My Fitness Journey







     So I decided to write this blog about me
and my fitness journey, my ups and my downs, the goals I have met and are still trying to meet. If anyone gets the slightest bit of motivation out of this I have met my goal for this specific blog.



   "The secret of success is the consistency to pursue"

Highschool for me I never was a size 2, I started having weight issues then.. Nothing terrible I was over all thin but always had that image in my head of what I wanted to look like. Being so busy with school I never watched what I ate, but being very active in cheer leveled me out, for the most part anyway. I really started putting on my weight my senior year of high school. I had recently moved states into a new school and was sad to leave my friends and finish my senior year in new surroundings not knowing anyone. I looked to food for a total comfort. To me, it was fun it was always something I could do when I was bored at home, make something yummy and eat it! Fast food then became my addiction, no lie. I loved it and I craved it. Even though knowingly it was so unhealthy to me at the time I shrugged it off. Well looking back now I paid for it! Every bite. . My weight snuck up on me so fast.. I was always used to being thin and never really having to worry or stress about my weight and then one day nothing fit of mine, I hated the way I looked in everything I tried on, shopping was no longer enjoyable to me.. Even though I was not 100's of pounds over weight, I was still over weight and wasnt comfortable with myself or my body. I looked at losing weight like such an impossible thing for the longest time. I refused to watch any program with super skinny gorgeous girls because it made me feel horrible about myself. Not knowing at the time or realizing that I was the only one who could change and make a difference...

                                                                                                                                        

  My aunt, two cousins and I in Vegas (Before)

.164is what the scale read the day I decided to finally make that change. After continuously trying over and over again and failing, I was ready to 100% commit and stop making excuses as to why I couldnt do this, or couldnt do that. I am only 5'2, and being 164 pounds my BMI read Very Overweight, which was hard to soak in. That day I started my fitness journey and worked very hard. I did everything I could to stay motivated and strong. I worked out when I didnt want to and refused cheating.. There came a time where I realized if I ate something I wasnt supposed to, I was only cheating myself and no one else. There is no reason why anyone cant reach their fitness goals they have set for themselves. Everyone is highly capable as long as you set your mind to it and DONT STOP. I lost my first 25 pounds without a gym membership, no crazy fat burners, no eating programs like Jenny Craig, no trainer, no nothing like that, but all with ambition, my living room, and an image I wanted to achieve for myself more than anything

                                                                                    My cousin Katie and I Winterball 08' (Before)

  I have yet to reach my ultimate goal weight that I have set for myself since day one. I am still working hard every day and trying to encourage people that not only losing weight, but getting healthy is entirely a realistic goal anyone can reach. Besides losing actual weight, and fat before when I was considered Very Overweight, I knew I wasnt healthy.. I could feel it. I didnt sleep good at night, I was always irritable, I was as lazy as they come, I wanted to do nothing but sit on my butt with a huge tub of ice cream watching Biggest Loser thanking God that wasnt me.. After I reached a healthy weight and BMI for my height my Doctor told me I had completely made a 100% turn around and that I was his healthiest patient of the year! I was glad my hard work paid off!

I started my fitness journey at

164 pounds size 11 in jeans

and I am now 120 pounds

and a size 3 in jeans. I am still

in the process of transforming

my body.. I hope to everyone

reading my fitness blogs can

help you in any way during your

fitness and dieting journey

because I know its not always

easy, but the results are greater

and well worth it! Keep looking

forward and work out hard!!

Until then stay strong,

         -Brittney xoxo

Eat Great This Holiday!

       HEY GUYS!

      As we have all been enjoying the Holidays this year, some times people fear the holidays the most because of all the baking goods such as Christmas cookies, traditional sweets like gingerbread houses, candy, Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, and everything else that comes along with the Holidays. DONT FEAR! I have an eating program that I would love to share with you that is realistic and 100% clean eating! So when the holiday dinners come like Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Years parties you dont have to sweat it! You can fully enjoy your dinners as long as the rest of your eating is clean on a regular basis. Here is a meal plan that I myself am currently on daily, remember the key to a lean figure is simply Clean Eating.

