Calories and Fat

Calories...... Everyone hates to think about calories. I would agree that I hate to count calories.

But calories to me is a very important step in how to lose weight. I have also learned how important it it so get the healthiest calories into my body every day. I make sure I get calories from fruit, vegetables, grains and fats. 

Let me take you back when I was 17 years old. I had just graduated high school, and was spending my summer on the look out for a job. During my day I got hooked on watching a show about how this lady lost all this weight by watching her calories to fat ratio. I was hooked on this show. I started to look at fat as my enemy, not knowing how important it is for your body to consume healthy fats. So I started reading labels and removing all fats from my diet, pushed myself to eat 1000 to 1200 calories, along with including a 5 mile walk every day. I thought I was doing great. I had lost 50 pounds in a matter of a few months! Thinks were looking great on the scales, but my body had other ideas of how great this new life style was. To spare you the details, lets just say that I had a bucket with me at least 5 days a week, along with a lack of sleep, due to the pains in my stomach, back and side. Even with my body throwing me warning sign after warning sign that I needed to stop what I was doing, I kept chugging along with this new so called diet. Until my body couldn't take it any longer. I went through a horrible night of the normal body pains, and frequent bathroom visits, when things took a turn for the worse in the morning. I was having a hard time breathing, my body pains turned into stabbing debilitating pains, and I had nothing left inside me so I was dry heaving. My mom brought me to the ER, to learn my body was in the process of shutting down. My body was filled with infection, I was low on oxygen, my liver enzymes were out of wack. I was rushed by ambulance to a larger hospital for more test. I learned I had pancreatitis and needed to stay in the hospital on IV's for a week. After I was released from the hospital I had to work to get my strength back to go in for surgery to remove my gallbladder. Needless to say, I had a long road a head of me, just because I was going about this weight loss thing the wrong way.

So I have learned my lesson on calories, fat and losing weight the wrong way. But one thing I have learned about my body is, I do have to count calories to lose weight. I make sure I get enough calories every day, but not too many. One of my new tools I have been using since January is a calorie journal. I do love my new journal, because it keeps some of the most basic calories included in the front of the book. So I am getting my calories wrote down faster and easier. There is much less searching for how many calories is in fruit and veggies. If you are interested to see what book I am talking about, I left a link on the right side bar of this blog for you to check out.

I may have had many weight loss knocks in life, but this time I am doing things the right way. No short cuts for me!  Until next time!

Rose

Tid Bit #2

The number one tid bit I wish I had learned years ago is the importance of being able to turn your diet into a way of life. In my lifetime I have lost weight on diets, but was never able to keep losing weight, or keep the weight off, because I was eating things that I didn't like. I remember one diet I had to eat beets every day. I did it, but I HATE beets! So needless to say, I never stuck to that weight loss plan.

So this time around. I have incorporated foods I love, and have been trying out new foods, so I can keep adding to my menu. I have been keeping my calories around 1600. Some days are a little more, and some days are a little less. But since I do like to eat, I have been working lots of  fruits and vegetables into my meals to give me more calorie bang for my buck. So my current staple meals are taco salad made with lots of veggies, a plain baked sweet potato with some olives and cheese, Hong Kong stir fry with whole wheat egg noodles, and home made tortillas served with a big serving of Indian curried veggies. What ever you decide to eat, just make sure you like it, not that you HAVE to eat it to lose weight. In the end, to keep with your new way of eating, you have to be happy!

I hope my tid bit number two gets you thinking of non processed foods that you enjoy, that you can start adding to your dinner plate tonight!

Tid Bit #1

Want to learn how to lose over 100 pounds?

 I have been working almost me entire life to learning how to lose weight. I have been over weight since I was in the second grade. Considering I am almost 40 years old, that is a pretty long time. I remember being a child and being bribed by my parents to try to lose weight. I did succeed at losing as much as they wanted me to, but I didn't learn the right way to do it, so I gained that weight back, and then some. I have been on a weight lose roller coaster for years!

But after all my ups and downs with weight loss, I have taken what has worked and not worked for me, and have been losing weight the healthy way. No more fad or just down right unhealthy diets for me! I have been on my new healthy way of eating for almost 4 months, and am down 25 pounds. I may not have lost over my one hundred pounds yet, but feel free to hop on my new roller coaster ride with me, and learn along side me, how to lose over 100 pounds!

My first tid bit of information is, no processed junk. I have ate in the past low fat, sugar free, processed junk. I have learned the best thing to do for your body is to break the processed food addiction, and start feeding your body real foods.

So cheers to apples and bananas. And I will meet you back here later to give you more information on how I will be working my way to losing over 100 pounds!