Hi All!

Welcome back to my blog!  I am so happy you are here.  Since quarantine began, I have really started getting back into working out, and trying to lose the baby weight that has stuck around since I was pregnant with my daughter, Kennedy, who is now 1.5!  I am not proud of the fact that it has taken me this long to finally commit to being better for myself, but I am proud that I have finally started to take steps to make myself better and be the active person I know I can be!

As a disclaimer, I am not here to body shame or fat shame anyone, or tell anyone how to lose weight.  I am here to give my experience with what I live with everyday, and how I feel about myself.

So a little background on me.  Growing up, I played every sport I could.  I was always active, and this left me with little to no body fat on my frame.  I would eat whatever I wanted, and go run around the soccer field for an hour, and be in shape and healthy.  This was a WONDERFUL time I took very much for granted.  I wish I had enjoyed it a little more.

Fast forward to 15 years later, and I am not that same little skinny girl I used to be.  Granted, puberty and boobs probably have a lot to do with that, but I have created an unhealthy environment for myself. I have not (until recently) been working out, I had been eating whatever I want whenever I want, and just generally not striving for any sort of healthy balanced diet.

I often found myself making excuses for this behavior.  “I can eat this cookie because I got out of bed this morning” or ‘I deserve this brownie because I finished work today”.  These are just two examples of the things I would tell myself to justify bad and unhealthy eating.  Now I am not here to say I don’t eat brownies and cookies, because I DEFINITELY do,  I was just using sweets and fast food as my MAIN food groups.  I was unhealthy, and lacking motivation to exercise at all.

Fast forward to March of 2020.  I was tired of being miserable.  I was looking at myself everyday in the mirror and crying because of how I saw myself.  I was tired of feeling insecure when I knew that I had the power to change the way I felt about myself.  So I stuck my nose to the grindstone, and really started to change the way I eat and workout.

My Current Workout Regiment

My workouts started with walking 3 miles a day.  That’s it! I started walking as much as I could to burn as many calories as I could. I would load my daughter into her jogger, give her some snacks or a youtube video, and walk for an hour.  This burns a lot more calories than you would think, and is a pretty good workout.

Then I started incorporated workouts from the SWEAT app into my daily routine.  These workouts are around 35 – 40 minutes, and use plyometrics along with light weight lifting to tone your muscles.  I now believe that light weight lifting is going to be crucial is getting my body into the shape I want it to be, so this app is a good choice for me.

Lastly, and where I am at now, I have incorporated a little running back into my walks.  I do the couch potato to 5k running app on my phone for 25 minutes, and walk the rest of my route home.  I burn more calories, and I am starting to see a bug difference in the shape that my lungs are in.  Running is becoming more and more easy every day!

Apps I am Currently Using to Help me get Back in Shape!

There are about 5 apps on my iPhone that I am currently using that I find really helpful in this process of healthy eating and getting my body back to the way I want it to be!

1. LIFE SUM APP : “The digital self-care app that helps you reach your health and weight goals through better eating.” I use this app to track my eating, calories, and workouts to see how many calories I am putting in vs how many I am expelling.  Weight loss is a numbers game.  You need to take in less calories than you are expelling from your body.  This app helps me trakc that, find healthy recipes, and gives me a rating on the foods I eat in whether they are healthy or not!
2. 5K Runner APP: “Get in shape in 8 weeks with the official and often imitated 5K Runner® 0 to 5K program. This app has over 4.2 million success stories of people that got in shape and started living healthy, and you can do it too. Only 30 mins, 3 times a week, for 8 weeks and you will run 5K.” I use this app is run during my walking route.  Its only 30 minutes of the hour I run, but I get a better workout by incorporating a little running into my walk!
3. FitTrack App and Scale : “80% of people fail to maintain their health goals. FitTrack scales are a simple and effective solution to stay motivated. Measure, track, and trend your body vitals over time with 17 Health Measurements at the comfort of your fingertips.” I use the FitTrack scale to measure my weight (obviously) as well as my BMI, Body fat percentage and more!  I am not really sure HOW accurate the scale is, but it’s cool, and I like it a lot.  I am seeing improvement in BMI and body fat % even when the number on the scale doesn’t change, so that says something about it!
4. SWEAT APP : “SWEAT encourages you to get stronger week by week! You progress gradually, increasing the intensity in each workout. When you’re ready to take on fresh challenges and step up your workouts, SWEAT has you covered.”  I use this app to build muscle and strength on top of the walk that I do every day.  I am currently on Week 3 of the KELSEY WELLS PWR AT HOME workout on the SWEAT APP and I LOVE ITTTT!!!!! I am SO MUCH stronger than I was before!  It was hard to even lift Kennedy up to put her in the car seat, and, now, I do it was ease.  I have seen such a difference in how strong I am since starting this program.  I think its so important to be strong as a woman, so I don’t plan on stopping this program any time soon!
5. Podcast App and the Influencer Podcast: “An innovative podcast that explores the secrets behind the ever changing trends of influencer marketing. It takes you behind the scenes with successful entrepreneurs, influencers, bloggers and industry elites in conversation to share how they engage, persuade and grow their unique influence.”  I love to listen to podcasts while I walk, and this one is MY FAVORITE!  It’s so interesting and I find the information that Julie and her guests share about the influencer, marketing and PR world so riveting!
6. Apple Watch and Activity App: “The Activity app on your iPhone keeps a record of your activity. If you’ve tracked at least six months of activity, it displays daily trend data for active calories, exercise minutes, stand hours, stand minutes, walk distance, flights climbed, and more.” I love my Apple Watch!  I wear it all the time.  It’s great for answering phone calls, and text messages as well as tracking all of my workouts and helping me hit my fitness goals.

If you are interested in hearing a little more about my weight loss journey, you can visit our family YouTube channel here.  I will be making a video every month about my weight loss journey, so feel free to subscribe so you don’t miss it!