Alex and decided to lose weight. We went to Mexico on the 2nd of January and both agreed that we would begin our new life after the trip. It wasn't worth giving up guacamole and margaritas while vacationing for 5 days. So we both weighed in on the 7th of January with a goal to each lose 40 pounds. Because this was a lofty goal, we decided to create little wins at each 10 pound mark with the hope that this would keep us focused on the short term and not be daunted by the long term. The only trick to these trips is we couldn't blow all the hard work it took us to get there. We had to come up with places/things that kept us active.
How are we doing this? Everyone wants to know the secret sauce. In a way the Biggest Loser sucks because it isn't reality. Even though it is reality TV, it isn't realistic to lose as much as those contestants lose. Most people don't have eight hours a day to devote solely to weight loss. In the end, it is a numbers game. There is no trick diet or crap-ass food plan. Each day, we try burning more than we take in. I use Weight Watchers online but only for tracking weight (we do this weekly) and learning what food is worth. While I don't have the time or the will to really track everything I eat using their points system, I will say it is super helpful to know the total amount you can have each day and what different foods/exercise is worth. We also have made a bunch of the recipes and all of them have been super tasty. Another thing we have found very helpful is Designed Dinners. It is simply portion control. One thing that always gets us in trouble is not planning our meals. At the end of the day, I would usually get an email from Alex asking what we are doing for dinner. I would say 80% of the time we would end up eating out because it was just easier. By ordering your food packaged and already frozen with instructions taped to the bag (I pay extra to have them put the dinners together for me) we simply pull one out the night before and all we have to do is decide what vegetable we are going to add.
With exercise, we have found walking to be the big boost for both of us. I never thought I would say that but it REALLY works. I am not talking about 10 minute walks around the neighborhood or even 1 hour walks around Greenlake. I like to think what we do is more like urban hiking. For example, I work downtown. So, as many times a week as I can, I walk either to or from (or both) work or which is approximately 2.5 miles one way. A nice bonus is I hardly drive anymore. Alex and I love to eat together. Our first date was at one of my favorite little French restaurants here in Seattle called Le Pichet. It doesn't seem fair to give it up so we "earn" our meals to places like this by walking to them. Not only do we build up our appetite walking to breakfast but we also get in a ton of time to chat. My only thing about walking is I NEED a purpose. Walking for the sake of walking seems lame. Sometimes, we walk to get coffee, sometimes we walk to dinner and a show, everytime we walk we always go with a place to be. I am also seeing my wonderful trainer Mary three times a week and she keeps me in check with weight training. Lord knows I wouldn't do squats or push ups without her telling me to. The fun part is I can do them too :)
By the end of February, each of us had lost 10 pounds and we took a trip to Portland, OR. We brought with us our folding bicycles and Alex flew us down. We set the rule that we would not use a car during our entire trip. We biked to the train at the main commercial terminal and then rode our bikes everywhere around town the entire trip. We had wonderful food and felt guilt-free.
By the middle of April, we hit our next mark of 20 pounds and decided to spend time in Vancouver. When we discovered Whistler was still open, we rearranged our plans and headed there instead. Killer hotel deals and Spring skiing were a perfect way to celebrate another target.
I am now 26 pounds less than I was just 4 months ago and the best part is, I just bought my first pair of designer jeans. Up until now, I could never squeeze into them. While I still have another 14 pounds to go, and I know my size will change again, I truly cannot fit into my old clothes and decided to celebrate a little (not a lot) with a few standard-issue garments. Dress slacks for work and jeans seemed like the obvious things to buy while still losing more pounds.
The part of this process that has been so interesting to me is realizing that everyone really is different. People tend to get stuck on a number. They want to be a size 6 or they want to weigh 115 pounds. The only reason we came up with 40 pounds is because we are each overweight and that is approximately the amount we each need to lose to be healthy. I took a body composition analysis last October and what I find fascinating is it tells me my ideal weight is between 26 and 60 pounds heavier than that of the BMI. At my ideal weight I will be a size 10. It really goes to show how important it is to go into something like this with a realistic concept of what your final goal will be.
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