So in this blog I talk about the way I, specifically, have managed to lose weight. Currently I am at 76.4 lbs lost (I'm writing this on June 10th, but I'll be posting it later). So yes, I can only attest to what has worked for me and that I have been successful at. That said, there are other diets that have worked for people, I have a lot of family members that swear by the Keto diet, that is great for them but I am personally less than remotely interested in it FOR MYSELF. Personally I feel like if your self-imposed diet requires supplementation in order to get all the things your food is supposed to give you then what is the point?
I completely understand health issues that require specific diets or lifestyles and therefore you have to supplement, for example I had a friend in high school who could not eat protein. Specifically her body could not process some of the amino acids in protein, her body didn't have the proper enzymes to digest those amino acids so it would get confused and send them to her brain where they could build up and inhibit brain functions (this disease is called MSUD if you would like to know more about it). She could eat the amount of protein in a cube of cheese per day, however her body still required the other amino acids in protein so she had to drink a very specific amino acid shake that only had the ones her body could process and omitted the ones that could potentially kill her.
That all being said, you certainly CAN lose weight other ways than the way I did. I have a great friend (my fitness accountability buddy! I can't express how great it is to have someone on the journey with me, to share the successes and the frustrations, it is such a blessing and she is such a blessing!) who is doing something very similar to my diet however in addition she cut out dairy, red meat, and pork from her diet. She recognized that those three things were downfalls for her so if she removed them from her diet completely she could cut down on her desire to eat high calorie foods. It has totally worked for her! She looks and feels amazing and that is a really great strategy to deter yourself from eating things that may cause you to stumble! Some of my family members who are doing the Keto diet have been very successful as well.
There isn't a 100%, fool-proof "correct way" to lose weight (although there are definitely WRONG ways to lose weight). It is about making sure that you are healthy while doing it and it is maintainable. Keto isn't maintainable or intuitive TO ME so I'm sticking to what I know works for me and what I know I can maintain. I like that I don't have to supplement my diet, just make smarter choices and/or have smaller portions and I get the proper nutrients from making sure my diet is properly balanced. My watch tells me how many calories I burn a day, as long as I stay under that I know that I am in a calorie deficit and will lose weight, to me that is simple and intuitive. Also, from what I understand, ketosis breaks down muscle since it doesn't have carbohydrates to break down, which, for me, defeats the purpose of me trying to build muscle and tone (my information on that comes from family members on the Keto diet as well as a google search about the diet, feel free to research it further).
Some of my extended family members have lost faster than I have and have implied that that is why I should switch to Keto. The thing about that is that I know I could lose faster if I wanted to, I would just have to cut down an extra hundred or so calories a day, however, I have stretch marks from being very overweight and if I lose weight faster than my body can adjust I am just setting myself up for having copious amounts of excess skin (this happened to my brother, well, not COPIOUS amounts, but he did struggle with excess skin when he lost 130 lbs faster than he probably should have about 5 years ago). Now, it isn't fool proof, I am sure I will probably still end up with some excess skin but I'd like to minimize the amount I end up with as much as possible. Also it really isn't good for your body to lose weight too quickly, talking to a doctor and a quick google search will tell you 1-2 lbs is the most you want to lose a week. Plus, once again to my understanding, if ketosis is breaking down muscle then that means that the weight lost is comprised of fat and muscle so saying "I lost x number of pounds" is misleading, really some of it was fat and some was muscle, I'd prefer to just lose fat, personally, even if that means the pounds on the scale seem to decrease at a slower rate, at least I know the pounds are quality.
I have also had people tell me that my diet is wrong because I will have plateaus, I'll get into plateaus in a later post but my short response is that they, though frustrating, are necessary for your body to adjust to its new size and shape once in a while. My chiropractor "scolded" me when I was "complaining" about a plateau I was going through and he wanted to make sure I understood it was a necessary adjustment period for my body to go through during the weight loss journey.
