LOSE WEIGHT AT HOME: RECLAIMING YOUR POWER WITH TIME MANAGEMENT

Try stepping outside of your comfort zone, this causes a breakthrough within yourself which many people feel uncomfortable doing. When breakthroughs happen, you begin to identify and be aware of your comfort zone, including respecting your own decisions of discomfort. You will begin to ask questions and follow your own advice. You will want to challenge attainable possibilities, and your self-doubt, will lessen which turns into you pushing yourself harder and not giving up so easily. You will begin facing challenges with a whole new attitude. 25

Chapter Three









Chapter Three: Action Plan This Action plan is what I used throughout my weight loss journey. The usage of wearable technology allowed me to compare my workout stats prior to planning and acting on it. There was a significant difference from the previous six months. Once I began organizing and planning, I realized that I had leftover hours that could have been utilized elsewhere. elsewhere. A poor plan can easily make a workout subpar. I was overdoing with slow progressions. Be smart with your planning. I remember one day, I read an article about postpartum moms and the loss of motivation to lose weight as the months roll by. I had entered my seventh month post-partum while reading this article, which immediately gave me a wakeup call. The inconsistencies of my workouts and trying to figure out the best moments to leave the house became stressful and just wasn’t working. Sneaking out the door with two kids around, I was bound to get stopped for something. I decided then to go with other options. I went the online route, looking up workouts and trainers, since the world had begun to temporarily shut down except essential business, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was constant debate whether gyms should remain open; eventually, they too had to shut down. Online trainers began to surface; this was 10x better than taking that 15-minute ride up and 15-20 minutes back.

Not to mention, any urges I may have to stop. That was a no- go. Not completing my goals and spending money. I started off with daily workouts, then increased that to 2-3x/day with the assistance of virtual challenge. I did a trial week, and from there I knew this could work. With the support of my husband, I was able to schedule tasks around my workouts since that was my priority. I had an open opportunity, and I needed to make it use of it. Having an action plan was tremendous in my workout journey. I chose High Intensity Interval Training as my solution. Choose a workout that works for you but challenge yourself. In Chapter five, you’ll learn about your fitness personality. Suzanne Brue’s quiz will provide you with your fitness color and what your barriers are when figuring out the best regime for yourself. Whatever workout you choose, Start slow but push yourself. Start off as a beginner with modified workouts. Eventually you will move into a more comfortable level of fitness and what used to be difficult will soon ease up. Make sure you are consuming less than you are burning. Grab hold of your grocery list and get prepping. Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management

This Action Plan Isn’t for the Weak! Sample Action Plan Begin With a Light Workout Prior To Meals to Warm Up Your Body and Get Your Muscles Going (Fasted Cardio) Increase Water Intake. Commit 2x days A workout in the am, 2nd workout in the evening. 5 days!... NO Weekdays Off! Try Maintaining My Fat Burning Zone 220-35 (Age) = 185 Beats/Min * .70= 128.1 Add Weight Training Twice a Week 33

Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management





Chapter Four

Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management

Chapter Four: Food is For Fuel Eating shouldn’t be therapy. It is meant to fuel your body. Have you heard the saying “eat to live, not live to eat”? What you put into your body reflects on the outside. Tracking your meals, or calorie counting when you first begin your fitness journey, can assist you with getting into a consistent schedule so that you may stay on track while learning to intake the foods that will fuel your body with energy. If your body is fatigue, you can’t expect your body to perform at its best. Tracking meals doesn’t have to mean the traditional writing or inputting each meal. Tracking meals also includes learning your portion sizes and having power over it. Visuals are extremely helpful. Try typing up your meal schedule including protein shakes with their designated times. This was huge for me, I had my food menu on the wall of the kitchen, or somewhere visible when it was time to eat. I began to follow the proper portions and do my own research, and eventually, I felt comfortable not keeping track of each calorie. Knowing what to eat and how to eat on your own will come. Mealtime might seem boring during this journey, but you must sacrifice those cravings and minimize certain snack habits. Meal prepping choices may look repetitive, so get creative with your healthy food options. There are also fitness apps that allow you to input your daily meals. Picture your end goal results. Clean out that fridge and start over. Don’t buy the foods that are going to be a temptation to you. Those foods



will be there now and later when you’ve completed various milestones. By then, your body may not even desire those foods anymore. You can begin transitioning you’re eating habits by removing or minimizing foods such as sugar, meat, and dairy. Breaking a habit and beginning a new one can take up to 21 days. Check out some of these favorites and how it takes for them to be removed from the body. If you ever feel discouraged, lean back on your goals and the deadline you gave yourself. Nothing lasts forever. Do what you need now, it'll be worth it in the end.

