Find What Motivates You- Guest Speaker: SUMMER

Hey y’all!

Becca asked me to appear on the blog as a guest blogger. I should probably tell you a little bit about myself before I go into too much detail about my journey.

My name is Summer. I am a 21 year old college student, studying History and Political Science in North Carolina. I met Becca when I was 12 or 13 years old. We were best friends in middle school, but lost contact after we went to different high schools freshman year and then I ultimately moved away. I was so excited to reconnect on Facebook and even more excited to see her weight loss journey. 

Now, about my journey. All throughout my life I have been extremely athletic. I played every sport you could think of as a kid and in high school I was a state champion golfer. I took care of my body and loved being in shape. I think when I started to struggle with keeping in shape was right when I turned 15. I tore my ACL and subsequently had to have major knee surgery. I went through the surgery and rehab and came out in really good shape, but when I started to have complications and needed a second surgery on my knee I began to lose my drive to stay fit. However, I did maintain my weight until I went to college.

First semester of college I didn’t gain anything. I fluctuated here and there, but for the most part I stayed the same. Second semester was a whole new story though. I began to take a new medication and instantly my weight shot up. I, however, was in denial. I stayed in denial until the summer after my sophomore year when I went shopping for shorts and I had gone up 4 pants sizes. I worked out and “ate right” that summer and dropped a few pounds, but the weight went right back on once the semester started and the crazy schedule began.

At the beginning of this year, I promised myself I wouldn’t ignore my weight issue anymore. While I didn’t have the time to exercise at the gym frequently, I did do little things that helped me get more active. One thing I started doing was taking the stairs whenever the option was there, even when I was running late. I also started eating the right sized portions in the spring. I wasn’t eating the most balanced things, but I had cut back. I lost 7 pounds easily doing that.

Now that I have moved into my own place, I have really been able to focus on eating clean and eating right. I have started exercising regularly too. I run every other day and have been following the Air Force Basic Training Prep program to work my way up to a healthy running habit. Since I was such an avid athlete and still consider myself to be one, only recovering, I love to do things that make me pour sweat and really feel my workout when I am done. Because of that I have adopted an intense body weight routine that I do in my apartment daily. Since I started regularly doing all of this I am down 20 pounds overall for the year and at my lightest I have been in almost two years.

I really want to encourage you not to lose your motivation. It is so hard to lose weight, but I promise you will see results and that you will meet your goal. Some tips I do want to pass on to you. 1) Don’t weigh yourself daily, then everything becomes about the number, not about how you look and feel. 2) Results take time, patience is a virtue, especially when it comes to weight loss. 3) Surround yourself with people who motivate you to be better, not bring you down. Coming to Becca’s blog is a great way to start finding the positive influence you need. I can never begin to thank Becca enough for all her motivation and helpfulness on my journey.

I hope you have a successful journey. If I can help you in anyway, just contact Becca and she can get you in touch with me!

Healthy Living,

Summer

From Becca:

If you would like to hear more from Summer, leave a comment or e-mail me! We can try to get her back on the blog again. 

Thanks Summer for appearing on the blog, you are a true inspiration!!!

Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30: Bliss

Dear Readers,

Tomorrow completes my first week of Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30! I am feeling WONDERFUL!!! It's really a love hate relationship. During the workout, I HATE IT. After the workout, I recommend the workout to you! It works!! I can feel every muscle in my body. One of my friends told me its for girls. However, my boyfriend would beg to differ. Wes is a lifter and a runner, and it still kicks his tail! 

The great thing about this DVD IS its ONLY 20 MINUTES!!! It's fast, but you can TELL  a difference the next morning. Every muscle will be sore! By the end of week four I will post before and after pictures so you can hopefully see the difference. I can feel it, but "seeing is believing", sometimes anyways.

DONT FORGET TO ENTER TO WIN IN THE VI-SALUS GIVE AWAY!!

Happy Healthy Living,

Remember what I looked like before the initial journey?

