This is what works for me

Last week, I posted the Dunkin’ Donuts flatbread I had while driving down to DC, which inspired the following conversation with my friend. To be honest, I took it a little personally at first. Here I am posting everything I eat, I’ve lost 43 pounds, and someone’s basically still calling me unhealthy? WTF, right?

This morning, I read mday’s post about plateauing, and I offered her a little bit of advice. I was thinking about what I could tell her, and I realized (okay, this may be a duh! moment) that it’s totally different for everyone.

For me, spinach feta wraps and Pump bowls and a lot of exercise works, but for someone else, that still might not be enough to kick up their metabolism. Consider this my disclaimer going forward: what you read on this blog is what I’m doing, what I’m learning and what has worked for me. Feel free to try it. If it works for you, awesome! If not, I guarantee you there’s something else out there that works for you. The one thing I’d say: (and this is coming from a magazine journalist) – don’t put too much stock in what you read in magazines. Bottom line: those clever coverlines are to get you to pick up the magazine.

If you can afford it, get a trainer and a nutritionist. If not, at least ask the floating trainers at you gym what you can do, or take group classes. You don’t belong to a gym? Buy some weights. Download some workouts for your iPod. Run. Just move! You’ll burn more calories working out than not working out. So you can’t run a mile now? That’s okay. Start out walking. You’ll get to running, I promise. Take things one step at a time. I started out with 15 minutes of intervals on the treadmill in February. Next weekend, I’m running a half-marathon!

Find a nutritionist’s blog to follow or join some sort of online weight-loss community. Keep yourself accountable. You don’t have to take photos of everything you eat, but record it somehow, somewhere. Online, in your BlackBerry/iPhone, on the back of a receipt.

Ask yourself if your meals are balanced. Did your body really need that [fill in vice here]? Was it worth it? If you “slip up,” just start eating healthy again at the next meal. Don’t think that if you “messed up” once, that the whole day is shot. It will be if you keep eating like that. It won’t be if you get on track next meal.

It’s not a diet, it’s a way of life. Diets fail because you restrict yourself too much. Rather, adopt a healthy lifestyle and occasionally indulge in your favorite treats. I promise, after you’ve been giving eating healthily a solid try for awhile, the cravings for the bad stuff are less frequent. And when you do indulge, the bad stuff really isn’t as good as it used to be.

YOU.CAN.DO.IT!

8 comments on “This is what works for me

  1. smjones1023@yahoo.com

    Raisin bran, really? It’s a cereal, it’s a carb, it’s processed. Not that there’s anything WRONG with eating it, but you’d think that someone who considers raisin bran to be incredibly healthy wouldn’t also consider a flatwrap to be incredibly healthy. It’s like someone from the University of Minnesota dissing the University of Iowa–they’re both about the same.

    Reply
  2. Anna

    I just found your blog – and I must say you’re a role model! I’ve lost 40 pounds myself and hope to lose 40 more (I’m a big girl 😉 ) I will definitely have a look around your blog some more 🙂
    In January I’ve even started my own blog to inspire other and inspire myself along the way. I hope to be as inspiring as you one day!

    Anna
    http://tomorrowiwillbesexy.blogspot.de/

    Reply
  3. Abby

    Just found your blog while googling diet blogs. I love reading about what people are trying to do to lose weight! It would be so boring to read that every single person ate broccoli and boneless skinless chicken breasts each day.

    That facebook friend of yours is a jerk. My cousin is always Facebook talking about eating whole foods and how diet sodas are the devil and if you don’t have a juicer, your life is not worth living. Yet, I’ve seen her at family functions eating doritos right out of the bag. Do I call her on it? No, even though if you ask me she deserves it for constantly telling me I’m going to get brain cancer from diet coke. I don’t call her out on that because I am not the Food Police, and what she eats or doesn’t eat is not my business.
    Certainly, I don’t criticize other people’s diets under the guise of “admiring” them.

    Reply
  4. Jasmine

    Great Blog, very motivating!!

    Have you ever looked at or tried Isagenix? Some people in my gym are getting amazing results from it.

    I love that you dont call other people on their diets or lack of – I think all foods are good for the body, its just too much of some that equals weight gain.

    Awesome results and well done, you look amazing : )

    http://jasminemccormick.isagenix.com

    Reply

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