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Originally Posted by LV my LABS no kidding salsa!! 100 lbs in 9.5 months! that's amazing! what do you think has been the biggest thing you have done to achieve such success?! |
There wasn't one thing that I did. I think the biggest mental change that I had was that I stopped making excuses. Let me clarify I finally realized the difference between an excuse and a reason. For example. I currently have a blister on my toe from running. In the past that would have been a "reason" not to run. Now I realize that is just an excuse...a reason to not run would be if I had a broken ankle. I am going to post here what I did do.
You do need a combination of exercise and food... though I focused on food first. I lost 50 pounds before I started REALLY exercising.
My secret...I followed every rule!
1. I NEVER, EVER drink while eating.
2. Proteins first, veggies next ...and then I was pretty much done! I put 1 cup of food on my plate and I ate that. I never learned to stop when I was full. So I still have to treat myself as a 5 year old child. I give myself what I can eat and that is all I do. Yes it takes a lot of self discipline, but the empowerment you get from telling yourself NO will change your life forever. It has made me a better wife, sister, daughter, teacher and friend. I would overwhelm myself in the past and spread myself to thin. Now I can confidently say no, and things are much better.
3. I never deprived myself of any food so as to eliminate any cravings. The only thing I eliminated was rice because I just can't eat it any more. It gets stuck. And milk and ice cream...gone as well...I became lactose intolerant. I would have spaghetti...mostly with just sauce and ground chicken (my secret ingredient in everything), but I would have 6 penne noodles, just so that I didn't feel like I was being left out.
4. I had chocolate everyday...in the form of a pure protein bar(that is the name of the bar...but I would stay away from the fruit ones...I thought they were disgusting.) It is low carb, high protein and cut the cravings for sweets, because I had one everyday. I get them at wal-mart. Make sure to look for the 190 calorie ones...not the 300 calorie ones!
5. I ate at 4 distinct times everyday. For my schedule (I am a teacher) it was 6:30, 10:30 (my prep period), 2:30 and 6:30. The 2:30 was the protein bar.
6. Shhhhh...don't tell...I did NOT focus on water. I am a scientist...you dont need 64 ounces of water everyday. Drinking makes me hungry, so I only drink a half hour before I eat. I have to drink more now because I am training for a half-marathon.
7. Exercise...Once I added it, I did walking, strength training, elipticalling and now running. In fact yesterday I just ran 10 straight miles. But that has taken me since January to do that. Take it slow...injuries will sideline you for a long time. Don't over do it because you will get angry at the amount of time you have to spend and stop. Start slowly and start to kind of like it. I still will never LOVE it, even though I train 6 days a week.
8. Set attainable goals. Little things that you can celebrate.
9. Find what works for you. Not everything I did here will work for you. Find what does and you will have solved the mystery for yourself.
10. Make a menu for yourself for the week, and eat only what is on their. On Friday, if you have followed the menu exactly give yourself one food that you would not normally have, but that still fits in your calorie count. Make sure it is not something that will cause you to binge. I have 1 bag of popcorn.
Good luck!