WRITTEN ON November 9th, 2009 BY Sandy AND STORED IN Motivation
Tags: exercise, getting started, workout
Everything we ever want to do or achieve we actually have to start somewhere and that can seem so impossible sometimes. When I first lost my job in February, I knew I wanted to start an indie business and a design inspiration blog. I figured it was a great way to make extra income and have something to show for this massive gap in employment.. or better yet.. live my dream of my own business.. but the idea of going from an idea to an actual product line, months of content and readers.. orders.. it all seemed so hard and far away. Like with anything, if you put the time in results will follow over time. We just need patience and dedication and faith in our hard work. Weight loss needs to be thought of as.. start today.. and in 2 or 3 months or so I’m going to be one of those people laughing at how baggy my clothes have gotten. It does happen…
A few years ago I lived in NYC and walked everywhere, worked out 2-3 times a week and started getting smart about food choices (but never counted calories). I ended up losing 60lbs over a year. Here are a few starting out food tips that are musts… no soda, no fast food, no fried food, egg whites only, fat free milk, low fat cheeses, whole grains, little to no red meat, light to fat free salad dressings and small portions. Over a long period of time, this worked for me. Then I moved to FL for 18 months and suddenly I wasn’t walking anymore and didn’t join the gym. I biked a little but not enough. The food choices were anything but healthy and I was going out to lunch everyday with people who were not concerned with food choices. I gained 30lbs back. Now living in LA, last year I joined the gym but wasn’t motivated.. suddenly I had had enough.. my clothes were tight and I was over being chubby.. I started working out 5 days a week for an hour a day at the gym. I also ate beyond healthy.. and probably not enough calories. I obsessed. I lost 30lbs in 10 weeks. I felt good.. but started to have an unhealthy relationship with food.. I was afraid to eat certain things and I also weighed myself sometimes twice a day..
I’ve gained control again and started allowing foods back into my life but also I’m up 10lbs again and never ended up hitting my goal weight (yet). With my very limited funds I had to cancel my gym membership and start hiking and walking everywhere for exercise.. Forced exercise.. like a walk to the bank, post office.. are great ways to add a little something to everyday.. depending on where you live.. try and take advantage of this.. it really helps.
One of my old co-workers just put up on her Facebook that she ran a half marathon yesterday.. Amazing! I’m so proud of her. She was one of those people who, last year, when I was working out like crazy.. would say, “I totally need to start that…” while munching on the office snacks in the center of the room.. So it doesn’t matter where you start.. but just that you do. Results will follow over time.. just know they will to help yourself stay motivated.
Thanks, Jen, for putting together this group! It’s so important to encourage each other and talking about food and exercise.. when you find yourself too busy or not focused on planning ahead your food and workouts you can easily slip.. and slip once and the 2nd time is that much easier too.. Be tough with yourself!
Good luck everyone!!
CONTINUE READING - LEAVE A COMMENT (1)
WRITTEN ON November 9th, 2009 BY jen wallace AND STORED IN Motivation
Tags: giveaway, Motivation, prize
My personal goal for the #indielbs weight loss challenge is to lose 25 lbs. To be honest, I could do with losing more, but that’s my goal for now. I think it’s a realistic goal & one that I should be able to reach in a healthy way in 3-4 months. To help motivate myself, I’ve decided that I will treat myself to a small indie purchase for every 5 lbs that I lose. Yes, I am an indie made addict and that will help motivate me!
To help motivate you, 8 indie shops (all who are participating in #indielbs) have donated goodies for a prize. Hopefully, the idea of a prize will remind you to walk on by that tray of donuts at work and pass on dessert when out for dinner. And hopefully, the fact that there are others sharing their goals and offering support will help you make a commitment to a healthier you!
To join #indielbs and enter the giveaway
Leave a tweet on Twitter with your weight loss or maintenance goal (remember, the holidays are coming up) & make sure to include the hash tag #indielbs in your tweet. Also, send me an email to confirm your entry. One #indielbs participant will be chosen to win the goodies. The giveaway will end December 31st, 2009. Anyone can join #indielbs, but please only those who are committed to participating in the weight loss/maintenance challenge.
Make sure to visit the lovely shops of the prize donaters to drool over their wares and see what you could win!
- Cut Out and Collect
- Daisy Janie
- megan auman
- Scoutie Girl
- Blend Creations
- fin+roe
- Pink Loves Brown
- Snapdragon Beads
CONTINUE READING - LEAVE A COMMENT (2)
WRITTEN ON November 8th, 2009 BY taragentile AND STORED IN Motivation
Tags: goal, lifestyle change, Motivation
I’ve never been one for lots of weigh ins, counting calories, or really numbers of any kind. It’s just too easy to get get obsessive about those things.
My goal this time around is to find a happy medium between my pre-pregnancy weight – which was pretty low – and my current weight – which is the very high end of acceptable for me. In the long run, I’m looking for a real lifestyle change – the thing weight loss experts suggest is the key to success. When I was at my lowest weight, I was a bookstore manager, walking 5 miles at top pace throughout the store 6 days a week, not to mention, lifting 45lb magazine boxes on a regular basis.
Now, I’m working from home, blogging, designing, and being a mom. Worse, some of my most productive time is spent working while sipping a delicious caffeinated beverage at some wifi hot spot! So truly, my old habits no longer cut it. I need to figure out how to up my activity and lower my empty-calorie intake.
In the short term, I envision my goal much more simply: I have a pair of size 8 Lucky Brand jeans that I could wear in January but no longer fit. Yeah, I want to wear those again…
How do you envision your goals? What motivates you to keep moving in the right direction?
