The last 10...

Okay so I'm really falling off the wagon when it comes to posting every monday... I'm also a little low on content right now - let me know what you want to hear more about!

This is a quick (late) post on the dreaded last 10 pounds. Now let it be clear, I am by no means a personal trainer of any sort nor are the diet and workout tips suggested here right for everyone.

I started losing weight at the beginning of my grade 12 year (so back in 2007 - fellow graduates... feel old when I say that?) and it was a slow but steady decline all throughout my university years.

January 2007

October 2010

My last year of school I was definitely in the best shape EVER. I had been working with a personal trainer and was doing all my own grocery shopping as I was living away at school. This is totally what saved me (also, I had copious hours in a day to go to the gym).

I felt great and was at the lowest weight I had ever been (since like the 8th grade... yea I was fat). We went on a family vacation to Costa Rica in the spring of 2011 and my hard work had paid off (as was captured by the professional photos that were taken while we were away).

They got a little racy for family vacation.. 

Unfortunately, when I returned I got a little lazy and I put back on about 10 pounds over the course of a year. Now, thankfully it has stayed there but I seem to be having a real tough time dropping it again.

I have resolved to lose the last 10 for good through eating regular meals and exercising (I'm saying this out loud on my blog so I'm shamed into sticking to it). To get there I am temporarily back to calorie counting and measuring almost all of my meals to ensure I'm truly aware of what I'm putting in my mouth. I'm able to easily track my meals with my iPhone app (MyFitnessPal) where I can also program my height and current weight, ideal weight, how many pounds I want to lose per week etc.

In addition to keeping a food diary I really need to pick up (and keep consistent) my exercise. I do one yoga class a week (which I absolutely love) and I try and get to the gym at least 3-4 times. Overall, if I can exercise 5 times a week I'm happy - I also get out and get some sunshine and fresh air almost daily by walking the dogs. I do try and follow a CrossFit workout plan and still use many workouts I have from when I was working with a personal trainer. There are also some fabulous workouts on Pintrest - just need to make sure I'm doing the exercises properly so as to avoid any strains.

In summary, I don't expect this to be a quick diet stint to get me where I want to be - nor is that the best way to approach this. If I want to get it off and keep it off it needs to be slow and done with no fads or extremes. I'm also hoping to give Primal/Paleo a try again when Justin and I move out (although he has made it abundantly clear that it will not be super strict). We're both fortunate enough to live at home and not have to pay for groceries so we can't be super picky about what exactly it is that we're getting for free.

A house update is in the works!! Stay tuned

Until next time...