#MotivationMonday – A Great Start!

Happy to say that I’ve watched the scale go down every day since last Monday. In total I’ve lost 4.4 since I first posted last week and that’s awesome considering I was hoping to have lost 5 pounds by the end of April. That puts me ahead a little, but as those of us who have struggled know, there will come a time when you reach a plateau. That’s when you’ll need the most willpower to not give up.

For now, here are some of the things I’ve done that may inspire you to make some changes for a healthier you!

    1. I really cut back on carbs. I love bread and rice and this is a tough one for me, but I know that carbs just set me off and I need to keep them to a minimum.

    2. I’m drinking more water and less diet soda. I’d cut back anyway before, but now I’m cutting back even more by making seltzer with my awesome Sodastream and drinking that instead. A few fresh fruit slices, like lemon, orange, or strawberry and it’s even better.

    3. I’ve up the intensity on my morning walk by adding music to get me moving faster. I’ve also upped it with my elliptical workout by increasing the speed for a minute at five minute intervals. I’ve reached 80% of my max heart rate at those levels (128). Don’t know how to figure out your max? Subtract your age from 220. That’s generally your max heart rate. Safe limit is 60-90% of that max rate. Of course, always check with your doctor first before any kind of exercise.

    4. I’m eating more fruits and vegetables.

    5. I’ve started journaling what I eat again. It’s not all that hard with the Fitbit app on my phone. FYI – I love my Fitbit and the community. We always challenge each other to meet our step counts. You can find me at https://www.fitbit.com/user/3GZT48. Caveat – I own Fitbit stock just to keep it all on the up and up.

That’s about all! Will keep you post on further progress next week.

#MotivationMonday – Time to Get Healthier

For those of you who have been visiting over the many years, you know I’ve had an up and down battle with my weight. Sigh. It’s disheartening at times, but with my daughter’s wedding in a few months and a desire to get healthier in order to stay healthier, I am once again committing to changing my lifestyle. I hope you’ll help me out by sharing your stories and by following as each Monday I share my success and/or my troubles with that week’s goal. My overall goal is to lose 35 pounds by November 1, the big day when my baby gets married. My weekly goal is to lose one pound by eating healthier and being active. Here is a picture of me today as well as a photo of some cute workout clothes my sister got me for my birthday! Can’t wait to exercise in them! Thanks, sis!

#TransformationTuesday Small Steps = Big Strides

A few weeks ago I posted about falling back and gaining weight. It’s been a tough thing to work so hard to lose 40 pounds and gain it and some more back. It made me uncomfortable and created worry about the health consequences of it. Things like stroke, cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Because of that, I went back to work on a lifestyle change, trying to take small steps in order to get back on the right path to being healthier. I set a reasonable goal: 10 pounds lost by the RWA Conference in Orlando. Why only 10? Well, 10 seems more doable than 40 or even my ultimate goal 75 pounds. Setting a seemingly unattainable goal would only make it that much harder to commit to change.

So here I am, a week away from RWA and guess what: 10 pounds lighter since June 27 when I posted about my yo-yo weight gain.

How did I do it? Small steps. Upped my cardio exercise by 10 minutes. Walked faster on my way to work. Cut down on carbs. You’ll see that I didn’t say eliminated them because that seems to not work since the moment I have any carbs, I yo-yo and go on a carb binge. So an occasional roll, piece of bread, rice or even pasta mixed in seems to work.

I increased fruits and vegetables. Perfect in summer when we’ve got luscious peaches, plums and nectarines available. Mangoes also. Love them!

What’s the next small step? Another 10 pounds by Labor Day. I’ll keep you posted on how it’s going!

The Yo-Yo Affect #TransformationTuesday

Almost a year ago I shared a picture of my weight loss, nearly 40 pounds off my body and on the way to losing more. Or so I thought. Today I’ve gained back all that weight and am back to trying to lose it again. This isn’t a new thing for me. I’ve gained and lost hundreds of pounds and it can be truly discouraging. Just when I think I have it figured out, I go back to carbs and BAM, the weight comes back.

