My Nutrition

Now for how I eat/what I eat basically in more detail.

I am a calorie counter. I watched it close while trying to lose weight especially. Once I reached my goal I found it was much easier. Have some wiggle room at this point. Partly because I now am trying to maintain my weight and not lose. I recommend starting a food diary for people just beginning this life style change. After yrs. of eating this way I no longer have to have one. But do plan my meals ahead usually. Basically rule is when trying to lose weight burn more calories then what goes in. Now I try to burn what goes in. No more, no less. For me it is amazing how much one can eat to obtain their goal and keep it if they eat healthy and not all that junk food that is out there. Also I still eat at McD's. I just watch what I eat. There are simple answers. I peel the breading off chicken nuggets. Order sandwiches with no condiments & take the roll off, salads no salad dressing, no-fat milk for ice mocha, kids meals with apple slices, etc... As I have said before do your research. Can find loads of calorie charts on line.

Example of a day worth of eating for me is as follows:

Breakfast: Egg white with onions, spinach,(egg yoke is where most the calories are, plus I am allergic to egg yokes I have found through the yrs.), serving of cream of wheat with sugar substitute and cinnamon, non-fat milk, (take my multi vit. with that) , 1 cup of coffee, (300 cals)

A.M: Snack fiber bar or fruit (100- 150 cals)

Lunch: A small salad , fruit, fish (400 cals usually)

Snack: usually some type of grain or veggie (150-200 cals.)

Supper: soup, veggies,a grain of some sort, fruit, (500 cal.)

Snack: low calorie pop corn or a fruit (100-150)

That is one example of my daily intake of calories/eating, since I am active and only trying to maintain my weight I try to eat no less then 1750-1800 calories a day usually. I also as I have said now have some wiggle room so there are days when I splurge and get a frappe or something like that. But for the most part I have eaten healthy for so long I no longer can stand most sweets. It takes time to get to this point. Just remember we all screw up from time to time. I know I especially did back when I first started changing my life into a healthy life style. But don't give up. Realize your mistake or whatever and start a new. Take it one day at a time. One step at a time.

So basically eat healthy, get active, if already active get more active, and do your research. AND STAY AWAY FROM FAD DIETS AND FAD EXERCISE PROGRAMS AND GIMMICKS.

I will add more as time goes by: Good Luck in your new adventure into a healthy life style!

My Healthy Change

I was 26 1/2 yrs. old and had been pregnant 4 times with 3 children who made it into this world. I had major preg. complications. Through being on bed rest and well just not paying much attention to my own well being but more to just my children's I had gained a lot of weight. I was 189 lbs. One day I walked up a set of steps and lost my breath. I realized then what I had done. I also realized if I wanted to be around for my children for a long time to come I had to make some changes. I started out slow. I had weakness and it wasn't easy. I learned to take baby steps and no starvation diets would work. I had seen through others the bad results of such diets and fade diets. I realized I had to change my eating habits and activity habits for good. I talked to my doctor got a physical, did research and still continuously do research to this day.
My weaknesses were as follows food wise: chocolate and peanut butter candy bars, eating to much ice cream in one setting, not knowing what a true serving was, cheese and more cheese, anything sweet or salty.

As I have said I took baby steps. I started out cutting back on sweets and salt, learned to measure portions of food. I took it slow cutting things out of my life food wise. But little by little I ate less and less junk. Today I eat no meat that comes from a cow or pig. I eat things that comes from the sea(fish, shrimp, etc...) and skinless chicken.
It's amazing to me now how on that rare occasion I eat a piece of cake on one of my children's birthday how I can;t stand the sweetness. After a few months of getting to the point that I gave up sweets almost completely I found and still find I can no longer stand most sweet things. I have retrained my body. Today I crave quiet the opposite. Also I have done loads of research and have been blown away by the junk that most of us Americans tend to put in our body when eating fast foods or prepackaged food. I have a rule if I pick up something and have no idea what the ingredients are it is not going into my body. I did not get to this point easily. It was an up hill battle. I do have a splurge day once a month sometimes 2 times a month. On that day I give in and eat one unhealthy craving.
So I now eat veggies, fruit, dairy(no more than what daily recommended), fish(something from the sea, chicken, and grains, on a very rare occasion I eat sweets. I also switched to sea salt. I tend to try and follow the food pyramid but I never eat bread or rolls, ever! I read the ingredients on everything I put in my body. Try to eat homemade or fresh as much as possible. I never eat fried foods.
As I write more about my experiences through my change into the healthy life style I will remind you it was not easy at first. But I can't describe the feeling when I look into the mirror and know I did this. Hard work and determination did this. I did this for me and my family. Over time I will tell you more. Like about how I slowly got more active and all the activities I do to stay active. Some even involve my children and my hubby getting involved. I hope that this blog can inspire others to take the initiative to get healthy.
Last but not least I am not one to inspire people to become an unhealthy low/underweight person. That is not healthy. I suggest to women stop looking at famous women and comparing yourself! A lot if not most are underweight, have had dangerous life risking surgery, or/and have eating disorders or done drugs/ unhealthy diets and life styles to get there. So this is about being healthy. No looking in the mirror and desiring to be 5'4" and 100 lbs or less basically. It's about being healthy. I myself am 119-121 lbs usually and am 5'4". I will explain more of what I do as time goes by. But I will never be one to encourage being an unhealthy weight or live an unhealthy life style in anyway.
I am a mother of 4 living children and 6 who God called home to be with him before I got to ever say hello. That is another story entirely that I may sometime share on here. But for now I encourage you to be grateful for this life and the body God has given to you to use in this life and to treat it with the respect you owe him. God Bless and please keep checking back as I will be sharing more of my journey in this blog.