What I like to read for inspiration

I keep a good stack of magazines by my recliner. When I first started my weight loss journey I bought every kind of health and fitness magazine out there. I love to thumb through them instead of picking up a snack when I am bored. I also like to read about new ideas for loosing weight or recipes to try. Currently I have a subscription to , "Women's Health," "Fitness," "Shape," "Prevention" and lastly "Self." I can't wait for my subscription to "Self" to end!!! I used to love the magazine but now when it comes in the mail, I throw it in the trash. I know that you are dying to know why and honestly I can't wait to tell you. Several months ago Kelly Clarkson was on the cover of "Self." As you probably know, Kelly has never been a real skinny girl. "Self" decided to cut her done to size! They altered her body to make her fit their idea of what she should look like. I know that magazines tweak pictures. I have no issue with changing a shirt color or even making someone look tan but to literally cut her down to size really angered me. What message is "Self" sending to their subscribers!! If they wanted to put Kelly on the cover they should have left her the way she is and push self acceptance! That would have made a great statement in a society that pushes women to feel inadequate if they are not a size "0." For those of you that know me, you know that I wrote the magazine. I told them how I felt and that as soon as my subscription is over I would never buy their magazine again and I mean that! Some may say that by trying to loose weight you are not accepting yourself for who you are so I am being a hypocrit. To those people that question me, I do accept and love myself now. I do feel pretty and confident even though I am no were near a size "0." At the same time I also know that physically I am not in the best shape and I need to do what I can to achieve that goal.

Don't leave off the Mayo!

Sometimes I think that when people think about dieting they think that they have to go without. This is true even when eating something like a sandwich or a burger. I do not believe in this at all! I love egg, cheese and mayonnaise sandwiches! I just had one for lunch today. I used my Miracle Whip in my sandwich! I am not looking at the Miracle Whip jar right now so I am trying to think back at to the calories per tablespoon. I think it is 25 calories but don't hold me to it! The point is 25 calories is worth giving up to have a sandwich that I really enjoy! Ketchup is the same thing. Mind you, I do not put loads of mayonnaise on my sandwich. Everything in moderation! The only thing that I do watch out for is my salad dressings. I will only have a salad with regular Ranch dressing if I am out to dinner on my cheat meal. At home I love Fat Free Caesar Italian dressing by Kraft. I think it only has 16 calories per tablespoon. I am not much of a salad eater though. I mainly eat that if I am in the mood for carrot sticks which is not often! I belonged to Weight Watchers at one time and with their program you count points. Carrot sticks and dressing became my main source of treats when I was counting points so I am really not in to them any more. Of all of the weight loss programs out there I must say that Weight Watchers is the best. I stopped going years ago because we moved to an area that did not have a meeting place. I then decided that I would do my best to beat this weight thing on my own. So far I am doing a pretty good job. One last point: Look at the labels of everything you eat, if the calorie amount is something that you are willing to give up then do it! You don't have to eat bland food to loose weight!

I LOVE my Orbit gum!

One of my secret weapons to win the fight against my weight is to chew gum. I personally love Orbit Wintergreen. I buy it in bulk at Sam's Club or Costco which ever store I am at. Sometimes I chew 3 pieces in a day, 15 little calories, other times I may not have any at all. It really does curb the appetite. I have a pack of gum on my treadmill, in my office and even next to my food journal in the kitchen. The flavor from one piece of Orbit gum will last 30 minutes. Think about it, if you have 3 pieces of gum in a day you used up 15 calories instead of reaching for a 100 calorie snack pack. You could be potentially saving yourself 300 or more calories a day just by chewing gum. So when you are feeling bored and not really hungry but you want to eat, reach for a piece of gum. I know that it has helped me!

Weigh yourself often!

Some people have an issue with that statement but I don't! I feel that weighing myself often helped me to stay in check! I realize that your weight does fluctuate and that is why people say not to weigh everyday. For me, I was able to see the results from my eating from the day before and correct any bad eating habits that I may have had the day before. The question most of you are wondering, how often do I weigh? I weigh myself usually monday through saturday. Sometimes I will weigh everyday, call that an obsession, I don't care! I have lost the weight and this is one tool that has helped me! It may not work for you but it does for me. I love my scale! There are days that I will weigh and 2 pounds are gone. On those days I am on top of the world. Other days I may not loose any or only 1/2 a pound. I still applaud those days! The scale is not your enemy! Overeating is your enemy!

Love Yourself Now!

