If I could highlight a defining moment in my life, it would be January 8th, 2017. The day I stepped on to the scale and it registered over 200lbs. I stood there frozen and in shock. A shock that I could feel throughout my body. My brain couldn’t process the series of events, months or issues that led to this. I could blame some of the weight gain on my back injury but at that point, enough time had passed that it was no longer an excuse. I was simply facing the sad reality that I got a little too comfortable with stretchy leggings and stopped paying attention to how I was treating my body. And I didn’t realize it had gotten so far. All I knew was that something needed to be done, and fast. I didn’t want to lose weight specifically for my wedding, but it was definitely an incentive for me.
Fast forward a little over a year later, and I’m down roughly 40lbs. I say roughly because I’m only human and those last 5lbs fluctuate so wildly that I honestly have no idea what my true weight is, but it’s hovering in the low 160s. Over the past year, my friends and family have noticed the change and I’ve constantly been asked “but HOW did you do it!?”. I wish I could tell you that there was some magic pill or diet I followed for fast and easy results. But the truth is that there are no miracle options. It’s literally all about eating well and exercising. Now before getting discouraged, read on to find out what worked for me. I also want to be extremely clear though that I am not a doctor, I was not followed by a nutritionist or even a gym trainer. This is just something I did myself and before making any drastic changes to your own life, perhaps consult with a specialist.
Diet
They say that your diet alone makes up 75% of what it takes to lose weight. And I would have to agree. My best tip for this was downloading the “My Fitness Pal” app on my phone. With this app, I entered my current weight, my goal weight and how active I was. It then told me that to obtain that goal, I needed to only eat 1,200 calories a day. Crap. This wasn’t going to be easy. (Message below if you would like me to add you as a friend on MFP!)
The app allowed me to track everything I was eating as well as enter any exercise that I had done. The app would grant me additional “workout calories” but I really did my best not to eat into those. What I loved about the app is that you can import recipes to figure out the calories or you can even scan bar codes on food products to download all of the nutritional information automatically. The beginning was a bit difficult because I needed to enter EVERYTHING in from start to finish but once my basic “usual” foods and recipes were in, adding what I ate became super easy because I would simply select the food from my “recent” or “frequent” categories.
Apart from entering all my food, I also created a board on Pinterest with “healthier” versions of various meals. I needed to get creative with some tempting foods (like pizza) but I managed. Instead of eating or ordering pre-made high-calorie pizza, I made a “cheat” version. I would cut open an English muffin, put a bit of tomato sauce, some low-fat cheese and one or two pepperoni slices then put it in the oven to bake. It did a remarkable job at fooling me into thinking I was eating real pizza, but with less calories. I would also buy things like mini-tortillas from Maxi that were only about 45 calories each so I could make low calorie “sandwiches”. I also loved my zucchini fries (below) that were baked, not fried, and really gave me the crunch I was looking for.
Although everyone says breakfast is the most important meal of the day, this is also where I found I could cut the most of my calories. Generally speaking I would have a coffee at 8:30am in the morning when I got to work. Then around 10-10:30am, I would either have a banana, 2 scrambled eggs or a Greek yogurt. These were all “heavy” enough to keep me satisfied until 12-12:30pm when it was lunch time.
The other thing that kept me motivated was that I ate REALLY well Monday-Thursday, but when Friday/Saturday/Sunday came around, I cared LESS. I didn’t give up completely, but I would definitely have one or two cheat meals in there. This way, I didn’t really feel like I was completely depriving myself because I knew I would get the “bad” food over the weekend.
Want another incentive? Competition! My friends and I put together a workout/healthy eating challenge where we would be awarded with points if we exercised and stayed within our calories. This was extremely motivating for me. Using a Google document that everyone could update, we tracked our progress and in the end, the person with the most points won a prize! We completed this challenge twice and I worked my butt off to win both times. So very soon, I will be enjoying a new outfit AND a spa day. Winner!! So, get a group of friends together with similar goals and you can all make an effort to have healthier and more energetic lifestyles!
