Lose 1lbs Per Week

So I found this weight loss formulae online at http://www.ehow.com/how_2226702_lose-one-pound-per-week.html and it made weight loss sound so logical and almost easy that I could not but share.

Who wouldn't want to know how to lose 1lbs (0.5kg) each week? So now the how to:

Determine your personal daily calorie intake required for YOU to lose 1lb each week (it differs for each person). To do this:

First

Determine your current weight in pounds (if you are more used to Kg’s, go to Google and simply type in ‘convert kg to pounds’ and a cool calculator pops up. This will give you your weight in pounds)

Then

Add a zero to your current weight in pounds (eg if you weigh 180lbs, this means this math sum will be 180+0 = 1,800)

Then

Add 20% of the result from the above ie 1,800 accounting for any extra daily activity = 360

This means the daily caloric rate for a person that weighs 180lbs will be 2,160 (or there about) ie the calories you need each day to maintain your current weight.

So, to lose 1lbs per week, subtract 500calories a day from the daily caloric rate ie 2,160-500=1,660

 

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Having said this, the caveat is that your weight loss will be dependent on body type and fitness level. The article (see link above) says that the more overweight you are, the bigger calorie deficit you should try to create (ie you could make the 500 above say…600) but don’t go below 1,200 calories a day (you will lose weight, but you could also get sick – plus it is not sustainable.)

 

So how do you tweek your calories? A few ideas:

• Reduce the amount of calories by substituting high calorie foods for lower calorie alternatives
• Give up white sugar
• Cut down your portion size
• Burn more calories in your work out – you could try and change your work out (swimming is a major calorie burner), increase work out intensity, increase work out frequency etc.

While I am on the subject, I found a nifty site that helps you calculate your daily caloric needs; you only have to provide your height, weight (in pounds) and age. Check it out here: http://walking.about.com/cs/calories/l/blcalcalc.htm

I hope this helps someone, as it has me. It would really be great to hear from you if it has, and what you think of the concept of counting calories.

A toast to our successfully dropping it for life…!

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Drop It On Facebook

Walking Benefits

So, I’ve been talking about walking and its benefits to our bodies, overall health and long life. Many of us know that we need to work out, but cannot muster sufficient ‘oomph’ to get out of bed, literally.

I won’t lie, many times I wake up in the morning hating the very idea that I would have to go out for my brisk walks. In fact, I remember a day early last month when my alarm went off and it was time to set off. I turned over in bed with a deep groan, trying to inspire myself to get out of bed when I heard the drum of rain drops outside my window. The rain sounded sufficiently heavy to drench me upon my first step.

Don’t expect me to say that I was sad to have missed my work out…far from it. I let out a happy laugh, turned over in bed and slept for about 45 more minutes. I am like everyone else (or at least I hope so) and have to really motivate myself to keep going.

To motivate myself [most days] I bring to mind the undesirable experiences I have had on account of being overweight. I’m thinking high blood pressure, knee and join pains… the list go on. (See more of my story here: http://dropit4life.blogspot.com/2013/08/on-your-marks.html)

Also, I bring to mind the benefits of walking which is really what I want to highlight today – possibly someone will catch the walking bug and join me sometime. Here we go!

Walking strengthens your heart... enuf said! This is motivation enough, right?

Being moderately active could help prevent dementia, I read somewhere that research has shown that ‘older’ people who walk 6 miles (that’s approximately 12,000 each week) could avoid brain shrinkage that comes with age and thus prevent memory loss.

Walking tones your legs, tummy and yes…your bumJ. Now, I am not saying you will suddenly get Naomi Campbell legs, but at least you won’t do badly if you make walking part of your lifestyle. With time, I may gain the courage to show my before and after pictures here, lol!

Strengthen your bones and increase their density by walking regularly. This is especially important for women who are prone to develop osteoporosis as we age on account of weakened bones (calcium helps as well).

