It’s been several weeks, months actually, since I posted about my weight loss plan. Don’t worry! I haven’t given up. In fact, I’ve still been tracking calories religiously every day, and attempting to go to the gym at least 3 times a week though that doesn’t always happen.

To date, I’m down 35 pounds and it definitely shows.  The pants fit better and are even loose.  Those notches on the belt that I’m not using are a good indicator.

I wish there was some miracle drug or awesome program I could tell you all about right now, something I should be the spokesperson for, but there’s not. You’d probably be shocked to learn that watching what I eat, counting calories, and regular exercise is all that did it for me.

FOOD

Nope. I haven’t been starving myself. In fact, I eat Papa John’s pizza or some type of fast food at least once a week.  Dinners are more fast than not, and could definitely be healthier.  I still eat ice cream, and not the low fat kind, as a semi-regular treat after dinner.  I still enjoy a chocolate milk with breakfast from time to time. And Pop Tarts and Snickers bars are a definite weakness. I frequently have two gooey Kebblers after dinner as a treat.

So no, I haven’t completely cut out everything that’s bad for me.  But the one thing I do is hold myself accountable for what I’m eating.  I still use MyFitnessPal.com and I log even the bad stuff, even if I’m already out of calories for the day. Some days are better than others obviously.

EXERCISE

Like I said, I try to do the gym on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Now that summer is almost over I’ll go back to walking on my lunch breaks.  That was always good for burning 100 or 150 calories. I work out for only an hour, and all I have been doing is mostly cardio or fat burn – I use two different types of elliptical trainers and two different types of stationary bikes, not all on the same day.  And that’s it. No weight training or balance training. Nothing.

It’s good to practice what’s called muscular confusion so that you don’t plateau for too long. That means you mix up your routines and use different muscles to keep them working. Don’t do the same routine all the time or your body will get too used to it and the weight loss will stop. This is fun because sometimes I’ll just ride a stationary bike for the whole hour. I don’t burn as many calories, but that’s okay.  I’m still working out.  Other times I mix it up and do two machines for 30 minutes each. You get the idea.

COUNTING CALORIES

I love MyFitnessPal.com!  I use it on my home computer, work computer, cell phone, and Kindle. I’ve now logged in for 225 days straight! Yes, this is very time consuming but just like dieting, I’ve forced myself to make it a part of my daily routine. And like I said, I hold myself accountable for all calories – even the bad ones!  It’s almost like a game on gym days to see how many calories I can save and burn. And after you’ve been doing it as long as I have, it’s quicker to log meals because the program saves your frequent foods. I usually eat close to the same thing for breakfast on weekdays, so I can log my meal in a few seconds and not have to search for or enter new foods.

If you decide to use the program, take advantage of the numerous foods and meals other users have already entered.  The calories might not be the exact same, but they’ll be close enough to give you a good idea of the calories you are consuming. For example, J made zucchini bread this past weekend. Rather than create a recipe so I could accurately add up the calories in his recipe, I looked the numerous zucchini breads already available on MFP and chose one that I thought was fairly close.

What’s important here is to not stress out and don’t beat yourself up.  Like I said, I still enjoy pizza or fast food at least once a week, knowing that yes I’ll go over my calorie count – BUT I’ll make up for it! I’ll take a walk and burn 100 calories or I’ll eat better the next day.  There’s no reason to starve your body – it won’t help.

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So that’s it! Yeah, I’ve made it sound simple, I know. I can’t promise my program will work for you.  But what’s important is that I’ve found a program that works for me, I’m seeing results, and I’ve committed myself to it. Looking at that scale and knowing that I’ve lost 35 lbs for the year feels great.  And this year still have 4 and half months left!