BLOG: How I lost 80 pounds in one year

Current mood: encouraging
Category: encouraging Goals, Plans, Hopes

After the many requests, I thought a static blog was in order. Here’s something I wrote for a few friends who asked that very same question: HOW’D YOU DO IT?!?!

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This is based on:

• Waking @ 5:15am
• Driving to work @ 7:45am
• Getting towork @ 8:30am
• Leaving work @ 5pm
• Getting home @ 6pm
• Bedtime @ 10pm

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Exercise 5.30 am :

In 2006, my schedule was every other day – strength;  Every other day than that – cardio. I didn’t go to the gym; I bought DVDs for @ home. For me personally, if I do the gym, it’s an excuse for me not to do it (I don’t want to drive, it’s too this or that outside, gas, etc). In my living room, I have no excuse. 

• For strength I did Gunnar Peterson’s line of Core Secrets. [1] [2] [3]
• For cardio I did Madonna Grimes hip hop and Latin series, a hula series by Kili, Paula Abdul’s dance cardio, Chalene’s Turbo Jam, & Shaun T’s Hip Hop Abs – Level 2 Ultimate Results Series.
• Since January 2007 I’ve done Turbo Jam exclusively and have her full collection of workouts. I LOVE it and will keep it as a staple in my daily workouts. Anything dancey is the easiest way for me to get it done – I get bored with other stuff. I change my schedule every month; I like to keep my body guessing and not getting used to a routine!
  • In July ‘06 I did cardio M W F and strength T Th Sat.
  • In August ’06 I did cardio Sun W Th F and strength T Sat
  • Then, up until January 20th, 2007 I did cardio Sun W F and strength T Th Sat 

My favorite TurboJam Routine is the ‘Advanced Rip You Up Rotation’. It’s Sick and INSANE and I LOVE IT! It pushes my body to the max and then I don’t do it for a few months later so my body doesn’t get used to it. Click here to see the TurboJam Advanced Rip You Up Rotation.

Healthier Choices:

Breakfast 7.30 am – I never have time to eat in the morning so yeah, I am do a quick slim fast instead. To save money, I do the powder and just mix in the morning with Lactaid non-fat or fat free milk. It costs MUCH less than the individual cans. $7 for a can that lasts you like 2 months. 2 months of breakfasts for just $7?! Come oonn hahaha. To alternate when I have time (usually weekends), I’ll do 1 cup of Total Raisin Bran cereal (high in iron) or multigran multiberry Cheerios instead with some type of fruit. For the winter, oatmeal or grape nuts with lactaid non-fat milk and nuked in the microwave. Omelet’s are yummy with Egg Beaters, green red and orange peppers, some onions and a little low fat cheese. Try Morning Star breakfasts sausages. They aren’t real meat, so the fat content just isn’t there. And they’re actually good!

Snack 10 am– something small like a low fat yogurt & pretzels or grapes & pecans. You get the idea.

Lunch 12.30- This is “big” meal time or where I try and do high caloric if I get the inkling rather than at dinner. If you do it at lunch, you’re more likely to burn it off during the day than to have something high in calories for dinner and then go to bed. To save money, you can do Healthy Choice Flavor Adventures. They’re really good and are usually on sale for $2. I now cook my lunch & dinner at one time daily. I’ll do 2servings, eat half for dinner and half for lunch the next day, it saves tons of time and thinking!

Snack 4pm- whatever I didn’t eat for the earlier snack. Or I get a big bag of Snyder’s low salt snap pretzels and at home, break them into little 100 calorie packs (kind of what they’re trying to do now with cookies and chips, etc) into sandwich bags. It actually helps because it helps me stop at a point and not sit and eat and eat with an open bag. Some yummy air popped popcorn from my local Nuts To You store. Also fun option is 1 or 2 cups of seedless grapes or just a piece of fruit. I also enjoy Vita Muffins You can get them from a Whole Foods supermarket or go to vitalicious.com.

Dinner 7pm- Again, Dinner is half of whatever I’ve previously cook for lunch. Or I just go with something light since I can’t burn off much at night

Click here to see my favorite quick ‘recipes’.

