When I decided to make a drastic dietary change in my life, I knew I didn’t want to be on a “diet”.  I wanted to make a lifestyle change that would last forever.  I LOVE to eat.  I go to bed thinking about breakfast and wake up looking forward to all the wonderful things that I am going to eat during the day.

I have given myself permission to enjoy food.  

Being able enjoy a special meal with friends and family or have a piece of birthday cake at a party is all part of enjoying life.  I allow myself to go on vacation and fully enjoy foods at restaurants that I will not be visiting again for a long time (or possibly ever). It makes the whole balanced healthy diet attainable for a lifetime, not just to reach a specific goal.  I don’t want what I don’t allow myself to eat to hold me back from living my life.

Once again it is all about BALANCE.

My diet is balanced and not overly restrictive.  It doesn’t just consist of  spinach, kale, and celery. (although, I do enjoy eating those things.)  Every once in a while I will let myself have a bowl of ice cream or M&M Chocolate Chip cookies.  I enjoy every spoonful and every bite, and I do not make myself feel bad about it.  The key is to not eat the entire pint of ice cream or the whole plate of cookies.

Eating healthy is not a chore, it takes thought and preparation, but it isn’t a chore.

Since reaching my final goal weight I follow the 80/20% rule. Eighty percent of what I eat is healthy, and I let myself splurge the other 20% of the time.

I love to eat and I love to exercise, but all diet and no exercise is not right, just as all exercise and not eating a healthy diet is also not best.

Trust me I have tried to only exercise and not eat healthy! For 5 years I diligently worked out so hard, 5 days a week, 1- 1.5 hours each day.  During those 5 years I sweat a lot, I got a lot stronger, and I always ate whatever I wanted to. It wasn’t until I improved my diet that I finally started to feel amazing and see all the awesome results I had been trying to achieve with exercise only.

Giving myself permission to enjoy the food I eat and not make myself feel bad about indulging once in a while has helped me to be successful in the long run…being truly healthy is a marathon, not a 500 meter race.

What about you?  Have you been on a journey from flab to FAB?  Have you made any major lifestyle and diet changes? What do you do to keep yourself on track and accountable?

If you would like to read more about my journey from flab to FAB, you can do so by clicking HERE.

I would love for you to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. You can find me as Looking Joli Good on all three.  I would also love to follow you on Instagram and Twitter as well, so let me know your user name in the comment section below!

It has been a while since I have written a Flab to Fab post.  Thankfully, I can report to you that I have been staying closer to the “FAB” side of things and have not returned to Flab. Staying “FAB” is not easy, it is an every day task!  I have to work at eating right every day! I still LOVE cookies and ice cream, oh and french fries… cheese burgers too!   I don’t always feel like making the right nutritional choice.  Sometimes the thought of another healthy salad makes me want to scream!

Despite having long since reached my goal weight, I still have good days and bad days.  I have found that maintenance is a lot harder than losing.  I kept myself to a pretty strict routine while trying to drop those last few pounds.  Now while maintaining, I have more freedom.   Freedom is not always easy.  While losing the weight, I retaught myself how to eat properly. I knew that I would never return to my old way of eating.  But. once I reached my final goal and loosened up my diet, I also knew that I couldn’t allow myself to let those bad habits slowly creep back into my life.

I attribute my success to BALANCE! I try to eat a mostly healthy diet, consisting of mainly fruits, veggies, complex carbs, and lean meats, making mostly healthy choices.  One of the most important things I do is I let myself indulge.  A sweet treat every once in a while helps me to be successful the next time I have to decide what to eat.  

My diet is balanced and not overly restrictive.  It doesn’t just consist of  kale and celery.  Every once in a while I will let myself have a bowl of ice cream or piece of a huge reese’s peanut butter cookie.  The key is to not eat the entire pint of ice cream or the whole cookie all by myself.  I love to eat and I love to exercise, but all diet and no exercise is not right, just as all exercise and not eating a healthy diet is also not best.

When I decided to make a drastic dietary change in my life, I knew I didn’t want to be on a “diet”.  I wanted to make a lifestyle change that would last forever.  Since reaching my final goal weight I follow the 80/20% rule. Eighty percent of what I eat is healthy, and I let myself splurge the other 20% of the time.

Eating healthy is not a chore, it takes thought and preparation, but it isn’t a chore.  I have given myself permission to enjoy food.  Being able enjoy a special meal with friends and family or have a piece of birthday cake at a party is all part of enjoying life.  I allow myself to go on vacation and fully enjoy foods at restaurants that I will not be visiting again for a long time (or possibly ever). It makes the whole balanced healthy diet attainable for a lifetime, not just to reach a specific goal.  I don’t want what I do and don’t allow myself to eat to hold me back from living my life. Once again it is all about BALANCE.

Trust me I have tried to only exercise and not eat healthy! For 5 years I diligently worked out so hard, but I always ate whatever I wanted to. It wasn’t until I improved my diet that I finally started to see all the awesome results I had been trying to achieve with exercise only.  Going from flab to fab includes both diet and exercise.  I also follow the 80/20 rule with exercise.  80% diet 20% exercise.

If you would like to read more about my journey from flab to FAB, you can do so by clicking HERE.

What about you?  Have you been on a journey from flab to FAB?  Have you made any major lifestyle and diet changes? What do you do to keep yourself on track and accountable?

I’d love for you to follow me on Instagram Lookingjoligood and on Facebook Looking Joli Good!