Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Just Lose It Challenge: I want to live to be 100

I always say, “I want to live to be 100!” But what was I really doing to ensure that?

After attending the kickoff meeting for the Just Lose It Challenge, the speaker spoke about a study they did on centarians (people who live past 100) and my ears perked up. I think I started to cry at one point because in the past I was not taking it serious. I do want to love a long, healthy life…but I know I wasn’t treating my body like I wanted to.

Here are the top five things that’s centarians have in common:

1. Have strong social groups (positive)-Having a network of friends feeding you POSITIVE energy will prolong your life! Yes, simple, huh. Get rid of negative friends. Laugh EVERY day. This helps you to stay on track and focused.

2. Gardens-They all had their own garden. If you can’t have your own garden, shop at the Farmer’s market often. Fruits and veggies in their natural state (raw) is the best for you.

3. Smarts-They continues developing their minds, always learning new things. Keep your brain active!

4. Active-They did something active every day! And when you’re doing your activity, LOVE IT, don’t make it out of a choir.

5. Small portions or non-processed foods-Eat till you are half full! Pick foods that have not been processed. Nothing from a box, can, bag or frozen or additives added to it.

These five steps look pretty darn easy to me! So I will do my best to live my life according to these five rules, not just for weight loss, but just to have the healthiest body for the longest time.

Week 1 Just Lose it Results: 4 pounds down!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Just Lose It Challenge: Go all in!

I will start a 12 week challenge starting tomorrow. I am going all in! The last few weeks I have been lax with my healthy lifestyle. Been eating frozen entrees, eating way too many not so good for me protein bars, snacking on pretzels a few of my kids tata tots and fries here and there….yes, you get the picture.

Although my workouts are always full out, my eating needs a lot of help. A LOT! I don’t have a whole lot to lose, but what I do have to lose is even harder to get off than someone who has to lose 100 pounds. The only way I know I can be successful is to eat totally clean, totally unprocessed foods.

I will drink 12+ cups of water a day. Twelve is my magic number. Anything less than that I am dehydrated. Most days I try and aim for 16, but on average 14 most days. I will *try* and stick to plain water, but I am addicted to Crystal Light and will add that to maybe half of it. Also, my first cup of the day will be warm water with juice of about one lemon in it. This is MAGIC to the body! Trust me, you have to make this a daily habit.

NO ADDED SALT! Very, very, very hard for me! I am a salt addict, forget the sugar, I’ll pick salt over it anyway. By eating more unprocessed foods, that will eliminate added salt to foods. When I cook my veggies…no added salt. When I eat my chicken, fish, even eggs….no salt. No boxed foods, no foods from a bag, no frozen entrees, all loaded with salt.

No sugar! I don’t add much sugar to things, but I will be cutting out any kinds of breads, cereal, sweet treats, cookies and candy. Which brings me to….

LIMITED CARBS! Cutting out all the bad culprit carbs, but keeping the good ones. Jeannette Jenkins thinks oatmeal should be the only carb for the day. Well, I’ll try and add that and a bit of quinoa and maybe Ezekiel bread. Everything else, I’m cutting completely out, at least for the next 12 weeks.
No cheese. Bad for my belly because I am lactose intolerant, plus, I like all the fatty cheeses! And I always overeat it! Two, it bloats you like crazy anyway.

I think doing all these things will help get me back to my goal weight in the quickest amount of time.