2009

January is when most people resolve to have better habits and meet their goals. January is also when most people lose their resolve (though it is usually toward the end of January that this happens). The best way to reach your goals is to write them down. The best way to make something a habit is by taking baby steps and being consistent. And if you really want to reach your goals... share them with everyone you meet (I think I may have already shared this with you on a previous blog... but it never hurts to hear it again).

This is the first year that I am taking my New Year's resolutions seriously. Don't get me wrong... I've made plenty a New Year's resolution in the past, but I never took them seriously which is why I never reached any of those goals I set. This year, I have spent about a week on my resolutions. Planning, writing it down, editing, planning some more, and making some more edits to my plan. It's taken a lot of brain power, but I have it all worked out.

1. This year I will get to my goal weight.
   
2. This year I will pay off half my credit card.


3. This year I will put $150 into my savings each month.

Now for the plan portion of our presentation...

My goal weight... I'm not really sure what it is, but I'll know it when I get to it. Because of this I have decided to set my weight loss goals for 2009 in 10 pound increments (this is also easy since I am currently at 170). So, here's the breakdown for goal #1

· Set in 10 pound increments
· Expected loss of ~1.5 pounds per week or 10 pounds per 7 weeks
· Weigh in every Saturday
· Change mini goal deadlines as needed (160 by Feb 21, 150 by April 11th, and 140 by May 30th)

On to my next goal (and I know this has nothing to do with weight loss, but the same principles apply which is another one of my Fat Girl Lessons for ya). My credit card has a beast of a balance, and it's time I tamed it! I would love to tame her in one year, but it's just not financially possible (need to be realistic when setting your goals). So, It will take me two years. Now, I'm not going to share all the numbers with you here, but I will tell you that I am going to be putting what amounts to 15% of my gross monthly income toward my credit card each month. She's a BIG beast!

For my final goal, I have a 5 year plan to save up $10,000... though I will definitely be able to put more than $150 per month into savings once I have paid off my credit card. But for now, here's how the savings plan looks.


So, there you have it. My 2009 resolutions, planned, in writing, broken down, and shared with others.

PS- I did a little math and calculated how much money I would be able to save if after I'm done paying off my credit card I put that money towards my savings... and if I do that, at the end of 5 years I could have $27,413.47 in my savings! That just makes me giddy!

Lesson 10: Resetting Your Threshold

For everyone who has ever attempted to lose weight there is a threshold they reach which prompts them to think about losing that weight. That threshold can be a number on the scale, the size label in their jeans, or simply not fitting into their clothes the way they like. Whatever the telltale sign is, for those of us who have tried to lose weight we have that threshold.

What happens most times is that we lose the weight and keep it off for a little bit, but then somehow we end up right back where we started, or perhaps even heavier! Why? Well, because we didn’t reset our threshold. Our internal trigger to straighten up and fly right is still set way up at the top of the scale!

We know that we can’t constantly be living on salad and fruit, so we indulge ourselves every now and again. But then, we forget that we used to be fat and how we got that way, and we have a few more snacks. When we gain weight, we rationalize by telling ourselves that we’re still smaller than we once were, so it’s no big deal and we can always go back to rabbit food and lose the weight again. No big deal. Then one day we wake up and we’re back in our fat pants again or perhaps even shopping for new fat pants.

Time to reset your threshold! You may remember from my first blog that my old threshold was 200 pounds. I have now lost 30 pounds and am trying to maintain my weight through the holidays before setting another weight loss goal. In order to maintain my current weight loss and not slip back into my size 14 jeans I have reset my threshold to 174 pounds. If I step on the scale and I am at or near 174 then it’s time to take the dogs on a walk, or skip desert for the next two nights. Time to do something… anything to make sure I don’t undo all my hard work.

What’s your new threshold?

Lesson 9: Take a Break and Maintain

The road to Healthy is a long one. Every now and again you need a break from all the hard work you’ve been doing to get to Healthy. Now, this isn’t license to eat whatever you want and to stop taking care of yourself. Remember, this is a new lifestyle.

What I mean by taking a break, is taking a break from your weight loss. Instead of trying to go full speed ahead until you’ve reached your goal weight, try taking some time to maintain the weight loss you’ve already accomplished. We all need weekends to recuperate from a long week at work, and the same is true for weight loss. We need periods of rest from constantly trying to make that scale move. Taking a break from weight loss, will also help you to practice your new permanent healthy habits and see if you have them all down, or if there are a few you need to work on.