Tips For Healthy Food Swapping 1. Simply Don’t Buy Them 2. Hide Any Tempting or Empty Food Calories. Store Empty Calorie Foods in Places Where You Are Less Likely to See Them Often. 3. Refrigerator Makeover- Remove Some Unnecessary Items or Shift Most Nutritious Items to The Front, So They Are Easier to Get To. 4. Put Away and Clear Your Counters of Any “Snacks”. 5. Drink A Glass of Water When You Feel Hungry. You Might Just Be Dehydrated and Thirsty. 6. When Food Shopping, Start at The Outer Perimeters with Produce and Other Healthy Food Groups. 7. Colors And ABC’s Food Shopping. a. Healthy Foods That Correlate to The Alphabet b. A= Apples, B= Bananas, C= Cucumbers c. Try Shopping for Colorful Foods. 1. Red, Orange, and Yellow foods are filled with Antioxidants. 2. Green Foods Vegetables Are Great for Our Bodies Due to Vitamins A, C, And K. Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management

Tips For Healthy Food Swapping (Continued) RED: GREEN: APPLES, BELL PEPPERS, BROCCOLI, KALE, LETTUCE, STRAWBERRIES. SPINACH, HERBS. ORANGE: BLUE AND/OR PURPLE: CARROTS, BELL PEPPERS, BLUEBERRIES, EGGPLANT, ORANGES. PLUMS, CABBAGE YELLOW: BANANAS, LEMONS, PINEAPPLES. ** Darker Fruits and Vegetables Are Also Filled with Antioxidant but On a Higher Level. Cut Heavily Processed Foods: \"Processed Food\" Includes Food That Has Been Cooked, Canned, Frozen, Packaged or Changed in Nutritional Composition with Fortifying, Preserving, Or Preparing in Different Ways. Any Time We Cook, Bake, Or Prepare Food, We're Processing Food. For Example: -Frozen Pizza and Meals, those “healthy” frozen ones too. Microwaveable Dinner, Lunch Meat, Crackers, and Granola.

MEAT: USE THE PALM OF YOUR HAND FOR MEASURING MEAT FISH: USE YOUR WHOLE HAND FRUITS AND NUTS IN BETWEEN MEALS:

Good Carbs Bad Carbs Fresh Fruits Fruit Juices Fresh Vegetables Soda Beans White Bread Legumes Ice Cream Brown Rice Cookies and Pastries Peas White Crackers Quinoa Cakes Pure Oats Frozen Yogurt Chia Seeds Potato Chips Sweet Potatoes French Fries Almonds Instant Dinners Sunflower seeds Good carbs are high in fiber and contain natural sugars with low glycemic and insulin levels. They are slower in digestion which means you stay full longer and aid in weight loss. Good carbs give you prolonged energy to get you through the day. Bad carbs are lower in fiber and contain added sugars with high insulin and glycemic levels. They are refined or processed. They have a faster digestion rate which makes hunger come sooner and your energy levels begin to deplete. Bad carbs are stored and convert into fat cells which then can cause weight gain.

CHAPTER FIVE Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management

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Chapter 5: FITNESS TECHNOLOGY When you combine fitness and technology together, what do you get? A new world filled with wearable technology, apps, digital platforms, and equipment’s. Back in 1981, was the first wearable heart rate monitors, with actual wearable tracking devices in the early 2000’s. I remember the days when working out consisted of overexertion or pulling muscles. Relying on a machine at the gym never really seemed motivating. The constant staring at the numbers waiting until you peak at a certain number of calories. Those days are over. Fast forward to 2015, the first Apple watch was released. I hadn’t quite stepped into the watch world. It wasn’t until 2016, after having my son, I was wearing a chest strap heart monitor that tracked directly into a phone application. This was the first time I began to understand my fat burning zone and heart rate. Working out became easier and less pressure on my body. No more counting my calories through the machine. No more over working my heart. I began to learn the proper way to burn calories efficiently while safely staying in my most productive zone. As time went on, I upgraded to a fitness watch. I started off with a Fitbit, counting my steps and competing in workout challenges with my family and friends. As fitness watches began to expand and upgrade. I decided to

invest in one. This was by far the best decision I could have made. With the fitness industry booming, more and more technology and equipment surfaced to give any workout enthusiast an efficient and safe workout regardless of what strength level you may be on. Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management



