Before I give you my update this week on my personal weight loss and fitness progress, I’d like to share something with you.
I’ve been feeling really great this week. I know, this doesn’t sound like much of a confession (does it?) but truly it is! You see, I’ve been eating clean and sticking with my healthy lifestyle plan since last Monday. This means that I’m off of processed foods, which further means I’m off of refined sugars, flour, added salt/excess sodium, unhealthy fats, as well as dairy. I actually made a decision to get back on the healthy track on January 1, but as I reported to you in this update, I did have a couple off-plan moments that week.
Back to my confession: for the past 6 months I was in a real funk. I was struggling with getting back to eating clean, whole foods again, and I wasn’t doing a good job of it. During that time there were times that I ate well, but in the whole scope of those 6 months, there were more times that I was not doing well. Because of what I was eating, how much I was eating, how little I was exercising, and the addiction the foods caused in my brain and body, everything in my life was affected. What I was eating and the fact that I wasn’t exercising affected my mood, thoughts, and motivation, which included my motivation to post here at Fearless Fat Loss.
So that’s my confession, which if you want to get technical, it’s nothing new because I wrote about it. If you’ve been with me since June, you already know about my ups and downs. The point of me bringing this up now is the fact that until I actually took the step to get off the processed foods again, I couldn’t really remember the experience of how much better I feel when I eat clean and exercise regularly. What this brings me to is that when I started this blog I wrote much more often about the power of the mind, the power of your thoughts, how your thoughts create your reality (in this case, we are talking about creating your weight/health/fitness), and how you can affect great changes in your life and your motivation to get healthy by changing your thoughts.
While I still believe this to be true, I also have to throw in that it’s not always A leads to B which leads to C, meaning that if you change your thoughts you will then take action to change how you eat and exercise, which will lead to better health and weight loss. Sometimes the way it works is you just have to make a decision and drag yourself kicking and screaming away from the convenience stores, the fast food drive-through, the frozen dinner section and boxed, bagged, salted, and sugared aisled of the grocery store and just do it.
Just do it, meaning clean out your kitchen, get rid of the processed, unhealthy foods, find some recipes of meals that sound good to you that are made with whole foods, commit to changing your lifestyle, forget dieting, get off the soda, get on to clean (plain) water, and get moving! There might still be a part of you that doesn’t want to do this in the beginning, but if you commit and follow through, you can look back a week or two from now and then thank yourself.
The thing is, standing where you are now (if you live on processed foods) filled with all of the sugars, salts, chemicals, preservatives, additives, all of that gunk weighing you down, it’s hard to imagine how much better you can really feel. It’s also hard to think clearly and with as much positivity as is possible when you don’t have all of the processed additives and other sundry ingredients floating around in your system.
Do I sound like I’m preaching? I guess you could call me an evangelist for a whole foods way of life, which includes regular cardio and muscle building exercise; makes sense because it’s a central theme for Fearless Fat Loss. 😉
As far as my current progress goes, I lost 2 pounds and .5 inches last Monday by eating whole foods, using portion control, and exercising. I started out the week skiing (M, T, W), after which I felt like I had the thighs of Bruce Jenner (LOL). I also did 5 cardio sessions last week (on treadmill, 30 minutes each), and 2 body sculpting sessions. I increased my sculpting exercises by switching to heavier resistance bands that came with my advanced body sculpting kit that came with my 6WBMO kit in 2004. This is the first time I have used them and I really felt it after my workouts, especially after my upper body workout.
Since the 1st of January I’ve:
- Dropped 6.5 pounds (today at 156.5)
- Lost 6.5 inches (today at 287.75)
I’m happy with my progress so far and not only do I feel the difference in my attitude, but also my clothes fit better and I have more energy. By the way, I am also keeping up with my other goals that I set on January 1, which were to do The 5 Rites each morning, as well as my daily exercises for a Course In Miracles, which helps my thoughts. I still believe that 90% of weight loss is a mental/emotional game. 😉
If you would like to check out the advanced body sculpting kit that I’m using, you can find it in the eMiniMall below (note: if it is sold out it you won’t see it there), and I’ll be back with another update for you next week. Until then, I have some more working out to do.
I’m totally with ya on the processed food thing. Today, because I’ve been so diligent about eating cleaner, when I even try to eat something like fast food or Cheetos, my body has an immediate not-good reaction. I quickly feel yucky and I find my emotions quickly turn depressed. It’s amazing how the body adapts.
As for setbacks and being consistent, you know we all have ’em and it is part of the process so no need to be hard on yourself. In fact, you got back on track quickly and continued with progress. That’s awesome! Applaud yourself for what you have done to go ahead.
I agree, eating whole foods does feel a lot better. I’ve definitely noticed a difference in my energy levels when I cut the processed crap! Fortunately that’s pretty easy to do here in Chile. They definitely don’t eat as much processed foods as we do.
Hi Stephanie!
I know so well what you mean, that reaction that your body throws right back at ‘cha when you are eating clean and then eat processed. Sometimes when I’ve done that, not only have my feelings been affected, but I’ve even felt strange in my body, and even my head. Sound weird? Well, there’s so many chemicals in processed food, it doesn’t “do a body good”.
Thanks a lot for your encouragement on my funk that I went through. You’re right, at least I pulled myself out of it, even if at the time I really didn’t want to (LOL)! Thanks Stephanie! 🙂
Hi Mamacita!
Isn’t that sooooo true, your energy levels really soar when you eat clean and dump those processed foods! 😉
You’re very fortunate that processed foods aren’t as prevalent in Chile. I’ve been in South America (not Chile yet) and I remember the population being much slimmer than the folks here in the States. You tend to walk a lot more too, just like in Europe.
While I believe that each of us must take personal responsibility for what we eat, there is still something to be said for the “processed food pushers”…..it tastes good, a lot of it is cheap, it’s convenient, and I understand why people get hooked on it, I’ve done it myself… although I suffered with mood swings, low energy, and that “can’t stop eating” way of life.
Eating clean is much better, I’m glad that you can relate. 🙂