If you’re going to be cliché, better go big or go home for your New Year’s Resolution. After “publishing” my article Fat, Skinny, Fat; Repeat I had an insane amount of feedback. I was overwhelmed by the traction my blog received (having more than 4,000 clicks), and all of the positive feedback (honestly I thought maybe 40 people tops would read it). People reached out that I haven’t talked to in a long time, some apologized, some complimented, but mainly, people asked me “what do you do for …” whether it was eating, meal prepping, or working out people had questions.
I am a firm believer that you don’t need the year to change to make a change (seeing as I started my “fitness journey” January 15th, 2018). So whether you see this post on January 1, or come back to it on March 3rd, I would like to share my knowledge/advice/whatever you want to call it for you to use toward your own fitness journey.
First… If you have read this far, it means you want a change, so keep going!
Eating:
So I suck at cooking and meal prepping, so for me personally, meal prepping is my New Year’s Resolution. I am the kind of person who can eat the same meal 7 days in a row and it’s totally fine so I don’t have any inspiring recipes to pass down but I will tell you the typical things I eat in a bit.
Here is a crash course on macronutrients (macros) I have gathered thru personal experience and the Google. Food contains fats, proteins and/or carbs (except water that is just water). When people count macros, it means they are monitoring the amount of nutrients they are putting in their body (instead of cutting a food group out completely or going on a fad diet, they still eat the food they want they just make sure they stay under their numbers).
Confused? Well I was too. It takes practice, but it’s not rocket science. Download MyFitnessPal (FREE) and go to the “goals” and in the goals setting you can adjust your macros. These are the macros I follow: 25% carbs 35% protein and 40% fats. From there, start tracking all of the food you eat, even if you eat a whole pizza (no shame sister) put it in there.
What I had realized when I was doing this, was that I was eating wayyy to many carbs so even if it is just a realization that you are eating an excess of one thing and not enough of the other give it a try.
Crash course on Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Your BMR is the amount of calories you would burn if you didn’t get out of bed for the day. You can google “BMR Calculator” and put in your weight, height, age, and activity level and it will let you know. From there, it will ask you if you want to go on a deficit, or increase… aka do you want to lose or gain weight. Don’t increase or decrease by more than 20%, your body still needs to function and you don’t want to starve (and if you find yourself starving, than increase your calories because you have to listen to your body). Plug these numbers into MyFitnessPal as well.
I suggest investing in a food scale (they are $10 on Amazon you don’t need anything fancy), as well as Tupperware so you can motivate yourself to meal prep!
Foods I Eat (in no chronological order and they tend to be lower in carbs):
Eggs, bacon, greek yogurt, chia seeds, salami, ground turkey, tuna, mayo, spaghetti squash, zucchini noodles, mushroom flavor spaghetti sauce, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, broccoli, steamed veggies, taco salads, burgers, beef jerky, green grapes, berries, protein, coconut oil, spinach, pomegranates, orville’s Smart Pop kettle corn, frozen yogurt, tortilla chips, salsa, chicken, salmon
Working Out:
For me, I realized that it was more important to eat right, than it was to workout, but when I combine the two consistently, I can tell a difference in a few days. I love my fitbit so I make sure that I try to get 15,000 steps every day (but there are some weekends I have 3,000 steps and that’s totally fine because it’s called balance). If you’re trying to shed fat and tone up, getting your heart into your fat burning mode is the best thing you can do. So my workout generally looks like this…
10-30 minutes on the elliptical or treadmill at an incline (get that heart in the 100-120 bpm)
If its leg day: squat, leg press, lunges, deadlifts, hip lifts, donkey kicks etc.
If its upper body day: (because you have to have balance) bench, curls, lat pull-down, dumbbell flies, triceps extension etc.
Some variation of abs
What I need to do: start stretching and rolling out
This is what works for me. I am not a personal trainer, but I have access to Instagram that has thousands of fitness people on it with at home and at the gym workouts so check them out because they have a much better way of explaining! If you’re thinking you’ll look like a fish out of water at the gym, try at home workouts, group fitness classes, or grabbing a workout buddy to show you the ropes!
Weigh In:
I know I have said that it is about more than a number, and it so is, but it is also rewarding to keep track and notice changes in your body. I have lost 48 pounds in 50 weeks. And what that tells me is that I was losing less than a pound a week. So if you find yourself feeling discouraged, remember how long and gradually it took for you to put on that weight, it’s going to take just as much time to take it off, if not more. If you want to weigh in in the privacy of your home, I suggest buying a scale, otherwise any gym should have access for you to use.
Random Tips:
Get MyFitness Pal
Buy a food scale, Tupperware, and an actual scale
Make sure you are moving every hour
Avoid sugar
Don’t drink pop/Gatorade/sugary drinks… try crystal light instead
Find healthy substitutes and snack you look forward to
Buy some protein because your body needs it after workouts
DRINK SO MUCH WATER YOU PEE CLEAR BY LUNCH TIME
Cut alcohol as much as possible
Meal prep (it’ll only help you, as well as save you wallet some money too)
Buy a water bottle and drink water
Sleep and let your body restore itself
All of this information was gathered thru my experience, and just because it worked for me might not mean it will necessarily work for you, but if you can truly stick with counting macros and trying to stay around your caloric goal and get that heart into the fat burning zone for at least 2 months, I would be shocked if you didn’t see any results/feel better.
I also am not licensed, therefore this is advice and if you have any underlying critical medical conditions you should consult someone who has a degree in this, not me who found it all on the Google and instagram. But if you do find yourself like me and nothing has worked, well life is too short not to give it a try. Feedback, advice etc. is more than appreciated.
Be Yourself; Everybody Else Is Taken,
Miranda
