I HAVE REPEATEDLY BEEN ASKED

"How have you been losing weight?"

"What's the secret?"

"Do you have any tips?"

Before I start, this is only what I've, personally, found to work. What I've, personally, learned so far or at least interpreted the information to mean. I am not a nutritionist, doctor, or any other form of an expert. I just know that the weight has been falling off and this is what I am doing to make it happen.

In this entry you will find:

• Baby steps to a life style change
• Calories explained
• How you can satisfy your sweet tooth and still lose weight
• Wouldn't you be surprised if you were actually under eating and gaining weight?
• Some of my yummy recipes (if you ask me)
• The dreaded...exercise

The Non-Diet Diet called "Life Style Changes"

So here's the big secret...there is no secret. My thought on weight loss is that there is no special pill or magic diet that works. You have to have a goal and like everything else in life...work for it. From what I've seen and read, almost everyone that does something along the lines of weight watchers, supplements, trend diets, or diet pills - gains all the weight back PLUS some.

Why?

Because eventually they stop doing what they were doing while none of their regular eating habits or exercising changed or they burnt themselves out and are 100% unmotivated to keep going. What I've gathered is that you have to make life style changes, one at a time, so you don't get burnt out. I've been over weight my whole life, it's just gone out of control the last few years, what's the rush now? Baby steps were definitely feasible. (Now, lets just hope I don't fall off the wagon!)


Baby Step 1 - Start Small, of course
I started as simple as cutting back on diet coke, to pretty much eliminating it. However, if I feel like I *really* want a diet coke...I will have a diet coke. Forbidding yourself from certain things can eventually only lead you binging. Instead, I've found having some of those things, but within reason, is a lot more manageable. I worked on changing my eating habits (not forcing myself to clear my plate, making healthier decisions, etc) for something like six months or so before I added exercise into the mix and lost 18 pounds.

Baby Step 2 - Drink More Water
I started drinking a lot more water. I know most people hate water, but there's two things
1. It really does help.
2. That's a few more steps your taking everyday to refill your water or use the bathroom.

This link will calculate how much YOU, personally, should be drinking on a day to day basis. If you honestly can't stand water, try adding flavor packets to it. There are some pretty tasty versions out there like this brand that has "more than 15 organic fruits and veggies to provide you with the antioxidant powder of 6 servings of fruits and vegetables".

Keep in mind, part of your daily water intake can come from the foods you eat too.
I don't know how you judge that, but it is nice to know.

Calories Explained

Do you know what a calorie is? It's a unit of energy. That was helpful, eh?
We constantly burn calories to function...
While you shower. While you watch tv. Even....while you SLEEP!
You burn around 518 calories while peacefully sleeping for 7 hours.

I knew that 3,500 calories = 1 pound fat
When you are negative 3,500 calories, you lose a pound. When you bank 3,500 calories, you gain a pound.

I didn't really know what that even meant though...I was thinking that if I work out and burn 400 calories, but I eat 1,550...how is it possible to ever lose weight? It's way cooler than that though.

On a daily basis, for me, just to function (heart pumping, breathing, etc), I burn about 2,210 calories.

Realizing that I didn't "just" burn 400 calories...I burned 2,610 calories in ONE day.
THAT, is a little more inspiring to hit the 3,500 per pound goal.

So....do I starve? Have a strict diet?

Women are recommended to eat a MINIMUM of 1,200 (1,400 - 1,500 for men) calories a day so that your body doesn't go in to "starvation mode" and store all of your fat instead of burn it. For me, personally, I'm recommended to eat 1,550 calories to reach my goal weight in my goal time frame. Depending on how fast or slow you're looking to lose weight, your recommendation will fluctuate, but never less than the minimum. Sooo...1,550.....what does that mean and am I Starving??

1,553 calories would be:

BREAKFAST: A bowl of cheerios with skim milk & a banana

SNACK: Quaker Oats Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bar

LUNCH: Foot long subway sub with Ham, Turkey, American Cheese, all the veggies I want, and drenched in red wine vinegar, because that's how I roll.

DINNER: Piece of my AWESOME veggie lasagna and an apple

SNACK: Stove top popped popcorn with olive oil & garlic salt (mmMMmm)

Nutrition Grade? A- (awesome!)

