Posted by Trish Milburn Jan 26 2012, 12:01 am in eating healthy, exercise, guest blogger, weight loss
By Nancy Northcott
Well, here we are two months into my efforts to whittle down my weight. I have to admit those efforts haven’t been as zealous as they need to be. I’ve modified my eating habits but haven’t managed to get the exercise portion of the program going. Even so, I’ve lost 1.8 pounds.
This loss isn’t huge and could easily slide backwards, but it’s encouraging. I’ve done this by eating more salads and less processed sugar. More days than not, now, I eat breakfast (yogurt or fruit or cereal with skim milk). It does get the metabolism going and helps burn calories. I didn’t used to be a fan of skim milk, but the weaker taste isn’t as noticeable on cereal as it was by itself.
For snacks, I eat fruit or yogurt. We keep a bag of Hershey’s kisses on the kitchen counter for when I crave chocolate (or the dh does). I allow myself one from the bag, just enough to satisfy the yen, and chase it with water to get the taste out of my mouth so I don’t go back for more.
Sometimes I have nacho chips with salsa (very few calories in salsa, which is mostly veggies). I have to be careful to have just a few chips, not stand at the counter taking more out of the bag every few minutes.
I’m drinking more water, trying always to have water with me. My goal is to drink at least 48 ounces a day, spreading it out over the day so I don’t get waterlogged, and I usually have water with meals. For some reason, as I learned when working as a weight loss counselor, water helps with weight loss.
My most successful weight loss, 35 pounds, came when I was eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner in sensible portions of healthy foods, snacking on fruit or veggies between meals, and exercising. One of my favorite treats is a sliced apple with peanut butter on the slices.
I haven’t made as much progress as I’d like, but I’ve made some, and I realize whether or not I make more is within my own control.
Are you trying to make a lifestyle change? If so, how’s it going? If not, what do you think lets you maintain a healthy lifestyle?
Posted by Trish Milburn Dec 30 2011, 12:03 am in eating healthy, guest blogger, weight loss
By Rachel Goldsworthy “Have you always been thin?” I was hugely flattered this past summer when a thirty-something woman asked me that question because it meant that my recent weight loss wasn’t written all over my face. I’d worried about it, you see. The previous September, I had embarked on a program to retreat from [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn Dec 29 2011, 12:01 am in guest blogger
By Nancy Northcott I had a great plan for losing weight over the holidays. Alas, but it went the way of so many plans in failing utterly. I got as far as looking for the hand mitts I wanted to start punching (which works not only the arms but the waist as I turn to [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn Dec 20 2011, 12:10 am in food, guest blogger
By Theresa Ragan For as long as I can remember, I have craved sugar. Candy in all of its delicious colors, textures and tastes, makes my mouth water. Chewy caramels, gummy bears, truffles–morning, day or night, it doesn’t matter–I want candy. I also like greasy bacon and popcorn with tons of butter drizzled on top, [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn Dec 9 2011, 12:01 am in guest blogger
By Heather Snow It’s December. For many people, it’s one of the most hectic times of the year—holiday shopping, cooking, decorating, or maybe year-end wrap up for our day jobs or small businesses, or trying the spend the last of that medical savings plan before December 31 so you don’t lose it. It’s also often [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn Nov 17 2011, 12:01 am in exercise, fitness, guest blogger
By Anju Gattani Just when I thought workouts were for muscles, I learned a new term, ‘brain fitness’ – the improvement of the cognitive abilities of the brain by exercising the brain. It’s a term used less in the science world and more in the self-help arena. It’s a term that could possibly go hand [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn Nov 15 2011, 12:01 am in eating healthy, Emotional Eating, exercise, guest blogger, Holidays, weight loss
By Nancy Northcott Just about a year and a half ago, the Healthy Writer team invited me to guest blog about my plans for getting back into shape. I was going to go back to the gym, cut back on unhealthy foods, and stay focused. I really was. Only I didn’t. Instead, I gained weight. [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn Nov 11 2011, 12:01 am in guest blogger, weight loss
Hello, everyone! Heather Snow here again. So, this month, in my journey to better health, I’ve been doing okay. Have really focused on drinking more water (I have to drink my full 8 cups before I allow myself to drink anything else), I’ve been working on getting in 30 minutes of exercise every day plus [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn Nov 3 2011, 12:01 am in eating healthy, food, guest blogger
By Anju Gattani If there’s one fruit that takes the trophy, it’s the banana! Unlike its close competitor the apple, you’ll never find a particular type of banana—for example a Fuji, Gala or Washington—out of stock. Why? Because there is no ‘type’; a banana is a banana no matter which way you look at it. [...]
Posted by Trish Milburn Oct 20 2011, 12:01 am in eating healthy, guest blogger
By Anju Gattani I’ve been a vegetarian all my life and for a long time I thought this had to be one of the healthiest lifestyle options; then a visit to a specialist in food allergies and nutrition taught me otherwise. Vegetarians who don’t eat fish, meat or any sea foods are apparently missing out [...]
