The American Fitness Fad. 💪
So right now everyone and their brother is into fitness. Instagram, Facebook, pinterist, ALL full of ripped bodies and "clean" diet options. If I'm being honest, I have completely fallen into this new favorite pass time and I can't say I'm ashamed. Only a few months into it,30 pounds down and still working hard. I know what your thinking, what on earth made me change my lifestyle at the drop of a hat? I'll tell you what! So anyways I'll start with my backstory.
Probably 3/4 of my young life I have been overweight. Not huge, but definitely not where I need to be either. In school I was an athlete so that helped, but I started homeschooling my sophomore year and let myself go. I went from one month "dieting" to the next month eating mcdonalds 5 times a week and drinking pop (soda) religiously. I would lose a few pounds and then go right back to my old lifestyle of filling my body with garbage. After I graduated I weighed the heaviest I have ever weighed and always told myself I would just lose it later. I was too busy getting ready to move to Redding, California for ministry school and I didn't have the time to lose weight. Or so I told myself.
About a week before I officially moved, the end of August, I went shopping for school clothes and had to get clothes in the plus size section because of my size. Certainly not proud of that, but I told myself " I'm just tall and big boned and so it's natural I need plus size clothes! I'm a plus size girl!" I would make up any excuse other than the obvious, I was fat. Long story short I moved to redding and decided it was going to be my time to lose this weight. I didn't start off very dedicated; I still drank about two 2 liters of Pepsi a day. (My addiction). However I did start losing weight in an unhealthy manner. I was going to school full time plus working about 30-35 hours a week at dicks sporting goods so I was skipping meals and running around the store all day getting some exercise in. Although I liked the dropping numbers on the scale I felt like crap. I had headaches daily, I was falling asleep in school, spending a fortune on snacks and pop, and still not feeling good about myself. I knew I needed to lose the rest of the weight the right way, but didn't know where to start.
One day in class the speaker was talking about addictions. And of course being myself I laughed and started to judge the students I'm the room and kinda thought to myself "sucks to be them, they want to see people set free from addiction but they still have some themselves." Referring to the students who still smoke or drink etc. right after that a voice inside my head said to me "that's funny that you mention that Haley, because if you want to see people healed you have to be set free yourself. You have a massive addiction to caffeine and sugar and they are ruling your life." Probably the most eye opening thing that God has revealed to me. So how did I officially get started? Keep reading😊
First of all, I'm getting married in November! Eek! My boyfriend at the time, John, proposed to me on January 9th! & What better way to kick off the new year than to have a great goal of being fit by my wedding date? Especially after I had just had my huge revelation of being addiction free only a few weeks before hand! So I starting doing my research; Pinterest is my BFF and starting chatting with some of my best friends who eat clean and made my first move.
The first thing I did: cut pop and caffeine out of my diet. FOR GOOD.
February 7th, I had my last Pepsi ever. Said goodbye to empty calories and excess body fat. I said yes to taking care of my body and yes to being a slim bride hehe 😏 the first 2 weeks were hell. I had caffeine withdrawals, headaches, I was exhausted in class and I craved Pepsi more than anything! But I was determined. I am a leader, and I will lead by example. Putting my flesh under. I didn't really "diet" during these first couple weeks because giving up the pop was hard enough.
After I got completely over my caffeine withdrawals, I started making healthier choices. Just little things, like 2% milk instead of whole. Wheat bread for white, parking further away to get a few extra steps in. Lol pathetic I know. Then it gradually turned into a bigger change. No more buying junk food at the store. Snacks consist of fruits and veggies, doing 20 minute workouts 3 times a week. Every week I try to let go of one more thing, and pick up one more thing. Now I'm to the point where I drink green smoothies for breakfast, eat light snacks all day (fruits and veggies still) and eat chicken and some kind of veggie for dinner. I try to workout every day, even if it's just 15-20 minutes some days! I try to do about an hour long workout 4 times a week and the other days I just do it to get my body moving! Oh and Forgot to mention, I used to be a slave to picky eating. But thanks to my amazing friends they make me try new things ALL the time! Some things I loved at first (adding spinach to my smoothie, it's tasteless!) and some things I'm still working on ( sweet potatoes) bleck! 😷 my variety has changed
tremendously though! And it's still improving! I am now almost 2 months into completely changing my eating habits and I feel AMAZING! Way more energy, no more headaches, I'm able to be fully present in school, I just feel like a true winner. I can't wait to make further changes and continue to push myself! God is great and He is my strength during all of this! If I can do this, ANYONE can.
More blogs to come especially more about my lifestyle changes!
Praying for God to show you some areas in your life you can "tone" or "work out" 😏 xoxo
