Empower Yourself – Eat Healthy Foods and Exercise
The most common problem for women, especially women over 40, is to be out of shape, weigh too much and have no time. Most women are on double duty: Working, taking care of kids, taking care of husbands and households. No wonder it's daunting to find the time to exercise and pamper ourselves.
It's hard to change from taking care of others to making time and taking care of ourselves. It's challenging to step out of the old patterns and know where to start and how to change. I know, I've been there.
After my children were born I gained about 40 pounds and never got rid of the extra weight until I was 49. It just crept up and I had to get to the point where I was miserable, I did not feel good in my skin, I did not feel attractive, I got resentful. My marriage of 30 years failed and life was a huge mess. My children were teenagers at the time and instead of having a mom who was confident, fun and happy, I was depressed, controlling and in bad shape.
Eventually I started participating in support groups for women, immersed myself into self help books, learned who I am and what I need. So eventually, after hearing one too many times that I can only change if I take some action steps, I signed up for the gym. This step took some courage, but once I started I stuck with it. My diet changed, no more french bread, no more brie, no more roast and gravies, very little pasta and no more alcohol. I replace the white bread with coarse german ryebread, I added more steamed vegetables and salad to my diet and reduced my portions. The weight just kept dropping and I started feeling better and better, I bought new clothes and yes, I even looked good in a bikini!
Now 9 years later, I still look pretty good, but my exercise routine is getting old, my metabolism is changing, my favorite pants are getting too tight and there is a fair amount of flab bulging over my pants. I thought it's time to do something, but did not get into action, until a friend of mine introduced me to Visalus and the 90 day challenge. This sparked my interest, I signed up for the challenge and received the shakes and supplements a few days later. I had to publicly announce my goals on social media and keep track of my progress on the website., that was kind of hard but I did it, it helped me be more accountable.
Wow, how empowering that was, to see all these people comitted to fitness and living a healthier lifestyle, I was on fire. I signed up with a trainer and now I am learning that I have to change my routine around a little bit in order to have the disired effect. Some people told me that flabby upper arms are part of getting old, but my trainer said no, if I do the right exercises I will have tight arms in a few weeks, whohooo.
I only wanted to lose 5 pounds, but the main challenge will be to replace the flab with muscles. I know I will be there by the end of the 90 days. I lost 3 of the 5 pounds already, so now I am going from replacing 2 meals a day with shakes, to just replacing one. It is totally inspiring to do this in a team with others.
I want you to be a part of this too. I want YOU to believe that you can do it, there is not I can't, there is only I don't want:-) I am where I am because somebody else helped me to believe in myself.
Below the links to Marita's personal challenge videos:
Video 1 90 day challenge, please excuse the not so perfect quality 🙂
Video 2 Day 21 of Marita's 90 day challenge
Video 3 Day 35 of Marita's challenge
Check out the challenge by Visalus by clicking here
Are you ready for a challenge? Let me know