Weightloss Without a Gimmick

Day 31- Weightloss Without a Gimmick
At Thanksgiving, my Mom said that she wanted new family portraits taken for Christmas. We went out to the Riverside and had several shots taken. Looking at the pictures afterward, it
was undeniable, I had gained weight.

I wasn't exactly sure how much I had gained since we don't own a scale. But pants I had bought just six months earlier stopped fitting. And my dress shirts just didn't hang on me like they used to.

The last straw was on New Year's Eve. My beloved peacoat did not close. It wasn't even thinking of closing. It was way too small for me by a good two inches.

I knew what I had to do. Loose some weight.

Growing up, I didn't have the most healthy relationship with food. Which is often the case with Middle Class Americans.

When money got tight, I would cheer myself up with eating out. Which made money tighter. Which would stress me out more. Which meant more eating out.

Plus, since giving up being a vegetarian, I stopped being intentional about what I ate and when.

So all that laziness and stress left a big old gut and some puffy cheeks.

I am not going to let that happen again. So this is what I have done to get my eating ritual back into shape.

1. No More Eating Out- What I mean by no more eating out is actually: No more eating out everyday. Preprocessed foods tend to have more fat, more sugar, more salt, more everything! Plus, they are way bigger than they need to be. So, instead of going to Chipotle, I make a burrito at home, which is about 1/4th the size. 1/4th the cost. 1/4th the bad stuff. Instead, I eat out once a week. And I give myself a budget-$7 a week.

2. Track every calorie- With all those gimmick diets out there, it is no wonder people are confused about what to eat. Good Carbs, Bad Carbs; Medeterranian, South Beach, Scandinavian. There is a simple way to lose weight and feel good. Eat less calories than you consume. thedailyplate.com is a great way to track your meals and exercise. It tells you how many calories you can eat in a day and then how many you have left to eat today. It then subtracts your exercise for the day and then gives you handy charts, marking your progress. I learned those $8 chipotle meals I was eating everyday was the equivalent to what I should have been eating in a day and a half!

3. Exercise according to my needs- I don't have a subscription to a fancy gym. It doesn't fit into my time or financial budgets. But, I do walk the route to and from work almost every day. That is an Hour and a Half of walking a day. And since I don't have a lot of time and I am out of shape, I don't make myself work out more than five minutes a day.

4. Snowflake exercise- The other day, I introduced you to the idea of snowflaking your debt away. This is snowflaking your way into health. Everyday I have a series of good old fashioned exercises: situps, pushups, jumping jacks, etc. Everyday, I add one more than the day before. I get a little bit stronger each day and I can see and feel concrete growth.

5. Water- Water is the ulitmate energy drink. It keeps hunger at bay, it makes you feel refreshed, it keeps you energized, it flushes toxins. Instead of the four cups of coffee I have been drinking at work, I have my morning cup and then keep a pint glass constantly full. Refilling the glass also gets me a way from the computer and phone.

Pretty easy. Its all about the small steps toward success, not the big leaps. Already, I am feeling better and my clothes fit me again. and seeing the concrete success means I am motivated to keep going without getting discouraged.

Comptence Highlight of the Day-Completing 30 pushups!!!! Something that seemed impossible a month and a half ago.