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WAYS OF STYLE

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Progress – December 2018

in Lifestyle on 01/07/19

Hey loves! Happy January and welcome to my December progress post. If you haven’t checked my November post, make sure to read it here.

December is always such a hard time of the year to stay on track and honestly, this is the first year I actually made some smart decisions. It took me this whole year to realize that I feel so much better when I work out and eat good food, it’s not just a physical thing. Also, it took me a lot of time and effort to get where I am today, and I know it can all go away in one month.

Regardless of what your December was like, this post is not to make you feel bad. When you punish yourself and feel guilty all the time, it makes it really hard to make permanent changes. If you didn’t take care of yourself this December, move on and start today. That’s all you need to do. Get over it!

So, I basically spent the whole month in Florida which I though was going to represent a huge challenge for me to stay on track, but it really wasn’t. I had a gym to go to and I worked out 4-5 times a week. The weather was perfect and I spent a lot of time active outside and playing tennis. Plus, G’s family is super healthy, so eating good food wasn’t hard at all. I had a few cheat meals and drinks, yes, but overall and all things considered, I think I was really good. (Compared to last year)

I did my best to keep track of my foods with My Fitness Pal, but I didn’t have a kitchen scale so I just used my eyes to estimate quantities, and I think it worked! You have no idea how happy that makes me. I feel like I’m one step closer to start eating intuitively.

We ate out a lot. I ordered salads most of the time and added some extra protein and always always always with the dressing on the side. Those yummy restaurant dressings have so much sugar and calories so it defeats the purpose of eating a salad. I did drink alcohol more than usual, but I always add it to My Fitness Pal and it rarely was more than a glass or two of wine or a beer.

Those little things did affect me. I didn’t have any progress. In fact I gained 0.8 lbs. I don’t know how I feel about that. I had fun and I am proud of myself for being away from home for 3 weeks and maintaining a healthy routine, but it does feel as a setback and I’m a little bit disappointed. However, what’s done it’s done, and I’m here reporting you the truth and that I’m back on track now.

I started this lifestyle seeking for balance and to improve my health. My results have been slow, but it’s important for me to also enjoy myself, the constant dates I have with G and my life in general. That being said, I’ll accept that 0.8 lbs I gained, BUT, I’m already back on track!!

Changes I made this month: (compared to November 2018)

* I also kept doing all the things I changed last month. Read them here.

  • I moved every day. Meaning I did over 10,000 steps daily!! This really helps. What you do outside the gym has a much bigger impact than what you do at the gym. If you can do both, then it’s a WIN WIN! (Shout out to my girl @lesleyslifestylehabits for being so pushy about the 10k steps, but she’s right!!!!)
  • I did my cardio first thing in the morning right after waking up. (This was only possible in Florida). I think it helped a lot, and I enjoyed those morning walks in nature SO MUCH!! This type of cardio is not for everyone, but you can do your research and see if it’s a right fit for you.
  • I played tennis 2-3 times a week on top of my workouts.

Things I failed at:

  • I was a lot more flexible than usual with certain meals and alcohol. I don’t feel THAT bad about it though. I t was good to realize that I can have a glass of wine here and there or a slice of pizza, as long as I track it and be more careful with the rest of my meals that day. This is very useful to know while on vacation. It’s not how I normally eat.
  • We ate out a lot and that makes it really hard to know exactly how many calories you are actually eating, but whatever, we had so many fun dates and I didn’t feel like being a pain the ass every time we were placing an order. We love buying ice cream and walking after a meal, so instead of buying one for each, we would share a small one. This of course adds up, but when you are on vacation for 3 weeks, sharing is a nice way to eat less calories. (Still, don’t do this every day LOL).

Macros and calories: 

Daily calories: 1750 (This is the ideal number I ate most days, but some days were over 2000 calories and I had like 3 real cheat meals).

My macros were all over the place, but this is my ideal distribution:

45% carbs

30% protein

25% fat

Weight, fat percentage and measurements: (I’m 5 ft 4 for reference)

December 7th:

123.7 lbs – 19.3% body fat

Chest: 83 cm – Waist: 65 cm – Hips: 92 cm

January 7th:

124.5 lbs – 19.5% body fat

Chest:  83 cm – Waist:  66 cm – Hips:  93 cm

Photos:

December 7th (left) – January 7th (right)







Gosh I hate these photos… Also, I don’t have a tan. That’s sad.

