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You can’t believe how much happier I am with my body now! I know most of that is just being proud that I stuck with it and kept going, but 110 pounds is a whole person I lost. I still can’t believe it some days, and have to look at the before and after photos, but I’m not going back to the ‘bad ole days.’ This is the smallest I’ve ever been in my life, and I’m now 41 years old and 125 pounds.

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You can’t believe how much happier I am with my body now! I know most of that is just being proud that I stuck with it and kept going, but 110 pounds is a whole person I lost. I still can’t believe it some days, and have to look at the before and after photos, but I’m not going back to the ‘bad ole days.’ This is the smallest I’ve ever been in my life, and I’m now 41 years old and 125 pounds.

I hear from people a lot ‘How did you do it?’ or ‘What was the spark that got you started?’ I have to say I evolved into my methodology, but it came down to four areas.

1. Diet
2. Exercise
3. Cleanses
4. Meditation

The spark was I got angry enough with the weight I was at and how I looked. It was easier to try to lose weight than to stay where I was at and do nothing. That’s it….sounds simple but everyone’s threshold is different. It’s also difficult to sustain that anger for a long period of time so there will be periods or plateaus where you fall off the wagon and go off the diet or stop exercising. That’s where the discipline has to kick in…..forgive yourself, get back up, and get on the wagon again! The person who doesn’t give up will almost always finish the race….they may not be first, but who cares. Your goal is to lose weight and be a healthier person. You’ll get there! It took me a little over a year and a half to lose 110 pounds.

I started with Power 90 and did two 90-day rotations through it. In between those I took a month off. Luckily, I found P90X because I was starting to get bored with Power90. At first, I was intimidated by it and still felt so out of shape, but I did what I could, and each time through it got a little easier. Yes…there were definitely some sore muscles at first, but I didn’t stop. Now, I’m happy to say that I barely break a sweat with YogaX…not something I could say when I first started. ;-)

On to the diet….four to five small meals a day. You have to get your metabolism ramped up and when your body knows that another meal is coming in 3-4 hours, it doesn’t go into ‘starvation’ mode. At least that’s what I’m told, and it seems to work because my stomach starts growling around 3 hours now. I bought a bunch of plastic containers to put my meals in and started cooking a large batch of food each week. If I didn’t have it ready for me, it was too tempting to go through the fast food drive-thru or grab a bunch of cookies. When I had to travel, I would take a couple of meals in my cooler and stop at a convenience store to use their microwave while filling up with gas. Where there’s a will, there’s a way…right?

What’s really strange is how my taste buds have changed. Foods I used to hate taste good now…..amazing. I never would have believed it if I hadn’t lived through it, and you have to track your food intake….at least initially. I did this consistently at first and can now judge about what I should eat each day and stay within my guidelines.
Whether you use PC software, an online web site, or track it on paper, just do it. You will be surprised how easily those carbs and fat grams add up, but when you eat the right foods (say from Michi’s ladder), you can eat more and stay within your limits.

I started the cleanses late in the game. If I had to do it all over again, I would have moved them to the beginning. I heard a very good analogy about cleanses….you change the filters in your car to keep it running smoothly, don’t you? What’s the difference with the filters in your body? Whether it’s your colon, liver, gall bladder, or eliminating Candida., your body needs its filters cleaned occasionally. For example, when I got to the point of eliminating Candida from my body, I lost 20 pounds in less than three weeks….no joke….and I didn’t exercise or diet any differently. I’m not an expert in the area, but research it for yourself. There are a lot of different approaches and cleanses so be careful. Listen to your body, talk to other people, and research the various methods.

Last but not least…..meditation. Don’t roll your eyes at me….this isn’t a cult and I can’t do the lotus position. ;-) What it is for me is listening to a peaceful CD (sounds of rain) daily and reducing stress. When you can raise your stress threshold to a point that the daily level of stress doesn’t reach it, things don’t bother you as much. Whether you want to call it meditation, prayer, or just quiet time, it all works to the same goal….reducing your stress levels. Many of us eat when we’re stressed. If we can reduce our stress levels, it stands to reason we won’t binge as much. I think it works….try it

Well….that’s my methodology in a somewhat small nutshell. You have to experiment and find what works for your body. I want to thank Beachbody for the products they provide and the motivation to keep pushing play. I believe they were a big part of helping me to reach my goals, and I definitely let others know. Good luck on your journey….remember it doesn’t stop when you hit the weight you want. It’s a lifelong process to keep a healthy mind and body.

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