Time to Regain What I've Lost....

So here I am. You can probably already tell that from the title of this post what this blog is going to be about. Some months ago I started this blog and was more determined than ever to become healthier and make some lasting changes in my life. I started exercising more and really started paying attention to what I ate and how much I was eating. For the first couple of weeks things were going great! I felt amazing after every workout and was so proud of myself for making better food choices. However, I once again fell of the bandwagon. I slipped right back into my old habits and quickly lost interest in exercising. Now, the exercise DVDs are starting to collect dust and there is no longer fresh fruit and yogurt in  my fridge. They have been replaced with Ghost Adventures season DVDs and junk food. Of course I also got busy with things in my  life. I still work full-time and sometimes overtime at my regular job, but I also became the personal photographer for an artist out of Boston Mass. Now I am constantly driving back and forth to Boston. It's a two hour drive each way which is no big deal really, but as you can guess if I got hungry while on the road it was easiest to swing through a drive through. When staying in Boston overnight it wasn't about bringing healthy foods with to keep in my mini fridge in my room, it was what restaurant am I going to eat at tonight? For anyone who lives or frequents Boston you know there is plenty of choices. I simply seemed to forget about living healthy.

Now here I am, I can tell I have put on weight simply by the way my clothes are fitting. I don't need to get on a scale to know this. I was recently caught in some pictures with my god-daughters while playing with them one day. I was appalled at how I looked in these photos. I am posting one here, just to show. It's time that I stop hiding these photos. I need to stop being a ashamed of them and start using them as motivation to make some lasting permanent changes in my life.

The photo to the right was taken just a few weeks ago. I cannot even begin to tell you how I felt when I saw this and the rest of the photos taken that day.

How do I turn this around? How can I make lasting changes in my life to make me a healthier a person? How do I stick to this vision I have in my head? So many things have been smacking me in the face telling me that I need to do this, that it's coming down to not a matter of wanting to do it, but MUST do it. I have chronic lower back pain and hip pain. There are days when it is hard for me to get out of bed. I have x-rays, MRIs and even nerve conduction studies done to determine that there was no significant injury to my lower back. These all came back clear with the exception of the nerve study. I was and still am having numbness in my outer left leg. It was determined from the nerve study that my cutaneous nerve is most likely being pinched. This can be caused by a few different things. Pregnant women can experience this from their growing bellies pressing on this nerve. As you can probably guess if you are overweight and carry a lot of your excess weight in the abdominal region this too cannot also pinch that very nerve. That is what the doctor is fairly certain is happening to me. His advice: Lose weight. No kidding doc! You need a medical degree for that one? sheesh....

So here I am back at square one once again. Seems like I always find myself here so matter what I do. However, this time must and will be different. I need to make some serious changes in my life and stick to them! I have to be my own motivator and listen to what is in my heart and not what my head is telling me to do. I can make lasting improvements to my health and reap the rewards. No one ever said it was going to be easy, they just said at the end it would be worth it!

Beachbody!

Hey all it has been quite some time since I last posted. Honestly I took a big fall off the wagon and am now working to get my butt back on it! So here we go again, but this time I have a bit of trick up my sleeve that will hopefully help me get back on the wagon and STAY on that wagon! My secret? BEACHBODY!

It's really no secret that I use Beachbody products such as Turbo Jam and Turbo Fire. They are FANTASTIC programs! Beachbody is also behind such programs as P90x and Insanity as well as Shakeology! I have been a member of the team beachbody community for while now, however I just recently went the extra step and became a Beachbody Coach! What does this mean? Basically I am committed to not only making myself healthier, but also others. I am now a product of the product. I can help recommend products for you and help you achieve your fitness goals! I can even show you how YOU can become a Beachbody Coach! How cool is that?? Plus as you are reaching your fitness goals you can be reaching financial goals as well! And hey if you sign up now to be a coach the initial coaches fee is waived! It doesn't get any better than that right!!! If you are interested in ANY of the Beachbody products or want to take that next step and become a coach feel free to contact me at mbgetshealthy@beachbodycoach.com or simply go to my profile: www.teambeachbody.com/MBGetshealthy and take a look around! Click on SHOP to view all of the Beachbody products or click on COACH to learn a little more about being a coach and remember right now the initial coaches fee is WAIVED! Now is certainly the time to join my AMAZING team of coaches!

I hope everyone is well and working towards reaching their fitness goals! You know you CAN, I know you CAN....Let's Get This!

XOXO, MaryBeth

A Big Thank YOU!!!

Just want to post something really quickly. I just want to thank everyone that has given and shown me support through my first week or so of turning my life around and beginning my journey to a healthier me! It has been overwhelming to see all the support and well wishes from people who are from all over the country and the world. I am on twitter and the support from my followers has at times moved me to tears. This morning I got the sweetest tweet from my friend Helly. I wanted to cry after reading the tweet it meant so much to me, so thank you girl! You are my inspiration and your support and guidance is more than I could have ever asked for. Secondly I need to give a big thank you to my Beachbody coach Tera A.K.A Girl Gone Healthy. She got me into the whole Beachbody community and its because of her that I gave Turbo Fire a shot. Next on my list of tries is Shakeology. However, I definitely recommend checking out Tera's website at: Girl Gone Healthy for amazing tips, product reviews and great advice on how you too can change your life around for the better.

