I work with one of THOSE people...

If there was one category that I would place myself in, it would be hypocrite. I'm terrible at saying "you can't do that" and I turn around finding myself to be engaging in the act that I just shamed. I still do it anyways and think I'm above all else so.... I'm a hypocrite.

I still weigh 183 pounds,. One of my selfies won't end up on a health inspiration page. I do things wrong sometimes. I don't always know best. I haven't learned the 100% ins and outs of health and fitness. And biggest of all, I suck at the holidays.

Man oh man do I suck at the holidays. Mentally I kept tellinng myself I would NOT eat those sweets and that i would stick to the veggie tray, not the carbs... However, I have to admit that deep down I had it planned to cheat and enjoy my holiday and jump back on the band wagon after the holidays were over. That's horrible! This mindset sucked my motivation dry and made me miserable! I have breakouts on my face. I cry during the day because I feel fat and I am crazy unhappy! Why on earth do I continually do this to myself when I KNOW exactly how it makes me feel. Maybe some day I will learn.

I purchased a year membership at the local gym (so I now I a year membership at 2 gyms.. Yes I am stupid). I bought an exercise ball, a medicine ball, and a set of 8 lb weights to add to my elliptical in the basement to begin my own home workout area and I am set to purchase PIYO the beach body program tonight. This girl, is ready for a challenge! I am going to challenge myself and pish past my limits to reach the goal that I have worked towards. I refuse to give up now and you shouldn't give up either. Don't make this a New Years resolution to get as many likes as you can on facebook make it a goal with determination from within!

On the subject of the title of this blog... If you aren't familiar with one of THOSE people you will be after I point this out. It's one of those things that has driven me nuts since the day I began to lose weight. When you're on a weight loss journey you want to talk about it, show it off, brag about your weight loss, swap healthy recipes, share your favorite workouts, etc.. It's such a great feeling to find that person that you relate to on every level and have all the health and fitness things in common! .... Then you have the opposites. Example:
Me: "I ate an apple, green beans, and grilled chicken for lunch!"
Them: "that's way too healthy and you aren't getting enough carbs! If you're running you need carbs!"
Me: "what are you eating for lunch"
Them: "French fries and fried chicken"
note*** they weigh 115 pounds and never gain a pound
THAT is on of THOSE people. They also proceed with telling you that you are ruining your metabolism by training the way that you are and BLAH. BLAH. Blah.

I know I'm not a fitness guru but I have lost my 20 pounds in a very healthy way and I plan to continue with my diet and exercise the way that I started. So back off naturally skinny girls. I love you all but I am large and I don't plan to eat like I want to be large forever. If I follow your diet, I will be forever overweight. Therefore, I will follow mine.

Last blog I discussed emotional issues with your weight loss, if we never face these, you will struggle in your weight loss. You have to pinpoint why you gained this weight to begin with and why you eat with your emotions. If you don't pin point this now, you never will. Every time this comes back to haunt you, you will go back to your old ways. I have done it, probably 10 times.

Research your emotional eating problems, start this journey from deep within, and know your stuff. Don't let the outside world get to you. Stick to your diet. When you drop the pounds, they will realize that you're doing what is right for you.

Please please please everyone take a chance with health and fitness and just see what it has to offer you. Don't break promises to yourself and don't be the person that says you're going to the gym but finds excuses. Become a new person this year. A new you, a better you, a stronger you.

Remember I'm here for YOU just like you're here for me.
XOXO, Audrey

Remember Me?

Holy smokes! Where did November go!? How did I get so stinking busy!? AH!

To start off, Happy late Thanksgiving to all! I hope it was an amazing time for you and your families. However, I hope you avoided the massive table full of sweets and the second plate full of food!

This holiday season was tough for me. Really tough. I had 3 dinners to attend, each that involved way way way too much food. I made the huge mistake of weighing myself in the middle of one of the dinners on Thursday and the scale said I had gained 9 lbs. I think I nearly passed out when I read that but it sure made me walk away from the tables and stop eating food. Sometimes it takes little things like that and reminders as to what your goal is and why you should stick to it.

I am officially 17.5 lbs down and it feels amazing (because I actually didn't gain weight I stayed exactly the same)! But like I asked Ross today, WHERE DID IT GO!? And where in the world did it lay on my body before now!? It feels so good to be half way to my goal and seeing lower numbers on the scale. I feel like a new person, I feel like a happier person, and so much more as I'm bettering my life!

