Holiday feasts are troublesome for me. So much food and desserts. I have a massive sweet tooth too! Fun times with the family and not enough time for fitness. Healthy lifestyles go on hold. Christmas festivities are worse than New Years because there are no resolutions attached to the indulgence. Time spent with family is more precious and wanted than time spent with the elliptical or running shoes. The motivation is only there when a belt is let out a notch or sweat pants are dragged out because the fat jeans are a little snug. Now that Christmas Eve/Day is over, it's time to get back on board. And I am not talking about a New Years Resolution either. I'm talking about a lifestyle change that doesn't come and go with your triumphs and failures. I will set a resolution this year. But I will not set my life upon it. It will be a goal of not how many pound I lose or what size I want to be, but a goal of what kind of life I want to have. The new lifestyle. The healthier choices. My resolution for 2013 is to find out what is wrong with me and fix it. I have gone through many different treatments in attempt to find and resolve my health issues. None have solved the problem, just merely stuck a band-aid on the symptoms. My resolution for 2013 is to get my weight under control and feel better about myself. My resolution for 2013 is to detox my body, adapt my food intake and exercise regimen to make my body better and stronger. Beginning in January, I will begin a 30 day detox. The purpose of this detox is to refresh my body in preparation for iodine therapy. I will post more about the symptoms, causes, theory, and treatment as the days go by.

This image is my motivation for the moment. Once I get into something and make a good habit, I'm pretty good at keeping it going without any major problems. My biggest struggle is the beginning. It takes me a long time to find what works... a routine, a plan, a lifestyle. I have to feel comfortable with it and not stressed by it. Start slow... build up strength and speed and endurance. If I start off to fast or heavy, I will hurt myself again. I have a history of knee pain since I was about 13 years old. I hurt my knee during a softball game and it hasn't been the same since. It really inhibits my activity sometimes. For instance, I cannot play racquetball or basketball with my husband or my dad. It hurts me to do lunges (but not squats??? Weird). I have good form when I work out but do to injuries and increased strain due to weight, it makes it hard to keep going on a good path. My husband bought me an elliptical trainer for this reason. It hurts to run on a standard treadmill or pavement and I love to run. I used to just run a mile whenever I pleased during high school and a portion of college. Now, I can barely make a half mile jog! But that's ok... I knew it would take a while to build my body back up to the level I was a year ago. I just have to try... and keep trying... until I get to where I need to be. As for my knee, I'll just have to keep going and focus on my diet to lose the weight until I can push harder.

This is SO true. There will be a challenge in everything you do. I believe that if you work for it, you deserve it and respect it. It goes for everything in life. But for a woman to fight for her body, it shows she cares and will not take a load of crap. You can put her down but she's just going to fight harder. I feel the same. I have to fight for my body. I gave up for a short amount of time and lost it all. Now, I have to fight harder for what I want. And believe me, it is a lot harder than before. It's depressing when you can't do the things that used to be so simple last year. Yes, I have a medical reason as to why I gained so much weight in such a short time... but that will not be my excuse any longer. That will be my motivation. I will beat this problem and heal myself. I just have to keep my head up and focus on the goal. I just have to make it through the holidays first! :/

I found this pic today and it made me start thinking... Do we really know the difference between cheating and accidents when it comes to a diet. I would like to say yes but some people are in denial about it. Cheating is a deliberate act of eating trash foods and slacking on workouts. It is an accident when you eat something you shouldn't have when you were really hungry and there were no healthy foods around. You don't starve yourself. When you hungry and you know you're not going to be home for another 2 hours... go drink some water and eat the healthiest food you can find. Go take a picture of a vending machine and go look up nutritional values to find what's healthiest. It's a completely different story to tell yourself that eating an entire slice of cake for dessert at a office party is ok when there's a fruit and veggie tray right next to it. It's not horrible that you get a cookie and take a few bites or eat the chocolate chips out of it. It's actually healthier to do that. It shows you that it's ok to indulge as long as you don't overdo it. You don't want to deprive yourself of treats you gave yourself all the time. That will make it easier for your new lifestyle to backfire in your face! Talk about losing 30lbs and gaining back 50lbs all because you didn't give yourself a little something. Find a healthy alternative to snacking. For instance, instead of eating cheese dip and chips, try homemade salsa. Or, switch out chocolate for carob! They're remarkably the same yet carob is a healthier alternative (better for diabetics too!) Keep yourself away from temptation but restrain yourself to the point you binge. If you have a craving, only get enough to satisfy that craving. Need something crunchy? Put away the chips and get carrots or celery. You can spice them up with some seasonings instead of fat dressings! My biggest craving is chocolate. So, sometimes (when I decide to have chocolate in the house) I get a bar of DARK chocolate. Break it into little chunks, and freeze it! That way, when I have a craving, I just open the freezer and pop one of those chunks in my mouth and let it melt. It last longer and you think your eating more!

