How I Lost It Pt. II

Today, I’m going to talk about my exercise plan. But first, some loose ends about eating habits.

• Water. Drink lots and lots of water. Most people mistake thirst for hunger. When you’re feeling hungry, and you don’t think that you should be, drink a big glass of water. Your “hunger” just might go away. I also like to have a big glass of water before a meal to fill up my stomach with watery goodness.
• Portion control. I didn’t set any foods as off-limits, I just set some foods that I try to limit my intake of. I love french fries. Love, love, love them. I could never cut them out of my life completely. But, I also know that they’re bad for me, so I eat fewer of them (and eat them slowly, enjoying every bite) and I eat them less often. If I have french fries with lunch, I make a special effort to have a really healthy dinner.

  I will also make a line across my plate at a restaurant. Everything on one half is fair game, everything on the other half should be saved for later. That way I get to enjoy leftovers, and I don’t end up eating huge restaurant portions.

• Calorie counting. I started off by counting my calories. Obsessively so. This is really the only way to get an accurate picture of what you are consuming in a day. I used a website to keep track of every single thing that I put into my body throughout the day. Ate some grapes? I entered it in. Had a cracker? I entered it in. A lot of us don’t realize how many calories we are consuming when we have a little bite here, a little bite there. The other nice thing about counting calories is that, if I had eaten particularly frugally that day, it let me know that I could have ice cream for dessert and not feel guilty. I don’t bother counting calories anymore, as I have pretty much internalized a mechanism for keeping better track of how much I am eating, but it was definitely helpful for the first few months. It also forced me to be more aware of how many calories are in certain foods. That salad I ate at Panera that I thought was really healthy? Yeah, it had half a day’s worth of calories in it. A lot of foods that we think of as being pretty good for us are actually very high in calories. A corn muffin at Dunkin Donuts has almost three times as many calories as one of their glazed donuts. I still occasionally look up nutrition information, just to make sure that I’m not consuming more calories than I thought I was.

So, there you have it. Small changes that added up, nothing too drastic. You have to make a change, but it can’t make you miserable (otherwise, you’ll just go back to your old eating habits). The other thing to keep in mind that one little slip-up isn’t going to undo all of your hard work. The temptation is to give up and go back to old eating habits. Don’t do it! Just because you ate half a pizza on your own, it doesn’t mean that your weight-loss plan is ruined and you have to give up. It just means that you need to remind yourself that pizza is a sometimes treat and to limit yourself to one or two slices the next time.

This brings us to….

Exercise

The first thing to remember about exercise is that it is not the be-all and end-all of weight loss. A lot of people express interest in going to the gym more to lose weight. While burning calories on the treadmill is a great way to contribute to your weight-loss goals, it’s probably not going to be enough to make a significant difference. I’d been going to the gym regularly for months and I had more muscle but no less fat. It wasn’t until I changed the way that I was eating that I started to see myself getting smaller.

Another thing to remember is that you’re not going to be able to target specific areas. Doing crunches is great for you, but it’s not going to melt away belly flab. The only way to lose the belly flab is to lose weight over-all. Or, you could be like me and pretty much always have a belly, no matter how small you are. This is something that I live with. I will never have rock-hard abs. BFD.

I originally decided to give weight-loss another try when I saw a picture of myself and was embarrassed about how flabby my arms looked. I wanted nice toned arms that would look cute in a strapless dress and that didn’t in any way, shape or form resemble christmas hams. I started lifting weights again (something that I have always loved doing), but my arms pretty much looked the same. Once I started losing weight, my arm flab eventually diminished and you could start seeing muscle definition. You can target specific muscles on your body, but they are not going to stand out until you lose the weight around them.

Lifting weights is important, especially for women. Not only does muscle mass boost your metabolism, the act of lifting weights can help to prevent osteoporosis later in life. Every woman should make strength training part of her routine. I got a set of free weights and I use them in the morning before work, or later in the day when I get home. I can watch something on our tivo and get a few reps in. I’ve made it as easy as possible for myself.

Exercise needs to be relatively easy, it needs to be fun and you need to get in the habit of doing it. It helps to have a routine, because then you just expect yourself to work out. A friend of mine go to the gym during our lunch break. It doesn’t take that much time out of our day, we enjoy the walk down to the gym and it’s just something that we know that we’re going to be doing. A gym buddy is a great thing. They should be as motivated as you (or more so!), because you don’t want a gym buddy who is going to constantly bail on you. I love Kristian, but he is a terrible gym buddy for me. He’s just as likely to say “let’s go to the gym tomorrow” as he is to say “let’s go to the gym now.” Your gym buddy should be talking you into working out, never out of it.

Another way to keep yourself motivated is to make sure that you have the proper equipment. If you run, you really do need to replace your shoes every 3-6 months. This is not a myth perpetuated by the athletic industrial complex. The price of a new pair of running shoes is more than offset by the advantages of not blowing out your knees by the time that you’re 40. Proper fit is a must. Go to an actual running store and have them measure you and help you pick out the proper pair of shoes. Chain stores at the mall are not actual running stores. Actual running stores feature a sales staff who like to go running and who don’t look like they only took the job because Cl@ire’s wasn’t hiring. If the people at the store don’t have you walk and jog around the store to see your stride, run away screaming.

Something that keeps me motivated is to have cute outfits to workout in and fun toys to use during my workouts. I enjoy looking good at the gym. I also enjoy gadgets. For me, personally, the gadget joy that I experience from using my Nike+Sport attachment for my iPod (a sexy male voice telling me my progress! feedback on how I compare to past runs!) contributes towards my desire to go back to the gym. Don’t go out and drop a grand on gear and gadgets to make you feel more athletic, but definitely make sure that you equip yourself with the necessary tools to workout in comfort and style.

A good sports bra is a must. You’re not likely to head back to the gym if you’ve given yourself whiplash. Personally, I prefer athletic tanks with built-in bras (see: gym, must look cute at) but anything that you feel good wearing and that keeps the twins in place is fine. Target is a great place to find good one-piece sports tops. For those of you who need heavy-duty sports bras, check out Title Nine.

Working out should be fun. Find some sort of physical activity that you really and truly enjoy. For some sick reason, I have come to enjoy running. I think that it’s because I have had some goals in mind (the first one was to complete a 5K race, the next one is to post a competitive time in a 5k race). Figure out whatever form of exercise activates the happy part of your brain and stick with it. If you don’t enjoy working out, you’re just not going to stick with it.

That’s it for today… coming tomorrow! General thoughts! Or maybe cat pictures! :p