Things that are finally helping me lose the weight & mix tape

 

First things first, with all the love in my heart, I made you a mix tape!

Well…sorta.  At the bottom of my post I’ve listed my current favorite Workout/Energy Boost music playlist and you can download everything DRM free! UGH  iTunes, why must you make me hate you so much? (DRM-free is the only way to go, that way you can play your music on any device and as MANY as you like!)

I just have to start this post off by saying that I am not an advocate of the pursuit of “skinny “per say.  BUT I AM an active campaigner for HEALTH (whatever that means for you)!  I am well aware that the term “Healthy” embodies a wide range of numbers on the scale, dress sizes and whatever the heck else we grade ourselves by.

Who I am is significantly more important than what I look like.

That all being said, when I am healthy, I am so much happier and can do so much more good in the world.  And yes, I feel a little prettier and that’s a nice bonus too.

So, as always, I’m on my road to healthy…albeit, it’s a lengthy one.  I can’t say that I’ve had failure to launch syndrome, but I have had failure to stay committed syndrome…which is just as bad.  I get really motivated for a while and lose a few lbs and then celebrate, or get distracted by shiny things, you know, the norm.

 

Granted, my weight has been trending downward, but just at a snail’s pace.  I am constantly having to refocus myself on the task at hand and re-energize and well…it’s getting old.

So I asked my friend Kali, who’s done an incredible job of getting healthy, what she did and how she kept herself motivated.  She joined a weight loss challenge on a team.   She said to me, “Cass, I realized that I am a team player. I have no problem letting myself down, but I cannot let people down who are counting on me.”

A light went on.

She joined the Feel Great in 8 program, and clearly, did awesome!

I have found something similarly team-based, but with a much bigger prize at the end; $10,000 to be split among the winning team (5 members)! What? Yup, that’s right.  So I’ve joined ranks with my hubs, my sister, her hubs and mom at www.Healthywage.com.

We’re such incredible dorks!

Why am I telling you this?? I’m certainly not an affiliate with Healthy Wage.   I just need to do everything I can to keep myself accountable.  So now I’ll be accountable to not only my family team, but to you!

I am happy to report that since February, I’ve lost 8% of my body weight, and 3% of that has been from this week (which is when we started the contest.)  By the end of this contest, my goal is to hit 30% down from my weight in February…which just so happens to be in time for our trip to Hawaii! Convenient.

Now, I am all for non-scale victories.   However, the fact of the matter is that the scale can tell us a few things, and it is a reasonable tool to gauge our success, and SEE as we progress toward being a healthier person.  There are also things it can’t tell us, like how much stronger we’re getting, how much further you ran today than last week, or how much more energy you have.

So what?

The scale isn’t everything.  But that doesn’t mean that I’ll avoid it in the name of Fat Politics.  It can still guide me in the right direction.

So how am I planning to rock my goals?  Yes, ROCK MY GOALS!

I devoured every page from Chris Powell’s book: Choose More, Lose More for Life

which came out in May and I am rockin’ the carb cycling!  Tell me you watch Extreme Weightloss?! His show is so great!  And frankly, so much better than Biggest Loser since it’s real.  Yes, Biggest Loser is motivating, but they quit their jobs, leave their families and lives and workout for 8+ hours a day with a personal chef…I mean…really?  It’s just not something people can do at home.  BUT Extreme Weight loss is done almost entirely from home! It follows one individual’s experience to lose weight over the course of a year. And this current season is by far the best so far; the results have been dramatic!  You also can download his app and get updates, tips, recipes and inspiration from Vemma Bode (just look up Chris Powell in your app store, it’s free!) which is essential for me.  I love the recipes, the tips but you’ll have to get the book for all of his workouts, which are awesome…they’re kicking my butt, but they’re awesome!  We have also had to download another tool which is the myfitnesspal app so we can figure out the nutrition facts for all of our recipes AND keep track of what we are eating.  Yes, we are counting calories, which Chris Powell doesn’t suggest, but we both have a problem…the hubs always underestimates everything he eats, while I always overestimate, which often puts me under 1000 calories, when I should be hitting 1200-1500.  So, myfitnesspal has been extremely helpful while we’re getting started in this process.

So…I’ll be updating you all on my journey once a week and soon I’ll post some before and during photos (since it’s certainly not “after” yet) and I’ll be sharing anything useful, motivating, funny, etc with ya as well.

And so…as promised, your mixtape is in this widget below.  Simply click on any link to take you to the amazon store where you can preview the song and download it right now.  This is the greatest mix of 2013!  I can’t keep from singing out loud to all of these songs!  (It’s kind of a problem…I get a lot of weird stares…sigh.)

Enjoy my 30 Best workout songs of 2013! And please share this post with anyone who might enjoy it!

Here are links to similar posts about weight loss, healthy recipes and life after pregnancy.

The Truth about Pregnancy, Life and Body Image

Skinny Cakes (BEST protein pancakes ever!)

Healthy Egg Muffin

Awesome Zucchini!

SKinny Ministronie Soup- eat this and lose a pound TODAY!