Be SMART

I'll let you in on a little personal secret of mine... A secret shame some may say...

I am a list person.

I write lists every day. A food list, an exercise list, a shopping list for food, a shopping list for clothing I may need, a shopping list for clothing I will never need, a work task list, a list for each work task, a camping packing list, a road trip food list, a music list for walking, a music list for running, a music list for cooking, a daily to do list, a weekly to do list... you get the picture!!

I have always been haphazard about eating healthy and exercising, and in my troubles keeping up with all of my lists things get over looked. Amanda from Amanda's Daily Dose of Awesome suggested I write myself a SMART goal - which is like a list so its right down my ally. What is a SMART goal? Well, I asked that very same question, here's a diagram that's cuter than typing :D

So there you have it, you have to think about how serious you are about your goals and by thinking in depth and planning it all out you cover everything you need to succeed!

Here's My GOAL LIST:

To fit comfortably into size 10 jeans by 16 November (will refocus this goal on 16 Nov)

To dive in deeper here is how I will achieve this:

By Clean Eating
Prepare a weekly menu on Saturday
Shop and prep on Sunday (NO EXCUSES)

Avoid:

• Dairy
• Gluten
• Land Animals
• Sugar
• Refined processed crap
• Caffeine
• Alcohol

Eat:

• A Rainbow of Vegetables and Fruit
• Legumes - beans, lentils
• Whole foods such as Oats, Buckwheat, Coconut and Almond Flours
• Plant Protein Powders
• Whey Protein Powders (on occasion)
• Vegan Cheese (on occasion)
• Seafood
• Tofu and Temphe
• Nuts and Seeds
• Greek Yoghurt (on occasion)
• Coconut Oil
• Olive Oil
• TEAS!!!

By Exercising

• Walk or Run 4 mornings a week (Morning exercise energises me!)
• Split Weight Training 4 evenings a week (weights makes me feel invincible!)
• Boxing/Circuit Training with David once or twice a week (to mix it up and have some couple time)

By Motivating Myself

• Starting this blog and keeping it up to date
• Instagram posts - Reading and Posting healthy food porn :D
• Updating my Goal Board in my Wardrobe
• Having one CHEAT MEAL a week which can include ANY of the items in the Avoid list!! (one alcoholic drink)
• Weighing and measuring myself Weekly

Overcoming Challenges/ Obstacles
When I find myself boredom eating

• Drink a Glass of Water AND a cup of Green Tea
• Snack on Fruit or Nuts first
• Make Clean Treats
• Make Clean versions of not so healthy foods

Any my favourite REWARDS!

• 62kg = HRM
• 60kg = Sneakers
• 58kg = New Bikini for Summer
• 56kg = By April 2013 New Bikini and THAILAND SHOPPING

I think I got me covered.... Oh and POSITIVE TALK  I got this, I can do this!

Peace :D

From the Beginning

Ok, so it's been about a million years (not even exaggerating) since I decided to start a blog to help keep me on track with my health - and I'm finally doing it!! Finally :)

So, where to begin? What is this blog all about? Well in short, me! This blog is about my new journey to becoming a healthy strong woman with the world ahead of me.

I have been struggling - like a lot of women I know, with weight issues. I was once around 78-80kg feeling disgusting, looking sick and completely depressed. I dumped the loser who was dragging me down into my worst black hole and picked myself up in a new state with a new attitude (I'll blog on this later).

I didn't know how to start or what to do so I just did what I thought I needed to do, joined a gym and ate better foods. Going through the motions I lost 10kg and floated around 65-70kg for a couple of years. I trialled a billion different diets - low carb, no carb, no fat, gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian, vegan, shakes, cleanse, detoxes, fasting, and even the popcorn and wine only diet - nothing was helping. I'd get super bored and over eating the same foods every day that I'd give up and binge on the things I told myself were BAD foods.

The worst thing for my weight loss was my attitude towards weekends. I wanted to have a good time, I wanted to make up for all those lost years with my ex that I would go out on weekends and binge drink until I found myself eating chicko rolls at 4am in the morning waiting for a taxi... this then lead to hangover KFC and then repeat drinking until the weekend was over. I'd then tell myself how useless I was and became more depressed. No wonder my weight wasn't going anywhere!!

Anyway, after about 5 years (yes this time I am not lying) all this partying, drinking, binging, negative talk and sadness took its toll. I got a bad reading on a pap smear and it freaked me out! All I could think about for the week waiting for my biopsy results to come back was that I needed to look after myself, this time its for real! I started to reduce my drinking and clean up my eating. I learnt new ways to lighten recipes and ditched the popcorn wine dinners! My boyfriend and I were newly dating so I tried not to let it hamper our date nights and weekends, which wasn't such a great idea! I let my new found energies slide and although I cooked better I did allow too many treats.

I've been getting 6 monthly biopsy's for the past 4 years with no changes, good or bad so that's a plus but my weight has been hovering around 64kg for years! My boyfriend has lost a heap of weight since we met 3 and a half years ago but I haven't. Lack of self discipline is my downfall. I will eat almost as much as David when we are eating out and I will drink more than I should.

About 3 months ago I decided enough was enough! I want to look and feel good in a bikini this year, I did some on line research and I found Amanda from Amandas Daily Dose of Awesome - who was just starting out with clean eating plans. She has gone though her own battles with being overweight and took it by the balls! She looks amazing and is such an inspiration to me!! so I approached her.

I've spent the last couple of months forgiving myself for all the negative talk that has stripped me bare and am trying to rebuild on it. I did pretty well for the first month but I am now starting to slip... So I have decided to start a blog to keep  me accountable and honest with myself.

Phew - so there it is folks (if any folks actually read this) that's the beginning of my story.

Peace