Weight Loss Journey

When I started this blog, I wanted to be all about recipes I have tried and foods I have put together myself. I have found it is becoming so much more for me. I, like so many others out there are on a journey, a weight loss journey. So far I have lost 30 pounds, dropped 4 pants sizes and lost some inches, but this I have not measured in a while. My husband has lost twice as much as I have. There are so many people that ask me how we have done it. We did it by creating a deficit in our diet, eating healthy, and exercising. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, it’s not. It is hard work and it sucks! I have no one else to blame but myself. I did it to myself, no one else force me to eat all the crap I was eating and drink all the soda I was drinking. When it comes your body and your health you cannot blame anyone else for the shape its in and if you think you can, well you’re wrong.

To find my deficit I needed to figure out my BMR [Basal Metabolic Rate],which is a measure of the rate of metabolism. There are formulas you can use, but I found a BMR calculator that I really like. It tells me how many calories I need to maintain where I am at and how many I need if I want to lose weight per how much I exercise. Now I know how many calories I need per day, here comes the hard part, counting calories, weighing food, it sucks. I have tried the online sites such as Calorie Counter & Fat Secret, but I am horrible at getting online to log everything in and remembering it all. So, I do it the old fashioned way, I keep a food journal and carry it everywhere with me. It takes some time to figure out how many calories are in everything, but we are creatures of habit and many of us eat the same thing most of the time. A website I have found to be the most useful is CalorieKing. It is a site you can join, but to look food up is free.

Another hard part for me is getting motivated to exercise. I started out with a couple exercise buddies, but they quit on me. Damn them! So, I didn’t find any new ones, but I found comfort in some of the regular classes I started taking at my local YMCA. Some people in my classes & the instructors have become more than just a face, they have become friends that inspire me & push me to work harder. So, my advice for someone who is not a self motivator, find a class or two to take somewhere. Don’t try, do!

Is there such thing as a miracle plan to lose weight? I think not.

There are a few woman in my class that are what I call resolutioners. They have set a goal to lose weight, but they are looking for a miracle program. They want to lose weight, but not really work for it. They are trying many things that they have read or watched on tv. It all varies from cutting out beef, pork, & chicken, high fructose corn syrup, or counting their calories, but not succeeding because they feel it is too hard to do all the time. I totally agree, I hate counting my calories and I do not do it well. When it comes to food, I love to cook and eat. I am trying weight watchers again and counting my calories at the same time. We eat a lot of chicken, black beans, soup, vegetables, & fruit. Lets face it, who has ever said, "fruit and vegetables made me fat." No one. By cooking, one can cut down on a lot of the sodium and any other processed ingredients.

I want to share something I found on the Mayo website. It is information that I already knew, but would like to pass on to those who may not.



Question
Weight loss: Better to cut calories or exercise more?
Which is better for weight loss — cutting calories or increasing exercise?

Answer
from Donald Hensrud, M.D., Mayo Clinic preventive medicine specialist

Consuming fewer calories through dietary changes seems to promote weight loss more effectively than does exercise and physical activity. But physical activity is also important in weight control.

The key to weight loss is burning more calories than you consume. Because 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound (0.45 kilogram) of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound. So if you cut 500 calories from your typical diet each day, you'd lose about 1 pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories).

Exercise plus calorie restriction can help give you the weight-loss edge. Exercise can help burn off the excess calories you can't cut through diet alone. Exercise also offers numerous health benefits, including boosting your mood, strengthening your cardiovascular system and reducing your blood pressure.

Exercise can also help in maintaining weight loss. Studies show that people who maintain their weight loss over the long term get regular physical activity. In contrast, people who lose weight by crash dieting or by drastically reducing their calories to 400 to 800 a day are likely to regain weight quickly, often within six months after they stop dieting.

Mayo Clinic preventive medicine specialist
Donald Hensrud, M.D.