I've lost 47Ibs Began Oct 08 to Date My Story ...if your interested

I typed this version of my experiences and info for all my girlfriends before posting thought you might find it informative.

Calorie Counter is a great tool for tabulating your: Daily intake, nutritional results and information and support groups 

CALORIECOUNTER I LOVE YOU  

Just remember it takes effort, persistence and dedication to reach any goal - You all know this girlfriend.

Okay how I did it. First keep in mind that everyone is different, so what works for me – may not work for you.

I began by simply making up my mind.  (I am always talking to myself)

Ask yourself: What do you want?

If you are at a “healthy weight” and you are satisfied with your weight, appearance and lifestyle, then alright ---why even go there, but if you are unhappy, tired and just feel like hey I want to Start RIGHT NOW… then RIGHT ON! You will definitely stick with it.

 What is “Healthy”?

Others may differ but…

*My perception is: if your weight is satisfactory to your lifestyle and medically you are at no risk of acquiring any type of illness (by that I mean- heart disease, high-low blood pressure, etc) then Bravo …Who cares if you have curves …honey as long as you’re happy and healthy and you can breathe in and out without trouble when you walk in your heels then girlfriend you are in good shape to me.

Well alright I will clue you in: the composition of what I want my body to look like is this: 110 lbs… give or take, and rips of muscle here and there but not bulging ---- you know b/c hey there has to be some cushion and I still want to keep my girly looks, above all hey I want to keep my curves. All of us Woman Love our Curves.J 10 more pounds to go baby …. Oh Yeah! (I'm 5'2 and next month 41 yrs old)

Okay I am vain but back to the Losing weight part (more about me later)

First thing I did when I started to exercise was Walk. I began walking all the time. Everywhere, anywhere, and whenever I could; I’d go to the mailbox, go to the mall with my girls and walk. I just walk for 3 hours in and out of stores just window shopping. I’d walk the dog, walk to the store or just walk outside in the front of the house (like a crazy woman J) Walk, walk, walk, Hey it is something free, fun to do and well worth the time.

I wasn’t comfortable enough with myself to go to a gym that’s why I decided to walk. After about 3 weeks of walking I then felt confident enough to start walking on my trend mill. I started on my treadmill at home in October 2008. The days the weather was nice I would walk before work.

At first I did a normal pace, then a faster pace, until I was speed walking (you know --- arms flapping). I would do this 3 times a day. Before work, after work (about 2pm) and then once my husband had his dinner about 6:30 pm I made it part of my everyday routine for the first month.

In November I began going to the gym everyday. My HOA Community Gym has tread mills and weights, so I would walk over and walk on the treadmill for an hour. By then it was about November and I was down 5-8 pounds.

When I started working out on the treadmill I began very slowly, because my legs had little muscle so I could only go 3.5-3.7. I did this for one hour every day.  3.5-3.7 isn’t fast at all but for me it was enough to make me break a sweat and feel my heart beat and about a week into the work out I began increasing the incline button to 0.5 to 1.0.

About a month later I started to increase the speed and before I knew it I could walk faster at 4.3-4.5 at 2.0 incline with no trouble! By December 2008 I was down to 153 lbs, which means I was steadily losing weight at 4.5 to 5 pounds each month. Remember, I had only begun in October at 168.5 lbs.

So you’ve guessed it EXERCISE is the principal part of healthy living but EATING A LOW CALORIE DIET is just as essential if you want to lose weight and you must change your eating patterns to keep the weight off.

I eat approx. 5 times a day. Small proportioned meals. Like 2 snacks between meals (1 apple, 1 banana, or not more than 8-10 nuts) 1 light breakfast like: ½ to 1 cup of healthy cereal: such as, Special K, Grape Nuts (HIGH W/PROTEIN), Active Lifestyle (green box). I add Wheat Germ and Flaxseed for added nutrients and this really fills me up, if I am hungry in the morning I add a small banana or about 10 blueberries and SKIM MILK OR FAT FREE MILK and then I have a cup of coffee with half a serving of a Sweet n Low Pack. My morning meals typically adds up to anywhere from 237 Calories to 400 no more. I eat as soon as I am up, which is approx anytime from 5am to 6:15am. Oh Yeah After my Coffee I have a Cold Bottle of Water 8oz or more and I am done.

