From Lazy to Living.

Alright, so I was receiving so many messages on Facebook to ask about the details of my weight-loss. I love helping people out, but responding to so many messages does become tiresome so I decided to start this blog in order to help others out, give advice, and most importantly, to keep myself accountable. I feel that sharing with others will help me to keep up with my own progress better.

First thing's first: Introductions.
My name is Rachel, I'm 23 years old, and I used to be fat. I am a family nanny for 3 great kids who live about 10 minutes from my house. I am not currently in school, but will be returning in January (I can't wait!!! No really!)
I started this whole journey at 216 lbs. which was definitely the heaviest I ever was. I will never, never, never go back there! I currently weigh 160 lbs. which makes the grand total loss 56 lbs. I had gotten up to a size 16 in jeans and am now down to 8/10. My goal weight is about 135 and a size 6 jean, so I've still got a way to go, but I have confidence in myself to achieve this goal!
When I was fat(ter), I was sedentary. Literally. I never exercised, I never did anything active, I could sit and watch t.v. for hours, all day sometimes. I was very unhappy at this size. I had been unhappy with my appearance for as long as I could remember. It made me feel depressed, I would go through long bouts of depression where I would literally not go anywhere, never see people, and just eat. I can't explain to you how much happier I am now. I feel good, I sleep better, my skin is great, I have soooo much more confidence, EVERYTHING is better. I don't know how I could possibly explain to you what finally "clicked" in my brain that made me do this, but I'm eternally grateful to God that he gave me the strength, determination, and motivation to make this change. It even had an effect on going back to school, as if my new-found confidence spilled over into my life goals.

In this first post, I would like to share with you the details of how I've gotten this far. Brace yourself for a long post, but if you truly would like to change your life, it might be worth your time.

First, I chose a goal weight. Next, I researched the amount of calories I was eating on a daily basis. I looked around on the internet and what I found shocked me! I was taking in at least 4,000 calories a day! Gross!! So, after that jarring realization, I decided that I was going to take it down to about 850 calories a day. I know, that seems like too little, but I promise it wasn't. But I did not just suddenly stop eating all of that, I gradually lowered my intake over the course of about a week (taking it down about 100 calories every couple of days). If you suddenly drop that low, your body will go into survival mode and hoard fat. Not good. I downloaded an app onto my iPhone called CalorieCounter. This app is my best friend. Seriously. All I do is search for the food I'm going to eat, select the portion size, and enter it in. The app adds it all up for you, including the nutrion specifics like protein, fat, and carbs. Awesome, I know. Speaking of protein, when I'm choosing what to eat, I try to make sure that my protein to carb ratio is good. Eating lots of protein helps me to not feel hungry all the time (well hungry for me).

Speaking of this app, I use it to plan each and every day in advance. Choosing your food at least one day ahead of time helps you to not over-eat. If you just add as you go, its easier to just eat and eat and eat without really thinking about. I enter in the food and stick to it. If I'm going to be out all day, I pack a lunchbox. I look like a kid going to school, but its worth it to not run into trouble. Stick to your plan!
The biggest tip I can possibly give you is to LEARN FOOD!!!!!!! I researched and researched food and the calories it contains. I know food's calories and portions like its my job. Just ask my mom, I probably drive her nuts with it. It may seem over-kill, but because of my knowledge of food, it is so easy for me when I run into spontaneous restaurant outings! Its easier for me to plan my days, its just easier. The counter app makes it easy to learn these things because you can just look something up and it just tells you!
I incorporate super foods/metabolism boosters into my daily foods as much as humanly possible:
Cocoa powder- use in coffee, smoothies
oatmeal
bluberries
spinach
egg beaters
yogurt
fruits
cinnamon, lots and lots of cinnamon
tomato
garlic
beans
apples
sweet potato
fish
cottage cheese
WATER! Drink lots of water!

