My "Diet" Plan

Every once in a while, I read thru my older blogs to see what I've covered and what I can touch on next. Even though I've complained or commented on strategies I'm using - I've never really laid out exactly what it is I'm doing to help with my weight loss. So, for my new followers that are sitting there scratching your head and saying "what exactly is she doing to lose weight?" This blog post is for you:

First - I'm not on a diet. Diet, to me, is a short term solution to weight loss. In order to lose weight, and keep it off, your "diet" has to be a life change. If you have read this blog from the beginning, you know that I consider myself a "food addict". So, my life change is like any other addict - I have to take one day at a time and look at my food intake as if I was looking at another hit of crack. I'm not perfect, and I can't live on rabbit food alone - so I'm going to break down my goals that I'm trying to live by and stick to.

I am consuming 1200-1400 calories a day. I'm not a big calorie counter, so I try to break up each meal to around about 300 calories. That's 3 meals a day, and 2 snacks at around 150 calories each. I DON'T stress about it. If my hubby (who is the cook in my house) makes something that's not so healthy - I eat a very small portion of it. I don't tell myself I can't eat the things I love - I just eat less. I eat carbs, veggies, fruit, meat, dairy - all of it. I try to eat whole wheat, no white flours or sugars - but again, every once in a while is not going to kill me. I drink mostly water - but I'm a coffee addict. I do drink coffee (I already hear the gasps), but I drink it with a teaspoon of fat-free creamer, and no sugar. Black coffee has no calories, each cup that I drink has 2 calories! I avoid soda - and occasionally will have a diet soda, but not very often. I don't drink alcohol very often, but a drink now and then - yes. My drink of choice is Malibu and pepsi. I usually only drink at social gatherings - holidays mainly - but the occasional night out with the gals is a spiritual cleanse (I'm a mother of 3 remember) and so that sacrifice of calories on my soul is worth it.

As far as what I eat - I do try and eat fish 2 to 3 times a week. It's baked fish cooked with lemon or by itself. I try to eat liver at least once a week - sometimes every two weeks (it's not very popular in my house..LOL) I LOVE liver - but my kids, not so much. I keep fruit around that I like (pears, plums, peaches, apples, etc)- and eat 2 pieces a day. Ok, rather than tell you all the food I eat (yawn) - here's a sample menu for a day...

Breakfast: Either 2 pieces of whole wheat toast, or a bowl of cereal (with fat free milk).
Morning Snack: A piece of fruit
Lunch: Some kind of sandwich..ham, turkey, tuna, etc.
Afternoon snack: granola bar or piece of fruit
Dinner: Whatever my hubby is cooking - pretty much anything.. just portioned to an approx 300 calorie serving

I have tried to avoid evening snacks - but depending on how many calories I've consumed during the day I might have a bowl of ice-cream (uh, oh I hear the gasps again), or a couple of veggie crackers.

When it comes to exercise, there's only one thing I do. I use my Wii Fit 6 nights a week for about 30 minutes a session. I recently stopped using the exercises on the Wii Fit and "upgraded" to my Fitness Coach. I think the fitness coach offers a much more intense workout, and I burn a lot more calories that way. I also run after an 18 month old all day, I will occasionally take a drive to the mall just to walk around, and I also like swimming and skating (roller skating). I don't replace my Wii Fit workouts with any other activity, if I do something extra during the day - that's just extra workout. I do NOT weigh myself every day, as the Wii Fit suggests. I started out doing that, and it was so disheartening with the fluctuations - I chose to stick to a weekly weigh-in. I suggest anyone doing the Wii Fit that sees constant ups and downs to try the same thing -it's so much nicer to see the changes in a week anyway. There are days when I don't work out for various reasons, but I try to work out extra the next day to make up for it. If I don't, I DON'T stress...I can't be perfect ALL the time.

Ok - so that about sums it up. If there's something you want to know - ask. I'm not shy, I'll tell you what I think or answer you the best I can. At the beginning of my "journey" I weighed about 264lbs - that was in March. Now, 3 months later, I'm down to 250lbs. A 14lb loss may seem small to some of you, but I've had my ups to go with the downs. I've slacked off, I've had "bad days" - but I've kept going. I'm hoping this Twitter thing will work out - I'm doing what I can to find my motivation. Hopefully this time next year I'll be posting photos of me in a bathing suit like the commercials I love so much do...LOL Oh yeah, I've had 3 kids - will have to be a one piece.

Till next time. :)