October 7th, 2005

Declaration #1: There is NO way I could have come this far without Weight Watchers. I didn't go to meetings, I just did it online, but learning the Points system was the number one catalyst in starting and keeping me on the right track. I finally was forced to be AWARE of everything I was putting in my mouth, and what percentage of my daily calorie/fat intake it was. I learned that I could still eat sweets, I just had to choose low-fat sweets. I learned that I could still eat salty snacks, I just had to choose low-fat snacks. I learned that I could still eat whatever I wanted and however much I wanted, I just had to make good choices and balance. Weight Watchers is not a diet. It's a way of re-training yourself to live a healthier lifestyle.

Declaration #2: You do NOT have to exercise in order to lose weight. Now, don't get me wrong. Exercise is very, very good for you and it certainly helps. But there are some people who really still think, "If I don't exercise regularly, I won't lose weight," and so therefore they give up or don't try. Diet is 80% of weight loss. If you want to lose weight, you MUST start with your diet. You can exercise for two or three hours a day but if you have bad eating habits, you won't see much of a change. I have read this and I also know from personal experience. There have been several periods of time over the last few years when I wasn't able to exercise at all for weeks, but I made no changes in my healthy eating habits, and I lost weight at the same rate - 1 to 2 pounds a week - as I did when I was exercising regularly. I believe that people who start to lose weight based upon better eating habits will gain the motivation to exercise. I did. I work out four or five times a week now, because I have the energy, and I like how it's toning and strengthening my body. I usually do the "weight loss" interval program on the elliptical for 30 minutes and then do about 20 minutes of weight training. I alternate upper body and lower body each session and do two sets of 15 reps on each machine. When I was heavier, I would do an hour on the elliptical. My husband had told me he had learned that if you really want to lose a lot of weight, do an hour of cardio. It worked. I did that for about two and a half months (along with the diet, of course) and lost 20 pounds.

And...THE LIST.
I am NOT dieting. I have made permanent changes in my eating habits. These did not happen all at once but gradually, over the course of time, and each is really pretty small, so they weren't hard changes to make. In fact, I was actually shocked the first time I wrote the list out at just how many things there were, but when you see them all together, it is obvious how small differences add up to major changes.

1. No more butter: I steam veggies in water and use lemon on seafood.
2. No more nuts or peanut butter: too fattening, even the "natural" kind.
3. No more mayonnaise: I use mustard on sandwiches.
4. No more white bread or bagels: I eat whole wheat.
5. Very little red meat: I choose fish, chicken, turkey, turkey burgers.
6. No more regular ice cream: I eat the low-fat or fat-free options at Baskin-Robbins or from the grocery store, or the frozen Weight Watchers desserts.
7. No more "real" cake, cookies, brownies, etc.: Nabisco has great 100-calorie packs of cookies, and "No Pudge" makes a fantastic fat-free brownie mix.
8. No more "real" candy: I love the Slim Fast Optima snack bars.
9. Lots and lots of salad, but no regular salad dressings: way too much fat in most. I choose low-fat dressings.
10. I don't eat pasta a lot, but when I do, no regular pasta: I choose wheat pasta.
11. No more cream sauces: I eat red sauces.
12. No more soup: too fattening and too much sodium.
13. NO more fast food. Period. If I need to grab food on the go, I'll get a deli sandwich (see wheat bread & no mayonnaise, above!) or a prepackaged salad.
14. No more regular frozen lunches/dinners: I buy Lean Cuisine or WW Smart Ones.
15. No more eating or drinking anything but water after dinner. (One Thursday a while back when I was afraid I was going to have a gain on my Friday weigh-in, I made the effort to do that and I lost two pounds. I started doing it every Thursday night and then realized - epiphany! - if it worked the night before weigh-in, it would probably be even better to make it an everyday habit.)
16. Nothing to drink but water, skim milk and the occasional Diet Coke. I used to drink almost nothing but Diet Coke; now I'm down to about 4 or 5 a week. ABSOLUTELY no regular soda, Gatorade, or fruit juice. Way too much sugar.
17. Healthy cereals (low fat, high fiber) with skim milk for breakfast. My current favorites are Honey Nut Cheerios and Kelloggs Tiger Power.
18. I try to incorporate fruit into my diet. I NEVER used to eat fruit. Now on the mornings I get up early to work out, I'll have a banana first. Some days for a snack I will have some raisins or an apple or orange. I'm trying.
19. No more chips or regular crackers: I eat pretzels, low fat popcorn, Kashi TLC crackers or low fat Wheat Thins, or Baked Lay's chips.
20. While I do still love to eat a lot, I have definitely lowered portion sizes. I don't go back for seconds. I eat smaller snacks; I will read the box/bag and stick to a serving size, or even eat half a serving size and then have the other half for another snack later.
21. No more regular pizza. I like the California Pizza Kitchen thin-crust pizzas (they have them frozen now too).

So there you have it. Nothing amazing or magical about it. And of course nothing is 100%. Once in a while I'll "splurge" on something, sure. The key is that I don't splurge all day every day, or even once every day.

Last thought of the day: Start with ONE step at a time. Not even one day, just one meal. Eat healthy for one meal and you will feel a sense of accomplishment. You did it once, you can do it again. And again. Suddenly you got through the whole day. You can do another day. Just try it for a week - anyone can do it for just a week - and check your weight. As soon as you see that number go down, you'll realize you can do it for another week. After three weeks, 21 days, it will have become habit, and you will have overcome the hardest part.

by: Kate, Friday, December 16, 2005 7:13 AM