WRITTEN ON November 6th, 2009 BY carey b. AND STORED IN Motivation

I’ll start off by saying I’m no weight loss expert.  But two years ago, I lost 40 lbs of previous post baby weight and too much Mickey D’s, and kept it off until having baby number three. Now that he’s a year old, and I’m still hanging on to 20 or so pounds (I started my diet last week an am down 4-5 lbs) that I’d really like to get rid of.  It’s taken me a while to get to this point, where I could find the movitation to get losing again. It’s tough- really tough. I’d rather eat what I want, when I want, but I have to accept that I no longer have my 18 year old metabolism, I have an {almost} 33 year old metabolism.

So here’s my weight-loss plan in a nutshell. First off, I started by buying some new clothes.  You’re probably thinking why do I want to dress this body- I’d rather dress my new one.  Yes- that’s true.  But I was tired of feeling frumpy.  I knew that buy finding some clothes that fit, and fit well, that could hide some lumps I hate, that I’d start to feel better about myself. I got my hair cut, dyed, I don’t leave the house without at least a small amount of makeup and really try to have at least done something with said hair cut.   I find it’s easier to lose weight because I’m happier with myself.  So that was step one.

Step two- I’ve been paying for ediets.com for over a year, and using it sporadically at times. So two weeks ago, we (my husband is doing it along with me) went in, chose our meals and snacks and hit the grocery store. For those of you struggling with calories, meals, figuring out what’s best and what’s not so good- ediets, for me anyway, is a God send.  You choose the meal plan you’d like to follow- there’s a “Mediterranean” Diet, a low-glycemic plan (what I’m doing) and a ton of other plans to choose from. You put in your starting weight, and your goal weight.  For me, my meals are 400 calories and my snacks are around 100 calories. It’s not easy to come up with a 400 calorie meal, and there are at least 20  pretty filling meals available to choose from for dinner. You can choose meals to make for breakfast and lunch (all separate recipes), or you can do a part convenience food plan (meals like Lean Cuisine, etc).  This is easier for me as I’m home with one year old, and a business and don’t really want to take the time to cook.  The system then provides you with a complete shopping list of everything you’ll need.  If you’re feeding a family- just multiply the amounts appropriately.

If this doesn’t sound like your thing- that’s ok! Check out magazines like Cooking Light, buy a Weight Watchers cook book- but the most important thing is to plan out a WEEKs worth of meals and snacks.  You’ll know exactly what you’re eating and you’ll have the appropriate food on hand . But planning is key. That way, you don’t find yourself starving with the only thing on hand being your kids leftover halloween candy.

Well, that’s all from this side of the Peanut Gallery. I’ll probably be focusing on convenience food reviews (you can check out my previous blog of reviews at www.healthygoodeats.blogspot.com), snack ideas and categorizing them by calorie count, so they’ll be easy to find. And if anyone does decide to do Ediets along with me- let me know! I’m happy to offer up more info about the program and how to get the most of out it.

Happy Losing!

Carey