Home is sweet, but without the sugar for now.

Alhamdulilah, I'm back home, which is super fantastic!! I was so excited to land that I wanted to hug random Canadians that were at the airport. It's good to be back home with my hubby and my family. I'm so blessed to have them in my life. But this post isn't going to explain the joys of being back in Canada, or how much I miss sleeping in my bed, or the wonderful quality of Canadian toilet paper, or the fact that I can now use public restrooms without fear of catching a disease and dying an early death.

Basically, I've gained lots of weight and my pants no longer fit. I've gained 6 kilos, which is about 13 lbs. Which is ALOT considering I was away for a little less than 4 months. But I promised myself this post wouldn't be a negative diatribe. Of course I'm dissapointed; but the fact is, that sometimes we lose track of our health for one reason or another. But the important thing is to remember that if you put your mind to it, you can do whatever you want. If you want something badly enough, you have to work hard to results.

Instead, I'm going to focus on what I plan to do to get myself back to where I was before I left. Feeling strong, energetic, and back to a healthier weight (And no, I refuse to tell anyone how much that is, heck, it took years before my husband found out).

We all know that weight loss is a combination of food and exercise. Sadly, it's 80% what you put into your body and 20% what you do at the gym. If it were only the oposite then life would be so much easier!

My goal is to lose 20 lbs by the end of July. I know this is a realistic goal because they say a healthy weight loss should be no more than 1-2 lbs a week. So for the next month, my goal is to lose 5 lbs.

So here is my plan for the next 4 weeks in terms of food intake:

1. No junk food whatsoever. Not even home-made deliciousness.

2. Increase on the vegetables; eat more salads. Basically, lettuce has no calories.

3. Portion control is key, which is something I've never thought of before (I generally eat healthy foods, so that's not the issue. The issue is that I tend to eat too much of it). I shall use http://caloriecount.about.com/ to track my calories for the day. Which should be helpful because it makes you mindful of the serving amount you are eating.  Oh crap, I've already eaten 500 of 1573 calories and it's not even 9am yet!!

4. No late-night eating. I shall not eat after dinner.

5. Drink LOTS of water. Basically 10 cups a day or more.

6. No fried foods.. baked all the way.

7. I shall not say goodbye to bread, but I shall eat less of it. And no white rice.

8. For the first time in my life, I'm going to go sugar-less.. that means no sugar in my tea/coffee/drinks.. I'm using honey instead which actually tastes pretty good. Of course naturally occuring sugar in fruit is good.

9. Aiming to get more healthy protein in my diet.. Beans, fish, certain low fat cheeses, etc.

And in terms of working out:

1. Enjoy going back to Body Pump (weights), Body Combat (kickboxing) and other awesome fitness classes at my local gym.

2. Work out 5 times a week; of those, 3 must include weights. On my days off, I will need to feel like my muscles worked hard enough to deserve a break.

3. Slowly build up my endurance through running again.

4. Push myself beyond what's comfortable and familiar.

5. Prove all those stupid personal trainers that walk around with their high pony tails and squeaky voices that I don't need them to lose weight.

I'm excited.

So next Monday, which will be March 14th, I shall post again with an update on the situation. Hopefully, I'll have some good news to report. In the meantime, I'm going to go snack on some fruit.