Happy Workout Wednesday! The last couple months I’ve shared some things I’ve tried and loved (like the FitBit Charge HR and my favorite fitness apps), but this month I’m sharing something I haven’t done, but will do. I was too busy during school to follow a formal workout plan. Actually, I gained a little weight, enough that not all my clothes fit as well as they used to. My mom had the same issue, so since we’d be hanging out more, we decided to start a routine together. So for this month’s Workout Wednesday, I’m sharing an overview of our plan and goals. You’re totally invited to join with us, or just be an accountability partner, but I hope this inspires you to be the healthiest and best version of yourself!

So we’re tackling this challenge in two parts: diet and exercise, because it takes both to make a real difference. If your goal is to lose weight, you can’t just diet your way there or exercise like crazy and eat anything you want. Well, maybe some people can. But in general, you’ll find yourself with one of two problems: 1) you lose weight, but still don’t love yourself/have health problems from living a sedentary lifestyle; and 2) you don’t actually lose any weight because you’re still eating as much or more than you burn off because you’re not keeping track.

There’s other potential problems, but these are the biggest I see. I’m by no means a personal trainer, but fitness is a very important interest of mine so I have done extensive research to educate myself – in my situation. So remember, your body and lifestyle can and often will change the way these tips affect you.

DIET.

I’m actually not the world’s best dieter. Like most people, I don’t love it. But I’ve found that when I’m working out regularly, I actually enjoy dieting, tracking calories and nutrition, and eating healthy foods. But I’ve also found ways to “trick” myself into accomplishing these goals.

The best trick I’ve used is to set my MyFitnessPal calories limit (see my favorite fitness apps here!) to lower than what I really intend on as my goal. I find that I can overeat early and leave no room for myself at dinner time if I see all the available calories in green. I set my goal to about 300 calories less than is my actual goal. So when I hit the red in the mid-afternoon, I know I’m done with snacks and drinks (other than water) or whatever other “little calories” that may add up. But I still can have a healthy dinner without busting my progress. If I could redesign the app, I would change the color from green to yellow when you’re within 300 calories of your goal, but this is my best compromise.

For our diet, we’ll be loosely following some nutrition guides I’ve found from pursuing fitness forums. I say loosely because we’re mostly experimenting with finding healthy recipes and meals that fill us up and taste good, but still focusing on our calories and nutrition from MyFitnessPal. When following a plan not specifically designed for you, this is always the best way to make sure you’re getting what you actually need. Trust your body, don’t just trust the Internet.

EXERCISE.

So my mom has never really done actual “exercise,” meaning squats, weight lifting, etc. She’s mostly just been a very active person, doing housework and house projects, yard work, and other activities, and she loves to go for walks. But we want to focus on a few specific areas that we don’t love on ourselves and really target those muscle groups and tone our entire body (rather than just losing fat on top of an untoned surface).

For our exercise, we’ll be loosely following the Bikini Body Guide designed by Kayla Itsines. You’ve seen this all over Instagram. I’m not a huge fan of programs like this, but I do know they’re helpful. But since this is something my mom really hasn’t done before and she has her own health limitations, we’ll be approaching the program differently. First, taking out the HIIT component because that doesn’t suit our lifestyle. However, we can still do the exercises in the guide at our own pace and incorporate cardio elsewhere. We’ll start with low impact cardio like walking and biking because my mom knows she loves those, and I’ll incorporate some runs on her rest days because I know I love running.

GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS.

This kind of workout and program is new to both of us. Our goal for the first month will be exploring which exercises we like and our bodies feel comfortable doing. We also want to find equivalents for the ones that don’t. I believe that exercising is a highly individualistic thing. If you truly want to see results, you can’t force yourself to do an activity you don’t love. There’s an activity for everyone that is both enjoyable and physically active in a positive way.

Because we’re spending the first month exploring the workouts and finding what works for us, we will be more strict with our diet. We’re both using MyFitnessPal to track our calories and nutrition. We’ll also work on making sure we’re eating all day long, as we both have a horrible habit of forgetting to eat until 2-3 in the afternoon which is just all around not good.

So that’s our plan. It’s not a very formal structure, as you can see, but we’ll get there as we find the structure that works best for each of us, as individuals and as accountability/health and fitness partners.

Now it’s your turn. How do you stay healthy? What does your activity routine look like? What are your favorite healthy meals? And are there any programs you’ve been dying to try (BBG, Whole 30, etc.)?

We’ll be back with an update and some lessons we’ve learned as fitness partners!

Have a happy Wednesday ladies!