Couch to 5k Training

Hey Readers,

I am excited to tell you I am starting a new program, couch to 5k! I've already finished Week One. Each week consist of three runs, but I'm too excited to stop at three. It's day 5 and I'm already moving on to Week Two!

When I'm outside running, it feels like nothing can touch me. After I have finished a 30 minute run (which is only 2 miles right now), I feel excited and I have more energy, once I'm cooled down, then when I started!

Have you done Couch to 5K?
How'd it work for you?
Want to start Couch to 5K? Here is a website where you can explore the                         program http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/

Share your story with us in the comments below, or send me an e mail!!

Happy Healthy Living,

Becca

When the Fat Drowns You

Dear Readers,

If you are like me, you have been at a place in your life where you didn't have the money for healthy foods (eating ramen noodels and such) and you no longer had a gym membership and working out outside in the blistering summer heat was not amusing.

After a period of time, you begin to slowly gain inches. Maybe you aren't gaining much weight, but your clothes fit tighter and you feel grossed out each time you look in the mirror. Everything around you begins screaming YOU'RE FAT AND UGLY. The girls on tv, the skinny girls on facebook posting half naked pictures in their bathing suits, and even though you say "Look at them, they look ridiculous posing like that," you are secretly wishing you had their bodies, even if you don't plan on showing them off quite as much as the girls in the picture.

During that time, you go through several phases.

Denial- I'm still in good shape (even though you know you aren't)
Realization- A sad sad part where you just are overwhelmed with weight
Giving up- When you feel like the fat is just drowning you and you don't want to think about trying.
**This should be the storm before the rainbow**
Acceptance and New Eyes- When you accept that you have gained inches and weight and you know its time to do something (at this point you do something about it!)

The first three steps, some of us repeat and  repeat before we get to the last step. Overcoming the feeling of being fat can be incredibly tough! Even when you get the step of Acceptance and New Eyes, you still feel fat for a while.

I went through these stages while I've been moving from South Carolina to Georgia. Life has been hard without having a job (although I have one now, just haven't started getting paid yet), money, or a gym membership. I've let myself stop blogging, stop working out, and stop eating right. Although the last part, I can't really control until I have money.

Yesterday, I looked in the mirror feeling ugly and hating my image, and yesterday I went through the step of Acceptance and New Eyes. I've been successful in completing two days of Couch to 5k training with my iphone. While my battle is not over, I know that I am trying, and that makes me feel better instantly. In about 3 weeks I will begin to see my old self waking up. I will look in the mirror and be able to say, "Hello Beautiful, it's been a while."

While you are on your journey, if you ever feel ugly or fat, just remember, you are beautiful from the inside out! And soon others will see your outward beauty!

Happy Healthy Living,

Becca

Stay tuned to the blog for a post on why we have to keep reliving our weight loss journeys.

Winner of the Vi-Shake Giveaway!

I am happy to announce that Summer has won this Vi-Shake Giveaway!

I am also happy to say, I have a lot of Vi-Salus left! And other things I want to giveaway!

So if you didn't win this time, that's okay. Stay tuned and you can have another chance to win!!

Happy Healthy Living,

Becca

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