While on your weight loss break, still weigh yourself every so often to make sure you stay within a few pounds of the weight you were at when you started your break. Keep an eye on your water intake, food intake, and exercise, to make sure you are keeping up with your healthy habits, though you don’t have to track everything as stringently as you would if you were trying to lose weight. If the scale moves too far in the wrong direction, simply try harder the next day to get in some extra exercise, or fewer calories, or more water.

Taking a break to maintain can be helpful especially during the holidays when there tends to be more food around. When you’re trying to lose weight, you have to have a calorie deficit. But, if you’re trying to maintain your weight, you are bale to eat a little more without feeling guilty that the scale may not have moved by your next weigh in. So, take a moment to review your new healthy habits and commit them to your memory, and then set them aside for a while and take a break to maintain. The road to Healthy will still be there when you’re ready to continue on your trip.

Lesson 8: Strength Training

If you’re a woman you’ve probably heard how you should be strength training to help prevent osteoporosis, and it’s true. However, I’ll bet that you’re still not strength training, and it’s probably because you think you may bulk up and look like the hulk. Well, let me allay your fears. You’re not going to bulk up… you don’t have the hormones. The bulkiest you could possibly get is like Madonna, and that’s still pretty bulky for a woman!

On top of preventing osteoporosis strength training can help you burn more calories. I’m sure you’ve also heard that muscle burns more calories than fat, and it’s true. A pound of muscle burns about three times more calories per day than a pound of fat. Now, while that may sound impressive, the actual numbers are 6 and 2 calories burned per day for a pound of muscle and fat respectively. So don’t go eating a Twinkie and expect your muscles to automatically burn those calories for you.

But seriously… strength training overall is good for you. Muscles are what support your body, helps you sit and stand upright, and helps you complete your day to day activities like making your bed! If you didn’t have muscles you’d be a big puddle of internal organs, bones, fat, and skin!

Here are some basics on strength training:

Rest between strength workouts. Strength training actually creates little tears in your muscles. When these tears repair themselves your body is building up more muscle. So give your body time to repair it self. You shouldn’t train the same muscle group two days in a row.
You should be lifting enough weight to actually challenge yourself. If you can do 30 repetitions of the same exercise and feel like you could just keep on going… you’re not lifting enough weight to actually be effective! You should only be able to do 8-12 repetitions before you feel like you couldn’t possible do another repetition with good form. This is called temporary muscle fatigue. You should do 8-12 reps then rest for a few minutes before doing 8-12 more. Each 8-12 reps is called a set, and you should be doing 2-3 sets of each exercise.
Make sure you are keeping your workout balanced. If you work only your abs, you’re going to feel a bit off balance and that is because you are. Work opposing muscles. If you work your back, make sure to build your chest and abs too, biceps and triceps… you get the point!


Now, I know that this all sounds really complicated. But it’s really not. You only have to strength train 2-3 days per week to reap the full benefits of strength training, and you only have to do about 6 different exercises each workout. So pick an exercise for your arms, shoulders, chest, back, core, and legs, and you’re set! That’s it, that’s all there is to it. Just be sure to change your workout every few weeks so you don’t get bored!

One last point… strength training combined with proper eating and a bit of cardio can really help to give you that toned and tightened look. Drop just one of these variables, and you can probably still look slim and trim… but all three of these combined can give you that body you’ve always wanted!

Lesson 7: More than Food

Your body needs more than just great nutrition. It also needs plenty of water. I was at dinner with a friend of mine the other day and it came up in conversation that the iced tea she was drinking was the only thing she had had to drink since her morning coffee! It got me wondering how many others don’t get enough water either, or perhaps aren’t even aware of how important water is to your body. Let me share about water’s importance.

Your body is made up of 55-60 percent water (there are differences depending on sex and age). Your body is also unable to store water, and so your body’s water content must be refueled each day. Without enough water each day, your insides become sludge! Well, maybe not exactly sludge, but your body needs a way to clear itself of toxins. Water is the way that our body cleans up any toxins present that we don’t need. Try washing your car without water… you wouldn’t be very successful would you.

Most people’s bodies tell them that they are thirsty and to drink some water. However, a lot of people mistake thirst for hunger and eat instead. Think about that for a moment… If your body is thirsty and you eat instead, your giving your body a small amount of water (you get some of your water from food), but not exactly what it is asking for. If your body thinks the only way to get an adequate supply of water is through food, it’s going to ask you to eat a lot more food that you actually need. That leads to excess calories which lead to excess fat, and fat is made up of 14 percent water… so your body will end up needing MORE water than it did before. See the endless cycle?

Back to water in food… Yes, your body gets some of its water from food. The better quality the food, the more water it contains. Obviously, a fresh salad is going to have way more water in it than a taco salad from some fast food restaurant! So, while you may have changed your diet to include more healthy foods, it’s not enough. In order to beat the cycle of eating too much and gaining weight, you need to drink water too.

