Count your calories

For so many years the scale refused to move downward. I felt like I was dieting, but was I really. To lose weight you must be in the negative. Less food eaten that what your body needs, more exercise that burns more calories so you are in the negative or a little of both. If the scale doesn't move it's because their is no deficit. Counting calories means you need to food journal. Food journaling means writing every little morsel of food down and counting calores. It also means you need to try new things. Surfing the web I found a great article to help us all in our efforts to try to lose weight. Read 50 Easy Ways to Lose Weight by Reader's Digest for some more help in our weight loss efforts. I hope some of these tips will help me reach my goals!!

emotional eating

We all know what we need to do to lose weight. Burn calories that our body needs you lose weight. Eat less calories and you lose weight. Simple, not!! I am an emotional eater. Simply put, I eat when I'm not hungry due to stress, boredom, to reward myself, to party with friends, whatever. To lose weight I need to stop this destructive habit. I'm going to try some of the tips I've read on the web to curb my emotional eating.

It's all about the calories grl

So many people tell me they just can't lose weight. I was one of them for so long, but I finally learned that its all about the calories. You will only get so far without counting calories. As most of us know, losing weight requires eating less calories and/or burning more calories. I resisted writing down what I ate for years. Journaling the foods you eat (without cheating) is a much better way to reach your weight loss goals versus just hopping on and off the scale. As you can see I like Fitday.com. It helps keep me on track. I'm still looking for a good food journal system for the cellphone though:)

You don't need a fairy godmother to lose weight

I don't want to be a thickgrl anymore... Thick can be beautiful, but for so many of us it comes with too high of a price. Diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis happen more often in people that are "heavy, overweight, big, obese" or thick. You may be reading this and saying, "Tell me something I don't know, girlfriend?, but do you really know? A chose requires having information about the problem. Denial means you don't even know you have a problem or assume you won't be affected.
So many people try to lose weight, but never really have a plan of attack. For example, maybe you decide to buy a car. What do you do? Most of us think about how many people we need to fit in our car and what little extras we need to make us happy (air conditioning, power steering, CD player, etc). If we've bought other cars in the past, we remember what was good about our other cars and what we didn't like. Before we buy, we research different brands of cars (cost, milage, ratings, financing options, resale value, etc). and then you go shopping to different dealerships, etc. One car does not fit all. Do we do this when it's time to lose weight? No! No thought into what stresses us to overeat or problem behaviors we need to change. Many of us don't even think about if we are really ready to change. What happens. Without some plan of attack most of us fail. Do you have a plan? Let me know:)

A Black Women's Weight Loss Journey

Getting pregnant with my first daughter changed my life in so many ways. For me pregnancy was a vacation from healthy living. I pigged out during my pregnancy. Chips, cereal, Georgia hots with spicy cheese and on and on and on. I gained 40-50plus pounds. What was I thinking!!! I had just started losing some of the weight and got pregnant again. I had 2 beautiful brown baby girls in 19 months. I now know for many women, pregnancy starts them on the road to being a “thick gurl”.Working part time as a registered nurse, being a new mom to 2 babies and being a wify were my life. It is very easy to immerse yourself in a busy life and leave no time for yourself. It took me many years to realize taking care of myself was one of the best ways to take care of my family.For many of us, the need to change is something we slowly realize we need to do. For me it was the look on my oldest daughters’ face while we were on the beach. I call it the look of shame. I promised myself again that I would try to lose weight and get healthier. And yes, I did. Slowly over the years I went from a size 24 to a size 14. I made many little changes over the years to get slimmer.I now know that staying healthy is a day to day thing. For some people, like me, my genes and food addictions, will make me always have to work on my weight. To lose weight, you have to be willing to CHANGE.Where am I now in my weightloss journey. My gym had a JCC Largest Loser Competition. in January. I tried out and was picked. 3x per week I worked out with a trainer, kept a fitness journal, worked out again with a goal of 2x/day, team competitions, etc. I lost 25 pounds in 8 weeks, the most weight I have ever lost in a short time!! I worked my butt off! I was exhausted in the beginning. Ask yourself, what would you be willing to do to lose weight.
I’m stilling losing weight. I’d like to lose 25 pounds more to get to a healthy weight. Don’t give up. Don’t put yourself down. You can lose weight, get healthier, whatever. And no, you don’t need to spend tons of money to lose weight. Come with me on my journey.