What is Working For Me

Since Kirsten asked me to share my secret for will power I thought I would post about what is working for me. First off, honestly I have no will power... so I just don't tempt myself by keeping crap at home.

The thing that is helping the most is My Fitness Pal. It is a free online site that lets you create a space to record your calories, water, exercises. It has really helped me take notice of what and how much I put into my mouth.

The next big thing I've started doing is eating every few hours. Before I started all this it was normal for me to not eat until Lucas took his afternoon nap. Then I would eat dinner and then after everyone went to bed I would snack on CRAP. Now I wake up and eat breakfast, even if it means just a banana or a container of yogurt and then a few hours later I eat lunch. I also eat little snacks in between meals. Before I really think my body was in starvation mode since I would go so many hours in between meals.

I'm also eating more fresh fruits and more fresh veggies. Having to keep track of everything I put in my mouth has also made me make smarter choices. I was never a big fruit person but after a month of making myself eat it I can honestly say it is starting to SLOWLY grow on me. I think my tastes are changing. If I eat something really processed now it just tastes salty and gross.

Another big thing is I've been drinking water like crazy. Before I used to drink mainly water but it was about half the amount of what I am drinking. Now, I usually get in about 12 8oz glasses of water a day. I've also cut out coffee, not because coffee is bad but all the junk I would put in it wasn't good. Now it's a twice a month treat when I go to bible study.

I still go out to eat now and then but before I go I do my research. Now before I head out to meet my friends I log on to the restaurant's website and go ahead and pick my meal by the nutritional information listed on the site. A few times I have been really surprised and have found that things that I thought were "healthy" really are not.

Now I try to get exercise in during my daily life. I don't try to get a front parking place at the store anymore. I park and walk. When I take Lucas to the playground I don't sit and watch him but climb up the stairs and race him on the slide. Until this week I was also meeting friends several times a week to go walk but lately its just been too hot. We plan to pick back up as soon as the weather cools off but until then I'm looking into finding a workout video that I like (I'm open to suggestions.)