Getting Fit in the New Year

{Image Source: Women’s Health}

I’m often get asked by people how I lost 20 pounds last year. My answer to them is displince.

In case you didn’t know, last year this week I joined Weight Watchers. Most people gain the freshman 15 in college but I gained it after college. In a span of 4 years, I managed to gain 20 pounds. One day I woke up and realized I wasn’t happy with myself internally and externally. I don’t realized how much weight I gained because I know how to dress to make your self look slimmer. ( I’ll get to that later!) So as you prepare to get fit in the new year I thought I would share my top tips I learned over the past year.

1. Stay Dedicated, Have Discipline!- I’ve always been dedicated to finishing what I’ve started since I was a little girl. So when I joined I knew quitting wasn’t an option. So set realistic goals! Example: I want to lose 5 pounds in a month and a half. If you meet that goal treat yourself to a spa day.

2. Have A Support System- I was lucky enough to have the support from my family and friends during my journey. So tell your friends and family, they even wan’t to join you. My best friend saw how well I was doing on Weight Watchers that she decided to join me as well. She lost 15 pounds.

3. Meal Plan- Meal planning is key to getting fit in the New Year. On Saturday, sit down and plan out your meals for the next week. Decide on what days you are going to cook and eat out. I like to try new restaurants, so I would plan two days to eat out a week and cook the others. I love getting recipes from blogs like SkinnyTaste and Dashing Dish.

4. Just Have Fun- I feel as if society puts pressure on women to lose weight fast. In high school as a gymnast, I struggled with body images issue and eating problems. I took dieting to the extreme and was reward by my coaches for my dramatic quick lost. But while I was in high school, I felt horrible, tired, and sluggish. As an athlete, that wasn’t the lifestyle I needed to lead. So during my diet during the past year, I decided I wanted to lose weight the healthy way. I wasn’t going to starve myself or set a date I needed to lose weight by. I set short term goals and rewarded myself for my efforts. I now understand its okay to have a cupcake or a glass of wine at the end of the day.

5. Set A Workout Routine- I worked out three times a week doing Cardio two days and yoga or weights the other day. I found myself going to the gym on my lunch break. The gym in my office has two machines each and TV’s. It’s not fancy but I can get away from my desk and watch The Chew on my lunch break. I worked in a pretty fit office and we convinced our former CEO to let us do Yoga twice week on our lunch. My co-workers and I also take walks everyday around our building. So if working out on your lunch break doesn’t work for you, try getting up early before work or doing it in the evenings. You’ll have so much energy and thank me later. My favorite workouts are from the Tone It Up girls, Fit Sugar, Sarah Fit, and Tara Stiles. They all happen to be free exercises on Youtube.

6. Dress to Impress- If you don’t want to lose weight and are happy with the way you look. You can still dress to look slimmer. Wear Black, stock up on belts, cardigans, a-line dresses blazers and you are good to go. Belts and blazers help pull in your waist. Black is always slimming and a cute little a-line dress looks great on all figures.

Have any questions? E-mail Me

***Disclaimer- I am not a dietitian or a health professional. This is just based on my experiences with the Weight Watchers program. This post is not endorsed by Weight Watchers.