About 10am I most likely burned about the entire calorie intake plus a few hundred more just getting ready, doing house work, running errands, etc. So by 10am I am feeling a little hungry so if I am away from home I will have some snacks in my purse like baby carrots, 90 Calorie special K bar, an apple, a pear, or a banana, and of course Water Bottle and I have one of the above.

Okay about 1pm is when I have a meal, like what I would consider my eating time (dinner for me) with substance. So I prepare my meal in advance (mostly in my mind) so I may have a Turkey with Swiss Sandwich on Whole Grain Bread. Slice of fruit with Cottage Cheese. Or I will have 1 cup of homemade chicken soup or 1 cup of Butternut Squash “Pacific Foods Organic” Soup. It’s Delicious with about 4-5 pieces of walnuts. This soup is really healthy and good and love, love it! And I might have like 1 cup of Skim Milk or just water.  If I’m hungry by 3pm I will have less then half of a dinner serving. Wish means whatever I fixed for my family to have for dinner. So at about 4 to 4:30 I am at the gym, running for: 30 minutes instead of an hour and now I started to lift weights too so I do this for 20 minutes to one hour every other day. And then on the days I don’t lift I run for 30 minutes on the treadmill (intervals) and then get on the elliptical for 15 minutes (I am still uncoordinated) and then on the bike for another 15 to 30 minutes. My goal when I am at the gym is to burn no less than 500 calories regardless of the work-out.  

What to look for on the Label

When I buy anything packaged I look at the label for Calories and I make sure I look at Allowance per Serving this is critical b/c you can buy something low in calorie but if the quantity isn’t sufficient enough to be worth the cost… Why buy it. In other words, if the Calorie per serving is 50 and you’ve reached it with just 1 tblsp. Then that means if your hungry and serving more than a tablespoon you are not really benefiting.  Moving on --- you don’t want more than 3 grams of Saturated fats per serving (I prefer 0). Look for no more than 5% sodium that adds up to 3grams. Sodium is Salt so you really don’t want too much of this in your system, I seriously refrain from buying anything with more than 7% sodium.

Find the healthy amounts of nutritional values on the bottom end of all labels these numbers should always be larger than the top of the labels.

Stay away from processed meats like Winnies, boxed foods like Mac-n-cheese, and carbonized drinks like sodas.  Now if you want to get any of those buy low sodium items and low fat (below 3%) Drink A LOT of water. Carry a water bottle everywhere.

I also found that when I first began to lose weight I eliminated flour/corn tortillas, white breads. I do eat bread but its whole grain or white-wheat bread, and 1 tortilla is my limit because they are very high in all cholesterol, carbs, calories, everything

I substitute all red meat cooking with turkey or chicken (like Jennie-o), make pattie’s, meatballs, anything. Red meat is something my husband loves so what I do is boil it and shred it and I try to find the leanest in the store like NY Steak.

If I want sweets I have fruit or jello w/out sugars. Or I will boil sweet potatoes and serve with skim milk or just plain, I don’t add sugar because they are really sweet and the calories for a large sweet potato are like 50 this is a very filling treat.

Buy Margarine 0 Trans Fat and 0 Sat. Fat rather than Real Butter because LDL levels in Margarine are higher in good fats than butter. Butter has high levels of saturated fat. Look at the margarine labels when buying b/c even though they are margarine they might be worst than real butter. Stick to Land o Lakes, Smart Heart. That’s what I buy b/c my husband likes his toast in the morning.

*Actually both are bad no matter

*I bought this bread that is so delicious and very healthy called Alpine Valley Omega 3 (green label) only 60 calories a slice and Whole Grain. Key here whenever you buy bread is look for WHOLE GRAIN. I buy Nature’s Own (its actually wheat with whole grain) my girls like white so I buy the White-Wheat both are Low in Cal., Sat Fat, Sodium and economically friendly on my wallet. 

Another type of Cereal I buy is the white bag called Bear Naked with fruit and nuts it is really healthy and hearty ¼ cup is only 140 calories (a little higher than what I look for) but the nutritional value is great.

