Why I Keep My Fat Pants

One of the best/worst things about losing weight is that once you've made some decent progress, you no longer fit into the same clothes you once did. It's one of the best things because it's a tangible reminder that you've made progress, and you get to go shopping for new clothes that you once thought were off limits; however, it's one of the worst things because it now means you have to foot the bill for said shopping trip! 

For the bulk of my weight loss journey I managed to get by without having to buy too many new pairs of pants, thanks to the legging trend, and still managed to wear a lot of the same shirts I used to. But there came a point when my wardrobe became somewhat limited, and a shopping trip several shopping trips became necessary in order for me to dress like a normal person. Anyone who knows me knows how abundantly happy this made me to have an excuse to shop, even if it was off of the clearance rack to keep the cost of my new size-appropriate wardrobe down. Aside from the obvious joys that shopping can bring, there's no better feeling than having to run back and forth from the fitting room a hundred times to get the next smaller size because the size you thought you were keeps falling down!

So, once I knew I was close enough to my goal that my size would not change too much, I gradually began adding to my wardrobe. This obviously left a lot less room in my closet and so the garbage bags came out and trips to Goodwill were made. In the past, my weight has fluctuated so drastically that I was often hesitant to get rid of any larger size clothing, in case I should have a need for them again. I would put them away in bins and save them as a safety net for when I would inevitably fall off the wagon and start stuffing my face with KFC. As you might have guessed, I didn't have a whole lot of faith in myself back then. 

Well I have no plans to EVER have a need for those larger sizes to stick around waiting to be pulled out of bins on that tragic day when I find that I can't get my pants to button. I have gained enough confidence in myself over the past 2 years to not need a safety net. I now know that I'm not a ticking time bomb just waiting to get fat again and that the choices I make are entirely within my control. And I choose to keep progressing, rather than move backwards.

At the risk of going all Jenny Craig commercial on you guys I had to post these!
Had a good laugh when I opened up my bin of winter clothes and found
my special fat pants! Had an even bigger laugh when my sister's boyfriend
tried them on and they fit!  ;)

So, if I have no need for these "fat clothes" then why, you ask, are you looking at the above pictures of me holding up my fat pants? These are not just any fat pants. These are special fat pants. The only fat pants I still keep. These pants were the only pants that fit me when I was at my heaviest non-pregnant weight. These are the pants that I was elated to finally be able to fit back into 2 weeks after giving birth. I felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and joy the moment I was able to zip these pants up because it meant that I had gotten down to my pre-pregnancy weight...yea...I know, right???? What was I thinking??? 

At the time, I was just happy to have lost the baby weight and would settle for being the same state of overweight that I was before my pregnancy, just as long as I wasn't MORE overweight because of the pregnancy. I had no expectations that anything I did to try and further my weight loss would be effective or long-lasting, and didn't want to get my hopes up. So I assumed that these pants were the best I was going to get. 

Two years, 45 pounds, and a whole new mindset later I know myself better than that. I know that I care enough about feeling good from the inside out to never let myself get back to that unhealthy and unhappy state again. I know that I am in control and I know what I am capable of. So, why do I keep these particular fat pants, you ask? These fat pants are a symbol of the knowledge I have gained about myself throughout my journey of living a healthy lifestyle. THESE FAT PANTS serve as a reminder that I can do anything I put my mind to, and that I am stronger than I once gave myself credit for. And THAT, my friends, is why I keep these fat pants.

Change

Since I have started writing my blog, I have gotten great feedback and encouragement from family, friends, and even new friends that I have made as a direct result of writing it.  While I can't even begin to express how truly thankful I am for the support, there is one thing that has been nagging at me in the back of my mind - the feeling that I am not making a difference.  

I won't lie. Of course it feels great to receive compliments - who doesn't like to be praised for something they worked so hard on???  But that was not the reason that I wanted to write a blog in the first place - it was never about me.  The past 2 years have been about me.  Every night when I left my sleeping baby and husband to go to the gym...that was about me.  It was a change I needed to make for myself.  I know it may sound selfish, but the truth is I'm glad I did it.  It's true what they say - you have to take care of yourself in order to be able to take care of others.  I'm in a much better place than I was 2 years ago and, in my opinion, a much better wife and mom because of the changes I have made. But that's not what this blog was ever about.  