GIVEAWAY

Dear Readers,

To show appreciation of your reading my blog, and to support you in your health goals, I am starting my first giveaway.

The first giveaway will include one package of Vi-shake mix.

Stay tuned, read the blog, subscribe.

When the giveaway widget is up, ENTER to win! Share it with your friends!

This is my first giveaway. Please be patient with me.

Happy Healthy Living Giveaway Rules

**All entries must be in the continental United States. Cannot mail to Alaska or Hawaii. This is simply because of shipping fees. I will host other giveaways where everyone can participate. I will create a blog announcing the winner. The winner must then e-mail me with their shipping address. After I have received this e-mail, your Vi-shake will be in the mail no later than 7 days after your e-mail was sent. IF THE WINNER HAS NOT CLAIMED THEIR PRIZE AFTER 10 DAYS, a new winner may be chosen.**

Thank you for reading! Good luck!

Giveaway opens June 1, 2013.

This giveaway is not affiliated with Visalus. This is product which I have bought and am giving away to promote health and fitness among my readers.

Life Change

Dear Readers,

Update:
As most of you know, I have been juicing for a while, off and on do to financial circumstances. I was on it for two weeks with my boyfriend, before graduation, and lost around 10 pounds. When I came home, I spent a week juicing once a day and eating the foods my family eats. My mother and sister do not make much money, and I am currently looking for a summer job. By the end of one week, literally seven days, I had enough. I was eating a tortilla chip and looked in the mirror. I instantly dropped the chip and said, I CANNOT DO THIS. When I am not juicing, I feel depressed and aggravated  even bloated. I hate feeling this way. I hate looking in the mirror and seeing the disgusting food loving machine. (Okay that's exaggerating the problem a bit, but in a sense it's also the truth). I confronted my mom and sister, who supposedly believe in juicing. After breaking down on them, we immediately went through the cabinets and took out ALL of the junk. Nothing was left to temp me. We also got rid of all unhealthy appliances, such as the microwave, the deep fryer (which we haven't used in years), the rotisery (not sure how to spell it, but we have only used it once), and the waffle maker (we haven't used this in years, but I am sad to see this go. lol.). We are ready for a clean start.

Life Change: Self-love:
Those of you who have seen Hungry for Change will remember where they discussed self love. The reason we tend to eat, in today's society, is for comfort. We had a hard day at work, dinner: mac-n-cheese, and steak Snack: ice cream. Our boss made us mad and we are already exhausted: Grab a coke. We feel down about how much we weigh, eat three boxes of Fiber One brownies (they're good for you right?) I don't know what YOUR eating habits are, but examine them, often times we eat based on feelings.

We do not accept ourselves. I am very guilty of this one. When I weighed 200 pounds, I'd look in the mirror and feel disgusted. I hated myself. When I lost weight, I barely remember the process, but I fell in love with myself again. I was active, I ate right, I simply enjoyed life at 165. I maintained that weight for two and a half years, granted I had to constantly work on it. I'm now at 168, and feel disgusted with myself yet again. BUT WHY?? I am only three pounds more than I was. I understand I still want to be active and feel healthy, but I did feel that way when I first lost weight. Right now, I hate looking in the mirror. And I don't know why.

I was talking with a friend yesterday, who we will call Doctor Awesome. He reminded me, no one is perfect. Therefore, we can always find something we dislike about ourselves. It is human nature to want to change what we see is wrong. Going back to Hungry for Change, we have to learn to love ourselves.

Each day for one week, I am going to find something positive to say about myself. I will write it down, so I can share it with you next week. I do not know just how this will work, and maybe you will consider me pathetic for doing this, but I do know, when you love yourself, others will be drawn to you. I have proof of that. Let's start an epidemic of self-love and see what change we can make in our bodies, and in other as well.

