how did I start????

I had a very good friend of mine email me the other day and ask me a question.  What she doesn't know is that I have had NUMEROUS people ask me the exact same question..... and when I think back to when I was sooooo depressed and so unhappy with my weight I would ask people this exact same question too!!  and let me tell you... I wanted an answer because it seemed hopeless to me at the time.  At that time I was so out of shape and was so addicted to food I felt like doing anything about it was truly hopeless.... like I was one of those few exceptions of people who just don't have it in them to look good and be thin and in shape.  

So what was the question?
Here it is:

What finally got you motivated enough to actually start?  How did it finally click?  What happened in my brain where I went from being depressed, lazy, and undisciplined to working out, eating right, and ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT???

And here is my honest to God answer.

At this time I was actually still single.  There were a lot of guys that had come my way that I thought were cute or interesting and wanted them to "like" me.  Let me tell you what... Those boys were NOT having it!!!  They didn't notice me or want to date me at all.  I went through quite a few crushes that were not into me at all and so I finally asked a very good guy friend of mine a VERY scary question.  I asked him, point blank, why do none of these guys like me???

He asked me if I really wanted him to tell me the honest truth.... I said yes.  I was ready.  I was ready to hear the HONEST TO GOD TRUTH about what a good looking guy thought about me and why he thought none of the guys I had crushed on crushed on me back.  And here, my friends, is what this wonderful guy reluctantly told me.

He said that he thought I had EVERY single good quality that a guy SHOULD like... and he went on and on about all my positives. He then said.... "so, honestly becca, the only reason I think these guys aren't liking you is because you have gained quite a bit of weight".  

BOOM!!!!!  There it was.... the truth.  I knew it was the truth and as much as it hurt I totally owned it.  He went on to say, "I've known you a long time and I knew you when you were really small.  I know what you CAN look like, and right now you are a lot bigger than you used to be and it doesn't suit you."

Now before you get all in a frenzy and get mad at who told me this, you have to understand something... what he did for me that day I cannot thank him enough for.  I knew that was what was going on, and I just needed someone to finally tell me.  I had so many good friends that I would ask all the time if they thought I looked fat or if I needed to loose weight and for the most part all my friends said I looked great.... but I didn't!!!!  And more importantly I was unhealthy!!!!  It's funny the nature of a lot of women.  Even now I have wonderfully sweet woman friends telling me after seeing my before photos that they still thought I was so pretty.  I really do appreciate that and I know that life is NOT all about what you look like.... but for me, I felt AWFUL!  I wad NOT healthy.  I was tired all the time and depressed.  And my weight was the only thing that kept me down.  I had so many awesome things going for me... I spoke a lot publicly, I sang in front of hundreds, I had an awesome job, I had TONS of friends.... but the bottom line is when I was on those stages or out to dinner with friends I felt so trapped inside my own body I hated it!!!!  I'm a very physically animated person... when I got overweight, it changed parts of my personality!!!!  I didn't want to tell jokes anymore!  I hardly wanted to sing anymore, I didn't want to give tours of my university anymore... I was so out of shape!!!!  So, all of that to say, my friend was right about me.

After hearing that from my friend, it did something to me.  I had a motivation like I had never had before.  For some reason I just KNEW that I was not supposed to look and feel that way a second longer.  I was so tired of wearing size 12, 13, and 14.  I was tired of looking in the mirror and cringing at the thought of meeting the man of my dreams while I looked like that!!!!  I had to change.... and I've never looked back.

So now it's your turn.  Maybe you don't have a single soul in your life to tell you the honest to God truth about the way you look right now.  But let me just say this.... if you are not at an appropriate weight for your height, age, and body type then you do NOT look the way you are supposed to look.  If you are wearing a large size of clothing, then you are NOT the size you are supposed to be.  If you could not jog at a slow pace for a few minutes, then you are NOT at a fitness level that you should be. If you are never eating good healthy life sustaining foods, then you are not eating what you should be eating.  

I'm not that same single girl so I don't have "meeting my man" as my motivation anymore.  Now my motivation is "I want my husband to think I am HOT!!!" Maybe you do (and that is ok), but I do not want my husband to just love me and think I'm pretty because he loves me... NO!!!  I personally want my husband to have the same healthy, in-shape woman that he was first attracted to and married!!!  I want him to want me all the time!  And after I have kids, I know it's gonna be even harder... but by golly, I'm gonna try!!!!!

Now you listen here.... You are NOT a lost cause!!!!!  You literally have the ability inside of you to be the person you want to be!!!!  Even if you have been heavy your whole life, you DON'T have to be!!!!!  God gave you a body that functions in a way that if you do what is good, balanced, and disciplined you can be healthy and in shape!  

If you are JUST starting let this be where you start.  Here are a few small goals to start today!

