Exercise Routine for Beginners from the amazing Diana from Livy Loves to Run

I don't know about you but I'm sure if you have a New Year's resolution this year it has to do with getting healthy.  If have a hard time staying motivated like I do, or in need of some inspiration, then you need to meet my friend Diana from Livy Loves to Run.  Read her INCREDIBLE journey of finding herself, her voice, working hard, never giving up, and in the end losing 100 pounds without a trainer, diet pills, or fad diets.  She did it the good old traditional way of eating well and getting off her butt.

I met Diana last year at a blogging conference called SNAP!  Before the conference I found her on Instagram and loved her design work and adorable printables! I was standing in line for food at the conference when I saw her.  I knew exactly who she was.  I just went up to her and told how I follow her on Instagram and love her work. She probably thought I was some stalker lady.  Yeah, kind of.  Anyway, she was so sweet, warm, and friendly.  We sat next to each other and talked for hours and became instant friends. This is a picture of us at a dinner we both attended.  It's probably one of the worst pictures of me, but hey, I love my girl!

This is Diana from Livy Loves to Run!  I am thrilled to be talking about my story on Fry Sauce and Grits.

This is something I am very passionate about.  In early 2013, I knew that I wanted this to be the year that I lost weight.  I knew that I had so much work ahead of me and the thought often times made me intimidated and unsure of myself.  Once I decided to make the steps to achieve my goal, things started to get easier.  I knew I wanted to lose at least 100 lbs.  I have no formal training in exercise or fitness, I just did what I knew and from there researched more about how our bodes and nutrition works and here I am today.  I started walking everywhere.  I took my two little kids in our double stroller and walked all over my neighborhood each day.  I would walk 2-3 miles and sometimes even more.  I am lucky to have several parks in my area so we would walk to the park and then I'd let my kids play, and then we would walk home.  This started to become something I looked forward to because I loved the way I felt after exercise.  I also incorporated a healthy diet which is very important for successful weight loss.  I cut out all fast food, soda, candy, anything that I could buy in a package from the store that was not healthy.  I started to eat chicken, steamed vegetables, almond milk, tons of water (at least 100 oz a day), fruits, turkey burgers, you know very clean and healthy foods.  Of course, it was difficult in the beginning because my body craved sweets.  However, I believe the reason I was so successful is because I let myself have a a cheat day once a week which held me over when I was having intense cravings. Now that I am 10 months into my journey, I can easily control my cravings much better where I don't really give in.  It wasn't always that easy, but over time I realized what I wanted more: healthy lifestyle or gaining weight.

Now I have lost 92 lbs, I have lost over 40 inches combined on my waist and hips (I have started to lose count) and went from a size 20 to a size 10.  I am so honest and open about my journey on my instagram (@livylovestorun) because I have fallen in love with taking care of my body and I want others to feel the same.  I had so many excuses: two kids under 3, a husband gone at work all day, a busy shop owner, and just basically tired at the end of the day.  However, I wanted this for myself more than I could possibly express and I made it happen.  I just want to encourage other women to know that if you want this, you can and will attain it if you change your life around.  You do not need pills, wraps, fad diets, nothing that's not long lasting.  Just hard work and dedication.

So you've decided 2014 is the year you want to change. You're sick of buying clothes in larger sizes, you miss your pre pregnancy jeans or you've been heavy your whole life and have had enough!!

BUT, you don't know where to start.  Well the good thing is, I am not a professional therefore, I know that you have a life.  You may have kids or are a single mom.  You might work 2 jobs and have no time to exercise.  Well I want to give you some tips for REAL women who have REAL lives and don't have 2 hours a day to spend at the gym or even the money for a gym.

Tip #1  Start walking.  It may be very cold where you live, but try and find time in the day where you can walk even just a mile.  You can burn around 200 calories for just a mile.  It takes 20-30 minutes to walk that.  200 calories is almost half of a cheeseburger at McDonalds.  That's a lot of calories.  

Tip #2  Purchase some dumb bells or use a gallon of milk.  Do 5 sets of 10 just lifting them in the arm curl motion.  You'll start getting strength in your arms.  The more it burns, the better its working.

Tip #3  If you don't want to spend money, you don't have to.  The insanity program works, but its like $100 to buy the program, I think even more! Well, last year I discovered Fitness Blender on YouTube. They offer a wide range of fitness videos that targets all areas of your body.  ITS FREE! They are really awesome and I have always worked up a sweat whenever I have used them.  If those don't work for you and you are willing to spend some little money, Jillian Michaels has awesome videos. The 30 Day Shred is one of my favorites and if you complete the 30 day program, you will see some great results! Its only $7 on Amazon.  

Tip #4 This may seem like its very obvious and not original, but since I am in the mindset of losing weight and being more active, I look for ways to burn calories just in my every day life of lugging my kids around while doing errands.  I park my car farther away from the store, if my kids want to go to the library, we walk (1.3 miles away from me), sometimes I run up and down my stairs two or three times in a row to up my heart rate, or even randomly just do some jumping jacks while my food is cooking.  These small little workouts add up A TON! 

Try and make 2014 your year to be the best you! You want it so bad, so now make the changes to do it.