A friend of mine asked me, “how’s the blogging going?” I almost responded, “great,” until I realized it had been a while since my last update. I missed the whole summer with my blogger friends, and I apologize for that!
Let me just say that, this summer was amazeballs for me! I visited Canada and the West Coast (LA) for the first time, the DMV, my alma mater, all of New England and even moved to a new state! During all of this excitement however, I had to keep my weight loss goals in mind. For those who may not remember, my original goal was 170 pounds but after reaching that I set a new goal of 150-155 pounds. At the start of the summer I was 164 pounds and just knew I would reach my new goal with little to no problems, how naive was I?
Losing weight in the summer and losing weight in the winter are TWO DIFFERENT THINGS (caps locks for greater emphasis). In the winter, in Boston, it snowed, and snowed, and snowed, and snowed….need I say more? I was stuck in the house, trying new healthy recipes, trying new workouts, being conscious of my healthy lifestyle change with ease. With the summer came not only warmer weather, but parties, rooftop outings, cookouts, bar-be-que ( a fav of mine), beach days, mini-vacays, big vacays and just food and alcohol everywhere all of the time. I was trying to lose weight but everyone around me was just trying to enjoy their summers. This made me attentive to my first piece of advice:
- Surround yourself with people who respect you and your goals! Respecting you and your goals means these people will not constantly temp you but they will keep you grounded. I was on the extreme, no cheat days unless I am on vacation, no alcohol except one day a week on occasion, no candy or sweets, no fun food….and my friends had to tell me I was being crazy. I had other friends who would make fun of or mock my healthy lifestyle change, and those people, are people I had to keep far away from me. I did not need anyone making this harder on me, making fun of me as though I could not do it, or saying I was ridiculous for making a positive change for my life. My AP (accountability partner as we call it) Eze was my go to when I was getting crazy with my diet and he always brought me back to reality! I suggest you find yourself an Eze!
During the winter, I went to the gym just about every single day of the week for a minimum of an hour. This was not feasible during the summer, there was something to do almost every weekend and everyday after work. This made planning extremely important.
- Plan your workouts like you plan your meals (meal prep). I realized that going to the gym everyday was no longer totally necessary, because I was so much closer to my weight goal and was refocusing my goals. I planned to go to the gym at least 3-4x a week for at least an hour, dedicating less time to cardio and more to weight lifting and stretching. This allowed me to still workout and to not stress about not making it to the gym in order to do some activities with friends.
While on vacation, delicious and tempting food is everywhere….and I mean everywhere. Make smart choices.
- Your cheat meal can still be a smart choice. If I was on vacation and eating wings, I would opt for the wings by themselves and leave the french fries alone. If I am going to drink any alcohol that day, all of my other beverages are going to be water. Just have balance.
You may be wondering, well what am I going to do with these “summer tips” with fall being 3 days away? These tips are season proof, and go forward will help me to maintain my weight on this healthy lifestyle journey. Throughout the traveling and temptation, I was able to reach my new weight goal, I am currently 151 pounds and plan to work on toning and maintaining. This has been a long journey from 220 pounds and it is not over yet, there’s always room to improve. And as always, anyone can do it, just make small changes each day until they become a habit.
Some good small changes:
- Drink more water. Substitute other drinks for water and when you don’t think you’re thirsty, drink water anyway.
- Take the stairs instead of elevator
- Get baked chicken instead of fried or sweet potato fries instead of regular
- Always have a vegetable with your meal
- Eat fruit instead of candy
You survived the summer but why not look good year round!
Weight Loss. Travel Gains 