The Change
In the past I hadn't thought about what I ate or how many calories I was supposed to have as opposed to how many I was actually consuming. So I thought I should do some research. The Insanity workout video package came with something to help you calculate how many calories you should have per day to maintain your weight based on height, weight, age, and what your activity level was.
Then it would show you to reduce 500 calories to lose weight and add 300 calories to gain weight. I have found this calculator on the web you can find it here. To change the numbers in the form you have to download it (you do this by clicking the file button that is right above the excel form). When I calculated mine I should have approximately 1500 calories a day, if I wanted to lose weight.
So now I know I have 1500 calories per day. The Insanity program suggests eating 5 separate meals a day which would be 300 calories per meal. With my work schedule I found this too hard to do, so I stuck with 3 meals per day at approximately 500 calories. If I cook a meal I have no idea how many calories are in it. So what I found worked for me was to buy TV dinners or other prepackaged food that have the amount of calories right on the labels.
When it comes to TV dinners there are a variety of brands with many different flavors. Just be aware they also have a huge range in the number of calories in them. Before I just figured they were all in about the same size box, so same amount of calories. I was way off on that assumption.
For example in Stouffer's Herb Grilled Chicken it has only 160 calories. Whereas the Stouffer's Bistro Crustini Turkey Bacon Club box it says 330 calories but that is if you eat only 1, there are 2 in the box, so it really has 660 calories. This is where I learned the importance of reading the labels.
My Most Important Discovery
The most important discovery for me as I believe it had the most impact on my weight loss was my liquid calorie intake. At 1500 calories per day that would mean I could have 10500 calories per week. I was drinking a can of Coke or Pepsi at lunch and dinner time. There are 150 calories in a can. At 150 calories twice a day is 300 calories. Now times that by 7 days it equals out to 2100 calories. If I just eliminated that, I would remove almost a day and a half worth of calories every week.
For me diet soda is out of the question as to me it tastes disgusting. Plus now I am reading reports, although I don't know how true it is, that what is in diet sodas may actually cause you to eat more. I also know I am not the type to just drink plain water all the time. So I found a couple of drink mixes that have either 0 calories or 5 calories and they both taste really good. There is a Selection brand (this is possibly just local) that makes Fruit Punch. It only has 5 calories but somehow it actually tastes sweet. The other one I really liked was Propel Zero Grape and it has 0 calories in it.
Breakfast
For breakfast I would have a bagel that was 200 calories (read the package they can vary in calories). On the bagel I would have Philadelphia Herb and Garlic cream cheese. At only 45 calories a tablespoon I knew I could put on lots and not worry about still being under my 500 calories per meal.
Another option I choose was an english muffin at 120 calories. This gave me room to have different toppings like peanut butter or jam or honey. Plus I could have a banana or some other fruit with breakfast. Although I do personally recommend a peanut butter and banana combination.
Photo by Whatsittoyou. of a bagel with cream cheese.
Lunch
I was working afternoon shifts (3:00 pm to 11:00 pm) at the time so lunch was at home and the biggest meal of the day. One of my favorite prepackaged meals I could make and eat when I was at home were stuffed breaded chicken breast cutlets.
The two flavors I like are Broccoli & Cheese and Chicken Parmesan. The packages come with 2 in a box. The Broccoli & Cheese are 260 calories each, so 520 calories for both. The Chicken Parmesan are 250 calories each, so 500 calories for both.
Another option that I liked was Chicken with vegetables. Green Giant Simply Steam Cut Brocolli & Cauliflower with cheddar cheese sauce is only 140 calories if you eat the whole box. I would prepare a chicken breast (120 calories) with Calorie Wise Kraft Zesty Italian Salad Dressing. This would give it some flavor and still be low calorie. I would make a bunch in my crockpot. I could use the extra chicken breasts I made for the next day or to eat with a salad. Get the recipe here.
Photo by Whatsittoyou. of the Chicken Parmaesan
Dinner
Dinner was the meal I would have to take and eat at work.
Lean cuisine Chicken Parmigiana at 240 calories.
Stouffer's Meatloaf at 300 calories
Healthy Choice Grilled Balsamic Chicken at 320 calories
Stouffer's Chicken Alfredo at 340 calories.
Stouffer's Veal Parmigiana at 390 calories.
An added bonus to the TV dinner plan is that with Stouffer's they have a promotion where you collect pins (located on the inside of the box) to get points. Then you can cash in the points to get gift cards for stores, or movie passes, or products they offer. In case you are interested, I have placed links to the USA and Canadian websites at the bottom of the page.
Dessert
Yes, I included chocolate in my diet
With the TV dinners each one left me with at least an extra 100 calories. I don't want to give up dessert so I found things that were lower in calories to have for dessert. I would buy the Halloween treat size chocolate bars. If I ate an Aero and a Kit Kat bar, that was only 100 calories and I got my chocolate fix.
Thinsations also has 100 calorie snacks. I like the Cheesecake and the Fudge Dipped bars as they taste good and are also filling.
Having Fun While Exercising?
I find participating in a sport and getting exercise from it is enjoyable. However, like most people, I am not a fan of just plain exercising. So I found ways to make exercising fun. I like playing video games and with the Wii you actually get up and interact to play.
I found that Wii boxing was one of the better games to play for exercise. You get a great upper body workout and some cardio. I had almost forgot about this game until I had tried a workout video that was too tough for me and ended up hurting my legs. It was near the end of the weight loss challenge and I still needed to exercise, but my legs were way too sore. Wii boxing was perfect. I could still exercise without too much strain on my legs.
