I am in top shape! How are your results?

Trust me, they’ll never ask you about your health again.

 2. “You look too skinny”

It’s like you can do nothing about becoming fat, but being fit or how they call it, “skinny” is something you should be fixing – by eating more!

Polite reply while dealing with family:

– I am fit, not skinny. And I worked hard for looking like this, it didn’t happen by accident. I want to look like this.

Angry reply while dealing with family:

– I think you look a little heavy.

Just be prepared that they will get offended, because the social norm is people thinking it is  okay to call someone skinny, but telling them that they are fat is considered really rude. You won’t get more comments about being too skinny. Though very few people in your family will like you after that.

 3. “Are you still on that diet?”

How to deal with family saying I am too skinny after losing weight when I am actually just being fit
“See? Orange juice is better than apples and bananas.”

I regret the day I told my family that I don’t eat chocolate. Every time we meet, they have to double check if I am still not eating it. So I started eating it around them.

Not to mention my husband and his keto diet. Family just don’t understand what eating bad means. For them, bad food means that it is spoiled. There is no such food in their dictionary that will make you sick, unless it’s rotten.

A diet in my family’s head equals strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically thin and depriving yourself of the foods you love. For them, you are not on a healthy eating plan, you are dieting. And it can’t be kept up in the long run.

So what to answer when they ask you if you are still dieting?

Polite reply while dealing with family:

– It is not a diet, I am eating healthy. I developed healthy eating habits for long term. This is a complete lifestyle change, not a 12 week eating plan.

Angry reply while dealing with family:

– Do you believe it is healthy to eat even when you are not feeling hungry? Did you know that hunger is the body’s way to let you know that it needs nourishment?

My overweight family believes that I am way too skinny – for them being overweight is normal. Sometimes it seems to me that in our society, where most people are overweight, being overweight is the new norm. Being fit equals being too skinny.

If your family’s constant remarks bothers you, then you need to learn how to deal with family. Try explaining them the reasons of why you choose to live a healthy lifestyle, and be sure to tell them how you feel better now that you are working out regularly and eating healthy. If this doesn’t help, then do what I did: shut them up by threatening them! I told them that if they keep bullying me, I won’t visit them anymore. Never heard a bad remark again.

Found this guide useful? Get more useful quick tips on how to motivate yourself towards a lifestyle full of healthy habits! Click here>>>

How to accept fit body after weight loss

Having fit body but being unable to see it: how to accept new fit body

Body image problems, Emotional issues after weight loss, , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to accept fit body after weight lossRemember how I’ve had problems dealing with phantom fat in the past? I struggled with accepting my smaller fit body after being obese and fat most of my life.

After losing weight and becoming fit the issue that I am struggling with is similar to seeing a fat self image instead of a new fit body. The problem I am having is that I can’t see the muscles and my body for what it is. After losing significant weight and becoming fit I started weightlifting because I was losing more muscle than fat. So I figured that weightlifting is a way to go to improve my new fit body. Plus, I’ve read awesome things about the benefits of weightlifting for a woman, so I had to give it a try.

How to address the emotional side of not being able to see your new fit body for what it is

How to accept fit body after losing weightAs it feels awesome to be able to carry my own groceries, it feels strange to look in the mirror at the gym to see muscles on my body where there used to be fat. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have manly muscles, because a woman can’t just get muscular like that with no additional work. I have nice, visible muscles, that give my whole fit body a more feminine look. I look like a girl-beast only when I flex my muscles (joking). My tummy is flat and my abs are visible for the first time in my life! So it’s pretty fun to look at my new fit body in the mirror, but yet again I feel like my mind has not caught up to the fit body I have in reality. I see myself in the mirror, I know it’s me, but that fit body that is looking back at me from the mirror surely isn’t my body, because I am not so fit and muscular.

I remembered the last time when I felt like this was when I lost weight and I was looking at my fit body in the mirror and feeling unable relating to it. It is happening again with my fit body. However, I lived through this before, so this time it doesn’t make me think that I am insane for not being able to see my fit body for what it is in reality.

