Sunday, April 26, 2009

5 easy ways to lose weight without killing yourself

I’ve always been overweight. It’s always bothered me, but I never figured I could do anything about it. It’s in my genes, I would say. I’ve tried as well as haven’t lost, I would say. It’s too hard. Maybe I’m just meant to be this way?

Then, about nine months ago, I decided to interrupt making excuses. I am proud to say that I have lost sixty pounds to date, and am still losing more. I am working my way to my ultimate goal of 100 pounds lost. Best of all, I’m still alive! I didn’t keel over on the treadmill with a face smeared with Slim Fast remains. I didn’t beat myself to death with the cardboard hardness of frozen diet dinners.

If you’re sick of reading about the celebrities who lose weight by spending four hours at a time in their personal million-dollar gym and their private trainers, then listen up. You don’t have to be rich, and you don’t have to kill yourself. Now, put down the Lean Cuisine and step away from the freezer.

1. Eat bigger lunches and smaller dinners
Most people eat their largest meal of the day at dinner time, for whatever reason. But if you have small meals throughout the day and then dump a ton of calories into your body at night, you give yourself no time to burn off that meal before heading to bed. (And no, watching Survivor after dinner does not burn calories!) If you eat your biggest meal at lunchtime, not only do you give your body ample time to burn those calories off, but you’re more full come dinner time, which results in—ta da!—smaller portions.

2. Give in to your cravings (in moderation!)
Ladies will be familiar with the “bad boy syndrome”—he’s bad, he’s forbidden, he will do horrible things to you and tick off your parents. Now think of your favorite candy bar (or fried food or baked good or whatever else's your guilty pleasure). It’s bad, it’s forbidden, it will do horrible things to you and tick off your hips. But, ooh, doesn’t that make you want it that much more? If that Harley-drivin’ hottie back in high school hadn’t been forbidden, you probably wouldn’t have thought of him more than once. So, take the chain and padlock off the cookie jar and start thinking of them differently. They’re not forbidden.

Giving in to your craving for the “bad food” will weaken its allure. If Snickers are your poison, then get a bag of fun-sized Snickers and keep them around for when an attack hits. Eat one. (No, not one bag, one fun-sized bar.) You will be far less probably to indulge in a King-sized bar later because you have already satisfied your craving and torn down your perception of it being bad and wrong.

3. Stay away from soda
Ever look at the nutritional facts for soda? If you haven’t, then I’m sorry to smash your delusion. Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew . . . they’re soaked with calories. Again, don’t think of them as forbidden. I had a severe addiction to Mountain Dew. Seriously, I would go through a 2 liter a day. Do you know how many calories are in a 20 ounce bottle of Dew? Almost 300! Now, if I feel like I need a Mountain Dew, I have a 12 ounce able to of it—far less calories, and I’ve satisfied my craving.

4. Count your calories
I never realized how bad my diet was until I started counting my calories. Every time I would put something in my body, I wrote it down in my food journal. At the end of the day, I would add up my calorie intake. I was shocked! I was eating frozen diet dinners and drinking diet sodas . . . how were my calories still so high?

You don’t add up calories in your head. It never works. You have to write them down. See what foods you eat the most of that are the worst, and find a healthy alternative. A normal diet consists of 2,000 calories a day, but if you’re trying to lose weight, you should ideally shoot for 1,200-1,500 calories a day. You will be surprised how quickly they add up. Once you can identify the problems, then it will be easier for you to find solutions.

5. Get shakin’!
You need exercise in several form, but again, don’t think you have to have Jessica Simpson’s home gym and trainer. Put on your ipod and dance crazily for 30 mins. Buy one of Carmen Electra’s strip tease exercise DVDs and surprise the hubby. Park at the very end of the Walmart parking lot and walk all the way up to the store. You don’t need fancy equipment to get exercise. Whatever isn’t sitting on the couch or at your desk is exercise.

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