I lost Weight
You will believe me or not but I want to share this with whomever is interested.
I am around 5′6, et lately following some difficult times in my life, I let myself go a bit, you know the drill, feel bad, reach for chocolate, feel worse because you ate the chocolate, cycle starts again with…
Well you get the idea and I paid the price with a few added pounds, tummy bulging, butt hanging and all the bad things that go with weight gain.
I am far from obese, but it is those few pounds the ones that are near your perfect weight that are the worse and the most difficult to shed. Let’s say 10 to 15 lbs, you’d think they are easy to lose, well not for me.
But I did it!
First I motivated myself, because let’s face it, psychologically if you are not ready you are not likely to get anywhere. Really I mean it MOTIVATION is everything, if you are not motivated don’t bother, with this or anything else.
Then I set some goals (I know it’s a pain in the expanding derrière) but I did not set a time limit to reach my goals, that allows to see how much we want to lose et to get started. At least that way when you lose a little and you step on the scale, you say “cool I lost weight, I am getting closer to my goal”. I also told myself that I would reward myself when I reached 120 pounds, a good piece of cake, or some chocolate. And I was telling myself that if I gained a pound for the reward, no big deal I would lose it the next day.
My third step in getting to my perfect weight was to start some classes at a local college. No, I am no longer a student, but I thought that a little mental activity would be good.
The big change of course had to be the way I ate. I did not deprive myself of anything except of course the candy, ice cream, chocolate at the most inappropriate times.
For lunch I was careful, I chose vegetables instead of taking noodles, I chose a healthy piece of lean chicken instead of a fatty steak. Cucumber, tomatoes, carrots, to begin my meals so I would feel fuller. A little rice or a small serving of noodles but with little sauce if any, perhaps a little butter, not much for lunch but never at night. Meat is important even when dieting, a little lean beef, it is not bad for you if you don’t overdo it and if it is lean, it does give energy. Once I stopped eating red meat to follow the trends and I was really anemic. Cook your meat without fat or at least very little, perhaps a drop of olive oil in the pan to keep it from sticking. I use olive oil spray. I did not eat red meat exclusively, I used chicken and turkey.
I also ate a lot of salad. Then a little cheese, I love cheese!
As for dessert, yogurt, fruit, but I avoided any sugary type desserts.
Oh I also made sure not to use too much salt on what I ate.
I drank water, no juice, certainly no sodas.
Important things to remember
Breakfast, don’t skip it, it is super important. First we get up and down a large glass of water. Why you ask? To clean out the body, turn on the system and eliminate.
Now I have to have coffee, no sugar of course, personally I prefer it that way anyway.
Then a glass of juice to start the day right. A yogurt, and a slice of whole bread or multigrain.
When I was too hungry in the afternoon, I ate the same thing that I ate in the morning.
Dinner was along the same lines as lunch but I always kept it a little lighter as I usually eat late. A little soup, cabbage soup is excellent, I don’t mean to do the diet soup thing, but just to eat cabbage soup to start your dinner. It makes you feel full and you eat less of the rest.
The basic principle is not to deprive yourself. Change the way you eat, increase your activity a bit, tone up, use your bike or walk, it will help in weight control. Eat of everything but avoid sauces and lots of starchy foods, no creams.
If you eliminate a lot of fat, or fatty products from your life, if you give precedence to lean proteins (eggs, meat), limit your carbs intake (not eliminate), and do a little exercise, you will tone your body, get some muscle and slim down.
On the scale the weight may be around the same but your figure will change.
I want to look good and I want to feel good. I am proud of myself for setting my goal and doing it without a yoyo diet.
