No I didn't cut off my head.
To preface this, I'm officially middle aged now, so my metabolism has slowed naturally. I'm 5'11 1/2, and small boned. A shitty stressful job that I hated, plus taking care of 2 young kids, and I had really fallen into a lifestyle of unhealthy habits -- rushing off with no breakfast, binge eating, stuffing myself daily during lunch, picking up fast food on the way home sometimes at 8pm or later. I watched as my weight climbed all the way to 200 lbs. Much of this was distributed around my expanding wasteline in a ring of fugly fat. I was huffing and puffing climbing up a flight of stairs, and doing a daily round of 10-12 pushups was an arm burning experience. I don't even want to think what my blood pressure was at.
About 3-4 months ago I made a round of changes. This included changing jobs to something I actually enjoy doing, and also taking a good hard look at where things were going for me, and my priorities in life. I knew I needed to start exercising and eating better, so I did a bunch of reading and research and came up with a program that has worked for me. I know there is nothing earth shattering here, but I figured I'd write this up anyways, on the off chance it might help somoeone else who's fallen into a similar rut.
When I began to implement these changes in my habits and diet I also was working out 5 days out of seven, but in the last month or so, things have been really busy for me, and I haven't been able to work out at all, so I attribute most of this to the basic diet changes I've made. I don't by any means think you shouldn't work out, but getting your metabolism working properly is much more important to losing stubborn fat.
I won't go into the science of any of these changes -- you are free to look up information on this, and decide whether or not you agree. While I did a lot of reading about diet, I'm not physician, dietician etc, and don't have an interest in trying to explain why this stuff makes sense. My real goal is to give a relatively simple outline of what I've done in the hopes that it might help others who don't know where to begin.
The first changes:
1. Eat a breakfast every single day. Breakfast for me:
-Organic high fiber cereal with Organic milk
or
- An organic Yogurt
or
Egg dish (omlette) with bacon, sausage or whatever.
I also often buy some berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries) and will mix these up and throw on top of cereal, both for myself and for my kids, which of course they love.
I probably eat a sausage mcmuffin with egg + a medium coffee at least once every 10 days, which i pick up after dropping my son at school, so hopefully this helps indicate that you don't have to be a zealot about every ingredient. With that said, it is something I allow myself as an exception. More about that later. The most important thing is to get your metabolism going in the morning.
2. I started looking at food products, and if they contain HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, they are officially banned from my household. This included a lot of soda I was drinking during the day, including a particular favorite of mine, Cactus Cooler. I also go for all natural dairy -- butter etc. NO MARGARINE. This also might surprise some, but NO SOY PRODUCTS.
No DIET Sodas or Diet products whatsoever, as they all contain some sort of artificial sweetener. Artificial sweeteners have the same effect on the body over time as real sweeteners, so you're just kidding yourself if you think these things have a dietary benefit.
3. Eat 4 meals a day. This is probably one of the most important changes. Many people advocate eating 5 meals, but I can barely manage 4. Most days, the 3rd for me comes in the form of a balance bar that I eat in the mid afternoon when I start to feel exceptionally hungry. I'll also snack on mixed nuts, sometimes with pretzels (which are not by any means part of the diet).
4. Eat a well balanced meal.
Basically, that means, Protein + Dairy + Vegetable or Fruit + "Healthy Fat" + Grain. There are all sorts of ways to get some healthy fat in your diet. I'm lucky in that one of my favorites is Avocado, which I'll add on top of a burger for dinner, or we'll have on top of a chicken sandwich. I'll also buy mixed nuts as mentioned, and we'll saute in Olive oil. Ultimately, you have to have some dietary fat or your metabolism freaks out and start converting everything to stored fat.
Lunch for me is also often a whole grain bread + Organic peanut butter or Almond butter. If I'm out I'll have a half salad and soup, or if home, I have a progresso or campbells soup. I also go to Whole foods and pick up some of their soup if I happen to be there (there's one on the way from my kid's school, so I can pop in and get soup + salad if I want).
5. Eat dinner 3-4 hours before you go to bed. We try and plan our meals, so this includes having to do shopping every couple of days. We live in SoCal, so this allows me to grill year round, which helps with cooking chicken, sausages, pork chops etc. We eat chicken breasts (doing a greek style kabob is one we do a lot, where I'll buy 2 lbs of organic chicken breast, and even after we have dinner for 4, usually leaves 2-3 chicken breasts which I can have for lunch in the following couple of days.) We'll throw in some rice, or potatoes or whatever, and corn, spinache, a salad etc.. I also will do a gourmet hamburger night with some fresh ground beef, again cooked on the grill. We also buy salmon breasts which are pre-seasoned and easy to cook, so we have that usually 1x per week.
7. Pass on desert. I just don't eat it, but if I did, I'd probably go for some chocolate, or organic ice cream. Like I said, I'll eat a small piece of dark chocolate once a day.
8. When thinking about a beverage, opt for water, Iced or Green tea without sweetener. Drink 5-6 glasses of water every day, however you need to. When exercising have a water or gatorade with you, and drink when you feel the need to, or during breaks.