A lot of people love chocolate so if you’re going to have some eat dark chocolate in small amount (I don’t like chocolate). Remember whatever you eat you need to burn off.

It’s okay to have pasta but not more than 1 cup it’s a starch not ideal for weight loss. I’ve tried the whole grain kind… not so good.

The way I approached changing our eating was trying a Mediterranean diet much like Greek Foods.

Fish, Olive Oil- Chicken, Turkey, and Pork (lean meats)

Excellent links the general info and intro to Mediterranean diet.

http://www.americanheart.org

http://www.mediterraneanbook.com/the-mediterr anean-diet/

Okay I don’t know about you but I use a lot of tomatoes sauce cans... I used to buy the salted now I use unsalted. I don’t add salt to my homemade beans I add one large whole onion and 2 cloves of garlic for taste, as well as for rice I add fresh spices for taste like green or yellow onions, celery and sometimes peas. Rice taste great and after a while you won’t miss the salt.

Tonight I made, chicken with squash and carrots and Spanish rice with peas.

I put skinless chicken breast into a crock-pot with a little bit of olive oil on the bottom and added about 1/3 water. I added my spices: oregano, garlic (powder), parsley and covered it with aluminum foil. Dialed to Low temp I did that about 4am this morning. At about 3:30pm I put the crock pot on Warm Dial and cut 2 large green squash (fresh) circle cut and added some baby carrots (already cut) medium diagonal size. I made Spanish rice with Green Peas no salt (just add tomatoe sauce and peas and simmer). And that was dinner it was great. Served with 2 whole grain bread slices w/little butter and 1, 8 oz glass of skim milk that was my husband’s dinner. I had like 1/3 of that 1 slice of grain bread with water and went to work out.

My husband loves Salsa with everything so I try to have homemade all the time and remember no salt needed. 

And finally when I started I followed a Diabetic diet and then my Dr recommended a Mediterranean one, he said just think of the guidelines the Diabetics Diet has, follow your eating patterns then incorporate the Mediterranean diet and you will maintain your weight.

When I eat out I do eat everything but in small amounts and limit salt, carbs, and starches. Instead of choosing an appetizer with dinner I choose the dark bread that comes to the table. Instead of tortilla or burger bun I choose pita bread. Instead of scrambled eggs I choose boiled eggs. Instead of Turkey bacon choose Real Beacon b/c sodium is less and everything else is the same. Choose items with color that people normally don’t order like beets, eggplant, raw vegetables – peas, broccoli, carrots, and dishes low in sodium. Stay away from sauces: like Alfredo Sauce, Gravy, etc.

Changing should be gradual so take your time and don’t rush and try to change overnight.

Okay hope this helps and you all look great any size you are Love Yourself! God gave you one body so take care of it and Love, Love it.

*POST NOTE

I didn’t lose weight all due to my vanity I lost weight because my doctor told me I was at an obese level and at risk of gaining more and eventually developing health problems, so don’t worry about size; instead worry about your heart-rate, blood pressure and overall health.

 REMEMBER 3 KEY THINGS: EXERCISE, COLOR AND CHOICES

 Sorry if I have mistakes I typed fast and now I have to go work out…. Good Luck and Smile working out is Fun!  

I have to admit..I love  your story!!! I think the level of detail is fascinating and your enthusiasm just comes bursting through.  I don't know you at all but I can't help but be very happy for you...lol.   Keep up the great work, I am sure you look just great and your husband must be ecstatic!!!

Your story is inspiring!!  Just makes people realize that it just takes WORK.  I love the way you started off with baby steps then built on it as your wieght came off and health improved.  you go girl!!

Thanks so much for the pointers/advice given.  Some of them I already do and I will try the recipes you suggested.  I would love to get my entire family eating healthier and within portions.  My husband and children have made some changes but they still eat second and sometime thirds.  Your testimony has really inspired me to continue on doing/learning to adapt to my new healthy lifestyle change.  Hopefully, others in the situation that I am in will find hope to start to do something to change their life.  I found out that its not going to happen overnight but with time, things do change.  I have lost 44lbs and even though my need to lose about 87 more, I feel great.  My back/legs don't hurt anymore and most of all my blood sugars are undercontrol.  So thanks for the advice and keep us posted.

