Category: Operation Find My Abs

What does your plan look like?

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I know a TON of people start the year looking at starting a new fitness journey, wants to lose weight, want to get healthy, want to change their life.

What I want to know is what plan YOU chose to follow for the new year.

Personally, I continue to use The Transform App because it is super comprehensive and offers workouts, macro plans, and you can enter all of your food (Goodbye MyFitnessPal!).

I know there are a TON of other plans out there, Keto is making huge waves right now. What is important to me is that you research whatever you are doing. What are the side effects, what are the benefits. ANY PLAN that cuts out a food group is definitely not on my list. I do not feel it is sustainable.

Also, anyone that fell for some “magic pill” fell for a scam. If there was a magic pill out there don’t you think EVERYONE would know about it?

I have actually been approached by a few companies that want to use my transformation pictures to say I use their product. Of course I said no, because I do not want to be associated with it. I have lost my weight the good old fashioned way. I eat healthier than I did before. I measure my portions, and I workout 6 days a week. That is my “secret.” What’s yours?

Transform Foundation Five

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It’s no secret that I have been using The Transform App for almost 2 years. I love this app, it is super user friendly and there are tons of ambassadors, like myself, that answer questions on the Facebook community.

There is something that Chris and Heidi like to focus on when you are starting on your Transformation journey.

  1. Water: most people when starting on their transformation journey are drinking almost no water, or not nearly enough water, or replacing water with unhealthy, sugary beverages, their goal is for you to drink an extra quart of water daily. This is a relatively small amount to add into your day that will have a HUGE impact on your Transformation journey.
  2. Eat Breakfast: On Transform it is recommended to eat your breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up, or whenever your eating window opens (if intermittent fasting). This helps get your metabolism going. It will help to fuel your body for the day. And with the 5 meals recommended on The Transform App, it is important to start early!
  3. Protein: on The Transform App you will have protein with every meal. While this is not something that every diet out there follows, I definitely prefer it. It helps keep me full for longer and keeps my body from getting hungry sooner.
  4. Sugar: Reduce sugar to less than 50 grams. This would be 50 grams of processed sugar. Most people consume sugary goods on a daily basis. Don’t get me wrong, I love some cake and cookies, but I save that for my reset day now.
  5. Start Moving: Start by moving with purpose for at least 5 minutes a day. This is something that most people can definitely do. 5 minutes a day is 5 minutes longer than someone sitting on the couch. Add onto this as you continue your Transform journey. Add 5 minutes a week, you will be improving your cardio health week after week.

I love these tips. You would focus on one at a time, work on that for a week and then add the next one. Some of you may already be getting the recommended water, that’s fine, just start with the next one. Most people will do better by focusing on one healthy habit at a time rather than jumping in and having 50,000 different things you are focusing on at once.

Focus on your water, make it a habit, continue to add until you are up to the recommended 1/2 ounce per pound of body fat and add 32 ounces for every hour of exercise. The pick the next one you are going to focus on, while still drinking your water.

You can totally do this! I am here to help you if you need it!

Cross Training Level 1 Week 6

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This week was a good week. I was able to hit my macros every day and I was hitting my workouts every day. I was also able to add in some fasted cardio outside for 4 days and 1 day inside. Overall, I am proud of the job I did this week and I am proud of the results. All I can do is my best in my workouts and nutrition and see what my body will do with it!

For next week my goals are to continue hitting my macros. I have added in a probiotic so we will see if that helps, and I will also be drinking the Chris + Heidi low carb meal replacement shake every day rather than just low carb days. These shakes are seriously the best tasting shakes I have ever had!

If you are on the fence for starting your transformation journey, what is holding you up? I started on a Thursday because I knew I would never end up starting if I waited for Monday. What do you need to do to hit your goals? The Transform App has an amazingly supportive online Facebook group.

Ultimately, you have to decide what you need to do to hit your goals and JUST DO IT!

