So I thought I would just list the things that I am doing to help me reach my goal in losing weight and gaining healthy habits. Though I can't guarantee everything I do is the best strategy for everyone, they seem to be helping me and can maybe help others too.
These are in no particular order:
1. Sunday Cheat Day - I allow myself one day a week where I can have junk food without limits. I like Sunday because its a day where I won't go out to the store or a fast food place to buy any junk food; I'm limited to whatever I may have in the house. I also like that it's at the beginning of the week... allowing myself a whole week to work off whatever I may have ate. This rule is meant to be a temporary one for me. I feel that as I learn to crave sweets less and love nutritional foods more, I will have more self-discipline and control in the future. Note... I do also have exceptions, such as my baby shower was not on a Sunday.
2. Daily Exercise - Though I can't say that I have this down pat yet... I am trying to get in at least 30 mins of some form of exercise each day. I do sometimes miss a day, but I don't beat myself up for it either. I take it one day at a time and know I can do better tomorrow or better than I did yesterday. Sometimes when I miss a day, I try to exercise twice the next day to make up for it. Also, if I exercise for an hour one day, that is not an excuse to not exercise the next. My goal is to get into the HABIT of exercising each day and learn to love it. Exercise is not meant to be a chore.
3. Breakfast - I haven't always been great at having breakfast each morning and I still miss a morning every once and a while. But for the most part, I eat something each morning. Sometimes I have a bowl of frosted shredded mini wheats. (Yes frosted.) I feel good about eating them because I'm eating shredded wheat, which is good and a good amount of milk. I end up having more milk with that cereal than most because they soak it up so much! Sometimes I have a delicious, tasty fruit smoothy. This seems to be the best way for me to get some fruit into my body, as well as some milk! (Many of you know I do not care for either milk or fruit.) My smoothies usually consists of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, frozen orange juice, milk, and sometimes a little bit of vanilla extract. Yummmm! It's like dessert in the A.M.! Other times, I may cook myself two or three scrambled eggs, or if I'm really in a hurry, I may only get a piece of wheat toast for breakfast. One piece of toast probably isn't the best thing for breakfast, but I figure it's still better than nothing at all.
4. Eat Often - I'm sure most if not all of us have heard that we should eat often. Well, it's true and it definitely helps. I am eating more often now than I was when I was working an 8-5 office job and easily gaining more weight. Sure I try not to eat an entire Olive Garden dinner portion each time I eat, I try to keep my portions small. But it keeps me from feeling starved throughout the day and stuffing myself when I eat because I've been waiting so long. Eating small portions throughout the day keeps me going and feeling good throughout my day. I've found that I do more quickly get hungry now, but, I need a whole lot less food to satisfy me.
5. Portion Control - I am still working on this one. I believe I've always had HUGE portions. And I probably could easily still eat huge portions if I wanted too. But I've been trying hard to have a lot smaller portion sizes at dinner time and not go back for seconds either. Though, I do love have big portions of my veggies! I love veggies and I have no guilt when my veggie portion is the same size or larger than my main entree. And I definitely have nothing against getting seconds of that good stuff! But besides the veggies, I am trying to cut my huge dinner portions so they are much closer to what I believe they should be. As I've done this, I've found my body get use to eating smaller amounts and therefore, more easily being satisfied without having to eat the entire cow.
6. Veggies at Every Dinner - When Jon and I first got married, our dinners consistently rotated between plain pasta with parmesan cheese, plain white rice with shredded cheddar cheese, one version of parmesan chicken, or Little Caesar's Pepperoni pizza with breadsticks. There were no sides of any kind, it was just that. Our plates would be filled with nothing but plain pasta or rice, or one piece of chicken. Did I easily get sick of that food or what?! Anyway, as you can see, our meals were not very nutritional. Veggies were very rarely ever on our shopping list. Well, thanks to an "Eat Well, Live Well" challenge I participated in through my last job, Jon and I almost always have some kind of veggies at dinner now. (Thankfully our dinner menu has dramatically expanded past plain pasta, rice, chicken, and Little Caesar's since then too.) Veggies can be very filling and definitely adds good nutrition that our body needs.
7. Dance to the Music - When I go jogging, I find it very helpful to listen to music as I go. It is extremely helpful if I allow myself to get lost in the music too and sort of dance to it. I "dance" by shaking my head a tad or bouncing my arms a little more to the beat. Stuff like that. I don't care what people driving by may think either because at least I'm out there exercising!
8. Go Slow - I am personally a very SLOW jogger. I've been taught several times that you should exercise at a pace that allows you to still carry on a conversation. As well as I like to go at a pace that is comfortable and easy for me to go at. I don't like feeling exhausted quickly or out of breath. If I end a jog totally out of breath, that usually makes me feel worse and more out shape because I feel that I probably should have done it without being out of breath. haha So I go at a slow, steady pace. I know that the more often I go, the stronger and better I'll get and I'll start to speed up on my own. Again, who cares if I'm slow. At least I'm out there doing it!
9. Think Positive & Praise Yourself - I think it's important to praise ourselves for the good work we're doing. I know it's frustrating to work hard and feel like we're not getting the results we want or as quickly as we want. To beat down on ourselves and feel frustrated will only have a negative effect. I believe it's pretty natural to want to do more of something though that ends in a rewarding result. So if your praise yourself (or even others) for getting out and exercising, I think it becomes easier to do again. Once you do reach a goal or milestone, reward yourself (with something other than junk food - that would be like "one step forward and two steps back")! Whether it's that you've finally exercised each day this week, past that stinkin number on the scale or fit into a new pair of jeans, do something out of the ordinary and fun, or even relaxing to tell yourself, "good job!".
10. Weight is ONLY a Number - I remind myself that my weight is truly nothing more than a number and it does not define me. I am not going to feel bad just because I weigh 10 pounds more than "Skinny Suzie" down the street. An overweight man could weigh 200lbs while another man who is extremely fit could also weigh 200lbs. Sure I have numbers that I know I shouldn't and don't want to weigh, but I also don't have a specific weight that I want to be. I will measure my success more by how good I feel (as well as I would like to at least fit into a size 8 again. haha)
11. PRAY - This is an extremely helpful "strategy" for me. I regularly ask my Heavenly Father to strengthen me and bless me with discipline, motivation, and determination. I ask him to help me to learn to like healthier foods and to not crave junk foods so much. I ask him to help me to not overeat and to be satisfied with what I do eat. I ask him to help me make healthy living a habit for me and to enjoy it so that I can better take care of the body he blessed me with and teach my kids to take care of their bodies too. I know that Heavenly Father will help me.
Ok, so if you've actually made it to the end of this long posting, CONGRATULATIONS! Please, everyone share any weight lost "secrets" or really strategies that you may have. I suggest doing so in a separate post so that it's more likely others will read it.