What inspired me to write this was the idea that I could actually make a difference in someone's life the way others have made a difference in mine.  I used to think that there were 2 types of people: the people who are natural leaders and are effortlessly able motivate others, and the people who NEED to have those leaders to motivate them.  But one of the many lessons I've learned during my journey is that we are ALL capable of being the former.  The difference in the 2 types of people simply lies in whether or not they have realized this potential. And I discovered for the first time that I had a desire to be the type that realized it. 

So to set out on this journey to help others and then feel like a failure because everyone isn't going out and making drastic changes in their life was initially a little discouraging. But it got me thinking...MY transformation - physical or mental - didn't happen overnight! Why would anyone else's? It should be so obvious to me, of all people!

My own physical transformation is going on 2 years and counting; and the changes I've made in my ways of thinking were preceded by years of failed attempts at crash diets and many, many unfulfilled promises of change. To make REAL change in your life - whether it has to do with health and fitness, or any other life situation that you are trying to change - there has to be a culmination of different things happening - sort of a perfect storm.

1. The Want. You have to want it. No matter how much motivation you are receiving from external sources, this is by far THE MOST important step to change. You have to truly want it deep down to your very core - your motivation has to begin with something that is inside of you. Nobody else can do this step for you. 

2. Readiness to sacrifice for what you want. When I embarked on my fitness journey, I had just come off of a 9 month stint of sharing my body with another human being. A beautiful experience, no doubt, but also a little unnerving at the same time. Over the course of my pregnancy, I had a lot of time to sit back (with my swollen feet up!) and really think about how I felt about where my life would soon be headed. I didn't like what I saw.  I didn't like the way I felt about myself and I hated the idea of my daughter growing up seeing poor self-esteem as the norm. This was enough for me to reconcile the idea of getting dressed at 9:00 at night in the dead of winter and heading out to the gym when everyone else was cozying up on the couch, watching "Dancing with the Stars". Mentally, I was ready for change, no matter how inconvenient it seemed.

3. The Catalyst. If you read my very first blog post, then you know that, while I was making good on my promise to include fitness in my life, I was still only going through the motions for the first year. Yes, I spent almost every night at the gym, but after a short while, what I was doing became fairly ineffective, and I was on the verge of giving up and settling for the results I had gotten. It wasn't until I saw the drastic results that someone else had gotten from dedicating themselves to learning about fitness and nutrition that I began to truly understand what I had to do to reach the goals that I had set for myself. This was the catalyst that sent me into a frenzy of research, trial and error, and led me to make the decision to not only make this a "diet", but a "lifestyle". 

As I mentioned earlier, my inspiration for starting this blog was to help others see that it is possible to do what sometimes can feel impossible. I get a ton of people telling me that they wish they could do what I did and change their habits and lifestyle. For me, hearing that makes me a little sad. Because I know the truth: that you don't have to wish for it. I had a hard time conveying the intensity of what I mean by this in writing, so I recorded a Vlog to hopefully get the message across...hope this explains it a little better:

P.S. I apologize for having to get up in the middle of it - haha - and for my rambling and abuse of the word "Um" - I'm not a great public speaker, which is why I have a written blog, as opposed to a regular YouTube channel, but I just felt like something was getting lost in translation when I was putting it in writing. 

Nobody's Perfect: Overcoming Setbacks and Regaining Motivation

Nobody's perfect. Not even me. Ha ha, no I'm totally kidding - ESPECIALLY not me!

Over this past year, I seem to have inadvertently made quite a reputation for myself amongst family and friends as a bit of a "health nut". I remember, back before I became interested in nutrition and fitness, how I used to view people who were supposed "health nuts." Out of sheer ignorance I assumed that they, first of all had a screw loose, but secondly never indulged in anything that wasn't considered healthy. In my mind, they saw themselves as superior to the unfit and were obviously above junk food cravings, unhealthy habits, and were definitely perfect ALLLLL the time.

All I can say is: Good God I hope that's not how people see me! 

Because that is DEFINITELY NOT ME!

