Our Weight Loss Journey

First, thanks to the folks of TBC this morning for your kind words of encouragement this morning.  It is good to know we are not on this road alone and there are others out there striving and working to live a healthier lifestyle.

After this morning's sermon people have been asking Phil and I how we lost the weight.  Here is the "long story" and the short answer for how we did it.  This may not work for everyone, people have different metabolisms and different dietary requirements based on age and medical issues.  However, this is what worked for us.

The beginning of February Phil and I decided to make a change about how we were living our lives.  For the first 3 years of our marriage we spent most of eating fast food or junk food and we put on ALOT of weight.  Somehow I thought after my pregnancy with Caelyn it would all just slip off and I would be smaller than when I started, which I was at first.  I had gestational diabetes and watched every thing that went into my body.  However, I stopped watching what I ate and slipped back into our old eating habits. In the months after Jackson's birth I lost some weight from the stress of moving to a new place with a two month old baby that was crazy nursing baby, but just like before we kept on eating junk. Both of us had tried different diets at different times, but never together so we never stuck with them very long.

Both of our family histories are full of heart disease and diabetes and neither of us wanted that for ourselves and our children.  We had gotten to the point we were not sleeping well, breathing well, and were just not comfortable with the way were living and knew we were not glorifying God with the way were eating.

I am not exactly sure what brought us to the point of we need to do this now, but we decided that we were going to start immediately and do it together.  We started by counting calories.  We downloaded the Lose It app for our iPhones and started logging everything we put into our bodies.  Most days we stayed within the calorie requirement for the day, but somedays I exceeded that number.  Portion control is one of the biggest successes to us losing weight.  Most of us pour a big bowl of Cheerios in the morning, but a serving of Cheerios is only one cup.  I know I was eating a lot more than that.

The biggest and best challenge for be has been the cooking.  I LOVE to cook.  I LOVE to try new recipes.  Our first purchase was the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook.  The reason we chose this cookbook is that it seemed to have the most attainable recipes.  Few weird ingredients and all family friendly meals.  I would highly recommend it to anyone.  My other favorite place for recipes is www.skinnytaste.com.  This website has lower calorie versions of many restaurant and high calorie favorites.  We were struggling to get enough fruit and vegetables to eat, our goal is five servings a day.  I normally make a quick smoothie for breakfast and Phil eats eggs full of spinach, peppers, and mushrooms.  We also have been eating a lot of salads for lunch to squeeze them all in.

Phil is much better about exercising than I am.  I know people say if you keep doing it, you will love it.  I am still waiting for that day to come.  We recently began P90X, I think it is safe to say I am a P90X drop out...but I still plan on hopping on the treadmill and maybe, just maybe on occasion doing some of the P90X days with Phil.

There were two big things we learned while losing weight, #1 Not dieting, diets are unsustainable.  We changed the way we eat.  Eating less from a drive through window and the delicious sweet treats from the freezer and more fresh and low sugar foods. Trust me, I LOVE Pizza and a milkshake and both are an occasional treat.  #2 Have an occasional treat.  Studies show that dieters than occasionally allot for dessert in their diet plan are far more likely to sustain their weight loss over time that those that deprive themselves from sweets.

Here are the recipes already on the blog for the healthy foods we cook.

http://philandpamgiff.blogspot.com/2012/02/wonderful-white-whole-wheat-greek.html
http://philandpamgiff.blogspot.com/2012/02/buttered-noodles.html
http://philandpamgiff.blogspot.com/2012/02/our-new-favorite-veggie.html
http://philandpamgiff.blogspot.com/2011/03/sorta-chicken-parmesan.html

I love Pinterest.  I have found a lot of recipes on their website.  Here is a link to my healthy food board.
http://pinterest.com/giffordpam/healthy-stuff-to-eat/

Here are some other great websites with healthy recipes and advice for losing weight and eating a balanced diet.  If you have questions go see your doctor and they can point you to a Registered Dietician.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
http://www.sparkpeople.com/
http://madetocrave.org/

We are continuing to work and committed to living a healthier lifestyle.  Not everyday or week is going to be perfect.  We are just striving to eat better and move more.