What Works for Me

By Beth Andrews

While I don’t consider myself any sort of expert, I have had quite a bit of experience with dieting, exercising and healthy living. I was overweight as a child, and it seems as if my whole life has revolved around food. In kindergarten I asked my teacher if she had skim milk because I was on a diet and didn’t want the 2% milk that came with snack time. In fourth grade, I joined a national weight loss program and lost 20 lbs. The program was one where no carbs were allowed so naturally, as soon as I was off the plan, all the weight, plus some extra, came right back on.

At thirteen, I decided to lose the weight for good. Unfortunately, to make that happen, I drastically cut calories. It worked, I lost 65 lbs. I managed to maintain a healthy weight throughout my teens through somewhat sensible eating and a moderate amount of exercise.

And then, I got pregnant. Honestly, you’d have thought someone had just given me the keys to the food kingdom! Telling myself I was eating for two, I ate. And ate. And ate! And gained a whopping 75 lbs. But this time when I lost it, I was older and wiser. Instead of cutting back on all food, I cut back on foods with high fat content and I exercised daily. It took over a year, but the weight came off. More importantly, I’d learned my lesson and was able to keep my weight at a healthy level through my other two pregnancies.

As a matter of fact, my weight stayed the same for years. So you can imagine my surprise when I gained weight again. Telling myself a few pounds weren’t bad, I ignored it, and avoided getting on the scale. It wasn’t until my nice stretchy jeans became tight that I forced myself back onto the scale. Only to discover I’d somehow put on 15 lbs.

Here we go again. Now, to tell you the truth, at that point in my life, I’d had enough of watching what I ate and worrying over single calorie, but I knew that even losing 10 lbs would make me healthier so I made a few adjustments. I’m down those 10 lbs, and I know I’ll lose another 5 if I just keep working at it.

I thought I’d share some of the things that DID and DID NOT work for me:

What DID work:

Amping up my workouts. While I was doing okay with my workouts, to really help my heart health and drop those extra pounds, I need to push myself. Instead of 30 minutes of moderately paced walking, I now alternate a few minutes of jogging with a few minutes of walking and I’m working on increasing my time until I’m jogging for a full 3 miles.

Lifting weights. I love resistance training, but it’s so easy to tell yourself you don’t have time, that cardio workouts are more important (at least, that’s what I used to tell myself). But I see the biggest difference in my body when I do both cardio and resistance training.

My workouts, my way. I live in Northwestern Pennsylvania which means that for at least half the year, the weather outside is frightful. And while some people don’t let a little thing like snow or below freezing temps keep them from their daily walk or run outside, I’m not one of them *g*. I stay inside and walk/run on my treadmill while watching DVDs. And while I love weight training videos, I get bored easily so I’ve started listening to my iPod while following the routines.

What DIDN’T work:

Deprivation. I’m a big believer in “Everything in moderation”. I’m not sure if it’s because of my history with dieting or what, but I refuse to give up the foods I love. I love to cook so I always make a big dinner on Sunday nights, complete with dessert. And I allow myself to enjoy that dinner and a little bit of dessert as long as I: a.) don’t go overboard (no seconds, no large helpings) and b.) don’t eat that dessert any other day during the week. That means if there’s leftover chocolate cake on Monday, it’s off limits to me. I think it works because I know that in one short week, I’ll be having another (small) amount of dessert again *g*

Diet foods. Because I already eat a low-fat diet, I knew there was something else keeping me from losing weight. Sugar. When I decided to cut back on my sugar intake, I knew I’d have to alter how much Pop (soda pop *g*) I drank. I’d rather drink regular pop than diet so at first, I cut back the amount I was having daily (and yes, I drank pop daily) then I cut it back even more, then I completely cut it out a few times a week. I’m now at the point where I have No Sugar days twice a week—that means for those two days I eat only foods with no added sugar. I’m looking to add a third No Sugar day to my week soon. I’ve also discovered added sugars in some of the foods I’d considered ‘healthy’ before such as certain whole grain crackers. I believe watching for added sugars and amping up my cardio workouts are the two biggest reasons I was able to drop those 10 lbs.

Hating my body. I used to worry so much about what I looked like, I totally ignored every other reason to eat right and exercise…such as being healthy. Now that I’m (like I said earlier *g*) older and wiser, I realize just how wonderful my body is! I love working out because it makes me feel strong and energized, and I truly do love most foods that are good for me such as vegetables, fruits and whole grains. It’s much easier to make healthy choices because I want to live a long, happy and healthy life and as this is the only body I’ll get, I want to take the best care of it.

What have you found works best for you to keep you on track? Any long-standing belief that others swear by that just doesn’t cut it for you?