Weight Lost 1 pound

Inches Lost .8

 

Week 2 of the New Year

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Everyone can manage to hit their goals in the first week of the new year. My question is, have you continued your goals into week 2?

I found an app that I thought would be fun to use, it’s called Habitica, it basically gameifies your tasks you want to get done. I put in all of the tasks I used as resolutions for the new year and entered them in and mark them off each day. I know, it’s a bit nerdy, but it’s effective for my personality type. I like that not completing tasks has a negative impact on my character. It’s something that helps me to think about getting it done.

One of my resolutions was to make sure I am posting to my blog on a continual basis, twice a week, and that I would keep everyone updated with my progress. My updates have been sporadic at best since starting this blog and I want to give a continual pattern to follow.

I am considering other blogs for other things, like a debt free journey blog, or I can just add as a sub tab to this one?

What are some resolutions you made in the new year? Have you been successful with getting them done? How are you looking to better yourself? My goals for bettering myself is to read more, I aim to read for pleasure some every day but, I also want to read from a self improvement or inspirational book, at least one chapter a day. I have also been listening to podcasts, which is new for me.

I hope that you are constantly working to better yourself, as am I.

Cross Training Level 1 Week 5

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Another week down. The workouts this week, especially yesterday, have my legs SORE!

I made sure to follow my meal plans this week and I focused on giving more effort in my workouts (more weight, pushing harder during cardio). It seemed to pay off as I lost my Christmas weight and then some!

I also got to try some of the amazing Chris + Heidi Low Carb Meal Replacement Shake and I couldn’t love it anymore! #sponsor

This was the first week of the year so typically, everyone sets a weight loss resolution. My goals for the new year are mostly fitness related with some mind fitness included. I will hit my goal weight this year, and I am doing everything in my power to get it there. And I am working on reading through some motivational books, a chapter a day.

What are your plans for the new year for your fitness? I also have a half marathon in October that I have the goal to cut my time down from the 2:58 it was the last time!

Weight Lost 1.6

Inches Lost 12019-01-05 06.38.252019-01-05 06.40.06

2018 Ends, 2019 Begins

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Happy New Year!

As one year came to a close and another one was getting ready to start, I was reflecting back on the last year. I thought about what I have done for my weight loss goals. I thought about what goals I wanted for 2019 and what I would need to do to get there.

I started 2018 wanting to hit my goal weight. Then I listed to a Facebook Live by the Nicho’s about running, and I knew it was something I wanted to do. I registered for a half marathon in San Antonio in December with some Transform friends, and then decided to do one in October as well. I desperately tried to continue losing weight while running, but the reality was, I had no energy for my runs. I would get to my long run days and I would have no energy to keep going.

When I was selected to be on the Transform App beta team (and later chosen to be an ambassador), I was so excited but several of my fellow ambassadors told me to switch to a muscle gain plan in order to fuel my runs, when I was done running I could start losing weight again. This gave me the energy to complete my runs. I was also doing them fasted!

Because of the nutrition change, I gained some weight this year. It never even concerned me. I knew I was fueling my body with healthy food. I was eating the same healthy foods I was eating at a deficit but I was giving my body the fuel that it needed to get me through my runs.

My first half in October I finished in 3:15, my goal for December was originally to do better than 2:45 and I quickly changed to just doing better than I had done before. I finished in 2:58 in the December run. There were only 6 weeks between these two races.

As soon as I was done running, it was back to losing weight, back to the grind, back to a deficit. I also changed from At Home Body Sculpting to the Cross Training program on the app. I was getting a little bored and needed a change. This is something that has happened along my journey a few times and is always remedied by switching to another program.

My original starting weight in 2013, before I got serious about losing weight was 253.2. This is the number I use for my jumping off point. I lost about 10 pounds (diet only) before getting pregnant with my daughter, lost weight while pregnant, weighed in at 210 a week after delivery. Then over the next year I gained most of it back. In the picture below, my starting picture for my official fitness journey, I weigh 236.6. This was 10 months into breastfeeding. This is the day that changed my whole life. This is the day I got serious about losing weight through both diet and exercise.

