Body insecurity runs deep in my soul which I have been working on through this journey. I have been made fun of many times about my body by those close to me or who were supposed to be close to me. Both privately and very VERY publicly. Words can cut deep especially when you've struggled with something your whole life. BUT FORGET THE HATERS MY FRIENDS. I'm focused on loving my body no matter what it looks like or what it's going through. I have the literal metabolism from H*** and I'm very aware that my body is going to be constantly changing throughout my life. Especially with having kids in the future and getting older in general. So focusing on confidence and having a healthy but normal life-style is very crucial to me. Self-love and self-care is so important and I've been consciously making an effort to love what I look like because the world's definition of beauty is so distorted nowadays.
I also hardly weighed myself through all of this because I wanted to focus on how I felt and how I looked to my own eye. I wanted to be strong and healthy, not nesscarliy skinny and I'm still wanting to tone my muscles more. I've never been "skinny" ha ha! My body type isn't ever going to allow me to be petite and I'm totally fine with that. I've always had curves and I love to rock them. They are honestly my favorite parts of my body! Ok enough rambling here is what I do/did to get my body in gear and continue on this awesome inner/outer health journey!
ABOUT HORMONAL IMBALANCE: (if you don't think you have this totally skip this freaking long paragraph and go to the fitness part) Up until I got married my weight was totally normal with little to no fluctuation. But then I started taking BIRTH CONTROL PILLS and I started to gain weight. But more importantly, they completely messed with my emotions as well. About a year after I got married I fell into a big depression that caused me to gain even more weight. I never understood depression and anxiety until I developed it. And now I understand how devastating it is. It truly is so hard. It would be a little over a year until I realized that this wasn't normal and I wondered if it could be my birth control pills. I stopped taking them and the emotional difference was pretty much instant. I was shocked. I couldn't believe I had been putting something into my body that was "normal" and it had altered my hormones this badly. I mean taking birth control pills works for most people right? Anyway another year passes and I work out constantly and I think I'm doing everything right in order to be healthy and nothing changes. In fact, I even gain a little more weight which just isn't fair ha ha ha ha. I finally go to a doctor to see what's up and he informs me that some women are super sensitive to the chemicals in birth control pills and that taking them can actually create more problems that didn't exist before or were already there but dormant and not active. In my case, a huge hormonal balance. The symptoms for that are depression, anxiety, gaining weight, inability to lose weight, possible fertility problems and some other things. My doctor said that if not treated it could eventually develop into PCOS. So he put me on some medication that I've been taking for a little over a year and a half and it's been regulating my hormones and returning them to normal levels. And as of today I'm feeling back to normal and AMAZING. Still taking the medications, working out and trying to eat right. So there's no problem in seeing a doctor and getting some tests done if you think this might be you. It was a HUGE light bulb moment for me and I'm thankful we figured it out when we did.
CURRENT EATING HABITS:
1. If you hate working out 2. if you hate dieting
HI WE ARE EXACTLY THE SAME PERSON! ha ha!! Ok so my whole motto in life is moderation in all things. I HATE DIETS. I have done it all. Every diet. Every workout routine. if you can think of it, I've probably done it. And dieting has never worked for me. Instead I developed a mindset of living the best lifestyle I can. That doesn't mean restricting myself because trust me. I don't. Swig and Crumbl are just too good to restrict yourself ha ha ha!! And I'm not going to travel to Italy one day and not eat pasta and gelato. Like are you kidding me? Come on people... ha ha ha!! So here is what I do that I have found has worked for me.
1. Intermittent fasting. I only eat 8 hours in the day which means I fast for 16. So that means eating your dinner hopefully earlier like between 5-6 (I try not to eat past 7 or 7:30) and then not eating again until 16 hours after that so, 10:00-11:00am. This gives your body more time to cleanse itself of toxins and other things. Totally google it if you'd like more info!
2. Portion Control: This is a huge one for me. And heck for America. I try to eat half as much as I normally do. It was hard at first but I think my stomach has shrunk a little now so it's easier. But again, I don't deprive myself. If I want a cookie I'll have one or two not a hundred if you get what I'm saying.
3. Better food choices in general and trying to cook more. Guys, I'm the worst cook ever, the struggle is real and we all need to say a prayer for Tyler. Bless his heart for putting up with me. Both our lives are insanely busy so cooking at home is not always an option. We've been trying to be better but when neither of us are home it's really just not possible. So if we eat out we try to pick healthier choices or again, just not eat as much.
4. Drink Water!!! I drink water throughout the entire day. Water and sometimes a diet coke (ya I get diet coke isn't healthy. Let me have my dark poison. I'm here for a good time, not a long time.) But for real, water is so good!
CURRENT FITNESS ROUTINE:
This is the fun part. My hot mess of a fitness routine that I love. I have a gym membership but I don't use it as much as I used to after discovering a lot of these videos.
1. My sister and I started doing THIS CIRCUIT at the beginning of Summer and it's awesome. I add some things to it though. After the 10 sit ups I add, 30 "Squirms" where you lay on your back and reach to each side to grab the inside of your ankles (works your obliques) Then I take 8 pound weights and do a standing oblique exercise where you just dip them to each side. Then I do 15 dead lifts. I only do this once a day but I'm wanting to get in the habit of doing it once in the morning and once at night. I have also added the 8 pound weights to my shoulders when I do the squats.
2. My go-to arm workout videos!! I try to do at least one of these every single day! (click the links)
3. ZUMBA!! This DVD is the answer to my cardio prayers. It is so fun and I promise I've never sweat so much in my life! The best part is THIS ENTIRE SET IS $16 on amazon. HERE is the link. I actually only do the Cardio Burst DVD so far and it so awesome and who doesn't like to dance? I freaking love Zumba!
4. Jillian Micheals Trouble Zone DVD: I usually don't do the whole thing ha ha ha! I just pick and chose the circuits that I want to focus on and do those. My favorites are the AB one, and then the biceps and butt, and triceps and thigh workouts! HERE is the link to that one and it's only $6
5. The 15 day fit body challenge videos: Ok I'm going to be honest, I only do the first two videos from this series. I've tried a couple of the others and I just don't like them too much. But the first two for arms and then legs ARE SO GOOD! You will feel sore for days. No joke.
6. Just doing something active at least a little bit every day. Some days I just give Rosie a walk or go hiking with my family. Or just do the AB part of the first circuit I mentioned right before going to bed. As long as you get up and are moving a little bit each day that's what's important.
Alright that's it for now! Here's to reaching goals and to helping root for each other instead of bringing each other down. We are beautiful women inside and out and we should never forget that. Living a healthy, happy, confident life is what's important!
