How I Did It

I know, I promised I wouldn't write any more weight-loss posts. Sorry! I won't be offended if you skip this one if you find the topic boring. People are still asking me how I did it. One friend wanted lots of specifics. She wanted me to write it out to send to an out-of-town friend of hers who wants to lose a lot of weight. So I wrote out everything I could think of. I thought I would post it in case anyone else would like to hear my experience. (Writing it out has also helped me feel more motivated to keep it up!)

Commitment and Motivation

Okay. The first thing you must do is make a commitment that you're ready to do this, you really want to do this, and you mean it. I had to think of it as my "full-time hobby," otherwise I just wouldn't have had the drive. Until you're in that mindset (it may take a few false starts), it will be too easy to just give up when it all just seems like too much. Find something that motivates you. Here were my motivators when I started my weight-loss journey in Sept. 2005:

1. Diabetes and heart disease run in my family. If I don't do something now, it will surely happen to me. Not only will this keep my quality of life infinitely better, but think of all the money I'll save on drugs and insulin needles!

2. We want to take a vacation to Europe in the summer of 2007. My feet are always killing me after standing around for only 20-30 minutes, and 5 miles of walking wipes me out for the rest of the day. If I don't get in better shape, how much am I going to enjoy this vacation?

3. I poop out so easily, needing a lot of caffeine and a nap to get through most days. Caffeine doesn't even help after a certain point. I'm not that old. I should have more energy at this age (40). It's only going to get worse if I don't do something.

Starting Out

These were enough to motivate me to start. On starting: don't try to change everything at once! It will be overwhelming and too hard. I had a lot of ingrained bad habits. It's too much to expect to eliminate all of them, plus add 5 new good habits all at the same time. I changed one habit per week at first. Here's what I did:

Week 1: Start walking 3 miles per day, 5 days a week. (This was not too much for me, but your mileage may vary. Find a distance that doesn't kill you at first, even if it's only 5 or 10 minutes a day, then add a minute every few times). I didn't change anything else this first week.

Week 2: Time to stop my worst eating habit, candy abuse. ( I was eating like a pound a day, I kid you not!) When all the candy in the house ran out, I didn't buy more. I wasn't ready for portion control or counting calories or anything like that. So I found something else to fill that niche, such as homemade banana bread or cold cereal that I really liked that wasn't "health-foody" but also not junky sweet cereal (rice chex, kix, etc.) I still ate a lot more than I needed, but it was real food with some nutritional value. Strangely enough, it took a lot less food for me to feel like I'd had enough, probably due to less dramatic blood sugar swings.

Week 3: Now I was ready to change the kind of food I was eating. I felt like I had already lost at least some water weight just from dropping the candy, and my stomach seemed to have "shrunk," so I was satisfied with eating less volume. Here's something that made it much easier to feel satisfied while eating less: go for foods with a "high satiety" factor--in other words, foods high in water and/or especially fiber. A sandwich on 12-grain bread is more filling than the same sandwich on white, for instance. Frozen berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries) are available year-round, taste like dessert and are full of fiber. I am a Mexican-food freak and happen to love refried beans (9 grams of fiber per serving). I mean really love them. Like I could eat them every day for a year and never get sick of them. Find high-fiber foods that you love and eat them often! Go for some protein with every meal, too. It gives you energy and helps keep your blood sugar level stable so you are less likely to be starving 1-2 hours later. Drink a lot of water, more than you think you want. Sometimes when you think you're hungry, you're just dehydrated. I hate the taste of tap water, so we get reverse-osmosis filtered water from the food co-op. I carry a Nalgene water bottle with me all day (no leaks, no plastic-y taste, dishwasher safe and they look cool). If you drink soft drinks, switch to diet. At first it tastes nasty but you will get used to it and prefer it eventually, I promise. Non-diet pop is a waste of calories (150 per 12-oz can and no satiety whatsoever). Also, I would recommend sparkling flavored water like La Croix. By the way, during this 3rd week I still was not watching portions or counting calories.

Week 4: I weighed myself for the first time in 2 years and wrote down my starting weight and measurements (bust, waist, hips). Yes, they were big (for me), 184 pounds and size 18W/20 Misses. I was ready to start losing now. I took my measurements once a week. It was motivating for me over the months to see measurable progress and see how far I'd come. I picked a measurement goal, a 30" waist. (This was an 8" loss, which I did achieve.) I didn't care what the weight would be at that size, it's the circumference that counts. I picked that size because it is the size I was between ages 16-27, back when I didn't have to think about what I ate, so I knew it was a healthy size for me and something sustainable.

