AND THE WINNERS ARE.........

1ST PLACE: STEVE LONGHURST - 5.5%

2ND PLACE: ROBYN LONGHURST - 4%

CONGRATULATIONS! THESE GUYS DID AWESOME, AND WHAT A TEAM! PULLING OFF A HUSBAND AND WIFE WIN!!

I'M SO PROUD OF ALL OF YOU GUYS! IT TOOK A LOT OF WORK AND DEDICATION, AND THE RESULTS WERE ACTUALLY VERY CLOSE! IT CAME DOWN TO JUST TENTHS OF A PERCENTAGE, SO EVEN IF YOU DIDN'T WIN, PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK FOR DOING SO WELL! IDAHO IS NOW 80+ POUNDS LIGHTER THANKS TO YOU GUYS! (oops and Washington too Heidi!)

WHETHER YOU'VE MET YOUR GOAL, OR ARE GOING TO STAY ON THE ROAD TO WEIGHT LOSS, I HOPE YOU'LL CONTINUE TO WORK TOWARDS BEING MORE FIT AND HEALTHY!

DON'T STOP EXERCISING
DRINK LOTS OF WATER
KEEP YOUR DIET BALANCED AND NUTRITIOUS!

ONCE YOU'VE LOST WEIGHT, ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES IS KEEPING IT OFF. EXERCISE IS THE KEY TO DOING THIS, SO DON'T GIVE UP THAT HABIT, EVEN IF YOU ARE TAKING A BREAK OR INCREASING YOUR CALORIES BACK TO NORMAL!

I AM GOING TO KEEP POSTING THINGS ON THIS SITE AND I HAVE A NEW FITNESS CHALLENGE IN THE WORKS. THIS WON'T BE MEASURING WEIGHT LOSS, BUT WILL PRESENT A NEW CHALLENGE THAT WILL GIVE US SOMETHING ELSE TO WORK TOWARD. CHECK BACK FOR DETAILS SOON AND LET ME KNOW IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KEEP RECEIVING NOTIFICATIONS TO YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS ABOUT NEW POSTS ON THE SITE!

AGAIN, I'M SO PROUD OF ALL OF YOU AND HOPE YOU ARE PROUD OF YOURSELVES TOO! IT'S BEEN SO EXCITING TO SEE WHAT YOU'VE ACCOMPLISHED! THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING AND I HOPE YOU WILL ALL KEEP IN TOUCH!

CONGRATULATIONS STEVE AND ROBYN, YOU GUYS ROCK, AND I HOPE YOU HAVE FUN WITH THE $$$!

Final Week

I hope some of the things we've talked about in the past few weeks have been helpful and have motivated all of us to make some changes for the better, changes that we can permanently incorporate to help our overall wellness and health. Health should be our ultimate goal, and being able to maintain a lifestyle where we don't have to feel guilty for the occasional cookie or meal out, because we know that the majority of the time we are eating healthy and exercising.

For the final week, I am going to post a few random ideas and tips, starting first with some info on fruits and vegetables that you can find below.

I urge anyone that has anything they would like to share, to create a post for it. Although our little contest is almost over for now, I'm sure we all want to stay on the right track and would welcome any help that we can get!

I've noticed that it's a lot easier for many of us to do our weigh-in on Saturdays. So I'm going to change the final day for sending in your weight to Saturday, the 21st. This will give you one more day to lose those extra ounces!

What Color is Your Diet?

There was some great information given on CBS's The Early Show about having a "colorful" diet. This a simple way to help us incorportate more fruits and vegetables into our meals and snacks. When we look at our dinner plate, it shouldn't be dominated by "grays" and "browns". The presence of a colorful assortment of foods is a great indicator that we are getting more of the vitamins and nutrients that we need. Here is a link to a summary of the interview with Dr. David Heber on The Early Show: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/19/earlyshow/health/main515724.shtml

And here is a preview of the categories that he uses to group produce and the some of the benefits of each:

Red Group (tomatoes, can of V8 juice, pink grapefruit, watermelon) These contain the carotenoid lycopene, which helps rid the body of free radicals that damage genes. Lycopene seems to protect against prostate cancer as well as heart and lung disease. Processed juices contain a lot of the beneficial ingredients. One glass of tomato juice gives you 50 percent of the recommended lycopene.