On top of losing my own weight I have sent my "tips and tricks" documents out to 17 people! 17 people that I know at least have access to a document that they can read and use to help change their life for the better. To take these steps in a way that can change their life for the better, permanently. Ican send this document to you if you just ask! I will never tell your name to anyone unless you want me to brag about you! ;)

Right now I want to talk about something simple that can help each of you. I was thinking about what I gave up food wise that really changed my diet and helped my weight loss move quicker in the beginning. We all know that seeing the scale drop immediately helps keep motivation, rather than no changes at all. So here is a list of foods that I gave up:
1. Carbonated drinks
2. Juices
3. Deep fat friend foods
4. Breads (except for 1 meal a day)
5. Sweets
6. Candy
7. Large portions of foods
8. Pizza
9. Buffets
10. Fast food

These are 10 simple things. Some things are harder than others but once they are gone, you don't even realize it. They are things that haunt you every once in a while but as long as you remind yourself of your goals, you will make it through.

I am finishing up a semester at college and only have 2 left! I promise I will post more! I have goals I want to reach before Christmas and I would like you all to set goals for yourself as well! Let me know what they are so I can cheer you on! Post your goals in the comments section, on my facebook page, or in a personal message! YOU CAN DO IT!

XOXO, Audrey

The Same 2 Pounds

Hey Followers! Remember me!?
I think I've lost myself a little within the last 2 weeks. I decided to switch jobs and take on more responsiblity in life. I got a job that is in a bakery. Yep, you read that right, a bakery. Where they make sugary snacks all day long, carb filled bread, and get to decorate cakes with loads of frosting. AKA temptation, temptation, temptation........

Starting this new job meant giving my 2 weeks at the last job. So this week is week 2 and I have been working both positions. This results in 12 hour work days and homework somewhere in there. Lots and lots of driving. The driving isn't the part that is scary, it's trying to stay in control over my own diet and exercise.

I have been fluctuating between 187 lbs and 185 lbs. It can be anywhere in between. Nowhere over, nowhere below. These have been the same 2 pounds that I have been losing for 3 weeks now. This sucks. I can honestly say that this really sucks. However, it's my own fault and I am 100% aware. I don't have time to workout (not an excuse I know), I don't have a gym to workout at, and by the time my 12 hour shift is over of being on my feet the entire time, I do not even want to workout. My food and eating has been crap. I have not been as good as I should be and I feel like a giant failure. I need to get my mindset back and get ready to WOW people at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I don't want to be the girl who loses the weight just to gain it back. I don't want to be that person!

The same 2 pounds is upsetting because I know I'm better than that. I know I can do better than this and that I owe myself more than this. Have you fallen off the wagon and need a hand back on? Let me be your hand! Let's get thin for Thanksgiving by eating clean and working out when we can! Let's WOW our families.


I have started a weird obsession of taking a sweaty selfie after or during each of my workouts. It's a way of proving to myself that I'm actually sweating and changing each day. Here is a peek at my selfies! Now you can show me yours! :)

 

Keep On Keepin' On!!!

XOXO, Audrey

Cardio Is For The Birdies

Last week I posted a picture of my transformation, which brought up a lot of questions from others. Such as: What are your secrets? How are you doing it? What have you changed? How can you help ME?

Well guess what, I have answers for all of those!

What have you changed?
I have changed everything. From my eating habits, my sleeping habits, and my workout habits. I have changed it all. However, I didn't do it all in one day. I did it over time.
With my eating habits: I started one meal at a time. I started with breakfast and made it healthy every single day. Then when I was used to 1 I went to 2, then I went to 3 with a healthy snack. I made those meals each 4 hours apart. 8am(breakfast), 12 pm(lunch), 4pm (snack), 6pm (supper). I found that if I went longer than this without eating, I frequently over ate.
My sleeping habits: I started going to bed earlier instead of staying up all hours of the night and I started getting my butt out of bed in the mornings to workout.
My workout habits: I have tried to lose weight a thousand times plus and never get anywhere. Once I got used to eating at least 1 meal a day that was healthy I started working out as well. Something I had to understand was I have to work up to my max potential, not start there on week one. I was pushing myself too hard and I would give up because I didn't feel like i could do it. Start simple just like with the meals and work your way up. Even 30 minutes a day is amazing!

How are you doing it?
I have been trying to diet for years. Every time I thought that it was all about calorie restriction. However, it is SO much more than that. Calories need to be restricted BUT that doesn't mean cut them out period or eat less than your recommended daily value or to cut out the protein and the carbs that give you energy to keep going. You have to do some research and learn what each thing does for your body and how to control the numbers. What I tell everyone is that PROTEIN IS KEY! I truthfully believe that you have to get your max protein each day or you are only hurting yourself.
Also, I work out each and every day, with one rest day. You have to be dedicated to the change or it isn't going to happen. The excuses have to stop and become excuses for why you HAVE to go to the gym, not why you CANT go to the gym. It's all a mindset game. Weight loss comes with hard work in the kitchen and at the gym.

