How I'm Losing Weight

Previously, I wrote an article about the importance of keeping a weight loss journal. In it, one is supposed to keep all pertinent information so it would be easier to see that indeed progress towards ones goal weight is being made despite the lack of visual progress. I mean really, who can tell if they've lost .2 lbs? Or how anyone really tell if their BMI has gone down by .1?

As fortune and overeating would have it, I too have seen the ugly results of not watching my diet. In the midst of lemon sorbet with champagne to celebrate summer, waaaaay too much fried chicken when my boyfriend and I broke up, and the impulsive demon which possessed me to buy (and eat) Zingers.....sigh. Yes, it seems that even those of us who know better can succumb to the evils of a bad diet. My punishment? 38 lbs of bra fat, tummy rolls, muffin top and that ever disgusting underarm wave. While I saw the numbers on the scale steadily creep upwards, I simply told myself that all I had to do was to starve myself for a couple weeks (a horrible tactic I was accustomed to in my early 30's) and all would be well in the world. Ok at least MY world.

Yet regardless of my lack of caloric intake, the scale kept saying the same thing. And I became increasingly convinced that someone had played a cruel joke and painted that fat number on my scale.

Being in my mid 40's, I came to the quick realization that this weight, (the equivalent to a 40lbs bag of dog food) would require a more disciplined and structured plan to allow for my now slower metabolism. Gasp! I really AM middle aged! And it was then that my realization turned to panic and I knew that I HAD to do something before any more time slipped by.

The consequences of my lack of discipline caused my health to deteriorate at an alarming speed. I noticed that my heels hurt very badly and after seeing a doctor, he said that I could stretch to help with the pain and that steroid shots were also a possibility, but that they only offered temporary relief and was not to be considered a cure. He said that he too suffered from this chronic illness. He was also obese. Since I am a proponent of not allowing insurance to pay for illnesses that are preventable, I got to thinking. Had my weight gain caused my plantar fascitis? In addition to extreme heel pain, I would become breathless when I climbed my stairs. I busted my ass to be able to get a large home with two stories and now it was becoming a bother? Awww hell no! My skin was dull and the wrinkles in my face seemed to deepen. Something had to be done. I also developed and increasingly difficult ability to focus, I became very forgetful and I simply felt unattractive.

Knowing my body the way I do I knew that a strict keto diet or carbohydrate controlled diet was in order. And so began my weight loss journey.

First let me say that a keto diet may not be the best solution for you. You have to be smart dear reader! PLEASE be smart and understand what works for one person may not work for another. This is what I did and if you decide to follow suit, don't be sending me any hate emails about how sick you got. There are a lot of weight loss programs out there so do your research and maybe check with your doctor to find the best one for you.

Okay with that said, I was and as of this writing am still on a keto diet. That's health lingo for a “ketosis” diet. Simply put, it's a diet that restricts carbohydrates to the point of forcing your body to use it's fat supply to live. It's a state called ketosis. There are strips you can buy at the pharmacy to test your level of ketosis, but I'm such a cheap ass, I just have a scale that measures my weight to the .20lbs. If I continue to lose even .2lb, I know I'm still in ketosis. If I don't lose or even gain, then I know something's off. Oh yeah, I also bought one of those scales that measure body fat, water content, bone density and BMI. K it was 45 bucks but it was one of the best investments in my health.

So I began by cutting out nearly ALL carbs. That's right. Extreme Atkins, South Beach or whatever trendy carb diet you can think of. I eat only meats, cheeses, eggs and fish. THAT'S IT. Is it tough? Hell yeah at first, I thought I should just settle into being flubbery forever. But after the first 2 days I lost 3 lbs....yeah yeah it was water but who cares? Then by the 5^th day, my body was settling into ketosis and I saw steady loss. I weighed myself (and still do) at the same time every morning. On an empty stomach, before anything by mouth and after visiting the restroom.

Ok so are there any tricks to this extreme keto diet? YES YES YES.

1)Sugars of any kind are forbidden. They're the devil. And if you decide to do this diet, make sure you pay attention to the ingredients for hidden sugars. The labels may say “0 carbs, 0 sugars, but in the ingredients, you may notice sugar waaaaay down on the ingredient list. Also check for and avoid dextrose, sucrose and even sucralose....basically anything that ends in “ose”.

