Let me begin by stating the facts.
On March 24th, 2012, I weighed 174lbs.
Today, June 23rd, 2015, I weigh 134 lbs.
I have steadily and solidly lost 40 lbs, hovering between 130 & 140 for the last 9 months.
Here is what I learned along the way:
1) Weigh yourself. Every day.
I don't care what 'everyone' else says. If you're not confronting the issue (issue: weight) daily, or better yet, avoiding the scale because you think it might be going the other way, then you're just shooting yourself in the foot. But let me clarify:
*1) Weigh yourself when you wake up. Every day.
Don't punish yourself by getting on the scale after a big meal, or drank a lot. That's water weight you'll see. Don't do it.
2) Buy yourself a kitchen counter scale.
When you're calorie counting, and using any of those awesome apps out there like MyFitnessPal, you're only cheating yourself when you use someone else's submission for the calories of a "Medium Apple". This drives me crazy. I don't know who did their calculations, or what a medium size apple is in their mind, but they are NEVER right (in my world, of medium apples).
100g of apple is roughly 50 calories. Well, 100g of an apple is also only HALF of the apple size that I buy (same size apples as all the others in the store...). So a 200g MEDIUM apple is 100 calories.
MyFitnessPal says 70.
That's a 30 calorie difference. And if you don't measure your creamer in your morning coffee, (getting to that, next!) then you could be adding another 30-50 calories without knowing it.
Long story, short (well, kind of), you could potentially be adding a sneaky 100 calories or so a day in your diet if you're not carefully measuring out your serving sizes on a kitchen scale, and tracking the calories per gram.
Sound tough? Weight loss is a science. Do the math!
Side note... if you 'scoffed' at the notion of 100 extra calories with a 'like-that-would-make-a-difference' attitude, then tell me this... Do you celebrate when you've burned an extra 100 calories at the gym?
That's what I thought.
3) Measure, measure, measure!
If you're not going to be super stingy on the weight/scale measurment of your food, the LEAST you can do is keep a tablespoon in your purse, and a few in your kitchen, so you can actually measure the serving sizes of your condiments (think salad dressings, mayo, etc.).
If you're not measuring your food, but you're measuring your waistline/weight, you're doing yourself a disservice. Don't cheat yourself like that!
While this may seem very cumbersome and time-intensive at first, you are teaching yourself a life long skill - you will be MUCH better at eye-balling a tablespoon, or estimating a cup in the future, when you've reached your goals! This will help to keep your weight in check - 'forever'! ;)
4) Skip breakfast & lunch once a month.
For all of those people out there who claim they have to eat 6 times a day, you're only setting yourself up with bad habits (what will you do that ONE day when your body says "eat!" - 6 times - and you're only surrounded by junk... my guess? You'll eat junk. 6 times).
Also, if you're set in the mode of constantly feeding yourself, you forget to actually pay attention to the signals your body is sending you.
Stop.
Are you hungry, or just feeding yourself because the "Clock told you to"? Our bodies have historically kept themselves a live for thousands and thousands of years. BEFORE the invention of the clock... (Lightbulb moment, anyone?!)
Once a month, wake up, drink your coffee/tea/lemon water, and just listen. Track it - write it down - what time does your stomach growl?
Become a scientist. Track your hunger. Look for patterns.
Oh, and skip lunch, too!
I can't promise it will be the same for you, but I was SHOCKED the first time I tried this (IF - Intermittent Fasting). My stomach growled around 10:30, the hunger lasted until 11, and then it didn't come back.
Eat a normal dinner, and pat yourself on the back for accomplishing something so many people claim they could 'never do'. Maybe even splurge and reward yourself with fro-yo! ;)
Another side note here: It is actually very mentally relaxing when you're dieting - to take a 10 hour break from worrying/counting/calculating your food intake. No questions of "What will I eat?" or "Do I have enough calories for that?" or "How long will I have to workout to burn this off?". It's like a mental break from dieting. Bask in the silence.
It's rejuvenating! :)
5) Substitute, substitute, substitute!
If you're following a diet plan that forces you to remove X from your food repertoire, then scour the internet for an X-free version of your favorite food.
I tried the low-carb thing twice before I finally got it right. The weight melted off in the first 2 weeks, but then I got real sick & tired of the same old food, and that little voice in the back of my head kept reminding myself of all of the food I COULDN'T eat. I never made it longer than a month.
Third time's a charm, right? Well, sort of. But I had to work at it. I had to find low carb versions of Mac & Cheese, waffles, cookies, etc. because while bacon and eggs for breakfast sounds pretty darn good, it gets pretty old after 3 weeks of bacon and eggs. Every day.
Don't deny yourself - just modify. **Warning! This miiiiiight mean you have to cook... No one ever said weight loss was easy, did they?!
Low carb helped me to super-charge my weightloss at the beginning, but I would never recommend that kind of dieting for long periods of time. Work the healthy carbs back in quickly, while skimming on some of the higher fat luxuries you got used to in the beginning. Like bacon for breakfast. Every day. Eat 1 egg, and 3 egg whites instead. It's not that the yolk is bad, but even too much of a good thing can turn trecherous.
Everything in moderation.
6) Burn calories.
But don't EVER eat something because you've told yourself "I'll just burn those calories off in the gym later".
Ok, realistically, we're all going to do that at some point in time. But believe me when I tell you:
It won't work.
99% of the time, even if you burned an extra 100 calories, you'll still see the scale increase. I don't know that there's a science to this - I think I'll just chalk this one up to karma. And she's a bitch.
Yet still, get to the gym. Lift weights. Don't let that stigma of 'weights cause weight gain' get to you. If you've got the weight to lose, I promise you, you won't see the "bulk" factor for a good loooong while. And that new-found muscle will just help you burn more calories internally. That's science.
My strategy - for every 2 days of cardio, do 1 day of weights. Or do both on the same day, but keep to that 2:1 ratio. Cardio is what will help melt the fat away. Strength is what will keep your body melting that fat when you walk out of the gym.
Let me reiterate, before I finish with the 'burn calories' thing... Abs are not made in the gym. They're made in the kitchen. If you don't change your diet, modify your food/calorie intake, no matter how long you run, the progress will be soooooo muuuuuch slooooower.
If I had to make a Weight Loss Pyramid summarize my findings along my weight loss journey, it would look like this:
strength
C-A-R-D-I-O
**W-A-T-E-R**
****S-L-E-E-P****
D-I-E-T/Food Modification