One thing that I have never had a problem with was loving myself. I am not saying that I am vain just that I have always accepted myself at all sizes. I have always felt pretty even when I knew that I needed to loose some weight. I have to credit my husband with that. Richard has always made me feel pretty. He has always treated me like I was the most beautiful woman in the world. Maybe that is why I have been able to look beyond the belly rolls. I must set one thing clear though, I did not start loosing weight to get skinny. In November of 2008 I was on the phone with a friend when I experienced chest pains that I could not talk through. It truly scared me to death! After that experience I decided that I needed to do something because I have a family that I don't want to leave behind. I want to be here to see my grandchildren and coach my daughters when they are having their babies. I knew that if I did not do something I would not be around for that. The plus side of watching what you eat and adding exercise to your life is that you tend to loose weight. So the weight loss to me was a bonus. I can remember being winded walking up my stairs! Now I run up and down my stairs like it is nothing! My husband told me to carry my daughter up the stairs one day to feel what I used to carry up and down the stairs everyday on my body. What a difference! My challenge to anyone that is reading this is to look in the mirror and find something about yourself that you love. Don't leave the mirror until you can find at least one thing. If you can't find one thing about your physical self that you love what makes you think that loosing some weight will change that. You will still have a hard time finding something about yourself that you love. You are beautiful, remember that!

Take it 5 pounds at a time!

When I first started dieting last January the thought of trying to loose 40-50 pounds seemed very overwhelming to me. I decided very early on not to think about the ultimate goal but to think of smaller goals. I decided to help myself reach my main goal I would set smaller goals. I started out weighing 185. My first goal was to see 180. Then when I reached 180 I wanted to see 179. I continued on like this throughout my diet and before I knew it I had dropped 36 pounds! All of those small goals of 5 pounds added up! I can honestly say that it made things easier for me since I wasn't looking at the whole mountain that I needed to climb but rather the steps that I had made forward. I remember looking back the first of March and realizing that I had dropped 20 pounds. It was so shocking to me because I hadn't been counting the pounds that way. One of my favorite moments on this journey was a few months ago. I have been happy about loosing 36 pounds. Lots of people had asked about how much I lost. I never really had a clear picture of how much weight I had taken off of my body. One day my daughter Bailee asked me if she could weigh herself. I turned on the scale for her and when the numbers came up I was shocked. There standing on the scale was physical proof of what I had taken off my body. No wonder I had more energy! My 4 year old daughter weighed 36 pounds! After that day when people asked me how much weight I lost I told them, "I dropped a Bailee!" Still to this day it is hard to believe. Bailee has gained a few poundssince then. She is now 40 pounds so I have some catching up to do!

How I figured out calories to loose weight

When I first started to loose weight 1200 calories was the number that popped in my head so I started there. That could have been a bad decision. Luckily for me it worked out. I later discovered in a fitness magazine a formula to tell me how many calories I needed to maintain my current weight of 185. Once I figured that out I knew that if I decreased my calories and increased my activity level I should loose weight. I am sorry to say that I don't remember what magazine that was in but I did find a link on the web that does the math for you. Here is the link:http://www.caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-kit/weight-maintenance-calculator-women. If you go to this link it will ask for your current height,weight, age and activity level. It will then tell you how many calories you can have during the day to maintain that weight. For me at 185 and light exercise I could have 2034 calories a day and maintain my weight. I knew that technically I could increase my calories to 1500 and still loose but 1200 has been working for me so I have stayed at that. What I like about loosing weight this way is that I have no limits as to what I can eat as long as it fits into my daily calorie amount. When you think about dieting deprivation always comes to mind and it shouldn't. You need to think more about portion control. You also need to realize that you can enjoy special events and still be on track. You are not failing if you plan for special events and having cake. That is not cheating! That is customizing your plan so that you can loose weight and be successful! Good Luck!

Make Your Cake and Eat it Too!

Today my son Christopher turned 12. Since I took Wilton's cake decorating classes I have been asked by him to make his cake. I was honored to do this for him. Anyone that decorates cakes know that it is an act of love and very time consuming. For Christopher's cake I made my version of a Neapolitan cake. I made a chocolate layer of cake, white layer of cake and the filling was a homemade strawberry filling. I frosted the cake using Wilton's chocolate butter cream frosting recipe. Once the cake was done and the candles blown out it was time for cake and ice cream. I served everyone including myself cake and ice cream. I chose not to have ice cream but that was only because I did not feel like it at the time. I strongly believe that you should never skip on special occasions were certain foods are prepared. During Thanksgiving I got so upset when all I would see on TV is how many calories you are going to consume if you eat this and that and how many pounds you will put on. The truth of the matter is this, yes you may add a pound or two after indulging a little but as long as the next day you get back on track it will come off as quickly as it came on!! If you continue to indulge day after day after day on this kind of eating, yes you will gain all your weight back. My point is that you should enjoy your special occasions. They do not come around often. I have never avoided cake at a party. I take a mental note before I go and tell myself that it is okay. I do feel that it is okay to set limits as to how much cake you will eat. Although if it is for just one evening, EAT! This will not be the last time I have cake this month or go out to eat. Next week my husband turns 40 and of course we will be dining out and I am sure that he will want me to make his cake like I do every year. Our 14 year anniversary is on the 26th of this month. I will be going out to eat then as well. I do not fear these dates as most dieters do I look forward to them as I should. They are special occassions and they should be celebrated. Weightloss is a lifestyle change not a death sentence. It should not be something you dread. It is not easy to loose weight but I think sometimes when we put so many restrictions on what we can and cannot eat is why we fail. Happy Birthday Christoper!

