Friday, January 15, 2010

Show Us Your Life: Workin' It

So there's all this talk of diet, exercise, and weight loss over at Kelly's Korner, and I thought I'd jump in. Recently, I tried an experiment. Sometime this past fall, I decided I'd stop exercising and eat anything I wanted to see how much weight I'd gain by Dec. 31. Well, maybe I didn't actually set out to do that, but that's what I did. I feasted on chips and Christmas cookies, large portions, leftovers for lunch, and all kinds of delicacies. Not surprisingly, I gained several pounds and felt crappy, but let me tell you, it was fun to eat anything I wanted!

But now I'm back to eating like a skinny person, counting calories, and exercising every day. It's what I've done most of my life, except when I was pregnant. So step-by-step…

1. Eat like a skinny person. Before I eat something, I ask myself, "Would a skinny person eat this?" The question itself makes me feel guilty. The question really is, "Would I, at my skinniest 25-year-old self, have eaten this?" If the answer is "no," and if I am feeling driven enough, that will be enough for me to not touch that piece of luscious chocolate cake with thick, creamy icing.

2. Count calories. I do, every single day. My goal is to stay between 1200 and 1500 calories. I like the system at SparkPeople. It's very easy to calculate your daily calories and make substitutions with their program. I like lists, and I like checking things off, so this works for me.

3. Exercise every day. I allow myself one day off per week. When the weather is nice, I like to walk three times a week. My current favorite programs are the 30-Day Shred and The Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga. I alternate those two DVDs. My favorite way to exercise is to hike in the mountains, but lately it's been way too cold for that around here.

Eat like a skinny person, count calories, and exercise: it's not a terribly inspired plan, I know. I am blessed in the good weight genes department, BUT I still gain weight, and quickly, without regular exercise and vigilant eating. In a perfect world, I could eat chips and salsa twice each day and brownies for dessert every night. But pretzel rods are good, too.

Visit Kelly's Korner for more insight into the world of weight loss and exercise!

7 comments:

  1. "eat like a skinny person" I love it!

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  2. I saw an online clip from the Ellen show where Jillian Michaels was a guest. Apparently Jillian weighed 175 pounds when she was 14.

    Thanks for the Sparks link. I'll check it out.

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  3. Great advice! Thank you for stopping in my blog!

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  5. 1. Eat low carbs, don't worry about fats, stay away from all low fat, dangerous foods
    2. Don't worry about calories, read the book Calories Don't Count from 1961
    3. If you do 1 and 2 above, you won't need any exercise other than walking and going up stairs, etc. Save your money from those expensive and dangerous exercise places.

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  6. Sarah, I can't seem to get the words..."Eat like a skinny person" out of my head. Maybe this will help in my battle!

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