I am new to the world of blogging. Actually I have never even read a blog before. I know you probably don't believe that, but it is true. I watched a move today, Julie & Julia, and discovered blogging. So, I decided to blog "My Journey To A New Me" because that is exactly what I have begun.
My adventure began with a doctor's visit on December 11, 2010. It was during this visit to the doctor I was given some advice from my physician. I told him that I was sick and tired of being overweight. Well, not just overweight, but obese. I know that the excess weight that I am carrying is sending me to an early grave. I was diagnosed with diabetes Type II over six years ago, and have successfully managed the disease with medication, but have not been successful in losing the excess weight that helped to bring me to the disease in the first place. Not to mention almost everyone in my dad's family has or had diabetes. So yes it is genetic but I do have to bear some of the blame for the shape that I have gotten myself in.
Now back to my doctor visit. The answer I received from the doctor was not what I was eating, but the amount of calories that I was consuming. I thought that was a strange thing to say. Then he continued....
"If I told you to eat only 1200 calories per day, you could chose to eat 1200 calories of ice cream, or cake, or whatever, but only 1200 calories per day." I asked what would that do? And he continued, "It is guaranteed that you would lose weight because you would be eating less calories than you would burn."
I then proceeded to explain to him that 1200 calories per day was simply not enough, and he replied "Well what if I said 1400? What if I gave you a 1400 calorie per day allowance?"
This sounded crazy to me! What doctor would tell an obese diabetic woman in her mid forties that she could lose weight by simply counting her calories? As a person who had tried ALL the diet plans out there, this sounded to good to be true. Not that I would build all my meals around ice cream & cake but I was anxious to see if the doc knew what he was talking about.
My first step was to figure out a way to count those calories. I thought about his statements all the way home and pondered just how hard it would be to actually do this. It would take information that I did not have, and I was not about to go and buy another book on weight loss or fitness to try and figure out what every piece of food that I put in my mouth was going to cost me.
But it just so happens that other people must be doing this to because I located a website to do just that. It not only has calorie and nutritional information about thousands of foods, it also had favorite foods from restaurants and fast food places. Check out http://www.myfitnesspal.com/ for more information. You can download an app to your iphone, which I did, and you can even keep track of your water intake and excercise. With the app downloaded onto my iphone I begin to think that this was possible.
With this weapon added to my arsenal I was now ready to tackle the challenge of 1400 calories per day. And what I found is that it was much easier than I had originally anticipated. What started out as a "I don't think this doctor knows what he is talking about and I am going to prove him wrong" became a reality for me.
As of today, Janurary 22, 2011, I am down 32 pounds and feel better than I have in years! I have more energy and more "Get Up and Go" than I can remember ever having. And I am not even excercising yet! "i have maybe excercised on a eliptical for 10 minutes and walked on a treadmill 30 minutes this entire time!
It's not that all I eat is meat, protein and veggies because I don't! I enjoy many of the things that I always ate, but in smaller quantities and not always during the same meal.
The statement "Fiber Fills You Up" is so true. If I eat a wholewheat Thomas Bagel Thin in the morning (only 110 calories) with 2 Tablespoons of Philadelphia Strawberry Cream Cheese that is 1/3 less fat (70 calories) This 180 calorie meal fills me up, and I do not get hungry until lunch some five hours later. Why you say? It's the fiber!! That is a magic weapon in my new arsenal of learning to eat and be healthier. When the fiber goes into your body it tells everything that you are twice as full as you actually are. I am not a doctor or a scientist but I know what my body feels like. And if something is working for you, why change it? Especially if it improves your lifestyle?
I'll be back later to record my journey, but until then... remember Fiber Is Your Friend!!!!
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