So, here I am….what the heck…..it’s March 31 and I have GOT to get back into a routine!!!! OMG guys, has this happened to you?? You let yourself enjoy Christmas, then that runs straight into New Years….and then you make that Annual New Years Resolution that is a really aggressive-I’m-making-a-change-“you’ve got this” kind of resolution. And suddenly it’s 3 months later and you haven’t made much progress….GAH! Every Damn Year! You are either going to get yourself back into shape or become a more positive person, right?! HA! Well, at least we know we have that in common!
My husband and I made some pretty awesome progress on being the most fit we’ve ever been by 40 in 2016. We literally transformed our bodies with clean eating and at home workouts. (Weights, vitamins and supplements, protein shakes and good food is what we used…..just every day happily grinding it out, there is literally no quick fix) It as a lot of hard work; but it was pretty amazing to see the results together (read more about that in one of my previous posts HERE)
Now, as I sit here on the final day of March, which has been SUCH an incredible month for us in so many ways, it included a lot of food, family, friends and booze (I even learned how to make my new favorite drink…an Old Fashioned….and that is just freaking DANGER); but my clothes don’t fit like they used to anymore (the #1 way to know you’ve taken down too many chips & salsa with a side of margarita). This does not mean I need to go shopping, it means I need to smarten up.
I realize we have fallen COMPLETELY off the bandwagon, slid down the slippery slope of snacking and eating meals for convenience rather than fuel, and after long exhausting days, just sitting on our butts, scrolling through our phones until we head to bed. SO LAME; but oh-so-human and common. No need to get down on ourselves for it, we lived LIFE; but we want to live a really long and healthy life, so we’ve got to reign some things back in.
That’s it. No more of that for a while. I LOVED my new found strength, my arms looked amazing (if I do say so myself) last summer and I just felt good from the inside out. I’m back at my birthday month in April, so I’m back on the routine. Good food, moving my body and getting rid of my “winter coat”….because with it, I look more like the Grinch at Christmas with my pot belly and sneaky saddlebags than just the “light jacket” I should be wearing (insert the whiny crying face here).
I’m really hoping this “Muscle Memory” thing is legit….because what I do know for sure, there must be Fat Memory….’cause all the stuff I worked hard to get rid of just made itself RIGHT AT HOME….back where it was in the beginning.
So if you are where I am, had a schedule you were rocking, then somewhere along the way you gave yourself permission to go off that hard fought, beaten path full of your aching, sweaty progress….jump back with me. There’s no bad time to make yourself bad ass.
Where do you start?? How about one of these ideas:
- Cut out sugar. YES. Literally. Stop taking in sugar…all of it.
- Cut down on gluten. Bread is the freaking delicious enemy
- Add more green vegetables. Great for detoxing – green apples, cucumber, cilantro, limes, celery, leeks, avacado….
- Add more protein – chicken, almonds, almond milk, protein shakes, hummus or hard boiled eggs for snacking…
- Keep fiber in your diet….it allows your digestive system to tell your brain that it’s full and you stop eating
- Eat slower….when you shovel it in, you fill up way before your brain knows it, then, out of nowhere, you get to OVERfull and that just sucks
- No snacking after 7pm. NO. Drink a cup of hot steaming herbal tea….often times, drinking something hot can curb your appetite because it takes longer to ingest
- W-A-T-E-R……and lots of it
- Take one week where you just make simple salads with no fancy dressing (we only use the balsamic vinegars from Oil & Vinegar at The Woodlands Mall…Date and Fig are our faves) and broth based soups for dinner…..no joke, it will kind of be like a little detox! Just be prepared for ALOT of, um…movement happening….if you know what I mean….you may need to hit the bathroom STALL Â little more frequently.
- MOVE….move, move, move. Every day. Not just the regular moving and not just cardio. That will only get you so far. If you want to be strong with great muscle tone, you need to put a little UMPH into it (No Triumph without UMPH).
Do some of this and watch your skin clear up, your sleep be more restful, your energy levels climb, your mind be clearer and your heart be lighter! How can that be a bad thing?!
xoxo Taryn