Saturday, September 14, 2013

My Top Tips to Help You Lose Weight

I've lost 20 lbs. since the beginning of the year. In 3 months I went from 148 lbs. to 125 lbs.
While I didn't necessarily lose a huge amount of weight, I definitely learned a lot. I lost weight successfully, easily and all in a healthy way. So I wanted to share what I did and give some tips to anyone who might need some help getting started.

First off, I did not go on a weird or crazy diet. Don't do that. Diets do not work or at least they won't keep you small long term. Don't just cut calories and or carbs. This is an okay option for some people but I would suggest talking to your doctor to make sure that is a right diet decision for you. You need carbs for energy.Without proper energy you won't be able to push yourself during your day and especially during workouts. For you to be successful you have to be willing to change your mind set, learn about nutrition and health and change your lifestyle.

1. Keep track of what you are eating
Measure out correct portions, only cook what you should eat. If you make extra you are more likely to eat more than you should. Also keep track of your calories. You can use the app My Fitness Pal. It tracks your calorie intake and portions. It uses your weight, height and gender to calculate how much you should be eating to maintain or lose weight.

2. Eat Healthy

A lot of people make them mistake of just counting their calories and eating less. You also have to adjust what you are eating. Eating 1200 calories in potato chips and a cheeseburger won't cut it. You will lose weight but it's less likely to stick and you will eventually binge, plateau or gain it all back and more. You have to create healthy habits so when you reach your goal you can continue to live healthy and maintain your new body. You can start by checking out my grocery list here.

3. Drink water
No soda, juice, sugar drinks and fatty sugary coffee. ONLY water and tea. regular coffee is fine. Just watch your sugar intake and no creamer or milk; almond milk or a soy creamer are good substitutes. Drink at least 64 oz. of water a day!

4. Exercise
While weight loss is hugely based on diet, you have to workout to make sure you are burning enough calories and building nice muscle so you don't just look "skinny" and flabby but toned. Girls tend to worry about lifting heavy, don't! You won't look like a man, promise. The more muscle you have vs. fat the slimmer you will look and the more fat you will burn in general when not doing anything.

5. Chose a plan to follow
Especially for someone just starting, it is a lot easier to have a set plan to follow. You can do a beach body program such as P90X which I really liked! I did this while losing weight. You can go to blogilates.com for free workout calendars and videos. Bodybuilding.com also has great programs to chose from based on your fitness goals.

6. Get rid of unhealthy foods in your house
Your family and or housemates need to be on board. You can't have junk food and tempting items in the kitchen. Toss it!
Feel free to leave questions and comments below :) Follow my blog and my google+.
Check out my youtube videos here. Thanks so much, Ashley

Sunday, June 9, 2013

What to Wear: Bridal Shower

It's wedding season! Actually, it has been for a little bit. Maybe I'm behind on writing this but I hadn't really thought about writing about what to wear to a wedding or anything like that until now. I have a few old friends from high school who just got married as well as a couple of other weddings coming up and I realized even I am wondering what I should wear. I'm sure there are other's out there who also need some direction or just some ideas. A couple months ago I was trying to figure out what to wear to a friend's bridal shower and after asking other friends and also doing some of my own research, I learned the dress code. So now I'm going to help you guys out.

Just to go through the basics, a bridal shower is usually more conservative. They usually include mothers, grandmothers, aunts, cousins, sister's, close friends...basically women of all ages. So you want to dress appropriately. I would not advise super tight, showy or short dresses. Save those for the bachelorette party. Oh and yes, a dress is a must. A skirt might work depending on how you put it together but the basic rule here is, it's better to be a little too dressed up than not dressy enough. Jeans, pants and shorts are to be left in the closet. It's supposed to be a dressy event, look pretty and dolled up. Wearing toned down or neutral colors is a good idea. You don't want to wear something flashy that says "look at me". Don't take the spotlight away from the bride. Though it's advised not to wear black, since it's a happy celebration, I do think it's okay to wear black if you dress it up with a colorful cardigan, the right jewelry and or the right shoes. Another side note, leave white for the bride. The bride might not wear white but it's typically left for her to wear if she chooses, this goes for any wedding related parties and events.

For affordable and cute options I suggest you check out Forever21 and Charlotte Russe.
I also included examples from Anthropologie and Free People which are more expensive but had some nice dresses that I thought were great, and if anything they can just give you some ideas.
If you have any questions, ask away below in the comments section. Let me know which ones you like or which is your favorite.
Until the next post,
Ashley :)

Examples of what to wear: