A love for yourself is the best kind of love.

If keeping a diary is too difficult for you, perhaps you should try logging in your food/workouts on http://myfitnesspal.com or on Tumblr. If you don’t want to do that, I think if you continue to force yourself to write in the diary every single day, it will become a habit, because you’ll eventually get used to it. Keep it close by like in a purse or on top of your dresser and take it out BEFORE you eat/exercise. Or plan the meals/exercises in the diary beforehand.

I’d focus on eating cereals that don’t have much sugar like grainy/wheat cereals. My favorites are kashi go lean, blueberry morning, and banana nut crunch. Google healthy whole grain cereals. A good trick is to not eat cereals that change the color of your milk - then you know there’s a lot of artificial coloring/flavors. Any cereal that has fruit flavor but no fruits in it is obviously not good for you, like fruity pebbles or fruit loops for example. Try eating oatmeal more than cereal, it’s healthier and more filling. But if you decide to have cereal for breakfast, you should add some fruits, vegetables, and/or healthy protein/fat sources to your meal since cereal doesn’t really have a lot of healthy fats and protein. You could have a protein bar or protein shake, or whatever. But kashi go lean is advertised to have twice as much protein and fiber than other cereals. And you’re right, some cereals do have hidden sugars, you gotta watch out for them! Do some research on them, but anything is okay in moderation. Also, try buying organic cereals!!! 

You sound like me, this does happen often, and I deal with it by replacing every negative thought with positive ones. Stop yourself when you want to cry because of the way you look, there’s nothing wrong with the way you look. You are not hideous. If weight is your problem, then I hope you can find some motivation from my blog and other healthy weight loss/fitness blogs to lose the excess fat. If you are complaining about something you can change, you’re wasting your time. Because all the time and energy you put into hating your body, you could be improving it and learning to love it. Make healthier food choices and exercise daily. It may even help to read some self-help books and keep a positive journal. In the journal, every day you’d write: one thing you love about yourself, one thing you’re proud of yourself for today, and one thing you’re grateful for today. When you are feeling down about yourself, read the journal. And when you wake up in the morning look in the mirror and say “I’m beautiful” and do it until you believe it. Mind over matter.

Thank you!! I personally have never tried yoga but I’m definitely going to within the next couple days! I love the photos I reblog, because it’s just amazing to see what one person can do with their body through yoga :)

You should both try following my advice then and if you’re still experiencing the headaches after you’ve made some changes in your running, then it’s important to speak with a doctor. But you’re definitely not the only one. I researched it and they’re called “exercise headaches.” You never know, it may even be your blood pressure, so as I said if you’re still experiencing the headaches after you’ve followed my advice or the advice they give you in the articles I provided, you’d need to see a doctor right away. Good luck and I hope the problem gets solved! 

I’ve never heard that one before so I researched for you, it’s normal and people call them exercise headaches. I know you already say you’ve been keeping hydrated, but make sure you are also before, during, and after your runs. I read that when you’re running, you’re supposed to take a drink of water every fifteen minutes. If it’s been sunny where you are, it could also be because of the brightness of the sun. To help with that, wear a brim hat or running sunglasses. Or avoid running during the hottest part of the day. Or perhaps it’s your posture, you could be tensing up your shoulders and upper back and probably holding your head in an unnatural position. Click here for proper running posture and techniques. Usually the headaches are harmless and can be treated with over the counter medicine, but if you experience the headache for longer than a day, you have double vision, rigid neck, or you have it on only one side of the head, you’d need to talk to a doctor. You should also read THIS article. If none of this helps, you should definitely see a doctor asap!

Of course! You really only need to burn 500 more calories than you eat to lose a pound per week, so as long as you’re doing that, it’s okay to have a snack. But it depends on what you mean by snack! If it’s something very unhealthy that has hundreds of calories, it’d ruin all your hard effort. But if it’s something healthy and low in calories, then go for it. There’s no harm done, especially if you’re hungry. Always eat when you’re hungry, don’t starve yourself! 

