I belong to a gym, but it's not curves, I also have 3+ kids and a nutty life. I also love to cook, which is a good thing because healthy living and dieting almost require home cooking. And as much as I love to cook, I love to eat even more. I too used to be exhausted by 4:00pm, but now that I've lost some weight and work out everyday, I'm more and more like the Energizer Bunny.
So far I've lost 53 pounds and basically what I'm doing is little things, but overall it's helping the whole family. A healthy mom = a healthy family. I chart my intake on fitday and the calories I burn working out. I don't chart all my activity, just the workouts, the rest is based on my lifestyle. My daily goal is to keep my intake around 1600 calories and my burn at right around 3000+. Most days I make that easily enough because I measure almost everything I eat and try very hard to stop at a serving size, I also start every morning with a 30-60 minute trot on the elliptical - before the kids get up.
I've switched the whole house over to whole grain 35 calorie/slice bread and whole grain pasta. This alone has taken 4 pounds off my somewhat chubby 8 year old DD. I've also committed to one veggie and one fruit in every lunch every day, across the board, even me and hubby. I keep a huge bowl of fruit in the middle of the kitchen island, and a full drawer of veggies in the refrigerator. For after school snacks, you can have a bit of junk if you eat a piece of fruit or have something whole grain or high protein first. So if you want a handful of cheesy puffs, you'd do well to eat an apple or a cup of yogurt before you ask mom to get the puffs down.
Cereal options in our house also tend to be healthier, but I've had to give in on the ones my 6 year old will eat. She's not a morning person and skinny as a broomstick, so we still have some sugar coated options. I also keep a stock of granola bars handy, for the crazy morning rush, breakfast is the most important meal of the day blah blah blah. I've stopped buying poptarts and toaster pastries, they have a lot of empty calories and I can eat a whole box without pausing to breathe.
In our house we use both skim milk and low-fat no sugar added soy milk. I try and keep the milk to like 80-90 calories per cup or less. I've changed over from sour cream to fat free Greek yogurt, which makes a dynamite veggie dip as well. I only buy low-fat cheese and fat free cottage cheese. I may in time change back to the low-fat versions, but at this point I'm still trying to lose. I also try and serve seafood twice a week, and not the breaded/deep fried/frozen out of a box kind.
For myself I try and do the following every day:
3 pieces of fruit, and none of them after dinner
6-10 servings of vegetables
1-2 servings of carbs that are whole grain and low-cal
3-4 servings of lean protein, at least 1 of them low-fat dairy
10-12 8oz glasses of water
log calories on fitday
30-60 minutes of workout.
carry a pedometer and hit 10,000 steps
It's taken me 4-5 months to get all that going, it didn't all happen in one day, and there are still some changes that I would like to make. I struggle with it some days more than others, but I'm committed to it for the long haul.
Last edited by almeeker; 03-23-2010 at 01:31 AM.
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I would like to lose about 40 - 50 pounds by Christmas - I've lost 7 lbs since January 20th. Also my 9year old son is very obese and I'm concerned for his health and his future - time to DO IT and not just keep saying we're going to do something about it. Thanks for your support
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