You’ve decided to live a healthy and fit lifestyle and realize that you’re going to need to drop a few pounds to do so. Whether you have 15 pounds to lose or one hundred, you know you want to see some progress in the next few months. You can do this; you can be on your way toward your target weight within the next three months if you follow this plan I have outlined in previous posts and will tweak just a little in the next few paragraphs.
Am I too old to get back in shape?
I shared with you all that I packed on a few pounds over the holidays and wanted to get back on track. I set my intentions on New Year’s day to Live a Healthy and Fit lifestyle because I want to be active as long as I live. My grandfather lived to be a 105 years old so at 58, I am barely half way there. I don’t buy into the lies that you are slowing down because you are aging. Yes getting older makes things a little more difficult but be honest with yourself. You are slowly down because you are letting yourself get out of shape and eating like crap. We are going to talk a lot about longevity and my thoughts on aging in future posts but for now lets get started on your plan to lose that extra weight whether your 40 or 80.
What is the simplest way to lose weight?
Losing weight is easy and don’t let anyone with a fancy diet to sell you or crazy meal replacements to push on you tell you otherwise. I am not against you trying any diet you like and I certainly wouldn’t tell you not to buy a meal replacement. I actually drink Juice Plus Complete Protein Shakes for breakfast at least three times a week and I sell them. This isn’t a sales pitch, I am just saying they are not the reason you are going to lose weight. You are going to lose weight because you are going to burn more calories than you consume. Period.
So in a previous post you set your target weight and figured out how many calories you need to eat every day to maintain that weight. You need to know this number because as you start dropping weight you need to know how much food you are going to have to eat everyday to maintain that weight. You don’t want to be too thin and you don’t want to start gaining back the weight you just lost. You want to be just right and this how you are going to do it.
What Should I Eat Every Day to Lose Weight?
Some of you have asked me to tell you what to eat and when because you are tired of deciding every day what to eat. You dread the question, “What’s for dinner?” My question is, “Why don’t you already know what’s for dinner?” How often do you ask yourself, “What should I feed my dog for dinner tonight?” Or your cat or your fish or whatever pet you have. You already know what they are having, don’t you? The same thing they had yesterday.
I have posted before about designing your basic meal plan. My grandfather, the one who lived to be 105 years old, ate a bowl of oatmeal every morning for breakfast. You don’t have to make this hard. Oatmeal for breakfast, a salad for lunch, a piece of meat and a steamed vegetable for dinner. Grapes and cheese for snacks, and dark chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert. That is more variety than most people give their dogs. So enjoy!
Once you have a basic plan, you will always know what’s for dinner. When you get bored and want to mix it up, then you can mix it up. You can mix it up once or if you find something else you like better than oatmeal, say a Juice Plus Complete Chocolate/Banana protein shake, you can change out the oatmeal on your basic meal plan for your shake.
Why should I write down every thing I consume each day?
In my plan, I decided I am going to try to eat 1300 calories per day: 300 calories for Breakfast, 300 calories for lunch, and 400 calories for dinner. That leaves 300 calories to divide up for nutritious snacks or extra meal calories throughout the day. I am going to eat all my calories between the hours of 9am and 6pm.
Oh and I only drink water, diffused water, or unsweetened teas so I don’t have to allot any of my calories for beverages. I highly suggest you do the same but if you’re not there yet you are going to have swap out your snack calories for any liquid calories you consume. Quickly you are going to find out why you haven’t reached your target weight yet.
How to budget calories and make better food choices?
Today I made a chop salad for lunch. I measured out everything I put in it and wrote it in my food journal. I looked at the calories on each item as I put it in the salad bowl and tried to stay around 400 calories. I decided to combine 300 calories for lunch and the 100 morning snack calories for a bigger salad.