As you can see I kind of look the same, I honestly don’t feel any different, but ever since I got back from vacation I’ve been eating super healthy again and back to my normal life and routine. Hopefully January will be better in terms of progress.

My goal is to reduce my body fat to 14-15% by Summer, and my guess is that my weight will be around 118 lbs. I’m going again to Florida in March (for around 3 weeks again), so I’d love to be at 17% body fat and around 120 lbs by then, which means I have a little over 2 months to do it. It feels doable!!

My current workout routine (more or less because it varies by week)

Mondays: Hamstrings & glutes + 25 minute intense interval cardio

Tuesdays: Triceps & shoulders + 45 minute cardio (hard but not super intense like the 25 min session)

Wednesdays: Back & abs + 25 min intense interval cardio

Thursdays: Quadriceps & hips + 25 min intense interval cardio

Fridays: Off (but it varies. I usually take off a weekday. I still go on the weekends, especially during winter because there’s not much to do LOL)

Saturdays: Biceps & abs + 45 minute cardio

Sundays: I repeat whatever I did on Monday or Tuesday. That’s why my workout days change every week.

Next month changes and challenges. I’m already taking care of the December damage, but some of the changes I’m making are:

  • I started taking BCAA during my workouts (I use the Sascha Fitness brand)
  • I’m trying to burn 100 extra calories at the gym. I usually burn 500, but I’ll try to burn 600 from now on.
  • Since my last week in Florida was kind of terrible in terms of food, I decided to increase my calories to 1800, which is an increase compared to what I ate most of December (1750 calories), but a decrease compared to how I ate that last week (Around 2300 calories). I don’t know if I’m explaining myself.
  • I set up a new goal for daily calorie burn of 2300. According to my Fitbit my daily average is 2100. I want to keep eating the same for as long as possible LOL, so I want to see if I can burn some extra calories everyday at the gym and by moving more outside of the gym.

Here are the things I will add to my routine in January:

  • Increase the weight on most of my workouts, even if that means doing 10 reps instead of the 12 I usually do.
  • Push harder during cardio time. Same time, but more intensity. I know I can do better.
  • Do a little bit of cardio or planks in between reps to keep my heart rate up the whole time and also to make sure I burn those extra 100 calories I mentioned before. I feel really happy eating 1800 calories a day and I will only bring this number down if I don’t see results by the end of January.

You can read more about how and why I started here.

I’ve been posting healthy breakfast recipes, so make sure to check them out here. Very soon I’ll start posting what I eat in one day, but I’m still trying to figure out how I will do it, so stay tuned. I don’t want you to copy what I eat, but I do want to provide you with healthy recipes and ideas so you can start living your best life too! Also, to show you how much food you can actually eat if you eat good food!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Let me know your thoughts in the comment below.

XO,
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Comments

  1. Nina says

    January 8, 2019 at 10:01 pm

    I agree, in December it can be chalanging to keep healthy lifestyle but you have actually managed to stay on track. xx

    Nina’s Style Blog

    Reply
  2. Aleja says

    January 8, 2019 at 4:22 pm

    Shocked by your transformation ?

    Reply
  3. Jennifer says

    January 8, 2019 at 3:19 pm

    Loved this honest post Aimara. Thank you so much for sharing. Can’t wait to see the results for January ??

    Reply

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OH, HI THERE!

Hi guys! My name is Aimara and I’m the voice behind Ways of Style.

I created this Blog as a space to express my thoughts and life experiences while wearing cute outfits of course! At the same time I want to encourage you to always be yourself, without caring what the world thinks about it.

I believe that we all have a specific purpose in life, but you can only find it by being 100% you and following your heart & intuition. In May 2014 I came to this country with a dream and with all my belongings in a suitcase, with nothing but determination to make it happen.

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Hi 👋🏻 it’s been a while. After dealing wi Hi 👋🏻 it’s been a while.

