Starting (& Sticking with) a Fitness & Eating Plan

Looking back at my cupcake post from the other day it's obvious that I was in a little bit of a confession mode. It's probably preeeetty safe to say that there might have been a LITTLE bit of a sugar-overload going on. You know, maybe. So, with the need to purge the memory of my delicious downfall now out of my system it's on to more important things at hand, like how to get into this new lifestyle.

If you're like me and you grew up participating in competitive sports then you were used to a coach regularly yelling at you to work harder, train smarter and you had a golden training plan laid out for you. Now it's the real world. No one cares if you skip a workout, no one asks you why you didn't show up, no one kicks your ass for not meeting your fitness goals and no one yells at you for motivation. It sucks, but it's time to be your own coach and get yourself motivated in a new way! Here are my tips and tricks.

Side note: If anyone would like to take it to the level of actually yelling at yourself during a workout, I'd like to see that. I for one do not, so this is my alternative approach.

Tricks to Staying on Track While Getting Fit, Vegan or Not

1. Get shutter happy. If you are looking to start a routine with the goal of losing weight then chances are that there are parts of your body you aren't crazy about, but trust me, it will be worth it! Take some pictures. If you've ever happened upon those before and after pics on Pinterest you know how amazing those transformations can be. Things will be changing before you realize it and a little reminder of what things were like before is sometimes motivation enough.
   
2. Screw the scale. Seriously, it's crap. Your weight might not always be changing, but your body and your fitness level is. If you do insist on weighing yourself make sure you do it at the same time everyday, preferably first thing in the morning...before you eat breakfast of course.
   
3. Be a little nerdy. Schedule your workouts and your eating plan on an actual calendar. I'm not joking, write down the time and what you are doing. The more specific the better. Get totally over-achiever about it. This might not work for everyone, but if I don't schedule I don't do. I workout right when I get up or else it's, "Ehhh, I'll do it later"....later never comes. If I don't plan my recipes and groceries for the week, dinnertime rolls around I want pizza (vegan, of course). It takes a little time, but once it's done you don't have to think about it.
   
4. Make yourself accountable, tell people. For a brief second I contemplated announcing my get fit goals on Facebok, complete with a promise to post a picture of myself in a bikini when I reached my goal date. The briefest of seconds. How would THAT be for motivation? You don't have to be all extreme about it, but tell as many people as you can. Hopefully they will help you stick with it, which rocks. Sadly, they might try to derail you, but when they see that you don't cave you might even inspire them to make some healthy changes.
   
5. Document, document, document. I used to work as a pediatric nurse and if there's one thing nurses will tell you it's that if it's not charted it didn't happen. Just because you aren't using the scale doesn't mean you can't track something. You can use measurements, take even more pictures, or just log your workouts. If that sounds terrible to you I understand, maybe just pay attention to how much differently your clothes fit. You might even have to buy new clothes! Which brings me to my next tip.
   
6. Give yourself presents! Yes, being fit and healthy is the ultimate reward, but who doesn't love treating themselves to a little something? Some of the things on my rewards list are motivating workout clothes, a new Lifefactory bottle, a Crossfit class, a massage, and a Zombie 5K (You read right, it blows my mind!). Set a mini-goal for a certain number of workouts or for following your eating plan for a certain number of days. The rewards don't have to be big! Just a little something to look forward to. Oh yeah, and don't make the pitfall of rewarding yourself with food.
   
   Right now I'm looking foward to these.
   



Skull Candy Smokin' Buds

7. Avoid the fridge debate. You know what I'm talking about. You waited too long and now you're staring in your fridge. You're starving and desperate. All resolve is lost. All that healthy, fresh, beautiful food you bought only takes like 5 minutes to prepare, but it might as well be an hour because, if you are like me, when I'm hungry I'm hungry. If I wash my fruit, prep the veggies and put them in bowls I'm forced to see them when I open the fridge. They look pretty, it's fast and I'm 99.9% more likely to grab that when I'm hungry than I am to run up the street to Circle K for some Oreos (...run might be misleading, to be clear when I'm in Oreo mode I DRIVE).   
   

   

   My Prepped Fridge...Organized until husband enters

8. Variety. No one can do the same thing everyday and not get bored with it unless you are my mother-in-law and you can watch NCIS marathons a billion times. I LOVE my mother-in-law (I know, I'm weird right?), but NCIS is the bane of my existence. But that is niether here nor there. Don't find just one activity because when you get bored you will skip working out completely because you're just not interested. Run, do videos, try yoga, roll around on the floor with your dog. Whatever sounds fun to you. Right now I'm hooked on Jillian Michaels Total Body Revolution. She yells at you just enough to keep things interesting, is tough instead of trying to be all overly polite/nice (which I hate) and she really takes you through a great workout.
   
   (One of my favorite things has always been hiding around the corner and jumping out to scare my dogs. I swear, they love it! Before you get all, "That's not very vegan!", just know that they are boxers not chihuahuas. It's the start to them acting all hilarious, barking like crazy, spinning in circles and chasing/being chased by me for hours...or at least until I feel like my neighbors might start complaining.)
9. Get creative in the kitchen. This one might take a little time if your version of cooking is a microwave or a drive-thru, but once you've been using recipes for a while start experimenting. Start small by adding a few different spices than your recipe calls for. You can branch out from there. Or you can take the "I was lazy and didn't go grocery shopping and now I'm going to create something healthy from whatever I've got in the fridge" approach, which has surprisingly has resulted in some of my best culinary creations. It makes healthy food fun and exciting when you realize you can make something up yourself.
   
10. Be excited. You are making the decision to do this and that's half the battle! You will not do it perfectly, you will have bad days that you will probably will beat yourself up. Get over it. Accept it now and skip the guilt trip. Try again and just keep going!

I hope some of these work for you! Share your tips for staying on track with us. We're always looking for new ideas and motivation.

♥ Angel