New Mentality for the New Year

2014 is around the corner!


What are your resolutions? What do you have planned for yourself this year? Gonna kick butt? Reach goals? Get to your dreams?!
It's so easy to get in the romanticized phase of the new year: everything's bright, new, new beginnings, etc etc, but then it starts fading a few weeks in... you get bored.. you start slacking...
NOT this year.
A big part of the "slack" comes from your MINDSET.

If you go into the year thinking

"ok, I'm going to go HARDCORE. Workout every day, eat clean clean every day, and get to my goals. WAHOOO!"  

Sure it's a good goal to strive towards, but is it realistic? Is it maintainable for your lifestyle? Can you really workout 2+ hours each day and eat strict and clean and restrict your foods?

I know for me, that's not realistic for my lifestyle.
I'll be a Junior in my Spring Semester in college, I'll have homework, social events, classes, work, and I may miss a day or two, or more, of working out. I may not be able to eat strictly clean every meal.
If I have the mindset that I wrote above ^^ and I "mess up", I'll feel like I've failed. Leading me to resent my "New Year's Resolution", and then quitting it altogether.

NO.
That's not happening this year.
Because I'm going to enter into the new year with a different mindset.

My "Diet"& Fitness Routine for the New Year 2014

• I'll be "intuitively eating" - aka eating like a normal person :P . 
• I won't be counting calories, macros, grams or ounces or anything. 
• I will not obsess over food or numbers or carbs or fats.
• I will eat when hungry, and stop when satisfied. I will pay attention to my body's hunger and fullness cues.
• I will not restrict foods. Restriction leads deprivation and to binging, or at least it does in my case.
• I will workout as often as I can, and will not feel guilty if I miss a day or more.
• I will lift weights, I will do pilates, I will run, I will walk, I will jump, I will MOVE MY BODY. 
• I will be following my #vmfityear2014 workout plan (click here to read about it!).

My New Mindset

• That bad food will NOT make me gain fat. OVEREATING and binging will.
• Therefore I can have a few cookies, but not THE WHOLE BOX.
• That working out is enjoyable when I have FUEL in my body. Therefor I will not starve my body of carbs, or fats, or proteins. 
• When I used to deprive myself, workouts SUCKED. I felt weak, lethargic, I didn't want to continue, so I resented working out and going to the gym. NOW, when I'm fueled properly, I love my workouts! I feel strong and powerful! So fuel yourself.
• Also, when I deprived myself of foods, specifically carbs, I felt that anytime I went a little off track with eating, I would BLOW UP! Bloated, retaining water, all that stuff! Now that I've incorporated more carbs and food for my body, I actual bloat LESS and don't feel as "fluffy" as I used to when I deprived and then ate something "off meal plan".
• Before I started my fitness journey, I had control over my eating. No binging, no over stuffing to the max. What was the difference between then and now? I didn't restrict my foods. I allowed myself to hang out with my friends and enjoy treats, have a nice dinner, be social and enjoy different types of foods. Without restriction, I didn't feel the need to binge! THAT was the difference between then and when I started my "fitness journey". Restriction ultimately lead to my setbacks. So from now on, I will NOT be restricting my foods. 

I find as long as I'm ACTIVE and MOVE MY BODY, that it balances out my food. If I eat a little extra, it's OK. It doesn't hinder my progress greatly, because with this new mindset of mine (no restriction, no deprivation, everything in moderation, I don't feel the need to BINGE. Binging is what set me back all those past times.) As long as I'm moving, and not binging, my body WILL get to my goals. Maybe not quickly, but it will get there.

Remember:
The quicker the results, the quicker you may put the weight back on.
Make the changes slow, maintainable for your lifestyle, so that you can KEEP ON DOING IT. If you go on starvation diets or quick fat loss schemes, once you've reached your goal and start transitioning back to a maintainable lifestyle, you could end up putting all the weight back on!
So start slow, be smart, lose weight and fat the HEALTHY way.

I am totally content with going about my journey the slow, healthy, and correct way.
Because the best kind of diet doesn't have an end date, or a 2 week limit, or a 7 day fast. It never ends because it is for life. It is a lifestyle change! Always going, whether it's improvement or maintaining or setbacks, but it is for life.

So there's my random shpealllll on my plan for the New Year.
I hope you all have plans for yourself as well!
Know that you're strong and capable of ANYTHING.
Just believe you can and you're halfway there.
Have a happy, healthy, wonderful new year!