A couple things that have REALLY helped me, and things I have learned so far in this journey are:
1- FOOD LOG- I have started recording EVERYTHING I eat, including the butter I use to cook my foods in. Holy crap was that ever eye opening. I have decided as much as possible I am going to try to cook with Coconut Oil as it has 1/2 the calories and is supposed to be a lot better for you than butter. I had NO idea butter had 100 calories per tablespoon. It makes me sick to think that I used to eat like 1/2 a stick when I'd make popcorn, I'd dip it in it. EWWW! No wonder I'm fat LOL. Lots of different things that I have learned, like fresh garlic has calories, the homemade ranch we make using 2% boxed milk has like 100+ calories, luckily I found some other dressings that are lower calories. This is the app I am using both on my phone/tablet and computer to track my foods/exercise https://www.loseit.com
2- EXERCISE- Exercise is key if you want to lose weight, you need to burn the calories you consume, you can't do it without (IMO). It helps build muscle and turns your body into a fat burning machine. I really like the Leslie Sansone Walk At Home DVD's and try to do 2miles every day I exercise. I really like them, they are quite the work out and I even pushed myself today and did the 3 mile one. Burned 450 calories! You can burn 125-150 calories per mile doing her DVD's!
3- MUSCLE WEIGHS: I have gained a few inches in my calves from all the walking I have been doing. At first when I measured, I was really disappointed, then I read up on it and found this: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/619662-i-ve-started-exercising-why-am-i-still-gaining-weight It is extremely helpful. I know I gained 0.8# this morning on my weigh in but I am counting it as muscle gain from the walking I have been doing.
4-COUNT YOUR PEDOMETER STEPS: I have an app (Noom Walk) on my phone that counts my steps. I have figured out that I burn 0.03 calories per step. So I calculate it at the end of the day before bedtime, and figure out how many steps I have taken. I burned 1438 calories this week using my pedometer. Every thing counts!
5- READ LABELS This ties into #1, but boy has it been eye opening to me. I make sure I read the labels on everything I consume whether it be butter, oils, spices, pork rinds anything. I want to track what I am eating and know before hand if it's bad for me :)
6- FIND SOMETHING BETTER: I bought some greek yogurt last payday as it was the lowest carb count I could find at 8-9 carbs per container. I used google and found a product called "CARBMaster' yogurt at Kroger, well we have Smith's here and Friday night I found it at our smiths! It only has 4g of carbs per container. They have 19 different kinds and some are really good (we've tried a few flavors). So if you have a favorite treat that is high cal or high carbs, find an alternative.
7- SET GOALS: Make sure you have something you are working towards. Last night I figured out my 1/4, 1/2 way, and 3/4 of the way goals to a healthy BMI. I also have an exercise goal of 2 miles per day for 5 days a week which is a total of 400 miles walked by the end of the year. My GOAL WEIGHT IS 130#, that puts me right in the middle of a 'normal' weight for my BMI, of course I will adjust as needed if it's too low/high once I get there. Setting these goals has really helped me have a sense of progress. I am literally 6# away from my 1st goal! Woot Woot! I got this!
Here are my goals for my weight/BMI:
| Goal for Healthy BMI | |||||||||
| 111#-149.5# (shooting for 130#) | |||||||||
| 1/4 Way to goal 23.7# Lost =200.9 | |||||||||
| 1/2 Way to goal 47.3# Lost =177.3 | |||||||||
| 3/4 Way to goal 70.9# Lost =153.7 | |||||||||
| BMI Levels: | MY BMI Weights: | ||||||||
| Normal weight = 18.5–24.9 | 111-149.5 | ||||||||
| Overweight = 25–29.9 | 150-179.5 | ||||||||
| Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater | 180+ | ||||||||
8- SUPPORT SYSTEM It is a good idea to have a support system, whether it be friends, or family. I have a facebook page set up for my weight loss GETTING LEAN FOR LIFE: FBGLFL I have also joined a couple of weight loss groups on FB as well as liked some pages, and have a couple of forums I frequent. It really helps to have people who are in the same boat as you are rooting for you :)
9- TAKE MEASUREMENTS: Wow again eye opening. I have stalled a little bit with my weight loss over the past few days, it's been 2 weeks into my journey so I decided to take measurements, wow what a difference. I have lost 2" on my waist, 1 & 1/2" on my hips, 1" on my bust! It made me feel good even though my weight isn't changing much up/down in the past few days to know that I have already lost 5.4#, hubby helped me set up an excel spreadsheet that will auto calculate the losses, all I have to do is enter in my measurements when taken.
10- IT'S OKAY TO SAY NO!: Sometimes there may be something you REALLY want, but shouldn't have, such as at work recently we've had bagels, donuts and tortilla chips with homemade salsa brought in by clients/drug reps. If you know me you'll know that bagels are one of my ABSOLUTE favorite things in the world, so saying no to those (it was my 1st day of my diet), was extremely hard. However now it's becoming 2nd nature for me to say no. My manager brought in donuts Friday, and I wasn't even tempted. Even though my supervisor offered to go grab me one when she noticed I hadn't gotten it yet.
11- IT'S OKAY TO EAT DIFFERENTLY: There are a bunch of girls at work, and oftentimes during lunch there will be one or two of us in the breakroom eating. I feel like I have quite the spread of food compared to theirs (for example lean cuisine frozen meal with texas toast), while I have a fruit, protein, salad, and a vegetable, and usually a little container of Jello. It makes me feel like a pig with all that food, but that's okay, I am eating healthy and losing weight while doing it.
12 IT'S ALL IN THE ATTITUDE: Boy is it ever. I REALLY didn't want to exercise yesterday as my legs were already on fire from all the walking I had been doing, but I bucked up and just did it. Today again I put it off, then I finally went and changed into my exercise clothes and then just did it, I had a positive attitude about it and actually had fun even though I was killing myself with a more difficult workout. It was a blast :) I feel happier and more energetic today.
I think that about covers it. I do know that this lifestyle change is helping my bipolar quite a bit, even though I am on lowered dose of medicine, I have a postive attitude and even though I was getting frustrated with my hubby last night while he was working from home and not making a decision about dinner, I bit my tongue and decided to go do something productive, aka exercise :)
Comments
Post a Comment