Meal one: Regular 1 CUP oatmeal with any choice of fruit. Egg whites (you can add salsa and 1 slice cheese) 1CUP orange juice

Meal two:
  Option A) Half sandwhich on Honey oat or wheat bread with tuna or turkey mustard (optional) FAT FREE mayo (optional) Regular mayo is full of fat and contains 11 grams of fat in a tbsp!! (may add any veggies you like) 1slice of cheese if you did not already use your one slice for breakfast. You can pair your half sandwhich with a bag of sunchips, veggies, fruit, rice cake, or 1 serving of any progresso or healthy soup.

  Option B) Any salad of choice, (tuna chickem, asian) just make sure to look at nutrition facts first. Some salads come off as being healthy, but really filled with hidden calories and extra fats we want to stay away from! Example all salads at Mcdonalds including their dressing. Always use fat free dressing or a healthy dressing.

Option C) Subway 6 inch sub on honey oat omega 9 bread, turkey, LITE mayo mustard pack on veggies, any cheese, make it a meal grab sunchips or anything baked by Lays, No im sorry no cookies :) and a diet soda, water, or green tea and you have a great, filing lunch on the go!

Pre Dinner: Protein or slim fast shake. This is the meal where it after lunch but right before dinner and usually Im craving something sweet, which is great because your protein or slim fast shake will really come in handy.

Meal Four: Its dinner time and we need to choose a protein such as tuna, any type of fish such as tilopia, salmon, or halibut, Grilled chicken breast paired with a serving size of steamed veggies or a salad with light dressing ofcourse ;) After dinner if you are absolutely going crazy and craving everything!! You can allow yourself to have a rice cake or a fat free yogurt otherwise dinner really should be your last meal of the day.

     Your last meal of the day should be anywhere from 6:00 to 7:00 and after that NO more eating until morning. While we sleep our bodies can burn up to 400 calories during an 8 hour period of sleep on an empty stomach! So stay strong and get plenty of sleep! Our bodies need this time to rest not worry about all that food we ate super late. Yes, trust me I know its hard but nothing is a better feeling then getting on the scale the next morning and seeing those numbers getting lower and lower. Honestly that feeling in itself is incredible and fills you with ambition and motivation to keep going! 

                      Happy Holidays! Stay Strong and workout hard!!

                                   -Brittney xoxo

You've come too far to take orders from a cookie!

Hello everyone! In this blog, I wanted to share some of my favorite workout DVDs that I do at home. These are great workouts for people who dont have a gym membership, or even if you do have one but maybe you dont feel like getting out, or maybe you just dont have the time. I love these DVDs because they are a quick and easy planned workout! I know when I do these, I can always look forward to a much accomplished workout, and thats the goal we need to make sure we meet. We dont want to be wasting any time right?
The first video I highly recommend is called "Walk at home 5 Mile Fat Burning WALK" Its by Leslie Sansone and approximately 73 minutes total. On the days where you dont feel like tackling the full 5 miles, you can choose to do 1, 2, 3, or 4 miles instead of the full workout. I love Leslie Sansone, she is a very inspiring woman who truly loves fitness and being healthy! My second DVD is my personal favorite called "Personal training with Jackie Warner" its her power circuit training. Jackies DVDs are a little bit more challenging in my personal opinion. She breaks down the 40 minute total workout into total body circuit, lower body, upper body, and abs only circuit. Again, she gives you options where you can choose one circuit if thats all you want to do instead of the full body. Jackie also carries other DVDs you can find, she has one specifically for abs, she has a timesaver training DVD. I have all of her DVDs and I enjoy them and would recommend them to anyone who is wanting a kickbutt workout! My last DVD is by Jillian Michaels called "Banish fat boost metabolism". This DVD is also 40 minutes and is broken into seven 6-minute circuits that truly make you work hard! This DVD has a lot of kickboxing and plyometrics in it, and I absolutely LOVE it! You can purchase all of these DVDs at Walmart for around $10.00. If your looking for something new try them out! They are awesome!!

