A friend of mine is losing lots of weight and I asked her what she was doing. She told me about the SparkPeople App. Now, many people use a Fitbit and My Fitness Pal, and I think SparkPeople is a lot like that. I've never used it, so I can't say for certain. So, I decided to check out SparkPeople. It was easy to use and told me exactly what I needed to do.
When I signed up I entered my current weight, how much weight I wanted to lose, and how many pounds I wanted to lose per week. Now, here's where I share lots of personal information.....info that I wouldn't normally tell people....like my weight. But, for the sake of my personal record for the future, and to help anyone else who thinks it's impossible, I will. I started at 260 pounds, I want to lose 100 pounds, and I want to lose 2 pounds per week.
I started using SparkPeople on May 18, 2015. When I started, and put in all my information, the app told me how many calories I should eat each day in order to lose 2 pounds per week. The thing I liked was that the range was doable: 1700-2060. I input, or scan the barcode, of food I eat and the calories, fat, protein, carbs, etc, are automatically calculated for me. My daily food log will show the breakdown of how many carbs I've eaten, and how many carbs I have left to eat for the day. I don't worry about these breakdowns, I just look mainly at the total calories. I can also input the exercise I do each day, and the calories I burn are calculated automatically as well. If, for example, I burn 500 calories in my daily workout, the app adds 500 calories to my daily calorie total that I can eat. However, I don't ever eat those calories back. I ALWAYS (with the exception of one day) stay under my 2000 calorie max. Most days, I try to stay near the lower end of my calorie range.
I started recording my weight each week as well. The app shows a line graph of the 'goal' weight versus my actual weight. I've been losing more than the 2 pound per week goal because I've been working out everyday. I think the total calorie range it gives me in order to lose the 2 pounds each week is without any exercise. It's a very easy app to use, and it's really helped me to be more aware of what I'm eating, and to make better food choices at the same time. I don't deny myself any food. I just decide if the calories are worth it. For example, if it's the end of the day and I've only eaten 1400 calories, I might decide the 200 calories in 9 Hershey kisses is totally worth it!! Or I might decide to only eat half a serving (5 kisses for just over 100 calories).
So, that's the food part of what I'm doing. Now for the exercise part. When I started tracking my calories, I'd already been doing a workout program for about 3 weeks. I don't belong to a gym, nor do I own any home exercise equipment, except for some dumbbells. I use both the 5 pound and 10 pound sets of dumbbells often. All my workout routines are online, which makes it simple to access no matter where I am. I was even able to keep to it while I was on vacation for a month. I've only missed a few days, and on those days I just make sure to stay at the low end of my calorie range for the day. I alternate cardio and strength training days.
I'm following the Bikini Body Mommy Challenge workouts. I did challenge 1.0 a few months ago. I was three weeks into Challenge 2.0 when I started tracking my calories. I am now about a third of the way through Challenge 3.0. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I do my strength training. It will be the same weight routine/exercises for the whole week. The next Monday will start a new set of exercises, which I will do for the whole week. So, if I'm on day 20 on Monday, I just google bikini body mommy challenge 3.0 day 20, and a youtube video comes up showing the workout. The lady who does the videos is a personal trainer who is also trying to lose weight after her last baby. Before I do my strength exercises, I do 20-30 minutes of zumba to warm-up. I do another 10-20 minutes as a cool down and stretch. I try to get about 45 minutes of zumba on my strength days.
On my cardio days, I do zumba. I started doing about 45 minutes, but I'm now up to 75-80 minutes on my cardio days (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday). 75 minutes of zumba burns 850-900 calories. I have found an instructor that I really enjoy, so I just use her youtube videos. Just search for Linda Edler in youtube and she should come up. She has about 8 routines on there, varying in length from 15-30 minutes. I just do a few of them in order to get my total cardio.
I even give myself a free meal once in awhile. If I know we have a party, or BBQ, or date night coming up where there will be lots of homemade food that's harder to track, or just less healthy options, I don't track that meal. I track the other food I eat that day and really try to keep my calories low, that way I don't go crazy and go WAY over with my free meal.
Well, that's a detailed account of what I'm doing. Nothing special, just good old exercise and watching what I eat. I've lost about 42-43 pounds since I started, I feel better, all my clothes fit again (or are too big), and I am just happier. Let me know if you have any questions.
These first two pictures were taken before and near the start of this journey.... May/June.
This one was probably taken in May, or the very beginning of June.
This one was probably taken in May, or the very beginning of June.
This one was probably taken a few weeks or a month into the calorie counting. I don't know exactly, but I do know it was after the first one.
These two pictures were taken today. I tried to use the same light filter that I did in the above picture. I can finally see some visible change in my face.
No comments:
Post a Comment