1.  Write down everything you put in your mouth and track it on thedailyplate.com (or at least write it all down and look up the calories for the items and just see how much you are eating) I'm serious about this one.  You cannot change what you are eating if you really have no clue what and HOW much you are eating.  I think if you really tallied your calories in a day, you might be shocked.

2.  When you eat today, eat a little less than you normally would. For example, eat a little bit smaller portions than normal. Instead of eating the whole huge sandwich, eat half and save the rest for later.  If you eat a bowl of cereal, actually measure out what the box says is the actual serving size.

3. don't let a little feeling of hunger freak you out. 
If you are just starting to limit food, you are going to feel very uncomfortable for a few days.  Maybe even a week.  But just FEEL it!!!!!  It's ok!!!  It is not harmful to your body!!  After a week, your stomach will shrink a little and it won't feel like that. And just say to yourself when you feel those hunger pains, "it's going to be hard... but I can and will do this.  When I feel those hunger pains I am literally loosing weight!"

4. Do some sort of workout.
   Go for a walk.
   Ride a bike
   Get on the treadmill
   Go to a class
   Get on an elliptical 
   Do some intervals- jog 1 
   minute, walk 3- do 30 mins of 
   that
Do something!!!!!!!

Just try these 4 things this week.  You can do it!  It is not rigid or too much to ask of yourself.  This week just start small.

I hope my little story motivates you today!!!  I promise this thing is not easier for some and harder for others.  It is hard for us all!

Happy Monday!

xoxo

30 day challenge

For some reason or another, I have done a pretty good job of allowing eating healthy and working out to become a daily discipline of mine.  That is great and all, but I'm still very disappointed in myself almost daily.  You see, there is a MUCH MORE IMPORTANT daily discipline that I should be doing every single day, and I am going to share with you my journey in the next 30 days to try to make it a habit.

The daily discipline that I desperately need in my daily life is daily reading the Word of God.  I have been a follower of Christ since I was young, so you would think that this would be a no brainer and a non-negotiable in my life.... but somehow throughout the years I have allowed this to not be very important it would seem.  I need a wake up call fo sho! 

So here is what I am going to do.  I am going to make a point to read the word every single day.  I'm going to TRY to get up and do it before work, but if I don't, I will fit it in at some point in my day.  I will let you know how I am doing every so often. 

The reason I feel so strongly about this is because of the example of my parents.  Here they are, John and Brenda.

my sweet daddy

momma.

she looked so pretty at my wedding.  she is such a simple lady.
when she was younger, she had this LONG blonde hair and she parted it down the middle. 

she was hot!

My parents are the 2 greatest living examples of what it means to live like Christ and to be utterly dependent upon Him.  They each get up every single morning and start their day with the Word of God.  They have both read the Bible completely through NUMEROUS times, but they still believe that they need the power and wisdom that only comes from reading God's words.  The Bible is literally the ONLY actual thing that we can read that are His words directly to us.  Amazing...... 

I am determined to be this kind of woman.  I want my children to say of me one day that I was such a woman of God and that I showed them through my actions that the Bible was my main source. 

Right now if someone would look into my life they would think my main sources for life were:  twitter,  reality t.v.,  coffee, talking to my husband  and working out.  As innocent and "good" as some of those things are (excluding reality t.v.... I'm only human)  NONE of these things sustain me. 

When Wade lost his dad in November, we did not look to twitter or t.v. for comfort.  When we had NO IDEA where we should live when we first got married... we didn't look for our answers in the gym.  When I daily feel upset because I haven't found a teaching job yet, twitter is not what gives me hope for my future.  I need the Word of God active in my life.... DAILY.... not just when we are going through hard times.

So, here I go.  I am going to read the word every day.  If I can do it for at least 30 days, it will become a habit! 

What do you need to do for a challenge right now?  It may be that you are the exact opposite of me and you have reading the Word DOWN... and you need to try to work out at least 5 days a week.  Whatever it may be, we all need to be bettering ourselves. 

Let me know what you are going to do for the next 30 days!

Here's to growing!!!
Talk to y'all later!!

xoxo

thank God there is an after

As promised I wanted to show you some before and after photos of me.

I was a chubby little girl, but from the time I was in 7th grade I was always really small. At times I got a little too small, but that is a whole other blog I need to write. That was when I was loosing weight the wrong way.

Anyway.... I was pretty small up until my senior year in college. From then until about 2 years after college I had put on about 40 pounds. The year was 2007 and I was about 175 pounds. Here are the humiliating photos to prove it!

Holy chubby face.

 

It is never a good idea for a chunky girl to wear a choker type necklace.

I almost didn't post this one it is so humiliating.

Large and in charge.

 

Frosted eye make-up

Choker again.

This was my 26th birthday.  I was so huge! and yes, that is a piece of chocolate cake the size of my face...... very fitting

Thank God there is an AFTER!!!!!