Thank you so much for sacrificing your time to give us so many good advises.

Really appreciate that a lot and thank you so much.

Congrats on the weight loss. I am curious as to how many calories you are consuming daily? It sounds like a very low intake to me.

I would also point out to you that saturated fat IS healthy - I am for between 20-30% of my daily intake to come from fats, both saturated and unsaturated.

Saturated fat is healthy for you in moderation. Saturated fats make up our cell membranes, enhance calcium absorption into bones, provide the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, enhance the immune system and protect the heart from disease. Yep, that's right - the heart is covered by a protective layer of saturated fat that reduces the risk of heart disease. Dietary fat does not make you fat; it's only an excess of calories in over calories out that will make you fat. I'd pick butter (a natural substance) over margarine (a very processed substance) any day.

Here are a great couple of links explaining why fats - including saturated fats - are good for you.

http://www.health-report.co.uk/saturated_fats _health_benefits.htm

http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/inde x.html

I did love your definition of healthy! :)

THIS IS A GREAT STORY! THANKS FOR THE INFO! I WILL DEFINIFTELY PUT IT TO GOOD USE

 

Original Post by hungryeater:

I typed this version of my experiences and info for all my girlfriends before posting thought you might find it informative.

Calorie Counter is a great tool for tabulating your: Daily intake, nutritional results and information and support groups 

CALORIECOUNTER I LOVE YOU  

Just remember it takes effort, persistence and dedication to reach any goal - You all know this girlfriend.

Okay how I did it. First keep in mind that everyone is different, so what works for me – may not work for you.

I began by simply making up my mind.  (I am always talking to myself)

Ask yourself: What do you want?

If you are at a “healthy weight” and you are satisfied with your weight, appearance and lifestyle, then alright ---why even go there, but if you are unhappy, tired and just feel like hey I want to Start RIGHT NOW… then RIGHT ON! You will definitely stick with it.

 What is “Healthy”?

Others may differ but…

*My perception is: if your weight is satisfactory to your lifestyle and medically you are at no risk of acquiring any type of illness (by that I mean- heart disease, high-low blood pressure, etc) then Bravo …Who cares if you have curves …honey as long as you’re happy and healthy and you can breathe in and out without trouble when you walk in your heels then girlfriend you are in good shape to me.

Well alright I will clue you in: the composition of what I want my body to look like is this: 110 lbs… give or take, and rips of muscle here and there but not bulging ---- you know b/c hey there has to be some cushion and I still want to keep my girly looks, above all hey I want to keep my curves. All of us Woman Love our Curves.J 10 more pounds to go baby …. Oh Yeah! (I'm 5'2 and next month 41 yrs old)

Okay I am vain but back to the Losing weight part (more about me later)

First thing I did when I started to exercise was Walk. I began walking all the time. Everywhere, anywhere, and whenever I could; I’d go to the mailbox, go to the mall with my girls and walk. I just walk for 3 hours in and out of stores just window shopping. I’d walk the dog, walk to the store or just walk outside in the front of the house (like a crazy woman J) Walk, walk, walk, Hey it is something free, fun to do and well worth the time.

I wasn’t comfortable enough with myself to go to a gym that’s why I decided to walk. After about 3 weeks of walking I then felt confident enough to start walking on my trend mill. I started on my treadmill at home in October 2008. The days the weather was nice I would walk before work.

At first I did a normal pace, then a faster pace, until I was speed walking (you know --- arms flapping). I would do this 3 times a day. Before work, after work (about 2pm) and then once my husband had his dinner about 6:30 pm I made it part of my everyday routine for the first month.

In November I began going to the gym everyday. My HOA Community Gym has tread mills and weights, so I would walk over and walk on the treadmill for an hour. By then it was about November and I was down 5-8 pounds.

When I started working out on the treadmill I began very slowly, because my legs had little muscle so I could only go 3.5-3.7. I did this for one hour every day.  3.5-3.7 isn’t fast at all but for me it was enough to make me break a sweat and feel my heart beat and about a week into the work out I began increasing the incline button to 0.5 to 1.0.

About a month later I started to increase the speed and before I knew it I could walk faster at 4.3-4.5 at 2.0 incline with no trouble! By December 2008 I was down to 153 lbs, which means I was steadily losing weight at 4.5 to 5 pounds each month. Remember, I had only begun in October at 168.5 lbs.