Most people need about 8 cups of water per day to replenish their body’s supply. That’s actually not as much water as you may think. The 8 cups are actual measuring cups sized, and the glasses that most of us use at home hold two cups. So, get out your measuring cups that you purchased last week and see how many cups your favorite glass holds. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to get your 8 cups per day, and to keep your body healthy, (relatively) toxin free, and not screaming at you to eat more food than you actually need.

Lesson 6: (Serving) Size Matters

If you’re fat like me, chances are you don’t know what an actual service size of anything looks like. You probably eat your cereal out of a soup bowl and fill it up to the rim just like I used to do, and then top it off with as much milk will fit. Did you know that that one bowl is most likely two servings of cereal, and two or three servings of milk? For even the lowest calories cereal and milk that amounts to 500 calories!

Serving size matters, especially if you want to lose the weight and keep it off for good. Your homework this week is to purchase a set of measuring cups/spoons and a food scale, and then use them for every meal. Also, it’s not enough to read the side of the box for the number of calories if you don’t pay attention to the serving size, or the number of servings per package. Did you know that some candy bar manufactures list one candy bar as two servings? Well, they do. And they do this so that the people who pay attention to calories and completely skip over the serving size will be fooled into thinking they’re not eating too many calories.

So, time to start really paying attention to what you’re putting into your mouth. I know that counting calories and measuring everything is a lot of work… I’ve been there. But you don’t need to do it forever. You only need to do it long enough to get familiar enough with what serving sizes should look like to eyeball them without the measuring cups and scale. Once you are comfortable enough with serving sized you can try to eyeball things without measuring, and if you discover that you have stopped losing weight, you can go back to measuring to make sure you haven’t forgotten what serving sizes look like.

You’ll need measuring cups and spoons for things like milk, cereal, butter, sugar, vegetables, cheese, pasta etc, and you’ll need the food scale for fish, beef, poultry, and some vegetables etc. So, go to the store today or tomorrow, and get yourself the tools you need to lose the weight. Don’t procrastinate… each day you procrastinate is a day you are missing out on being thin.

Lesson 5: When to Eat

You’re already aware that food is your body’s fuel, and just like a car, your body needs to be refueled at regular intervals. Think about it like your weekly commute and gas bill. You know that your commute is the same length every day, just like your BMR is the same every day. You also know that after so many days commuting you’ll need to put more fuel in your car to keep it going. You probably have a set routine for the days that you refuel your car. Your body needs the same type of routine.

Before we talk more about when you eat, let’s talk about the number of meals and which meals you need to eat. A lot of people skip breakfast with the excuse that they’re just not hungry. Let me tell you why you’re not hungry. You’ve just gotten out of bed after sleeping for 6 or 8 hours.

When you sleep, your body slows its metabolism and goes into a resting state knowing that it will not be getting any food for at least the next 6-8 hours while you are sleeping. While you are sleeping, you are essentially fasting, and your body compensates for this fast in order to conserve calories and make sure that there are enough calories to maintain your basic bodily functions. Hunger is the signal your body sends you when it is running out of calories and needs more. If your body is in a resting state and conserving fuel, you won’t get a hunger signal for quite a while. When you wake up, your body is still in a resting state.

The signal for your body to come out of this resting state is breakfast, as it tells your body that the fast is over. So, in order to jump start your metabolism for the day, you need to eat breakfast. The longer you wait to eat after waking, the more time your body spends in this resting state not burning very many calories. So, get up and eat breakfast, and don’t skimp on the calories... this is the first fuel of the day and you have a whole day of fuel burning to come!

Now that you’ve gotten your breakfast in, you’ll need to space out your meals to keep your body fed. You’ll need more fuel at the beginning and middle of the day (when you’re working and using all that fuel), and less fuel towards the end of the day (when you’re winding down from the day and getting ready for bed). So, plan your meals accordingly. Here’s what my day usually looks like for my calorie requirements (your calorie requirements will be different):

6:45am Wake up
7:30am Breakfast 330 calories
12:00pm Lunch 300 calories
4:30pm Dinner 500 calories
9:00pm Snack 145 calories
11:00pm Bedtime

As you can see, I eat about every four and a half hours. I wouldn’t recommend eating any fewer meals than the 4 that I eat, and you can certainly eat more meals and refuel your body more often if you like. I’ve heard of people eating 6 meals a day. You’ll have to figure out what works best for your body. Once you get a plan in place, pay attention to your body. If you start to get hungry way before you’re due to eat your next meal, your body may require fuel more often that what you have planned. Try eating more meals with shorter intervals.