Here are a few pictures of me now!!!!

This was me ready for work yesterday.  Friday's are jean day at school.

before I cut my bangs 2 weeks ago

after Taylor cut my hair 2 weeks ago

So I went from 175 pounds to 147.  When I was getting ready for my wedding, I got down to 143, but not now.  I have way more to go!  I have a goal weight and I'll share with you my current journey later.

I truly hope that seeing these pictures of me will give you a little bit of motivation.  There was no quick fix.  I have worked out really hard for the past 5 years and eaten pretty good.  But listen...... I have not done a good job the whole time!  NOT EVEN!  Just yesterday at my school the PTO gave us a catered lunch.  It was from a local Mexican restaurant.  You better believe that I ate some cheese enchiladas, tortillas, beans, and rice... AND sweet tea!  There was a day when after a meal like that, I was DONE!  I would feel like I had just ruined my entire weight loss hopes and would quit!  That is ridiculous!!!  A few terrible meals does not make you automatically gain weight!  I have to keep going.  After eating all of that yesterday I ran 2 miles with Carline and then went and did a 45 minute walk with another teacher friend Lisa.  I can guarantee I didn't burn off all of those calories..... but OH WELL!!!!  There is always tomorrow! 

I tell you all of that to say, loosing weight is a long process.  You DO have to be pretty consistent, but 1 or 2 really bad meals in your week are not going to ruin EVERYTHING!  Just really try to make up for it the next day!

Hope you love the embarrassing "fat girl" pics of me!!! 

Talk to y'all soon!!

xoxo

loosing weight... 1st grade science

As mentioned yesterday I wanted to explain and teach what I have found to be true about the science of loosing weight and building lean muscle...AKA achieving the body of your dreams.  Let me first give you my disclaimer.  I am NOT a nutritionist... yet.  I have plans to get certified through ISSA this summer in personal training and nutrition, but it has not happened yet.  To be a personal trainer and have solid knowledge of nutrition has been a dream of mine for a while.  I don't think I will quit teaching or anything.  I hope to just do training in my spare time.  Therefore, the information I am about to share with you is solely based upon my own personal weight loss experience and the amazing research of others.  I have read numerous books on eating correctly and eating for weight loss and the ones I loved the most all pretty much said the same thing.  So in my layman's terms I will sum up what these books have taught me.  Also, I watch the biggest looser all the time, and what Jillian and Bob teach are the same principles I found in my experience and in the books I read.  And let me just tell you, if those 500 pound people can achieve the bodies they want, you my friend have NO excuse!

Even though the "science" of eating correctly is pretty elementary and basic, it is one of the hardest things to do for almost everyone.  And let me say this too, I understand that there are people out there who have terrible obstacles in their way of loosing weight.  There are medical conditions like thyroid problems and other metabolism issues that could prevent someone from loosing weight by only eating good and working out.. BUT those people are a very VERY small percentage of the population.  If you happen to be one of those very few who suffer from medical issues that prevent weight loss, I truly am sorry, and I hope you are seeking medical attention.  But for the rest of you, it is not complicated, but it is HARD!!!!

So here is the secret...

THERE IS NO DANG SECRET!!!!

In order to loose weight and build lean muscle you must burn more calories than you put into your body, you must work out to a good sweat and breathing hard-- EVERY TIME, and you must build muscle through some type of resistance training.

Let me break it down.

The "burning more calories than you put in" part.  One of the biggest problems I see myself and others do is that they may work out like a maniac, but they have eaten WAY too many calories to ever burn in a single workout.  For example, there is a certain amount of calories your body automatically burns in a day when you are just "at rest". There is a way to know your number.  I'll tell you later.  So let's just use me for an example.  If I want to loose weight right now I cannot eat more than about 1,700 calories in a day.  That is MY number.  I'm a very active person, so your number may be different.  So let's just say that in a day I eat like 3000 calories.  And that is VERY easy to do.....a few cookies, some chips, a burrito.. you get the picture.  If I consumed that many calories, then I would have to work out and burn 1300 calories in that day to not gain weight!!!!  That is VERY hard to do in 1 single workout!  It would take a long time and I could NOT work out that long every day.  For me to burn like 1,300 calories, I would have to run HARD for at LEAST an hour and 1/2 and do some weights after that.  On average I burn about 700 calories in one of my more intense workouts.  So, the bottom line is, I could be working out every single day but eating really bad and not only would I not loose any weight, chances are I would gain!

Most personal trainers will tell you that weight loss is 75-80% what you eat and 25-20% working out.  This is why if I do complete my personal training license, I want to add the Nutrition license to it.  Nutrition is so important.

