Healthy Tomorrow Starts Today! My Weight Loss Journey
Weight loss to date 21.4lbs I first talked about walking at the Spit in my Week 3 update. It is a great place to walk due to its many benches and wonderful scenery. Today was definitely a new millstone in my walking and mobility as […]
Total weight loss to date 21lbs Tonight’s walk saw even more results than expected. This evening I added and extra block to my walk yet again. I have begun to notice not just a small but dramatic difference in how I feel and how I […]
Total weight loss to date 18.4lbs
Today it has been exactly 1 month since I started a new lifestyle of healthy eating and more activity. I am just shy of 20lbs and the difference is really remarkable. Sometimes the idea of 20lbs of weight seems insignificant when faced with the necessity of large weight loss. However something interesting I have found to do is to find a 20lbs item (or whatever weight you have currently lost), in my case a dumbbell. Picking up this item and feeling it’s weight holding it gives a great appreciation and perspective for the amount of weight no longer being carried on your body and the reduced stress it now has. I have some large dumbbells at home, 80lbs, 100lbs and 120lbs. I really hope to hold up one of those at some point next summer.
Currently the victories keep coming, and the one yesterday came in the unexpected form of lawn care. For years now sustained activity on my feet has caused me terrible back issues, and activities that are common for many are an obstacle for me. Many people consider activities like cutting grass is a chore, but for me I very much want the freedom to be more productive. For much of my adult life mowing the lawn is something which I always dread. The lawn I look after is on a large property, on a hill, with many curves. In order to do it I have to normally start and stop my mower more times than I can remember. Each time I stop I have to sit down, let my back settle down, get up and continue. It is an exhausting, frustrating experience and It often takes me several days to get the whole thing done.
With an uncharacteristically rainy July the lawn has been pushing up fast so I had no choice to pull out the mower once again. I have to admit I was curious if there would be a difference in how I felt. Certainly my walks have been showing great signs of enhancement, so I figured there would have to be some improvement to my ability to do physical activities like mowing. To my surprise the improvement was not just noticeable but significant. I ended up mowing the grass for just over 90 minutes non stop! I got every inch of the yard cut, and did it without any back pain whatsoever. It feels like as each pound that comes off another chain held over my body breaks off and I am a little more free. I am excited to see what I will be able to do next month.
Total weight loss to date 17.8lbs Everyday seem like there are positive changes now. While it can certainly seem like a daunting process to lose the weight I have set for myself as a goal, little victories seem to be coming more often which is […]
Today I felt good and I decided to try to be a bit more ambitious with my physical activity level. Currently I am down around 14lbs and I do certainly notice the difference in how I feel. I am not sure if that is due […]
Eating out at your favourite restaurant with your friends or for special occasion can be a tricky road to navigate on the journey to weight loss. With so much of our social time being centered around food how do you avoid derailing your healthy diet without avoiding spending time with people. These are some steps I’m going to take to try to keep myself on track when I’m faced with eating at a restaurant.
Most restaurants these days should have a website and hopefully one that is updated somewhat regularly. It’s likely worth checking the website before going out to have a thorough look at the menu options. This will reduce the pressure to order something when you were in a group setting. Trying to juggle figuring out healthy option while conversing with your friends can lead to just picking whatever looks good on the first glance. It is also worth noting that people often mistake high quality restaurant food as being inherently a healthier option then say fast food. While the food may be of high quality often the sodium , fat and calories can be even higher. Good restaurants often work with heavy creams, high fat options, as well as liberal amounts of sodium to maximize flavours. Having a gourmet hamburger may not be necessarily a better option then one at a fast food restaurant. So spending some time examining the options with a critical eye might be helpful. By investigating the menu before hand you can do a little additional research online on what might be the best option to order.
If going out replaces a standard meal in your day such as a healthy smoothie for lunch, try having that smoothie before leaving. This will fill you up more leaving you the option to have a more modest restaurant meal. It might seem like you are adding extra calories by doing this but by having that healthy smoothie fill you up and adding on a balance salad at the restraint, you could ultimately avoid the extra calories of large overindulgent meal. You might also decide that you are full enough to pass on appetizers and dessert.