After dealing with how the new year started, I really didn’t feel like posting, so I deleted IG for a little bit for mental health purposes. The last thing I posted was on Jan 6th and after confronting a ton of senseless haters defending what happened I was so exhausted. Emotionally drained actually. (I know it was my mistake to try to deal with crazy people, but I was upset and couldn’t help myself 🙈)

On top of that, my beautiful baby niece Elisa, was born on Dec 26th, but spent over 2 weeks in the NICU having good days and bad days. She is thankfully home & healthy now, but boy was that scary 🙈 

Anyways, that’s what’s up. I’m ok now. Feeling a lot better and trying to get back to things little by little. Hope you guys are doing ok too ❤️

Have an amazing weekend!! See you soon 😘😘
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A black t-shirt 🖤 Styled with a maxi skirt, @sp A black t-shirt 🖤
Styled with a maxi skirt, @spanx leggings and black skinny jeans 😊
Another basic piece you should definitely have in your closet because you can wear it with basically any bottom or layer it in any way you want!

I’ve been living out of a suitcase for the past 3 months and even though my wardrobe is not super exciting, I’ve managed to have fun with what I have. I basically have 7-8 different bottoms, 6 basic neutral t-shirts, a couple of sweaters and a button down shirt. That’s it!

It’s been ok too because I haven’t been anywhere, so I really have no reason to dress up 😂
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One of my happiest moments of 2020 by far! I freak One of my happiest moments of 2020 by far! I freaking did it! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I don’t often take the time to be proud of myself but today I’m doing just that ❤️
We’ve been talking about getting certified for scuba diving since forever, but this past December we decided to finally go for it. 

Why?
Because this was one thing we were going to do on our trip around the world and since the trip has been postponed until God knows when, we felt like we needed to do something to cheer ourselves up.

I didn’t think it was going to be this hard. I’m not used to face my fears like this or to push through when I feel like quitting, but this time I was determined. I think the @hellofears book made a huge impact in me. Now I promise myself to keep learning new tricks and to push myself outside of my comfort zone as often as I can. Enough of talking about doing things and let time pass by and not do anything at all. Enough of that!

What’s next? Well right now, we are in Chicago until January 30th, but we’ll spend February and March in Boca & Tampa (and then back to the Midwest!), so we already signed up for freediving & windsurf! Both extremely challenging, mentally and physically, but what the hell, we are going for it anyways!

I encourage you to think about some of the things (big & small), you’ve been talking about doing forever and somehow life got in the way and you kept postponing them. Write them down and challenge yourself to do it. Make yourself proud. There’s no better feeling! Just do it for you!

Even though I’m not writing resolutions this year (I always have, but I felt like the universe betrayed all of us in 2020 💔)I’m making a permanent change in my life: push myself, be brave and open the door for new feelings and emotions to arrive. I’ve been living way too comfortable for way too long!

Special thanks to Eric (@globaldiverscuba) for being so kind and patient and of course @diveforcee for being the best scuba store in south Florida. We found them on Google and they were amazing! Can’t recommend them enough!! 💙
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#waysofstyle #divers #scubadivers #floridadiving #lifestyleblogger #wedidit #proud #pushyourself #chicagoblogger #chicagoinfluencer #hellofears
Counting the days to see my girls!! Hi 👋🏻 W Counting the days to see my girls!!

Hi 👋🏻 We are currently quarantining in Chicago! We ran into a few very unpleasant issues with our new Airbnb (surprise surprise!), but we got over pretty quickly! Proud of us for doing that 😉

Yesterday I tried to sit down to write down goals for 2021 and honestly, after the crappiest year of all I felt like it was pointless. There’s so little I can control and the only thing I have the power to change is my mindset. 

How do you guys feel about 2021? Hopeful? I’m really trying to have no expectations because this past year has been so devastating that I don’t want all my hopes and dreams to be crushed again 💔 2020 is not exactly ending on the happy note we hoped for as a family, so I’m really hoping all this bad energy to be washed away tonight! #bye2020

Who knows what awaits... so for the first time ever I won’t write any resolutions, just trying to stay positive and faithful to the one who knows better 🙏🏻 How about you?

I wish you the best for 2021 though! It’ll be a party of 2 for us, eating some Venezuelan food and some wine 🍷
Happy New Year’s Eve! ❤️
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Location: @thehappygarage in Ravenswood ☺️
#waysofstyle #proudauntie #newyearseve #noresolutions #bye2020 #chicagoblogger #chicagophotographer #chicagoinfluencer #mygirls #myeverything #hope #faith #love #hopeful
Hi guys 🖤 Sorry I’ve been MIA, but I usually Hi guys 🖤
Sorry I’ve been MIA, but I usually take this time of the year to disconnect from social media and allow myself to dream and think about new year goals without being influenced by everyone’s highlight reels.

