Getting healthy is a process

So, in my last real post I talked about feeling like EVERYTHING I did revolved around my weight loss.  I have found that I have regained some semblance of sanity now that I don't log everything I do in 5 different places.  I still religiously log my food and exercise in MFP.  I do not blog as often.  I still check in on my DietBet that is in progress.  Other than that, I have chilled.

I think that people forget that this is a lifetime journey.  Once you hit that goal you're done.  I don't think it works that way.  I have known many people that get with 10 pounds of their goal or even reach it and then turn around and put all 100+ pounds right back on.  How frustrating is that?  More importantly, wouldn't it be easier to just check in to ensure that you stay on the right track?

That being said, there is no reason to eat a salad for lunch every day for the rest of your life.  I believe the key is moderation.  Many people talk about the 80/20 rule.  Eat healthy 80% of the time and give yourself a break the other 20%.  I am leaning more toward the 90/10 side of things only because there is NO WAY I am gaining all of this back!  Granted, I am not to the maintenance phase yet but I will be soon.

People focus so much on what they CAN'T eat or CAN'T do.  Why?  I can eat whatever I want.  Can I eat it all day every day?  Sure.  If I want to ruin what I have accomplished.  But that doesn't mean that I have to say no to every slice of birthday cake or worry about what I am going to eat at a dinner party.  Moderation.  I have to be able to live life without constantly worrying about it.

On that note, I also see a lot of people beat themselves up over the scale.  1 pound and their life is going to end.  Obviously, weight fluctuates.  They talk about "falling off the wagon" or "cheating".  I don't believe in those things.  I believe in building certain things into your program so that you can be successful.  Are there days that I want to eat everything in sight?  Of course.  I wouldn't be human if I didn't have those days.  Give yourself some room to breathe.  If you find that you are 200 mg over in sodium after you make dinner, then what?  Oh well.  1 day, 1 meal will not change your life.

Variety is good for the body.  It keeps it guessing.  I believe that's why I am having good success with carb cycling.  My food is constantly switching and then I have a day where I can eat whatever I want.  I am aware that it could be damaging but it's not.  Moderation.  I give myself an extra 1,000 calories to have my way with and I'm happy.

Bottom line:  Getting healthy is a process.  It's not always easy but it's definitely worth it.

The 3 Keys to my success this year

I was thinking about what has led to my success this year.  I broke it down to 3 things.

1) Keaira LaShae - I have mentioned her before but honestly - I couldn't do it without her.  I am constantly challenged, encouraged and motivated to better myself.

2) Diet Bet - I am competitive by nature and this only fuels it!  Not to mention that there is a social aspect that just makes it fun.  I won my first Diet Bet (Chris Powell Challenge) and am working on a 6 month transformer challenge now.

3) My Fitness Pal - I have used other trackers before and loved them.  MFP is built to cover all of the variables.  It also has a social component that is highly enjoyable and motivational.  I like to help people and this gives me a chance to share what I have learned as well.

Every person is different...from motivation to calories to workouts.  You absolutely need to do what works for you.  1 of the lessons that I learned this year was that I need to feed my body.  I was trying to eat 1,200 calories with a 200+ pound body.  That wasn't enough.  I am now consistently eating 1,600 and still dropping the same amount of weight.  I was introduced to Carb Cycling this year as well.  It has made a huge difference in my relationship with food.  I also learned the value of limiting sodium.  I feel better.  The only way to find out what works for you and what doesn't is by tracking.  I really cannot stress that enough.

I will admit that doing all of these things can be time consuming and is not always the easiest thing to maintain.  We are all busy.  Our responsibilities may be different, but we all have things that we need to focus on outside of ourselves.  On the flip side, I have to take care of me or there won't be anyone to do what I do.  It's a choice.  I choose to get healthy.  I have struggled my whole life with my weight and I will continue to be aware of it forever.  I have achieved significant results and am confident that I have a handle on my goals.  I am not saying it's easy - because it's not.  But it's certainly a lot more manageable if you have a plan.  Keep that in mind as you continue on your journey and achieve your goals.

Sodium Situation

I remember when my mom first started with My Fitness Pal and told me about sodium.  I said Ahh- don't worry about that.  My tracker didn't track that so it didn't exist in my head already spinning with the multitude of other things I needed to worry about when it came to my diet.  Well...now it has come to my attention since I have started using MFP exclusively.  I am often WAY over my sodium allowance for the day.  And by WAY I mean double or triple.  Free days of course are the highest (6000) and high carb days are around 4000.  I tracked it for the last week and those meals were pretty indicative of how I eat.  So this week, I am making it my mission to be under the 2,300 grams of sodium that is recommended.

This is NOT easy to do.  I thought I was eating clean before.  I found out I am NOT.  To reduce the sodium content you basically have to eat NOTHING processed including meat.  Dairy products  - yikes!  This is what surprised me most of all.  It shouldn't as logically I realize they are processed but I just didn't expect it.  Cheese, cottage cheese... high!

I went to the grocery store to grab something for lunch.  It took FOREVER.  After quite a look around I finally went with some Natural Choice Oven Roasted Chicken Breast which was the highest part of my meal.  I got some lettuce, grape tomatoes and swiss cheese as it was the best option.  Dressing.  DRESSING!  You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find dressing that didn't have 300 grams of sodium.  I finally found a generic honey mustard that had 140.  That was half of most everything else.  Without having a means to cook anything, that was the only option I had for lunch.  I looked at lunch meat and it was over 500 a serving.  I never would have thought to look at that.

I have a plan though.  Tonight I am going to go get a bunch of meat and cook it so I can have it there along with veggies.  I am going to try and eat very clean this week and see what my sodium content looks like.  I need to make sure I am still getting my calories in too.  Not sure if it will have any effect on my weight but it's worth a shot.  From the research that I am seeing, it doesn't really make much difference from a weight loss perspective but I am going to challenge myself this week to see if I can.

5 Simple Ways to Become a Consistent Food & Fitness Tracker

I HAVE to track or I have no idea why I lost weight or gained it...and...I need to know.   So I can repeat it - good or bad.  I have also found My Fitness Pal very helpful.  I used to use the Daily Burn Tracker; however, just this week I decided to switch to MFP.  DB is much more limited than MFP is.  I ended up looking up foods on MFP anyway.  Also, I loved the simplicity of the DB Tracker but I was needing more in the way of interaction.  My Fitness Pal definitely gives you that in a variety of formats: Friends, groups and forums.  I brought many friends with me from my Diet Bet.  The fact that so many of the Diet-Betters use it was the final straw that made me switch.  So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  What works best for you?  Let me know in the comments.

Here's how to get started: 5 Simple Ways to Become a Consistent Food & Fitness Tracker