Tips I’ve learned along the way

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1. LIQUIDS
   • I drink AT LEAST 64 oz of water a day. 32 oz during my morning workout, 32oz on my way to work (it’s an hour commute by car) after the slim fast (You MUST drink a lot of water after slim fast). 32 oz during the rest of the work day. I know that if I try and do it at home, I wont. Sometimes making the water with Crystal light can help you drink it–rather than just plain water.
   • I went 2 months without drinking any diet soda. I now allow it as a treat(the new diet cherry coke zero is phenomenal!!! )
2. FOOD
   • No eating after 8pm. No snacks or sweets or anything. Before I did nothing at all after 8, but now I won’t deprive myself of water, crystal light, diet soda… Since while you sleep you are your most dehydrated. The time is determined on when you go to sleep. I go to sleep at 10pm – so 8 is my cutoff.
   • Wheat Wheat Wheat! There are SO many choices out now. I sometimes do wheat potato bread instead of white bread or even whole wheat bread. I do wheat bagels (Thomas’ has some yummy ones! They’re called Bagel Squares). Wheat tortilla bread for my wraps. Wheat pastas –ORGANICS is a great brand! ORGANICS has yummy wheat pastas and pasta sauces!The marinara sauce is amazing. Ooo with wheat penne pasta, shrimp and some cheese on top *drools*.
   • Low fat does not = low calories. Read your labels. I track my exercise and calories. 
   • Low fat mayo, low fat yogurts (I do a generic supermarket brand. 40 cents and its sooo yummy!), Low fat dressings – try the new salad sprays! They give you the dressing taste without all the calories. Balsamic is my favorite. Also, instead of mayo try Hellman’s new Dijonnaise. It is soo yummy. 0g of Fat. Its a mixture of spicy mustard and mayo.
3. Treats
   • EDDYS slow churned ice cream –½ cup for 100 cal!!! A nice pick you up and it’s really yummy. I usually have that ½ cup with a Deep Chocolate Vitamuffin – my healthy version of ‘ice cream and cake’. Breyers slow churned is YUMMY also. It tastes just like frozen yogurt.
   • ALLFRUIT Popsicles – mmm they’re excellent. I’ve even gotten my ‘bad eating’ family hooked on those hahaha. You can get them anywhere but Target has them for less.
   • Snyder’s snap pretzels, popcorn, nuts (like pecans, sunflower seeds)
   • & of course, Fruit fruit fruit!
4. Exercise
   • It is recommended to do 30 minutes of exercise 6 days a week. That doesn’t mean 30 minutes all at once. You can do 10 in the morning, 20 later…20 in the morning, 10 at lunch – like that. Exercise in this form is represented as “breaking a sweat”. So whatever helps you break a sweat, do that for 30 minutes… if you get my drift 😉
   • Never do exercises less than 6 hours to your bed time. It’ll throw off your sleep and good sleep helps you have energy which in turn helps you lose weight.
5. Sleep
   • Wake up the same time every day, even weekends. Your internal clock will thank you!
6. Shopping
   • There are just so many choices out now. And they aren’t too much more than the”regular” stuff. Genaurdi’s is my favorite supermarket. Shop Rite has better prices and Target has some great things also. Whole Foods is a great supermarket. I also buy in bulk my meats and veggies at a wholesale bulk store – like BJs, Sam’s or Costco. I only cook for me, so I freeze everything in twos – 1 serving for lunch and one for dinner.
7. Tracking
   • My one major piece of advice? TAKE PICTURES! You’ll thank yourself when you are 80+ pounds less a year later and can look back and say wow.. Take swimsuit, underwear or exercise clothing pictures for your own collection and clothed pictures to share your success with others.
   •  I measure & weigh myself every week (although it started melting off so fast in the beginning I would do it every other day LOL).
   • Invest in a good digital scale. Mines is so good, it literally told the same exact weight the same day I went and got on the doctors scale: true test of a great scale. I got the Tanita with Body Fat% calculator for $70.
   • Keep a diary. I TRY and track everything I eat, exercise, how I felt about that exercise, menstrual cycle (it affects your weight counts-ovulating, cycle, end cycle), and a chart of my measurements, weight and dates. – This also helps you learn more about your body. I’m so much more self aware! I track my exercise, food and weight. I’ve noticed that by the end of the day I have 400 –900 calories left to expend!! How self-aware it makes you!
   • I also invested in a good heart rate monitor. I have a PINK (heheh) Polar F6 heart rate monitor. It tracks the amount of time you work out, how much you have burned, how long you were in your selected hr target range, plus so much more! I use it at every exercise session.

. At no additional cost to you, I may earn commissions on purchases made through links on this website. Read my full affiliate linking policy here.

Words of Encouragement

• Turbo Jam + Tracking program + Polar hr monitor = a SICK combination that will help you SO much!
• Just be patient! HAVE FUN! That is the most important. If you’re not enjoying it, you won’t lose and it wouldn’t be worth it even if you did!
• Don’t be so strict with yourself. Slip ups happen. It’s the control you set that will amaze yourself. “ya know, I really only do want this one piece of candy”. “I don’t really need 2 pieces of pizza”.. etc.
• PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR BODY. In a week or 2 my appetite completely shrunk. Pay attention to when you feel hungry and etc. You’ll be amazed.
• It takes 45 minutes for our bodies to realize we are full. Eat slow –cut up your food as you go.. sip water..etc.

This is the first step, getting information. Gradually do it. You don’t have to be a pro from the get go! Try the exercise first. It’s most important to change exercise first because when you start changing your diet; you’ll need your metabolism to get going on this new routine. Then try the stopping eating at 8 (or what works with your bedtime).Then try the eating changes. Let me know how you’re doing! Slow and steady wins the race. Don’t look for quick fixes as we’ve all tried those and we see it doesn’t work. It didn’t take you overnight to gain the weight, so you won’t lose it overnight either!! You have your whole life to lose the weight –more important? TO FEEL HEALTHY! My energy has skyrocketed and my self esteem and self confidence has followed.

Currently watching : Turbo Jam LIVE Cardio Party REMIX

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