Claire's FAT Journey Part 3

Hi Everyone,

Hope you’ve had an active week and are feeling great for it! Now that I have made it to a weight range I am happy with I decided to spend last week being a little more relaxed with my eating. I didn’t log all my meals in My Fitness Pal app like I normally do. When you’ve been counting calories as long as I have you get used to knowing what you have so I did manual counts in my head each day and just made healthy choices and allowed myself a few extra calories in the way of snacks or bigger portion sizes. Must have done something right (or wrong actually) as I still lost 400g! Haha. I am still to do some more research on maintaining my weight & what that means in terms of nutrition & exercise. I would also love you guys to comment with some topics you’d like me to blog about in the future or something you’d like me to find more information on for you.

Meal prep Sunday today included:

* Honey Mustard Chicken with Cauliflower Rice

* Beef & Broccoli Stir-fry with Brown Rice and Cauliflower Rice combo

* Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie

* Gluten Free Brownies

* Mini Quiches

I thought I would use this blog opportunity to give you guys a few pointers on ‘Starting a Healthy Lifestyle’. I feel like there are some steps you need to take yourself through in order to get yourself on track. Some of you may already have done these things in the past but a refresher is always a good thing.

1. If you’re not already a member of F.A.T join up now! Your first class is free and there are lots of membership packages. The support of a program like F.A.T is essential to reaching your goals. Also, get yourself a buddy. This doesn’t need to be a fellow member. It can be your sister, your mum, a good friend – this person can be your training/accountability buddy! Rely on this person when you feel you may be going to make a bad choice and share your achievements and triumphs with them!

2. Clean out your fridge and your pantry. If bad, unhealthy foods are not in there…you are not going to eat them. Do some food prep! It makes the world of difference!

3. Don’t start Monday. Start NOW! Starting is the hardest part…so don’t prolong it.

4. Look at your plate differently – if you are not a calorie counter like myself, start looking at your plate in terms of nutrients. Do you have protein, good fats, good carbs…is your meal going to help repair your muscles after training, is it the type of food that is good for your skin, will it make you feel good? (If you are a calorie counter or would like to be I’ll be doing a blog on this soon).

5. Set realistic goals in terms of your food, exercise and body. Don’t turn to quick fixes or fad diets. Take baby steps. Change one or two things. Master them and then add more changes.

6. Make some promises to yourself and stick to them. They can be as simple as drinking 3L of water per day. Walking for 30 minutes, 4 times a week to supplement your other workouts. Eat more greens – maybe getting them via a green juice/smoothie. Attend a Yoga class or meditate. It can be anything that you like that will help you reach your goals. Give yourself the same love you give to others!

7. Make a vision board. Check out the Internet or Pinterest or even magazines and print out/cut out some quotes and pics that make you feel good. Things that will make your stick to your goals. Fill it with positive affirmations and healthy images that will keep you focused. Make it visible in your house – on your bathroom mirror, next to your bed, on the fridge.

8. Break your goals up into smaller goals and set up some rewards for yourself when you reach your mini goals. For example, if you have 10kg to lose, break it up into two lots of 5kg and reward yourself once you achieve each 5kg milestone. A facial, a massage, new clothes are all great rewards!

I hope these tips to starting a healthy lifestyle are helpful to you all. You can do it! Have faith in yourself and be accountable, be committed and have fun!

Have a great week guys.

Please check out my pics of my food prep this week and my weekly wrap up vid.