This again warrants looking though the menu carefully. Many places that specialize in breakfast and lunch often have a healthy options menu. This can include items with lots of vegetables, low sodium and items that list the nutritional contents right on the menu. Some of these meals can be very good a quite filling.
There is nothing wrong with going out on occasion and indulging a little bit on some of your favourite food. I think the key is to always try to consider moderation as best you can. But also not to beat yourself up if you decide to go a little overboard now and again. Having some cake at a birthday party or hamburger at a barbecue is not the end of the world. In fact sometimes having that “cheat day” within reason, can help you feel good about being back on track. Eating this kind of food for me only becomes an issue when it becomes a regular occurrence. Through many trials and errors I have found I need to treat food much like an addiction. As such looking at food as a healthy fuel for my body and not as a reward or something to look forward to on a bad day is important. But each person is different and each person has to find that balance. I think whatever balance that is, with a little care and attention it can always include a healthy dose of eating out with good friends.
One of the many challenges to losing weight that I think is often misunderstood is the physical pain that can be impeding a persons success, especially at the start. I am speaking of pain that can be chronic or aggravated by activity that is caused […]
Stepping on the scale to weigh yourself can be both more encouraging and discouraging while you attempt your weight loss. There seems to be a lot of debate on whether it is a good idea to weigh yourself often, only once and a while or […]
In my food choices for my lifestyle menu I decided to add blueberries as a staple part of my quest for a healthy regime. Blueberries are widely regarded for both their health benefits as well as being relatively low in calories. In this series I explore the individual foods I have chosen to add to my menu, I want to talk about why I’ve chosen these foods, provide updates on how I find eating them long term and why you might want to consider adding these foods to your diet. So here are two reasons why I chose the blueberry.
Blueberries have some good things going for them nutrition wise. For starters as far as fruits and berries are concerned their sugar content is relatively low while still providing a sweet addition to a healthy smoothie. They also contain a reasonable amount of fiber which helps regulate that sugar into the bloodstream when consumed. Blueberries also hold a significant amount of vitamin C. Where blueberries really shine however is in their antioxidant content and the potential that could bring to your health. These antioxidants called anthocyanins are the pigment that give some fruits and vegetables their dark red, purple and blue hues.
There was a lot of hype in the media regarding the antioxidants in blueberries labeling the blueberry as a “superfood”. Much of the research regarding the health benefits of this antioxidant is still in its early stages and it would be too early to say that this food is indeed a superfood. However some of the preliminary results seem promising, suggesting health benefits in cardiovascular health and cancer prevention. Whether or not blueberries do turn out to be a “superfood” or not it seems to me with their nutritional content, low calories, refreshing taste and with even the potential of some of the antioxidant benefits, it was a no brainer to add this berry to my diet.
One of the important things to my lifestyle change was to create a menu that was simple and easy to access at all times. Something about blueberries that I find nice is they are almost always easily available. During the summer months when they are in season blueberries can be bought in bulk at the supermarket and from local farms in my area at a good price. I like to buy large boxes later in the season and freeze them for future months. The Berry seemed to freeze the best by placing them flat on a cookie tray in the freezer and then placing them in a zip lock bag for convenience of access. While other berries also provide great nutrition and are wonderful in smoothies, I sometimes find their quality degrades depending on where in the season they are. If I run out of my blueberries, there always seems to be a good supply of large bags of frozen blueberries in the freezer section of my local supermarket. Using blueberries frozen also creates a nice cold refreshing aspect to my morning smoothie that I love.
I have eaten blueberries for years and adding them to my menu seems like a perfect way to add a nutritional punch without adding significant calories all while improving the flavor of my smoothies. There really seems no downside to these little berries and with the promising research regarding the antioxidants, lots of significant upside potential. They are affordable, convenient, healthy and have all kinds of good possibilities. What is not to like.
There is nothing really mystical about weight loss. You just need to utilize more calories than you take in, eat fresh healthy unprocessed foods and get plenty of exercise. It is not rocket science to lose weight but for so many of us including myself […]