That all said, I have no actual problems with other diets, such as the Keto diet. I would never try to tell someone they are losing weight wrong AS LONG AS they are doing it in a healthy manner. If you start passing out or tearing up your insides because of your diet then there are issues because that isn't healthy at all. Please treat your body well so it can work well for you! If the Keto diet works for you then I am so proud of you! Successful weight loss takes dedication no matter what program or method you use. If counting calories and exercising, like me, works for you, then I am so proud of you! If cutting out dairy, or soda, or red meat works for you, then I am proud of you! As long as you are getting results and you are becoming healthier then I am proud of your efforts and you should be too! Don't let anyone make you feel like you are losing weight wrong as long as you are doing it in a healthy manner. Don't let anyone steal your success and belittle your hard work.
Please do your research before doing anything extreme that may require supplementation or special adjustments, not to discourage yourself from that path necessarily, but so you are well informed and can modify your lifestyle to accommodate properly and you don't end up with some kind of deficiency. Also, make sure to learn how to maintain once you get to your goal weight or fitness goal. So often people are able to lose a bunch of weight but never learned how to maintain that and end up gaining a bunch back. The best diet, in my opinion (as well as the opinions of the doctors I have spoken to), is the kind that you can stick to and modify to fit your new lifestyle once you are finished.
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Step 2
Well, it is finally time for the second step. Walking is amazing for weight loss and practically the easiest and most basic thing you can do to help burn fat. Now, I am talking about how I have been successful in weight loss, I cannot attest to how someone else was successful. Also, I realize that there are folks out there with mobility issues and perhaps cannot walk. Some mobility issues stem for being overweight and burning off some of that weight and building up the muscle in your legs will help overcome that HOWEVER I know there are many who simply cannot walk or cannot walk much, period. In those cases alternative exercise should be researched, stretching is great, free weights, exercise bands, etc.
Options for folks with bad knees that should help strengthen knees:
https://www.livestrong.com/article/96957-weight-loss-exercises-people-bad/
https://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/a20703336/workout-for-bad-knees/
Exercises for folks with limited mobility:
https://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=4_workouts_for_people_with_limited_mobility
https://www.livestrong.com/article/34964-lose-weight-cannot-walk/
That all said, this blog is dedicated to how I have been successful losing weight and a good portion of that is walking. Now for me, I started off diving straight in at a goal of 10,000 steps a day and there have only been, tops, a handful of days I didn't meet that goal, and those days were early on in my weight loss journey. Since then I haven't let anything stop me from getting all of my 10,000 steps, at least, in. I have walked in place on the plane to Korea and back (not... the whole duration of the flight but I did walk for a long while on the flight!) and on road trips I have stopped at rest stops and gas stations (my mom had to sit around while I got my steps in at a gas station for about 30 minutes at 10:30pm, haha) to get my steps in. I think the only times I didn't make it to 10,000 was earlier in 2017 and I was sick, I think I made it to 8,000 and went to bed, haha.
Now, that is for me. For some people starting at 10,000 steps from the get-go is probably unrealistic. My suggestion is wearing your fitness watch or pedometer for a normal day, don't change anything about it or try to get extra steps in, and see how many steps you get in on your average day. From there I would suggest adding maybe 1,000 or 2,000 steps to your routine, that is about 10-25 minutes of decent paced walking. So lets say on a normal day you would get 3,000 steps, try to up that to 4,000 or 5,000. Then in a week or two try to add another 1,000 or 2,000 and continue to work you way up to 10,000. Eventually you may find that you can do more than 10,000 easily! There are some days I end up with 14,000, my current record is 17,333 (although, that day I walked around Seoul all day then got stuck walking up a mountain to get to Namsan Tower instead of taking the bus. I also got 100 flights of stairs that day.).
Be realistic with yourself. If you are pretty sedentary in your day to day life then going from 2,000 steps a day straight to 10,000 is going to make you feel nuts... and exhausted... and probably hurt. I mean, if you want to I'm certainly not going to stop you, just don't hurt yourself and you should be good. I still do suggest working your way up to 10,000 steps. Or maybe you already find that you get about that many steps a day already, maybe you have a really active job, in that case my recommendation is to add an extra couple thousand and adjust your eating habits, or perhaps, instead of upping the step count, focus on abs, toning, and muscle building.
