Some advice

A friend recently informed me that a group of her friends were reading my blog for inspiration. I was stunned. It shocks me that people read it at all frankly, but especially that people I know found out about it and find something valuable in it. So today I've decided to give everyone some advice. Having successfully lost 50 lbs in a healthy way, and improved my overall health, I feel I am in a position to give advice at this point, at least based on my own personal experience.

First off, let's look at motivation. If you're going to accomplish something big, that takes time, you need to have some solid motivation. That doesn't just magically appear. Unfortunately, for me to finally have the motivation to take care of myself, I had to have any other options taken away. I was at the peak of my depression, and my living/financial situation had me stuck living in my past. It was a fight-or-flight response. I couldn't count the number of times in my life I said I would lose weight and then lose 10 or 20 lbs and something would happen and I'd stop. So, if you want to see a real change in your life, you HAVE to be prepared to do things differently, to make sacrifices and to commit in the long term. I will have to fight for my health/fitness for the rest of my life and I know it. I also know that no matter what happens, I will not let depression, breakups, money, ANYTHING stop me.

Secondly, STOP with the fad diets and extreme measures to lose weight quickly. Also, on the other end of the spectrum, stop doing only what's easy and never pushing yourself. Personally, I don't mind whether my friends lose or gain a few pounds; it's their body, and I love them regardless. But all I ever hear with most people are excuses. Then one day they decide they want to change their lives, but a week later, the excuses are back. If you don't try drastic measures, and instead stick to basics: calorie counting for the amount of exercise you do, eating a variety of unprocessed, healthy foods and exercising vigorously at least 5 days a week, you will get in shape. It just might be slowly. You can always adjust as you get used to the changes and make it more challenging or push yourself to do even better. But start with baby steps. Whatever doesn't make you start making excuses (i.e. don't start off working out suddenly 6 days a week for an hour each time and cutting out all your favourite foods).

Focus on small, achievable goals, and then set longer-term goals as you go. And ABSOLUTELY, and I mean this, TAKE MEASUREMENTS. I believe you should weigh yourself every day too, though many disagree, because I think it helps women realize how much our weight fluctuates in a day and that weight is just a number that you can use to inform yourself of progress. But often (as with me right now) I'm not losing weight but I AM losing inches, which is much more important, because I'm losing fat and getting ripped abs :)

Sleep is of the utmost importance. Get more than 7 hours a night, and sleep at the same time every day, preferably sometime earlyish if you can. You'll eventually realize how valuable that is.

Those are my basics. Oh and, just do what you can to stay motivated, never give up. If you give up for one day, force yourself to start again the next day, or a week later. Don't make yourself feel guilty, just know that you can't make progress if you stagnate. Eventually, I hope you all manage to feel the way I do now. I feel like a new person. I've accomplished things I never thought I could, and now (with the motivation I've built over a year) I continue to challenge myself in new ways I never thought possible.

Remember, motivation comes eventually with developing the habit of eating well and exercising, not right away. In the beginning, you'll need to remind yourself that it takes alllllllll those small steps to make big progress.

Farewell fine friends, best of luck in whatever challenge you choose to undertake this spring.