Eating

Is it just me or does Eating/Dieting seem to be the item to discuss these days? I feel like everywhere I turn the discussion has turned to nutrition, the latest diet trend and eating healthy. Could this be due to soaring obesity rates in the U.S. or is it just because I'm at that age where 1) we are losing our youthful bodies or 2) we have had kids and are now facing the challenges of getting the baby weight off? I'm not sure which it is, but these definitely seem to be the top two among my group of friends. As I have joined the Healthy Living Trend and started a journey, I figured this would be a great discussion point. If you haven't read about my journey, please check it out here.

 

Let's start on why I decided to start my journey; there is definitely more than one reason. First, I was becoming LAZY and I'm not sure if it was due to the weight gain and not just having the energy or if it was just plain laziness. After the Love Bug was born, I was so consumed with taking care of him and our family that I just didn't take care of myself. All I wanted to do when my day ended was sit, eat and watch TV. Then there came a point where I wasn't happy with what my life had turned into, what I looked like and how I felt. I needed a change. This flows into my second reason, the Love Bug. I was a really active kid; I played sports and was outside a majority of the time. I wanted him to have that sense of adventure in climbing trees and exploring nature. I want to be a better example for him, so I can have a relationship with him while he's engaged in activities. I want to be able to keep up! The final reason, which I kind of discussed in my previous post, is genetics. Obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol run in my family. I know at least 4 family members who have had gastric bypass surgery. I DO NOT want to get to the point where I have to have surgery to be healthy again and I definitely do not want it for my children (not pregnant! But hoping for more in the future).

 

That being said, what I have done to lose weight? I've tried multiple things and I'll tell you what has worked best for me. Everyone is different, so what might work for me might not work for you. A few years ago I joined Weight Watchers and it really worked for me. I lost 25 pounds in 4 months and felt great. I was still able to eat out, go to fast food places and enjoy life being a young twenty something! I kept the weight off for a while and quit the program, slowly the weight started to pack on again and then I got pregnant. With my pregnancy I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, not fun. After the Love Bug was born, I tried to keep up the diabetic diet, but yet again slowly started to get away from the diet and started to gain. After a few months, I decided to try Nutrisystem, I figured, hey they send me the food, all I have to do is eat it. Wrong! I spent the money on the food and barely ate it; it was to difficult for me when my husband was eating way yummier looking food. Quit that one pretty quickly. I was going in a downward spiral until I was given a challenge this past November. With that incentive I joined a gym, got a trainer and started an eating routine.

The following individual does not necessarily endorse my blog or the way this image is used on my blog.
Attribution: By Todtanis (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or
 GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

 

I credit a lot of my success to a combination of my trainer and my hard work. I must admit, I’m not perfect and definitely have slip ups. My trainer has me on a variation of carb cycling, my plan is to really try to kick this into high gear in the next few days. For a few examples of what this looks like, check out Chris Powell on the Dr. Oz show here. Doesn’t that look amazing! The other thing I try to stick with is no/very little processed foods. My goal is to eat as close as farm to table as possible. The few exceptions I make are with frozen fruits/veggies. With fruits, I get frozen mostly to blend with protein drinks. I do this because usually the fruit will go bad before I have a chance of using it. With veggies, I tend to get frozen for the vegetables that are not in season (frozen veggies usually picked and frozen at peak of their season). I also do this so I can play with new vegetables I haven’t ever used before that are in season at the time. Now to the hard work portion (which has been slipping a little lately), I go to the gym 4-5 times a week for around 1.5 hours a day. When I train (3 days a week), I do a 30 minute strength training session followed by a 30 min to hour cardio session. On my non-training days, I do 45 minutes to hour strength training and 1 hour cardio.

 

Trust me, I KNOW it’s difficult to find the time to get to the gym with a busy life. Depending on the day I may cut more than usual and do the exercises I can at home. It’s about finding a balance with your life and what works for you. Again, I started out over 230 lbs. so what it takes for me to lose it may not take you as much.

 

Before starting ANY diet or exercise routine consult your doctor. Prior to starting my own journey I had a routine checkup with my doctor. There were some anomalies in my blood work, after a few tests I was diagnosed with hyperparathyroidism, for more information on parathyroidism, check here. Which has a major effect on your energy levels, I had surgery and before I knew it, I had energy like nothing else! If I had not found this out prior to starting my training, I’m not sure how successful I would have been.

The following individual does not necessarily endorse my blog or the way this image is used on my blog.
Attribution: By Subconsci Productions (http://www.flickr.com/photos/sbconsci/361586876/)
[CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

So what are your healthy living secrets? Do you do the Paleo diet? Are you a vegetarian? Do you eat clean? I’d love to hear your input, eating habits and any thoughts you have.