Smart Watch Utilizing a smart watch assists with the capability of tracking your calorie burn throughout the day; not just during the active moments but your overall burn in a 24-hour period. Fitness watches are a great tool for reminders such as when to work out or to simply stand if you’ve been sitting for a while. A smart watch keeps you accountable for your daily workout goals. Most fitness watches with the constant help of updates, come installed with organized health and fitness workouts at the tap of a finger. In addition, these updates give smart watches the capability to install third party applications such as those that track food and water intake, as well as fitness workouts of all sorts. Being able to track my calorie burn on my smart watch was a true benefit. Analyzing my daily numbers allowed me to push myself that much harder. Going hard also means getting better sleep. This is another advantage of the smart watch. Tracking your sleep patterns to ensure you are getting the proper rest. If you’re going to show up as your best self, you need enough rest so that your body is ready to actively move. Without proper rest, your body can become Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management

fatigue. Listen to your body. That workout is going to be that much harder, and it will reflect amongst your fitness watch. Inconsistent heart rate, lower calorie burn, prolonged workouts with an increased chance of incompletion. Be good to your body and your body will be good for you. Benefits of a Smart Watch 1. Typically Includes Fitness Tracking Such as Steps, Distance, Calories, Heart, and Pulse Rate, Sleep Patterns. 2. Stay Connected While Doing Your Fitness Activities Watch Videos and Play, And Music on The Go. 3. Reminders To Stand 4. Fitness Workouts and Challenges 5. Add Friends and Be a Part of a Fitness Community. 53

Smart Body Scale A smart body scale is an electronic scale that measures weight and other body composition metrics. These measurements are then sent wirelessly to an app or online service that automatically records the data. These scales are usually connected with their own designed apps. Having a fitness tracking scale can indeed feel a little scary. No one wants to see the reality of their health. Many times, we avoid going for checkups unless we are forced to; however, investing in a smart scale can be a true benefit to your health, keeping your body conscious not just for yourself but for your whole family. It allows you to track the history of your health goals from the inside out using the recommended application. When you track your health, your fitness goals will soon follow. Focus less on the actual number of your weight and focus more on measuring and tracking your body's vitals. My personal favorite is the BMI Smart Scale Fit track Dara, which allows you to analyze 17 health measurements. A great advantage of these scales is that the scale will track your body composition and automatically send it to your app without you having to even look until you are ready. No matter when you decide to check your progress, the numbers will be there, and numbers don’t lie. Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management

Benefits Of a Fitness Smart Tracker Scale 1. Increase Self-Motivation and Will power. 2. Gives You More Detail and Insight on Your Personal Health. 3. Tracks Your Stats Automatically. 4. Great For Individuals Who Train on The Regular. 5. Great For Moms Wanting to Track. 6. Pregnancy/Post Pregnancy Progressions. 7. Can Be Used Amongst Your Family for Good Habit Teaching. My Scale Recommendation: Fit Track Dara BMI Smart Scale: https://getfittrack.com/products/bmi-smart-scale-fittrack- dara-v1 This is by far one of the best purchases I’ve made besides my X-factor door pulley. I continue to use the Dara scale as part of my regular fitness regime and maintenance! 55



PART TWO



Part Two: Are You Ready to Lose Weight? Really evaluate if you are ready, to take the weight loss journey by storm. It takes dedication and sacrifice. It’s okay if you need to defer your fitness plans in order properly prepare. Many times, I felt like I was on a roller coaster back in forth on an inconsistent routine. It became quite frustrating never being able to fully commit and reach the goals I was looking to achieve. Regardless of where you are in your journey, maintaining regular exercise is important no matter how much or little. Start slowing with baby steps until you feel comfortable to do a bit more. If you’re on the fence about kicking off your fitness journey and fully committing; spend a moment self-reflecting and answer the following questions: 1. Am I ready to change and modify my eating habits? 2. Do I have time to dedicate towards making a change? 3. Do I have too many distractions or pressures that would prevent me from giving my all? 4. Do I have any emotional issues connected to my weight? 5. Is food a coping mechanism for stress? If so, am I open to other techniques and/or strategies? 6. Do I need other support — either from friends or professionals — to manage stress 7. Am I motivated to make a lifestyle change for the long term? 8. Do I need a support system from family, friends, or an

associate? 9. Am I willing to change activity habits? 10. Have I thought about my nutritional and exercise plan? 11. Do I have support or an accountability partner? Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management

Chapter Six 61

Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management





Chapter Six: Burn that Shite /SHīt/ Human beings were meant to move our bodies and not remain still. Unfortunately, as we get older and we take on more responsibilities in life, our schedules fill up quick and the last thing we think about is giving our body some movement. Our bodies get neglected quickly. Some of my most memorable and favorite workouts have happened outside! Nothing like a cool breeze day with some sun beating on my face allowing more toxins to be released through sweat producing workouts. Point is, find a place that will make you feel the most comfortable and efficient. Have a mirror nearby to watch your movements as you go. Record yourself for yourself rewarded milestone playbacks of improvement. Most importantly as the inches begin to drop, go treat yourself to some new workout attire. Not only will you look and feel good in something new, but it will also allow you to focus more on your workout rather than the constant adjustment of sliding tights and straps. No matter where you are in your fitness journey, beginner, advanced, or somewhere in between, always consult your physician or trainer before hopping into any exercise workout to avoid injury. I, myself, thought I was in shape and have overworked my muscles and have had minor sprains. It’s not worth the setback. Create your action plan and start off slow. The more consistent you are, those exercises will get easier, your muscles will get stronger, and then inches and pounds will soon drop.