I know that not being able to see my fit body is just a temporary phase and that my mind just needs a little more time to accept the new fit body. [Tweet this!]

I find revelation in the fact that I’ve been through this before, and successfully accepted my fit body. Now I once again need to accept my more muscular new fit body.

What can I do to speed up the progress of my mind accepting my new fit body?

Having the fit body of your dreams is new: your mind will need time to accept it. It will happen with time, but hey, let’s just speed up this process of your brain accepting your new body:

  1. Look at yourself more often: take a photo of your fit body where your muscles are showing and put the photo on the fridge or another visible place
  2. Get workout clothes that accentuate fit body features in the most flattering manner: look for a pair of workout pants and/or dry fit top that will make you look into the gym mirror more often!
  3. Take progress pictures: even if you don’t see your fit body gains in the mirror, looking back at older pictures (even if it was taken a month ago) will make you see how far you’ve come.
  4. Ask for reassurance: ask a friend or a significant other you trust if they see your muscles on your new fit body. My significant other wants to touch my abs all the time! Just don’t make it a habit to ask for reassurance a lot. Always think about your intent before asking for reassurance. Is your goal to remind yourself of what you already know?
  5. Compare: Look yourself in the mirror at the gym while working out and compare the fit body you see there with other bodies in the gym. You’ll see how far you’ve come.
  6. Go window shopping: Pick something out that you would never have dared to wear before and try it on just for the fun of it! I was trying on some dresses that I would have never even thought of wearing before. I didn’t buy it, because I have nowhere to wear it, but damn, I looked good!
  7. Ask for comparing: ask your friend or significant other to point out someone from a crowd of people or a celebrity who has a similar fit body composition as you. You’ll be surprised! Also, seeing other people who are similar to you will not trigger the same emotional response as seeing a picture of yourself would, therefore it’s helping you rationalize.

Could this be your story too? Are you are struggling with accepting your new fit body? Join my group of struggling girls on Google+! Don’t like other people? Sign up for an update about new posts! Click here>>>

anorexia vs phantom fat distorted body image

15 things I wish I knew before I started losing weight while I was obese

Emotional issues after weight loss, Motivation to stay fit, , , , , ,
anorexia vs phantom fat distorted body image
[Image courtesy of marin at FreeDigitalPhotos.net]

I have a confession to  make: I enjoy being the fit girl! Not just because of my looks and health benefits of regular exercise, but also because of the things that I’ve learned during my journey from fat to fit girl.

Some of them are little, important things that I’ve discovered during my journey from fat to fit while other things came as a big revelation! Looking back I wish I knew all these things before I started losing weight while I was obese, because it would have made my journey from fat to fit more easy. And faster. Knowing all this, I would have jumped on the “get fit now” bandwagon a decade ago!

Becoming fit is not a destination – it’s the road that You’re on

The new year has started! Whoohoo! Back to my usual workout routine! The holidays gave me time to look back at my last year’s accomplishments. Going from fat to fit was the biggest achievement of my previous year! Becoming fit takes a lot of commitment and focus. You learn a lot along the way from fat to fit. Thinking back to my old fat self made me think of things I wish I knew before I started losing weight.

Sometimes it’s the journey that teaches you about your destination. [Tweet this!]

The things you learn during your journey from fat to fit are a valuable lesson. So what are these secrets?

15 things You need to know before You start losing weight

I figured that I’ll compile a list of 15 things I wish I knew when I was obese! Let it be a help on your weight loss journey from fat to fit. It doesn’t matter if you are getting started now or if you already made the first steps towards becoming fit and living a healthy life!