Really.....AM I starving? No. Not a chance.


So, let's see here. On this example day I ate well, three calories over my "target" actually, didn't exercise and I came out -657 calories for the day!

If I did that everyday for SIX days, I would lose a pound.

If I did that everyday for THREE months, I would lose 20 pounds!

That's with zero exercise!

Apparently Michael Phelps eats 12,000 calories a day including: "three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise. He follows that up with two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes. At lunch, Phelps gobbles up a pound of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayo on white bread - capping off the meal by chugging about 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks. For dinner, Phelps really loads up on the carbs - what he needs to give him plenty of energy for his five-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week regimen - with a pound of pasta and an entire pizza."

Mark Klion, a sports medicine doc and orthopedic surgeon at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York said that "the eating game all comes down to basic math. If you eat fewer calories than you burn exercising, you lose weight. But an athlete like Phelps, who exercises up a storm, has to worry about eating enough to replenish the scads of calories he’s burned."

Of course Phelps is extreme, but it is still interesting.

Why exercise, then?

Baby Step 3 - Walk
I don't want to just lose weight, I want to be healthier and feel better too. Something as simple as walking helps you burn fat faster and exercises your heart. If you walk for a half hour and go a mile and a half (20 minutes per mile or 3 mph pace), you'll burn around 136 calories.

So, 136 calories, along with my calorie burning to function, plus the calories I ate, that is -793 calories at the end of the day and less than 5 days to lose a pound...just by walking for a half hour a day! After adding exercise to my mix, I'm down 27 pounds and can feel a difference each time we bike the trail.

Sometimes....I just really want something sweet...

How about adding Cold Stone to the mix. We all know it's loaded with sugar, fat, and everything else that is deliciously bad for you.

If I get a small size Cold Stone fix with cake batter ice cream, brownie, and chocolate syrup to satisfy my craving, I'm happy, my calorie count ingested goes up to 2,252...but I'm burning 2,300 by walking for a half hour....so in all reality...I'm still coming out from the day with negative calories! I wouldn't recommend this everyday, of course, but I wouldn't deny a relentless sweet tooth either. You can be even smarter about it and get fruits and graham cracker crust with some of their low fat ice creams and/or go one step further by splitting it with someone.

On the note of fats...keep in mind that not all fat calories are created equal. Learn a little more about it. For instance, Avocado was, for a long time, thought to be fatty and not good for you. While it is fatty, it will fill you up, and it is definitely a good fat that is good for you. Coldstone? Not so much.

So far we've got...

• Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps!

• The more movement you get in here and there....be it working out at the gym, walking, stairs instead of the elevator (even if it's only a few floors and then taking the elevator the rest of the way up), rough housing, dancing, whatever....the more calories you burn to make the weight come off faster. It makes up for days that you over eat or just can't pass up a fast food meal. It's also great for your heart and helps build your stamina.

• Denying yourself certain things can lead to binge eating (eating way more than you need or want...you know, the "why did I eat all that?" stomach ache). Stay in control and don't deny yourself so that a small portion is feasible and you're not punishing yourself. You'll find that as you get more in shape.....those junk food cravings really do start to dwindle. No joke. I have actually found myself opting for an apple on road trips over chips.

• Drink MORE water, even if you have to use a flavor packet of some sort.

Something else to consider....are you eating ENOUGH??

I always thought counting calories meant "big pain" and "starve yourself." Now? I'm hooked. Really, hooked. Because it's worth it....I'm fascinated that my clothes that were recently skin tight, are now quite loose and checking to see where I came in for the day as far as burning & eating calories.

I do NOT count calories throughout the day, but I am more aware of what I'm eating, the food's negative/positive consequences, and trying to make better decisions. Then I tally it up that night to see how I did. What I've *really* learned from learning about calories, is that more often than not — I wasn't eating ENOUGH before I started losing weight. How often do YOU skip a meal??

I'd eat breakfast, not have time for lunch, whip something up for dinner.
Guess what my body was doing. Storing all the food I ate. My body, without me knowing it or feeling it, would think that I am starving and instead of burning the fat, would greedily hang on to it.