My favourite low-calorie foods:
- Tim Hortons medium coffee with 3 milks: 60 calories
- Bananas: 90 calories
- Angel sweet grape tomatoes (Costco): 60 calories
- Mini cucumber: 10 calories each
- Costco Smart Pop Popcorn: 150 calories for 4 cups
- Mandy’s Salads: varied
- Iced coffees with milk and half the sugar: usually 60-100 calories depending
- Lindt 70% dark chocolate: 57 calories/square
- Fudgesicle: 88 calories (this one was surprising for me!)
- PC mini tortillas: 90 calories for two
- Anything on my “healthier versions” Pinterest page: https://www.pinterest.ca/dianafoglia/healthier-versions/
Exercise
Unless you’re a workout god or goddess, working out generally sucks. I’ve never been a hardcore gym rat and I doubt I ever will be. That being said, I did manage to figure out something that works for me. Personally, I need to LOVE my exercises and I also need to change them up. So a monthly gym membership unfortunately just won’t cut it for me.
My first love is team sports. Although I’m not particularly good or even coordinated, I joined a non-competitive women’s recreational soccer division about 6 years ago. I’m still playing with my team years later and I LOVE it. Although it’s not supposed to be really competitive, it is at times, which definitely feeds my competitive side. I also absolutely adore my team members, so I’m super motivated to go out and kick butt with them on the field. During my weight loss journey, I would play soccer with my ladies every Monday night. In addition to soccer, I also joined a floor hockey team at the beginning of this journey. Although I didn’t end up continuing with this sport, I did play for a whole season every Wednesday night and I was proud of myself for trying something new.
In addition to my two team sports, I also got a class-by-class membership to Moksha Yoga. Although I was never a fan of regular yoga, I feel that the hot yoga classes allowed me to be a bit more flexible (I’m seriously not even able to touch my toes) and go deeper in the poses. The teachers didn’t constantly adjust me and never pushed too hard, which I really appreciated. I would try to go to hot yoga on evenings when I didn’t have any other exercise planned.
Finally, my number one exercise that I love is Zumba. There’s just something about the music and all of the dancing that just feeds my soul. I also think that this was the thing that boosted my metabolism the most to lose weight. Instead of signing up for a Zumba class, I borrowed my best friend’s Wii Zumba DVDs and workout out in my living room! This took intense motivation but I would try to plan out which exercises I would do on each day of the week. If I noticed that most nights I was busy, I would push myself to wake up 30-45minuts earlier and dance it out in my living room. Although my hubby wasn’t too happy with the Latin music flowing through the house at 5:30am, I admit that this was the best workout to get me up, awake and really ready for my day. I NEVER thought I would be a morning workout person but it turns out that as long as I don’t need to leave my house, I can motivate myself to at least shake my booty in front of the TV! This year, I actually even joined a Zumba class at our local community center on Thursday nights with my wonderful mother-in-law. This is a super intense 1 hour class that literally makes me drip sweat every week. It’s gross, but totally amazing.
Essentially I like and NEED to change it up. If not, I’ll just get bored and not do anything. Although I do have a cheapy gym membership that I go to a few times a month, it’s definitely not my go-to workout.
In the end, I am still a work-in-progress but I am super happy with my progress so far. I’m at a point where, even though losing a few more pounds would be great, I’m looking to maintain my weight and just be healthier overall. I LOVE my curves! All this to say, I still plan on enjoying my gelato each and every single day in Italy this summer!
For photo credit, all photos that aren’t mine can be found here: https://www.pinterest.ca/dianafoglia/positividee/
Jewels says
If I could turn back the clock, I would do things differently when it comes to self-care & eating.
Food soothes me… when I’m frustrated, confused, angry, sad, etc.
I also take pleasure in rejoicing triumphs… with food by side! It’s a vicious cycle that is made worse when vigorous exercise is not factored into the equation.
Congratulations, D. Taking small steps is definitely the right approach ! I applaud you for your candid blog entry.
Dee says
I think it’s also a very big part of our culture and upbringing. I don’t blame us! I literally plan my day around when I’m going to eat haha!! Small steps for sure. But life is short and I don’t think depriving ourselves will make us any happier. All we need is a good balance <3