Hehe

I'm at a very comfortable weight but I'm also borderline to weight I dislike and a weight I want to be at. I'm 123lbs and with food I am typically at 125lbs. My ideal weight would be between 110-120. As you can see, I don't have much to lose.

I'm fairly active, but I don't tend to watch my calories, and some days I don't even move. I run, I do light cardio from time to time if I can find the time between school, work, and being a caring mother, along with doing other things I absolutely love to do...like watch YouTube.

Like I said in my other post, I'm not and never have been very athletic. So, I'm going to stick to running and maybe get a bit tougher on myself with cardio workouts.

My goal here is to cut down on my calories, boost metabolism, and run daily.

To cut down on calories is kinda scary. You can easily mess up your metabolism and slow it down if you aren't doing things right. It's easy to get off track with this balance if you aren't careful. I'm going to also stress that the amount of calories and how you eat to get to your goal weight is supposed to be a life change. Not temporary. Working on your body and health is a daily practice. Don't think you get a free day just because you hit your goal. You have to remember that old habits can come crawling back, so make a new one for life and eventually it won't feel like torture, it'll just be how it is.


This Is My Routine: No one has to do this, it's simply for me.

So to do this I'm going to eat as soon as I feel hungry in the morning. I don't typically get hungry first thing when I wake up, with the exception of a few mornings, and I don't like to eat until I feel my metabolism burning calories. I like to think of this a hunter/gatherer approach, which sounds kinda ridiculous, but bare with me. When our ancestors woke up in the morning they didn't just pour a bowl of cereal and eat. Most of the time they would go out and find food and have it prepared by lunch, likely eating whatever little snacks they had on hand from the day before, food that was easily carried around for hunting and gathering. This might be a super false, but it's a concept I like to go back. I have no real credentials here. I snack in the mornings on maybe some berries or something light and cook lunch as a bigger meal, my first meal of the day...which is still called breakfast for me because it's the first meal of the day. I'm not skipping breakfast, I'm just not eating immediately upon waking up.

What I do in this time period before breakfast is I go for a run on an empty stomach. I run a mile. Running a mile is 10-15 minutes of your day so I highly recommend running at least a mile a day. After running I eat something light and drink a small amount of liquid (not any form of soda) and I will shower. This is where things can get tricky.

If I don't have school in the morning I will use this time to begin preparing breakfast. I don't care what I have for breakfast as long as it's decently healthy. I don't care about my portion size at breakfast neither. I simply cook food and eat as much as I want until I'm full. And full is not overwhelming, full is just simply "I'm not hungry anymore".

If I'm going to school or work in the morning I take something easy for my meal. This for me is usually a Cliff Bar or protein bar of some sort, and if I'm really stressed for time, a plant based protein shake (I used to be vegan/vegetarian and part of the ways still linger with me).

approaching lunch.

SNACK! Snack on berries, nuts, pretzels, animal crackers, regular crackers if you're too adult. Listen to me, this is important. NEVER let yourself feel hungry. I'm not saying down a bag of trailmix, I'm saying eat a few pretzels every 30 minutes or so. When you start feeling the hunger feeling, eat a pretzel or whatever snack. Don't eat a lot. Just eat a little. I normally pack a small baggy of berries or something to snack on. You don't want to be full, you just don't want to be hungry.

lunch! Eat a meal. Smaller than breakfast. Try and be sure it's healthier and does not have as many calories as breakfast. You shouldn't even be that hungry, the snacking should make this super easy. Try to space out lunch and breakfast at least 3 to 4 hours. That sounds killer but it's really doable if you snack. Don't make it any long than 4 hours. Seriously, you're not starving yourself. Be sure to get some cardio in at this time. Take the long route to your car or walk to that place down the road or do your cardio workout. Do things the hard way just to burn the calories.

Ok so...usually this is when it gets hard for me. I don't typically feel any hunger at all after lunch and will usually forget about food until it's too late. You have to remember to keep snacking. Snacking is so important gosh darn it! And in that same time span as before eat dinner/supper. Make sure it's tiny! It must be the smallest meal! It's awful because supper is usually shared with family and friends, but it's important to maintain this routine! After dinner it's time to chill out and not eat anymore.
Get in some last minute cardio once that food settles. Don't go crazy and intense, you've got to be prepared for going to sleep so your blood needs to start slowing its roll.

Important reminder * One binging day is not going to kill you, just don't make it a habit. Your body can work through temporary things just like it can heal a wound. DON'T GIVE UP!