Walking helps keep your joints healthy and stave off illnesses that attack joints like arthritis. It’s far cheaper to walk than to have to buy and pop multivitamins that give the same benefits that walking do.

I do my walking early in the morning, now we all know that direct sunlight is an excellent source of vitamin D. Vitamin D is a big player in keeping your bones healthy and nourishing your skin, among others (I am told it helps in the production of feel good hormones that help us fight the blues too).

There are other benefits, but I think these are the major ones. Aha! I get a real sense of accomplishment and gladness when I can tick off my daily work out at the end of the day.

Do you walk? Have you noticed any benefits? Want to share? Please be my guest.

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Walk It To Drop It

Recently I discovered the joys of walking... now each morning I average 3,000 steps as part of my Weekday Daily Work Out Plan. If you know me, you will agree that I don’t do anything in half measures (weekends I do about 8,000 steps in the mornings) and when I find something I love, I am not shy to share my love. My new love is WALKING!

What’s all the fuss about walking? To answer this question I have put together this infographic (it may not be as sophisticated as most infographics you are used to, but hey…it tells the story, right?J)

 

Do these provide some motivation for you? They did for me… I have not quite gotten to 14,000 steps a day (there is hope!), but I average 8,000 to 10,000 each day. I can’t say I have dropped radical amounts of weight, I have tons of energy, I breathe better, and my head is clearer. The reflection I get in on early morning walks make my day all the more productive. PLUS, my posture is improving, lingering aches from my back (recall I shared how I hurt my back recently?) seem to have vanished. THEN I sleep better each day. Again, it seems as though my thighs and calves (major problem areas for me) are getting toned. What’s not to love about walking with these results…?

I can hear someone asking… ‘Liz, how do you know how many steps you are taking as you walk?’ One word: PEDOMETER! But not any ol’ pedometer; if you visit this blog next week I’ll tell you what to look for in a good pedometer.

Have I sold you to walking yet??? [wink]

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Weight Loss Do's & Don'ts

As I continue on my journey, I've learnt a few things about weight loss, and am in the process of learning even more. Believe me, there are so many opinions out there, so many options, a lot of research into weight loss and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The trick (I think) is weeding out the gold from the gunk.While I offer these few guidelines, I wish to emphasize that one womans/mans meat is anothers poison. SO what has worked for me may not work for you and vice versa. So please take all of this with a 'spoon' of salt. Take out time and be committed to finding what works for YOU. You are the most important living person in YOUR WORLD; so you are worth it!

But remember that these are things that I am working into my life, becasuse I am 100% committed to Dropping It For Life.

Here we go...