I prefer to get my steps in organically or through organized workouts, so either having an active day where I am moving around a lot, going for a walk at the park, or completing a DVD workout. Unfortunately sometimes that just doesn't work out and I have to march in place a lot, I try to throw in some other moves so it is less monotonous and because your body can kinda get to where it gets used to certain movement and kinda ignores it so if you throw it off its groove it has to double time to try to figure out what you are doing. That was a horrible explanation but I hope you get the idea. Anyway, I try to add in some high knees, maybe a simplified version of a grapevine, a cha-cha-cha, heel taps, etc... any movement counts and is better than and burns more calories than sitting. Something my mom started doing when she first got her fitness watch was walk in place during tv commercials.
One of my jobs keeps me busy but not in terms of physical activity, it is a lot of little tasks that don't involve much movement, so on the days I work there I have found that I have trouble getting steps in so I started brainstorming how I could get steps in while at work. One of the ways I do it is by every time I complete a task I walk in place for a minute or run up the stairs and go to the bathroom, or sometimes I'll do jumping jacks for a minute. This works for me because I don't take a lunch break, it is a part time job so I'm usually not there for long hours and if I am I'll eat while I work. My other job is very uneventful, I work front desk at a small town hotel, so I can walk in place or run up the stairs, jog around the lobby, etc., and my boss doesn't care as long as I am there if the guests need me.
I'm sure others out there don't have this option so maybe you'll have to brainstorm other ways for you to keep active through the day, feel free to ask me and I'll brainstorm options with you! Some ideas for people with desk jobs could be getting one of those pedal exercisers for under your desk, or maybe a fitness band around your knees and flex and unflex while you work. Neither will get you steps but at least you are keeping your muscles active and therefore burning calories, which is really the goal anyway! Plus, you are still building muscle! Maybe when you go to the bathroom take the longer route, if there is one. I don't know, but I'm more than willing to try to help you think of options!
Now that it is getting hot and gross here I don't like going on walks outside as much (yeah, I am a big baby about getting sticky and nasty) so I like to do more workout videos, they are also really great for rainy days and in the middle of winter when you also don't want to go outside, haha. Some great walk type workouts can be found on youtube! https://www.youtube.com/user/walkathomemedia
I also have a lot of workout DVD's that I rotate through, the youtube link above is for Leslie Sansone's Walk At Home channel but she also has DVD's you can buy and find various places, they are GREAT for steps and perfect for beginners, mostly steps but also some light muscle work, a slight step up in difficulty would be Turbo Jam where you will get steps but you will also do some muscle work and get your whole body involved in the routine. Turbo Fire is a, rather big, step up from Turbo Jam, but it is great! Billy Blanks Jr. has a great "Dance With Me" series, great for people a little more coordinated than me, haha. Shaun T has a fun routine in "Rockin' Body".
Then there are the advanced programs such as the P90 series (P90x, P90x2, P90x3), and Insanity. 100% honest, I won't ever do regular Insanity again, I did the whole program completely through twice and it is an amazing program but if I am totally honest, after about 30 minutes I start to check out of a workout and my efforts start to die off. I do, occasionally, do the Insanity Max 30 workouts, they are more my speed. As for the P90 series, I'll do them sometimes, I mean, they are great workouts, don't get me wrong, but I don't find them enjoyable and Tony Horton's personality doesn't really work for me (NO shade on Tony! I doubt he will ever see this but I am sure he is a super nice dude in real life it is just I don't think his P90 persona and I mesh well. Please don't hate me, Tony Horton!). Like I said, they are great workouts, they just aren't ones that I enjoy doing and therefore it is hard to motivate myself to want to do them so I stick with the things I can motivate myself to do because I know that if I make myself miserable I won't stick with it.
But yes, both the P90 series and the various Insanity programs are all great quality fitness programs and if you can handle them I definitely recommend them but they are not things I would recommend starting with, I mean, there is even a huge disclaimer on them when you put the DVD in that you cannot skip that tells you not to do the workouts if you aren't relatively, sorta, healthy. My brother does a hybrid routine of various P90x3 workouts and Insanity Max 30 workouts, occasionally I join him, chatting with him is the only way I get through those workouts, haha.
