Food Glorious Food

Its Spring Break at my house which means a lot of video games, Netflix, cleaning and making of videos to be posted on Youtube.  I also found time to get caught up on Drop Dead Diva and some reading!  My focus today though is to talk about food.  I have tried many diets or tricks to lose weight from eating half a grapefruit before every meal to eating cheese and salami all day long.  The diet change always resulted in about 10 lbs of weight loss in 2 weeks then nothing.  Finally from reading many books and attending a week at a Biggest Loser Resort I think I have figured a few things out.  I didn't have it all wrong before...I just didn't have it all right.

As soon as you say the word diet people cringe and with good reason, most of them don't work.  I have read a lot by Michael Pollan, especially his book 'In Defense of Food', and I was trying to apply what I had learned to my 'diet'.  He says many insightful things about food, like that if our great grandparents don't recognize it then we shouldn't eat it.  All of the processed food that has been introduced over the past 50 years is causing us to be fat and sick.  He also said to eat mostly plants and not too much.  Not only does the average American eat a lot of processed food we eat too much meat.  A serving size is 4-6 ounces but most Americans consume twice that amount 2-3 times a day.  These extra calories turn to fat and make our kidneys work harder than they have to.  So the first thing I figured out was that we have been deceived into thinking more is more and a better deal, but it really is less is more and will be a better deal in the long run.

Once I wrapped my head around what a healthy and normal serving size was, I tackled when I ate.  I am a classic overachieving busy mom and sometimes I would skip breakfast or I would not eat all day until dinner or, my favorite, drink coffee all day long.  Its called break-fast for a reason...you are breaking the fast you were on while sleeping for 7-8 hours and your body needs food to restart your metabolism.  I also learned that while a banana has lots of good things like potassium and vitamin C it will raise your blood sugar if eaten alone, so I needed to add protein to my morning meal.  Eggs, oatmeal or peanut butter are all good sources of protein.  Its also important to have good carbs in the morning and at lunch, like whole grain breads or pasta.  I have Dave's Killer spelt bread toast with all natural peanut butter, a banana and a cup of coffee every morning.  I am satisfied and ready for my day after that.  So remember to eat a good breakfast:)

Maybe you are wondering what kind of progress I have made and I am not afraid to share the details because hiding the facts is what got us into this mess in the first place, right?  I weighed 272.3 lbs on December 15th, 2013.  This was officially the most I have ever weighed in my life.  I seemed to gain about 20-30 permanent pounds with each pregnancy and a nice 20 was added after my knee surgery in 2000.  I tried several diets and trainers and once I even lost 60 lbs just to get pregnant again.  I have always played soccer, gone jogging and even paid for a personal trainer at the gym, but nothing seemed to be the right combination until now.  I have lost 28.5 lbs since that day in December and I lose 1-2 lbs each week.  I was a size 20 and now I can squeeze into a few 16's.  My journey is far from over and I'm sure there will be roadblocks and potholes to get around and over as I continue on.

I have a lot more to tell you about food, exercise and small changes I have made to my life that I know will keep me going in the right direction.  Stay tuned and you can hear all about it and together we can help other busy moms reach their goals!  Moms move mountains and sometimes they are covered in bad dieting advice:)