Happy Healthy Living,

Becca

Back on Track

Dear Readers,

Sorry it has been so very long since I have posted! I was student teaching this semester and attempting to graduate from college. I DID IT! I graduated this past Saturday! Woohoo!! In the whirlwind of grades, lesson planning, projects, and stress, I gained some weight this semester. Quite honestly, I was scared to look, and didn't. If I had to guess I'd say I got up in the upper 170's. I say this based on how my body felt (heavy) and how my clothes fit. I have been out of school for about two weeks now and have been juicing. I was trying to lose some weight before graduation. I DID! I was juicing 2-3 times a day and doing 2 a days in the gym! I lost down to 168!

Hey, that's not bad at all! I know I didn't actually weigh myself, but I definitely lost AT LEAST 6 pounds, but I feel more like I lost 10 or more. I feel lighter, my clothes fit better, and altogether, I am just happier! :)

I am going to continue in my weight loss journey now. I am aiming to be at my  target weight by the end of the summer: 150! Yet I am secretly hoping to be at 145! 145 is the maximum weight for my height to be considered "not overweight." A lot of people have been like, you don't need to lose that much. I am NOT trying to be a stick. But I am SICK of going to a doctor and feeling like when he writes the number down, that he is actually writing in big bold letters STILL OVERWEIGHT.

I am ready to change. And have been ready! So here we go! I weighed myself yesterday. My starting weight loss weight is 168! That's 18 pounds for my goal!! Lets do this!!

I will keep you updated this summer on my progress.

If you have any juicing stories, and would like to share e-mail me! You can even be a guest speaker!

SUBSCRIBE!

Love,

Rebecca :)

Excuses Excuses

Dear Readers,

I must apologize for not writing in so long. My life has been crazy with student teaching and being sick. I am FINALLY feeling much better!!

I don't have much to report on the weight loss front. However, I can tell you, that through juicing, I lost 11 pounds, and when I stopped juicing constantly, because of money issues, adding one juice a day in, has helped me maintain my 11 pounds.

Because of my internship, I am not able to walk around drinking juice all day. I make no money doing this and I can't carry a juicer with me. Therefore, as of this morning, I have decided to combine my original weight loss program, that brought me from 200 pounds to 165 pounds, Advocare, and add some juicing with it.

I am going to order my 24 Day Challenge sometime today (once I remember my user id on the website.) I know these two weight loss ideas work, so what will happen if I combine them? I am hoping for a massive change!!

I will keep you posted as the journey begins!

I only have 5 more weeks until graduation!! So I will be writing more, I hope!

Thanks for all your love and support,

Becca

Juicing and How It Works

My friends,

It is my joy to write to you and to continue sharing my experiences with you. I have been juicing now for almost three weeks. Not straight, and I wish I could tell you I stick to it gun ho, but I haven't.

I will tell you I believe in this!!

This is how I started, and how I continue. I began with taking a 10 day cleanse. I lost 10 pounds. I juiced and ate my vegetables and fruits. This is a great way to start! I actually encourage you to start with eating and juicing. This will get tough. The first two days, you will be strong. You will want to continue and fight. By day three, four, and five, life will get tough. You will want all of your favorite foods!! That's when you need to find a healthy food that you love eating. For me, it's guacamole. Fresh guacamole is good for you, its super tasting, and filling!! It just must be ALL fresh fruits and veggies.

Your body will grow to love these foods. This will be all you want eventually. It will take time though. I can honestly say, I don't crave foods the way I used to.

I will tell you where I fail. I recently went to a party where the food consisted of everything I was not supposed to eat. In fact, there was only one thing I could eat there. What do you think I did? I cheated. I hated myself. And then, it became like starting over. I started having cravings because I allowed myself to get pulled into the sweety richness fake unhealthy foods offer.

Don't cave!! Be tougher than me!! KEEP GOING!!

Because I was bad, I decided to do Juice Fasting when possible. Right now, it's this weekend. It's the only time I am home all day to do it.

I'll let you know how two day fasting goes!!

Good luck all!!

E-mail me with questions, and subscribe to my blog!!!

Happy Healthy Living,

Becca