I forgot to mention gyms and gym memberships. I have never had a gym membership and I don't ever plan on getting one. I know other people really like gyms and fitness centers but it isn't my thing. I already don't particularly enjoy working out, plus, I am an introvert by nature so gyms are just putting two things I don't feel comfortable or confident in together: looking like a dope to burn calories and socializing. Nope, not for me. That would motivate me to NOT workout, personally. For others, perhaps more outgoing and social folks, it is a PERFECT solution and a great way to motivate them. For me, I'll stick to working out on my own or with close family members and friends. Plus I am cheap, I don't want to pay for a membership, I'd rather buy a DVD that I get to keep and feel like a dope in the privacy of my own garage, haha.
Not that anyone should ever be ashamed of where they are in their fitness journey, be proud of yourself at whatever stage of the journey you are in because you are working toward a better quality of life for yourself and, actually, the people around you as well. If you are just starting your journey be proud that you made a step towards better health, if you are halfway to your goal be proud that you have worked so hard and made so much progress, etc. Anyway, don't be ashamed, shame is not healthy or good for the spirit. That said, if you aren't comfortable working out in front of others then don't feel like you have to, if you are then go for it! I, personally, am only comfortable working out with certain people and in certain environments so that is what I do.
Anyway, to summarize: figure out a realistic physical activity routine for your life. My personal recommendation is walking a lot and incorporating other types of exercise into your fitness routine but if that doesn't work with your job or your physical abilities then find a way to burn calories and build muscle that does work in your life and I'd be happy to try to help you in finding something that works for you!
Options for folks with bad knees that should help strengthen knees:
https://www.livestrong.com/article/96957-weight-loss-exercises-people-bad/
https://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/a20703336/workout-for-bad-knees/
Exercises for folks with limited mobility:
https://www.sparkpeople.com/blog/blog.asp?post=4_workouts_for_people_with_limited_mobility
https://www.livestrong.com/article/34964-lose-weight-cannot-walk/
That all said, this blog is dedicated to how I have been successful losing weight and a good portion of that is walking. Now for me, I started off diving straight in at a goal of 10,000 steps a day and there have only been, tops, a handful of days I didn't meet that goal, and those days were early on in my weight loss journey. Since then I haven't let anything stop me from getting all of my 10,000 steps, at least, in. I have walked in place on the plane to Korea and back (not... the whole duration of the flight but I did walk for a long while on the flight!) and on road trips I have stopped at rest stops and gas stations (my mom had to sit around while I got my steps in at a gas station for about 30 minutes at 10:30pm, haha) to get my steps in. I think the only times I didn't make it to 10,000 was earlier in 2017 and I was sick, I think I made it to 8,000 and went to bed, haha.
Now, that is for me. For some people starting at 10,000 steps from the get-go is probably unrealistic. My suggestion is wearing your fitness watch or pedometer for a normal day, don't change anything about it or try to get extra steps in, and see how many steps you get in on your average day. From there I would suggest adding maybe 1,000 or 2,000 steps to your routine, that is about 10-25 minutes of decent paced walking. So lets say on a normal day you would get 3,000 steps, try to up that to 4,000 or 5,000. Then in a week or two try to add another 1,000 or 2,000 and continue to work you way up to 10,000. Eventually you may find that you can do more than 10,000 easily! There are some days I end up with 14,000, my current record is 17,333 (although, that day I walked around Seoul all day then got stuck walking up a mountain to get to Namsan Tower instead of taking the bus. I also got 100 flights of stairs that day.).Be realistic with yourself. If you are pretty sedentary in your day to day life then going from 2,000 steps a day straight to 10,000 is going to make you feel nuts... and exhausted... and probably hurt. I mean, if you want to I'm certainly not going to stop you, just don't hurt yourself and you should be good. I still do suggest working your way up to 10,000 steps. Or maybe you already find that you get about that many steps a day already, maybe you have a really active job, in that case my recommendation is to add an extra couple thousand and adjust your eating habits, or perhaps, instead of upping the step count, focus on abs, toning, and muscle building.