2)When it comes to meats, sweet Italian sausage, honey ham (or any other honey meat) are forbidden. I buy those cheap packages of loose lunch meat...specifically plain ham. Boring? Yes. Effective? Yes! I try to avoid red meat but it is allowed. I just have trouble digesting it so I stick to tuna in water, boiled or broiled chicken and the occasional pork or lamb steak. You can also have just about any cut of meat. Fats are allowed although keep in mind that if you're looking get lean, then lean meats are preferred. Read the labels especially when seasoning your food!! I can't stress it enough. Lowry's seasoning salt is one of those sneaky products that has sugar in it. I've learned to just eat the meat plain, or with mustard (plain yellow mustard, not honey flavored!) and good ole mayo. Those packages of pepperoni that you put on pizza are good for nibbling. Again, read the label. I found that Hormel has an acceptable pepperoni.

3)Eggs are fine and you can have as many as you want. I like them with sugar free bacon or sausage (a little tough to find but well worth the hunt!) I also like making deviled eggs for a snack. Yum! Hard boiled are good too with a teeny bit of salt.

4)Cheeses are okay too which I'm glad. Again, I can't stress the importance of reading the label. There are a few cheeses that have some kind of sugar and it will depend entirely on the brand. Some jack will have sugar, some won't. I've found the brands in my store that work for me and I suggest taking the time to find yours. I like little cubes of cheese with the pepperoni.

5)What to drink? Water! Lots of it! The more the better, up to a gallon a day. Your skin will thank you for it. It also really does help keep that hungry feeling away. What else? Any unsweetened tea. I've noticed that ANY drink with aspartame just throws me out of ketosis and backfires so no diet sodas that have Nutrasweet/aspartame. Splenda is not very good for you either and there are reports of people having allergic reactions to it. Stevia also seems to halt progress although I don't know why. So I have flavored brewed teas (Celestial Seasonings has a good line) and I do have on occasional Lipton diet green tea. Maybe once a week but it does tend to slow down the rate of my loss so I don't want to know what would happen if I drank it every day.

So there's my personal secret to losing my weight. Will it work for you? I have no idea. I only know what works for me. Please be smart if you decide to try it. If you do, let me know how you did! I'll address exercise in the near future. You didn't really think you could escape it did you?

I've added a few pics of what I eat and added a bit of humor too.

Namaste & God Bless,

FREE Weight Loss!!

So you want to lose weight. And flooding our televisions are advertisements for costly programs, clubs and pre-packaged foods. But what is someone to do if they're on a tight budget? We are in the middle of a recession after all and many budgets do not allow for such programs. But fear not! Below are some suggestions that not only helped me just lose 10lbs in 3 weeks (and still losing), but many of the ideas are free. Yes that's right free! All it takes is determination and an adjustment of the mindset. Try any or all of these and see how much weight you lose.

1)Eat smaller portions- Seems easy enough right? But exactly how do you stick to it? After researching the cause of obesity in America, it seems that other countries eat smaller portions. And smaller portions equal smaller people. In many countries, a standard dinner plate is around 9". In America they can be up to 11". To start eating smaller portions, replace your dinner plate with a salad plate. And don't pile the food high either! I have weaned myself to a saucer for my portions and I still feel great. Limiting my portions has taught me to make every taste count. Which means, no empty calorie food which will cause me to be hungry in an hour. I have effectively trained myself to make better choices such as proteins and vitamin packed vegetables. For snacks, I choose fresh fruit to satisfy my sweet tooth instead of pastries and baked goods. Since doing so, my palate has become more sensitive meaning processed foods have a "weird" chemical taste that I now find rather gross. Cost: FREE

2)Drinking water with your meal will cause a sense of fullness which will help you to eat less. Besides, water helps keep you hydrated as well as a myriad of other health benefits. Cost: FREE

3)It takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes for the stomach to tell the brain that it's full. So I started giving my brain a chance to catch up. No matter what I'm eating, I'll stop when I've eaten ½ then have some water. Then I'll wait about 10 minutes. If I still feel hungry I'll eat more. This way I can stop when I've had all I need and won't have the opportunity to overeat or gorge myself. Cost: FREE

4)One of the hardest weight loss sabotaging habits to break was the consuming of sodas. Joan Collins was asked why she never drank diet sodas. Her response was because she had never seen a thin person drink one. That statement sat on my brain for years before I came upon a personal trainer who explained that it's the carbonation that actually prevents weight loss. While diet sodas may not cause weight gain, they will keep you from actually losing. To break my soda habit (used to drink a 2 liter of regular cola each day!) I switched to diet first to stop my weight gain. Then I would drink a glass of water for every glass of diet soda I drank. I slowly went down to ½ glass of soda for every 1 ½ glasses of water. Eventually I replaced the soda altogether with pineapple, orange or apple juice. Cost: approximately $2.00-3.00 USD per gallon of juice.