  1. You don’t have to be fat. I wish someone had told me this when I was a kid. Seriously. I’ve spent my childhood, teen years and adolescence thinking I have to be fat, because I don’t have a choice.
  2. You weren’t born fat. Have you seen a newborn? Babies aren’t born fat. They are fed into being fat. Trust me, it’s not your genes, it’s the amount of food that you eat.
  3. Being fit is not just a temporary state. If you keep up with your lifestyle changes by developing healthy eating habits and make exercise part of your life, then you won’t get back to being your old fat self.
  4. You can be a fit mom. This realization comes from the fact that my family was fat/obese. So I figured that I can get fit while single, but once I have kids, I’ll go back to my old fat self. Well, that’s not true! Check out my inspiration mom, Maria Kang!
  5. The time you spend figuring out how to dress to cover up your fat body to look slim could be spent at the gym making your body sexy/fit. Think about this for a second. All that time and brainpower wasted into hacking your looks to make you seem thinner. Let’s get real: you’re not fooling anyone, but yourself.
  6. Being fat is exhausting you. You may not be aware of it, but looking back I see now how little energy I had because of my bad lifestyle choices. One more reason to change from fat to fit!
  7. Working out and exercising will make you feel in control of your body. By engaging yourself into any type of exercise or sport activity will make you more in control with your body. Yoga will help you with your clumsiness, running will tune your gross motor skills, Zumba will improve your coordination skills, weight lifting will make you carry your heavy groceries in one trip.
  8. That voice in your head that feels ashamed of your fat body that you are trying to silence is actually trying to help you. The voice is trying to tell you that you are hurting yourself by getting any fatter. You lifestyle is bad for your health, and you know it. Deep down you know that being fat is unhealthy for you, even if you don’t admit it openly to others or even to yourself.
  9. Being fat is your choice. Your choice only. So is becoming fit. So choose wisely.
  10. Going from fat to fit isn’t emotionally harder than living as a fat person. I realized this now looking back at my mostly fat and obese life and the journey from obese to fat and then fit. Becoming fit made me struggle with body image issues, I couldn’t see my new fit body, I thought I was going insane. But being fat also had it’s emotional downs, and struggling with emotional issues while reaping the benefits of being healthy was way easier than it was struggling with being fat.
  11. Being fit doesn’t mean spending endless hours on the treadmill or in the gym. I wish I knew this at the start of my weight loss journey. It’s the type of the exercise adjusted to your goal that is important, not the time spent with workout. I fell into the trap of exercising for hours exhausting myself, with no benefits whatsoever. Now my exercise is 3 days at the gym for 1 hours lifting weights, and on the 2 between rest days doing Zumba for faster, active recovery (it helps relieve soreness by stimulating blood flow and improving circulation to the muscles).
  12. Being fit is more about your eating habits than working out. Weight loss is 80% nutrition or what you eat, and 20% exercise, also known as the 80/20 Rule. Yet again, wish I knew this at the start of my weight loss journey.
  13. Being fit doesn’t mean that you can never eat sweets or junk food. Weight loss is more about eating less food than you used to. Just make sure that the healthy foods way overbalance the junk food that you eat.
  14. You can start exercising or get into a sport at any age. There is no such thing as not being born as an athletic type – you make yourself an athletic type by engaging in a sport activity.
  15. You feel awesome and accomplished after a good workout. An intensive workout is exhausting, but after it you feel like you accomplished something. You don’t feel depressed like after you finish stuffing unnecessary sweets in your face in unlimited amounts.

Follow me on my journey from fat to fit girl! Click here>>>

Bulletproof secrets to sticking with your new year resolution

Bulletproof secrets to sticking with Your new year resolution

Motivation to stay fit, , ,

Bulletproof secrets to sticking with your new year resolutionComing up with a new year resolution is easy, and if you are anything like me, you’ve come up with tons of resolutions you’d like to make a reality in the new year. That is really nice, but what can guarantee that you’ll stick with your new year resolution in the long run and won’t drop it after a few weeks into the new year? I have the secret to sticking with your new year resolution right here, that I guarantee that will work:

Secret #1: Make it a habit

Making a new year resolution sets you up for failure if it is not based on observing your current habits. What you need to do is make behavioral changes. In order for you to stick with your new year resolution, you need to make it a habit. By taking up a new healthy habit or substituting an old, existing bad habit with a new healthy habit, you guarantee that you’ll stick with it in the long run. So instead of making new year resolutions, concentrate on developing healthy habits in the new year. There are 2 ways to do this:

  1. Substitute a bad habit with a new, healthy habit

  2. Take up a new healthy habit

It doesn’t matter whichever you choose; the important thing is to think of your new year resolution as a habit. This is key to making you stick to your new year resolution in the long run.