Yes, over the past year or two I have made a very conscious effort to lead a healthier lifestyle: eating certain foods, devoting a lot of time to exercising, etc. And yes, it has had great benefits, including looking and feeling better, having more confidence in myself, and just being happier and healthier, overall. I am aware of all of these great things that being more fit has brought me, and yet it does not make me immune to falling off the wagon now and again. 

So over the past month or two I have definitely felt myself losing some steam when it comes to my healthy habits. My diet has been somewhat erratic, and my motivation to push myself harder in the gym has been a little on the low side. Although I have forced myself on most days to stick to my workout schedule, I know deep down that my workouts have not been as intense as they could have been. And truth be told, I'm definitely feeling the effects that my mistakes have had on my body.

My guess is that this sounds familiar to a lot of people. Chances are, at some point in your life you've gone all gung ho about something only to lose your enthusiasm over time, am I right? Whether it be a diet or exercise plan, a new hobby, or a project around the house, it tends to be in our nature to throw everything we have into a task for a short time and then retreat back to our old, comfortable ways once the novelty has worn off. 

What is the best way to overcome this phenomenon? You could start by being aware of it. A little self-reflection can go a long way in a situation like this. For me, it took a couple of sleepless nights of asking myself why I was feeling this way and really stepping back and reflecting on why it bothered me. Was being fit and healthy still something that was important to me, or was it just a passing phase - "remember that year that Sara got really skinny? Yea, she gained all that weight back and got fat again!" I certainly don't want that to be the case. No, I decided. I made this decision for life and I'm sticking to it. I don't want a quick fix fad diet so I can drop 6 sizes in a week. I want to BE healthy, for real. 

So what to do when you've made this decision and then lose a step or two - or ten? Well...the only thing you can do: accept it, and move on. You can't change the past. All you can do is reaffirm your reasons for setting the goals you have, and keep on pushing toward them. Nobody is perfect. Even the most successful people in the fitness industry have admitted to having those days or weeks or months where they "just don't wanna".

And that's ok - it happens to everyone! But the only way to succeed is to not give up. To do that you need motivation, right? That's the hardest part - staying motivated...and do you know why? Because it's mostly on you. Sure there are plenty of external sources of motivation - a good support system is super-important to have, but unless you are truly motivated on the inside, nothing you do will really stick.

Feeling good about being strong and healthy...that's my motivation.
What's yours? ;)

So sit down and have a heart-to-heart chat with yourself (maybe not in public, or you might look crazy!) about what your goals are and WHY you want them so badly. If you are completely honest with yourself, this will likely be all you need to hop right back up onto that wagon, because while YOU may not be perfect, your reasons for wanting to be healthy ARE the PERFECT motivators!  :)




Don't forget - if you need a little more motivation, "Like" my Facebook Page, for recipes, pictures, and to follow along on my health and fitness journey! 

"What I Eat" Meal Examples

I get a lot of questions about what, specifically, I eat to stay fit, so I thought I would just throw together a quick meal example post to give you an idea of what some of the typical foods that I eat throughout the day are. Keep in mind, my diet varies from day to day depending on what I'm in the mood for, what I have in the house, and what I have time to make. But I took pictures of some of my meals from yesterday to post so here goes:

 I'm in a little bit of a Pumpkin Spice frenzy this week (mostly because the can of Pumpkin
from my  Pumpkin Spice Protein Shake is going to go bad if I don't use it!) so I went with
Pumpkin Spice Oats (top) and Pumpkin Spice Cottage Cheese (bottom) for breakfast. They photograph a little funny, but let me tell you, words can't express how good this was!!!

Egg Salad on a Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin with Baby Spinach and Tomatoes
To keep the calories and fat down I use 1 whole egg and 1 egg white, with light mayo
 and spicy brown mustard. Throw in whatever seasonings you like and enjoy!

This is a prime example of why you shouldn't give up so easily when trying
something new! These chicken meatballs almost ended up in the garbage
because I was getting frustrated with how they were browning, but they
actually ended up turning out AWESOME! I used egg whites and
whole wheat bread crumbs with my fave Italian seasonings and threw them
on top of some spaghetti squash and steamed broccoli! I think my hubby might be
holding a grudge because there was only enough leftovers for one and I
claimed them for lunch the next day!  :)

   

Like I said, these are just a few examples of meals that I eat throughout the day to hit my calorie and macro goals. I typically have about 6 small meals a day and try to track everything that I'm eating when I'm really focused on a particular goal. If I'm just trying to maintain my weight then I tend to be a little more relaxed about tracking but if you are just starting out I can't stress enough how important it is to know what you're eating! 

