What to Eat and Why.

First, let me say, I am not a nutritionist.  I'm not going to give any specific advice or diet plans here.  You should check with your Doctor before making any major changes to your diet/activity.  That said, I'm going to start with the why, more specifically, the why not.

I've had issues with weight and food my whole life.  Seriously, at least since adolescence.  I've never been completely happy with my body, and weight has always been a battle.  In order to lose weight, I really had to break the stronghold that food has over me.  I've eaten for many reasons over the years.  I've eaten for comfort, out of boredom, because I'm stressed, because it tastes good, etc.  Truthfully, hunger has frequently not played a role in my eating.  I've had to change my relationship with food entirely.  God's purpose for food is to fuel our bodies, not fill empty spaces in our lives and relationships.  Our bodies are His temple.  I finally realized that asking Him to live in a body filled to overflowing with garbage, is the equivalent of asking him to live in the home of a hoarder.  Not cool. The basic rules I try to stick with are, first, stay in my calorie budget.  Within that, I try to eat high protein, relatively low fat, low sodium, and I drink a lot of water.

Healthy food does not have to taste bad!  There are some great sources for recipes that I use.  My favorite is Skinnytaste, and I also like Slender Kitchen.  Their recipes offer healthier options, but taste great.  Even my family doesn't complain (usually) about the meals I prepare from their sites.

Eat often.  I'm aware that it sounds counterproductive, but it works.  One of our local trainers host as "largest loser" program every year.  I participated last year, and one of their main pieces of advice regarding food, was "Don't go more than 3 hours without eating". That doesn't mean eat a full meal every three hours, but rather eat 6 small meals (for me, 3 meals and usually 3 snacks) daily.  Its really worked well for me. Just try not to allow those meals/snacks to be made up of a lot of empty calories.
 
Just remember, how you eat is probably the most important component of successful weight loss.  I've heard it said over and over that you can eat your way through any amount of exercise.  Its true.  I'm a huge proponent of exercise, and muscle burns fart.  There are lots of benefits, but all the exercise in the world isn't going to help if you continue to fill your body with junk.

Introduction

Welcome!  I've thought for a while about starting a blog.  I guess, since I'm more than 1 year and 1/2 into my journey, I'm a little late.  Life, though, is a never ending journey, so you're just joining a program already in progress.  In June of 2012, I weighed in at 243 lbs, and was either going to have to buy some bigger clothes or get some weight off.  I opted for the latter.  This wasn't the first time, I'd made an attempt a losing weight, and I had some success before but never lasting.  What made this time different?  I honestly think that Lose It!  has made all the difference for me. What is lose it?  Its a free app that sets a calorie budget and helps you log everything you eat and all of your activity.  I'm a bit type A anyway, so I'm good with all of the pre-planning, weighing, measuring, etc.  Not, that Lose It! requires all of that.  Its just what works for me.  In the beginning, my main goal was just to stick to that budget and exercise (lightly) 3 times a week.  I've made other changes as I've progressed.  I currently run 3 days a week, and do some other kind of work out 3 days with 1 day of rest.  I don't belong to a gym, and you should know that I work for a custom cake designer.  Truly, if I can do this, anyone can.  I look forward to sharing more with you as I continue my journey. If you have any questions, or would like to see a post on something specific, feel free to contact me.