Secret #2: Take up one new healthy habit at a time

Bulletproof secrets to sticking with your new year resolutionAs a new year resolution, I started last year with a 30 day challenge of eating at least one fruit per day for 30 days. Seems easy, right? Well, it wasn’t! In order to keep up eating a fruit for 30 days, there were several issues I had to address, that I didn’t see coming. It seemed easy on the first week: I ate an orange, apple or a banana every day for 7 days. Then all the fruit I bought started going bad, because I bought a bunch of fruits that I couldn’t eat in a week. I ended up without fruit at the end of the first week. So I had to change my approach and buy smaller quantities of fruit. Then my appetite got better, and ended up eating more than one fruit per day, and again ended up without fruit at the end of the second week.  After the 30 days were over, I figured that I like eating fruit, so I made this challenge a healthy habit and continued eating at least one fruit per day. On the next week, I forgot to buy fruit, because it still wasn’t a healthy habit for me to buy fruit during grocery shopping. Every time I had to write down exactly how much fruit I need to buy and which type during grocery shopping. It needed a lot of adjusting in order for me to develop a healthy habit out of my new year resolution. After 90 days into the new year I remember looking back and thinking about how challenging those past 3 months have been. But I stick to it, adjusted, and finally developed a healthy habit of eating one fruit per day. By making it a healthy habit, after a year, I still eat a fruit a day.

Now imagine yourself with 3 or more new year resolutions that you want to introduce in your life all at once. A simple thing as eating one fruit a day took me 3 months to shift into a healthy habit: I had a lot of adjusting to do until I came up with a right shopping plan that works for me and that doesn’t leave me with spoiled fruit or without fruit. I was ready to introduce a new healthy habit after that. Have I taken up 3 new habits at once, I guarantee I would have failed in all 3 of them in the long run. So figure out one new healthy habit, and when you see that you made it a habit and you can stick to it for more than a month, then move on to the next one.

Introducing 12 new healthy habits this year is quite an achievement, right? Way better than failing at 3 new healthy habits before the end of the first month.

Secret #3: Take it step by step – with small steps

Bulletproof secrets to sticking with your new year resolutionDon’t make a new year resolution that is way too much of a challenge and needs you making huge changes in your life. You won’t be able to stick to any drastic measures in the long run. By making an surrealistic new year resolution, you are setting yourself up for failure.

Let’s say: You decide to lose weight by working out at the gym at least an hour a day 5 times a week while your current workout routine is going to a yoga class 2-3 times a month. It is guaranteed that you won’t be able to maintain that regimen longer than a week because of work and other responsibilities. You feel bad because you failed at the start, and you stuff a pizza, coke and delicious sweets into you face for the next month. You failed because you set yourself an unrealistic goal as a new year resolution. You can’t expect to go from working out once a week to working out 5 times a week. You need to make that shift gradually. First, make it at least 2 times per week to the gym or to that yoga class. Then, when it becomes a habit, raise the bar. Make it 3-4 times a week. You will need to overcome a lot of obstacles and figure out a workout schedule that works for you in a long run. Introducing new healthy habits is only possible if you do it with small steps.

Like these tips? Get more useful quick tips on how to motivate yourself towards a lifestyle full of healthy habits! Click here>>>

How to restart workout routine after winter holiday season

How to restart workout routine after winter holiday season

Motivation to stay fit, ,

Keeping up with a healthy diet and workout routine is impossible during the winter holiday season. The winter holiday season revolves around delicious food and stuffing it into your face.How to restart workout routine after winter holiday season Devoting free time to be with family, visiting relatives or preparing for gatherings interrupts the usual workout routine schedule. If you are anything like me, not getting to workout regularly and eating healthy will drive you crazy. Yet it is really hard to get back on track once the winter holiday season is over. How could anyone expect you to not stuff the delicious leftover Christmas cookies into your face and go to the gym instead of curling up with a good book and hot cocoa?