Well I hope this was helpful in giving you some ideas of things you could add to your diet - feel free to customize them any way you want! Let me know if you enjoyed this type of blog post and I will be sure to take more pictures of my meals for posts like this in the future!  :)

No-Protein-Powder Pumpkin Spice Protein Shake

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. Always has been - how could it not be? The weather is cool and perfect for taking walks with the baby, the leaves are gorgeous, plus you have Halloween AND MY BIRTHDAY! Summer's great and all, but I LIVE for this time of year. So when the daily Pumpkin Spice Latte posts started popping up on Facebook, it made me WAYYYY jealous!!! But in sticking with my clean eating routine, I wouldn't dare order one for fear of the effect that the extra calories and sugar would have on reaching my goals. So I got to work on a healthy alternative, and it turned out pretty dang good, if I do say so myself!

It's really easy, requires no Protein Powder, and tastes *AWESOME*! Just add:

~1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
~1/2 cup 100% Pure Pumpkin in a can (Make sure it's not Pumpkin Pie Mix - they ARE different!)
~1 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
~ Cinnamon to taste
~Stevia (or your choice of sweetener) to taste
~Ground Nutmeg to taste

Throw it together in a blender and microwave it for 1-1 1/2 minutes. (You could add ice and make it a frozen shake, just reduce the amount of almond milk you use by about half - I personally like it hot though - my way of saying  "In-Your-Face" to all the Pumpkin Spice Latte Drinkers!) For a little added flare I drizzled some Walden Farms calorie free Caramel Syrup on top.

Here are the nutritional facts for mine - you can customize it however you like and just plug it into MyFitnessPal. If you are not a big fan of cottage cheese, you can substitute it for Greek Yogurt or Vanilla Whey Protein Powder. You can also use a pre-mixed Pumpkin Pie Spice (these are just what I had in the house!) if you prefer.

Sometime this week I'm hoping to take Little Girl apple picking, so perhaps next week I will have some fun, healthy apple recipes to share! Wish me luck! In the meantime, hope you enjoy your Pumpkin Spice Protein Shake!  :)

The "Anti-Goal" Board Challenge

I know this might sound a little backwards, since part of motivating yourself should be to constantly remind yourself of reasons you CAN reach your goals. Lots of people make goal boards or lists of reasons why they want to reach their goals to serve as a reminder when they need a little boost. Seriously, I'm all for this, as it can be a great tool to keep you consistently motivated to keep going when times get tough. But have you ever considered making a list of things that could potentially stop you from getting where you want to be? 

We live in a society full of "What if's" and "I wish"'s and we often have a tendency not to be very pro-active about the things that we want. If I had a nickel for every time someone came up to me and said "I wish I could lose weight like you did, but..." I'd have a TON of nickels (thought I was gonna come up with something wittier than that, huh? Sorry to disappoint you - thought I'd take a straightforward approach on this one!)  :)

Stick with me for a minute and I'll explain my line of thinking...Since these "I wish, but"'s keep coming up so often, it would make sense to address them head on, rather than treating them like the giant elephant in the room. The truth is life is always going to try to get in your way. There are always going to be obstacles and the only thing you can do about it is to push through it and work your way around them. If you just sit back and wait for them not to be there, you're going to be waiting around your whole life!

So, a little off topic, but I'm going to tell you a story. I once had a bad day at work (yes, I like my job that much that it's only happened once! - haha!) Everything just seemed to be going wrong - from being late (that's definitely happened more than once!) to not being able to make my clients happy to hitting traffic on the way home. I was in such a funk when I got to the gym that night that one of the staff members actually pulled me aside and asked me what had been so bad about my day that I was so angry. I was 100% prepared to go on an all-out self-pity rant and let loose everything that had gone wrong that day...and then nothing came out sounding quite as bad as I meant it to. All of the problems that had gotten me all stirred up throughout the day sounded...sort of silly when I said them out loud. It was then that I realized that sometimes a problem can seem monumentally unmanageable in your head and then when you actually address it, it's not really so bad. 