What is my secret?
Support. Support is my secret. I know that each week nobody depends on seeing my blog be posted but they are cheering me on when they read it. So many people are rooting for me and if I give up now I let down so many more people than myself. My secret is this blog and it holding me accountable. Each week I have nearly 200 readers. If I give up I give up on 200 people who are counting on me to prove the world wrong and to show everyone my strengths. Find your support, create your own blog, find a reason to keep going!

How can you help ME?
Ask me anything! Even if I don't know the answer, chances are I'm going to look it up. I can give you workouts even if they are workouts I have acquired from others when I asked. I can give you recipes, I can give you tips, I can give you tricks, I can drag your butt to the gym with me, I can hold you accountable by asking you weekly what you have done to make yourself better. I can do a lot for you, it just takes you asking me!

Outside of these questions I want to let you all know that weights are key! One time I worked out with my best friend before I began this journey and I was just going to bike. She looked at me with a serious face and said, "Oh no, Cardio is for the birdies. We are lifting weights today". She pushed me past my limits and made walking nearly impossible the next day. BUT I felt change in my body after just one time at the gym! The fact of the matter is that fat does not burn as many calories as muscle does. When you gain muscle you ramp up your metabolism, and you burn more calories. In other words, you're going to lose that weight quicker and that belly fat!

You can run or do your choice of cardio, I run 2 1/2 miles a day along with weight lifting, but don't forget to lift! With gaining more muscle you need more protein in your body. Did you know: the amount of protein you are supposed to consume per day is the muscle mass % that you have. For example I weight 186 lbs to date and my muscle mass % is 116.6. That means each day I have to consume approx 117 grams of protein to properly feed my muscles.

Lift weights and get your protein, see results.





I'll post again after the weekend with some awesome workouts that I have gotten from fitness guru, Tara Roach, that went through her own transformation and is now a muscle machine! Her workouts will kick your butt every time and make you feel like you truly did all that you could do.

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend and please be safe!

xoxo,
Audrey

LATER HATERS!

Ever noticed that you can't smell a distinct smell in your own house, but in other peoples you can? I'm pretty sure that's about how my weight loss has gone. I know I can feel it in my actions, but I don't see it! When I say I don't see it, that doesn't mean that others haven't.

This week I attended a funeral visitation and the Bedford High School Homecoming activities. I received an abundance of compliments that I couldn't be happier about! I smiled ear to ear with every one and tried not to jump into the persons arms and tell them thank you! Then I take picture and actually LOOK at myself. Not just in the mirror but I study myself. Holy crap.... I really do look good!

I needed this change more than anything. I needed to be healthier for the sake of my present and for my future. I know I'm only 20 years old but I quite frequently think about my grandchildren.. and great grandchildren.. and so on. I want to be in their lives! I want to be up and moving and healthy to be apart of their lives! I want to wear my sons football jersey on homecoming and have it fit. I want to wear hip clothes so my daughter can like me that much more. I have goals for my future that give me a reason to lose weight. All very good reasons.

It took me years to come to terms with my body type. I have two amazingly beautiful older sisters who got blessed with gorgeous curves and size small t-shirts. When I was growing up, I would try to fit into all of their clothes. And when I say try, that means I succeeded. Even if the jeans took splitting the crotch out to wear them, I WAS going to wear them. Even if my muffin top was like an XL run over muffin... Yep, wore it..... I would try to fit into size medium dress shirts and so much more. One day I studied a picture of myself and I was like.... OMG what am I wearing? Why do I look like that? What was I thinking!? Lightbulb came on that day and that is where size large Audrey began. I was made fun of all through middle school and high school for being the chunky girl or any other name that people could call me. I was the girl with an awesome personality so the only thing they could spite me with was my weight. Why is it that girls have to be so self conscious about their weight from such a young age? Because some people like to be jerks.

I would like all of those jerks to take a nice look at me now... let their jaw drop really low... hear the words, "holy crap, she got hot"... and I'll keep walking because I know you couldn't accept me in my 6 size too small jeans 9 years ago...  LATER HATERS!

This week I was starving. I wanted to eat EVERYTHING in sight. I even made the comment to my boyfriend, "I could eat a whole house right now" and his response was, "are you going to let the people get out first or.....". Yup, that's how my week went. I ate nearly a whole tube of pringles chips one night at midnight because I was so stressed out from homework. I still went to the gym every single day but I was eating a TON. I weigh in every Thursday and I was nearly scared to death to go step on that scale. But LOL because I gained 10% muscle mass compared to 2% last week and lost 2% body fat. Since my muscle mass was increasing, I needed more protein. Without protein I was just constantly hungry. It all came together pretty quickly and started to make sense. Not to mention I still lost weight. That my friends is why this is not a DIET because none of this involved dieting and I still became a healthier version of who I was last week.

