As Requested

I received a comment from Anon earlier today asking that I devote a post to my weight loss, and the secrets thereof. Always happy to oblige, here is your post, Anon E. Mus.

Sadly, there is no real secret. I've been following the old adage 'move more, eat less'. Specifically, here is the plan:

In September, I began working out on a regular basis. I started doing Zumba twice a week for an hour in about the middle of September, and tried to make it to the gym for an hour of mindless exercise on the elliptical on Friday's. More often than not, though, my Friday's would end up getting filled with some other 'to-do', and occasionally my Monday-Wednesday Zumba class would get bumped as well. By December, I was feeling generally more 'fit', but hadn't lost any weight. I found out about a Saturday morning Zumba class taught by the same instructor, but held at a different YMCA. I began attending in December, and held the same schedule until February. At that point I STILL had not lost any weight, and was extremely frustrated. To this point, I had pretty much continued eating whatever I wanted to eat. Like most people, I thought I ate reasonably healthy, but I felt pretty powerless to change my eating habits drastically. I admired people who could maintain their figures, but had no anticipation that I could become one of them. Around this time, I finally went to the doctor about my flagging energy and lack of weight loss, which I wrote about here.

Armed with the appropriate medication and a determination to finally begin losing some serious weight, I asked my aerobics instructor what she would recommend me to do on my own time, in addition to the three hours of Zumba at the gym, to speed the process. She is a certified personal trainer, and offered to work with me for a few weeks to get a jump start. I agreed, and part of her program involved writing down every morsel that went into my mouth in a journal that she perused twice every week.

This journal was the single biggest factor in changing my eating habits.

When it was all laid out for me to see in black and white, I became aware of how much I truly ate, and more importantly--the things that I was eating. I was also able to pinpoint my weak spots, the times when it was most difficult for me to abstain from eating, and the things that would be most difficult for me to give up. To this end, I slowly implemented this eating plan:

I eat every two-three hours. I have a sensible breakfast, lunch, and dinner--and between each I have a snack that is between 100-200 calories. I snack on almonds and a piece of fruit, or a glass of chocolate milk. I eat lite wheat thins and 1 wedge of light Laughing Cow cheese. I became a regular purveyor of Nutrition Facts-- I can tell you a serving size and how many calories are in most of the foods that I eat on a regular basis.

I embraced the power of protein. A banana by itself isn't terribly filling (or satisfying when you're craving a sweet), but smear a small amount of peanut butter on the same banana that you sliced up into thick chunks, and it's a delightful treat. As for peanut butter, I also switched over to the natural variety. You Utah folks--Adams peanut butter is excellent. For those of us without access to that, Skippy makes a brand that is also quite good, and doesn't have to be stored in the refrigerator. A handful of almonds and an apple will stretch farther than either of those things alone. A salad for lunch will leave your tank empty by 2, but if you toss a few ounces of canned chicken on the same salad you'll feel full and satisfied much longer.

I watch carbs. I don't cut out carbs, and I still love pasta and bread. I simply try to watch how much I'm having--I don't eat granola bars and carb-heavy bananas together. I don't serve bread with meals anymore, and if I have carbs for one meal, I skip them the next. The carbs I do have, I switched over the whole grain. Brown rice has a more nutty flavor which I enjoy. Whole wheat pasta can be mixed half and half with regular pasta, and depending on the dish--there isn't a difference in flavor. Even my children like wheat bread, and wouldn't know what to do if I switched back. I recently also cut back to whole wheat flour--I made cookies with it last night, and although they aren't quite the same texture, they're still pretty tasty.

I added a lot more fruit to my diet, and upped the vegetable intake. I almost always have a piece of fruit with my lunch, and I keep a variety washed and cut up in the fridge for the kids. I always have bananas, apples, oranges, and grapes in the fridge, and often more than that. One of my favorite breakfasts is a smoothie with yogurt and fruit in it--no sugar. Even my kids have jumped on the fruit bandwagon--admittedly, a large portion of my grocery budget every month is in fresh fruits and vegetables. For dinner a lot of nights I will serve a main dish, a salad, and a cooked vegetable. Sometimes there will be some sort of carb-y filler, sometimes there won't. Sometimes I'll provide a carb-y filler for the kids, but take none for myself.

I knew there were two things I couldn't give up: my sweet snack, and my Diet Coke. I allow myself one can of Diet Coke a day (this one has gotten harder to keep as I've slacked off in the last few weeks) and one sweet snack (still less than 200 calories) a day. For myself, my sweet snack is best kept until after the kids go to bed and I can truly enjoy it. This means that sometimes the kids get a sweet snack after dinner, and I sit at the table and watch them, then eat mine later. With practice, this has gotten to not be much of a problem.

I hardly ever eat out (again, this has gotten more difficult in the last few weeks since I've slacked off. I've also noticed that my ticker doesn't move as fast as it used to ::grumblegrumble::) There is very few fast food that can be altered to make reasonable, and even if you can find something that is pretty low-fat, chances are there are a lot of chemicals and sodium in it anyway. It's really best all around to just eat at home--even if that means that sometimes it's sandwiches or scrambled eggs for dinner because you don't have time for any more than that.

Wherever possible, I switched to light, reduced sodium, or no-fat items for my home cooking. Light mayo, reduced fat crackers, low sodium soy sauce. You get the picture. I also started using Mrs. Dash--no MSG, and great flavor too!

During all of these changes to my eating habits, I also picked up at the gym. While I was working with my trainer, I added two hours a week with her. I also tried to add in 30 minutes at home at least once a week. At this point I'm no longer working with Jody, so I generally will go into the cardio room and keep exercising for about 30 minutes after my Zumba class ends. I've learned how to use all the machines, and invested in a stability ball, hand weights, a resistance band, and several DVD's to exercise at home. I also try to be more active with the kids--chase them, take walks, and swim with them at the pool. In general, I try to lead a much more active lifestyle.

Okay, I know I probably lost most of you with this gargantuan post. Apparently, I had a lot to say about losing weight and eating right. I know there are probably some things I've left out that could be helpful, but I think this is long enough already. If anybody has any additional questions, feel free to either email me or post it in the comments. I hope my hard-won insight can help somebody else make the most of their fitness!