I prefer to get my steps in organically or through organized workouts, so either having an active day where I am moving around a lot, going for a walk at the park, or completing a DVD workout. Unfortunately sometimes that just doesn't work out and I have to march in place a lot, I try to throw in some other moves so it is less monotonous and because your body can kinda get to where it gets used to certain movement and kinda ignores it so if you throw it off its groove it has to double time to try to figure out what you are doing. That was a horrible explanation but I hope you get the idea. Anyway, I try to add in some high knees, maybe a simplified version of a grapevine, a cha-cha-cha, heel taps, etc... any movement counts and is better than and burns more calories than sitting. Something my mom started doing when she first got her fitness watch was walk in place during tv commercials.
One of my jobs keeps me busy but not in terms of physical activity, it is a lot of little tasks that don't involve much movement, so on the days I work there I have found that I have trouble getting steps in so I started brainstorming how I could get steps in while at work. One of the ways I do it is by every time I complete a task I walk in place for a minute or run up the stairs and go to the bathroom, or sometimes I'll do jumping jacks for a minute. This works for me because I don't take a lunch break, it is a part time job so I'm usually not there for long hours and if I am I'll eat while I work. My other job is very uneventful, I work front desk at a small town hotel, so I can walk in place or run up the stairs, jog around the lobby, etc., and my boss doesn't care as long as I am there if the guests need me.
I'm sure others out there don't have this option so maybe you'll have to brainstorm other ways for you to keep active through the day, feel free to ask me and I'll brainstorm options with you! Some ideas for people with desk jobs could be getting one of those pedal exercisers for under your desk, or maybe a fitness band around your knees and flex and unflex while you work. Neither will get you steps but at least you are keeping your muscles active and therefore burning calories, which is really the goal anyway! Plus, you are still building muscle! Maybe when you go to the bathroom take the longer route, if there is one. I don't know, but I'm more than willing to try to help you think of options!
Now that it is getting hot and gross here I don't like going on walks outside as much (yeah, I am a big baby about getting sticky and nasty) so I like to do more workout videos, they are also really great for rainy days and in the middle of winter when you also don't want to go outside, haha. Some great walk type workouts can be found on youtube! https://www.youtube.com/user/walkathomemedia
I also have a lot of workout DVD's that I rotate through, the youtube link above is for Leslie Sansone's Walk At Home channel but she also has DVD's you can buy and find various places, they are GREAT for steps and perfect for beginners, mostly steps but also some light muscle work, a slight step up in difficulty would be Turbo Jam where you will get steps but you will also do some muscle work and get your whole body involved in the routine. Turbo Fire is a, rather big, step up from Turbo Jam, but it is great! Billy Blanks Jr. has a great "Dance With Me" series, great for people a little more coordinated than me, haha. Shaun T has a fun routine in "Rockin' Body".
Then there are the advanced programs such as the P90 series (P90x, P90x2, P90x3), and Insanity. 100% honest, I won't ever do regular Insanity again, I did the whole program completely through twice and it is an amazing program but if I am totally honest, after about 30 minutes I start to check out of a workout and my efforts start to die off. I do, occasionally, do the Insanity Max 30 workouts, they are more my speed. As for the P90 series, I'll do them sometimes, I mean, they are great workouts, don't get me wrong, but I don't find them enjoyable and Tony Horton's personality doesn't really work for me (NO shade on Tony! I doubt he will ever see this but I am sure he is a super nice dude in real life it is just I don't think his P90 persona and I mesh well. Please don't hate me, Tony Horton!). Like I said, they are great workouts, they just aren't ones that I enjoy doing and therefore it is hard to motivate myself to want to do them so I stick with the things I can motivate myself to do because I know that if I make myself miserable I won't stick with it.
But yes, both the P90 series and the various Insanity programs are all great quality fitness programs and if you can handle them I definitely recommend them but they are not things I would recommend starting with, I mean, there is even a huge disclaimer on them when you put the DVD in that you cannot skip that tells you not to do the workouts if you aren't relatively, sorta, healthy. My brother does a hybrid routine of various P90x3 workouts and Insanity Max 30 workouts, occasionally I join him, chatting with him is the only way I get through those workouts, haha.