So you’ve guessed it EXERCISE is the principal part of healthy living but EATING A LOW CALORIE DIET is just as essential if you want to lose weight and you must change your eating patterns to keep the weight off.

I eat approx. 5 times a day. Small proportioned meals. Like 2 snacks between meals (1 apple, 1 banana, or not more than 8-10 nuts) 1 light breakfast like: ½ to 1 cup of healthy cereal: such as, Special K, Grape Nuts (HIGH W/PROTEIN), Active Lifestyle (green box). I add Wheat Germ and Flaxseed for added nutrients and this really fills me up, if I am hungry in the morning I add a small banana or about 10 blueberries and SKIM MILK OR FAT FREE MILK and then I have a cup of coffee with half a serving of a Sweet n Low Pack. My morning meals typically adds up to anywhere from 237 Calories to 400 no more. I eat as soon as I am up, which is approx anytime from 5am to 6:15am. Oh Yeah After my Coffee I have a Cold Bottle of Water 8oz or more and I am done.

About 10am I most likely burned about the entire calorie intake plus a few hundred more just getting ready, doing house work, running errands, etc. So by 10am I am feeling a little hungry so if I am away from home I will have some snacks in my purse like baby carrots, 90 Calorie special K bar, an apple, a pear, or a banana, and of course Water Bottle and I have one of the above.

Okay about 1pm is when I have a meal, like what I would consider my eating time (dinner for me) with substance. So I prepare my meal in advance (mostly in my mind) so I may have a Turkey with Swiss Sandwich on Whole Grain Bread. Slice of fruit with Cottage Cheese. Or I will have 1 cup of homemade chicken soup or 1 cup of Butternut Squash “Pacific Foods Organic” Soup. It’s Delicious with about 4-5 pieces of walnuts. This soup is really healthy and good and love, love it! And I might have like 1 cup of Skim Milk or just water.  If I’m hungry by 3pm I will have less then half of a dinner serving. Wish means whatever I fixed for my family to have for dinner. So at about 4 to 4:30 I am at the gym, running for: 30 minutes instead of an hour and now I started to lift weights too so I do this for 20 minutes to one hour every other day. And then on the days I don’t lift I run for 30 minutes on the treadmill (intervals) and then get on the elliptical for 15 minutes (I am still uncoordinated) and then on the bike for another 15 to 30 minutes. My goal when I am at the gym is to burn no less than 500 calories regardless of the work-out.  

What to look for on the Label

When I buy anything packaged I look at the label for Calories and I make sure I look at Allowance per Serving this is critical b/c you can buy something low in calorie but if the quantity isn’t sufficient enough to be worth the cost… Why buy it. In other words, if the Calorie per serving is 50 and you’ve reached it with just 1 tblsp. Then that means if your hungry and serving more than a tablespoon you are not really benefiting.  Moving on --- you don’t want more than 3 grams of Saturated fats per serving (I prefer 0). Look for no more than 5% sodium that adds up to 3grams. Sodium is Salt so you really don’t want too much of this in your system, I seriously refrain from buying anything with more than 7% sodium.

Find the healthy amounts of nutritional values on the bottom end of all labels these numbers should always be larger than the top of the labels.

Stay away from processed meats like Winnies, boxed foods like Mac-n-cheese, and carbonized drinks like sodas.  Now if you want to get any of those buy low sodium items and low fat (below 3%) Drink A LOT of water. Carry a water bottle everywhere.

I also found that when I first began to lose weight I eliminated flour/corn tortillas, white breads. I do eat bread but its whole grain or white-wheat bread, and 1 tortilla is my limit because they are very high in all cholesterol, carbs, calories, everything

I substitute all red meat cooking with turkey or chicken (like Jennie-o), make pattie’s, meatballs, anything. Red meat is something my husband loves so what I do is boil it and shred it and I try to find the leanest in the store like NY Steak.

If I want sweets I have fruit or jello w/out sugars. Or I will boil sweet potatoes and serve with skim milk or just plain, I don’t add sugar because they are really sweet and the calories for a large sweet potato are like 50 this is a very filling treat.

