Ever since November, I've been working on eating healthier and working out several days a week.   A friend had told me "If you can't stick to working out 2 out of 7 days of the week, you are kidding yourself.  He was right, who am I kidding?   There is NO excuse.   So I began exercising as often as I could (as long as I wasn't too sore).   In December I really started to go crazy with it and I even recruited a friend from California to be my accountability partner. 

photo by mikebaird	via PhotoRee

An accountability partner is basically someone who checks in on you and what you plan to do.  Just the act of them asking you, is enough to remind you or push you to do it.  Every morning, Kate texts me and asks what I'm going to do that day for my workout.  After I tell her my plan, I get a text from her that night asking how it went.  The whole reason this works for me is because I feel like I have someone challenging me.  There's no way I'm going to lie to her because she's my friend, so when I start to feel lazy I think "No, I HAVE to do this because when Kate texts me tonight, I don't want to let her down when I tell her I let my workout plan go out the window." 
So far, I've basically been working out 5-6 days a week.  I don't get bored because I now have about 6 different Jillian Michaels workout DVDs to choose from on any given day.

Also, I've been eating much healthier.  For lunch I make a turkey and cheese sandwich rather than eating a frozen dinner.   I am eating more fruits like bananas as a snack and I'm also eating much healthier portions.  I have tried to curb night time snacking, by keeping busy up until I go to bed.

And here is my measurement progress:

I am measuring myself every two weeks. On 12/26 I lost:
.25" in my waist and .75" in my hips.  My thighs stayed the same but are very toned.  So I hope to have some measurement progress with them in the future. 
I'll keep you updated each week with what I'm doing.

How I Mastered Portion Control

Since starting my journey to reach my health and fitness goals in January, I think I've come a long way.  I worked out a lot up until June.  Then in June, I reached a point where it seemed I just needed to trim some fat, and I knew portion control would help.  Prior to that I counted calories which I began to realize, was NOT working.  I wasn't eating proper portions.  If I could consume an entire Subway sub and not go over my daily caloric goal, I did so.  All that did was make me hungrier and hungrier.  The key to portion control is keeping portions small, so your stomach is smaller, so you fill up sooner.  You can snack a couple times during the day to satisfy your hunger, but keep the portions small.

Basically what I did the past month was:
Breakfast:
1 cup of coffee w/ creamer and sugar
1 chocolate chip muffin with butter

**I know, it may seem filling, but it was, and it was what I need to kick start myself in the morning.

AM Snack: 100 Calorie bag of snacks from the snack aisle at the grocery store

Lunch:
A Spinach Salad
or
Leftovers from the night before whether it be Pizza, Sub, or leftover Chinese, I still kept my portions small.  Also, I eat tuna packets on a regular basis.  They come with crackers and mayo.  Even if I ate a crappy lunch like a slice of pizza, I kept it small. One slice is better than 3!

PM Snack:
A protein bar (200 calories usually).  This gave me energy between lunch and dinner and I work out when I get home so by the time I get home from work, I had an extra burst of energy!
Dinner:
Meat, veggies, rice is what I have most often.  I keep the portions small and the second I start to feel satisfied I stop!

Tips for Portion Control:
- To teach yourself portion control, leave a little bit left on your plate from each type of food during every meal.
- Don't go for seconds!
- If you eat a bit more at dinner you will be less likely to snack before bed.

So I trimmed a lot of fat off of my midsection which was my problem area before.  I am still amazed! I've totally adjusted to the smaller portions after about 2 weeks.  I used to be starving when it was time for my AM and PM snack, but not anymore.  I dropped a couple pounds within a month.  And now, when I try to eat too much, I literally feel stuffed so I can easily stop myself!!

Anyone else have any other tips or success stories? Please feel free to share below! And remember...you CAN do it...I did!