I forgot to mention gyms and gym memberships. I have never had a gym membership and I don't ever plan on getting one. I know other people really like gyms and fitness centers but it isn't my thing. I already don't particularly enjoy working out, plus, I am an introvert by nature so gyms are just putting two things I don't feel comfortable or confident in together: looking like a dope to burn calories and socializing. Nope, not for me. That would motivate me to NOT workout, personally. For others, perhaps more outgoing and social folks, it is a PERFECT solution and a great way to motivate them. For me, I'll stick to working out on my own or with close family members and friends. Plus I am cheap, I don't want to pay for a membership, I'd rather buy a DVD that I get to keep and feel like a dope in the privacy of my own garage, haha.
Not that anyone should ever be ashamed of where they are in their fitness journey, be proud of yourself at whatever stage of the journey you are in because you are working toward a better quality of life for yourself and, actually, the people around you as well. If you are just starting your journey be proud that you made a step towards better health, if you are halfway to your goal be proud that you have worked so hard and made so much progress, etc. Anyway, don't be ashamed, shame is not healthy or good for the spirit. That said, if you aren't comfortable working out in front of others then don't feel like you have to, if you are then go for it! I, personally, am only comfortable working out with certain people and in certain environments so that is what I do.
Anyway, to summarize: figure out a realistic physical activity routine for your life. My personal recommendation is walking a lot and incorporating other types of exercise into your fitness routine but if that doesn't work with your job or your physical abilities then find a way to burn calories and build muscle that does work in your life and I'd be happy to try to help you in finding something that works for you!
Sunday, June 3, 2018
Side note about trips/vacations
Well... that was a much longer gap than I had intended between posts. I knew I was going out of town for about a week but it ended up being 3 weeks, I went to visit my maternal grandparents in Upstate New York (believe it or not more than 99% of New York is NOT New York City, only 0.858% of the state is NYC. Yes, I did the math, thank goodness for calculators.) and while I was there my grandfather passed away.
I'll get to the actual elaboration of tip #2 from my first post later but I want to make a note about trips and vacations in reference to weight loss and fitness. Holy cannoli it is hard to stay on track when on vacation or out of town. Granted it depends where you are visiting, for instance, when I visited South Korea in March 2017 I lost 6 pounds while I was there, the food was healthier and I did a TON of walking when we were in Seoul, from our hotel down to subways, back up, and from the subway stations to whatever the destination was, back to the station, down, wash, rinse, repeat. Lots of walking. However once we went to visit friends outside of Seoul and when we went to Jeju Island we had cars available since public transportation was a little more sparse and my step count went WAY down so I ended up having to walk in place to get my steps in. I'll get back to steps once I get into tip #2.
Anyway, Korea was easy for me to keep to my diet and get activity in. This trip to New York was another story. I had to walk in place SO much, and... food. Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't go crazy or anything but I also didn't eat as well as I would have had I been at home and for a few reasons. First of all I didn't have constant access to a kitchen (and if I did I didn't want to make a mess of someone's kitchen, even if I tried to clean my mess I knew I wouldn't be able to remember where everything goes) so there was a lot of eating out, which I did do my best to find healthier and more long lasting and filling things (like eggs) on the menus but it is still not the same as eating at home and knowing exactly what I am consuming. I prefer to start my day off with eggs, I'll get into that when I eventually get to tips 5 and 6, but sometimes I couldn't get to food until late lunchtime.
Also, on this trip we were going, and going, and going, but a lot of the going was 20+ minute drives to three or so townships over and back and forth. So a lot of time was spent in the car because it wasn't feasible to walk. When my grandfather was in hospice it was in Corning NY, which was about 23 minutes from their home, but Corning does have a nice downtown strip so my mom and I were able to walk from his nursing home to the strip and back to get our steps in, if I drove myself I would park farther away from where I was going so I could get extra steps in. I tried to take the stairs as much as possible but at the nursing home they had the stairways locked so residents couldn't hurt themselves (I know that locking the stairs sounds dangerous in case of a fire but I believe it unlocks automatically in an emergency situation like that. That particular nursing home was very nice.) and I didn't want to bother the receptionist to constantly let me into the stairway.
