What I’ve learned and how I’m going to adjust moving forward
I wanted to get a head start on my New Year resolution and began my fitness journey November 13, 2017 - right before the onslaught of holiday eating. IT. WAS. ROUGH. I did lose 5 pounds in the first week but I spent the rest of the holiday season stagnant because although I remained committed to my exercise routine, even working out during my Christmas holiday in Florida,
I was lax with my eating habits. Have you heard of the saying “you can’t out run a bad diet”? Well, it’s absolutely true.
I was hoping to reveal to you all a brand new body and that I’d be a lot further along. Well, that isn’t the case but I have made progress.
I’ve had highs (losing 5 pounds the first week) and lows (learning I had arthritis in both knees) but I’ve learned a lot in this process to help shape and adjust my journey ahead.
There are 5 truths and revelations that I have come to that I want to share:
1. Exercising isn’t my main issue – Portion control is
Working out became a habit for me at around month one. Even making better food choices became a bit easier at around the same time but, I still struggle with putting too much on my plate.
I know about measuring, or eating only half of what’s on my plate but most times I just can’t and won’t do it. If it’s on my plate, I’m going to finish it. Hi, my name is Casie and I am a lifelong member of the Clean Plate Club.
My husband and I were doing the meal service HelloFresh because even though it’s not the healthiest, the meals are pretty balanced and the portions are set. I don’t have to struggle with the decision of how much to put on my plate.
We stopped the service after 3 months, not because it wasn’t great but the meals became repetitive after a while.
After that, I dabbled in the 21 Day Fix. Now this method is all about portion control.
Your food must fit into one of the containers, each color representing a different food group and they prescribe for you how many of each container you can eat per day based on your weight. In theory this would work for me but it’s difficult to measure meals that are mixed. For example a soup that contains, meat, vegetables and carbs. It gets sorta tricky.
I’m still trying to find a permanent solution for my portion control issue so in the meantime I’m sticking to the 21 Day Fix as a guide-ish.
2. Meal Prepping isn’t for me
It doesn’t work because I just can’t eat the same thing for more than 2 days in a row. And I’m not always sure of what I will feel like eating a week in advance – actually most days I do not know.
So lately I’ve been grocery shopping and cooking every other day. Tedious, I know.
What does help, is that I do research each week and pull a group of recipes that look yummy, that I may want to eat for that upcoming week. That way I don’t have to start from scratch every day.
3. It’s difficult to be the only one in your household trying to eat healthy
My husband doesn’t need to lose weight so he still gets to eat all the fatty and delicious foods that I crave. In the beginning of my fitness journey I didn’t always make the right food choices when we were ordering out. Who wants to order a salad when the burger looks so much tastier? But, God looked down and had mercy on me. Ha! Our church announced that we would all participate in The Daniel Fast the first 3 weeks of the year and my husband and I agreed that we would join in. The basics of this fast is no meats, no sweets and no dairy. Now my church isn’t doing this to lose weight but instead to make sacrifices in order to focus more on The Lord to start the New Year Year off on the right track. But the bonus for me is, now me and my husband are eating healthy together! Ha! Thank you Jesus, you saw my struggle and now I struggle no more.
4. At around 6 weeks I started to get bored from my workout routine which was, wake up early, go to the gym, hit the weights, then the treadmill, stretch, then on with the rest of my day, and Repeat 6 days a week. So before the boredom fully set in, I decided to shake up my exercise routine. I even found another free 2 week trial with ClassPass. It’s too expensive in my opinion to pay for it outright but check them out if you’re interested. They’re available in many major cities around the US.
And, man have I shaken things up. Last week I took a 90's Hip Hop Zumba Class and a West African Dance Class. I even nearly broke my neck taking a Trampoline Cardio class, lol. This week, I have a Janet Jackson, Belly Dancing and another Bollywood dance class that I'm taking. And, I’m already starting to prepare for what I can do differently before the next 6 week slump hits.
5. Discipline is key NOT Motivation
This one has been one of the biggest revelations that I’ve learned so far. There were days when I had to just say no to the chicken wings and eat my salad instead. Or days when I had to drag myself through a snow storm to get to the gym.
And in times like this, it wasn’t motivation that got me through. Because in those moments, I couldn’t care less about the summer bikini body I’m working on, I just had to make the right decision – and that’s discipline.
I fully believe that in the long run, discipline will take you farther than motivation will.
Motivation is fleeting, discipline endures.
And how do I feel now? I feel great, seeing my progress even if I’m not as far along as I’d like is still very exciting. My clothes fit a bit better, I sleep better at night and I have a lot of energy in the day.
And, I’m just getting started…
9 week Stats
BUST: 36”
WAIST: 31
HIPS: 44.5”
WEIGHT: 167.2lbs
JANUARY 17, 2018
NOVEMBER 13, 2017