9. If you want some alcohol go with a wine or even hard liquor without a sweetener like tonic, soda etc.. With that said, in the last month where I lost an additional pound or so, without exercising much, I drank a daily beer or two because we had in-laws visiting.
10. One day a week, eat whatever you want. The theory behind this idea is that it will prevent your body from going into starvation mode, due to the strictness of the dietary changes you are making. It really hasn't been any problem for me at all. I will eat pizza or a big pasta dish, or whatever I feel like. I just don't break the "last meal 3 hours or so before bed."
The results:
I currently tip the scale at 184 lbs, and this appears to have come entirely off my waistline. I can easily fit in all my pants, and have to wear a belt with most of them because they're sliding down my ass otherwise.
Working out:
===========
Along with the stretching/yoga/lweightlifting I've been doing, my body naturally looks a lot better, and more importantly I have a huge boost of energy to get me through the day. I carry my kids around regularly, and this is no problem. If we go on a walk, and one gets tired, I can carry them for a hundred yards up hilll without feeling like I might stroke out at any minute. I can pop off 30 good pushups whenever I feel the desire to do so.
In the interest of full disclosure, the exercise program I've done was called Beach Body and is lead by a guy named Tony Horton. We picked it up like 2 years ago, and never started it. Since then they've updated it and its now called P90 although I think it's probably mostly the same ideas. It's a couple of DVD's that I pop on and do in front of a TV. You don't need any equipment other than maybe a mat, and a pair of weights (I use 25 lb barbells I have). I didn't use their diet stuff or any supplements. I do eat a 2x per day (am + pm) fish-oil anti-oxidant, although I've read that Krill oil is even better. The one I'm using is called OmegaBerry.
I never thought that I'd do any yoga or stuff like that, but I find that the stretching + yoga stuff is surprisingly effective, and he mixes in some boxing and other stuff so you don't feel like a complete fem doing it. He's also super ripped at the age of 47 or something which is inspirational to a degree.
I haven't even graduated myself to DVD 2, so basically what it involves is a cardio day + abs or a weight training day. I try to fit this in daily during the week, which takes about 30-45 minutes. I do have a heavier weight set + self spotting bench down in my basement and may substitute a traditional workout down there, but like I said, lately I haven't been exercising at all.
In conclusion:
-Simple lifestyle changes.
-4 meals a day
-Cut out sugary drinks, "diet sweeteners" nonsense and fried food, Soy, Fried food (chips, etc)
-Pay a bit more and go Organic
-Get your metabolism going and you'll lose fat, something that exercise alone simply can't do.
To preface this, I'm officially middle aged now, so my metabolism has slowed naturally. I'm 5'11 1/2, and small boned. A shitty stressful job that I hated, plus taking care of 2 young kids, and I had really fallen into a lifestyle of unhealthy habits -- rushing off with no breakfast, binge eating, stuffing myself daily during lunch, picking up fast food on the way home sometimes at 8pm or later. I watched as my weight climbed all the way to 200 lbs. Much of this was distributed around my expanding wasteline in a ring of fugly fat. I was huffing and puffing climbing up a flight of stairs, and doing a daily round of 10-12 pushups was an arm burning experience. I don't even want to think what my blood pressure was at.
About 3-4 months ago I made a round of changes. This included changing jobs to something I actually enjoy doing, and also taking a good hard look at where things were going for me, and my priorities in life. I knew I needed to start exercising and eating better, so I did a bunch of reading and research and came up with a program that has worked for me. I know there is nothing earth shattering here, but I figured I'd write this up anyways, on the off chance it might help somoeone else who's fallen into a similar rut.
When I began to implement these changes in my habits and diet I also was working out 5 days out of seven, but in the last month or so, things have been really busy for me, and I haven't been able to work out at all, so I attribute most of this to the basic diet changes I've made. I don't by any means think you shouldn't work out, but getting your metabolism working properly is much more important to losing stubborn fat.
I won't go into the science of any of these changes -- you are free to look up information on this, and decide whether or not you agree. While I did a lot of reading about diet, I'm not physician, dietician etc, and don't have an interest in trying to explain why this stuff makes sense. My real goal is to give a relatively simple outline of what I've done in the hopes that it might help others who don't know where to begin.
The first changes:
1. Eat a breakfast every single day. Breakfast for me:
-Organic high fiber cereal with Organic milk
or
- An organic Yogurt
or
Egg dish (omlette) with bacon, sausage or whatever.
I also often buy some berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries) and will mix these up and throw on top of cereal, both for myself and for my kids, which of course they love.
I probably eat a sausage mcmuffin with egg + a medium coffee at least once every 10 days, which i pick up after dropping my son at school, so hopefully this helps indicate that you don't have to be a zealot about every ingredient. With that said, it is something I allow myself as an exception. More about that later. The most important thing is to get your metabolism going in the morning.
2. I started looking at food products, and if they contain HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, they are officially banned from my household. This included a lot of soda I was drinking during the day, including a particular favorite of mine, Cactus Cooler. I also go for all natural dairy -- butter etc. NO MARGARINE. This also might surprise some, but NO SOY PRODUCTS.