It’s been an unusual year for sure and even though I can’t wait for it to be over, I’m also forcing myself to take the time to appreciate the lessons I learned. I received a lot of bad news this year, but this last month it’s been good. So good, that it almost made me forget about the past 11 where I felt I was living in an emotional roller coaster. I’m very happy to be here in Florida and challenging myself to learn new things. I feel so brave and that’s a feeling I never want to deprive myself of. Ever again.

I’ll share more later, but today I’m mostly posting to wish you a safe Christmas this year. In whichever way you decide to celebrate, I hope you find joy in the little things ✨

I didn’t do any of my treasured Venezuelan traditions this year, but I did have hallacas yesterday (they are the best, and you have to order them with enough time to @meencanta.21), tonight we are having Indian food and tomorrow, we’ll do dinner at G’s sister. We leave to Chicago on Sunday, so we are making sure to spend a lot of time outside in the next few days ❤️

Anyways, take care beautiful people. Can’t wait to catch up soon! Merry Christmas to all who celebrate 🎄
...
#waysofstyle #merrychristmas #december #floridavibes #beachbum #lifestyleblogger #beachvibes #goodvibes #bestwishes #besafe #brave #happiness #instafashion #mystyle #resortlooks #vacationmode #summersalt #savethefishies #gosummersalt #christmaseve
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Hi 👋🏻 it’s been a while. After dealing wi Hi 👋🏻 it’s been a while.

After dealing with how the new year started, I really didn’t feel like posting, so I deleted IG for a little bit for mental health purposes. The last thing I posted was on Jan 6th and after confronting a ton of senseless haters defending what happened I was so exhausted. Emotionally drained actually. (I know it was my mistake to try to deal with crazy people, but I was upset and couldn’t help myself 🙈)

On top of that, my beautiful baby niece Elisa, was born on Dec 26th, but spent over 2 weeks in the NICU having good days and bad days. She is thankfully home & healthy now, but boy was that scary 🙈 

Anyways, that’s what’s up. I’m ok now. Feeling a lot better and trying to get back to things little by little. Hope you guys are doing ok too ❤️

Have an amazing weekend!! See you soon 😘😘
...
#waysofstyle #lifeupdate #chicagoblogger #chicagoinfluencer #meijerstyle #leopardprint #lifestyleblogger #quarantinelife #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #beingreal #friyay #happyfriday #weekendvibes
From no pants and no shoes to double pants and dou From no pants and no shoes to double pants and double masks BUT still smiling 😆
Disclaimer: I’m not wearing a mask at the beach because it was basically just us, so be cool.

I’m so happy it’s been in the 30’s, because this is the coldest we can handle 😂 Thank you Chicago 🙏🏻❤️

Hope everyone’s having a nice week so far! We got our test results back negative so I can finally see my family ❤️ It’s a good day today 🙏🏻
...
#waysofstyle #chiberia #chicagoblogger #chicagowinter #grateful #chicagoinfluencer #winterstyle #winterlook #puffercoat #smallvictories
A black t-shirt 🖤 Styled with a maxi skirt, @sp A black t-shirt 🖤
Styled with a maxi skirt, @spanx leggings and black skinny jeans 😊
Another basic piece you should definitely have in your closet because you can wear it with basically any bottom or layer it in any way you want!

I’ve been living out of a suitcase for the past 3 months and even though my wardrobe is not super exciting, I’ve managed to have fun with what I have. I basically have 7-8 different bottoms, 6 basic neutral t-shirts, a couple of sweaters and a button down shirt. That’s it!

It’s been ok too because I haven’t been anywhere, so I really have no reason to dress up 😂
...
#waysofstyle #capsulewardrobe #fashionblogger #howtostyle #whattowear #basiclook #classicstyle #maxiskirt #blacktshirt #chambrayshirt #whitesneakers #blackskinnyjeans #chicagoblogger #chicagoinfluencer #midwestblogger #meijerfinds #meijerstyle
One of my happiest moments of 2020 by far! I freak One of my happiest moments of 2020 by far! I freaking did it! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

I don’t often take the time to be proud of myself but today I’m doing just that ❤️
We’ve been talking about getting certified for scuba diving since forever, but this past December we decided to finally go for it. 

Why?
Because this was one thing we were going to do on our trip around the world and since the trip has been postponed until God knows when, we felt like we needed to do something to cheer ourselves up.

