A lot of my friends have asked me how I got motivated to take control of my weight. The truth is I needed a diversion. When everything in your life starts to spin out of control, you need to find something YOU can control. And in my case I turned to the thing I have turned to my entire life - food; this time though, I twisted it in reverse. Usually food is my comfort from stress, anxiety, confusion, depression, you name it. I have always found comfort in a hot biscuit or creamy mashed potatoes, or a nice juicy hamburger on a buttered and toasted bun. But this time my weight was at an all time high and my health was started to suffer. I hated the person starring back at me in my mirror and I knew exactly how she got there. So I started looking at food in a different way. I could still turn to food for comfort but this time it would be the solution not the problem.
When your sink is broken you need a plunger, a screwdriver, sometimes a "snake" to help you fix it. My body was broken so I needed to find some tools to help me begin the repair process. This post is all about finding the tools that work best for you and then a few tips on how to build your "tool box". The first thing you need is a good nutrition counter. Depending on your taste, you can find several online (with free IPhone apps). I like myfitnesspal. It is easy to use and I am amazed at its ability to find all the foods I eat and provide the nutrition counts for everything automatically. For example, you go in and log every thing you eat by typing in the search field "blue corn chips" and "salsa". It finds it, adds it to your "snack field" and tells you exactly how many calories, fat grams, proteins (none by the way) carbs, etc. were in those items. It then records that and adds it to your daily log items and gives you a total count for the day. You can put in your weight, your height, age and goal and it gives you a running progress report so you can see how you're doing every day. Some folks have told me they use SparkPeople which I'm told works the same way. Fooducate is another great resource. It is also a free IPhone app and it allows you to scan food items at the grocery store and it calculates the nutritional value of the item. If you are more of a pen and paper person, you can find a large variety of food journals at Barnes and Noble or Borders or on Amazon. I have several of those as well, but it's a little harder for me to keep up with because you have to do all of the calculating yourself (math challenged!). The really essential part of logging your food is that it gives you a reality check of exactly what you are putting into your body. Don't cheat and skip items - you're not fooling anybody but yourself and remember, this is something you can be in charge of with no one else's input or control. So if you go to Sweet Frog and get a $5.00 cup of chocolate and raspberry ice cream with oreo chips (not that I'm craving that or anything) log it and see what that does to your counts for the day - some days it just may be worth it! Once you've established what you are eating currently, set a goal weight. Your "counter" will help you determine how many calories (or carbs or fats, etc.) a day you need to maintain in order to reach your goal.
Recipes
If you are going to stick to a diet plan it's really important to enjoy the food you are eating. That's why having a great variety of good, quick and easy recipes is very important. There are many resources for this including Weight Watchers , Jenny Craig , Cooking Light and any number of low calorie recipe books, One of my favs is Rocco's Now Eat This. In it Rocco shows you how to take the FAT out of comfort food by using some easy substitutes such as replacing sour cream or flour and butter with fat free plain Greek yogurt, or adding black beans to brownie recipes. You'll be surprised at how great food can taste even without the extra fat and oil. Google is a great resource for finding some quick and easy low fat recipes as well. You can also find some great light cooking classes that help you learn some quick tips on cutting calories and fat. In Richmond check out Sur La Table and Mise En Place for a list of classes. You should also find a lunch bag or box that allows you to carry enough food for the day. I found a great one at Home Goods for $2.99!Exercise Plan
Just like finding food that you enjoy, you really need to come up with an exercise program that you like or else you won't be as motivated to keep doing it. For me, it helps to have a formalized plan - classes or bootcamp that you pay for in advance. If it's just me going to the gym and trying to come up with my own routine I'm more likely to "skip" or take it too easy. Being part of a group puts more pressure on you to show up and put out because there's a certain amount of peer pressure involved. The good news is there are a lot of options. If you enjoy walking, do it 3 to 4 times a week and try and increase your pace and your mileage a little each week. You can get phone apps with pedometers or buy a cheap one at Dicks Sporting Goods so you can track how far you walk. If you're into sports, join an organized team or sign up for pick up games of tennis if that's your thing. For women of a certain age (40+) you need to work out at least 3 times a week for 60 minutes in order to just maintain your current weight. That means in order to lose weight you have to increase your work out times and cut your calorie in take.
Work Out Clothes
Here's your chance to go shopping! Whatever exercise program you choose you're going to need a good pair of tennis shoes. Don't skimp on this tool because it will have a huge impact on your ability to avoid injuries. You should go to REI, Dicks or another sporting goods store or boutique and get fitted. Different kinds of shoes serve different purposes so let the sales people know what type of exercise you plan to engage in. Same goes for the clothes. If you are going to be exercising outside you'll need some clothes that support the weather like gloves, hats or hoods. You'll want to have on pants or shorts that allow you to stretch and move freely. And layers are always good. You may also want to invest in a yoga mat and some light hand weights (3 and 5 pound weights are great).
Tips for lunch salads
Salads are great for lunch but they can get really boring. Here are a few tips for keeping salads interesting!
Feta
Pine Nuts
Almond slices
Dried cranberries
Apple cubes
Mandarin oranges
Raw zucchini and squash slices
Grilled chicken
Grilled shrimp
Fried tempe or tofu
Add a couple of the above ingredients to any salad for a twist that doesn't kill the calorie counter. Also mix up your greens; romaine, spinach, kale, arugula, iceberg are all great choices but are even better if you combine a light lettuce with a darker green variety. Another good tip is to keep a bottle of fat free dressing in your lunch bag/box or the frig at work. To keep your lettuce from turning brown or getting limp, sprinkle a little lemon juice on top before you seal the container.
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