Yea for me!

Well, to start my little journal...I have been drinking water, limited my sweets, increased my veggies and some fruits, getting plenty of sleep, and 0 exercise! I just HATE exercising! Especially when I have no husband at home and kids...

BUT with that said, I have been eating 5 meals a day and I have lost 3 pounds!!!! YEA! Now, if I could just start getting my butt moving, it might slip off a little faster! I sent you all a picture of my lunch last week! Yesterday for lunch, I had yogurt with grape nuts, string cheese and a handful of carrots!

Cara

(this was originally sent to our email on April 28th)

Medical Advice Week 2

A lot of people think that if you work out a lot you will lose weight without working on your diet. Unfortunately, exercise does not give you a lot of bang for your buck on losing weight. If you are going to focus on either diet or exercise you will be more successful if you forget about exercise and work on your diet.

Do you know how many calories equal one pound? 3500! So, to lose one pound of fat you have to burn 3500 calories. Conversely to gain one pound you have to take in the same amount.

Unfortunately, the human body does not burn many calories through exercise. If the average person runs one mile, they will burn only 100 calories. So, to lose one pound of weight through exercise alone you have to exercise the equivalent of running 35 miles! Hope you got some comfortable running shoes.

On the other hand however, if you decrease your calories by 500 every day it is the equivalent of running 5 miles a day. This can add up fairly quickly.

Exercise and running is important and it adds up over time, but if you rely on it alone you will not get very far (No pun intended).

Dr. Watson

Learning Curve

First I have to say how grateful I am for this challenge. Not only has it helped me keep focus on what my weight loss goals are but it has changed the way we do things in our family too. So two weeks down and what have I learned? TONS!

1. I don't eat because everyone else is. I eat only when I am hungry instead of when I'm bored.

2. Sweets are a thing of the past. Don't get me wrong, I love a good desert now and again but if I'm needing something to satisfy my sweet tooth then there is nothing wrong with sugar free pudding packs or the many varieties of sugar free, low cal, carb smart treats in the frozen food isle. Not to mention the tons of 100 calorie packs.

3. Fast food has become a thing of the past. I craved it a lot, it's fun to do and honestly it is more convenient to just grab something for myself or the kids if we are out running errands. Instead we schedule time for lunch at home. Plan a healthy meal and take time to enjoy it. Instead of a happy meal they eat pb and j's, cottage cheese or string cheese, carrots or apple slices with water. I enjoy a low carb turkey or ham wrap (heated on the skillet or cold) with the same sides. Delicious!

4. The kids eat what I eat. If I don't buy it for them or have it around they don't know the difference. They'll chose something healthy to snack on instead of chips or fruit roll ups. Our dentist would be proud too! Sugar free pudding packs with whip cream instead of banana splits works just fine!

5. If I want to go for a 30 min. walk guess who has to come with me. If I go in the back yard to do some exercises guess who follows me. When I get a work out guess who else is getting a work out!

6. The money we've saved on grabbing fast food is great. The discipline it has taken to not eat when I'm bored and to cut out sweets has been amazing. The time spent together eating lunches and being creative with lunch ideas has been fun.

So all in all, I'm amazed on the changes it's made not only to me physically but to the changes it has brought to my family. What started as a fun way to lose baby fat has already become a lifestyle change for my family.

Thanks Summer Slim Down 2009, we couldn't have done it without you!

~ Rebecca ~

What's on the menu?

Need ideas for menu items? Check out the Kraft Foods site at www.kraftfoods.com. There is a section under Healthy Living with recipe ideas and other weight loss info. The deserts look great and with a low calorie count I know what I'm eating the rest of the week! There are also a lot of great sections that can help determine how much you should weigh, how many calories you burn doing your daily activities and a meal and fitness planner section where it gives you a weekly menu based on how many calories you should be eating. Pretty fun so far.

~ Rebecca ~

What's My Problem?

So it's the start of week 2 and I currently weigh exactly the same as I did after eating a giant Easter feast. Granted, the first week I didn't eat so well, i'll blame it on Grandma visiting, and last week snacking on healthy snacks but I haven't been going to the gym. I haven't been doing so good on the chart except for that part about 7 hours of sleep............ that one's easy!

So how can I get the motivation to exercise everyday? How do you guys do it? Are you doing it? Please tell me i'm not the only one and if I am, help me get out of this rut before it all goes to my gut, or butt! :)

Kristy

Medical Advice Week 1

So you want to lose some weight? The thing that you need to realize that it is not weight you want to lose,but fat. There are a lot of diets that help you lose lots of weight but it may not be all fat, but muscle as well.

To stop from losing muscle during a diet it is important to make sure that you have enough protein in your diet. If you don't have enough protein in your diet about 50% of your weight loss will be fat and the other 50% will be muscle. By taking in enough protein you reduce that ration to about 90 fat and 10% muscle. Losing muscle makes you tired and lowers your metabolism which makes it even harder to lose weight.

So what is protein? You can get protein from meat, cheese, eggs and supplements. (You can even get it from soy if you are brave enough).

So how much protein should you take? You should be eating about 1 gram of protein for every kilogram of your ideal body weight. To find out how many kilograms you weigh, divide your ideal body weight in pounds by 2.2 and you will get the number of kilograms your ideal body weight is.

So for example, if you weight 90 kilograms you should be eating at least 90 grams of protein every day to reduce the amount of muscle you lose during your diet.

Good luck and don't be afraid to have some steak once in a while. Let me know if you have any questions.

Why did I do it? Twice?

Already one week down and 14 more to go. I thought I was doing good all week with what I was choosing to throw down my gullet. Then the weekend came! A visit to Jack in the Box was no good. I have only been there once in my entire life so why pick this weekend to try it again? Then Saturday and dad's idea of going out for a picnic. What goes hand in hand with any picnic? Not frisbee's, sun block, picnic blanket, overcrowded parks or the inevitable dog poop you're bound to step in.n It's the famous KFC! You know my standings with KFC. As a rule for myself (and Tam too) we can only eat KFC once a year because it takes that long to get out of your system. Nothing like coating your insides with greasy chicken in the first week of a weight loss challenge to get you moving. Maybe it will allow anything else I eat to slip and slide through my system a little faster. Having said that, I got to go...literally!

~ Rebecca ~

breastfeeding diet

well family- according to medical research, breastfeeding moms are advised to wait for 2 months before engaging in any sort of diet or eating regimen. Apparently I am still eating for two (two boobs that is) but I will be thinking of you fondly for the next few weeks until June 23rd when I will be down in the trenches with the rest of ya'all.

I also read that women with a thyroid problem who can sing in harmony should not be dieting.

Oh and any woman who is around large sums of money all day and who has contact with cold hard cash is also advised to increase her sweets intake.

And I think I read somewhere that balding men over the age of 60 have a greater chance of being hit by lightning than of losing any substantial amount of weight.

Oh and I know for a fact that Greek men like their women with a little meat on their bones.

Just a little food for thought.

XOXO tam

I challenge you....

So here is a blog devoted just to the Summer Slim Down 2009! This can be used as a forum for our medical advisor to post his weekly advice, a place to ask him specific questions, a place for all of us to share our feelings as we go along, a place to vent and give support, etc. That way we don't have to blog individually about it and make everyone visit every blog or to put it out there that we are on a diet for the world to see. Feel free to blog your comments and if you are new to blogging what a better way to get started. Just make sure you sign your name at the end of your post so we know who's commenting. With that said......LET THE GAMES BEGIN!