Follow these 3 steps to help you restart your workout routine after the winter holiday season:

1. Weigh yourself

Poor eating choices during winter holiday season just happen. Every day of the winter holiday. Sweets, soft drinks, dessert, that one more plate of juicy steak. The pounds will just stack up on you secretly.

Look no further for motivation: weight yourself! During Christmas, I’ve put on 5 lbs / 2.5 kg in 2 days! Oh the horror!

I bet you’ll be running to the gym the moment you see those numbers on the scale moving up up up! It pissed me off so much that I’ve gained that much in such little time that I’ve immediately hit that Zumba Fitness class that evening and sweated like a donut at a police station!

2. Don’t think, just act!

Make the first small step: make it something easy. Don’t over think it, just do it. If it is that easy, you will not be able to say no in your head. Fill the water bottle. Put your dry fit t-shirt on under a sweater. Put on your winter coat, hat and boots! Go out the door. Head for the gym. Easy!

Once you make the firs step, you will feel more motivated to continue. Make it with small steps, one step at a time! You’ll get back on track in no time! Bye-bye winter holiday season pounds!

3. Track your calorie intake

Tracking calorie intake stops during the winter holiday season because it’s impossible to track all the delicious home made food prepared by family. Or you don’t want to track because you already feel bad for eating it and knowing it’s not a healthy choice. You don’t want to make yourself feel even worse about it when adding it to MyFitnessPal’s calorie counter.  How not to freak out about losing workout routine while injured or sickHowever, when you come to the point of regretting you poor meal choices after the winter holiday season, you will need to start to log your food again. Plus, if you eat the calories to maintain your weight, you won’t get fatter. Or just do what I did, and start eating at a caloric deficit, and lose those excess 5 lbs / 2.5 kg in 2 days.

If you haven’t already figured out how much calories you need to eat in order to maintain your weight, you can do it by heading to a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator here. It will help you figure out how much calories you need to eat to reach your goal weight.

Need even more support to get back on track with your fitness routine after the winter holiday season? Click here to get free access to more useful tips>>>

Use these easy ideas to achieve cute & stylish good looks when you hit the gym

Accept new fit body with creating your fall 2014 wardrobe

Body image problems, , , , , ,

Becoming fit has left me with lots of big clothes that were filling up my wardrobe space. In the fall of 2014, I decided that it was time for purging my old wardrobe. I wanted to create my fall 2014 wardrobe that I will love and that will be functional to fulfill my wardrobe needs. After getting rid of clothes either by putting them in bags and taking them out of my wardrobe to storage or donating them, and repeating this for 2 or 3 times, I was still left with lots of fall clothes in my wardrobe that were taking up the space in my wardrobe but I did not wear them for some reason.

Yet when I needed to dress up for a night out, for a serious business meeting at work, or just for walking my dog, I felt like I have nothing to wear. It was time to change all that.

How to start creating your fall 2014 wardrobe

Luckily I came across a minimalist fashion blog that had a simple and usable guide on how to build yourself a capsule wardrobe. It took me a whole weekend to identify my clothing needs that fit my weekly activities and to purge all the unnecessary clothes from my wardrobe. It took me weeks to get the missing items for my wardrobe I have identified that I needed in my closet but I did not own or were too big or worn out to keep on wearing.

Five steps of creating your fall 2014 wardrobe:

Accept new fit body with creating your fall 2014 wardrobe
How to create your fall 2014 wardrobe

Get a look of my fall 2014 wardrobe

For the first time in my life I managed to clean out my closet and build a fall 2014  wardrobe for myself that I am happy with. My fall 2014 wardrobe consists only of clothes that I absolutely love to wear and I feel good in. It has 37 pieces of clothing, that fit into my wardrobe perfectly.

My happy little 37 piece fall 2014 wardrobe:

Fall 2014 capsule wardrobe

What to look out for while creating your fall 2014 wardrobe if you are still losing fat?

I am a girl who is into fashion – and by being into fashion I mean that I am following a lot of fashion blogs and watching the celebrities on red carpet and their everyday street styles. When I was overweight, I was looking at stylish pictures of girls wishing I could pull off their outfits with my fat body without looking like a beach ball. So naturally I thought that if I ever lose weight, I will be as stylish and beautiful as the models and fashion bloggers are. Well, turns out that losing weight and changing your body from fat to fit does not make you a stylish fashion icon.