As for me? I am in my second full week of Turbo Fire! The program is intense but so much fun! I am actually getting to the point where if I don't do a workout I don't feel quite right! AMAZING!!! I never thought that I would have that mind set! I have lost 2.5lbs so far! It feels great to finally see the numbers getting smaller! I am slowly making healthy changes to my diet as well. Trying to make smart choices for foods and substituting good foods for unhealthy foods. I already feel happier everyday knowing that I am making these positive changes! My muscles hurt everyday after my Turbo Fire work outs, but as the old saying goes...no pain, no gain!!

XOXO,
MaryBeth

Portion Control....Your Best Friend...

So todays post is a bit more of a reminder than anything else. So you're eating the right foods and exercising, yet you aren't seeing movement on the scale right? I have had the same problem. Then I really started looking hard at not just what I was eating, but also just how much I was eating too. I noticed that even though I was eating healthier foods I was still not eating the correct portions. So now I carefully watch not only what I eat, but how much of it I eat as well. For instance, the meats we buy are always in large portions. I purchased a scale and now cut the proper portion off of the original piece of meat. I have all new measuring cups and spoons to meansure out everything I need. My next purchase to make eating proper portions super simple for us is to get the portion plates. I have seen these while cruising websites and the internet and they seem to be catching on with people. The plates make it super easy on portion sizes! Below you can find a link to a site where you can get your own portion plates. Will you be getting one or more? 

To get a little off topic for a moment...I weighed in today and I am down a total of -1.8 pounds since last week! Seeing this drop in the scale has made me more determined than ever to keep doing the right things and making smarter healthier choices. I have been receiving a lot of support from my online friends via twitter and facebook. This means the world to me as I don't have a very strong support systerm here at home to push me when I'm feeling down. However these friends of mine have shown me that with a little willpower and support, I can do anything that I want to do. As the saying goes..."Reach for the moon, and if you happen to miss you will land among the stars" I don't know about you, but even landing on a star sounds pretty awesome to me! Don't forget to check out the links below for the portions plates and proper food portion sizes. They are always great things to keep handy I think. 

The Portion Plate

My Pyramid

XOXO,

MaryBeth

Starting The Journey

My journey begins now! Growing up I was always a pretty active and athletic child. I played sports and was always into something new. I loved soccer and rollerblading. Sometime around becoming a teenager I began gaining weight. Not just the weight that may be associated with a girl going through body changes. As I headed into high school was fairly big. If I remember correctly I was a size 16/18. I maintained that size pretty much all through high school. After high school and being in a bad relationship I started gaining weight again and pretty rapidly. I had a feeling something wasn't quite right and consulted my doctor about. Around that same time my grandmother and mother were discovering that they both had hypothyroidism. You probably know that, that means that their thyroids are under active and that as a result they have slower metabolisms. My doctor decided that I should have my thyroid checked for the same thing as this may be a reason for my weight gain. I did indeed have hypothyroidism. I was put on levothyroxin and spent the next couple of years fighting to remember to take my meds everyday as well as get the correct dosage. I struggled with weight loss and tried many quick result schemes to no avail. I figured I was destined to be heavy all my life. I just couldn't find the motivation to stick with any kind of program. So let's fast forward shall we....

Here we are in 2010. I am 26 years old and by all medical definitions I am obese. I am still dealing with my hypothyroidism, but it's currently under control with the proper dosage of meds. However something recently inside of me clicked. Times are changing and people are changing. More and more people are striving to be healthier and live their lives healthy. More and more people are exercising and eating healthy. I have decided that not only do I want to be that person, I NEED to be that person. Not for anyone else, but for me. I don't want to be the girl who has a heart attack at thirty because I am overweight. Nor do I want to have to deal with the potential for high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or even diabetes. I must start taking better care of myself. So how will I do this? I have devised a plan....

First, I am working on changing my eating habits. I don't eat a lot of junk food, but I have the most un-strict eating schedule. You see I work third shift so I don't currently have a disciplined eating schedule. Plus more often than not I miss lunch or dinner and sometimes both due to being asleep. My goal is to get on a sleep/eating schedule so that I am eating enough throughout the day so that my body doesn't go into starvation mode.Plus I will be getting healthier foods into the house. I still live at home with my folks due to school loans and living in an expensive area. They don't pay much attention to what kinds of foods are in the house. There's always chips and junk food in the cabinets. Plus we have always been a very red meat and potatoes kind of family. So I am making a point to make sure the cupboards and fridge are stocked with healthy food choices for me and for them if they choose to eat those as well.

Second, what's eating healthy without exercise right? RIGHT! I will be doing an exercise program as well. I recently ( like within a week) have started the workout program Turbo Fire. It's an amazing full body, high intensity cardio workout. It even includes some HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) as well. I am still new and learning all the moves, but even doing the new to class portion has me sweating a bunch. I am also going to be purchasing a new bike. I loved bike riding as a kid and we have lots of wonderful trails in my town for one to ride. I even broke out my roller blades! I am basically just trying to be as active as I possibly can be while keeping it fun.

So, that's me and my plan in a nutshell. If you made it all the way to the end here and I grabbed your attention join me for my journey. I expect to hit some twists and turns and even bumps along the way, but I look forward to the challenge of discovering a new, leaner, healthier me.

XOXO,
MaryBeth