1. Don’t drink your calories.
2. Maintain a consistent activity level.
3. Measure, don’t weigh.
4. Attitude counts.
5. Eat like a hobbit (less, but more often) breakfast, 2nd breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper.
6. Make whole, unprocessed foods the majority of your diet (aim for 90%).
7. Carbs are your friends, but use them wisely!
8. Portion control vs. calorie counting.
9. Everything in moderation, including moderation.
10. Patience.
Now here are some more specifics on each:
1. Liquid Calories
Drinking your calories is the easiest way to gain weight. A can of Coke (US size) is 250 calories (Kcals). If you drink one Coke a day, that equals 7,000 calories a month or 89,000 calories a year. That turns into 24.5 pounds (11.5 kilos) a year. All that without a single healthy attribute, none.
And while you may think fruit juice is better, in terms of weight loss/gain, it really isn’t. Most fruit juices are little better than sugar water. And because you think it’s “healthier” you drink more of it than you would soda.
So if you want orange juice, eat an orange. A fresh orange contains fiber, which keeps you full, and the fresh enzymes, vitamins and nutrients that bottled fruit juices lack (or have to be added back in.)
The good news is that while it’s the easiest way to gain weight, it’s also the easiest way to lose weight. I don’t know about you, but it’s easier to forgo a glass of orange juice than sweating it out for a half hour on the treadmill (that’s what it would take to burn off that one glass…)
If you are really not used to drinking water (and South Africa is just as bad as the U.S. about this; Coke and soda are mother’s milk over here) then just cut what you are drinking by half. Get used to that and then cut it in half again. And again and again till you are basically always drinking water and save your liquid calorie intake for going out to a restaurant, a glass of wine, etc. You should aim for it to be a nice treat instead of the primary way you hydrate yourself.
I’ve been quite naughty about this over the holidays, but it’s time to take my own advice and go back to my beloved (enormous) water bottle every day.
2. Consistent activity level.
The first thing that led to my weight loss is increasing my activity level – and a lot of that has been walking. Rather than driving everywhere and being stuck at a desk 10 hours a day, here in South Africa, I have to walk EVERYWHERE. While not having a car definitely has its downsides, developing strong legs is definitely an upside. And not only am I walking, but many times I am hauling 15, 20 pounds of groceries with me for 15, 20, 30 minutes. That’ll make you sweat, let me tell you. I’m lucky that this area of Cape Town is very pedestrian friendly.
I’ve also been going to the gym three to four times a week (for 1 hour each time). Back home I would sporadically and grudgingly go to the gym every once in a while, but my heart really wasn’t in it (it being too preoccupied and all.) The biggest difference here in SA is that Aaron has become my gym buddy! Our schedules back in MN made working out together really hard, but here we’ve made it a priority. We’re up at 6am three times a week and even though I am NOT a morning person, getting it out of the way and having your whole day ahead of you is a great feeling. Also, I have found a really great set of classes with a ruthless instructor with whom I do boot-camp, cardio-kickboxing and a killer workout called “bums and tums.” (Isn’t that the best name ever?)
But that’s just me. I like the challenge of it. But being active doesn’t mean becoming obsessed or killing yourself at the gym. Your weight loss might be slower if you just walk, but if that’s what’s right for you, then you just walk your little heart out!
My advice is that whatever you do, BE CONSISTANT. Whatever that takes (finding a walking or gym buddy, working out at home, finding a class you like, etc.) Once you get in the habit, it gets easier, I swear. Getting out of the habit (like over the holidays) and getting back into it is so flipping hard. So try to avoid that and just keep doing it -- even on days when it’s really hard to do. And remember that even though it might be hard to get to the gym (or put on the exercise DVD or start that walk) once you’re done working out you feel SO GOOD.
3. Measure, don’t weigh!
I have avoided the scale like the plague. In fact, I can’t tell you exactly how much weight I’ve lost because I’m not exactly sure what I weighed when I got here and I’ve studiously avoided the scale since then.
In the past, the scale has served not as a motivator, but as something that would frustrate the hell out of me. Here’s a typical inner dialogue I’d have, “You’re going to tell me that I’ve worked out 5 times this week, ate super healthy and I didn’t lose a pound?!!!” Tears would ensue. And then some ice cream would be consumed and the whole damn cycle would start again.
The fact is that muscle weighs more than fat. The same weight in fat vs. muscle is about 3 to 4 times bigger. So weighing yourself (especially in the midst of weight loss) can be misleading.
So here in SA, what I’ve focused on is how my clothes fit as well as my measurements. Once a week or so I take out the ole tape measurer and measure bust, waist, hips, etc. For some reason, I find that much less scary than the scale. And I love watching those inches go down and down … I know that this approach might not work for some people or programs (like Weight Watchers, etc.) but this is the only way I’ve managed to remain motivated and keep track of my progress.
4. Attitude counts
Everything I’m about to say is gonna sound like a cliché. I don’t care. It’s all true.
• If you think it’s gonna suck, guess what, it’s gonna suck.
• If you look at weight loss/working out with dread, it’s gonna suck.
• If you think you can’t do it, you won’t.
• Look at going to the gym as an opportunity to get healthier.
• Look at going to the gym as an opportunity to feel energetic and proud of yourself.
• Look at eating healthier as an opportunity to learn new recipes.
• Look at eating healthier as a way to feel great (vs. sluggish and tired, more about that later.)
• Don’t be a Negative Nancy on your self.
• Be your own best cheerleader.
• Eating can be very emotional; examine what’s going on and find new ways of dealing with your stress (easier said than done, I know, but it’s important to acknowledge it and start dealing with it.)
• No one can do this for you, it’s gotta come from within.
