5 simple, everday weight loss tips

So Sunday was a pencil skirt wearing kind of a day. I was feeling good! =) Last week was a very successful week.  I felt completely in control and lost 4 pounds. Trust me, this is not a normal number nor should it be expected. Some of the weight I gained quickly from a bad weekend so I knew it was going to come off quickly.  Please don't get discouraged if you don't usually loose this much weight in a week.  On a really good week I can loose 2 pounds but that is rare.  The lower I get the harder it gets as well.  I also woke up today and had lost another pound which puts me at my lowest since last fall and that puts me 8 pounds away from my goal. 

I really feel like I can contribute my weight loss last week and this week to the changes that weight watchers made to their points plus program this year.(If you don't follow weight watchers but would like more information about it email me here. I would love to help you out with the resources I use). They recommend if you weren't loosing weight on the new points plus to try going down 3 points but no lower then 26.  I was at 29 points so the lowest I could go is 126 anyways but it has really made a difference.  If you follow weight watchers and don't know about the changes you can see a detailed description at DanicasDailys here.  It is very informative!

Being on this journey for a few years I feel like I have learned a few very basic things that have definitely contributed to my weight loss success and would like to share them with you.  Here are a few.  I will do a nother post with a few more soon.

1. Set a short term goal.  When I was 160 pounds getting down to 130 or 125 felt overwhelming.   I decided to start setting short term goals.  I always set a weekly workout goal and I always set a weekly weight loss goal. It was usually only 2 lbs per week and the lower I have gotten my goal has changed to 1.5/week but it was a number to work towards.    I also have set a goal for  events.  If I was going to be seeing family or had some sort of event I would try to figure out how much weight I could realistically loose in the amount of time till the event.  Whether it was 2 weeks or 30 days I would work towards that goal.  I always tried to make sure that my "Event" wasn't more then 1-2 months away.  More time than that seemed more long term to me. That helped me even more then my weekly goals. 

2. If you like sweets like me then Having sweet, lighter snacks around will help. If you are not a sweet eater there is probably something that is an indulgence for you so have a healthier, lighter option around. Whether it is a Fiber one bar, 100 calorie snack pack, snackwells, knowing how many WhoNu, oreo's, or keebler grasshoppers I can have for a low point sweet treat or its having a homemade low point treat around these things have SERIOUSLY helped me be successful.  I crave sweets every single day and there are days when I just cant resist so I try to have something on hand so that when the craving comes or someone around me is having something that is not low fat or low calories then I can grab the better options and don't feel the need to indulge.

3. Find a way to Get AT LEAST 8 cups of water.  When I workout I try to get even more. This is  one of the most basic of basic weight loss tips for many reasons.  For one, water is so important for our bodies but two, if I am not getting enough water I feel hungry more frequently.  I think that a good portion of people have a hard time getting all 8 cups of water so figure out what works for you.

I find that I can drink more water if I am sipping it from a straw rather then drinking it from a cup.  I found a water bottle that I really like that I can refill and sip from all day.  Keep it in a room that you go in and out of all day or else carry it around your house with you. When you see the water bottle take a big huge sip!  I also always keep a water bottle in my purse so that when I am out and about I can be drinking water too.  So figure out what works for you and stick to it because getting all your water in will seriously help you be successful.

4. Have someone to set goals with and to answer to.  Whether its your spouse, best friend, neighbor, sister, coworker or someone else find some who is trying to loose weight and is willing to report and listen to your report regularly.  Make sure it is someone who is motivated as well.  I have tried this with a few people and some people have helped me be successful and some people were just not into it enough. 

5. Work out the way you like.  If you are doing  a workout that you hate then chances are you are not going to stick to it.  I recently read a blog about a women who lost half her weight starting at 165 by walking everywhere she went.  She didn't like to run so she just walked.  Switch things up in your workout. I really enjoy working out but if I do the same thing every single day I get board.  So I switch it up every day.  My regular routine usually consists of running 3-5 miles some days and doing Jillian Michael's videos other days.  However, some days I don't feel like doing either so I pull out one of the movies I have on hand and do that instead. 

These are just a few tips and trust me I am no expert I have just found that they make a didifference for me.  I will definitely be posting some more soon.  If you have other ideas that have made a difference for your success I would love to hear them.  =)

MyFitnesspal.com

Another thing that I recently discovered is Myfitnesspal.com.  A friend of mine at church told me about it a few weeks ago and since I follow weight watchers I really wasn't in a hurry to sign up.  I finally decided to sign up this past Monday and let me just tell you.  It has been worth it.  It is 100% free and seriously such a help.  If you are trying to loose weight whether it is 100 lbs or 10 lbs seriously sign up and check it out.

I have been tracking my calories on myfitnesspal and comparing it to my weight watchers points this week.  I will let you know what I found out.  I am also thinking about tracking my calories one week and tracking points the next and seeing which week I loose weight faster. 

So here is how it works!

-When I first signed up I entered my weight, height, and what my goal weight was and a few other things about myself then it figured how many calories I need to eat to achieve that goal. 

This is the screen that appears whenever I log in first thing. This is mine from today so far. ( You can also get an app on your phone to log things)

If you want to enter more food you track food on the left hand menu.  This is what will appear:

I'm going to add a snack.  Under Snack I will hit Add Food. You can see below that I can quickly pick something that I have already entered.  I am going to search for something new though.  Their database of food is HUGE.  You can see that it pulls up and already has stored a lot.  There hasn't been one food item that I have searched that has not been in their database already stored with its nutritional information. Last night we went to benihanas and it even had everything I ate there.

I am going to search snackwells.  As you can see in my list that I have already added snackwells fudge bites.  I want to try and search for their fudge drizzled popcorn.  This is what pops up when I enter snackwells.

See all the snackwells Items that pop up? 
As you can see you can even drop down further to see more.  I clicked on Fudged drizzled popcorn and it lets me pick how many servings I had.  You can even change the serving size.  I add the food and it will take me back to the original food tracking area with an updated calories.  You can add more food from here if you want. 

Seriously Try it out!  I will do more posts here soon on using other features on the website but it is pretty user friendly!  Let me know if you try it and like it!

WhoNu and Myfitness pal.

I have to share with you something I recently discovered

My husband saw these on a end cap as he was leaving work the other day and he thought I might like to try them.   I have seen them before but hadn't tried them  because I kind of doubted that they tasted all that great. They claim to be packed with vitamins. 

For some reason I thought of reduced fat oreos that I had years ago and that didn't sound very appealing. I was a little sceptical when Ron brought some home for me to try! but....
Guess what...They are so good!  I may even go as far as to say that they are better then Oreo cookies.  If not better, at least comparable and they are not necessarily low fat but you can have three cookies for 4 point+.  Not too bad if you ask me!  They even have four different flavors. Try them and if you get a sunday paper then check this past Sundays (1/22/2012) for coupons for them and you can get a discount! 

And you dont even have to feel bad about giving them to your children becasue they have a ton of vitamins =)