Okay, it’s a good time of year to start talking about loosing weight and keeping it off. I just can’t stand to count calories and portions! I’m not good at keeping food diaries and writing down what I ate. I know that most of you probably aren't either. I can’t follow a restrictive or specific diet. For me they just don’t work for long. I can’t follow specific food plans. There are lots of things I don’t like to eat that are on some diet plans. I also eat some things in moderation that diets say to cut out. Otherwise I start to rebel when my choices are too limited and restricted. Most things in moderation are better for me. Actually over time I have avoided some things or just don’t crave them as much.
So how was I successful in finally loosing weight and keeping it off? The things I share with you are what worked for me. I tailored healthy foods and exercise to what I liked, what I would eat and which exercises I would stick with. This worked surprising well for me. That is why I am sharing my “secrets” with you; because they aren’t secret. It just seems like there are so many diets and diet books out there and most don’t work for long. So you may not want to spend your hard earned money.
When you are restricted in what you eat and then go back to eating normally, of course you are going to gain weight back! I’ve done that and I know you have too, or you wouldn’t be reading some of my posts. My life style change is not a diet. I am giving you tips, and ideas that worked for me and I still follow. I’m not always perfect, but I’ve been keeping most of the weight I lost off for almost three years.
You must resolve to eat healthier and never go back to most of your old habits. Period. It is the bad habits that you must break, not a diet that you must stay on. You have to exercise! You can’t do it without it. It’s that simple. You should learn healthy new habits and commit to them. Over time they will start to become a part of your routine. Routine means something you do all of the time, often without thinking about it.
Many of the things I’m sharing with you are things that I have tried, that worked for me. I research things that I read in a source, and I will cross reference it in several other sources. That is one way to check and see if it is really true or worth trying. Just remember to always consult with your doctor.
I talked to dietitians and doctors about foods and supplements. I look up the ingredients listed on products. Always read the labels on things! I want to know what is going into my body. Is it natural? How much sugar is in it? Sure, I cheat. But I can always stop and be good.
I have been going through menopause and that makes it much harder at times to avoid temptation, cravings, and premenstrual bloat. Before my father went in the hospital, I had lost over 70 pounds. Long months of chronic stress from his illness, death, work pressures, taking a class and menopause all at the same time, helped to put back on some weight. I am happy to say that it was only about 10 - 14 pounds and not the whole 70 plus. I have remained stable for the last few months with 2 - 5 pounds coming and going. My body has found a new set point, but it is not the old high set point. That's a hugely positive thing to me. Most people gain all the weight back and then some. So I know what I have been doing has helped enormously. I have not had any diabetic depression. The exercise I get helps to keep that at bay. Which in turn helps to keep me more watchful. Meditating helps me to deal with all of the things that life throws at me. Sometimes its an awful lot. I can deal with it, because I have found two keys things to keep me positive; exercise and meditation.
I have not lost my motivation, I know the weight will come off again. You see, I understand what stress does to the body. I realize that I am having after affects of stress. Like I said before, I have not gained that much back. I can work that off slowly again.
As a diabetic, I am aware of the effect some foods have on the body. My diabetes is tightly controlled and my HA1c tests are always under 7, (usually between 5.8 and 6.0). Currently it is 5.8, which means non-diabetic. But that doesn’t mean I can eat whatever I like. Oh no, that is a recipe for trouble. A result of 6.0 or less is where a diabetic wants that number to be. I have kept my fasting blood sugar under 100, most of the time, which is excellent. Sometimes it creeps up, depending on if I had a very stressful day the day before. Or when what I ate last before bed is a fruit or a carb. Diabetics need to balance their meals and snacks. You CAN eat carbs if you eat protein with it most of the time. But eat complex carbs. Brown rice is really good in keeping my blood sugar stable. So for example, some brown rice and chicken will keep you going and stable, until your snack.
I have to work to stop cravings and stay healthy. Over time it gets much easier. Yoga, which I wrote about in one of my first posts, is excellent for calming the bodies’ cravings. So of course is meditation. That’s why I write about it so much. It has changed my life and therefore my lifestyle. I also have been wearing a pedometer to measure my steps and calories burned every day, every where for the last 3 years. It keeps me paying attention to how much walking I do each day. The golden rule is 10,000 steps.
