Sober Julie

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Motivated Monday~Health Matters

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Motivated Monday health matters

Welcome back to Motivated Monday my friends, I really hope everyone is still feeling motivated to make changes in their lives.

We are now 22 days into the new year and perhaps our determination is fading, perhaps we’re losing focus or thinking to ourselves that we can go back to our old ways. My goal of losing weight is to improve my health, not to simply fit into my jeans better, although that’s a pleasant bonus.

This week wasn’t easy, as I came to the last few days of my cleanse my body was telling me I NEEDED carbs and sugars. I managed to hold out the whole 17 days and moved onto the next phase of my eating regime.

Each day sees me consuming more than 8 glasses of water, eating lots of healthy lean protein(turkey, chicken and egg whites), 2 fruits, 2 probiotic and lots of low carb vegetables. In the second phase, every other day I’ve included lean red meats and two servings of whole grain carbs.

By only eating the lean red meat and healthy carbohydrates every other day it will keep my body burning fat, or so I’m told.

“Days 18 – 34 are to “Activate” by calorie cycling (aka calorie shifting or calorie zigzagging), which means that the daily calorie intake cycles and recycles from low to high over the course of several days. The goal is to trick the metabolism to prevent it from slowing down. Two servings of whole grains are added to the above to raise the average calorie intake to 1500 a day.”

Moving onto this new phase came just in time to help me keep my resolve. I haven’t been hungry but I’m a creature of habit and have been eating the same foods for 17 days. That’s one of my issues when “dieting” which is one of the reasons I chose to follow this healthy way of eating, it’s short to cleanse and introduces a daily routine of eating which I have managed to adopt easily.

With my 39th birthday looming on the horizon I am determined to make these changes in my eating habits to improve my health over time. I am frightened by how easily I fell into an utterly unhealthy eating pattern, I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

In 2010 Statistics Canada released a report, Overweight and obese adults (self-reported) which has brought the stark reality home for me.

Stats Canada ObeseCan you see that magenta line there, it’s the stat for obese women. That’s my line, sitting there above 15% of the population. That frightens me enough to know that I want to change my position on the graph.

The only way I can be sure I’m doing everything to improve my health is to be regimented about my lifestyle. This doesn’t mean that I won’t enjoy treats, I actually had a piece of ice cream cake at a birthday party last week. What it means is that I will be conscious of my food choices, my water intake and my exercise levels.

 This is a life change, much the same as giving up alcohol and although it’s not easy for me to change my habits….it can be done.

Last week someone asked me for a before/after picture and now that I’m done the first 17 days, here it is.

The most recent full body photo I have was taken by my hubby without my knowledge and frankly I cringe at sharing it. That sweatshirt was not baggy, that’s my whole stomach you see. Notice my oh-so-nice velour pants? Them there are maternity wear which were cutting off my waistline.

Before Weight Loss

And now….

Day 19 Weight Loss

The photos somewhat shocked me, I suppose being in my body I didn’t really see the changes until now. I’m feeling better, less bloated and have a bit more energy.

This coming week I’m introducing an increase in exercise. This will be dependent upon my daily pain levels but my goal is 20 minutes of increased heart rate a day.

How has your week been, have you implemented any new changes?

I’m please to share the awesome people who are also committed to change, go on over and see their progress:

If you’d like to link up please do using the Link Tool below or tell me your progress in the comments.

 

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Comments

  3. Julie that is so fantastic! It’s hard to see the progress on ourselves, you feel it in your clothes but to actually see it makes a huge difference! Way to go. I do hope you can manage the pain to get a little exercise in and that it goes well for you! Good job!

    Reply

  4. You look great! I too lost a decent amount of weight (30 lbs) but it took me well over a year to do it. I never really realized how heavy I was becoming until I saw a picture of myself that my mom posted on Facebook. I was horrified and I made a change. Now I am 30 lbs lighter and still working on the rest.

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  16. Oh Julie – you look fantastic! You go girl! And….we all deserve a wee treat once in a while – I think the challenge is keeping the portion in check as well as how often. That’s what I struggle with anyhow! I would love to know what a typical food day for you is – it seems like when you say “lots of vegetables” you really mean it because it doesn’t sound like you are able to have much else on this plan you are following :) It must be difficult, but you really are doing a fantastic job!

    Reply

    • Well usually I have an egg white omelette with peppers and spices for breakfast, mid day I have a yoghurt and fruit. Lunch is chicken breast with a salad and another fruit + yoghurt then dinner I’ve been making different meals such as a Turkey chilli….

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  18. Congratulations on your loss! :) You look terrific.

    I can relate to the “used to eat whatever, whenever” lifestyle – I started doing things differently the day after Christmas when I looked through pics my husband took during the festivities. Amazing the difference that mindfulness can make. Now it shocks me to think of how I used to eat compared to now, and how just asking myself “how will this make me feel later” can be enough to calm a craving for junk.

    Keep it up!!!

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  19. Great job! Your pictures are AMAZING… you look stunning! I think it is hard to notice the differences in our own bodies until we see it in a comparison photo like that. Keep taking pictures to help you feel great about yourself as you continue the journey to good health!

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  21. That is awesome! I find I get bored with the same foods too so I find it really hard to stick to a diet. This week I did a lot of searching for new recipes to help keep things fresh. I also cut waaay back on coffee and added a whole lot of water.

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