this ain't no get rich quick scheme!

“First they ask why you are doing it. Then they ask you how you did it.”  -I don’t know who said it.

I’ve seen this quote floating around pinterest in the health and fitness section. It’s truth. I am nowhere near my goal, but I’m getting there. At first people were asking me why I started caring about my weight and what foods I put into my body. I would tell them the truth. I want to see my kids start families of their own. I want to have a relationship with my grandkids. I want to be able to wipe my own butt. Let’s face it, if I would have gotten much larger, none of those things would have been a reality. So I that’s the why part.

Now that I’ve lost 34 pounds (woot woot) and people are starting to notice, they are asking how. “How are you doing it, Sarah?” they ask. Again, I tell them the truth. I work my rear end off for at least 2 hours a day and I count calories. We’ve cut out fast food, unless there really is no other choice. We eat at least one green veggie at every meal. We proportion snacks into 100 calorie packages so that we aren’t tempted to eat the whole bag. We measure everything so that the serving size is accurate. We put good food in our fridge and pantry so that there isn’t the option of eating food that is bad for us. Our diets have changed from 60-75% pre-packaged foods to 5-10% pre-packaged foods. Pretty much, good old fashioned diet and exercise. No gimmicks. No pills. No starving ourselves. We made a lifestyle change. We didn’t decide to try the latest fad. We didn’t just want to lose weight. We wanted a change.

I made a promise to myself that I would sweat every day and eat good for me foods. So that’s what we do. Here’s a rundown of my day (these times are all –ish times):

5:00 am – wake up (wash face, change clothes, pre-work out snack, use the bathroom, etc)
5:30 am – simple stretching
5:45 am – warm up with jumping jacks, toe touches, jogging in place, etc
6:00 am – (depending on the day) kettlebell circuit training with Dave (30 minutes)/walk 2 miles with Mom (45 minutes)
6:45 am –  walk one mile on the treadmill at a brisk pace, four circuits of pushups, crunches, jumping jacks, planks, squats, leg lifts, and plié squats, 10 – 15 minutes of hula hooping
7:30 am – SHOWER!

Work

5:30 pm – (depending on the day) Couch to 5k training/30-45 minute walk
6:00 pm – 15-20 minutes of hula hooping

My meals throughout the day look kinda like this:

Pre-workout snack (morning and evening) – string cheese and a glass of milk/whole wheat toaster waffle with a bit of peanut butter/piece of fruit/etc

Breakfast – smoothie made from skim milk, banana, peanut butter, all fruit spread, and a scoop of protein powder. 

Lunch – large chopped salad/soup and sandwich/grilled cheese with tomato/etc with veggies and ranch greek yogurt dip

Dinner – some kind of protein (fish, chicken, beef, pork)/lots of veggies/whole grains (brown rice, quinoa)

Snacks – popcorn, rice cakes with nut butter, celery and pb with almonds, piece of fruit, etc

So yeah. Sorry to disappoint you. There are no shortcuts. Just hard work. No gimmicks. No get skinny quick schemes. Just diet and exercise. The good news, though, is that if I can. You can. Seriously. You are looking at the queen of the couch potatoes here. But I got my butt off the couch and started. You can too. So keep it up, friends. There are good days. There are bad days. BUT no matter how slow you are going, you’re lapping everybody on the couch! (another pinterest quote)