Wednesday, August 22, 2012

A little about my journey

I thought today I would share with you the journey I am on right now. Over the past year, I have gained a lot of weight. Some of it was because of my medication, but a lot of it has to do with my lack of willpower. I tried dieting, eating just salads at lunch, eating lean cuisines. And I was always hungry, so of course, when I got home, I would gorge. I wasn't exercising because I was afraid of hurting myself. I had a stress fracture earlier this year, and it took forever to heal. I still have issues with it from time to time.

Then, I made the decision to join Jenny Craig. I love the structure of it. They set up my meals and snacks. Which worked when I only had myself to worry about. My son is coming home, and I have to feed him as well, so my entire grocery budget can't go towards Jenny. But, here are some tricks I'm taking with me as I start to buy my own meals.

1. Exercise. I don't mean the whole join a gym and take an aerobics class 5 days a week. Of course, if you are into that, go ahead. But, I walk. You don't need a gym. I walk in the morning when I get up. Yes, I've had to get up half an hour earlier, but I have to start getting up an hour earlier than that after Labor Day. I walk for 15 minutes outside. It wakes me up, clears the lungs and it isn't going to leave me drained for the rest of the day. I then try to walk at lunch time, again for 15 minutes. I make sure I have comfortable shoes with me at work and I leave in the beginning of my lunch break. This breaks up my day so I'm not sitting for 8 hours. Then, when I go home, I walk on the treadmill for about 30 minutes while watching tv. There. I just walked for an hour and burned calories. It doesn't take a lot if you are just trying to get into an exercise routine. Start small. Don't have 30 minutes a day to work out - do what I did and break it up.

2. Non-starchy veggies are your best friend. Celery, carrots, pea pods, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower. The list goes on and on. You can have these all the time. They are high in fiber and all sorts of good vitamins. Celery by itself burns more calories chewing it than you intake eating it. Corn, peas, potatoes, yams - these are considered starches. I have a salad with my lunch entree. Just a bagged, romaine mix with a little fat-free dressing and half a cucumber. Cucumbers are free. Note I said, with my entree, whether a Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, Smart Ones, etc. The salad helps fill in the little pockets in your stomach the entree doesn't. I also have at least a cup of veggies with my dinner entree, even if it comes with veggies. Steamed asparagus spears are my favorite. And they come in steamer bags. On my way home from work, I munch on a snack sized baggie of carrots. It helps curb the hunger so I can workout when I get home.

3. Water. You need to drink it. I am one of the worst offenders - I can't drink plain water first thing in the morning because it upsets my stomach. I can't stand artificial sweeteners, so any soft drinks I drink have the high fructose corn syrup. But, I discovered Mio water enhancers. Yes, it has artificial sweeteners in it, but if you don't use a lot, you can't taste it. Just gives the water a little kick. I've gone from 2 bottles of water (if that) to at least 4 a day. And I got myself a pretty little Longaberger water bottle to carry around.

With these 3 tricks, I have lost 10 pounds in less than a month. I'm looking forward to the next 10 pounds.

Always,
Hoping for Sales

3 comments:

  1. Great ideas, and I'm glad to hear it is working! I tried eating those Lean Cuisine lunches at work and they never filled me up so I ended up buying peanut m&ms or a cookie later in the day. Veggies make a whole lot more sense!

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  2. Well done on your weight loss and good luck with your healthy regime! It sounds like you've got a sensible approach and I'm sure you will get good results.
    I have joined Weight Watchers to loose my baby weight and agree with you that the secret is to 'start small'.
    Abigail :-)

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  3. Try having a medium to large garden or spinach salad with your lunch. Add as many non-starchy veggies as you want to it. Then fat free dressing. I love putting fresh cukes from the garden on mine.

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