My weight loss gamer changer

For some reason people are saying that Willie and I were on The Biggest Loser. I’ve been stopped four times in two days of people asking me about the show. Sorry folks, we weren’t on that show. The social aspect of the show would have had us voted out in the very beginning.

But the lovely lady at Sam’s Club did ask me what the biggest game changer in losing all the weight. I didn’t even flinch when she asked because I know portion control was the biggest learning experience of it.

Please pay attention to portion sizes. Read the labels and just get educated on the information. There’s lots of information on those labels but right now I’m just talking about portion control.

A standard size for an animal protein is 4oz. That’s not as big as what you think, BUT it’s not so little that you feel hungry. The standard serving of fruit seems to be 83-100 grams. Most leafy greens have a huge portion size for limited amount of calories.

That muffin you’ve been eyeing might only be 200 calories but you have to look at the portion size. This is especially true when it comes to your liquid calories. I’ve read many times many people gain weight while trying to lose weight due to their liquid calories. That’s why I mostly just stick to water. It’s the calorie free drink and you can have as much as you want.

I still weigh out most of my food so I know the proper portion so a good scale is a handy thing to have.

Do you have a food scale? Do you worry about portion size?

Q&A video: Cheat meals, motivations, portion control …

Q&A video: Cheat meals, motivations, portion control and more

It’s here! We finally made the video and got everything to a decent point. I am glad that we did this video to answer your questions. Maybe next time around I won’t be so amped up. It may have been the two ice coffees I had before we recorded. Whoops! The video is in two parts so watch both parts. And if you have a question you would like to ask use the contact form, tweet me or ask it on Facebook! Part I: Cheat Meals, Foods we eat and avoid, portion control Part 2: Motivations and energy boosters

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Flexitarian, that’s what I am.

Flexitarian, that’s what I am.

Most people won’t eat a meal without an animal based protein, I am not one of those people. I will admit I tried the vegetarian thing and it worked out really great but I was a little low energy. When people asked me why I chose to go vegetarian they didn’t seem to like my answer. I just don’t eat a lot of meat. Vegetarianism is something I see is popular among the people who are on a weight loss journey. I think people associate meat with being overweight. It’s something stuck in people’s head. I chose to go vegetarian…

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Yes, I can hear you. My body is …

Yes, I can hear you. My body is speaking to me.

I don’t think I’ve been taking care of my body lately, but it all stops today. Maybe I’ve been doing too much, but I really don’t think that is the case.  I do a lot all the time and I don’t see why it would come up and get me like this.  But I’ve suffered a hamstring something.  It’s not really keeping me down, it’s just bugging the heck of out me.  I know what it happened; I didn’t stretch very well.  I was keeping to a very strict stretching and foam rolling routine, but I got off of it…

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Froyo, I’m going to quit you!

Froyo, I’m going to quit you!

Froyo (aka frozen yogurt) is my thing.  When I was larger, I would sit down with quarts of ice cream and devour them while watching television…along with a McDonalds 20 pack of chicken nuggets, two double cheeseburgers, large fries and just for my own health, a medium order of fries too.  Not my healthiest moment, eh? But froyo was/is my trip off the beaten path in our new lifestyle change. I can eat my weight in froyo, run a half marathon and come back for more.  (You definitely know what I’ll be eating AFTER I finish my first marathon.) My…

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Why food could be ruining our attempt to …

Why food could be ruining our attempt to make friends

One of my April goals is to become more social.  Willie and I have spent a good chunk of our time hanging out with out of town friends but we did want to have more of social life in at home.  The older we get the harder it is to make friends though.  I wish we could return to the days when sharing a crayon or playing on the playground instantly rendered a best friend or playmate.  Adults just don’t make friends the same way and most of the time it does involve food. I have my own social hang…

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Don’t feed your emotions

Don’t feed your emotions

Emotions are a crazy thing and will make people do crazy things. I fed my emotions when I was having the best and worst days of my life. I rewarded myself with decadent meals starting with an appetizer or two all the way to dessert. I didn’t need self control because I was celebrating whatever I thought was the milestones. Sometimes it would be just making it through a stressful day and coming out unscathed at the end. Little every day things became big things to celebrate. When I was having a bad day, I turned to fried foods and…

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Our weight loss tool: LoseIt!

Our weight loss tool: LoseIt!

Lose It! has been the main phone app we have used to lose weight. This app is not only a way for individuals to keep track of their diet and exercises routines but this is the app we used in our weight loss journey.  An August 2010 study by Kaiser Permanente shows people who logged their food in a food diary were more likely to lose weight AND keep it off! “This study shows that if people use quality weight management websites consistently, and if they stick with their program, they are more likely to keep their weight off,” said…

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The 80/20 Rule of Eating

The 80/20 Rule of Eating

When we first started our weight loss journey I read a lot of magazine articles about people losing weight, hitting a plateau, and keeping the weight off.  I was interested in reading what other people had to say about losing weight.  Whether someone was trying to lose 10 pounds or 100 pounds, I wanted to know the challenges and victories they experienced along the way.  That’s when I learned the 80/20 rule of eating: Don’t beat yourself up because you eat “bad” 20% of the time when you eat right 80% of the time. This is something I really struggle…

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