This week was everything I needed and more and I couldn't thank each of you enough. You are the greatest support system a girl could ask for. Especially my best friend Sam who went on a long morning jog with me on Saturday. :) I love getting the comments and compliments that people give me because they truly give me motivation to continue! I hope you see what I am doing and give yourself some motivation to do it as well! Remember, we are in this together!

Hope everyone has a great week!

xoxo, Audrey 

Failed Fads

QUICK! Call now to order your limited time offer of "insert weight loss supplement here" before time runs out!! You could cut 20 pounds in just TWO WEEKS! 

Anyone else laughing at that? because I definitely am. I am writing this a night early because I am in the process of moving and I found all of my failed fad diet supplements. I am not saying that these do not work for some people, but I am saying they did not work for me. At the end, I'll even show you how much money I have wasted in my lifetime on these diets instead of buying a bag of lettuce or some healthy food. 

I am welcoming you to join me in a little bit of laughter! Everyone needs a laugh in their life, especially when you are going through a diet. Anyone who is losing weight, even if its just two pounds, we are a team. If you have ever been on a team, you know that laughter only brings you closer together. So get ready to laugh, and even ask yourself the question, "Where in sam-heck did she find that thing?!"

1. Acai Berry Cleanse.. I call this one spending WAY too much time on the internet and following the rules of 'if it's on the internet it's true'. I reasearched so much about acai berry and how THIS was the fruit that would easily melt away belly fat. IN 14 DAYS! High school girls best dream! At the age of 17 I managed to read right past the word 'cleanse' and go straight for the weight loss part at the bottom. Cleanse come to find out, means you and the bathroom are best friends for 14 days. Take back the every high school girls dream part. 

2. Zantrex.... 3! It's the third one, so that means 1 and 2 were REALLY good... right? The real story behind this was my loving sister knows how much I have been trying to lose weight for years now and told me, and I quote, "You can have it, dont buy your own. It started making me puke. I guess I'm just already skinny enough."......yep, I was pumped. I had 3 bottles of this and this is the only one left. What person in their right mind wouldn't just throw this in the trash to begin with!? 

3. Ultimate Body Applicator.. One of those parties you go to and see a ton of fantastic pictures of how this really worked for people and it can be you too! You feel like you can't leave without buying something or you'll feel bad. You seriously wrap yourself in seran wrap for 8 hours with patches of what feels like icy hot under it and drink a ton of water. A way of detoxing from the outside, in. I think I failed this one on my own because I didn't do it every 72 hours like the instructions say. Still, add it to the failed fad list.

4. Advocare Watermelon Spark.. Now this product I am not complaining about. I love it a ton. I feel like it really gives me energy just not any dietary help. If you purchase this and add it to your morning smoothies, YUM!!!!!!! However, still didn't make me lose weight, failed fad list.

5. Omnitrition.. Someday I may return to this diet but I was not ready for the discipline that I had to have to be on the omni drops program. I went from 0% diet to 210% diet in 2 days. I saw results on it, lost 7 pounds! But when I quit, gained 12! OUCH! I learned from this product that you bounce back quicker than you lose if you dont start out NATURAL!

6. Garcinia Cambogia Extract.. I cant even pronounce the first word so we all know how this one is going to go. What is it anyways!? It is supposed to make you eat less when you drink it with a full glass of water 8 hours before each meal, and curb cravings. I really could have just drank the glass of water and eaten less, but oh well. Pretty much another giant waste of money for me, because I had no motivation to actually do it before every single meal. Failed fad list.

While this is all of my failed fad diets that I can find pictures of, I can promise you this isn't all of it. Going back to my first post, being the bigger friend, its hard. Peer pressure finds you every time! My only suggestion to people is do it for you. Find the motivation within yourself, not within others. In the end you will feel good being looked up to by others, for doing it for yourself. 

Math time!

I went to the store a week ago and bought fruit. Fruit can add up quickly. My grocery list consisted of:

Frozen Raspberries

Frozen Pineapples

Blueberries

Strawberries

Peaches

Mangos

Apples

My total was $20.37.. this fruit lasted me 7 days. That is $2.91 a day! CHEAP! Even for a broke college kid.

I bought my first diet supplement at 17. That means I have been buying for a little over 3 years. The total for the 3 years is:

Acai Berry Cleanse- $10.79

Zantrax 3- $25.95 X 2(2 bottles)

Ultimate Body Applicator- $74.99

Advocare Spark- $49.50

Omnitrition Drops & Pill- $127.70

Garcinia Cambogia (3 bottles) - $79.99

GRAND TOTAL- $394.87

That is $131.63 per year approximately for products that I didn't even finish! Wasted!

I could have taken 19 and a half trips to the grocery store for healthy foods and instead I chose to take the quick way out.. Well guys, this time, I choose the slow way. I choose to be healthy and happy and lose my weight little at a time so that I can keep it off FOREVER! Who is with me!?