Buy Margarine 0 Trans Fat and 0 Sat. Fat rather than Real Butter because LDL levels in Margarine are higher in good fats than butter. Butter has high levels of saturated fat. Look at the margarine labels when buying b/c even though they are margarine they might be worst than real butter. Stick to Land o Lakes, Smart Heart. That’s what I buy b/c my husband likes his toast in the morning.

*Actually both are bad no matter

*I bought this bread that is so delicious and very healthy called Alpine Valley Omega 3 (green label) only 60 calories a slice and Whole Grain. Key here whenever you buy bread is look for WHOLE GRAIN. I buy Nature’s Own (its actually wheat with whole grain) my girls like white so I buy the White-Wheat both are Low in Cal., Sat Fat, Sodium and economically friendly on my wallet. 

Another type of Cereal I buy is the white bag called Bear Naked with fruit and nuts it is really healthy and hearty ¼ cup is only 140 calories (a little higher than what I look for) but the nutritional value is great.

A lot of people love chocolate so if you’re going to have some eat dark chocolate in small amount (I don’t like chocolate). Remember whatever you eat you need to burn off.

It’s okay to have pasta but not more than 1 cup it’s a starch not ideal for weight loss. I’ve tried the whole grain kind… not so good.

The way I approached changing our eating was trying a Mediterranean diet much like Greek Foods.

Fish, Olive Oil- Chicken, Turkey, and Pork (lean meats)

Excellent links the general info and intro to Mediterranean diet.

http://www.americanheart.org

http://www.mediterraneanbook.com/the-mediterr anean-diet/

Okay I don’t know about you but I use a lot of tomatoes sauce cans... I used to buy the salted now I use unsalted. I don’t add salt to my homemade beans I add one large whole onion and 2 cloves of garlic for taste, as well as for rice I add fresh spices for taste like green or yellow onions, celery and sometimes peas. Rice taste great and after a while you won’t miss the salt.

Tonight I made, chicken with squash and carrots and Spanish rice with peas.

I put skinless chicken breast into a crock-pot with a little bit of olive oil on the bottom and added about 1/3 water. I added my spices: oregano, garlic (powder), parsley and covered it with aluminum foil. Dialed to Low temp I did that about 4am this morning. At about 3:30pm I put the crock pot on Warm Dial and cut 2 large green squash (fresh) circle cut and added some baby carrots (already cut) medium diagonal size. I made Spanish rice with Green Peas no salt (just add tomatoe sauce and peas and simmer). And that was dinner it was great. Served with 2 whole grain bread slices w/little butter and 1, 8 oz glass of skim milk that was my husband’s dinner. I had like 1/3 of that 1 slice of grain bread with water and went to work out.

My husband loves Salsa with everything so I try to have homemade all the time and remember no salt needed. 

And finally when I started I followed a Diabetic diet and then my Dr recommended a Mediterranean one, he said just think of the guidelines the Diabetics Diet has, follow your eating patterns then incorporate the Mediterranean diet and you will maintain your weight.

When I eat out I do eat everything but in small amounts and limit salt, carbs, and starches. Instead of choosing an appetizer with dinner I choose the dark bread that comes to the table. Instead of tortilla or burger bun I choose pita bread. Instead of scrambled eggs I choose boiled eggs. Instead of Turkey bacon choose Real Beacon b/c sodium is less and everything else is the same. Choose items with color that people normally don’t order like beets, eggplant, raw vegetables – peas, broccoli, carrots, and dishes low in sodium. Stay away from sauces: like Alfredo Sauce, Gravy, etc.

Changing should be gradual so take your time and don’t rush and try to change overnight.

Okay hope this helps and you all look great any size you are Love Yourself! God gave you one body so take care of it and Love, Love it.

*POST NOTE

I didn’t lose weight all due to my vanity I lost weight because my doctor told me I was at an obese level and at risk of gaining more and eventually developing health problems, so don’t worry about size; instead worry about your heart-rate, blood pressure and overall health.

 REMEMBER 3 KEY THINGS: EXERCISE, COLOR AND CHOICES

 Sorry if I have mistakes I typed fast and now I have to go work out…. Good Luck and Smile working out is Fun!