Changing Eating Habits

When I first started this journey 3 years ago, I honestly didn’t jump in with both feet and modify my eating and exercise habits at the same time. I took small steps in order to make sure I was successful at this journey.

I knew that my first and BIGGEST problem was my eating habits and the food choices I was making. I swam competitively through school, but when I went to college, I stopped swimming but continued to eat like I could when I was swimming. I could eat pretty much whatever  I wanted and have no consequences in regards to my weight because of my exercise routine with swimming. I was very ignorant of the fact that I couldn’t continue to eat that way.  I had some people make comments about the way I was eating, and I know I should have listened and changed then, but honestly you personally have to have the mental check that you need to make a change, and at that point in my life I wasn’t ready to change.

I went from weighing 125 pounds to 230 pounds… I had never been overweight my entire life, and I was in a new territory, and I wasn’t happy at all. I decided that I needed to change, and it needed to be quick. I decided that food was my addiction, and I need to relearn how to eat, including the proper amounts. I looked into different diets like Atkins, Weight Watchers, and the DASH diet. I actually started my journey with Atkins, but I couldn’t sustain it. I dislike diets that take away certain food groups, and I hate telling myself I can’t have something because then I just WANT it that much MORE! I moved on to Weight Watchers and had some great success with it! The biggest problem was calculating points if something didn’t already have a point attached to it, or it was not already in the WW database. I lost about 30 pounds using the Weight Watchers system, but soon decided I needed something different! THEN I FOUND IT! My Fitness Pal! MFP has become my best friend and it, to me, is the easiest most fail-proof way to succeed in at your program!

 

You set up a FREE account online with MyFitness Pal and set your goals. It gives you your total calories per day and breaks it down based on nutrients so you can see where you are overindulging or not meeting the necessary daily requirements.  It has helped me visually see where I am not meeting my requirements, and where I need to make changes because I am overeating. You track your food intake, water intake, and exercise. If it goes in your mouth, you need to write it down! Hold yourself accountable and get the results you WANT! The best part is that there are so many foods already in the database that there really isn’t any guessing about calorie counts. There are plenty of restaurants in the database as well. It even has a barcode scanner so when something isn’t in the database, you scan the barcode and it is able to import all the necessary information in a quick second!

I continue to use it today! It is very helpful and as you lose weight, it adjusts your numbers so you continue to lose weight! You can exercise all day long, but if you aren’t eating right or eating the right amounts, you are doing all that hard work for NOTHING! Make sure your hard work in the gym pays off by eating the right amounts! Weight loss is a numbers game and you also have to have the mental drive to know that it is going to be hard work and it is going to take time to prep and plan your days and weeks of meals. But that planning and prep will pay off with you reaching your goals.

When planning our meals, I try to pick meals that are the most clean as well as using the freshest veggies and fruits possible.  I choose lean meats to use in recipes like lean ground beef or ground turkey.  We tend to eat a lot of chicken, so I try to find new recipes to keep it from getting boring.  I try to cut out as much processed foods as possible and limit the sugar intake.  Sodas were quickly removed and replaced with a lot more WATER (Another blog for another day!)  Eating out is limited, and when we do eat out, I try to stick to lean meats and veggies if possible.

Each week I plan out what our meals are going to be and pick recipes that are specifically for people looking to lose weight. Skinny Mom has some GREAT recipes and I use quite a few of them!  Pinterest is a great site to look at and find great recipes! If you are interested, you can FOLLOW ME and see what kinds of pins I have and what I’ve been using for some time! There are great resources available, you just have to find what works for you. I’ve been working for 3 years on myself and I have changed from different things in regards to my food, but once I found what worked for me, I haven’t moved away from it yet!  Changing my eating habits as well as increasing my physical activity has allowed me to lose 90+ pounds, and I am continuing to improve myself!  As I head into this the new year, my goals aren’t weight loss related, they are more toning and staying in shape.  This is an example of how everyone’s goals may be different and how they change and evolve as we are successful in achieving them!  But, keep in mind that you need to make sure you follow through with achieving your current goals before you change them!