Okay, this is totally embarrassing…posting photos of myself with my abs showing! UGH!!! But I am doing it, mostly as a reminder to myself to stay healthy but also in hopes that maybe it may motivate others to get fit and stay fit. I recently participated in the Gold’s Gym Fitness challenge. I am proud of my results. It wasn’t easy…nothing worth really having in life comes easy. Take childbirth, for example. Anyway, here they are…
The Befores.
And the Afters:
The stats: I lost 16 pounds and 6.5 inches around my waist, 2.25 inches from each thigh…oh, and half an inch from my neck (weird…not sure why they measure that) in three months. I had help. I trained at Gold’s with Dan the Man my trainer. He kept me accountable and pushed me harder in my workouts than I ever push myself. He also continually asked me about my diet. Oh, how I hate that four-letter-word! I love to eat! And drink. For me, working out is fun…if not fun, then it is definitely stress relieving. I always feel good after working out…even if my work-out was not all that good. So, obviously, lack of exercise was not why I was overweight.
I honestly I think that for me, 80% of fitness is a result of my diet. I have tried everything! Adkins, Southbeach, The cabbage soup diet, Weight Watchers, counting calories, logging food, eating the same boring thing day after day, Fit or Fat, you name it, I’ve tried it. And they work. If you following any of these diets they will work. But for me, they never worked for very long. And most of them, I felt worse on the diet than I did eating my own way. Lack of carbs will leave you feeling tired. Logging food and tracking points is time consuming and somewhat complicated. My whole day revolved around food: “well, if I eat this for breakfast, I can have that for lunch and then maybe I will have enough points left over to have a glass of wine with dinner…” Dan taught me the way I should be working out to build muscle and lose fat. He really knows his stuff. But when it came to my diet, logging food just wasn’t working. I wasn’t seeing any results. And then I met Allison and Jenn.
Have you heard of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution? Who hasn’t? Anyway, Jenn and Allison have started a food revolution right here in Boise. These are two fit women! After being asked time and again what they eat, they finally decided to develop a program. I am not going to call it a diet because that word has with it the connotation (although not the actually meaning) of something that you do temporarily to lose weight. Colorfuel is a lifestyle. One, I think we should all be living. Their motto is Real Food for Real People with Real Lives. It is clean, healthy eating…and they take all of the guesswork out of it. For $30.00 a month you receive a grocery list and 35 recipes. You eat five meals a day, each already formulated for your specific caloric needs. All you have to do is choose what you want to eat and prepare your own meals. Knowing you have every ingredient for every meal, you don’t have to think about it. Just grab your recipe and your ingredients and within 30 minutes you will be dining on a delicious, healthy meal. And they aredelicious. Jenn and Allison create all of the recipes themselves and are now under the guidance of a registered dietitian.
Within the first week of my new lifestyle, I felt results. Not so much in the way my pants fit but in my energy levels, my mood, the way I slept, and the way I looked at food. Instead of eating for comfort, I started eating for fuel. I felt better in my work-outs and started getting stronger. Then my pants started getting baggier. Was I hungry? Yes. Weight loss comes with a little hunger, that is all there is to it. I had come to a place where the feeling of being full replaced the feeling of being satisfied. There is a big difference. Full is too much. Satisfied is just right and will keep you going until you start to feel hungry again about two hours later and then enjoy your next meal. Again, satisfied…not full. Does it take some work? Yes. It takes time to prepare meals using real food; fruit, vegetables, yogurt, whole grains, nuts and lean protein. It is much easier to grab a frozen tray, zap in the the microwave for 2 minutes and eat. It is much easier to grab a cardboard bar full of processed and artificial ingredients than it is to pull out the blender, measure your ingredients and make a smoothy. But, I had to remind myself that it is laziness and placing convenience over good health, that got me fat to begin with. Plus I didn’t really realize how much better real food was than convenient food…even convenient food marked as “all natural” or “low-fat.”
Doesn’t this look more appealing than styrophome? These are some of the ingredient for a lean steak stir-fry. It feels so good knowing I am preparing food that is healthy for both me and for my family.
This is my favorite lunch recipe. Chicken & Quinoa Waldorf Salad. Full of good, tasty ingredients. There is nothing bad about this salad!
Protein Pancakes. Perfect for a post Saturday morning work-out.
Another favorite…Chicken Pizza…OH YEAH!!! Loaded with veggies!!!
This is what your refrigerator will look like after your first shopping trip. It will be full of good food, but don’t worry, you will eat it! My first month’s shopping bill was a little more but you will see a subsequent drop in your grocery bill as you go…shopping mostly around the perimeter of the store.
Are you interested? Do you want to feel great and look great too? Tired of counting calories? Do you want to sleep great at night, feel rested when you wake up and have energy all day long? Do you want to change the way you look at food? Do you want to feel good about what you are feeding yourself and your family? Do you want to lose that belly fat? Are you tired of working out like crazy and not seeing any results? Do you want to know what quinoa is?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then this lifestyle is for you. Leave a comment…saying YES!!! Jenn and Allison have generously offered a free month of Colorfuel to one lucky winner. Oh, and you don’t have to live locally…they can get the program to you easily via email. So, leave a comment. The first 20 people to respond will be entered into a drawing for a free month!
For more information or to get started, click on the ColorFuel logo below.
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