{photo credit: Dru Bloomfield via flickr}
CONTINUE READING - LEAVE A COMMENT (3)
WRITTEN ON November 7th, 2009 BY samhirst AND STORED IN Motivation
Hi there! My name is Sam and I’m really happy to be here. After my two children were born, and I lost all the baby weight, I was so pleased with myself that I put away my scale. And I stopped walking every day. And I started eating cake as a snack a few times a week. You would think that I would have noticed the few pounds I started gaining even without the scale, but I didn’t. You see, I’m a 6 ft. tall woman, and one of the benefits of that is that a few pounds doesn’t really show. The downside is that I was able to gain 25 pounds before my pants got too small. So that’s where I am now, ready to lose those 25 pounds. I found my scale and am planning to make small, incremental changes each week until I reach my goal. I’ll be here each week with to share one or two of the changes I’ve made, and I hope you’ll share yours with me too. First on the list: No Cake! I’ve made it for three days so far…wish me luck!
CONTINUE READING - LEAVE A COMMENT (2)
WRITTEN ON November 6th, 2009 BY carey b. AND STORED IN Motivation
I’ll start off by saying I’m no weight loss expert. But two years ago, I lost 40 lbs of previous post baby weight and too much Mickey D’s, and kept it off until having baby number three. Now that he’s a year old, and I’m still hanging on to 20 or so pounds (I started my diet last week an am down 4-5 lbs) that I’d really like to get rid of. It’s taken me a while to get to this point, where I could find the movitation to get losing again. It’s tough- really tough. I’d rather eat what I want, when I want, but I have to accept that I no longer have my 18 year old metabolism, I have an {almost} 33 year old metabolism.
So here’s my weight-loss plan in a nutshell. First off, I started by buying some new clothes. You’re probably thinking why do I want to dress this body- I’d rather dress my new one. Yes- that’s true. But I was tired of feeling frumpy. I knew that buy finding some clothes that fit, and fit well, that could hide some lumps I hate, that I’d start to feel better about myself. I got my hair cut, dyed, I don’t leave the house without at least a small amount of makeup and really try to have at least done something with said hair cut. I find it’s easier to lose weight because I’m happier with myself. So that was step one.
Step two- I’ve been paying for ediets.com for over a year, and using it sporadically at times. So two weeks ago, we (my husband is doing it along with me) went in, chose our meals and snacks and hit the grocery store. For those of you struggling with calories, meals, figuring out what’s best and what’s not so good- ediets, for me anyway, is a God send. You choose the meal plan you’d like to follow- there’s a “Mediterranean” Diet, a low-glycemic plan (what I’m doing) and a ton of other plans to choose from. You put in your starting weight, and your goal weight. For me, my meals are 400 calories and my snacks are around 100 calories. It’s not easy to come up with a 400 calorie meal, and there are at least 20 pretty filling meals available to choose from for dinner. You can choose meals to make for breakfast and lunch (all separate recipes), or you can do a part convenience food plan (meals like Lean Cuisine, etc). This is easier for me as I’m home with one year old, and a business and don’t really want to take the time to cook. The system then provides you with a complete shopping list of everything you’ll need. If you’re feeding a family- just multiply the amounts appropriately.
If this doesn’t sound like your thing- that’s ok! Check out magazines like Cooking Light, buy a Weight Watchers cook book- but the most important thing is to plan out a WEEKs worth of meals and snacks. You’ll know exactly what you’re eating and you’ll have the appropriate food on hand . But planning is key. That way, you don’t find yourself starving with the only thing on hand being your kids leftover halloween candy.
Well, that’s all from this side of the Peanut Gallery. I’ll probably be focusing on convenience food reviews (you can check out my previous blog of reviews at www.healthygoodeats.blogspot.com), snack ideas and categorizing them by calorie count, so they’ll be easy to find. And if anyone does decide to do Ediets along with me- let me know! I’m happy to offer up more info about the program and how to get the most of out it.
Happy Losing!
Carey
CONTINUE READING - Comments Off
WRITTEN ON November 5th, 2009 BY jen wallace AND STORED IN Dinner, Lunch, Vegetarian
For lunch I had some homemade tofu noodle soup and a salad made with our CSA vegetables. Filling & light!
The recipe for the soup is from May All Be Fed by John Robbins, which is one of my favorite vegan cookbooks. The recipes are always fantastic and please even meat eaters. You can find the recipe for the soup HERE.
CONTINUE READING - LEAVE A COMMENT (2)
WRITTEN ON November 5th, 2009 BY jen wallace AND STORED IN Info about #indielbs
Here is a banner you can use to link to this blog.
CONTINUE READING - Comments Off
WRITTEN ON November 4th, 2009 BY jen wallace AND STORED IN Info about #indielbs
Hi, it’s Jen from Indie Fixx and things are in the planning stages for the the weight loss challenge for the indie design community called #indielbs, named after the twitter trend that erupted all when I tweeted I wanted to lose 25 pounds. Apparently, a lot of other people are interested in losing weight and focusing on health and better eating habits as well!
The goal of #indielbs is to offer support and motivation for those who want to lose or maintain their weight to lead a healthier and more satisfying life. Both this blog and the twitter trend #indielbs will be utilized towards this goal.
Although we will be sharing advice, remember that it’s always a good idea to consult your health care professional about your weight loss goals. We are just regular folks like you and not health care professionals, so we can’t take the place of them, but can share our results and info we come across.
If you are interested in posting on the blog, send me an email.
