Weight Loss

A few people have asked me what I've done to lose weight, so I thought I'd do a short post on it. There are basically two things I have tried to focus on in the last month or so. 1 - portion control, and 2 - exercising.

Portion Control
I work with a lot of people who like to eat out for lunch. For almost a year, I went with them a lot. Sometimes 4-5 times a week. Not good for my tummy, or the rest of my body. Especially since I can always finish my meal and never take leftovers home. So as part of my "diet" I decided that I would only eat lunch out a max of 1 time per week. The rest of the time I bring my own lunch and try to keep the portions small. I also have been trying to eat a lot of foods that contain fiber. Nobody gets enough fiber in their diet, and I actually heard a couple of months ago that fiber helps break down the fat in the body, thus making it easier to burn. Or something like that. It sounded good to me, so I've been eating a lot of carrots. I also really like Fiber One bars, granola, and Go Lean Crunch cereal. Other fiber-heavy foods are: broccoli, corn, peas, apple w/ skin, prunes/raisins, beans & legumes, and anything whole wheat/grain. A lot of fruits have fiber in them as well.

I haven't tried to go on a "real" diet because I know that it wouldn't work for me. I love food too much. So the portion control thing is a lot easier for me to do, especially now that I've been doing it for about a month now. If I feel like I ate a lunch that was too big, I won't eat dinner or I'll just have a snack. Just do what you know you can do without putting a ton of calories into your diet. I found this on wikiHow. It has some pretty good info and tips.

Exercising
I hate running. For me to exercise it has to be fun, and it's nice to put a little variety into it. I like to play soccer, hike, do kickboxing, do one of my hip-hop videos, or go country dancing. These are all pretty good cardio exercises, and I know my metabolism has gone up in the last month. Working in an office can take its toll though. I work on the first floor of my building, so I can't do the whole 'take the stairs instead of the elevator thing'. Sometimes I'll take a break and just walk around. Or sometimes I'll turn things I have to do into an exercise by standing up and moving around a little more.

So there you have it. Happy eating!