My personal Weight Loss Challenge

[punkin]

Another thing I just remembered: mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes. Just boil till tender, mash, add butter and seasonings. It's really very yummy and much better for you than mashed potatoes.

 

[sylvie]

The best way for me to stick to an exercise program is to schedule it as the very first thing I do. I have a cup of tea and out the door for a run.

Afternoon or group workouts have never proven to have staying power for me.

Sometimes you have to think of yourself first, and then you can take care of the rest of the family without guilt for the remainder of the day. You have to take the time for yourself. Eventually the family becomes accustomed to your new routine.

 

[Blackbird]

I agree, best to throw out all the sugary nasties, if you can't find it in the house, then a person usually resorts to something else or nothing at all.

I've never had too much of a weight issue (but I'm still pretty young), so I'm not much help, however my suggestion would be visiting Freemotion's food journal and purchasing the book Nourishing Traditions (do I sound like a minion yet?), obviously cutting out overly processed filler foods, things like that, is going to help a person tremendously, not only with weight but also with how you feel and how your body reacts.

I've read that people who snack more regular loose more weight, something like that. Instead of large meals three times a day, smaller meals and healthy snacks every once in a while. No idea if its true but thats what I've heard. My best friend doesn't have 'meals' she just continues to basically graze or snack all day, seems to work for her, as she's very slim, but still in healthy weight. But I think it kind of shrunk her stomach, because she gets full very easily on her small portioned snacks.

 

[keljonma]

The best way for me to stick to an exercise program is to schedule it as the very first thing I do. I have a cup of tea and out the door for a run.

Afternoon or group workouts have never proven to have staying power for me.

Sometimes you have to think of yourself first, and then you can take care of the rest of the family without guilt for the remainder of the day. You have to take the time for yourself. Eventually the family becomes accustomed to your new routine.

I think that is so true, sylvie - pick a time and try to stick to it. When I was doing the corporate thing, I needed to get to jazzercise or yoga immediately after work. It was the only thing that helped me be civil to those around me.

 

[keljonma]

I agree, best to throw out all the sugary nasties, if you can't find it in the house, then a person usually resorts to something else or nothing at all.

I've never had too much of a weight issue (but I'm still pretty young), so I'm not much help, however my suggestion would be visiting Freemotion's food journal and purchasing the book Nourishing Traditions (do I sound like a minion yet?), obviously cutting out overly processed filler foods, things like that, is going to help a person tremendously, not only with weight but also with how you feel and how your body reacts.

I've read that people who snack more regular loose more weight, something like that. Instead of large meals three times a day, smaller meals and healthy snacks every once in a while. No idea if its true but thats what I've heard. My best friend doesn't have 'meals' she just continues to basically graze or snack all day, seems to work for her, as she's very slim, but still in healthy weight. But I think it kind of shrunk her stomach, because she gets full very easily on her small portioned snacks.

The theory behind this is if you skip meals or just have a couple large ones during the day, your body starts storing fat and metabolism slows down. This is a hold over from ancient days when food was not so readily abundant and people really had to search for food. The stored fat gave the body something to burn during lean times. Nutritional grazing seems to help prevent that excess fat storage.

Any of the You books (You: the owner's manual, You: on a diet, etc) by Michael F. Roizen, MD make for good reading if you interested in learning more about the science.

 

[keljonma]

We are having pork chops, mashed potatoes, greenbeans, and salad for dinner tonight.

Usually I will eat two pork chops. Tonight I'm going to limit myself to 1 pork chop. I'm also going to cut my mashed potatoes portion in half of what I would normally eat, but make my salad larger than I usually do.

Water to drink.

Banana for dessert.

We had stuffed pork chops, sauerkraut, applesauce and *fresh picked blueberries* for dessert. We also had a very small glass of wine to go with dinner tonight.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

Well, we did have porkchops for dinner, but I ended up baking the potatoes instead of mashing them, and added a minced onion to the baked potatoes, very small dab of sour cream, and summer squash.

I only gave myself 1 pork chop, and ended up not even eating all if it. I did eat all of my summer squash but only about half of my serving of the potatoes.

I left the table feeling satisfied, but not overly stuffed, and I drank 8 ozs of water.

 

[keljonma]

Hey, QA! Good morning! We're having warm from the oven *blueberry* muffin here this morning.

Just a thought.... keeping a food journal here is a great idea, so we can be here to help encourage adn support you.

But I would recommend that you also keep a word document journal on your computer. You can then highlight good tips, recipe ideas, and your good days and print them out if you want. It will also give you the whole journey in one convenient spot and you don't have to be on the internet to get to it.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

I'm already doing that, keljonma!

I started that, too, with my SS journal

 

[FarmGirl]

For snacks at the office I used to keep granola bars (until I read what as in them :/) but I've found Larabar's at my local health food store and they are great for that mid afternoon energy slump! There are lots of varieties but they are basically made from fruit and nuts no preservatives and other nasties. You can order them online too.

Good luck with your weight loss goals - I'll be checking in for tips as I certainly could stand to loose a few pounds too I think just being concious of what we're putting in our mouths is half the battle, so reading and writing about it is a good thing!