  Alright guys! I have some great fruits that are energizing, yummy, and great for when you have those tough cravings for something sweet! These antioxidant rich fruits are great muscle builders, so eat up.
Cherries: Help reduce muscle soreness after a tough workout.
TRY a cup of cherries with a side of low-fat yogurt as a preworkout snack!
Bananas: Bananas are known for their potassium! We may not know that one banana also contains 34% of your daily value for vitamin B-6, which plays an important part in your metabolism, especially if you exercise regularly.
Pineapples: Are filled with tons of fiber, calcium, potassium, vitamin C, and 73 percent of the daily value for manganese, a mineral that helps build bone and tissue.
Strawberries: Are loaded with vitamin C, they are a natural cancer fighter!
Watermelon: Are filled with vitamin C and help fight against muscle damage.
I challenge everyone to start adding a serving of fruit a day to breakfast, lunch, or dinner to help boost your health.

    CRAVINGS!
  
                     Are tough! We all hate that feeling when your boarderline starving, yet youve already eaten dinner and your still wanting more!! How do we get past these feelings? Well sadly, there is no magical way to get rid of them you cant snap your fingers or click your heels! Even though that would be amazing, they just are what they are and they exsist. Everyone gets them, but how do we avoid them?

#1. Are you that person who loves watching food shows late at night? Well honeslty I was until I realized it made me hungry and I wanted to eat everything late at night when I shouldnt be. So for starters watch cooking shows while your eating lunch, or dinner. Dont watch these shows when you shouldnt be eating, trust me it only makes it worse, and a lot harder then it already is.

#2. Make sure you eat enough during the day. Some people barely eat anything during the day and then they wonder why their so hungry late at night? So make sure you get a big breakfast thats filled with good nutrition that will give you energy throught the day, especially if you have a busy schedule.

#3. Get your mind off of wanting to eat the things you shouldnt. If your hungry, distract yourself with something else. Go shopping, study for a test, play a game, go for a run, pull out your Oxygen Magazine and get motivated! Everytime Im feeling sluggish or unmotivated I pull out my oxygen and when im done I seriously want to run a marathon by the time I put it down.

#4. If everything else fails, sit down and think of whats more important to you. Would you rather achieve that goal you have set for yourself, that image thats in your head of how you would love to look? Or do you want that peice of cake? or that burger and fries? Don't give up what you want most for something you want in the moment. Push through that craving, it will make the difference from your diet working or not working.

I challenge everyone to give up something for a week! Whether it be soda, candy, sweets, fast food, eating after 7, tell me what you challenge yourself to give up and how you did!

Keep looking out for future posts, my next blog I will talk about free days and include more tips and tricks that help you stay motivated! Until then, workout hard and keep focused on your goals :)

    -Brittney xoxo

The Start

Hello to everyone reading my first blog! I am so excited you took a moment to read my blogspot! In my future posts my goal is to share any helpful information I have about clean eating, motivation, exercising, self control and ambition! I hope the things I share with you are anything you can use in your daily life. I am not any kind of nutritionist or trainer, just an average girl who has come a long way in my dieting. I have currently lost 40 pounds and am still in the process of transforming my body, with clean eating, exercising, and self control! I would love to share with you some things that help me stay focused and keep me motivated. We all have that image of the perfect body, so whats stopping you from achieving it? Set a goal for yourself and lets get started!!

• Getting Started:

Sometimes starting your diet can be the hardest thing, thats why I personally think the best way to start changing your eating would be substituting your favorite junk foods, sweets, sodas, and even mama's soul food to healthy alternatives that are just as satisfying! Write down a list of goals you wish to achieve and post your list somewhere that is visible to you every day. This way seeing your list often will be a motivating reminder of the switches in food you wish to make.

• Exercising:

Lets face it, there are times we will make up every excuse in the book to avoid it. Yet it's funny how when we finish a workout we feel energized and happy! This is because when you exercise and get your heart rate up your body releases endorphins to your brain which makes us happy! We feel great and accomplished after working out and that alone is a great feeling. Oxygen Magazine quotes "45% are less likely of developing Alzheimers disease in people who do regular moderate to intense activity." So protect your brain by exercising consistently! Always warm up for five to ten minutes before starting a workout to get your blood moving and your muscles warm. Finish your work out just like you started it, with ambition and a goal.

     Achieving your health goals are possibilities, but its all up to you and how hard your willing to push yourself. Anything you set your mind to is most definitely reachable, never say you cant get there. I am much looking forward to continuing my posts! Make sure you watch for my next post which I'll include my list of top great trainers, some great recipes, more tips and facts, and workouts that hit the spot!

          -Brittney xoxo