...My first weight goal, that is.
I'm geekishly excited about the number. I won't tell you where I started, but I'll tell you I'm at 179 now (which is only 9 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight, before I got pregnant with Brother) and I'll tell you I've lost 20 pounds since he was born (legitimately, it's not fair to count the weight you lose by having a baby) and you can draw your own conclusions.
That said, I still need to lose those 9 pounds and I want to lose 10 pounds after that to get to my pre-Miss-Boo-pregnancy weight. Having children does this to you. I also got word this week that a friend's doctor told her she has Metabolic Syndrome, a nasty cocktail of pre-diseases (pre-diabetes, pre-heart disease, pre-kidney disease... pretty much controlled by diet and stress). So I have been thinking about this whole eating healthy thing, and how someone might start who doesn't have six million dollars.
I found this post at Kitchen Stewardship that I think sums up a good way for anybody to begin. I don't particularly like her formatting (gah, why have white AND gray and make a big ol' break in the text?) but she makes good points. I'll tell you guys what I have done and you can do as much as makes sense for you.
1. Eat (mostly) Quality Food
This doesn't mean fresh-local-organic. It means food that's recognizable as what it is: vegetables (fresh, frozen, or canned), fruit (ditto), meat, milk, yogurt, oil, butter. No margarine, because it's been altered significantly from what it started out as (vegetable oil). Nothing neon--pretty safe bet that's been altered. No storebought cookies, cakes, or candy (although some homemade stuff). If I ate something non-quality, I made sure to eat one-- i.e., one piece of cake, one serving of non-homemade pizza, etc. etc.
2. Eat Frequently
Sounds counter intuitive, but it kept me from getting so hungry that I munched indiscriminately and it (important for metabolic syndrome) kept my metabolism up. Also I need to, with a gigantic baby boy nursing.
3. Move
I picked up bellydancing, because we get the FitTV channel and there's a bellydancing show and it's fun, albeit I have to close the curtains and make sure nobody can see me while I do it. But yoga or gentle aerobics work good too. I say gentle, because frankly I hate things that make me feel out of breath and miserable, and I'll only repeat things that make me feel good. I hate exercise, I really and truly do, so it has to be at least marginally fun or relaxing for me to do it. I like yoga, and I like bellydancing. I put up with aerobics.
4. Don't Worry, Just Start Over
Because of floods and various other things, we ate out more during the month of November than we ever normally do. This is not a good strategy for losing weight, but you can minimize the impact of eating out. For instance, I try to order water instead of Coke (much as I like Coke) and I try to order a meal that isn't too horrendus. (The smaller burger, for instance, or the one with only one kind of cheese... I still can't bring myself to order a salad at Chili's.) Also (ahem) I don't order a cocktail. Most of the time. But when I mess up, I am careful not to beat myself up about it. It's done, feeling bad won't change it or make it better, so you just have to move on and do better the next day. Really, one meal with extra calories won't derail you if you don't let it make you depressed.
That's all I got for right now, except--oh! I nearly forgot the best part.
5. Reward yourself when you hit a goal.
Not THE goal, A goal. I got a new pair of jammies. :)
Hope everyone has a (mostly) healthy holiday season.
Cheers,
Breanna
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