Here’s what my Salad consisted of:
- 3 Cups of A Mix of Lettuce from my tower garden
- 2 Slices of Bacon
- 1/3 cup of Craisons
- 1/4 Cup of Pecans
- 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil Raspberry Vinaigrette
Immediately after lunch I wrote down each ingredient and it’s calorie count (which I googled on my phone), and realized this salad was 515 calories! I had no idea Pecans had that many calories. Salad fixings can add up quick even without the croutons. So that is okay. This gives me a place to start as I plan to make a better salad tomorrow.
How to turn a 500 calorie meal into 300 calories and get to eat more food
My goal is a 300 calorie salad so I took the time as I wrote this in my journal to plan a better salad for tomorrow.
Here is what I came up with:
- 3 Cups of mixed lettuce from the tower garden is 15 calories… keep
- 2 slices of bacon was 100 calories, swap for 2 slices of turkey bacon… 70 calories
- 1/3 cup of craisons was 130 calories, swap for 1 cup of fresh grapes only 62 calories
- 1/4 cup of pecans was 200 calories, swap for 1/4 cup of cashews only 157 calories
- 2 tbsp of Kraft Olive Oil Raspberry Vinaigrette was 70 calories, swap for 2 tbsp of Skinny Girl Raspberry Vinaigreete only 5 calories.
So with a little planning I just turned a 515 calorie salad into a 309 calorie salad and get to eat just as much for lunch and stay well within my target calorie count for that meal. And I save the 100 calories for a nutritious afternoon snack and remain on track for my target weight goal. Isn’t this fun!?!
The key to weight loss is planning
I hope you realized that the key to my weight loss plan is planning and recording. Just grab yourself a spiral notebook on page 1 write down your target weight and the calories you need to maintain that weight. Write down your current weight and the calories you need to maintain that weight. If you only need to lose 15# us your target weight to determine the calories you need to maintain that weight and subtract 500 calories to lose 1# per week. If you need to lose more than 15#, use your current weight’s maintenance calories less 500 calories. You will adjust this every 30 days as you reach a new weight.
As you approach your ideal weight you will begin to add calories to your meal plan until you reach the calories needed to maintain your ideal weight. This will be your new healthy and fit lifestyle eating plan.
When is the best time to eat?
Studies indicate that eating before 6pm is correlated to improved health outcomes. Not eating after 6pm is correlated to less junk food cravings. Decide when throughout the day you are going to eat and spread out your calories among three meals and three snacks before 6pm. Don’t consume large quantities at anyone sitting. This trains your body to expect smaller portions and your mind to feel satiated at each meal.
On page two of your journal write down your basic meal plan. This is your go to plan when you don’t feel like planning special food or thinking about what you are going to eat. You already know.
On the next page write down the date and every thing you eat that day. Figure out the calories for every bite and every liquid you consume. It’s just like a spending budget; did you spend more than you planned? Where can you make adjustments? What are you willing to give up and what do you really want to keep? If you keep a treat, where do you need to shave off some calories to keep it. How can you pack more nutrition into the calories you are spending?
Losing weight is not complicated
You can lose weight and it is not that complicated. It is a matter of choosing to stick to your plan every day. It doesn’t mean giving up everything you like. It means making choices of what is worth it to you to keep and what isn’t worth it. It means wanting to lose the extra weight bad enough to give up the things that are keeping you from that goal.
If you choose to go over your calorie count, you choose not to lose weight that day. Period. If your goal is 1 pound per week for 15 weeks or 15 pounds by the end of April, and you choose to eat over your calorie limit one day, just make that 15 weeks and 1 day to your target date. Every day you choose to eat over, you don’t lose a pound and you push your target date out a day. You might increase your activity level and be extra hungry and a few extra calories won’t throw you off. But the easiest way to think about it is eating on target and eating off target. Your choice.
I love this plan because I have already seen a few pounds come off this year. I know part of that is drinking my water and cutting back on the sweets. But I know this plan works to shed pounds, I’ve lost 20 pounds doing it. I know this plan works to not only shed pounds but help you design a plan that will help you maintain your target weight and live a healthy and fit lifestyle.