At the beginning of 2018 I weighed in at 179.4. This is about 10 pounds above what my lowest weight for the year ended up at, in March, just before starting running.

And at the end of 2018 I weighed in at 183.4.

2018-12-31 06.14.31.jpg

Overall, I am not up very far from what I was at the beginning of the year, these 4 pounds will come off quickly. And the best is yet to come for my fitness journey! It’s not important to the overall scheme of things that I gained 4 pounds over the course of a year. I did it the right way, with healthy foods, drinking all my water, and working out almost every day. What is important is from October 2013 until now I have lost 70.6 pounds. I have gained my health back.

I have had my blood pressure checked several times over the course of the last year and every time it has been perfect, pre-fitness journey I was always borderline or high blood pressure.

I had my blood glucose levels checked at the beginning of the year, they have gone from borderline diabetes (pre-baby), to gestational diabetes, to borderline (August 2015), to now being PERFECT.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what you do for a couple of months, even if you go off the rails and eat every cookie in sight, what’s important is what you do over the course of your journey. Do you have more good days than bad days? Are you getting all of your workouts in? Are you getting most of your workouts in? Are you Confessing, Reassessing and Recommitting to yourself each and every time you slip up?

I cannot wait to see what 2019 has to bring!

Cross Training Level 1 Week 4

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This week was not a typical week. We celebrated Christmas!

I love this time of year. You get to see friends and family you haven’t seen in a while and you get to celebrate the Savior that came and saved us.

As far as weight loss goes, I always go into the holidays with a plan. This year was to stick to low carb on Christmas Eve and enjoy dinner with my family and then to take Christmas Day off with a jump back into low carb the next day. I made this plan and I stuck to this plan for the holidays.

Keeping promises to yourself is HUGE when you are trying to hit your weight loss goals.

I knew going into today’s weigh in that I would most likely be up in weight. I gained quite a bit during the meals I had planned to cheat on and my goal the rest of the week was to stick to my plan and lose as much of the holiday bloat as possible.

I ended the week with a slight gain, but it could have been so much worst.

What were your goals for the holidays and did you stick to them?

Weight gained .8

Inches lost .4

Cross Training Level 1 Week 3

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This week I was on the Keto plan on the app. It actually wasn’t too bad. I found myself missing carbs towards the end of the week but overall it wasn’t too bad.

My first workout of the week had me doing some double-unders which I subbed for jump roping. I was actually shocked that I could jump rope. It has been at least 10 years since I tried that one. However, the next day I got up from the couch and hurt my ankle. I had to miss my Tuesday night workout and not go running in the morning. I was able to get my core & cardio workout done Wednesday with little to no pain and back on track Thursday.

Injuries are no fun when they happen, but learning when to slow down for a little bit could mean the difference between a few days of no workouts and a few months because you injured yourself further.

Overall, I stuck with my meal plan 100% and completed my workouts the best I could under the circumstances.

Weight loss -1 pound

Inches gained +.2

Running for Fun?

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I have been continuing to get my fasted cardio in in the mornings. I am using intervals from a past phase of Weight Loss for an idea of what intervals to do. I am changing intervals weekly to give myself something different and help building up my stamina again.

The cross training program is amazing and I love that it’s something new every day but, I like a little more cardio in my routine. So instead of running for training, I am running for fun and for some extra cardio in my day. Especially since I work a desk job, it’s nice to have some extra movement early in the day to get my blood pumping.

What’s something you do for you? For me it’s working out, it gives me all the great endorphins! It helps with stress, and it helps with the process of losing weight. All of these things help me along the way. I love that I can do something as simple as running outside and it puts my whole day in a good place.

I love that Texas has some pretty mild weather and even though it’s mid December I can still run outside without having to trudge through snow (sorry northerners!).

Overall, if you’re weight loss journey does not include any working out, you should definitely find a way to add it in, even if it’s 10 minutes a day, every little bit helps!