If you have a lot of weight to lose, you were probably like me at one time. I would always try one diet after another and never get anywhere. If I lost weight, it wouldn't last and I would have to find another diet that worked.
So how did I finally lose over 150 pounds and keep it off for almost three years now? Well, believe it or not, I didn't focus on losing weight when I finally succeeded.
I've been eating healthy foods for over three years now. Mostly vegetables and fruit with minimal turkey, chicken and eggs. I do get a lot of nutrients from the food choices I make, but from what I've been reading, making smoothies gives you the ability to absorb even more nutrients. I figured it would be worth a try.
Last week, I made my first smoothie with broccoli and cauliflower. I thought it tasted disgusting, to be honest. I love eating broccoli and cauliflower whole, but juicing them was not a good idea. Maybe it was the way I made them, maybe I didn't add enough ingredients.
I wrote about a friend a few weeks ago who wants to get his weight down to a certain number, despite already losing over 100 pounds. Recently, he told me he wants to cut his calories in half. To me, this is dangerous, not just because of the potential for developing an eating disorder, but because cutting calories will not result in sustainable weight loss.
Too many people think that by not having enough calories, they will lose weight. Well, all that will happen is that the metabolism will slow down to a crawl. Do you want to feel tired and have no energy? That's what happens with calorie restriction.
I'm really getting into strength training. I have decided that I no longer need the treadmill. I still will do my walking and get my steps in, but I don't need to lose more weight.
During the past few months, I was using the treadmill for about 5 to 10 minutes for 5 days a week. It's not too much, but the weight tends to fall off me so easily now. I want my body to build muscle and using the treadmill might confuse my goals... my body might still think it needs to lose weight. A trainer was talking to me about cardio today, that it could actually hurt my efforts. I don't want it to get in the way of my goals!
I was at McDonald's today, not to order food but to get unsweetened iced tea, an excellent value and tastes good in my opinion. I have my own stevia packets in the car as opposed to sweetening it with Equal or Splenda. Anyway, whenever I'm there, it drives me crazy some of the choices people make when ordering there. I don't say anything to them, but it does give me good incentive to blog about how to make healthier choices. Here's an example.
A woman in front of me was ordering a cheddar something or other burger and asked if tomatoes are extra. The worker told her it would be 30 cents more so she didn't bother getting the tomato with it. She decided to save her money and go for... KETCHUP instead! Now how many of you would think that ketchup is the same as having a slice of tomato? I hope most of you will realize that ketchup is mostly high fructose corn syrup and like 30 other ingredients, very little tomato. It is not a healthy alternative.