A New Beginning

So it has been about seven months since I have posted anything on this blog. The last few months have definitely not been my best. I gained weight, hit a self-esteem low point and lost all confidence and motivation I had in myself.
It’s time to turn myself around and start this again. The road to success has many failures and I’ve always known this but I didn’t expect to be heading in the wrong direction for such a long period of time. The only thing I can do now is see it as a learning experience and continue moving forward.
I recently turned twenty one and for my birthday I received multiple vouchers and a reasonable amount of money. I decided to put all of that away until I reach my weight goal and to use it as a reward to go shopping. I told my dad this at which point he asked, “So what is your weight goal?”. I had no idea because I’m not weighing myself (because if I do I’ll unhealthily obsess over it) so I bought myself lingerie from Agent Provocateur including a waspie (which is like a corset) in a size 10 and decided that my goal is to fit into it without muffining over the top.
I have quite a way to go and I’m not giving myself any time limit because I’ve realised having a time frame stresses me out to the point where I screw up or give up. I just have to believe in myself and I will get there. I’ll have my bad days and I’ll have my good days but as long as there is more good than bad I will be moving forward.

Fat Loss

Meal Planning

FUN FACT: On average people who plan and keep track of their meals will lose twice the amount of weight than those who don’t.

I’m really lacking motivation at the moment so I am so ready to give this a shot.
Yesterday I bought this meal planner from Kikki K that has a magnetic strip so I can stick it right to my fridge and never avoid it. I think it’s important to be able to see it all the time, and it’s also important to me that it’s pretty.
Starting today my intention is to right down everything I plan on eating in advance and then either tick them off or write in what I actually ate or any extra things I added in.
I can also keep my old sheets so when I can’t think of what to eat I can look at them for ideas.
I’ve got a good feeling about this.

 

The Most Important Part

I’m sure if you’re wanting to lose weight or change your lifestyle you’ve seen hundreds of quotes and images about needing to love yourself. If you’ve hated yourself for as long as you can remember like me, this is a really hard one to get your head around.
Every time I thought negatively about myself my boyfriend would tell me to stop thinking about it and start thinking about positives and I would get so mad at him for not understanding that it wasn’t possible for me to do that, not in that frame of mind.
Now I’m finally starting to get it. No switch went off, there was no defining moment of change, it just slowly happened. I don’t stand in front of the mirror and tear myself down anymore and more importantly I don’t understand why I ever did. Did I enjoy it in some sadistic, self sabotaging way? I have no clue.
The first step was realising that I needed to change my way of thinking, despite being told over and over, I needed to realise for myself. I knew I couldn’t become fit and healthy by hating myself. I just didn’t know how to start loving myself.
One day, for no reason in particular, I googled “how to love yourself” and I found this page:
http://www.abundancetapestry.com/how-to-love-yourself-in-17-ways/
It’s nothing I hadn’t heard before, but everything started to change. This won’t work for everyone struggling with themselves, but the point is, you have to find something that will work. You have to try and try and never give up, because you have to. There is absolutely no point in hating yourself. Where will it get you?
I’m proud to say that I love myself, I love my body and I love who I am. That doesn’t mean I don’t see room for improvement but I think that because of this love I’ve discovered I can now more effectively lose weight because I’m not eating certain things just to lose weight but to nourish my body and do what’s best for it because I deserve it.
Quote and Illustration by Lori Weitzel

Cheat Day

I’ll keep it short and sweet. Everyone’s got a different opinion on cheat days, and honestly, you just have to do whatever works for you. I have one day a week off from eating clean. The point isn’t to shove yourself full of crap until you feel sick just because you can but if you’re anything like me you’ll probably need to do that a few times to learn the lesson for yourself.
If I could give any tips I’d say try to plan a cheat day around events that you may be tempted or if you’ve got nothing on then have it the last day of your weekend, otherwise you’ll probably just end up taking the whole weekend off, starting again on Monday and hating yourself on Tuesday. Most importantly, enjoy it!! and don’t beat yourself up for it later.

Kim’s Confidence Class

I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of Kim Kardashian but she has some pretty damn good points in this article I photocopied out of this months Cosmo. Definitely worth the read.