Tricia had asked about my one best piece of advice for losing weight and since a couple of others have wanted to hear my response, here’s a modified version of my response to her. Just remember that I made a cake and brownie muffins yesterday, got reported to the healthy eating police . . so why would anyone take advice from me? 🙂
Here’s a blog post version of my response to Tricia and to anyone else. Tricia happens to like Coke, just as I liked Dr. Pepper.
The first thing I will tell you is that you HAVE to want to do it and be willing to give up bad choices. Depending on how much Coke you drink, that may be a huge issue. I was drinking 5 or 6 cans of Dr. Pepper per day. Now, about once a week I have one and I haven’t gained on the days I had that one. I never thought I would like water but I’ve really started enjoying plain water.
Probably the smallest one thing you could do would be give up the Coke. You need to drink 64 oz. of water each day. Put 64 oz. in a pitcher every morning and be sure by 3 p.m., that water is consumed. Try that for a couple of weeks and see if you notice any difference.
As far as cooking, most of what we’ve been having is very easy! We grill 4 chicken breasts each week. The first day, we split one and eat it with sides – sometimes we split a baked potato, sometimes it’s dry beans — whatever. The second day, I slice up one chicken breast, then make a huge salad with avocado, tomatoes, black olives, several kinds of greens – the regular salad stuff, put the chicken slices on it and add oil and vinegar. The third day, (and these aren’t necessarily three days in a row), I’ll heat up some kind of beans (black, pinto, black eye peas), slice another chicken breast, put grated cheese on the beans, put the heated sliced chicken breasts on top, then add sour cream, black olives, jalapeno peppers. By the fourth day, I chop the chicken and make chicken salad. I serve that either on top of salad or in an avocado half.
We used to be told that if we didn’t eat enough, our body went into starvation mode and we wouldn’t lose. Now, I don’t believe that is true. We watched a bunch of videos on intermittent fasting and decided to try that. Two days per week, Monday and Thursday usually, we have breakfast, and then lunch and then don’t eat again til lunch the next day. It sounds like it would be miserable but it isn’t. I’ve actually felt so good doing that.
There is a chiropractor that we like – Dr. Michael VanDerschelden. He’s on Facebook and you can google him and find lots of videos he’s done. Everything he says makes sense and it will scare you into wanting to get healthy! 🙂
Honestly . . you CANNOT give anything up until you’re convinced you have to do it. I was where you are. People say that after a while without Dr. Pepper, they no longer taste good. That is not yet true for me and we’re into our 9th week! When I have my first sip of one, it’s like heaven! I could sit and drink 4 cans at once! So far I have not.
Find that chiropractor I told you about. Read up on Type 2 Diabetes. If you read/watch enough, I’m convinced you can walk away from Coke . . or at least cut way back. There’s some scary stuff out there and I KNOW it’s true. Cutting back on sugar and white flour is one thing we can do for ourselves. Once we pass that point where we’re diagnosed with something bad, it may be too late. I’d hate to know I could have done something to improve or prolong my life and quality of life .. and didn’t bother to do it.
Again, no one can convince you when it’s an addiction and I believe the sodas we drink are addicting. But, when the time is right, you’ll know you’re ready.
Sherrill Pecere says
I have ALWAYS said you have to be in the right mindset before you start–if not, nothing will work. And I always liked the later version of WW where they said if you crave something, have just a LITTLE. That helped me. And I DID give up sodas first with my first pregnancy and they tasted horrible when I started drinking them again. Did it again on WW (but started again!!). I know I can do it–just haven’t gotten into the mindset yet!
obed101 says
I started eating like that, all salads and water and quinoa and chicken a million lovely ways. Ate fruit and veggies too. Loved it and lost 35 lbs.. thane the flood destroyed everything and we no longer have a fridge, an oven or stove or a heater. Or a pot to p:#% in, literally no potty in the camper!
All,we eat now is outside food, fast food and junk stuff from cans. And I reward myself with little Debbie brownies, I gained About 12 lbs, snuck in on the vets scale since I no longer have a scale.
I am so ready to get back to my good way of eating! It really does work, and you feel so much better,
Katherine says
I agree that you have to want to lose the weight. Not just “it would be nice”, but commit to the effort. After that, I used a free app, MyFitnessPal. It’s available for Android and iOS and just on your PC as well. It’s counting calories, but it makes it easy.
What I learned most was to watch the serving size. I found I was eating 3 or more servings of cereal and it wasn’t really filling me up. So now I have eggs much more often. Fewer calories and I’m not hungry mid morning. It’s a win-win for me.
Look at how many calories something has compared to how much you like it. Somethings aren’t worth it to me. I’d rather have a brownie than a Sprite (or most any soda), so at a party, I’ll find the water and enjoy the brownie.
Oh, and remember you didn’t gain the weight overnight, so don’t expect to lose it super quick either. I lost about the same amount as Judy, but it took me more like 4-5 months. But over a year later, I haven’t regained it. Good luck!
Stephanie Lee says
I’m afraid I have some terrible news regarding the Dr Pepper… I am also an addict. LOVE the stuff. I had to go so far as to quit all sodas cold turkey just to stop drinking it by the gallon. I cannot just have one occasionally. It’s terrible. I avoided sodas for an entire 11 months. Not one. Then I got curious. Everyone had told me the same thing- if you stop drinking them, they will taste disgusting when you try them again. NOT TRUE! At least not in my case. I figured nearly a year would be plenty of time, so one day I tried one. That stinking Dr Pepper was the best thing ever! Not just the first sip or two, either. The entire thing… Interestingly, the Pepsi I tried didn’t do that. The first sip was fine, the second was meh. After that, I was over it. There’s just something about that Dr Pepper… I’m gonna have to stay far away from it!
TerriS says
Another thing to keep in mind if you drink a lot of soda is that it’s hard on the enamel on your teeth, too. I’m in my 60’s and never had any cavities in my whole life, but in the last few years, my teeth are fracturing and I’m getting cavities because the acid in the soda has eaten away a lot of the enamel on my teeth. I gave it up about a year and a half ago, but the damage was already done. I drank diet soda, so the calories were not an issue, but I liked the carbonation. I don’t miss it. I’ll have a soda about once a month now, but it takes me 2 or 3 days to drink one half liter bottle. I’ve been stalled in my weight loss since last spring, after losing more than 86 pounds. I’d like to lose another 30, so I’m going to try to continue to hold my own until after the holidays and then get back on the stick. The key for me is making healthy choices, portion control, and continuing to incorporate foods I love into my diet occasionally so I don’t feel deprived.