Exercise: ugh.
Like I said, I used to lead a very sedentary lifestyle, so incorporating exercise into my life was quite a challenge. However, once I really dove in, it became much easier. I started out on a stationary bike (which I now avoid like the plague) and would "ride" for at least 30 minutes every day. While it did help jumpstart the whole process, I think I would rather eat my own foot than sit back down on that wooden excuse for bike seat. Anyway, as I kept going, I incorporated walking into my daily routine and eventually jogging. I added jogging very little at a time. I was carrying around quite a bit of extra weigth so it was not easy for me to do this. Once I got in the swing of it, however, I even started enjoying the jog. I know, right? Me? Yes. Me. I get a certain kind of high from jogging that can't be beat. Its the feeling of success, the feeling of kicking FatRachel's ass. I can't believe how lazy I used to be. Seriously. I've worked my way up to jogging one full mile without stopping. While that may not seem like much to some of you, it is a VERY big deal for me. I used to hate running with a fiery-burning passion (just ask anyone I used to march guard with at JSU...) Now, I actually get kinda disappointed when I don't get the chance..weird. Next step, adding more distance to the non-stop jog. I've been doing one full mile for about 2 weeks now, just making sure I can truly keep that up. So now I'll start adding distance to it!

Throughout the process, of course I've hit plateaus...While they do suck, it sure does feel good to get past them! I'm currently stuck on one right now, but I've made slight changes to try to get back to losing. I've had to change my caloric intake several times to accomodate what I'm doing. When I started jogging more and more, I had to add calories because of how much I was burning. Right now, I've had to take it down a bit to change things up and to kind of keep my body guessing. You have to learn how to trick it into losing..lol.

Of course I've had weak points. On vacation a few weeks ago, I went crazy (it was the first time I'd really let myself go like that..) and had to spend the next week and a half getting back down to where I was before we left....loved it while I was gone, hated it when I got back...Worth it? Maybe. haha. I do splurge from time to time. I'll have something sweet sometimes, usually some sort of healthy(ish) dessert I've adapted from pinterest...I'll have pizza or something, but I watch my portions. Always, always watch your portions! One way to avoid plateaus is to balance out your exercise to caloric intake. If your not going to exercise as much one day, don't eat as many calories. Simple as that. Another way is, of course, change up what you're doing! Add a different type of exercise, change what you're eating, change when you're eating, something! I've recently added in double the amount of crunches I was doing. I've been doing them all throughout this process to avoid flab, but only about 1-200 a day. Now I'm doing about 4-500 a day. I feel great after doing them and they burn calories as well! I also do some easy arm workouts. I only do this about 3 times a week. Trainers will tell you that for lean arms, go low and slow. Only do it a few times a week and work at a slow speed as to not get all Madonna-like...her arm muscles are gross...

I've recently added a lot of smoothies and shakes to my daily eating. They make me feel so light and energized! Most of the time, I freeze them, thaw them a little when I'm ready to eat it, and pig out! haha, It gives me the sensation of eating ice cream like a normal person. They're delicious, too! If you want some recipes, just ask!
I basically never eat fast food. Before going through that drive through, ask yourself this question: "Is this tiny little plain hamburger really worth giving up 250 calories for?" Yeah, you read that right. A plain hamburger from McDonald's and Burger King is 250 CALORIES!!!!! Ridiculous. Don't waste your calories on a tiny portion. Dumb. When I do eat fast food, I WILL find any wrap that may be on the menu. Always order light dressing or only eat about half of it. Dressing has a lot of calories...

Everything I've done has been trial and error. I've learned my body thoroughly. I know when to change things up, when to slow down, when to kick it up a notch. I've learned what I have to do to keep this up. If you change your lifestyle, you'll learn as well! It feels good knowing my body so well, like I've gotten to know myself on a whole new level!
I've never felt so good about myself and this new-found confidence has been worth the whole struggle! I know this was a really long post, and I'm not sorry. :)
More to come soon!

But first, a quick before and after. I wish I had one of my body before (I always cropped anything showing below my chest, basically..)but you can clearly see in my face that I was disgusting. Haha.