Beach Body Builder

If you are like me, you hibernate in the winter by watching a combination of DVRed shows and Netflix every night (Scandal and Friends, anyone?) while allowing comfort food to slip back into your diet.

Awkward Fitting Room Selfie

Although it does not feel like a drastic slip of the healthy lifestyle, each day of inactivity and bad food eventually adds up. By the time Spring rolls around, you realize (as you awkwardly try on swim suits in oddly lit fitting rooms) that you are not as tight and ready for summer as you would like to be.

Last year, I found success with the following plan and I am employing it again to get ready for Florida! If you are looking for that last slim down before the beach, feel free to try it out. Basically, it is: cut out soda and fried food; eat and drink less than 50g of carbs per day; work out an hour every other day. See how these tactics are rolled out below.

Build A Plan

The first step to living a healthier lifestyle is to have a path to get there. Do research, gather resources and create a timeline. Here are some examples of plan pieces.

Research:

• Search pins on Pinterest to find fitness routines and recipes. My favorite fitness pins on my Get Fit board are the YouTube videos for arms, legs and HIIT workouts.
• Know how many calories you take in each day and how many you need to burn to reach your goal in two months. MyFitnessPal can show you how to whittle away the pounds each week.
• Find out how you maintain a routine the best. Some people are more successful if they take fitness classes, other if they pay for a monthly gym membership. I have fun and keep a routine by watching Friends on my stationary bike, walking my dogs and watching short, effective YouTube videos.

Resources:

Steps in FitBit

• Make sure you have a way to track your work. I recently received a FitBit and it allowed me to see my daily "normal" activity. That encouraged me to get more active at night by walking my dogs at least three times a week. Additionally, Daily Carb helps me evaluate meal choices by carbohydrates and track my intake throughout the day.
• Know your budget. After winning an award for work, I chose a stationary bike to make fitness more accessible. I do not like paying gym fees and spending extra time away from home at night, so that bike allows me to be home when I maintain my fitness habits.
• Use tangible and visual measures. I have a bundle of clothes hanging that I am hoping to fit back into. I use photos to track muscle definition and love handle reduction.

Timeline:

Reward Shirt

• Set small goals that lead up to your ultimate goal. Each day, I aim for 50g or less of carbs. Each week I want to work out at least every other day, and on alternative days I want to walk my dogs.
• Create a benchmark. Take a "before" photo so you can later see how far you came in just two short months! I just found a cute new swimsuit from Target, so I took a photo at the beginning of my two-month plan. Right before my trip, I plan on taking another one to see how far I came! It feels incredible to actually see your progress.
• Reward yourself...but not with cheat food. This was the toughest habit to keep. Now, I enjoy rewarding myself with new workout clothes or new clothes in general.

I look forward to sharing my progress throughout the next two months and before my Florida trip! Stay tuned and feel free to share any steps that help you get the final push before hitting the beach.

You Do Not Have To Be Rich to Lose Weight

J Hud before and after

It is that time of year again: New Year's Resolutions. The most popular one tends to be lose weight or get fit (or some variation of those two). How do you get motivated to actually follow through with your health goals?

It is easy to get motivated by your favorite celebrities (I mean, Miranda Lambert looks fantastic, right?). When you see a celebrity suddenly drop 30 pounds, it is easy to assume she finally gave in to the pressures of Hollywood. However, when you take a look at how the stars achieved their body transformations, you realize they have two resources in much higher quantities than us "normal" people. They have more money and the luxury of free time.

The Price of Fit
Living an unhealthy life seems so attractive: no calories or carbs to track and no exercise plan to adopt. Not only is being unhealthy easier than being healthy, but it is also CHEAPER. However, diet may be the biggest contributor to weight loss. Dr. Shawn Talbott, a nutritional biochemist, says that weight loss is about 75% diet and 25% exercise. How much does it cost to address this 75%?