This brings me to the "Anti-Goal" idea. When you have a goal in mind and you start thinking about all of the obstacles in your way, it can seem impossible to reach that goal. But if you break each of these obstacles down and really face them, the task of beating them becomes a lot less daunting. All you need to do is write down what your specific challenge is and then brainstorm the most obvious, logical, realistic solutions. It differs from a Goal Board in that when you make a Goal Board you are using emotions to fuel your motivation to reach your goal. "I'm going to reach this goal because I want..."  The problem is that emotions are sometimes fleeting and they won't always be there to keep you inspired. With an "Anti-Goal" board, you are coming up with a tangible explanation of reasons you can't possibly fail! You're shutting down every excuse before it has a chance to shut you down. 

Here are a few examples of things on my "Anti-Goal" Board:

Here is my challenge for you: Make an "Anti-Goal" Board and see what you come up with! You might surprise yourself with the solutions you find once you look at your own personal obstacles in writing. Post them on my Facebook if you feel comfortable doing so and/or let me know if this has worked for you!

Diary of a Semi-Clean Eater: Food With Purpose

Empty Calories. We've all heard it before. "Don't drink soda - it's empty calories!" "All those empty calories will go straight to your hips!" 

But what does that even mean anyway, "empty calories?" There are those that believe that a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. If you are in a caloric surplus (taking in more calories than you burn), you will gain weight; if you are in a caloric deficit (burning more calories than you take in) you will lose weight. While I am under no circumstances disputing this logic, I'm not one of those "all calories are created equal" thinkers - nor am I a hard core "clean eater", though.

How did these Doritos and Pop-Tarts get here????

If you Google "clean eating" you will find multiple definitions that tend to vary quite a bit. It seems that everywhere you look, everyone has their own standards when it comes to "clean eating." But some of the most prominent features of a clean eating diet include eating only whole, minimally processed foods in small meals several times a day to keep your metabolism constantly running. I suppose you could say that in it's purest form, a clean eating diet can be quite restricting.

In bodybuilding, there is an acronym "IIFYM" (If It Fits Your Macros), which has caused somewhat of an uproar among clean eaters. Upon first glance, the name implies that you can eat whatever you want, as long as they fit into your daily Macronutrient (proteins, fats and carbohydrates) allowance. Want Pop-tarts, soda, and ice cream? Not a problem if you follow IIFYM, right? Well....it's more complicated than that. If you look further into IIFYM, you will find that most of the people that follow this approach actually eat a diet that is primarily "clean" with a small allowance for "dirty" foods.

The reason these foods are considered "dirty" is that they tend to contain a lot of empty calories...aaaannnnd we've come full circle (see, and you thought I was just rambling!). Empty calories are calories that contain no significant nutritional value - that is, they're doing nothing to provide you with the essential macro- and micro-nutrients that your body requires to run optimally.  I suppose I land somewhere in the "IIFYM" range, in that I try to make most of the food that I eat macro- and micro-nutrient dense, but allow (for my own sanity) some of the foods that would be considered off limits to a hard core clean eater.

For it to really stick, everyone needs to follow a nutrition plan that works for them, and I am certainly not qualified to say what the optimal plan for anyone else is. What I will tell you is that I have had the most success, both in my physical progress and maintaining my mental health, by following a "Semi-Clean" approach. I plan my meals out and pack them to go to work with me the night before, so that I am prepared. I make sure that each meal is well-balanced to fulfill my macronutrient requirements...but on the occasion when a balanced meal is not available to me, or on special occasions, I don't freak out about consuming a couple of "dirty" foods here and there (just had a chocolate chip cookie today, as a matter of fact - and it was amazing!)

Essentially, what it comes down to is that you have to have balance. I have eaten at both ends of the spectrum in my life - from eating nothing but fast food and junk to eating only whole, clean meals 6 times a day every 2-3 hours like clockwork. The former makes you really unhealthy, physically, while the latter...well that can have a tendency to make you a little nuts!

For me, I define "clean eating" as "eating food that serves a purpose" - filling your body with the energy and nutrients that it needs to be healthy. I truly enjoy learning about these foods and using them to fuel my body to its fullest potential...but let's be honest...you can't be all business ALL THE TIME, right?  ;)