TGIF: Amanda Vega

Good morning, Achievers! It's Friday, which means it's time for another episode of This Goal Is Finished. Today, we are excited to introduce you to Amanda Vega, who is an extremely talented social media maven. Although we could discuss any number of great successes she's had in her professional career, she has graciously opened up about a personal goal she's recently accomplished. Read on and get inspired!

I am Amanda Vega, the CEO of Amanda Vega Consulting, a firm that has been around for 11 years specializing in PR, social media, compliance, and web related services. I began my career over 20 years ago as the 22nd employee of AOL where I was a chat moderator. This is my second company (sold the first one to Ogilvy before the age of 24) and I now have offices in NYC, Phoenix, Dallas, and Shanghai and staff all over the world. I’ve written a book "PR in a Jar" and also contributed to "The Social Media Bible."

Usually I don’t get asked about personal goals, so this is a nice change. I adopted the concept of vision board building about 4 years ago and every New Years actually host a vision board party. In 2010, the main set of goals visually represented were related to becoming healthy. Not to be mistaken for weight-loss (though that was part of it,) the goal was to get my body into as good of shape that my lifestyle and likes would allow in order to hopefully successfully get pregnant with my first child.
I have been working on my career since I was 15. My life has been full of crazy hours and stress, and adventure that is enviable to most. But as I neared 35 I realized that I now had a strong marriage and wanted to explore the next part of my life, which was family: something I had never prioritized before at all.

I felt that if I were going to go down the road of bringing a child into the world, I was going to approach it with the same tactical and focused/informed mind that I do my business projects. And everything I read and saw pointed to the fact that (a) getting pregnant, (b) having a healthy pregnancy, and (c) having the healthiest child possible was all related to a healthier lifestyle (exercise, clean food intake, relaxation, flexibility, limited alcohol and no smoking) than I was living. So the goal was imperative.

The first step was committing my mind to the process without feeling that I was somehow giving something up. I had to focus on the positive rather than the “look what I have to sacrifice” point of view.
It’s the same for everyone I suppose. I attend a lot of parties and host a lot of parties. I truly enjoy decadent food and truly hate doing cardio. I found obstacles on every plane ride and business trip (either bad food choices, or my complete lack of discipline when it comes to fine dining.)

I had to embrace the fact that I have a certain lifestyle and work within it. With the help of my trainer, we set up a pretty standard list of foods that I like and that I pretty much eat 5 days per week. Food goals became make every MEAL count, instead of every DAY count. That way, if you can have 4 of your 6 meals per day be healthy, you are doing much better than the average person.

I found that I really enjoy doing weights, boxing, etc. So I vowed to never miss the weighted workouts with my trainer. But the cardio is where I have peaks and valleys. The goal really became then moving for 30 minutes per day.

Midyear I invested in a BodyBugg and took it totally seriously. Okay, I was obsessive. And it really did work. Having something obnoxious on your arm that hinders your outfit choices and stares at you like a reminder to do the right thing really helped me.

Weighing myself everyday motivated me. New clothes did as well. Feeling better and more energized was good.

Brian Peitz at Fuzion Fitness in Phoenix – a trainer that isn’t a meathead and that listened to MY lifestyle and worked around it. (No wine isn’t a possibility for me.)

The BodyBugg.

My husband getting on board helped as well.

My friends knowing to keep telling me it was working.

Well, we certainly celebrated. When I found out I was pregnant my doctors first reaction was that the original 30 pound weightloss was certainly what made it possible. Then it became a game to keep on track and keep losing while pregnant – something they said was impossible.
My advice is this: you are a different person than everyone else. You have to find what’s right for you and it’s seriously the most simple formula ever: calories in/calories out. Carbs, proteins, times of days to eat, etc. are merely tools to help REFINE weight loss, not requirements to lose. Take it slow -- plan on losing just 1-2 pounds per week. And don’t remove things you enjoy. You can have cake (or wine) – you just have to make sure you offset the intake by moving.
Well, the next goal will be to continue on the journey when the baby comes in February. I still had 20-30 pounds to go toward my goals and have lost another percent of body fat while pregnant. So it will be fun to work with a new set of challenges and also keep going.