These are things you must cut out or limit that are bad for you:
Smoking
Sugar
Things made with high fructose corn syrup
Enriched white bread
Anything made with white flour
Trans fats
You simply have to start exercising. There is no way around it. Avoid foods that have sugar listed as one of the first few ingredients; I think most of the guidelines say in the first 4 or 5 ingredients. Simple sugars are not efficiently absorbed or processed by your body. As a type II diabetic, I try to avoid sugar added in foods as much as possible. High fructose corn syrup is an ingredient that is found in most processed foods and in sodas. Did you know it turns into fat in your liver? Yeah me either, until I did some research on it. If you must drink sodas, regular or diet, cut back to one or two glasses a week, not a day. If at all possible stop drinking them. I can go for months without sodas. If I do drink it, it’s maybe one glass once a week. I used to drink 3 or 4 a day. I lost about 7 pounds after I quit drinking soda. Limit or cut out fast foods and processed foods and snacks. If you do not do these things you are helping to set yourself up for metabolic syndrome. I was the walking poster child for it. Several years ago, thanks to Dr. Oz, I realized that I probably had it and got tested. (You may want to read my first post.)
If you have a large midsection, you may already have it. Please see your doctor and ask for blood tests. Once you develop metabolic syndrome, you may become diabetic, as I had. It is very hard to lose that fat around your midsection once you develop metabolic syndrome. It takes a lot more work to get it off. I still have a problem with it, but my midsection is shrinking a little at a time. Unfortunately, I had a lot of weight to loose. I started out at 260 pounds’. That my friend is considered by health care professionals to be morbidly obese. I don’t like that word “morbidly”. I celebrated every pound that came off, no matter how long it took. Slow weight loss seems to help it stay off better too. I know most doctors recommend loosing one to two pounds a week at most. So you also have to watch salt intake too, because it will make you hold fluid.
So how often should you eat? Well, I have 6 small meals a day or 3 meals and 3 snacks. The key is to eat healthy snacks in between meals, so you never go without eating for more than 4 hours. The sad thing is our bodies quickly adjust to eating less and less often. So if you skip meals, your body starts to feel deprived. Eating something healthy helps to trick your body into feeling nourished. Don’t feel bad if you slip. Just forgive yourself and start over; otherwise you will just stop trying. That is the main reason I have kept most of it off for so long; paying attention, forgiving myself, continuing to persevere and keeping exercising.
Here are some things I leaned to eat;
Fiber
Eat 25 – 35 grams of fiber a day. It will help fill you up and keep you from eating junk food because you will not feel as hungry. Build up your daily fiber slowly though over time, or you will be in the bathroom a lot and have a lot of gas!
Fish and chicken
Eat fish several times a week if you can. I am not a salmon or tuna lover, so I feel that any fish is better than none. Bake it or broil it, but don’t fry it. Limit or cut fried foods completely out of your diet. Chicken is good, but watch when using sauces.
Try to eat your biggest meal at breakfast or lunch and eat a little lighter at dinner and then have a small snack a couple of 2 hours before you go to bed. You want to be able to sleep without feeling too full. I cannot sleep well if I eat too close to bedtime.
I try to eat a green leafy salad with a meal or with something else, several times a week. Right now I am bad about it, but I will try to re-motivate myself. I ate them everyday and sometimes twice a day. So I ended up getting sick and tired of the salad. I only use extra virgin olive oil on my salads. I drizzle 1 – 2 tablespoons over it. I crumble either walnuts or sprinkle in wheat germ. I actually used to crave my salads! The extra virgin olive oil is good for your heart. It is a monounsaturated fat which is healthier and more desirable than Trans fats or saturated fats. Something else you will need to read labels for and learn more about.
Healthy snacks
All of these have fiber, so they will help to fill you up:
Organic peanut butter; 1 or 2 rounded tablespoons
Baby carrot sticks
By the handful; or 10-16 pieces
Walnuts (I eat these every day)
Pecans
Almonds (I eat these every day)
Pine nuts
Pistachio nuts
Pumpkin seeds
Sunflower seeds
Avocado slices 2-4 (I eat a whole one almost every day. It’s my favorite snack.)
Apple Sauce ½ - 1 cup (look for natural or low sugar)
Apples
½ an orange
A ½ cup of any berries you might like
Broccoli (raw is good too)
Cauliflower (raw is good too)
Also try:
Cup of yogurt, but read the labels for those bad ingredients before you buy it. You’d be surprised how much sugar, high fructose corn syrup and Trans fats are in some brands
Not as good, but satisfying
1 or 2 slices any of your favorite cheeses (I am guilty of eating 2 or 3)
1 glass of low fat or skim milk
You can still eat pastas and rice especially if you like multi-grain or wheat pasta. If you must eat white pasta, have no more than a cup’s worth and eat a fiber rich vegetable and protein with it. Simple carbs cause blood sugar spikes and crashes that will only make you crave more carbs. I find brown rice really keeps the blood sugar spikes at bay.
I will be posting more at a later time. Just remember I am no expert. Consult with your doctor. I am just a person who has been there too and I still have weight to lose!