During my weight loss journey my clothes on me looked crappy: being unaware of the fact that my body changed and was becoming more and more fit instead of fat, I was still wearing my old fat clothes. My wardrobe was full of clothes (even my casual business office outfits) hanging lose and folding unflattering on me. For the first time in my life I regularly started using belts regularly for my pants that were being baggy. But the weigh loss continued and my clothes were becoming bigger and bigger, and my family was the first who started to point out that I needed a new wardrobe. I was happy that I can finally shop for new clothes, and wanted to get all the latest trends.

Continuing with becoming fitter and fitter my clothing size went smaller and smaller. I had to shop frequently, plus I enjoyed that I can buy clothes that are a smaller size. I ended up wearing clothes for 2-3 weeks before they’ve become too big. Tailoring my big clothes wasn’t an option for me, because I don’t have a tailor I trust and the few clothing items I took to a tailor to fix were a disaster and I ended up not wearing them. Plus, you should not force your new fit body into old fat clothes!

Trying on new clothes while out shopping will help you to see your new fit body if you are suffering from phantom fat and you don’t see your weight loss on your body in the mirror.

I learned that only stretchy clothes fit my changed body, so I started to shop smarter for my wardrobe, knowing that in 2 weeks my body will change.

My advice to you while being in the losing weight phase is to search for stretchy clothes – you’ll be able to get more wears out of them that way. [Tweet this!]

Benefits of having a fall 2014 wardrobe

My fall 2014 wardrobe has 37 pieces of clothing, that fit into my wardrobe perfectly. I have more space in my closet than ever before! I can see all of my clothes, which makes matching items and putting together outfits easy and fast – I can put on a perfectly polished outfit for office in the morning in less than 3 minutes!

I wash and iron clothes more frequently but it takes up less of my time. I don’t know how this is even possible, but washing and ironing takes less time than it used to.

Believe it or not, there are no drawbacks of having a 37 piece fall 2014 wardrobe, and I have no idea why I haven’t come up with a capsule wardrobe before. I thought it is much work and fuss to put together a wardrobe and I wasn’t sure I would be able to pull it off. It took a bit of planning, a lot of thinking, but it made me more aware of my lifestyle and habits.

Building a fall 2014 wardrobe was not only a cleaning of my wardrobe and my old fat clothes, but unintentionally it was also a big cleaning of my thoughts and I got rid not only of my old big clothes, but of my old fat self body image as well.

Got inspired to build your own wardrobe? Check out my fall 2014 wardrobe for inspiration! Click here>>>

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Body acceptance by family after losing weight 2

Body acceptance by family after losing weight

Body image problems, Emotional issues after weight loss, , , , 
It is ironic that my family are the people who see me the most often, yet they fight the biggest struggle accepting my fit body after losing weight.
Body acceptance by family after losing weight
“Jimmy is all skin and bones! Let’s bury him like a skeleton!”

I believe I’ve made progress in accepting my new fit body after significantly losing weight. It was a big realization moment when a friend of mine spoke to me about her struggling to accept my new fit body. It was that moment that I’ve realized that I am not the only one struggling to accept my fit body: people around me, friends, family, also fight their own struggles with accepting my new found fit body!

Never have I had an encounter with my overweight father and mother where they wouldn’t bring up in a casual conversation their worries about me losing weight and having a fit body – or as they refer to it now SKIN AND BONES.