Physical activity has four domains of performance that must be balanced properly for fulfillment. These domains cover the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects, which include your environment, abilities or skills, attitude, motivation, and choices or talent. Figuring out your fitness personality is one way to ensure you can stick to a workout regimen you enjoy while still burning the calories you need. Try 8 Colors of Fitness quiz by Suzanne Brue. to determine your fitness color. Discovering your fitness color gives you the power to learn and understand the best activity for you, which in turn allows you to stick to a fitness program. https://the8colorsoffitness.com These are the fitness colors and what they represent and mean for you. FITNESS COLORS BLUE -Known as the “true blue” due to their loyal, traditional, and dependable nature. Committed and Conscientious. GOLD- The color of currency, Conservative and traditional. These individuals trust proven methods. Gold is considered the color of achievement. WHITE- Visionary individuals, who are aware and receptive to their creative minds and purity. Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management

PURPLE- Quick, outgoing, and confident. GREEN- Lover of nature and seek to be outdoors. RED- Possess high energy and enjoy being around the action. Red is a color of direction. What to look at, when to get up or stop. SAFFRON- This color seeks truth and clarity. Commands attention in a non-ostentatious sort of way. SILVER- The color of change, is powered by new possibilities and ideas. I found that my color is blue. My barriers come from not scheduling my activities ahead of time, having a disorganized space or a disruption of my current routine or plan. 67

Now let’s really get into it! I’m sure working out twice a day maybe three, sounds a bit much, but you must burn the calories and fat! Who wants workout all year with no changes? I was tired of buying clothes that just didn’t’ fit because I was in between sizes due to my expanded waist size. Each event or phot-op you end up super conscious of how you’re going to look or racing the clock to lose pounds by that special date on the calendar. Stop that! The sooner you achieve your fitness goals, the quicker you can get to the fun part of maintaining, and always being ready. If you keep your body ready, you’ll always be ready! Make working out a lifestyle. It is a forever mood. Between my smart watch and scale, I was able to be in control of my overall body health. I learned the percentages and risk levels of my health in real time. Add in aiming towards 3600- 4000 calories/day, this is including your resting burned calories. On average, days that I didn’t work out, according to my synced stats, I burned around 1800-1950 calories. When I executed my 2/day workout and light jump roping session, I was able to increase my calories anywhere from 1300-2400 calories. My highest calorie burn is 4,712. It is possible., Increase your exercise, stay consistent! Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management

My calorie progression chart over a 4-month period 69

If you’re familiar with the apple watch, what you see in the chart above are my closed rings which represent movement, exercise, and standing. Summer months June and July were my most active months. Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management

Key Components to a Successful Home-Workout 1. Decide On Your Goal 1. Make It Clear and Realistic 2. Hang It on A Vison Board 2. Create A Timeline or Calendar 1. This Is at Home, Balancing Life and Work. 2. Time Should Not Be Wasted. 3. Prioritize How Much Time You Need. 3. Figure Out What Resources You Need 1. Sacrifices 2. Changes 3. In-home equipment 4. Workout attire 5. Nutrients or supplements 4. Schedule Your Workouts 1. Make It a Routine 2. Same Times and Days 3. Create An Appointment in Electronic Devices for Reminders 4. When It’s Schedule It’s Easier to Make It Happen. 5. Planned Grocery Trips 1. Find Out What You Need, And Make a List 2. Take Advantage of Delivery Services to Save Time. 3. Grocery Trips and Weekly Meal Prepping to Keep Items fresh. 4. Prepare Your Food in Advance. 6. Take Advantage of Your Extra Time or Down Time. 71

1. This includes Self-Care Needs. 7. Check Your Progress 1. Revisit your goals weekly and set new ones. 2. Take Your Goals and break them down into smaller attainable goals. 1. This helps the momentum and self-motivation. 8. Reward Your Wins, Big or Small 1. If No One Else Does, Praise Yourself and Set New Goals. Swain, Lose Weight at Home: Reclaiming your Power with Time Management

Benefits Of Moving Your Body and Burning Fat. Increased energy and a more efficient workout Better sleep, means a better workout Increased mood and self confidence Better health and immune boost Weight loss and management Decreased anxiety