I will start by stating that have all ways been on the small side. I am 5’5″ tall and when I graduated high school, I weighed in at 113#. I stayed at that same weight until about the age of 35 and then the scale started to creep up. I work full time behind a desk on a computer and while I have always considered myself pretty active, I also found myself drowning in depression, having issues with my marriage and was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.
It became very easy for me to become more and more inactive. I did at different times discipline myself to go the the gym and work out but I could never get below 132#. I put on muscle easily but I was not loosing the fat. I just had muscles with fat on top of them. Looking back, I have identified the issues were poor nutrition and the incorrect assumption that I could continue to eat what I wanted as long as I was willing to exercise myself to death to make up for it. It DID NOT work!!!
This past year (age 49) after seeing the number on my scale had jumped up to 147#, I became determined once again to lose weight. While I do think that I carried my weight well, I just didn’t feel good. Ever! My shoulders and neck ached. My knees and hips hurt. My body was not built to carry the extra load and age at the same time. Something we all have to come to terms with as we grow older.
This time around after a lot of research and sadness, I tried again and was successful. I lost a total of 40#! Below is the outline for the method I used. I share this with the understanding that each person is responsible for their own weight loss journey so please see your doctor before making sudden or severe changes if you have pre-existing medical conditions.
- I cut out anything white (white bread, white pasta, white sugar, etc…)
- I switched to drinking water and coffee only then reintroduced sweet tea in controlled proportions as a treat after a few months. I am a Southern girl and love love love my sweet tea! It is the house wine of the South after all and the hardest thing for me to give up.
- I wore my Fitbit watch to monitor steps, calories burned and heart rate. I personally chose the Sense but this was just my choice. Any activity tracker with a heart rate and step monitors that calculte calories burned within the app (taking your stats into consideration) will work.
- I kept a calendar with my calorie intake for each day. Nothing intricate, just noting what I ate or drank and the calories consumed. I understood this was an approximation but you can measure your food if needed for accuracy. Also note that the Fitbit App allows the recording of caloric intake also. My goal was to maintain a 250 to 500 calorie deficit each day. This means I wanted to burn 250 – 500 calories more then I ate each day.
- I replaced my breakfast each morning with a cup of coffee containing a scoop of Ancient Nutrition Bone Broth Collagen powder, a half scoop of SunWarrior Protein Warrior Blend Protien Powder (I used the chocolate flavor as it replaced my Chocolate / Caramel Creamer), Paradise Orac Energy Greens Powder, Origins of Life Raw Resveratrol, HMB and D3. (I will add a list of affilliate links for these items below). I will add additional posts detailing the information I learned while studying each of these. (Note: the Origins of Life Raw Resveratrol can be hard to find, when unavailabe I will add the link for the substitute that I have used with equivalent results.)
- I am a picky eater so I identified several healthy and clean recipes that I could have pre-prepared or could throw together quickly. This is the step that I have struggled with in the past. It is far to easy to just grab something unhealthy or does not fit into your meal plan so planning this step was very important to my success. My goal was to find several 300 to 500 calorie meals that worked with my plan. I wil share recipes also under the Health & Wellness subcategory named Recipes. Did I eat carbs – YES!!! I just was selective of the carbs I consumed. I opted for sweet potatoes most of the time but added whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta and brown rice if needed.
- I set an activity goal to just start moving more. I set my daily step goal to 10,000 steps per day but aimed a little higher at 12,000. By monitoring my calories burned on my FitBit Sense, I learned the average number of calories burned at each step goal. For “Me”, if I stepped 10,000 steps per day, I burned approx 1600 and1800 calories. If I stepped 12,000 steps, I burned between 1800 and 2000 calories.
Affilliate Links listed below.
If you purchase any of the products below, I will get a small marketing commision and any support is appreciated. I do buy these products from Amazon. I have found them locally but the pricing is better with Amazon. For example, in my local Sprout’s Market the Orac Greens Powder is typically $64.00. This means I save $20 each time I elect to purchase online.
Powders that I add to coffee (or whatever you prefer) and Supplements
Fitbit Smart Watch that I use