This time I’m back to the same regimen as before, but with some carbs here and there since the virtually no carbs thing totally backfired once I stopped it.

If you’ve been on the same yo-yo up and down as me or if you’ve lost it and kept it off, I’d love to hear from you.

For now, the old me is back, but hopefully not for long.

#TransformationTuesday #TuesdayTip Walking Your Way to Better Health

A little while ago I posted a photo of myself and my transformation. 40 pounds lost and working on losing another 30.

Of course, a large part of that is diet and anyone that tells you that you can lose weight without eating healthier has a bridge to sell you (will kids even understand that saying today?).

Exercise, while important for losing weight, is also important for improving your overall health. It’s not good to be sedentary and even the smallest amount of movement will benefit you.

When I took the first step in my transformation, it was literally a first step: walking my way to health. It’s a great form of exercise and little by little I built up to how much I walk. Today I usually do about five miles a day (if not more) over the course of the day. How do I do that? Walking everywhere I can and having my Fitbit buddies challenge me to new goals.

My favorite place to walk is the beach, of course, but anywhere will do and it doesn’t take much. Just 15 minutes a day has been shown to improve your overall health.

If you’d like to get started, here are some links with good articles on the benefits of walking!

The Benefits of Walking by Real Simple
Benefits of Walking by Arthritis.org
Trim Your Waistline, Improve Your Health by Mayo Clinic
This is Your Body on Walking by Prevention Magazine (I personally love this magazine!)
3 New Walking Workouts to Blast Fat by Prevention

Another hint for those who work in an office and sit all day: Buy a cheap kitchen timer and set it to go off every half an hour. Get up, walk around, move, squat, lift, do anything! Be Mobile. You will feel the difference in your body once this becomes a regular habit.

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#TransformationTuesday Losing & Gaining & Working At It

It’s been a year since I started my lifestyle change. I’ve had a little setback the past two months, but am working on getting back on my change. Carbs being my downfall, so I have to scale back to not having any for a little while to get my equilibrium back.

Despite the setback, I am still working out and feeling better. I thought that today I would share a before and after. The first photo on the right is of me taken on one of the off-site sets for CNN ESPAÑOL right here in NYC in the Time Warner building. I was a guest on the morning show and talking about romances. The photo on the right is one I snapped at a recent conference. I’m 40 pounds lighter and happy with my cute little black dress (courtesy of OG Surf & Skate) and my new haircut, which I managed to make look almost like what it did after I left the hairdresser.

If you have your own transformation story, please take a moment to share it!
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#TuesdayTip Eating Fat to Lose Fat #Fitness #Health

I hit another milestone today – 40 pounds lost. It took me a long time between the holidays (no pounds gained luckily) and the dreaded plateau.

Anyone who has tried to lose weight has hit a plateau and sometimes they are tough to break through. I tried lowering and raising my calorie counts. Exercising more. Even exercising a little less. Those stubborn 3 or so pounds just would not leave me.

I spoke to my trainer and we talked about my diet and it turned out that in my quest to eat healthier I had seriously eliminated fat from my diet. Both good and bad fats. He said to me, “You need to eat fat to lose fat.”

As you can imagine, I was surprised, but I took his words to heart because he has really helped me improve my overall health and fitness.

So I added back some healthy fats. Avocado. Nuts. Low fat dairy. Coconut oil. Olive oil. Eggs.

What happened? Well, those stubborn pounds disappeared in just a few days. WOO HOO.

So today’s Tuesday Tip is: Eat more healthy fats.

If you want more information on this concept and healthy fats, you can visit these links:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/557726-eat-fat-to-burn-fat/

http://www.coachcalorie.com/eat-fat-to-lose-fat/

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/how-eating-more-fat-helps-you-lose-more-weight.html

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/healthy-eating/tips/why-non-fat-isnt-the-answer/

Just a last word of warning: Watch out for foods that claim to be low fat, but just seem too good to be true. Oftentimes there is a lot of added sugar and salt or artificial ingredients to make up for the “lower fat.”
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