Now that I have you all confused and mad at me because I gave you all these numbers and what not, I'm going to tell you exactly where you can go to be able to calculate how many calories YOU should be eating every day.

http://www.thedailyplate.com/

I have the "mobil" edition.  It is an app on my phone.  On this site, you just answer questions about yourself and it tells you how many calories you should be eating according to your weight loss goals AND your fitness level.  It's awesome!  I use it every day!  There are other places that do this same thing.  My friend Cindy does Weight Watchers and instead of counting calories, they count points.  It's all the same thing though!

Ok, I think that is enough for your sweet little heads for today.  Tomorrow and the days to follow I will go into more parts of this thang.

I will go into:
-What you should be eating.
-Workouts to try that are worth your time and effort.

Don't get overwhelmed!  Just start!  Just start trying!  You don't have to be perfect, no one is.  But you have to start chipping away at this thing.  You have to start making small changes today!!

Now, get out there and get yo butt in shape!
I'll talk to y'all soon!
XOXO

a sweaty, sweaty mess

Every day after I work out I look in the mirror and see a big sweaty mess!  I wish that I could still look cute after a work out, but it never happens.  The only solace is that when I look that "tore up from the floor up" I feel so good about myself.  I know that I have accomplished what I set out to do, and that is get my tail in shape!  I look around (mainly on t.v. because I'm a t.v. junkie) and see some of the most in-shape women.  And I automatically always, without fail, say to myself, "Becca, you could look as good as some of these women if you did it right".  If I would only do it right!

Definition of do it right- To loose weight and look like the dang women we want to look like there is a science to it.  But what is awesome is, it's not rocket science.  It's easy science... like 1st grade science.  The science is, you must burn more calories than you put into your body AND you must build lean muscle.  There are no crazy diets I can go on, there are no trick pills I can take, there is no "new awesome workout" I can do... I just have to workout HARD regularly and eat correctly.  There are many different opinions on what "eating correctly" means, and you will find out what my opinion is later.  But the bottom line is loosing weight and transforming my body is not complicated... but it is hard.  It is so dang hard to work out almost every day AND to work out to the intensity that it takes to truly change my body.  It is so dang hard to not eat the amazing chocholate cake that my good friend Cindy leaves in the teacher lounge almost weekly.  It is so hard to not eat my body weight in chips and salsa at any Mexican restaurant.  It is so hard to not drink like 4 diet mountain dews a day. 

Discipline of any kind is hard. 

But I want to be a woman of discipline.  I want to look back on my life and know that I was not lazy... that I WAS the person I dreamed of being.  Being the person I want to be and looking the way I want to look is not impossible.  It is totally possible.  But, yes, it will take discipline and modivation.  Luckily I do not do anything in this lifetime alone.  I purposely surround myself with positive, uplifting people who want the same things in life that I want.  I work out a TON by myself, but on top of that I have a running buddy, Carline.  We run about 3 days a week on top of my own workouts.  I also walk occasionally with my cake making friend Cindy.  She's so funny... she makes the cakes that tempt us all, but she doesn't eat any of it.  Frustrating!  Also, I have Jesus, my Savior who gives me strength to do things that I could not do in my own power.  My relationship with Jesus pushes me to be a better person in ALL areas of my life, including health and fitness.  My body is His temple.  I want my temple to be a place where Jesus' spirit would want to be and be proud of. 

If you are feeling down and discouraged and feel like you want to find your discipline and modivation, you have come to the right place!  I and the Lord want to modivate you!!  I hope you take control of your life and make it what you have always dreamed.

I will be posting photos soon.  First I will show you pictures of me at my heaviest.  I have lost about 25 lbs in the past 4 years.  And yes, I did it the right way.  Then I will post pictures of me now.  I am also going to keep you updated with my daily progress.  I have such a long way to go to have the body I have always wanted.  And let me tell you, the smaller you get, the harder it is to loose weight and shape up.  I have to work out 5 X's harder now than I did when I lost my first 25 pounds.  I will show you pictures when I see more results.  If you are on this fitness journey as well, PLEASE let me know!  I want to encourage and modivate you, but YOU will modivate me as well! 

Talk to y'all later! 

here we go

I've looked at and read tons of blogs out there.  Every time I read them I think to myself... "self, your life is just as or more interesting than a lot of these folks"... so, here we go. 

I have so much to say to the world.  I am a strong, loving, funny gal and I truly do think that I can bring some joy, humor, and modivation to YOUR life.  I am a disciplined person-- I work out regularly, I eat fairly well (this will get better), I have studied the Word of God for a long time and have lots of wisdom from it, and I treat people really well.  I hope you will enjoy reading all the blogs to come.  They will be very varried, but what you can expect will be these things:
1.  Fitness Info- workouts I'm doing, how I modivate myself, workout ideas, etc.

2. Nutrition and Recipes

3. Crazy, "southern girl" stories

4. Life lessons I've learned from the Word of God

5. and much more

So, I guess I'll talk to ya soon!