Needing to Share

Hello!

I thought i would share something here, that i haven't shared yet.

On Friday, i officially lost 50 pounds since i started with MFP on May 15 2013. When i went to visit family recently, they were absolutely shocked at the difference. This is almost the smallest i've been in the last 10 years.

I've gone down from 278.2lbs to 227.0 lbs or a 22/24 size pants to maybe an 18. I'm not exactly sure - since i need to get out my skinner clothing still but i have a size 18 skirt that almost all but falls off me - definitely needs a belt. :bigsmile:

I've done it mainly with food tracking and measuring then logging into my fitness pal. I've found this works *happy!*

Things I do:

** EAT DESSERT **
Every day i have dessert, whether it's a fiber one 90 calorie lemon bar or brownie, a skinny cow ice cream sandwich (150 cal) or even 1c of frozen berries (70 cals). 'Dessert' tells me that ok today is over, no more food lol.

** HAVE WHAT YOU WANT ONCE A WEEK **
I have a cheat meal, which is whatever i want, hamburger, pizza, pasta whatever and i track those calories once a week. I do try to keep the portions reasonable in size. On the day i have my cheat meal, i may go over calories but over the course of the week, i am under.

** PROTEIN PROTEIN **
One thing i have done differently is i started having protein shakes made with 1c almond milk, 1 scoop optimum nutrition whey protein powder and 1c frozen fruit for a meal at times. I found that the protein shakes really make a big difference. They're sweet, almost like a treat, and keep me full for 3-4 hours. I read somewhere by keeping protein high while cutting calories helps avoid muscle loss - don't know if its true but *meh* i'm happy.

** SWAP RED MEAT FOR CHICKEN OR FISH **
Did you know you can have almost two turkey burgers (200 cal each) for almost the same number of calories as a hamburger (320 cals)? I didn't lol. I have seafood (mainly shrimp or salmon) once per week at least.

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I think why the calorie counting works, for me, is because even after all the diets i've been on over the years, i didn't really have a clue of portion size and calories. For example i went out to dinner in a chain restaurant, thinking i'll be 'good' and have a salad. Pulling out my phone i looked up the calories - every salad but one was over 1200 calories - i was shocked that's my total food for the day!!

Overall, measuring hasn't been overly time concerning. I leave the food scale on the counter along with a couple of measuring cups and a 1 TBsp measuring thingie. If i don't have to search for the things to measure, it's no big deal to do.

Sometimes just seeing the calorie count or fat content of food makes me not want to have that particular food. It's just not worth it. Even silly thing like watching cereal calorie counts. which range from 80 cals /cup to over 200 cals/cup really makes a huge difference.

i haven't started exercising yet, at my size it was hard to move. I'm feeling better and am just looking for that motivation to start working out but at this point I am happier and i feel better.

Thank you for reading!!