According to Harvard Magazine, it costs about $550 more per year per person to buy healthy food. Broken down by day, this does not seem monstrous, but for many American families, that change in budget can be a barrier to a healthy lifestyle. Foods like fresh fruits and vegetables cost more to produce than bread and processed food, making them more expensive to purchase. Take a step back and look at this on a micro level. Need a quick lunch at McDonald's? You can get two McChickens for $2.00 plus tax or a healthier Grilled Southwest Chicken Salad for almost $6.00. These savings add up over the course of a year. Whether you are making your own meals or eating out, healthy food is just more expensive. Period.

In addition to the costs of a healthy diet, there are costs associated with fitness as well. The most obvious way to begin a fit life is to join a gym, but gym membership costs can be overwhelming. Even if you can find a gym with a low monthly fee around $20, sign-up or yearly fees can be upwards of $100 per membership. If you decide to go the more convenient route by working out at home, equipment and workout videos can still put you in the whole for hundreds of dollars (plus where do you put all that stuff?).

Making Time

Miranda Lambert Before and After

For some, investing money in healthier food and exercise may not be the issue; instead, it may be making the time to work on the last 25% of losing weight, which is exercise.

To lose one pound, you have to take in 3,500 fewer calories, burn that same amount, or a combination of the two. Running a marathon can burn about 2,600 calories...and marathons take hours. This fact points back to the fact that diet makes the biggest difference in weight. However, a combination of diet and exercise is the most effective plan, so incorporating fitness in a weight loss plan is crucial.

How do you make exercise more manageable? Divide the 3,500 calories by seven days and you need a calorie-torching session of 500 calories per day. This could take 30 minutes to an hour per day, depending on the workout. Making the time for these workouts tends to be the toughest part of a lifestyle change.

Besides the workout time, another element of time makes it tough to shed the pounds. Being patient while you lose weight is also a struggle. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say it is healthy to only lose one to two pounds per week. If you have 20 pounds to lose, that could be about five months of slow progress to hit your goal. Patience is key. When you see these body transformations from your favorite celebrities, keep in mind that the before and after photos are probably months apart.

Adele Before and After

Fit Like You Are Famous
Some women are lucky enough to be at a place in life where they can afford to be healthy and have the time to implement a solid plan. What if you are not one of those lucky ones? What if you have a pretty strict budget and not a lot of extra time to spare throughout the week? Here are some tips and tricks to make the most of the resources this year to achieve rock star results.

Diet:

• Do you have any food sensitivities? About 90% of the population has at least one food sensitivity. One of the easiest and most effective ways to cut out food that could be contributing to your weight gain is to find out which foods need to be cut. Food sensitivity testing is becoming more and more popular, and you can find doctors in your area that will administer the test.

• Track your intake. There are dozens of great apps for your smart phone that track calories, carbs and exercise. Not only does this allow you to see how you treat your body during the week, but it also allows you to be aware of the nutritional facts of your favorite foods and activities. Two great apps are MyFitnessPal and Daily Carb.
•  HIIT, or high intensity interval training, is a good way to maximize your workout time because it burns more fat. During a HIIT session, you have short bursts of intense activity that are followed by brief moments of rest. Examples of HIIT workouts are Zumba and boxing.
• Although the accountability of gyms and fitness classes help one keep a resolution, there are many resources available that help you workout for free. YouTube has a plethora of free videos, from yoga to Zumba. Create your own playlist and workout at home (here's my favorite)!
• Watch and research gym promotions to try out a gym in your area. Since gyms are so competitive, you may even be able to negotiate a good rate or a free trial.
• Try various dieting strategies to see what works for you. Some people find success by counting Weight Watchers points while others lose those last few pounds by limiting carb intake. Do your research, plan your meals, and try different diets.
• EAT BREAKFAST. Jump start your metabolism by ensuring you eat the most important meal of the day.
• Swap unhealthy snacks with healthy ones. Do you tend to munch on chips at 2 in the afternoon? Pack peanuts instead and eat those when you get a mid-day hunger.
• Eat less. Many people overeat because they tend to put more food on their plate than they need. Start with small portions because it makes you think before you get seconds.

Whether you have a big reveal with a big name sponsor like Jennifer Hudson or you quietly see steady progress over the next year, make the necessary lifestyle changes to be a better, more fit you! Money and time may be limited, but you can make the most of what you do have.