Small Steps: Weight Loss

Okay, maybe they aren't all small steps, but I thought I'd start by sharing the nuts & bolts of how I've lost 25 pounds (in 10 weeks!) despite the fact that I didn't think I could. Basically, I've been planning my meals in advance, keeping a food diary and counting calories like a fiend!

The first thing I do each week, and probably most important, is to plan all of my meals in advance. On Sundays, Sam and I make a meal plan for the whole week and do our grocery shopping. I plan all three meals for each day and two snacks, all adding up to ~1200 calories each day. That may sound tricky, but I do the snacks last, so I can fill in more calories if needed, or pick super low cal snacks, like applesauce or string cheese if there aren't many calories left. I say this step is the most important because as long as I execute the plan each week, I don't really have to keep track of everything I eat in the food diary... although I do anyway.

I use the website www.myfitnesspal.com to track what I eat every day. They have tons of foods in the database, and the iPhone app has a barcode scanner, which makes things super easy. In general, I haven't been eating out much, but when I do, I make sure it is a restaurant that publishes nutrition facts so I can get an accurate count. I literally keep track of every single thing I eat each day.

I also used their website to determine my daily calorie target of 1200 calories. That's a pretty aggressive target, and it's also the lowest daily calorie intake recommended, so I try not to be far over or under. In general, a good rule of thumb is that to lose 1 pound/week, you need to cut 500 calories/day from your current diet. If you want to get started, you can use the tools on the website to set a goal, but to be the most accurate, keep track of what you are currently eating for a couple of weeks, and then set a daily goal 500 calories lower (or 750, 1000, etc.)

Just keeping track of the calories in what you eat can be really eye-opening - there are lots of foods that you already know are high calorie, but some can be surprising. Eating healthy, wholesome foods is not necessarily the same as eating low calorie. Even whole wheat bread has >100 calories per slice, a cup of avocado chunks has >200 calories, a cup of orange juice is 110 calories, even a banana has 100+ calories! I'm not saying I don't eat these things, but just being aware of the calories in every little thing helps.

I'll share some of my go-to breakfasts and snacks, my best sources for low-cal recipes, and the new recipes I'm trying each week. I won't tell you it's not a lot of work, but it is totally worth it. And it definitely gets easier the longer I do it.

If you want to get started, small step one would definitely be to start a food diary. I can't say enough about keeping track of what you currently eat. Don't make yourself feel guilty if the total is higher than you would have thought, just consider it preparation for small step two: setting a calorie target to meet your weight loss goals.