Hey y’all! I have a very exciting announcement to make – I’m entering into a fitness/blogging collaboration with Fitness Guru, fellow Blogger, and life-long friend, Miss Kylee Lowe! Kylee is extremely passionate about fitness and way more knowledgable about the ins and outs of creating a healthy body than I am – check out her Instagram: @loveleeloe for proof! Keep reading to get the “Lowe” down & see the Get Fit plan Kylee created for me!

Backstory: I will make no excuses…okay, I will make some excuses. I know I should exercise more and eat better, but I’m naturally a “bigger” girl, and I’m fine with that. I’m Greek and Portuguese, I come from a family of big women, I’m barely 5 foot but was somehow gifted with 34DD’s – I have been big/curvy/fat/chubby/thick etc, my entire life. Even at my thinnest, 120 lbs, I still had big boobs and a big butt. I have never been, nor do I ever expect to be, THIN. I’m more Kim Kardashian than Nicole Richie – just to name 2 short celebrities with polar opposite body types. I’m very lucky and thankful to have been blessed with family, friends, boyfriends, and an inner goddess that have always focused on my inner beauty and growth, more than what I look like on the outside. Due to that inner focus, I have felt confident for the majority of my post-pubescent years, despite my weight fluctuations and what popular culture might say. If my current weight was healthy for me, I wouldn’t change a thing. While this level of confidence is great for my inner goddess, it’s not great for my health because it lulls me into a false sense of security that I’m fine just the way I am. The truth is – I’m not. I currently hit the scale at about *gulp* 170 lbs, which is not the heaviest I’ve ever been, but I need to make some changes.

In 2011 I lost a significant amount of weight on my own (40 lbs), and have continued to yo-yo since then. Enlisting the help of a friend who is trained in health and fitness lets me know I’m going about this in a healthy manner and makes me accountable. I don’t want to put all this personal information on the internet and have Kylee take time out of her busy schedule to help me  – and then not follow through.

Kylee has graciously created a 4 week plan that I will follow for the month of February. Please click the FOLLOW button on the top right of my blog to get email updates when I post the next step of the plan or my weekly results! If you’re interested in working with Kylee on a plan of your own, please contact her through her blog – link to come soon! – or Instagram: @loveleeloe

The “Lowe” Down
This is the general steps for Week 1. I will update here and Instagram: @missal_leigh as I see fit plus include a weekly report on Day 8.

Days 1 – 3:
– Green Juice & Tea
– Energy Juice
– Cauliflower Soup & Tea
– Antioxidant Juice
– Green Juice
– Butternut Squash Soup & Tea

Days 4 – 7:
30 to 40 minutes of walking or running each day
– Green Smoothie
– Veggies, Rice Cake w/All Natural Peanut Butter
– Chicken or Fish & Spinach w/1 tbsp Fat Free Dressing
– Protein Shake
– Chicken, Brown Rice, Veggies
– Cauliflower Soup & Tea

Day 1: I’m off to a shaky start. I didn’t realize I would be better off with a Juicer, rather than a blender, so I was unprepared to begin. After doing some research and setting off to the store to buy a Juicer, among other errands, I finally started MUCH later in the day, which has thrown off the entire schedule. I’m a very dedicated “trainee” and am willing to push myself, thanks to growing up a competitive cheerleader, so while I am not a fan of the Green Juice ingredients, or taste, or aftertaste, I will continue to drink it as scheduled. Kylee has told me to play around with the ingredients and measurements, so I’m sure I will be able to create something more tolerable. The amount of liquids I drank today definitely kept me feeling full, but somewhat unsatisfied as I do not totally enjoy the Green Juice – yet! I did notice a significant dip in energy around 7 pm, but I am attributing that to not being on the correct schedule and not really having anything in my system until pretty late in the day. Now that I have all the correct ingredients and appliances, I am 100% confident that tomorrow will be more successful.

What do you think?! Are you interested in working with Kylee on your own plan? Please reach out to her and leave me some comments of support or any advice you might have!