I didn’t think it was going to be this hard. I’m not used to face my fears like this or to push through when I feel like quitting, but this time I was determined. I think the @hellofears book made a huge impact in me. Now I promise myself to keep learning new tricks and to push myself outside of my comfort zone as often as I can. Enough of talking about doing things and let time pass by and not do anything at all. Enough of that!

What’s next? Well right now, we are in Chicago until January 30th, but we’ll spend February and March in Boca & Tampa (and then back to the Midwest!), so we already signed up for freediving & windsurf! Both extremely challenging, mentally and physically, but what the hell, we are going for it anyways!

I encourage you to think about some of the things (big & small), you’ve been talking about doing forever and somehow life got in the way and you kept postponing them. Write them down and challenge yourself to do it. Make yourself proud. There’s no better feeling! Just do it for you!

Even though I’m not writing resolutions this year (I always have, but I felt like the universe betrayed all of us in 2020 💔)I’m making a permanent change in my life: push myself, be brave and open the door for new feelings and emotions to arrive. I’ve been living way too comfortable for way too long!

Special thanks to Eric (@globaldiverscuba) for being so kind and patient and of course @diveforcee for being the best scuba store in south Florida. We found them on Google and they were amazing! Can’t recommend them enough!! 💙
...
#waysofstyle #divers #scubadivers #floridadiving #lifestyleblogger #wedidit #proud #pushyourself #chicagoblogger #chicagoinfluencer #hellofears
Counting the days to see my girls!! Hi 👋🏻 W Counting the days to see my girls!!

Hi 👋🏻 We are currently quarantining in Chicago! We ran into a few very unpleasant issues with our new Airbnb (surprise surprise!), but we got over pretty quickly! Proud of us for doing that 😉

Yesterday I tried to sit down to write down goals for 2021 and honestly, after the crappiest year of all I felt like it was pointless. There’s so little I can control and the only thing I have the power to change is my mindset. 

How do you guys feel about 2021? Hopeful? I’m really trying to have no expectations because this past year has been so devastating that I don’t want all my hopes and dreams to be crushed again 💔 2020 is not exactly ending on the happy note we hoped for as a family, so I’m really hoping all this bad energy to be washed away tonight! #bye2020

Who knows what awaits... so for the first time ever I won’t write any resolutions, just trying to stay positive and faithful to the one who knows better 🙏🏻 How about you?

I wish you the best for 2021 though! It’ll be a party of 2 for us, eating some Venezuelan food and some wine 🍷
Happy New Year’s Eve! ❤️
...
Location: @thehappygarage in Ravenswood ☺️
#waysofstyle #proudauntie #newyearseve #noresolutions #bye2020 #chicagoblogger #chicagophotographer #chicagoinfluencer #mygirls #myeverything #hope #faith #love #hopeful
Hi guys 🖤 Sorry I’ve been MIA, but I usually Hi guys 🖤
Sorry I’ve been MIA, but I usually take this time of the year to disconnect from social media and allow myself to dream and think about new year goals without being influenced by everyone’s highlight reels.

It’s been an unusual year for sure and even though I can’t wait for it to be over, I’m also forcing myself to take the time to appreciate the lessons I learned. I received a lot of bad news this year, but this last month it’s been good. So good, that it almost made me forget about the past 11 where I felt I was living in an emotional roller coaster. I’m very happy to be here in Florida and challenging myself to learn new things. I feel so brave and that’s a feeling I never want to deprive myself of. Ever again.

I’ll share more later, but today I’m mostly posting to wish you a safe Christmas this year. In whichever way you decide to celebrate, I hope you find joy in the little things ✨

I didn’t do any of my treasured Venezuelan traditions this year, but I did have hallacas yesterday (they are the best, and you have to order them with enough time to @meencanta.21), tonight we are having Indian food and tomorrow, we’ll do dinner at G’s sister. We leave to Chicago on Sunday, so we are making sure to spend a lot of time outside in the next few days ❤️

Anyways, take care beautiful people. Can’t wait to catch up soon! Merry Christmas to all who celebrate 🎄
...
#waysofstyle #merrychristmas #december #floridavibes #beachbum #lifestyleblogger #beachvibes #goodvibes #bestwishes #besafe #brave #happiness #instafashion #mystyle #resortlooks #vacationmode #summersalt #savethefishies #gosummersalt #christmaseve
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