The plan...

  

 To my surprise, I've had a lot of people reaching out to me on my Facebook that are either: 1) struggling, like me, (and want help or support) or 2) are encouraged and motivated by my posts. AWESOME! I never really thought I would be inspiring or encouraging to others. I've always hoped I could be, but never really thought others would be able to relate or understand. I know I'm not the only fat person in the world and I also know that I'm not the only person who struggles with loving their body. Sometimes when I see pretty women, I think that there is no way they could have the same issues with their looks, as I do. I don't know why. In reality, I'm sure 99.9% of women have something they wish they could change, or don't like about their bodies. We are all our worst critics. It's a shame. My cousin pointed out, in my last post (where I challenged you to list positive things you like about yourself), that it's MUCH easier to list those things about other people. I completely agree! I can easily name several good things about people off the cuff. When it comes to myself, again as I stated in my previous post, I can think long and hard and not come up with anything! It's a work in progress...

 So, I've also had some people asking about what my plans are to achieve my goals. I don't have anything carved into stone yet, but my basic plan for right now is: eat healthy, portion control, cutting out pop, and making good, smart, and healthy choices. How am I executing this? Well for now, I'm choosing low-cal foods. I'm trying to half my portions (as close to serving sizes recommended as possible), drinking coffee (with fat free creamer and zero calorie sweeteners), unsweetened tea, and water, and trying to move more. So far it hasn't been too difficult. Sometimes I just want to take an easy route and go eat chinese or grab a burger on the way home, but I have resisted the urge and "just said No!" My ultimate plan is to join Weight Watchers {WW} and work-out (either at home, on my treadmill, or go with a friend as a "guest" to their gym).

Some ways I achieved that today:

1. Chose a smarter choice when eating brunch with a friend. I did have a set back. I didn't choose the HEALTHIEST option, not by a long shot. I also didn't choose the least healthiest. I'll try better tomorrow!
2. Drank coffee instead of pop.
3. Ate a lean cuisine for lunch; drank water.
4. Did not snack or binge.
5. Went to the grocery store and stocked up on HEALTHY options!
6. Parked a little farther out from the entrance than normal and walked around the store for about a hour and a half.
7. Ate the correct size portion for dinner and drank unsweetened tea.

My plans in my future posts are to share my successes and my failures. My foods choices, my exercise habits, and my slip ups. Document, document, document. I think it will help keep me accountable!

If you're looking for ways to be healthier (especially on a budget), here are some ideas:

• SkinnyTaste, She has a lot of recipes that are WW friendly and healthy.
• WW point allowance ("unofficial") calculator. If you don't want to pay for WW, you can calculate the points you're allowed to have and just keep track of them yourself. 
• WW point calculator. Here you can calculate ("unofficially") how many points a food item "costs" you (again, if you want to do it for free!)
• Eat breakfast. Try eating within 30 minutes to an hour of waking. It jump starts your metabolism. To keep your metabolism from slowing, try to eat small, frequent meals.
• If you cut back on your portions, you may feel you're still hungry at first. Give yourself a few days. Work hard to fight through the hunger pangs (stay occupied and out of the kitchen, go for a walk, drink water, talk to a friend). After about 3 days*, it should get easier and your appetite should adjust to the new portion. 
• When you feel hungry, ask yourself if you want an apple (or insert any healthy food you have at home). If you say "no," you're simply having a craving and not truly hungry. If you were truly hungry, any healthy food would suffice.
• Go for a stroll around the track/park/your neighborhood.
• Exercise for free around the house. Google workout ideas. If you're on Pinterest, there are lot of ideas there, too! Some examples are: jumping jacks, squats, lunges, push-ups, wall sits, crunches, lifting canned veggies as weights, etc etc... all free ways to work out without even leaving the house.
• Eat on smaller plates, it helps with portion control.
• Chew gum when you're hungry to curb your appetite.
• Drink a lot of water. Water helps keep you full and a lot of times you're actually thirsty when you think you're feeling hungry.
• Eat slower, be mindful of the taste. Savor. Slowing down will allow you to feel full and you may end up eating less.
• Purchase a pedometer, if you don't own one, to count your steps. (buy cheap ones as low as $5 or decent ones up to $20-$100 @ Wal-Mart or online). Striving for 10,000 steps a day is your goal. You could potentially burn 3,500 calories a week*** (which is equivalent to a pound). Park farther away from the entrance when shopping or going to church. Take the stairs instead of the escalator... etc.
• Don't eat out. Even if you aren't eating the healthiest thing at home, I guarantee it's going to be "healthier" due to portion sizes and calorie count/fat grams. Restaurants generally give double to triple the portion sizes recommended and everything they cook is either deep fried or smothered in oils/butter. You have complete control in what you put in/on your foods when cooking.
• Everything in moderation. Saying "no" to something all the time makes it off limits, and it makes us want it more! Allow yourself to indulge (just a dot a not a lot) once in a while. Mind you, not every time or all the time, but occasionally. Again, moderation is key, so instead of a whole sleeve of Oreo's or a king size candy bar, try eating the serving size of 3 cookies or a fun size candy bar. Even the Nabisco 100 cal. packs are a good option!

*Most people say it only takes a few days, some people may have a different experience where it takes a couple of weeks. Either way, just know it's temporary!

***You still have to keep in mind your diet. You can't eat 3,000 calories a day and expect to lose 1 lb. a week. For someone my size, eating about 1,300-1,500 calories a day and taking 10,000 steps a day equals out to burning enough calories in a week to enable weight loss of 1 lb. a week. Here is someone who did the math for me: "The "pound/week trick," it's simple. We'll need to do some math. In a pound, there are 3,500 Calories. Assuming you consume 2000 Calories a day, 7 days a week that would be 14,000 calories per week.To be able to lose a pound every week, you'd need to consume a total of 10,500 calories, cutting out 1/4 of your weekly caloric intake, since 3,500 is 25% of 14,000. Now, to distribute 3,500 calories less into one week, we need to divide 3,500 by 7, giving us 500 calories you would have to not consume everyday."

I've never tried this "trick." It makes sense, but it doesn't sound like it would work forever. It may be a good jump start. Calories in vs. calories out is a real thing, though. You need to burn more calories than you consume. Duh. 

Okay, I'll stop with 15. Whew! Ha!


If you're still here, reading and you made it through this... THANK YOU and CONGRATS! I'm pretty long winded, sorry!

Hopefully these have been some new and easy ideas to get a jump start on your weight loss journey! Share any tips you might have for me in the comments below.

Phil 2:13  "for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."

Phil 2:14  "Do everything without grumbling..."