• Conversely, don’t let anyone or anything make you feel bad about yourself or bully you. Not the snippy bitches at work/school, not your partner, your parents, not Photoshopped celebrities in magazines. Tell them to mind their own damn business. You do this for YOU and you alone.
• Take the Body Pledge!
5. What to eat, when and how much: (I’m lumping numbers 5-9 together.)
OK, first. Eat like a hobbit! One thing I hate, HATE, is feeling hungry and deprived. So, I’ve taken to eating 5 smaller meals or 3 regular meals and 2 small snacks a day. This keeps your metabolism going all day and avoids the hunger pangs.
But note, that you really MUST cut down on the amount of food you’re eating total, otherwise eating 5 times a day is a terrible idea. I’ll write up a sample menu of what I eat in a day and post it next week.
Next, eat clean and make whole, unprocessed foods the majority of your diet (aim for 90%). If you’re trying to lose weight I advise you to avoid the center of the supermarket as much as possible. That is where all the processed foods live; the chips, the cookies (biscuits), the ice cream, the frozen pizzas, the sodas, the sugary snacks, etc.
If you have only a limited number of calories a day, make the most of them and make them as nutritious as possible. Be kind to your body; what it needs is fiber, vitamins, nutrients, lean protein and small amounts of healthy fats (olive oil, nuts, etc). Not sugar and trans fats. So fill your shopping cart with fresh fruit and veg, lean meats and lean dairy.
When you do buy something in a box, READ LABELS AND NUTRITIONAL FACTS. Even supposedly healthy things like cereal can be filled with sugar and fat.
One of my absolute favorite websites with a TON of awesome “clean” recipes is the Gracious Pantry. It is a FANTASTIC site!
One of the main reasons I love the Gracious Pantry is that she re-makes many white flour/white starch recipes with whole grains.
Which leads me to: Carbs are your friends, but use them wisely!
I think diets that cut out entire food groups (like grains) are not sustainable for most people over the long haul. Sure, you might lose some weight, but the next time you have a slice of bread …
Personally, I love my bread. You all KNOW I love my bread. But having a ton of white flour, white rice and regular pasta is the equivalent of filling yourself with Styrofoam. It contains very little in nutritional value and can be very calorie-rich; it contains practically no fiber and fewer vitamins and minerals. It can have the same impact on the body as eating sugar with a spoon.
One very helpful guide is the GI table. This shows you how much of an impact a particular food will have on your blood sugar. You’ll see on there that whole grains have a much lower number, which means they will give you sustained energy all day long.
So whole grains are the way to go. Whole wheat (whole meal) bread, brown rice, wild rice, etc. Of course the occasional serving of white bread or white rice isn’t going to kill you, but make it an occasional treat, not your everyday habit.
There are also healthier non-grain carb choices. Sweet potatoes have a much lower GI number than regular potatoes (which makes no sense to me, but there you go), etc. As always, try to make the healthiest choice as often as possible. It might take some getting used to, but it really is the nicest thing you can do for your body.
The one thing I do as far as carbs is to try and have most (if not all) of my carbs before dinner. I find that avoiding carb-heavy meals at night has really helped my weight loss. Again, I’ll write up a couple of sample menus next week so you can see what I mean.
Almost there … now, onto portion control vs. calorie counting.
There is no way around it; if you want to lose weight, you have to control the amount of food you eat.
There are different ways of doing this; the most common one is calorie-counting. In the past, I’ve been a strict calorie counter. But ever since being in South Africa, I’ve decided to be more relaxed and just watch my portions. That is not to say that calorie-counter is bad. On the contrary, if you want to lose weight quickly, I highly recommend you count all your calories and write them down in a food diary.
But I didn’t want to lose weight quickly. I just wanted to get healthier in the least painful way possible. I just don’t love counting calories. So I stick to portion control.
There are a lot of great websites out there that give you good portion control info. I like the new USDA website, ChooseMyPlate.gov. Here’s their portion guidelines for what your lunch & dinner plate should look like:
And WebMD’s website has an awesome portion control section.
Stick to the recommended portions as much as possible. And if you want splurges, find lovely recipes for fruits and veg!
Last on the topic of food, I’m a believer in the saying, “Everything in moderation, including moderation.”
I know that I would have lost more weight, more quickly, if I had been really, really strict about eating. But that’s OK. I’d rather enjoy life and indulge once in a while and wait a bit rather than live on chicken breasts and broccoli and feel deprived.
Besides, I’m in an all new country, tasting all new foods. There’s no way I’d miss out on that!
What that has meant is some chocolate here and there, meals out when I don’t care about the calories … Nothing nuts, no whole tubs of ice cream. Just enough to keep me happy. And honestly, the better I eat, the better I feel. So I’m not really too tempted. This holiday season has been a very good reminder that eating lots of sugar and fat leaves me feeling overfull and sluggish, no doubt about it.
But a little now and then is nice, and I think it makes it more of a sustainable lifestyle change versus a strict diet, when you’re more likely to gain weight back.
10. Last, but not least is the question of PATIENCE. Of everything I’ve written about (and holy moly is this post insanely long or what?) patience is the hardest thing for me. I am not a naturally patient person. So it is HARD. But I would remind you, as I have to remind myself all the time, that it takes time. Your weight was most likely not put on in a few days or weeks or even months. Don’t ask your body to shed overnight what you spent years putting on it. The human body is amazing; don’t abuse it with diets, pills, etc. that promise quick results. You pretty much end up gaining the weight right back. Be the tortoise, not the hare. The tortoise wins the race in the end!
So there you go and sorry for rambling so much! If you have any questions, let me know and I’ll try to answer them. Good luck with your path to a healthier you!!!
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