Something I don’t talk about publicly is my weight. A lot of people don’t understand that maintaining my size is a constant struggle. If I go a week without working out, and don’t watch what I eat, it shows. Trust me it shows. And then I have to deal with the criticisms: Oh I’ve put on weight! Am I pregnant? My weight has fluctuated a lot in the past, mostly because I've been an emotional eater who used to treat my anxiety with binge eating. In fact, I had a lot of unhealthy coping tools.
When 2018 hit, I was ready for a serious change. I wanted to work hard, feel better every day, and get physically stronger. My biggest motivation was my dad’s wedding last summer. I was standing in the wedding and I was tired of my waist being larger than 30”. I honestly didn’t enjoy having to buy new clothes to accommodate my weight gain so something had to give. All my weight-loss attempts in the past had fallen flat, so I knew I had to do something different this time around. These are the four changes I made that helped me achieve all my weight-loss and fitness goals.
I know I’ve been bragging about the Keto diet last year and I’ve shared numerous Keto recipes here, but if I’m completely honest, Keto is expensive and it was beginning to mess with my digestive system. Keto requires a lot of high fats, most of which can be found in dairy - totally bad for sinus issues, bloating and lactose intolerance). But Keto isn’t totally flawed. Limiting carbs and sugar was the best dietary decision I ever made. But not all carbs are bad carbs. So recognising which carbs I needed, and eliminating what I didn’t, like processed and packaged foods from my daily diet reduced my bloating, increased my fitness performance, and helped me shed the excess pounds. Most importantly, I have much more mental clarity than I ever did before, which makes it easier to be productive and work out efficiently.
Whether it was negative people, absent people, or those who don’t value healthy eating, I had to distance myself from them. Once I cleaned up my relationships and surrounded myself with people who were interested in taking care of themselves, I felt confident that I had a support system that would be there for me no matter what. So I really went for my goals — and I ‘m starting to smash every one of them!