Do’s	Don’ts
Weigh yourself often it helps keep your target in perspective. Try to step on your scale (I hear digital scales are more accurate) at least once a week. And please keep track of your weight loss ie write it down. I actually created a graph on excel that I just love to see slope downwards.	Don’t skip meals. You really cannot make up for the extra you had at lunch by missing dinner. It doesn’t work that way. Why shouldn’t you skip a meal? Because: you could get dehydrated and loose energy which could nix your work out efforts. Also the hunger-monster could ambush you and make you end up eating the wrong things -take it from me, I learnt this ‘the HARD WAY’. So NEVER skip meals, especially breakfast. My best breakfast recommendation is oatmeal with dried fruits and sugar free soy milk.
Do curb eating saturated fats. Nutritionists say that less than 10% of your calorie intake should come from saturated fats. In layman’s terms, change your butter with almond butter, your vegetable or palm oil with olive oil. Remember, it’s the little things that count	Don’t stay away from vegetables. You can eat as much veggies as you want and still lose weight. But please prepare them in a sensible and healthy fashion i.e. grill, steam, raw… and do avoid them heavy sauces and creams that we all think make them taste better. They actually don’t, it’s just that we have conditioned our taste buds to think they taste better. We can also re-teach our taste buds to enjoy plainer fare.
Drink water before your meals – at least 20 minutes ahead. This wee tip could help you curb the amount of food you end up eating, coz it ideally should increase your feeling of fullness when you go on to eat. That plus the fact that water helps flush out toxins from your kidneys, some even say it helps rev your metabolism. If these ideas don’t rock your boat, think of the benefits of water to your skin…ageless beauty. J	Don’t give up sleep. We were told that if we sleep “a lot” we would pile on the pounds/kilos. But researches have told us that not getting enough sleep will actually hinder your weight loss journey. Sleep deprivation actually could increase the intensity of hunger! So not sleeping enough (ie at least 7 hours each night) could be working against you.
Practice eating slowly, it takes about 20 minutes from when you eat for your brain to actually register and signal you that you are full. If you are not aware of this, you could keep eating and end up gorging yourself. I am still practicing eating slowly… I have a lifetime habit of fast eating to break. So, sit at a table, savor your meal, and make it last; all the while listening/waiting for the signal to stop. Trust your body to tell you when it’s had enough.
Plan in advance what you will have to eat. Why? Because if you don’t plan, you could end up eating what is available and not good for you as opposed to what is nutritious and wholesome. Planning could be the difference between the salad you planned and prepared for lunch, and the chicken and fries you had at your desk (personal experience speaking). I’ve learnt that spontaneity is not the way for me if I am going to DROPIT4LIFE… (I’m still trying to get a handle on this…so we are learning together)
Avoid the carbs in processed foods. Some natural foods have carbs like sweet potatoes, not I wouldn’t nix that, coz it also provides the fiber I need. But then, think about store bought mashed potatoes… yeah! That’s the culprit – carbs in processed foods.

 

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Our Response-ability

One thing I've learnt in my new lifestyle is that life is full of options; options and choices about...

• Portion sizes
• Physical exercise...how much and if at all
• Types of food to take 
• Types of food to avoid 
• Habits
• Snacking
• Commitment 

I could go on and on. 

The point I am trying to make is that the choice is ours. Yours and Mine. We have the ability to respond to our current circumstances...RESPONSABILITY. 

This awareness and its corresponding action is the difference between...

• Health and sickness 
• Wellness and un-wellness
• Really living in full effect (LIFE) and merely existing

What will it be? 

There is an African proverb that says 'you have both the yam and the knife in your hands' aka...the ball is in your court. 

Choose life my friends...

What have you chosen today? What can you do now to back up your choice with action? Care to share? Sharing keeps you accountable...

While we are talking about sharing, do you know that you can share this blog post on your Facebook wall, your Twitter page, your LinkedIn wall, your Google page...! That will also help you ensure your friends keep you honest. 😇

Healthy Options: Sweet Potato Pancakes

 

Just because you are on a journey towards a healthy lifestyle and waistline does not mean you have to give fabulous pancakes a miss. At least that is what I believe.

Now I love my pancakes, so you can imagine my delight when I stumbled on this recipe. The I was translated to 7^th Heaven when I tried it the first time and it was so yummy, that these pancakes are now a staple in my diet (Saturday morning breakfast… well, some Saturdays lol).

I love this because it is so filling and when I need to think of an option that is both nutritious and easy to make this more than meets my requirements. And then you don’t need the guilt inducing white flour required for pancakes… Plus depending on the oil you use and your topping of choice, this is about 100calories per serving (each pancake) – I eat two pancakes with a cup of tea when I have this.

What you need:

• 2 medium sized sweet potatoes - grated (I hear that sweet potatoes are actually healthier than the other potato varieties- can’t prove it for real though – just something I heard)
• 1 large egg - beaten
• ½ a teaspoon of black pepper
• 1” fresh ginger (grated)
• ½ a teaspoon of turmeric
• Salt (optional – I don’t use salt in mine)
• Dried pepper to taste – again optional. I find my black pepper packs all the heat I need)
• Pinch of cinnamon (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of Olive oil

What to do:

• Grate your potatoes and ginger and mix
• Add your dry ingredients
• Pour in your egg and mix until everything is thick enough to adhere
• Divide into balls with your hands (clean hands please! J)
• Flatten each ball – mine is no more than 1½inches wide. Allow the flattened balls to set for about 2-3minutes
• Heat your oil
• Fry like a regular pancake for 5 minutes – about 2½minutes on each side – or until your pancakes are golden brown like mine J (below)

Some people eat this with honey or maple syrup – I love mine plain. But it’s a good way to make your calories count each day, plus it is yummy and filling.

