Weight Loss

I have been "bigger" pretty much as long as I can remember. I had lost some weight when I was 23, thanks to Weight Watchers and eating canned soup twice a day, but have since gained it all back and then some. Recently, as part of cooking more, and trying to change my life in general, I decided to give earnest weight loss another go. This time using MyFitnessPal, because I don't want to spend the money on WW.

If anyone out there, like me, finds the stark contrast between dieting and overindulgence a bit too much to leap into, here are just a couple tips I have adopted over the years.

1.) Give up soda and juice...mostly. I do not purchase soda at the store, and drink it only occasionally when I go out to dinner. I average about two sodas per month this way, which is enough to keep the craving for it down without the icky side effects I always got from drinking lots of sugary (or fake sugary) drinks.

2.) Add in fruit...then vegetables. I got in the habit of making sure I had enough fresh fruit to have a couple per day, and then took to making sure I had a couple good servings of veggies per day. Even if it was just a boring salad and a couple apples as snacks, it helps me to eat the nutritious foods and then fills me up enough that I am less likely to eat as much of the pasta/ice cream/beef/whatever else.

3.) Aim to walk 30 minutes per day. For me, walking calms me, and gives me a chance to reflect on my day. I have not always been the best with this, but even if I end up only getting out a few times per week, that is a few times more than if I did not have the habit of going at all.

For now, these are the biggies. I also stopped sweetening my tea, with the exception of a drop of honey in chai, and am a bit more mindful of how much sugar I consume.

I am not looking to lose weight super fast, I found last time that it was fairly unsustainable. Twenty pounds every four months feels sustainable to me, and would really add up over time. At my heaviest a couple weeks ago I weighed 315 pounds. I hope to weigh 295 or less by the end of this calendar year.