Hello everyone,
Today I decided to bring you all something a little different. As you can probably tell by the title, this isn't gonna be like my typical posts; this is gonna be a post about my journey to becoming a healthier individual. You might be thinking, "How in the world does this relate to beauty?!" But it does, eating healthy and exercising cleans and makes your body beautiful on the inside and can also give you some pretty damn good results if you try hard enough on the outside.
Today I decided to bring you all something a little different. As you can probably tell by the title, this isn't gonna be like my typical posts; this is gonna be a post about my journey to becoming a healthier individual. You might be thinking, "How in the world does this relate to beauty?!" But it does, eating healthy and exercising cleans and makes your body beautiful on the inside and can also give you some pretty damn good results if you try hard enough on the outside.
BACKGROUND...
I'll start off by giving a little background on my less than healthy eating habits. I'm 22 years old and for the past 10 years (since my Mom passed), I've ate nothing but unhealthy, fattening, junk food and fast food. I never cared much for fitness, never cared much for counting calories, or being healthy. You see, I was 12 when my mom passed and being raised in a house with nothing but guys, I never really learned how to cook; I mean don't get it twisted, nowadays I can throw together some pretty damn good stuff when I do go in the kitchen, but it's always just been easier to head over to the nearest fast food joint. Anyways, being a picky eater, I've never liked veggies, my favorite things to eat were chicken nuggets and fries (not the healthiest option). I'll be honest, I've never really struggled with being overweight because even though I eat fast food on a daily basis, my weight has always been in the normal range for my height. For those who really wanna know, I'm 5'5'' and weigh around 145 lbs.; by no means am I fit, but I'm not considered overweight either. Through the years, I've heard from many people "You're so lucky, you eat fast food everyday, and you're not fat." And in my head I was like, "I'm so lucky?! Yeah right...I wish I had home cooked meals." Anyways, as much as I appreciate peoples' admiration of my unhealthy diet; I've come to the realization that if I don't start eating healthier and exercising, my metabolism is gonna catch up to me in the long run....to be honest, I feel like it's already starting to.
REALIZATION MOMENT...
In the Summer of 2011, I was probably the smallest size that I've been in my adult life; I'd say somewhere around 130 lbs. The months that followed were very tough for me, for personal reasons, and by that following Spring-Summer I had gained around 15-20 lbs. To me, that was a lot of pounds; I was used to gaining and losing 5 lbs. here and there, but 10, 15, 20 lbs. that was a whole lot. I had always been a juniors size 7-9, never worn a juniors size 11, but last spring I had to start wearing an 11. There's something that happens to a girl's confidence when she has to go up a pant size, let alone go from single to double digits. I started feeling really chunky, but I realized that I wasn't doing anything about it. I'd see all these people on Instagram, Facebook, and even on here trying to get fit, and they inspired me, I wanted to do what they were doing and exercise and eat healthy, but I never really got around to doing it. I was still drinking McDonalds frappes (which if you don't know are a heart attack/diabetes waiting to happen), I was eating more than ever before because I had never finished a 10 piece chicken nugget meal before, but I was now, and I just felt like I was eating more in general. Keep in mind, I had always been a girl that just didn't eat a whole lot. Buffets were a waste of money with me because I wasn't a heavy eater, I always shared a 10 piece with whoever I was with before; I once had my boyfriend say to me, "Gosh, I've never met anybody that eats as little as you." and now all of a sudden I felt like I was scarfing down all this food and not caring. So after about a year or so of feeling fat and not doing anything about it, I've decided to start watching what I eat. I'm not exactly eating a 100% healthier, but I'm going back to eating smaller portions and trying to fit in more veggies and fruits rather than chocolates and chips.
MY PLAN...
Okay, okay, I don't exactly have a plan. I'm not depriving myself of the foods that I love; I'm just eating them less often and in smaller portions. I've been keeping track of my food on the My Fitness Pal App, and it's been helping a lot. I don't necessarily beat myself up when I go over my calories, but I try my best not to because it feels so incredible when I have calories left over. I've been laying off the sweets, trying to drink less soda, which I'm not a major soda drinker anyway, but I have a weakness for Mountain Dew, which is the worst. I only drink it once a day when it's in the house, which is rare, and I fill my cup to the top with ice and then pour the Mountain Dew over it(I figured that way I'd drink less), and when I need a refill, I refill with water instead. I started ordering Happy Meals instead of a #10 at McDonalds, and I substitute my drink with bottled water. I love water by the way...if there's anything I'm lucky to be, it's a big time water drinker and lover. This week, I'm gonna start making my daily green smoothies and juices, and get back into my healthy kick. I know the process of getting healthy isn't gonna always be easy, and it's not gonna come overnight, but I feel like I'm ready. FOOD IS A DRUG PEOPLE! And just like when you have an addiction, and YOU have to be ready to rehabilitate, and not be forced to, I feel like I'm finally ready to do this for myself. My choice of getting healthier is exactly that MY CHOICE and it makes me happy. So far it's been about a week or two, but it's nowhere near my mind to stop or quit.
WHAT'S NEXT???
As far as what's next; I think I just need to start exercising. I don't know if I'm quite ready to get a gym membership for the simple fact that I'm short on time and short on money, but I'm definitely going to start working out here at home. I mean, after all, living with guys does have it's upside, we have plenty of gym equipment in the house. So we'll see how I start progressing with that.
I'm finally ready to take on this journey to becoming a better me. I'm not doing this for no other reason than because I wanna live a long, healthy life. When I am ready to have children, I want my body to be at it's best, when they are old enough to play, I want to be able to run after them and take them to do fun and adventurous things, I wanna grow old and see my grandkids, and maybe even play with them, and in order for me to do that, I must start taking good care of myself now. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I will do updates and things as my journey continues. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns; leave them down below.
xoxo,
Ale :)
