Hello (beautiful souls everywhere I get to call friends), thank you for being here and following this journey!
It’s been an exciting road leading up to this moment and now we’re finally so close to the wedding day, I’m really excited to get there already and just enjoy the day. The planning (or limited time thereof) has been pretty challenging and stressful, so… I’m ready! :-D
Anyhow, I’m happy that I’ve at least dropped some weight, more than I originally set out to lose, and enough to feel more comfortable in the dress and made gradual adjustments to ease me into a new lifestyle.
After week 3 ends, I plan on keeping bread out of my diet, avoid sodas and really (really) limit the amount of gluten, rice and potatoes.
To keep things moving along, here are the links to Week 1 and Week 2 if you’d like to start, catch up, or just learn more about this lil’ plan of mine… In Week 2 I also shared how I’ve been dealing with the cravings and some quick recipes I made @ home.
Here’s the plan for Week 3:
1. No bread & gluten products.
2. If necessary, have only 1 cheat day.
3. Limit alcohol consumption to 1/week (2 drinks max).
4. Practice the Affirmations I shared in the blog for Week 1.
5. Drink 2 liters of water daily. I like iDrated to keep track of the amount of water I drink, plus get reminded randomly throughout the day to drink because honestly, I get so carried away – I forget.
6. Add spice to my foods. (details in the blog for Week 2)
7. When feeling the craving for something sweet, I will limit what I put inside my body to fruits and dark chocolate.
8. Cut soda from my diet (that includes no diet or zero calorie soda as well) and resort to flavored water and sparkling or soda water. (see below for combo ideas)
9. Wear tighter, more fitted tops – for psychological reasons, to encourage me to make better choices when I eat.
10. Get consistent sleep – if you’re subscribed to my email, you already got the tips on how to get the best night’s sleep; if you’re subscribing today (sign in below), you’ll get a link to all the previously emailed content and you’ll find them in there.
11. Cardio 3/week. After the end of week 3, I plan on continuing my cardio routine + add strength training into the mix.
12. Do a new vision board and include images that encourage a healthy, fit body. (more details below)
The staples from week 1 will translate into week as well, and in case you’re not familiar with them, I broke everything down in Week 1.
In this week's video I also promised some details and here they are:
To get my running up, I use an app called 5K Runner.
The app promises that in only 30 minutes, 3 times a week for 8 weeks, we can run 5K. It’s got voice instructions and taps into my iTunes, so I can still listen to my jams. So far so good and I love it! (not sponsored)
Here’s an example of how I’ve flavored water:
pic via my Instagram account
You can also use: lemons, limes, orange slices, berries of all sorts, cucumber, pineapple/mint, watermelon/rosemary and any combination of these really, till you find ones that you really love.
Vision Board details:
The first time I created a vision board was in 2008. That was the point in my life where I was at my lowest – mentally, emotionally, I was really depressed, suicidal and just a total wreck. My friend Rheena introduced me to a documentary called The Secret. If I’m being honest, I have to say that the video has a couple of “cheesy” moments, but the message is so valuable, it has changed my life.
I really recommend watching it and I linked it for you here. I bought it from Amazon and right now it's only $5.50 + prime shipping, it's so worth it, it's not even funny! Ever since I’ve done more digging into The Law of Attraction and educated myself enough to want to adopt it into my everyday life, I never looked back.
After you watch this documentary, don’t stop there. Continue reading, listening and watching more about this Law of Attraction, because it’s… for lack of better words… Everything!
Anyhow, a vision board plays into this concept and it’s part of the process of attracting in your life, the things that you DO want. In a nutshell, this board is a visual display of words and images that will inspire you and make you feel good.
On a vision board you can display your goals and dreams. Say… if you want to travel to India, you’d glue or tape on the board a picture from that country.
The purpose of the board is to help you identify your goals in life and provide you with a visual clarity of what you want. It’s also meant to help you enforce your daily affirmations/positive state of mind, and keep you on track with your intentions.
I also use it a few times a week to visualize, so I don’t just make it and forget about it. I basically light up some incense, turn on some calming sounds (the Tibetan singing bowl sounds are especially stimulating for me), then I close my eyes and see myself having/experiencing the things I have put up on the board.
If the goal is to visit India, I see myself in the surroundings the picture I have up shows, and feel as if I’m there. Whatever your goal may be, close your eyes and image you already have it. Imagine you are there. Imagine you ARE what you wish for and want.
You know you’re doing it right when the happiness of having it NOW engulfs your body. Your heart jumps of joy and you’re so happy and grateful.
You can use your vision board to depict goals and dreams in all areas of your life, or in just one specific area that you would like to focusing on.
To make your vision board, start by thinking about what you want in life. Don’t jump straight into creating the board, think about your goals first. That’s why this board helps provide clarity, because you have to really think about what’s important to you, first.
Then, find images that correspond with your goals. I keep mentioning a visit to India because that’s something I want to do – so I went online, found a picture from India that “spoke to me” – then I resized it in a word file so I can gauge how big it will print, then printed it and glued it on my vision board.
1. Identify your goals.
2. Find corresponding images for your goals either online or from books and magazines.
3. Print/cut and glue onto your board.
4. Keep the vision board in sight.
5. Practice visualization. (consistently and long run)
Make sure that you keep your board clean and neat. If you want to go to several different places, put all the travel images together in one spot on the board, rather than spread them out all over.
Organization of though is food for our minds.
Here are some of the images I’ll be using on my board:
because I want to become more balanced and in tune with my body.