Perhaps you were already sore from the first day and you continued pushing yourself anyway the second and third day? Give yourself a rest! Rest days are very important. You don’t want to cause injury to yourself. How long are you working out? The minimum is 30 minutes (although anything less than 30 is better than nothing) but anything more than an hour isn’t totally necessary. Take a nice warm bath to relax your muscles :)

Walking, running, thigh raises, wall sits, and click here for more. I hope that helps :)

This was a beautiful message to wake up to! Thank you so much, I really appreciate it. That’s exactly what I decided to do was just deal with it. I remember back in June 2011, on the 10th, I went on this really horrible binge and I was like.. this really needs to stop. It was almost midnight when I did that, so at 12:00 on the 11th is when I made my Tumblr and lost 47lbs. But I gained some of it back, however I’ve been doing really well the past couple of days and plan to lose it all again and themsome without ever having to re-start again, because I’m super tired of feeling guilt every time I go on a binge. It’s like, binging makes me feel bloated, sick, and guilty. It also leads to weight gain. Eating healthy and exercising makes me feel good and helps me lose weight. So which would I rather be, bloated, sick, and guilty, or energetic, confident, and happy? And would I rather lose weight or gain it? I really thought about it and said I’ve always told myself it’s easier said than done, but why does it have to be easier said than done? It doesn’t need to be. Every day, I have to convince my mind and my body that I can do it, and then enventually doing it will be a lot more beneficial than saying it. Not to mention, when I decided to go on my weight loss journey in June 2011, I had never really lost that much weight before on my previous “diets.” And I tried losing weight many times, so desperate that I tried diet pills, crash diets, fasting, and purging. So the weight loss journey I went on in June was the only successful one I had. And so since I see photos of myself at my lowest weight, I now know how I look at that weight. I know what my body is capable of changing into. I know that I’m capable of losing weight. Before when I started my weight loss journey in 2011, I never had any photos of myself like that to look back on, because I had been overweight since I was eleven. So I think seeing those photos of myself, all my before and afters, really made me see that I CAN do this and I can be my own inspiration. Well I hope that makes sense, anyway I’m just rambling, haha I apologize. I hope you have a nice day too. Good luck!! :)

Yes, if you did 600 star jumps today, you would burn some calories. Any type of movement burns calories, you’ve just got to get your heart pumping, so anything is better than nothing. I don’t know how many calories star jumps would burn but if you time yourself, you can use this website: http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc to help you. Use it for any exercise you do if you wish.

Is trust a big issue for you?

I wouldn’t say a big issue, but it can be an issue sometimes.

Do you think it’s disgusting when girls get really wasted?

Only if they do it all the time.

Do you own a pair of skinny jeans?

Yes I do.

Would you ever want to swim with sharks?

Probably not.

Yes, of course!
Weight loss:
Never Say Diet by Chantel Hobbs.
100 Days of Weight Loss by Linda Spangle. 

The Emotional Toolkit by Darlene Mininni.
Self Matters by Dr. Phil.

My personal favorite is The Goddess of Happiness by Debbie Gisonni. It’s specifically for women and talks about how to basically become the title of the book. 

And thank you so much!!

Thank you! I started running after I had already lost some weight, but it was only a few pounds. Before that, I was walking. It’s better to start off that way instead of automatically running. Once you get used to walking and you feel you’re ready to start running, then instead of walking the whole way, you can walk until you’re all warmed up and then you can start running until you feel you can’t anymore and then go back to walking. And you just keep doing it in that order until you’ve gotten so used to running that you can finally run the whole way. Bring a watch to time yourself. Or you can do it this way. It’s basically the same, but it actually gives you times and directions.

Yes, I do have stretch marks as well as every other women and even some men. Some who aren’t even overweight get them because it’s a natural thing that none of us should be ashamed of. I’m not going to say I love them, but I embrace them for what they are. I can look at them without feeling bothered. Sometimes they’ll go away naturally if you lose weight but other times they’ll stay. I guess it depends on who you are. But know that you’re beautiful with or without your stretch marks and no one is paying attention to them like you are. Also, some day you will find the person of your dreams and you might have to be with a couple people first before that ever happens, but it will happen eventually. You shouldn’t be focused on wanting someone else falling in love with you. You should be focused on falling in love with yourself and once you do that, someone will come along.