What I Have Learned

Growing up I was never someone who had to worry about weight. I could eat whatever I wanted and do whatever I wanted and I stayed my same petite little size.

Let's just say that when I got older that changed. Now I am a little bigger with no effort. lol. So when I decided that I was going to do something about it everything that I have ever heard about how to lose weight started rushing through my head. 

Let me tell you something that I have found out in the short period of time that I have been getting my ass kicked at the gym...

EVERY BIT OF THAT CRAP THAT I LEARNED GROWING UP WAS WRONG!

Can you believe that?!?! I have said this to a couple of friends and they wanted me to explain what I meant by that. So that is what I am here to do today. But not only that, I want to share some of the extra tidbits that I have learned from my trainer and the owner of my gym. 

This may be a long post.. But hopefully it will be an informative one. If it's not then you can just giggle at how new I am to all of this and we will call it a day. :-)

Here are some of the things that I have heard my whole life...

1. Cardio baby! Just start walking or running and the weight will fall off.  WRONG! Well that may work for people who easily shed the pounds. I AM NOT one of those people! Both my trainer and the owner of my gym told me that cardio should really just be my warm up. Do 15 minutes of cardio (in my case, the stair master)and then begin your workout. 

2. Work one area a day! You guessed it...WRONG! It is better to do your warm up and then work every muscle in your body! (my workout I was given will be posted one day this upcoming week! it will make this post entirely too long)

 3. Just count your calories! While this one isn't entirely wrong, it kind of gives the misconception that as long as you are under calories you will lose weight! WRONG!there is more to it when you focus on your diet. But I'll tell you more about that in a minute.

4. Weigh yourself once a week. WRONG! You can fluctuate in weight up to five pounds in a 24 hour period. and you will put on a little water weight once a month. regardless of how hard you work out. The best thing to do is weigh yourself once a month! Why? Because this helps you focus more on your size and not your weight. Because guess what. If you are building muscle you will be losing inches, but you may not lose much in pounds. Because muscle weighs the same as fat, but takes up way less space.

Here are some of the things I have learned.

1. Meal planning is very important when trying to lose weight. When you plan your meals focus on getting enough protein in your diet, less starch, and less sodium. Green veggies are great! Beef isn't the best but if you are going to get it, get very lean beef. It's just a hard meat for your stomach to digest. But chicken, fish, turkey, etc (as long as prepared properly) are great.

2. When you have a baby how often do they eat? Well that is about how often you should eat! About every two to three hours. Breakfast-Snack-Lunch-Snack-Dinner-Snack... (i wasn't even eating 3 meals. haha) but they should all be smaller meals. So more smaller meals!

3. Did you know that LOW FAT cottage cheese is a great bed time snack?!?! It is harder for your stomach to digest. So it keeps your body working even while you are asleep and your body never goes into sleep mode so it keeps burning calories.

4. NO DAIRY for at least a couple of hours before you workout. This includes soy milk. It is just too hard for your stomach to digest and you WILL get sick.

5. If you are sore the best thing to do is KEEP MOVING! The moment you sit still you will start to stiffen up and it gets so much worse.

6. Cardio should mainly be warm up or an exercise you do on your off days. :-)

7. Make sure you have a good source of protein right after you work out!!!

8. Green Tea actually helps enhance weight loss.

Okay. I think this post is long enough. lol. But I do have a ton more to say. So check back in a couple of days and I will give you the workout routine that I was given at my first session with my personal trainer and a menu idea that I was given as well!!!

I am so excited that Jen is hosting this linkup!

Make sure you go check it out and you may learn alot. I know a ton of us moms are trying to get back to that pre-baby weight. For those of you that didn't have to try....I hate you!;-)