Country Chatter

This never ending battle with my arch-enemy “weight” just does not seem to go away.  I made a New Year’s resolution but then suddenly January was gone and I was still procrastinating! February brought a new day of reckoning; our pastor called it “40 days of Lent”.  How do you wiggle past that one? Now I had a “righteous, spiritual” reason to get with it! It actually gave me the resolve I needed. I weighed myself and marked the calendar.

The first 4 pounds came off fairly easy but then I hit a wall which I couldn’t seem to scale. (Don’t you like that pun on words!!!).  I went searching on the computer for a calorie calculator and found myfitnesspal.com.

Let me tell you, this is my lifesaver! If you are trying to lose weight and struggling with what diet to use, I highly recommend this site. You don’t have to deny yourself food or starve to death.  You put in your weight, height, current weight and desired weight goal.  It tells you how many calories you can eat a day to accomplish your goal.  I am goal oriented so this site is perfect for me. It allows me to manage how and when I eat my calories. Portion size has been very revealing!  Of course foods like breads, snacks and sweets are calorie loaded, but having to record each food and see the actual calorie count has been very motivating to me.

Each day I record what I eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, how much water I drink and calories I burn on the treadmill. The treadmill (or exercise) gives bonus calories to eat, if you want, and still stay on course with your goal. The site has a huge resource of foods and almost everything you can imagine is there, including brands.  Homemade foods are the hardest but with some creativity you can come close. I can have 1200 calories a day and in five more weeks I will be at my first goal (165 lbs). I say first goal as I put in what I thought was a modest, attainable goal. Now I am very optimistic that I will be able to do better and reach my second goal of 160.

I have tried numerous times to lose weight and did so successfully several times but could not keep it off.  I am hoping this method will have a more successful long-term outcome.