5)Cut out fast foods. Yes they're tasty, yes they're convenient. However with all the easy to fix foods available at the market, there's no reason why a quick, healthier meal can't be made at home for a fraction of the cost. There are also a lot of cookbooks available that focus on low cost meals in minutes. And when you think about it, sometimes the line at a fast food place can take 15 minutes. You can easily make a healthier dinner for you and your family in the same amount of time for a lot less money.

6)According to sleepdeprivation.com and many other experts, inadequate sleep can cause weight gain. "Leptin and Grehlin are hormones that help the body control appetite and weight gain and loss. Leptin suppresses appetite, while Grehlin increases appetite and may prevent a person from losing weight.
When lack of sleep becomes a chronic problem, levels of Grehlin increases, causing greater appetite, and levels of Leptin decrease. Regardless of diet and exercise, it's possible that some obesity is caused, or made worse, by sleep deprivation." For more information, go to their website or simply do a Google search for "sleep deprivation and weight gain". So get in your pj's, grab your fluffiest pillow and sleep away the pounds! Cost: FREE

7)When you've had a good night's sleep, get out and walk. Any walking is better than no walking. Either by parking your car further from the entrance at the mall, taking the stairs instead of elevator or just walking in your neighborhood, there are many ways to get walking. With so many professions putting us behind desks and on computers, making and taking time to be active is more important than ever. For some suggestions on being more active, check out http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2271507/fun_calorie_burning_fall_activities_pg3.html?cat=5
Hey, walking just may help you get that good night's sleep! Cost: FREE

8)Another low cost way to lose weight is to calm down. In today's time, stress levels are at an all time high and according to experts, this leads to weight gain. Taking time to reduce stress can keep cortisol levels normal. According to www.webmd.com"cortisol works on a different timetable. Its job is to help us replenish our body after the stress has passed, and it hangs around a lot longer. It can remain elevated, increasing your appetite and ultimately driving you to eat more," For ideas on naturally reducing stress, visit http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2488399/most_popular_tips_for_naturally_reducing.html?cat=5

Losing weight need not be expensive or difficult. It only takes determination and a willingness to adjust our mindset. Try one of the suggestions or try them all and see just how much you can lose!

Water And Weight Loss

Most people understand that water is important for keeping the body healthy and hydrated. But can it actually help in losing weight? It seems so and for several reasons.

First of all, when you drink a little water before eating, say 8 oz, a feeling of fullness is created causing you to eat less. Of course eating less when combined with with exercise helps to burn excess calories which will result in weight loss. It also helps to eat foods that are higher in water content such as carrots, broccoli, grapefruit, yogurt and apples. These foods help to create a feeling of fullness in themselves while helping to keep you hydrated.

Water also help to keep the joints and muscles lubricated which is necessary to burn calories and help reduce stiffness of the joints and muscles after exercise. If your muscles are dehydrated they don't burn calories as efficiently. In fact, when the body is dehydrated, it goes into a “water starvation” mode, holding on to every bit of water that it can. It's called water retention and it's what gives you that puffy or swollen look. Once the body is receiving enough water, it knows that there is a plentiful supply and begins to function properly by flushing toxins through urine and sweat. Also the joints become lubricated which can help during your workout. It's not uncommon to lose five pounds the first week of drinking adequate amounts of water. Of course that weight is mostly water, but who wants to hold on to all those toxins?

How much water should we be taking in? For an average person, 8-9 8oz glasses of ice cold water is recommended in addition to the water that consumed through foods. This should be taken in throughout the day to keep a steady level of hydration. For athletes, those who have long workout routines or individuals who are very overweight, more is recommended. This is because it takes more to maintain a healthy level of hydration than an average person. It's also not a good idea not to wait until you are thirsty because by the time you feel thirsty, the body has already begun to dehydrate. This could mean that it would take more than a glass or two of water to get back to a healthy level of hydration.

There are a lot of people who do not like the taste of water. If that is the case, there are a couple things to try. First would be to try spring water. Since waters do indeed have different flavors, try several different types. I recommend ice cold spring water. If taste is still an issue, try squeezing a little lemon or lime juice to add a touch of flavor. When you think that you really are doing the best for your body, it becomes something you enjoy.