Still walking 5 days a week, I started adding exercise videos on Tuesday, Thursday, and one weekend day per week. I knew this would work for me because years ago I did exercise videos 6 days a week and kept it up for seven years. I kept some of my old videos and dug out my most beginner-level ones, Firm Basics Fat-Burning Workout and Firm Basics Sculpting With Weights. I used to do these when I needed a "light" day but now they really pushed me even when I used really light weights, modified some of the moves, and didn't do all the repetitions. Gotta start somewhere, though. And weight (strength) training is essential when losing weight. Dieting with aerobic exercise alone you will lose lean muscle mass as well as fat, which lowers your metabolism. You will plateau, gain it all back, and a higher percentage of it will be fat weight, making it even harder to lose.

Week 5: Now I was finally ready to start working on portion control. One mistake many dieters, especially women, make is to cut calories back too much. This will make your body conserve calories because it thingks there is a famine, lowering your metabolism, exactly the thing you don't want. Besides, suffering and misery from trying to live on 1200 calories a day certainly won't help and aren't necessary. Find a calorie caculator that tells you how much you need to eat to maintain your current weight. Here's one I used below.* According to it, I needed 2765-3118 calories a day just to stay at 184 with light to moderate activity. To lose 1-2 pounds a week, I needed to lower that figure by 500-1000 calories. That still left me with about 2000 calories, which for me was plenty to make me feel satisfied but only if I ate mostly nutrient-dense, high-satiety food. This means mostly less-processed or whole foods, not "diet" food. A piece of whole-grain bread dipped in olive oil is a better choice than a white fat-free bagel with fat-free cream cheese, for example. I did (and do) allow myself one "fake food" indulgence--1 can of Diet Cherry Coke a day. Moderation works. Other things I allowed myself: Up to 20% of my calories could be indulgences. Every day I had 1 single slice of extra sharp New York cheddar cheese, (with an apple, in my homemade burrito, etc.) I replaced my candy with high-fiber granola bars. (I recommend the All-Bran ones--I don't like their cereal but their granola bars taste excellent!) I had one or two every day. This eliminated the "I'm feeling deprived" problem, and encouraged me to only eat goodies that were "worth it" as far as calories. If it's worth it, enjoy 1 small piece/serving and then stop. Also, I spread out my food to 5 small meals a day and a normal-size dinner. This meant eating something every 3-4 hours, even if it was just a piece of fruit and a hard-boiled egg. This worked for me and I was never starving.

A lot of people who've sucessfully lost weight and keep it off swear by keeping a food journal--writing down everything you eat and keeping track of calories. I've done it before and it works. But I didn't do it this time because it felt so anal and obsessive-compulsive. I did mentally tally calories, rounding to the nearest 50 or so, from breakfast until my last mini-meal before dinner, making sure it was in the 1000-1300 range. I would then eat dinner normally until I felt satisfied, making an effort to savor the food, not eat too fast, and pay attention to fullness cues. This allowed me to have a break from tracking calories and also re-educate my hunger and fullness signals so I wouldn't have to keep tracking calories like this forever.

Week 9 or 10 or so: I was ready to up the intensity of my video workouts. I bought all 12 of these, which are designed for those over 35 and combine a fusion of cardio, weights, pilates, and yoga. I highly recommend these--you can easily modify them for a range of fitness levels and you will not kill yourself overdoing it. In the old days, like 5-10 years ago, everybody thought if 3 days a week was good, 6 days a week was twice as good! But now we know that's not true. Recovery days are crucial! Muscle building happens when microscopic muscle fibers are torn and then have time to repair themselves, resulting in increased strength. If you keep pushing every day and don't allow any time for repair, they never get a chance to rebuild themselves and you won't get any results except pain and suffering. I still never do more than 3 weight-training workouts a week and get/better results than I did 10 years ago when I was doing it 6 times a week, and it's a lot less work and more fun! Moderation works, and that includes exercise. So at this time I was doing 4 videos a week, one of which was mostly yoga/pilates, and still walking 3 miles 5 days a week. Now that I was exercising more vigorously, I lost an average of 1.5 pounds a week and 1/4" a week on each of my measurements. I had more energy to do things like run up the stairs two at a time, etc. All of this just increased my metabolism, making it ever easier to lose the weight. I never had one single plateau or slowdown in weight loss, even when close to goal. Yeah, Christmas week, when we were out of town on vacation I maintained and didn't lose anything, but I expected that and counted it as a victory (no exercise, lots of meals out and sitting around, etc.).

