… I do actually have the “secret” as to how to lose weight fast, get toned and feel more confident.

First and foremost, I didn’t expect to see the results I got. Nor did I think I would have been as discipline as I was. So, before I go into my last 90 day’s journey, please know that if you’re someone that might be going down the same path or is thinking of embarking upon a journey like mine… please know I do actually have the “secret” as to how to lose weight fast, get toned and feel more confident. However, you’ve probably ALREADY heard it all before, but maybe not so direct.

You ready? Cause here it is. STOP fooling yourself (it’s that simple)! If you want to get those three, very important things I mentioned above, you have to FIGHT for it. Every single day will be a battle. Every day something or someone is going to present you with the possibility of a setback. It’s up to YOU if you feel it’s worth all your hard work to derail your train of progress. You think my work didn’t have pizza parties or cake or donuts for someone’s birthday?! Oh hell yeah it did! And I LOVE PIZZA AND DONUTS!

However, I literally had to have pep talks with myself (on a daily basis). I had to remind myself of just how disappointed and sad I would be if I caved. All I needed to do was get through 90 days. Just 90 days before I could truly take one last snapshot and compare it to myself from the beginning. If I’d gotten through those 90 days with TRUE, HONEST, HARD WORK and didn’t see results that pleased me… then I was going to have to have a brutally honest talk with myself. DID I REALLY try that hard? Should I have had that donut on that Monday for Bob’s b-day? If I DID in fact try super hard and not give into temptation, then I knew that pep talk wouldn’t be necessary.

So, let’s take a look at my journey. I think y’all will be able to see… I kept my promise to myself and stayed honest throughout the entire 90 days.  Here are some photos from day one, 2/26/18.

I PROMISE you, I’m not sticking my stomach out on purpose. I had a beer belly, and it was all I could do to NOT have it look so distended all of the time. I also LOVED anything salty and sweet which usually meant my sodium intake was off the charts.

Here I am on March 13th. There’s not too much of a difference at this point, but I didn’t let that stop me. I’d lost 3 lbs from the beginning.

Here I was on April 6th. You can see the muffin top is still there and so is the beer pooch. Yet, they’re slowly starting to melt away.

Here I was on 4/25.You can see I sort of lost the definition in my abs, yet my muffin top was gradually melting away. I can remember at this time, I felt like I had a minor setback. I felt like I’d possibly messed up somehow and hit a plateau. So, I started to incorporate more standing ab workouts into my weekly routine.

Here I am on 6/4. You can see that my waistline and pooch go down significantly! You can even tell a difference in my arms. I didn’t lose any more weight either. I just kept losing inches while still maintaining my weight of 115lbs.

Ok so… how in the world did I do all of this aside from the hokey answer of determination? I stuck to a predominantly clean eating diet. I DID NOT count calories nor did I carb cycle. The reason why I didn’t need to do this is because I truly have amazing self control. When I didn’t have as good of self control, I used the My Fitness Pal app to help guide me with counting calories.That app is a lifesaver!

I’ve done enough diets to know when I’m overindulging. Also, I wasn’t on a “full clean eating” diet. I allowed myself to have string cheese and a handful of wheat thins with an apple as a daily snack. Another snack I’d have was Trader Joe’s beef or buffalo jerky. The other snacks I’d have throughout the day were carrots, celery, hummus, and some plain popcorn with the Flavor God Cheese seasoning. I had that last snack closer to the end of my program, though.

One of my biggest problems was that I wasn’t the best at replenishing my protein after a workout. I really hated all the protein powders I tried. Most of the time I just really wanted to shower right afterwards and before I knew it, I’d missed my 30-60 minute window of time to be sure my muscles got what they needed after a workout. So, I then started to drink an 8 ounce glass of 2% milk with Hershey’s 5 Simple Ingredients chocolate syrup directly after my workouts. It’s a great source of protein, it taste delicious. I’ve already noted in my prior blogs as to what meals I was eating throughout the week.

My workout plans. I did the V Shred 90 Home HIIT workouts. I’d do a 3-4 minute warm up of either jumping rope, jumping jacks or high knees. Then, I moved into whatever the daily Home HIIT workout was listed for that day (Mon., Wed., Fri.). On the LISS days (Tue., Thur., Sat.) I usually jumped on the treadmill at home and would either do a 5 minute walk warmup followed by 15 minutes of 1 minute of running and 1 minute of walking. Then I’d always end it with a 5 minute, light walking cool down. Other days if didn’t feel like running, I’d just walk on the treadmill after my 5 minute warmup at an incline that gradually got up to 9 or 10 for about 10-15 minutes. There were other days when I’d just watch one of the various YouTube HIIT videos I’d found.

I made sure I never stuck to the same workouts. I have such bad ADD and always need to keep things fresh and keep my muscles guessing just what was going to happen next. I rarely worked out for more than 25 minutes a day. Why? Cause I hate working out! LOL I’m 40 years old. I work full time, and I’d rather just come home and play video games or meet some friends at a bar. HOWEVER, those are also some of the things that got me in this predicament.

I truly hope that this will help some of you out that are either in the beginning, middle or end of your own personal journey. I wasn’t perfect by any means. I had a couple hiccups along the way, but I just wiped the slate clean each new day. I didn’t obsess over my weight, and you better believe those cheat meals were sometimes the only thing that kept me going. I wish all of you the best of luck! Just take it one day at a time. I’m here if you’d also like to ask any questions. ❤

Best,
Star