Keep a food journal

I am not very good at keeping a journal so this has been a challenge for me but I have discovered that doing this can actually be fun! When I first started trying to loose weight I had my husband make me a journal sheet. I had him put the date, weight, time, food and calories, water, exercise, etc on the page. I then printed out 3 months worth of sheets at a time. The problem with this journal was the size. I put the sheets in a binder and left it opened on my kitchen table. It was always in the way! I recently went to Hobby Lobby and found a cute little journal for $3.00 that is half the size. It works great and doesn't take up as much space. Back to journaling, what I really like about it is the fact that I can review what I ate over the past few days, weeks or even months. I might even discover a new twist on a recipe that I had forgotten just by looking back. Each day I post the date, amount of calories alloted, weight, water intake, food and calories and amount of exercise and what form of exercise. I layout my journal like a check register. I start at the top with the amount of calories I have and then I deduct each time I eat something. I start my day with 1200 calories. (This may not seem like a lot but it works for me. I'll explain the math in another blog on how I came up with that number for me) I am not huge on breakfast but I do eat it. I usually have a 200 calorie breakfast. That can be a bagelful, egg white and cheese sandwich (my favorite) or an Activia yogurt (LOVE that stuff!), etc. I usually, but not always have a snack between meals that is usually a 100 calorie snack. Lunch for me is usually around 300 calories. I try to save my most of my calories for the evening so I can end the day with a good dinner. I try not to eat after 5pm but I usually have at least 100 calories saved up for the evening just in case I feel the urge to have a snack. I also drink at least 64 oz of water a day. When I first started I hated to drink water so I would buy Crystal Lite and drink it. I know some of you are freaking out right now because of the artificial sweeteners in Crystal Lite. I felt like it was more important to me to get in enough fluids each day than worry about the side effects of artificial sweeteners. Just a note, I have since converted over to only drinking water. This is what works for me. If you do not like to have a big dinner than have a big lunch. The key is figuring out what works for you.

New Year, New Goals

Wow! What a great year 2009 was! I started out trying to loose a little weight and ended up finishing the year with 36 pounds gone and a semester of college completed. My goals for 2010 are similar to 2009 with a few extra goals added to my list. I still want to loose more weight but how much, I don't know. I do not believe in weight numbers. I want to get down to a healthy weight for my body. I hate the little diagram that says that I at 5 foot 3 inches tall should weigh between 112-125. Who ever decided that has not seen my body. I would be sick looking at 125 and at 112 I would not be breathing! So for me, I take it 5 pounds at a time. Once I hit my "Wow" marker I'll stop. One goal I have for myself this year is to run the Green Valley Ranch "Gobble Wobble" 5k in November. I have never entered any kind of race before. For some people this is no big deal but for me it is! I never ran track in school and honestly, had no desire to. I am doing this for my satisfaction! Once I complete a 5k, I'll move onto bigger things. It maybe another race, who knows! If I find a 5k sooner than November I may change my goal for that race. My life will not be horrible if I do not complete a 5k but my confidence in myself will be much better. Richard, my amazing husband, has been so supportive of me. He has loved me at all sizes and I credit him for me always feeling beautiful at any weight. Just a note, if you don't already know this, you soon will, I am absolutely crazy about my husband, Richard! So I apologize a head of time for rambling on about him. Let's just start by saying, "He's amazing and he's all mine!" I am a very lucky woman! Back to my goals, my last goal for this year is to include "me time" everyday. I think that as a woman, wife and mother, "me time" is almost aways just a dream. I plan to take at least 30 minutes to myself. I do not include working out as "me time". I personally don't like to work out and don't believe people that say they do. So, "me time", could be anything that I enjoy doing: scrapbooking, trying a new recipe, crafting, etc. So there you have it people, my goals for another amazing year. I promise to post any and all new discoveries I find that has to do with weightloss. This blog is only about loosing weight and feeling great! I feel so amazing since I lost 36 pounds. I still have more to loose but I know that I can do it! I want to share things that have worked for me. What works for me may not work for you but knowledge is power and the more you know that better off you will be. I just want to offer you my perspective of loosing weight.