How I lost weight and got fit:
#1 I made a determination to stop overeating. No piling my plate high – I need to be able to see my plate between the food. No more second helpings – even my favorite foods. Food can be so comforting. I love good comfort foods. I love the way food feels in my mouth. I love the way good food tastes. I love the way it smells. I even love arranging food on my plate so it’s pleasing to the eye. My daughter Laura always asks me, “How come your plate always looks so pretty!”
But I don’t overeat any more. I began eating smaller portions and only ate what I needed to eat to be nourished and have energy.
#2 I stopped snacking on high calorie foods. Sometimes I want to eat when I’m bored. Sometimes I eat just because I want something to snack on. Other times I actually feel hungry. For the last year and a half I only snack on fruit. And it’s almost always an orange. If I feel hungry in between meals, I usually grab an orange. Some days I’ll eat three or four oranges. Other times I’ll eat a cucumber or blueberries, but I usually snack on oranges. I haven’t been sick in a really long time either! I don’t know if all of the oranges have anything to do with that, but surely it helps!
#3 I made the decision to be active everyday. I try hard to do something – anything – to be active most days of the week. In the beginning, doing something often meant I took a walk or spent fifteen minutes on the floor stretching or exercising with the girls. Making the decision to be active as much as possible made a huge difference.
#4 The Lose It! app. During 2017 I never counted calories which is really what made my weight loss more of a lifestyle change and not a diet. I went from a size 12 to a size 6 without ever counting calories. Because I’m so close to my goal, in January I decided to start counting calories to help me reach my goal before summer (swim suit season).
The Lose It! app has been great. I track all of my meals, snacks, and water intake in this app and it helps me make good choices through the day because I can see how much I’ve eaten and if I eat a higher calorie lunch, I know I need to scale back for supper. I’m currently on a 1350 calorie a day limit. For the most part it hasn’t been hard for me to stay in that range. I eat a lot of fruit and raw vegetables, but also enjoy eating some good healthy fats too.
#5 Drinking more water. Apparently increasing your water intake helps you lose weight even when you’re not exercising! I’ve always been one to drink a good bit of water – I tend to guzzle and my family jokes about it – but unless I’m tracking it I don’t always drink enough. I rarely drink other types of beverages. I don’t like drinking my calories!
#6 Taking it even further. In January we went on vacation to Florida for three weeks. I had just bought some new work out clothes and I took them with me on vacation because I knew it was likely that our hotel would have a fitness center I could use. And y’all for the first time in my life I can honestly say I’m motivated to work out on a regular basis. Within a couple weeks I noticed that my abdomen was already feeling stronger.
When we came home from Florida, we got a family membership at the YMCA and the girls and I go three or four times a week to work out together. We usually go in the evenings and spend 1 or 1 1/2 hours in the gym.
Do I think you need to work out that long? No. But we’re enjoying the time together and the girls have major fitness goals of their own. I’m so excited about the progress I’m making – however slow.