Sometimes I would walk around my Grandma's neighborhood, on one occasion my cousins and I wanted some *gasp* ice cream so I convinced them to walk to the ice cream place and back, that was a scenic and fun 30 minutes there and 30 back! I got a small ice cream and didn't feel so guilty about eating it. One day I convinced my cousins to join me on a trip to Watkins Glen and a walk up the gorge and then back down one of the other trails. On another day it was rainy so I borrowed my baby cousin (she is 11) and we went to the mall and walked around there to get steps in.
In the end I managed to not gain any weight on my trip, I didn't lose any either though, but I was just thankful I didn't gain. I did my best to stay within my caloric deficit or at LEAST within maintenance, and I did get all of my steps in every single day.
SO! My advice: enjoy your trip/vacation, don't go crazy gorging yourself but don't stress yourself out trying to stick to your diet or fitness routine either. Maybe eat the thing you really want but just have a smaller portion and think of ways to get a little extra activity in, like taking the stairs or parking farther away from the actual destination. Take advantage of a shopping area by taking a walk down the strip. Do some sightseeing via walking, kill two birds with one stone. Be creative but don't ruin your break from the daily by driving yourself nuts.
Monday, May 7, 2018
Step 1
So I said I would expound on my 11 tips that have helped me or that I learned along the way and here is the first one: "Invest in a fitness watch, or at least a pedometer or download a pedometer on your phone."
So before I started my weight loss journey, or I guess I should say before I started being successful on my weight loss journey my dad bought my mom a Fit Bit Charge 2 for Christmas. It was really cool because she would get up and walk in place every so often to make sure she was getting her steps in. After seeing her do that for a while it inspired me to invest in my own fitness watch. I ended up with the Samsung Gear Fit 2, I got mine from the Best Buy website, it was a refurbished unit so it was a little bit less expensive.
I cannot tell you how helpful a fitness watch is for me! It helps motivate me so much and it is fantastic that I can have the watch, have it talk to my phone and it all work together! It may sound silly but walking and working out, I love to pull up the app on my phone and see how many calories I burnt and/or how far I went! My app gives little reward badges and I don't care if I am almost thirty, I like the simple encouragement. "Yes, I will take my gold sticker for getting all my steps in yesterday, THANK YOU!" Haha!
As much as I LOVE my fitness watch I understand that they are an investment. I had to save up for mine and it hurt seeing that money leave my account. After I ordered mine my mom ended up telling me that she had wanted to get me one for Christmas so she paid for half of it, super sweet! Still, I get it. Money is tough. So if you can't afford a fancy fitness watch go for a cheaper one (https://www.techradar.com/news/best-cheap-activity-trackers has some less expensive recommendations) or even just get a super basic pedometer. Another option is to download a pedometer app on your phone (you just have to make sure to always have your phone on you so you get credit for those steps!), your phone may actually already have a pedometer app on it! I think Samsung Health can function as a pedometer, I have my watch paired up so it just goes off my watches steps.
It may not seem like a big deal but I am convinced the reason I have been successful in my weight loss is thanks to the Lord having me get a fitness watch, or Him having my dad get my mom one which inspired me to get one. It motivates me to be active, even if that is just taking the long route through the house to the bathroom or parking at the back of the Walmart parking lot so I can get some more steps in, there is an immediate payoff, and immediate reward and every step adds up to burnt calories!
Heaven knows sometimes it is frustrating when you don't see results on the scale for a little while but at least with the watch and the app I can know I am accomplishing something and if I keep working at it and persevering I'll get there. I'll celebrate the little victories as they happen and rejoice for each milestone!
4,650,000 Steps
That is about how many steps I have taken since I started my weight loss journey as of May 6th 2018.
Wow, that was corny. I don't know what I'm doing right now... trying to start a blog about my weight loss. I guess I am doing this because a friend of mine sorta inspired it after she told me her mom wanted to lose weight and asked for any tips I could share. So I texted her some... then just sent her an email novel... and then I thought that MAYBE it could be helpful to someone struggling with their weight and if it CAN be helpful and/or encouraging to someone then I want to do what I can to help!