Hope you try this recipe and tell me what you think...enjoy!

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Emotional Eating & Me

Yes, I still struggle with emotional eating and have resolved myself to the fact that this is a life long journey. Life is a long time and it is very easy to fall off the wagon, so the question of my lifetime is what can I do to help me curb my emotional eating? I’d like to share some ideas I have read about, heard about and tried out myself. Here goes…

Nutritional coaches advice keeping an eating diary; they say it helps keep you accountable, more conscious of what goes into your mouth and possibly help you identify your triggers. To be frank, I have tried this a couple of times but I can never seem to sustain my effort for more than one week. So I may need more convincing, that is not to say that other people have enjoyed some success using this method to track and curb emotional eating; so it may be worth a try to see if it is for you. 

I have personally found that I tend to nibble less when I work out early in the morning – nothing major, just a brisk 45 minute walk around my neighborhood. I don’t know the science of it, but I think it has to do with physical activity releasing endorphins that lift my mood all through the day – so I don’t get into the emotional funk that portends bouts of eating excessively when I am not hungry.

Last week someone commented that when she goes out with a lot of cash on her person, it’s easier for her to ‘fall off the wagon’ and buy things that are not good for her and fuel her eating. This may seem simplistic to many, but thinking about it, it made total sense to me. I actually have made a new month resolution to limit the cash I carry around and so doing see if I can stop myself from buying those little bits that I nibble on - chocolates, glazed nuts, pastries… Thanks Modupe for your comment! Will tell you all how this goes.

I read an blog by some coach a while ago (sorry can’t recall the site), and what this lady was saying is that daily relaxation can help balance your mood hormones (like serotonin) and help manage depression, fatigue etc which could trigger bouts of emotional eating or binging. This makes total sense to me, so I gave it a try – one key initial outcome from this was that I found out that I didn’t know how to relax. Seriously, I had to go learn how to relax. I started out with deep breathing (no, I didn’t go ‘ohmmmm’ J) – I just lay on my back in bed, and took a deep breath in, counted for a few seconds, then released the breath. The first day I did this, I feel asleep…don’t laugh! I was happy to fall asleep. So now this is a major way I ease stress. Relaxation is now a major part of my life and to achieve this I swim, I work out, Jack Canfield’s Mirror exercise (basically self-talk to myself looking at my image in the mirror) – do what works for you, coz stress is one thing I know that triggers emotional eating in many of us.

 

There are so many ways to curb emotional eating, and different things work for different people so this blog post can go on and on. But I’ll stop at this last point today: Get enough sleep. I read an online help guide (www.helpguide.org) recently that advised that not getting enough sleep amplifies our cravings and the lack of sleep make us less able to turn away from unhelpful cravings. How many hours sleep do you get each night? If you consistently sleep less than at least 7-8hours each night, you are getting too little sleep. Don’t be sad – I previously lived on less than 5 hours sleep each night and thought I was being smart, I didn’t know that I was compromising my health and weight loss. So now [most nights] I turn in by 10pm (I’ll probably fall asleep by about 11 after my nighttime routines) and get up by 6am. This is the norm – although sometimes I will sleep later or wake up earlier, but these days are the exception and not the rule.

So, far so good – I’ve maintained my weight loss for over a year, it’s not as fast as when I first started but I am healthier than I have ever been. I think lifestyle changes also help in our bid to lose weight and live healthy – not just dieting or deprivation.

What is your emotional eating story?

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