How family sees Your new fit body after losing weight

At the beginning of my journey to losing weight right when the results of the healthy diet and regular exercises started to show, every time I visited my mother, she would ask me if I eat at all. This continued even after I’ve explained to her that I am overweight and I am working out to lose weight to reach the normal weight range on the BMI (Body Mass Index) scale for my height. Every time we’ve met, I had to explain again and again that I am eating, but choosing to eat healthy foods, exercising 3-5 times per week, so she is seeing the results of my healthy lifestyle changing my body. But she could not and still cannot accept that being fit and not overweight is healthy. I believe that this is partly due to the fact that I have been either obese or overweight the most part of my life, and seeing me in a healthy weight range is new, unconventional for my mother. The other explanation that is more deeper seeded reason for my family being unable to accept my new fit body image stems from their outdated views of a healthy body: they were raised in a world where poor people were skinny because they couldn’t afford enough food for themselves and their families. Being overweight meant being well-fed, and wealthier than the average. So my parents don’t see that with consumerism and the wide acceptance and availability of processed foods the standards have shifted. And being obese comes from consuming  unhealthy and available processed foods whereas being fit (or as they know it “skinny”) means that you pay attention to what you are eating and can afford the more expensive but healthier foods.

I have tried to explain this to my family many times – but their views of the world are so deep seated that they can’t accept the fact that:

Being fit/skinny does not equal being unhealthy/poor.[Tweet this!]

How to deal with family members who can’t accept Your body after losing weight

One of my cousins have also had a hard time accepting my new fit body. After I opened up to her about my body image issues after losing weight she admitted that she also had issues accepting the new me(!) and my new found fit body! She truly believed that me with a fit body wasn’t being myself and that there were times when she secretly wished I’d become fat again! But when I accepted myself and my new found fit body, she accepted it too! She was thinking that finally her old friend is back!

Body acceptance by family after losing weight 2
“We are here because Your mother asked us to convince you to stop making healthy lifestyle choices.”

Not being in tune with your body and mind is noticeable by other around you. Maybe they can’t put their finger on it, just like you couldn’t, but they sense the disruption in your “force”.

Your best bet when dealing with family members who can’t accept your new fit body after losing weight is to talk openly to them about the body acceptance issues you are facing. This will make them realize that they are also struggling with accepting your new fit body. Who knows, you could even find out interesting new things about your family members that you weren’t aware before, if you start talking openly and listening to what they are saying.

You feel like you are still struggling with accepting your new found fit body? Find help clicking here >>>

Fat body image issues

Fat body image issues

Body image problems, Emotional issues after weight loss, , , , , , ,

I am one of those woman who never talks with her friends about the struggles she is facing when they are happening, but shares the success story of the struggle after she overcame the difficulties. So it is only recently that I have started talking about my struggles regarding my fat body image I have in my head while not being able to see a fit body image reflection staring back at me from the mirror. I have discussed the problem of not being able to see the fit body in the mirror after significant weight loss in the past. Fat body image issues

Fat body image issues are almost part of the past, and I can now finally see my actual fit body image reflection in the mirror. The fat body image I had hold on to for so long finally seems to be disappearing. I am able to see my actual fit body image in the mirror instead of a fat body mirror image. Furthermore, I am finally starting to believe that the fit body image in the mirror is the real me! The fat body mind set and fat body image has started to float away. I am just starting to fully enjoy the fit body I worked so hard for.

It is still difficult to talk about the emotional experience of thinking and believing that I am going crazy because everyone around me says and sees me as fit, but I don’t see my body the way they see it, because only in my head I am still a woman in a fat body.

The truth is that seeing the real fit body image vs. seeing the perceived fat body image is a constant everyday battle. My body is getting fitter and fitter, but my mind does not see this. It is like my head is behind my body in time, it will take me a few months to accept the body image in my head that I currently have. In my mind I am fit, but not as fit as in reality. But it is a progress, and eventually the fat body image will be replaced by a fit body image. Fat body image issues

It is still puzzling for me how serious conditions with body image problems such as anorexia and other negative body image issues are taken seriously, and you can get counseling. However, body image issues that come with significant weight loss do not get the proper attention they should have.  In order to help myself with having a fat body image while actually being in a fit body, I had to browse through self help books written for low self esteem and serious negative body image issues, and select some tips that I thought would fit in my case as well. I tried a lot of the advices that I have came across about body image issues, and what worked for me was a quick 10 minute exercise that I did daily for a few weeks. Click here to find out about Exercise A and Exercise B >>>

Are you struggling with fat body image issues? Click here to find out!

If you want to read more about how to deal with issues related to fat body image click here >>

Please feel free to share your story of successful weight loss and not being able to see the results in the comments section below!