Author: Cheryl
•11:53 AM

When I lost my weight, I must have gotten asked at work a hundred times "What is your secret?" This would annoy me to no end. I know they were looking for me to give them some pill or shake that would just knock off all of their weight. So when I told them I lost it the "good old fashioned way", by diet and exercise, they would give me a look of disappointment and then half heartily say "Well good for you".

Alot of people just don't want to do the work to lose and keep off the weight. Well here is my secret "THERE IS NO OTHER WAY, GET OVER IT". Sorry, had to get that off my chest. But I do have some tips that may seem simple but really have been the key to me losing and keeping off the weight and I really feel would help others.

Exercise - You must and I repeat, you must find a form of exercise that you like or can very much tolerate. If you despise running on a treadmill with a passion, don't make that your exercise. If you love to play basketball, play it, and play it several days a week. The only way you are going to keep the interest is if you do some form of exercise that at least slightly entertains you. I don't like playing sports for exercise. I actually like jogging and going on machines to work out. However if I go out jogging I must have my Ipod on and if I go on a machine I must have a TV to watch. Having a DVD player with your TV and a nice collection of your favorite shows and movies makes that 15 minutes, 30 minutes or 45 minutes of exercise fly by. Staring at a wall while you are on a treadmill will make it feel like days.

Diet - Finding foods that are good for you and low in crap but fill you up. Most people as soon as they go on a diet, and I hate that word, cut out everything they normally eat and just eat salads and yogurts. Then they are hungry 10 minutes later. This isn't going to work and isn't going to last. I know now from doing this for a long time what fills me and satisfies me and what doesn't. I will not bring a salad to work for lunch, cause my 3pm I will be gnawing on my desk. So you are going to have to try some things until you find a nice repertoire that works for you.

Some of my foods that really fill me up.

Breakfasts - I love to have Carnation Instant Breakfast, frozen bananas and skim milk in the blender to make a frosty and creamy shake.

Snacks - my mid-morning snack is usually a yogurt (that does work for me), or a cereal bar. Curves makes a great strawberries and cream bar that really satisfies me.

Lunch - A Boca Burger (see picture) with fat free cheese, lettuce, tomato on a wheat hamburger bun.
Big bowl of brown rice, with low fat butter and soy sauce
Egg whites with cheese and tomatoes
Italian Wedding soup with toast

Mid Afternoon Snack - a ziplock bag of dry cereal
Banana and granola bar

Dinner - Dinner, I actually have whatever we are just making that day. But I only have one dish of it, no seconds. I work out 6 days a week so I have my metabolism up enough to not have to deprive myself of what I want for dinner.

Dessert - I am the Queen Of Sugar. I'm serious. I don't do drugs and I rarely drink anymore, so sugar is my vice and one of the loves of my life. I have to have a dessert at the end of the day or I will slowly lose my mind before going to bed. My favorite dessert is ice cream. Breyers, Edy's, Turkey Hill (the local ice creams in my are) all make Slow Churned Light ice creams now. And take it from someone who has tried her fair share of light ice creams and hated them, these new ones are fantastic. They have half the fat and calories of regular ice cream and taste great. They key with light ice creams is to not overindulge on them or you are just doing the same damage as eating the regular stuff. So to combat this I always eat my ice cream on a cone instead of a bowl. It keeps your portions down and the cone fills you up too.

And drinks lots of water.
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1 comments:

On November 16, 2008 at 7:03 PM , Billy and Maggie said...

Awesome tips girl! Your right..there is no getting around the fact that there must be some form or another of excersize.