Now I'm a lot more conscientious about what goes in my body so my body doesn't go into "starvation mode" because getting enough calories is just as important as not over eating.

Calorie Count not only has a profile for you to calculate how many calories (aprox.) you burn to function, how many you should eat a day, and a log for your activity & food, it also has a text messaging service. If I'm out to eat and debating on something, I text them the food, and it texts me back seconds later with about how many calories are in it so I can make a better decision on what I should, or want, to eat. Often times, knowing the calories in it and what it'll do for your daily log is enough to make you want to opt for the healthier option. On this site you can also find out how many calories you burn while doing random activities and exercise activities, such as surfing the net, making out, and jogging....they're all calorie burners, just some more than others. Might inspire you to move a little more.

While I do not log my food and exercise everyday, I do it often enough to know where I stand, what foods I'm eating are healthy, and more so on days that I think I might not have ate enough to see if I should get more food before the day is over and especially if I make a new recipe.

Eating healthy actually tastes good

Baby Step 4 - Change an Ingredient or Two
Here are some of my recipes I've created or improvised on. The Mexican Layered Dip is a recipe from Dannon Yogurt. I thought it sounded crazy, but wanted to try it out. You replace the sour cream with their Plain Nonfat yogurt and the calories from fat (the way I made it) go from 104 to 40. That's pretty darn good for just replacing ONE ingredient.

To test it out, my family came over and, naturally, I couldn't tell them that I replaced the sour cream with yogurt because that sounds gross so either they probably wouldn't have tried it OR they would psychologically think they didn't like it. Even my three year old niece (you know kids are picky) was mowing it down! I got all sorts of compliments and people going back for more.

It was such a hit, that even after finding out what I used, my sister went home with the recipe and immediately got the ingredients.


My quick and easy Berry Smoothie


My World-Famous-At-Least-In-My-Head Veggie Lasagna


My Super-Awesome-Super-Delicious Fruity Pancakes


My Version of the Dannon Layered Mexican Dip Recipe

One of the things I find to be really cool on the calorie count site is this recipe analyzer.
How do you know how many calories are in the lasagna you're making?

You simply punch in the ingredients and how many people it feeds (servings) and bada-bing-bada-boom...you get an entire nutrition label with calories, fat, protein, vitamins, etc., a nutrition grade (A, B, C, etc...), and pie chart of how much is carbs, protein, and fat. It's pretty cool!

The Once Dreaded Exercise

Baby Step 5 - Move More
While I've been working out 4-6 times a week now, there are plenty of fun things you can do to burn calories.

Every little bit helps. I started this journey HATING exercise. I did not want to go to the gym because I'm busy and it felt like such a waste of time. However, signing up with family gave me a chance to go and catch up with my mom and sister while getting in the workout. And now? Even when I go alone I can manage to be there for two hours without realizing it. I get out of class at 10, the gym is right down the road, and rather I get home at 11:30 or 12:30, it's not like I'll do much more than get on my computer at that hour anyway. I've read you shouldn't exercise for two hours before you go to bed, so if you have trouble sleeping, keep that in mind.

Make working out more enjoyable

• Download audio books
• Make upbeat play lists
• Download Podcasts

I'm hooked to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, This American Life, and Car Talk from NPR.
There are a lot of free podcasts on iTunes. You could even listen to motivational Podcasts if that would help you get more in the zone working out.

• Go to the gym during one of your favorite shows. You can plug your headphones into a lot of the machines and before you know it, an hour goes by while you watch House or Grey's Anatomy.
• Make a schedule with a friend so that you have a commitment to each other to show up. You don't want to leave your pal hanging.
• Try something new. I tried the 21 mile ride to Concord and now we do it once a week. You won't know what you'll surprisingly enjoy until you try it.

You're invited...

Baby Step 6 - Bike With Me
We bike once a week on the Falling Waters Trail, to Concord and back. If you ever want to join, let me know and I'll keep you posted on when we're going and let you know what to expect/bring if you haven't biked it before. Keep in mind, while I'm working on it, I'm still not little Miss Fit yet, so we all go at our own pace. If you want to scoot ahead or fall behind, it's all good, do what you need to do.

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