I have to admit it... I've been slacking. I spent the weekend with my family. Saturday, I had a fun day with my in-laws. We ate big but I tried to choose wisely. Sunday was rough. I was sick (again) and was having a really bad day. Luckily, my mom cooked a very good meal. We didn't have "dessert" but there were some little goodies lying around. There were no workouts on these days. I was more active, yes, but no deliberate exercising took place. Yesterday was a pretty good day. I had a great breakfast which gave me a good healthy boost. I actually made lunch instead of throwing something in the oven/microwave. I made some tuna salad and deviled eggs. Not exactly super healthy but it's a lot better than lean pockets and breaded chicken! I feel bad because I ended the day with a half of a Cali burger from The Monago Fieldhouse (which is Ah-mazing!) and a red velvet brownie from the Great American Cookie Company. BAD MADDY!!! I succumbed to temptation. I can't take it back so I will have to come to terms with it and move on. I chose the picture above as my motivation because it's true. It takes time to see results. You see the results first but can get down when no one notices. Keep it up. You're family with compliment you first and you may not believe them. But just keep going. People will start to notice... And then, people you haven't seen in years will notice. And it will be grand!!! Keep it up, even if you are hindered by a bad meal or miss a workout. It takes 2 weeks to make a habit and 2 months to break it. So instead of breaking bad habits, focus on creating a new, healthier one. It's less depressing! ;)

This was my mantra this morning. It took 10 minutes to go half a mile! I remember how I could easily run a 10 minute mile. And that was me being lazy! So, that being my motivation, I did the half mile. Slowly working my way back to a mile. I hurt my knee when I was in high school so I'm taking it slow. I don't want to hurt myself more. It's already bad enough I gained the weight. That puts a lot of strain on knees anyway. Plus, not keeping the muscles strong and the cold weather makes it harder to keep knees healthy and strong. But, I made it through this morning with a quick workout. I'll get back on it again tonight when I get home from work. I can't wait for the day when I can run 3 or 4 miles in 30 minutes! Maybe, one day, I'll run a 5k! My coworkers do and they say the training they go through is rough. So, until I get back in shape, I'm avoiding that bullet!

How true this is! I worked out for the first time in months last night. It was excruciating! I haven't felt that horrible in forever! I am SO out of shape! My thighs hurt, my lungs killed me, and I felt like I was going to fall of the elliptical! And it was so HOT! (Turns out the heater was running in my office!) So, to make a long story short, today, there will be no heater and I will have a water bottle with me. As for my thighs, I will learn to NOT use the pre-programmed schedule and manually adjust the resistance/elevation until I get back in shape enough to breath without wanting to pass out! LOL. But it's all good. I did feel better after my husband helped pick me up off the living room floor. This lesson has taught me that, even though there was pain involved, I know what it feels like without the pain and that's what I get for letting my weight get out of control. Lose the weight, feel great!

Some people have no clue how true this is. There are so many gorgeous women out there who worry about their non-budging weight. They are naturally skinny. There are so many MORE absolutely beautiful women out there who struggle with their weight. They know restraint and strength. They know pain and determination. They know cruelty and hurt from others as well as themselves. And yet, they go places and succeed. They are strong enough to get through the rough times and smile. They don't look back with regret but with a warm heart knowing that they did have a rough time but they pushed through it and can push harder next time. It's a fight. If it knocks you down, you are strong enough to get back up. You just have to believe it.

Hello,

This is my very first post on my new blog, MaddyGraceGetsFit! I'm so excited to start this journey. I've joined many fitness websites but I haven't been able to stick with any of them. I've decided to try blogging about my journey. Try writing about the struggles (instead of eating them!) and tip/recipes I've stumbled upon. Maybe some of them will prove helpful to anyone who reads this! I will include topics that are special to me, whether it be personal, health, or WEIGHT (yes, it's a category on it's on!). I am open to strategies, inspiration, tips, recipes, etc. I just ask for positive feedback. Every week I will weigh in with weight, inches, and size. I will post a picture soon with starting stats. Just wanted to put up a post!

Thanks,
MaddyGrace