50 pounds or more to lose!

EmmaFitzwilliam wrote: »

Hi! I'm Emma, and over the past 6 months I've lost 45 of the 90 pounds I set out to lose.

First, this is really long. I apologize.

How I did it (or "what worked *for me*"):

First and foremost, and this is a good one if you can model it for your kids and teach them healthy habits from the start - find a couple of fruits and vegetables that you really *love* and have them every day.

I don't actually manage every day, but I do pretty well during the work week. Almost without fail, Monday through Friday, I have an apple at some point during the day.

I also love persian cucumbers, so I have one or two of those, most weekdays. Less often, but diligently, I also have snap peas, red bell pepper and cherry tomatoes. It works for me. If I've planned ahead well enough, I have a (weighed out!) one-ounce portion of cheese with the apple, and I have 2-4 Tablespoons of hummus with the vegetables.

For me, I had to take a long hard look at what I actually ate over the course of a day. I would have one or two lattes (whole milk!), and oatmeal, cooked with whole milk, with half and half (a couple of Tablespoons), and 1/4 cup of walnuts and 1/4 cup of cranberries. When I cut down on the lattes, I added in tea biscuits to go with my tea - but I was eating as many as 6 50-calories cookies a day.

Dinner was too random to recall, but breakfast and lunch were my biggest challenge.

I still drink whole milk, but have only 1 latte a day. I switched from oatmeal cooked with milk, with nuts and dried cranberries added, to 10-grain cereal, cooked with water. (I still cook my cream of wheat with milk, but I don't have it every day, or even most days.)

Juice was another calorie-dense item on my frequent foods menu. Now, I have one or two ounces of juice in 10 ounces of (sparkling) water, instead of a 10 ounce juice.

I cut out most breads and grains (other than the aforementioned 10-grain cereal), but I haven't cut them completely. I live close to a shop where they offer a fancy tea party; I go to such a shop every 3 to 6 weeks. That's when I have sandwiches and baked goods.

There are so many possible strategies - you have to see what works for your palate, your schedule and your circumstances. Cup of broth before every meal? Vegetable soup with lunch every day?

For me, most success came with the realization that knowledge is power. I can have a 190 calorie donut. Not on the same day I have a 190 calorie half-cup of eggnog (did you know eggnog has 190 calories in a half cup?), or on the same day that I have a 200 calorie 3/4 cup serving of golden grahams cereal with 1/2 cup whole milk (120 and 80 calories, respectively).

Nothing is "off the table" - I just choose selectively about what to have, and when.

I'm also diligent about portion awareness. I have a digital scale, with both metric and US measurements, and I use my measuring cups. For most items, I use the grams per serving measurement because that's easiest for me.


I'd love to chat with you about other strategies - feel free to add me as a friend.