The Dreaded “F” Word to Fabulous!

Happy New Year! For many of us weight loss is our number one New Years resolution. I myself would like to drop a few (or more than a few!) kilos this year. Therefore, I thought our next guest blog post may be a nice bit of inspiration for anyone who is looking to achieve their ideal body this year. In fact, it may inspire anyone at all with a New Years goal or resolution. I hope you enjoy Michelle Allen’s post (no, she isn’t a relation as far as Tim and I are aware) and please feel free to share your own story in the comments below.

[hr]

My name is Michelle Allen and I run my own web design business on the Central Coast, www.webstuff.biz.  I’ve now lost 30Kgs, I’m fit, healthy and at 47 – feel like I am ten years younger and would like to be running when I’m 75. I need to be in peak health to be able to effectively run my web design company which has a lot of pressure on me to keep at the top of my field.

It is so hard to change to a healthy lifestyle whilst maintaining a career, looking after the family and running a business. It took me many years to make the decision to change my habits. I would always say to myself that I’ll start my new diet on Monday yet by Wednesday the diet would be broken and I would go back to my old ways.

I started to slowly change my life from 2008 by eating healthy and exercising. In reality it was a slow process because I had no idea how to follow a diet and stay on one for any long term period. I started teaching myself how to eat healthy: like most people I would eat food that was easy to prepare, full of calories and the main reasons were lack of time and being naive about what was going into my mouth.

I’m sure many of you will relate to the lack of time available to exercise and prepare good healthy food and I was no different. I put work, kids and everything else in front of my own needs. At times I felt it was all too hard and I allowed my own needs to suffer. All too often I used work and kids as an excuse not to change…after all it is hard to change.

Here are some ideas that helped me get to where I am now:

1. I started researching about food – why certain foods are good and bad. I found once I learnt more about food it was easy to make informed choices. Here is a link to some of the DVD’s I’ve watched that changed my perspective on what was going into my mouth.http://michelleallen.com.au/?p=200
2. Start moving; I started by walking 15 minutes a day. This alone was an effort and these days I train 5-7 times a week. I found I had to slowly work up to this level; you cannot just do this over night – the biggest looser methods are not sustainable so don’t go there!
3. Buy healthy food that is easy to pick up and eat such as: fruit, nuts, seeds, healthy snacks and try to eat fresh vegetables. I’m not a fan of pre packaged salads however if you are really time poor then buy them however don’t use the mayo’ that comes with them as they are usually fairly high in calories. You can’t beat a good home made salad and of course they will be fresher, taste better and will be healthier for you than packaged salads.
4. Stop eating take away and fried food immediately!
5. Stop drinking soft drinks; they are full of sugar and will not do your body any favours.
6. Drink lots of water which will help reduce hunger so you won’t want to snack as much in between meals.
7. Ask a friend to walk with you or go to the gym. I found that it’s more motivating to have a friend train with you rather than exercising alone – there must be one person that will train with you!
8. If you break your eating plan then don’t worry about it! Just start again the next day.
9. Think about changing habits, shop somewhere different and try looking at organic food.
10. The one that worked for me was to buy a dress a few sizes smaller and work towards fitting into it. I used to try my dress on every few months and one day I got into it, now I can’t wear it because it’s too big!
11. Start learning about super foods – just type “what are super foods” in Google. Then find the right foods by researching.

I think there is too much pressure on us to be super people; remember focus on being healthy not looking like a model. If you take one

step at a time you will change yourself both physically and mentally. These days I’m a different person to who I was in 2008 and people tell me I have a vibe that glows.

The results are worthwhile – I no longer get sick and I’m fitter now than I was in my 30’s. I eat organic food as much as possible; about 80% of the food I eat is raw and I can still have a glass or two of wine occasionally and an indulgence of chocolate. I don’t put weight on because I exercise; in the past I would have put on weight from the smell of a pizza before anything went into my mouth.

I lost weight fairly slowly however it was the only way I could achieve these results without a structured diet. I don’t do structured diets well and I have the greatest respect for people that can follow them and succeed.

Whatever you do, DO NOT SKIP MEALS AND STARVE YOURSELF! You will only put the weight back on quickly and it is very unhealthy as your body stores fat and is deprived of nutrients.

Good luck following your own journey and don’t give up because you can do it.

You can see my full blog at www.michelleallen.com.au to find out more.[hr] Related Posts: [related_posts limit=”3″ image=”60″]