My Regimen aka Excuse Breakers

SO, lots of people have been asking me, "What are you doing"? First let me say... Read Jillian Michaels' "Master Your Metabolism"! It's a must. Seriously. It's what finally changed everything around for me. It made everything click, and made me refuse to eat anything that, as Jillian says "Didn't come from the ground or a mother." Or as I say "Nothing God didn't intend for me to eat"! When I give the short list of what I am doing, without explanation, people assume what I am doing is hard or not even fun or likeable, and mentally they quickly give up on my actions being worth while or what they are looking for. So first I will list what I am doing, and 2nd I will explain. Please read through to grasp everything. Cause I am honestly loving losing weight for the first time in my life. I am not wondering how long I can take it before I can have that cookie, which by the way, you can have sweets still. I feel satisfied, and happy. AND I am loving the results. SO here it is...

#1) I only eat all natural.

#2)I workout 5-6 days a week (this is only until I loose all my weight)

#3) I take a multi-vitamin that supports my hormones aka metabolism

OK, so I am sure when you read all natural your reaction was much the same as my friend Tiff (love ya girl!) "Oh OK, so like carrots and cabbage and water, gotcha) NO! It is actually delicious, satisfying food. I eaT 1200-1400 calories a day. But it is just natural foods. No preservatives, and added coloring, and chemicals, and lab altered food. I eat pasta, pizza, sandwiches, and amazing tasting food. It just has to be all natural and not crazy processed. So that's whole wheat and brown rice, complex carbs instead of white processed junk. I even still have sugar. :) I try to substitute honey, maple syrup and sugar cane when possible. Anything that is in it's natural state is always better than something processed. Pleas, no, no, no artificial sweeteners. You actually gain weight because of them and they are linked to tons of horrible stuff like Alzheimer's. It's chemicals! You wouldn't eat ray poison. So don't ingest chemicals of any form. That includes artificial sweeteners. Who in their right mind wants Alzheimer's? Use sugar in moderation instead. Something that has been an amazing life line is snacks and cereals made by KASHI. They are amazing and tasty and can give you that sugar/carb craving fix in the afternoon so you don't go eat that bag of oreos. I LOVE too cook, and I LOVE to eat. I don't go hungry and I enjoy what I eat. Trust me, I wouldn't still be going strong if I didn't. I find lots of recipes and cook books to keep things creative and tasty. I will get into this more later. But if you have any questions, I would LOVE to help. Like I said I LOVE cooking and I think this part is the hardest for people when it comes to weight loss. If you can be satisfied in this area I think positive results are almost guaranteed. You gotta learn to read labels, for sure, which again, I learned from the book. It's priceless knowledge. Go get it from your library.

Now for exercise. I have the time as I am a stay at home mom. But you don't have to have as much time invested at all to see great results. I work out for at least 60 minutes a day, 5-6 days a week. And most of the time I work out for a second hour in the afternoon/early evening. And then even last night, I worked out for a third hour. I know. But I was watching Biggest Loser and well, if you read my first blog, you will know how much that show motivates me. Plus I had an extra hand of Kettle Corn which also motivated me. LOL.

My workout in greater detail.

Hour #1 Plyometrics

In Jillian's book, she says you need to at least do circuit training to get results.

To understand circuit traing better... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_training

A great example is Curves circuit. 30 seconds of cardio, 30 seconds of muscle concetrated workouts, 30 seconds of cardio... for half an hour. I do a DVD that has plyometrics, and am seeing great results.

Hour #2 Cardio

On Jillian's website, some asked her about cardio and what not, and there she told them #1 get your circuit training in for sure, and if can fit some extra cardio in like shadow boxing with light weights, that's a bonus. So I made a mixed CD, with songs that get me motivated and moving. The CD is an hour long, so i don't have to watch the clock, I just grab a set of 2 or 3 pund weights and I move around my living room, working up a sweat, until I know my last song is on. It's fun and it does the trick. You can easily do this with making a custom list off your itunes, and buying a couple of songs if you can't find enough upbeat tunes in your own library.

Whatever it is, make it fun. I usually use this time to have fun with my girls. they love the songs and they enjoy dancing around the living room with their mom. LOL.

You can also use TV time at night to keep motivated. Turn on your favorite show and just don't sit still while you are watching it. March in place, step side to side, sprint back and forth during commercials to keep your heart rate up, whatever you can do, just get active. www.realage.com has also been a great resource and motivational tool for me. On here you can get lots of great ideas for how to get active easily and lose weight/inches. They also have a waist and weight tracker and a walking tracker to keep track of your results and what you do to keep you motivated. The website is by the infamous Dr. Oz, from Oprah, and the authors of the YOU: On A Diet, serious of books. They say on the website all you really need is 30 minutes of good brisk walking a day to lose weight. So please don't feel like you will never lose weight cause you can't keep up with Crazy Kari's bootcamp of workouts. I am just really motivated as I have close to 100 pounds to lose. It's alot and I want it GONE for good!

#3) After reading Jillian's book, I all of a sudden understood all of my weight loss attempts and why most of them I would plateau after loosing about 8-10 pounds, and why when I went to my naturopath for my hormones, and after being on natural supplements for them, was losing weight while still eating crappy. The book can make things ALOT more understandable than I ever could, and in probably a lot less words than mine. But bottom line is when your hormones/metabolism is working properly the weight is gonna come off. I take the multi vitamin plus weight loss support by the greens+ line. I got mine at Superstore. The weight loss support that is added to it, is basically the natural vitamins and minerals your body needs to have balanced hormones, which we have screwed up from the way we have eaten and lived. So therefore by correcting our eating habits and lifestyle and giving our bodies the vitamins and minerals they deserve, our hormones line up and our body lets go of the weight. It's how God intended you to live! In God there is fullness of life. Abide in His plans for you and you will have the best life possible.

I am considering starting a weight loss/ health group for people who want support and information to help them live better lives. Please let me know if you are in the area and interested.