Things That Kept Up My Motivation Along the Way

1. The feeling of beating the system. I didn't have to spend any money on the diet industry, for programs or special food. The junk food industry also was not being subsidized by me. I always felt that these two industries enable each other, as Americans diet more than ever yet are fatter than ever. I was opting out of the whole system! I also saved a lot of money on gas by walking so much (not supporting our addiction to foreign oil!) I will also save big money down the road by not having to pay enormous health care costs for all of those lifestyle-related illnesses I would have probably succumbed to.

2. Online resources. Here are two excellent free sites full of tools, articles, links, message boards, etc. that I found really helpful:
www.fitday.com
www.sparkpeople.com
www.vitalicious.com . This one is sort of diet-industry related, but I can't recommend these muffins enough, if you're like me and absolutely must have sweet treats every day for life to feel worth living. The only place you can buy them locally is Heinen's, in the frozen dessert section. I bought some of the deep chocolate ones there to try and they are excellent but pricey. If you know you will eat a lot of them regularly, I recommend buying them from this site--it's cheaper per serving in the long run, especially if you order at least 2 dozen at a time. I just love the chocolate ones, and will often sneak one into a movie theater instead of buying overpriced candy or popcorn.

3. Vanity. I started doing this for health reasons but the last 10 pounds were motivated purely by wanting to look my best and wanting to buy clothes from the regular stores again.

4. Support from family and friends. Tell your loved ones you are working on losing weight. If someone else you know is also trying, you can support each other. Some physical activities (hiking, games, etc.) are more fun with others.

That's all I can think of so far. Losing slowly/moderately (1-2 pounds per week) is best, so don't get discouraged if it seems to be taking forever. A good starting goal is 10% of starting weight. That alone will slash your health risks and make you feel so much better.

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*This is called the Harris-Bennedict formula. I pulled it from an e-book called Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle (by Tom Venuto). Once you figure out your calorie intake to maintain weight, you can then deduct a % of your cals. BMR=Basic Metabolic Rate

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)
Note: 1 inch = 2.54 centimeters 1 kilogram = 2.2 lbs.

Example:

You are male
You are 30 yrs old
You are 5' 8 " tall (172.7 cm)
You weigh 172 lbs. (78 kilos)
Your BMR = 66 + 1068 + 863.6 - 204 = 1793 calories/day

Once you know your BMR, you can calculate TDEE by multiplying your BMR by the following activity factor.

Activity factor

Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little or no exercise, desk job)
Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/wk)
Mod. active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/wk)
Very active = BMR X 1.725 (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
Extr. Active = BMR X 1.9 (hard daily exercise/sports & physical job or 2 X day training, marathon, football camp, contest, etc.)

Continuing with the previous example:

Your BMR is 1793 calories per day
Your activity level is moderately active (work out 3-4 times per week)
Your activity factor is 1.55
Your TDEE = 1.55 X 1793 = 2779 calories/day

Adjust your caloric intake according to your goal

Once you know your TDEE (maintenance level), the next step is to adjust your calories according to your primary goal. The mathematics of weight control are simple:

1) To keep your weight at its current level, you should remain at your daily caloric maintenance level.
2) To lose weight, you need to create a calorie deficit by reducing your calories slightly below your maintenance level (or keeping your calories the same and increasing your activity above your current level).
3) To gain lean body weight, you must increase your calories above your maintenance level (and engage in a program of progressive resistance training).

Reduce your calories by 15-20% below maintenance for optimal, safe fat loss

A more precise way to determine your correct calorie deficit would be to use a percentage deficit relative to your maintenance level. Reducing calories by 15-20% below maintenance level is a good place to start. A larger deficit (25-30%) might be necessary in some cases, but the best approach would be to keep your calorie deficit from diet small, while increasing your activity level to create a bigger deficit, if needed.

Remember, the larger of a deficit you create, the sooner your body will catch on that you are dieting and the sooner it will start slowing your rate of calorie burning.

Minus 500 method:

Your weight is 172 lbs.
Your TDEE is 2822 calories
Your calorie deficit to lose weight is 500 calories
Your optimal caloric intake for weight loss is 2822 - 500 = 2322 calories

Percentage method:

Your calorie deficit to lose weight is 20% (.20% X 2822 = 564 calories)
Your optimal caloric intake for weight loss = 2258 calories