The Wii Fit Plus also has a variety of games that distract you from the fact you are actually exercising. One of my favorites is a game where you are like a bird flapping your wings trying to get to the next island. That provides a good upper body workout. There are also work out routines and Yoga, if that is something you like. You can also use the Wii to track your weight loss progress. It acts as a scale and keeps track of how much you have lost.
Best Workout Videos
Doing the same thing day after day would become boring so I tried to do different types of exercises to keep me interested. I went online and browsed through the different exercise dvds available. Some were way to complicated for me to follow (they were already onto the next move while I was just figuring out the first one). Others were way above my fitness level and some just bored me too tears.
I tried the Insanity workout dvd, not the whole thing, just the fit test. I didn't even do all of that, and it still kicked my butt. It did have the great system for figuring out the number of calories you should have and it was very good at explaining the exercise they wanted you to perform. If you are already at a higher fitness level and just not getting results I would recommend this dvd package.
The one that worked for me was The 10 Minute Trainer dvd. He is very good at explaining how to do the exercises. Most of the excercises were not complicated. Any that were complicated or became too difficult I just walked or jogged in place until they moved on to the next one. They do around 10 different moves in each of the ten minute segments so I would only be waiting for about a minute. This also would give me an opportunity to catch my breath and get some water. As I got better at it I was able to last the whole minute of the exercises that I did.
My Exercise Equipment
I have a Total Gym and a Horizon Elliptical machine. The Total Gym is great for muscle toning or building. You want to work on your muscles as they help you to burn calories. The great part about the machine is it can grow with you or can be shared with people at different fitness levels. It is a weight resistance machine. So if you want an easier level you set it near the bottom. For a more challenging workout you set it near the top. You can also workout different body parts with many exercises.
The Total Gym came with a video that shows different exercises you can do. My favorite is where you lying on your back in a sit up position with you arms over your head, you then pull your arms over you and do a sit up. It works out your arms (when you make a muscle, the part underneath, that can sag) and your stomach at the same time. You can also use it to do moves you would do on a rowing or a pilates machine.
I like my Horizon elliptical better than a treadmill. I find there is less wear and tear on my body. They had a treadmill when I went for physio for my ankle. I found the pounding motion you get from running on a treadmill was not comfortable. Since an elliptical is more of a gliding motion it does not seem to bother my ankle at all.
I found when I first tried to use the elliptical, I didn't last very long at all. Probably because I wasn't distracting myself from what I was doing. So all I thought about was the fact that I was exercising and I was tired from exercising.
Listening to music helped to distract me. I found it was good to have uptempo music, but also music that changed its tempo. That way you were always at least at a jogging pace but then you could switch to a running pace when the song picked up the tempo. Below I have listed some of my favorites songs to listen to while on the elliptical.
Songs To Get You Moving
| Track | Artist | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monkey Wrench | Foo Fighters | Foo Fighters: Greatest Hits | $1.29 |
| She Hates Me | Puddle of Mudd | Come Clean | $1.29 |
| Come On Eileen | Save Ferris | It Means Everything | $0.99 |
| Since U Been Gone | Kelly Clarkson | Breakaway | $1.29 |
How Often & How Long to Exercise?
I started slowly, as I hadn't really exercised in a long time. At the beginning, on the elliptical I found it tough to last 5 minutes. I would exercise every other day. As time progressed I built up my stamina. At the end I was able to do 20 minutes on the elliptical and one of the 10 minute trainer videos in one day.
I think the starting slowly and building into it helped. For instance I started by cutting back on drinking Coke/Pepsi, and then I completely quit . I gradually increased my exercise amount. If you keep doing the same thing your weight loss will plateau and you will get stuck. I was able to keep losing weight.
My Weight Gain Story
I had gained weight over time. It started with the normal weight gain after high school, but it wasn't that much. I gained a little more after I started working after finishing college. Both those combined was maybe 10 pounds. Then it seemed to balance out for awhile. I started to gain weight again after I broke my ankle. This weight gain was worse. It didn't happen all at once but over the years I ended up gaining another 25 pounds.
I hadn't really paid that much attention to it until I went away on vacation. Now I was going to be on a beach in a bathing suit. You can cover up your weight gain with clothing, not so much with a bathing suit. This was when I really took notice of how much I had actually gained and realized I needed to make a change.
When I got back from my vacation there was a posting at work to join the healthy weight loss challenge. You would compete as a team and as an individual. Top team each member got $100, $75 each for second, and $50 for third. The Individual prize was $500 for the top man and $500 for top woman. Now there is some added incentive! I got my group of four and signed up. Since we thought we would not be eating any junk food once the contest started we would have one last hurrah and ordered in pizza. The next day I began my journey and started the change.
Long Term Success?
It has been 2 years now since I completed and won the healthy weight loss challenge at work. While I find my weight fluctuates about 5 pounds. I have kept most of the weight off. Yet I hardly ever exercise anymore. I believe that keeping the calorie control for the 12 week contest period retrained my body for what was a proper meal portion.
I no longer have to stick to prepackaged food as now my body recognizes it is full at the proper portion size. The one thing I kept was not drinking soda pop 2 times a day. I have one maybe once or twice a week. I believe this is the biggest factor in my being able to maintain the weight loss for the long term.
Health Warning
Stouffer's Points Promotion Links
- http://dinnerclub.stouffers.com/
- This is the Dinner Club from Stouffer's where you submit your pins available for the USA
- http://www.stouffers-rewards.ca/
- This is the Stouffer's Rewards site where you submit your pins available for Canada
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