I guess I'll start with my story and stats:
My name is Jade and I am about to turn 30. I have spent my entire adult life, my teen life, and about half of my childhood overweight and even in the obese range. I have tried different diets and stuff over the years and nothing worked, or if it did work I didn't understand how to maintain it afterwords, then life got in the way and since I didn't really understand how I weight loss works I ended up gaining the weight back.
As I said, I am about to turn 30 and I was assessing my life and realized that I had to do something about my weight. My father, his two brothers, their mother, and my mom's father all have diabetes, and I don't want it.
So this blog is dedicated to how I made weight loss as idiot-proof for myself as possible. Also, I'm not a professional and I am still on my weight loss journey, in the home stretch, so I am certainly not the end-all-be-all of fitness and health knowledge, I'm just sharing how I have been successful with losing fat despite my natural tendency to be a couch potato and desire to face-plant into a tub of ice cream.
I started my weight loss journey in February 2017 and at the time I weighed 240.2 lbs (108.95 kg). I currently weigh 166.8 lbs (75.66 kg)! For anyone too lazy to math (LIKE ME! Thank goodness for calculators!) that is 73.4 lbs (33.29 kg) lost!
March 13th, 2017
April 22nd, 2018
May 6th, 2018
Wow, that was corny. I don't know what I'm doing right now... trying to start a blog about my weight loss. I guess I am doing this because a friend of mine sorta inspired it after she told me her mom wanted to lose weight and asked for any tips I could share. So I texted her some... then just sent her an email novel... and then I thought that MAYBE it could be helpful to someone struggling with their weight and if it CAN be helpful and/or encouraging to someone then I want to do what I can to help!
I guess I'll start with my story and stats:
My name is Jade and I am about to turn 30. I have spent my entire adult life, my teen life, and about half of my childhood overweight and even in the obese range. I have tried different diets and stuff over the years and nothing worked, or if it did work I didn't understand how to maintain it afterwords, then life got in the way and since I didn't really understand how I weight loss works I ended up gaining the weight back.
As I said, I am about to turn 30 and I was assessing my life and realized that I had to do something about my weight. My father, his two brothers, their mother, and my mom's father all have diabetes, and I don't want it.
So this blog is dedicated to how I made weight loss as idiot-proof for myself as possible. Also, I'm not a professional and I am still on my weight loss journey, in the home stretch, so I am certainly not the end-all-be-all of fitness and health knowledge, I'm just sharing how I have been successful with losing fat despite my natural tendency to be a couch potato and desire to face-plant into a tub of ice cream.
I started my weight loss journey in February 2017 and at the time I weighed 240.2 lbs (108.95 kg). I currently weigh 166.8 lbs (75.66 kg)! For anyone too lazy to math (LIKE ME! Thank goodness for calculators!) that is 73.4 lbs (33.29 kg) lost!
April 22nd, 2018
May 6th, 2018
As you can see, I still have a ways to go but I am on the home stretch! (You can also see that my aesthetic has changed a lot but that is a different story! Haha!)
SO... back to my friend who asked about weight loss tips to help her mom! I was typing them up and I thought maybe they could be helpful for other folks who have had weight issues and don't know where to start, the same way I was at the beginning of 2017. I'll leave some basic tips here and expound on each of them, and possibly add more as I think of them, in future posts.
The basics:
1. Invest in a fitness watch, or at least a pedometer or download a pedometer on your phone.
2. Walking, a lot, but be realistic with your step goals
3. Have a calorie budget and stick close to it but don't make yourself miserable
4. A cheat day once in a while is fine! You work hard and it is nice to have a reward once in a while
5. Make smart calorie choices and you will be more full and have more energy
6. Eat lots of protein! Start the day with protein to stay fuller longer and start the day energized
7. Drink lots of water
8. Take your picture and your measurements! (Something I wish I'd known from the get-go!)
9. Every so often reassess and adjust your calorie budget
10. Don't beat yourself up over or get too frustrated with plateaus
11. myfitnesspal.com is your friend for nutritional information!
So yeah, I have taken over 4 million steps and each one counted to get me this far and I thank the Lord that He has helped me get here and I thank him that he will help me continue on. Hopefully this will help someone else get motivated and encouraged.
-Jade
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