No DIET Sodas or Diet products whatsoever, as they all contain some sort of artificial sweetener. Artificial sweeteners have the same effect on the body over time as real sweeteners, so you're just kidding yourself if you think these things have a dietary benefit.
3. Eat 4 meals a day. This is probably one of the most important changes. Many people advocate eating 5 meals, but I can barely manage 4. Most days, the 3rd for me comes in the form of a balance bar that I eat in the mid afternoon when I start to feel exceptionally hungry. I'll also snack on mixed nuts, sometimes with pretzels (which are not by any means part of the diet).
4. Eat a well balanced meal.
Basically, that means, Protein + Dairy + Vegetable or Fruit + "Healthy Fat" + Grain. There are all sorts of ways to get some healthy fat in your diet. I'm lucky in that one of my favorites is Avocado, which I'll add on top of a burger for dinner, or we'll have on top of a chicken sandwich. I'll also buy mixed nuts as mentioned, and we'll saute in Olive oil. Ultimately, you have to have some dietary fat or your metabolism freaks out and start converting everything to stored fat.
Lunch for me is also often a whole grain bread + Organic peanut butter or Almond butter. If I'm out I'll have a half salad and soup, or if home, I have a progresso or campbells soup. I also go to Whole foods and pick up some of their soup if I happen to be there (there's one on the way from my kid's school, so I can pop in and get soup + salad if I want).
5. Eat dinner 3-4 hours before you go to bed. We try and plan our meals, so this includes having to do shopping every couple of days. We live in SoCal, so this allows me to grill year round, which helps with cooking chicken, sausages, pork chops etc. We eat chicken breasts (doing a greek style kabob is one we do a lot, where I'll buy 2 lbs of organic chicken breast, and even after we have dinner for 4, usually leaves 2-3 chicken breasts which I can have for lunch in the following couple of days.) We'll throw in some rice, or potatoes or whatever, and corn, spinache, a salad etc.. I also will do a gourmet hamburger night with some fresh ground beef, again cooked on the grill. We also buy salmon breasts which are pre-seasoned and easy to cook, so we have that usually 1x per week.
7. Pass on desert. I just don't eat it, but if I did, I'd probably go for some chocolate, or organic ice cream. Like I said, I'll eat a small piece of dark chocolate once a day.
8. When thinking about a beverage, opt for water, Iced or Green tea without sweetener. Drink 5-6 glasses of water every day, however you need to. When exercising have a water or gatorade with you, and drink when you feel the need to, or during breaks.
9. If you want some alcohol go with a wine or even hard liquor without a sweetener like tonic, soda etc.. With that said, in the last month where I lost an additional pound or so, without exercising much, I drank a daily beer or two because we had in-laws visiting.
10. One day a week, eat whatever you want. The theory behind this idea is that it will prevent your body from going into starvation mode, due to the strictness of the dietary changes you are making. It really hasn't been any problem for me at all. I will eat pizza or a big pasta dish, or whatever I feel like. I just don't break the "last meal 3 hours or so before bed."
The results:
I currently tip the scale at 184 lbs, and this appears to have come entirely off my waistline. I can easily fit in all my pants, and have to wear a belt with most of them because they're sliding down my ass otherwise.
Working out:
===========
Along with the stretching/yoga/lweightlifting I've been doing, my body naturally looks a lot better, and more importantly I have a huge boost of energy to get me through the day. I carry my kids around regularly, and this is no problem. If we go on a walk, and one gets tired, I can carry them for a hundred yards up hilll without feeling like I might stroke out at any minute. I can pop off 30 good pushups whenever I feel the desire to do so.
In the interest of full disclosure, the exercise program I've done was called Beach Body and is lead by a guy named Tony Horton. We picked it up like 2 years ago, and never started it. Since then they've updated it and its now called P90 although I think it's probably mostly the same ideas. It's a couple of DVD's that I pop on and do in front of a TV. You don't need any equipment other than maybe a mat, and a pair of weights (I use 25 lb barbells I have). I didn't use their diet stuff or any supplements. I do eat a 2x per day (am + pm) fish-oil anti-oxidant, although I've read that Krill oil is even better. The one I'm using is called OmegaBerry.
I never thought that I'd do any yoga or stuff like that, but I find that the stretching + yoga stuff is surprisingly effective, and he mixes in some boxing and other stuff so you don't feel like a complete fem doing it. He's also super ripped at the age of 47 or something which is inspirational to a degree.
I haven't even graduated myself to DVD 2, so basically what it involves is a cardio day + abs or a weight training day. I try to fit this in daily during the week, which takes about 30-45 minutes. I do have a heavier weight set + self spotting bench down in my basement and may substitute a traditional workout down there, but like I said, lately I haven't been exercising at all.
In conclusion:
-Simple lifestyle changes.
-4 meals a day
-Cut out sugary drinks, "diet sweeteners" nonsense and fried food, Soy, Fried food (chips, etc)
-Pay a bit more and go Organic
-Get your metabolism going and you'll lose fat, something that exercise alone simply can't do.
