How I fight the battle of the bulge.
About a year and a half ago, I decided to once again exercise some self-control. Being a pastor's wife can make losing weight and eating healthy next to impossible. Our church has covered dish luncheons and fellowships with finger foods. And, our women can make some delicious and albeit hard to resist food! But, don't despair. Often the key to losing a few pounds and getting healthier is easier than you might think. I lost 30 pounds and have kept it off.
My first strategy was to stock my house with better, more healthy things to eat and snack on. For me, if there's candy there, I'll eat it. If it's not there, I get the healthy alternative. Since I homeschool, my daughter and I can eat healthy during the week. We keep things like brown rice and frozen grilled chicken strips to make stir-fry. We eat a lot of baked fish and veggies. We keep single serving fruits and sugar free puddings. We keep healthy, lower calorie cereals and skim milk - often eating this for supper or snack. I'm not crazy about water, so I keep the flavor packets which makes me drink more.
We also try to get in at least 30 minutes of exercise a day during the week. I have some fun DVDs for when we can't get outside to walk.
Now, I don't fret when we have to eat fastfood during the weekend. I do try to pick the healthiest alternatives, but I won't lie and tell you I don't go ahead and eat the fried every once in awhile. I also allowed the weight to come off one pound at a time - slowly. This is hard because I'm impatient. But, when I've lost weight quickly in the past, I gained it back and more.
By slowly changing my eating habits and adding in regular exercise, I'm finally at a healthy weight. I also now have the benefit of a healthy metabolism which burns off more fat keeping me in my weight range.
Since losing 30 pounds, people often ask what my secret was or is. When I explain the above they appear disappointed. I wish I could tell them that I discovered some magic pill, but the magic is in determining to make healthy changes and choices. I'm pulling for you!