Yellow/Green Group (spinach greens, collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, yellow corn, green peas, avocado, honeydew melon) These are sources of the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. These are believed to reduce the risk of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. Lutein is a yellow-green substance that concentrates in the back of your eye. It may also reduce atherosclerosis.

Orange Group (carrots, mangos, apricots, cantaloupes, pumpkin, acorn squash, winter squash, sweet potatoes) These contain alpha carotene, which protects against cancer. They also contain beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A. It protects the skin against free-radical damage and helps repair damaged DNA. Beta-carotene is also good for night vision. It's important to note that these beneficial nutrients can be received from other foods, too. For instance vitamin is found in dairy products and meat. But it's not as beneficial because you get high calories and fat along with it.

Orange/Yellow Group (pineapple, orange juice, oranges, tangerines, peaches, papayas, nectarines) These contain beta cryptothanxin, which helps cells in the body communicate and may help prevent heart disease. Also, an orange contains 170 percent of the recommended daily vitamin C. It's interesting to note that the skin of an orange is high in a protective fat that has been found to kill cancer cells in humans and animals, which highlights the fact that two-thirds of all drugs come from the plant world.

Red/Purple Group (beets, eggplant, purple grapes, red wine, grape juice, prunes, cranberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, red apples) These are loaded with powerful antioxidants called anthocyanins believed to protect against heart disease by preventing blood clots. They may also delay the aging of cells in the body. There is some evidence they may help delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

Green Group (broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, Chinese cabbage or bok choi, kale) These contain the chemicals sulforaphane and isocyanate and they also contain indoles, all of which help ward off cancer by inhibiting carcinogens. It's a fact that ten percent of the population - like George Bush Sr. - doesn't like broccoli. But it is important in diets because of the beneficial chemicals it contains.

White/Green Group (leeks, scallions, garlic, onions, celery, pears, white wine, endive, chives) The onion family contains allicin, which has antitumor properties. Other foods in this group contain antioxidant flavonoids like quercetin and kaempferol.

The government recommends a minimum of 5 servings of fresh produce every day. Most of us aren't hitting that target, but as you can see from some of the evidence above, it is well worth our while to include these foods in our diet.

The Pros of Protein

WHAT IS PROTEIN?

Proteins are made up of amino acids, which are essential building blocks for the cells in our body. The proteins that we eat are broken down and used to build and repair all of the muscles, tissues and organs in our bodies.

Protein is found in the following foods:

• meats, poultry, and fish


• legumes (dry beans and peas)


• tofu


• eggs


• nuts and seeds


• milk and other dairy products


• grains, some vegetables, and some fruits (provide smaller amounts of protein relative to other sources)

Most people probably consume enough protein, but is it from the right sources? The struggle that most of us face is to replace high-fat protein in our diet with lean, low-fat sources. Overwhelming your body with too much high-fat proteins can lead to kydney disfunction and other health problems over time.

Here are some suggestions for incorporating healthier protein options into your lifestyle:

• Choose meats that are leaner cuts and trim away any fat you can see.


• For chicken and turkey, remove the skin to reduce fat.


• Substitute pinto or black beans for meat in chili and tacos.


• Choose low-fat or fat-free milk and yogurt.


• Choose low-fat or fat-free cheese.


• Choose egg whites or pasteurized egg white products.


• Limit animal protein to one serving a day, focus on eating more soy, beans, and legumes

My family eats a lot of ground beef which can be very high in fat, mainly because the fat is mixed into the meat and cannot be removed. I try to always buy the lowest available fat composition and limit our consumption to once or twice a week. Usually the lowest fat option that I can find is 93/7. Lately I have been substituting ground turkey for ground beef and have seen great results. It is much lower in fat, and as long as I don't point it out to my family, they never notice the difference. In fact, the other day my husband commented that the dinner we had was the best I'd ever made it. The only change I had made was switching out the beef for turkey!

WEIGHT LOSS AND PROTEIN

Normal recommendations for protein intake say that about 46 grams for women and 56 grams for men (per day) are sufficient to maintain your body's health (you may need more depending on your weight). However, studies have shown benefits to increasing your protein while attempting to lose weight. Experts say that your body can handle any where from 10-35% of your daily calories to come from protein (as long as you don't have chronic kidney problems). I usually aim for 75-99 grams of protein per day, but have heard people recommend getting up to 120 grams. If you make a substantial increase in your protein intake, make sure you don't eliminate the other food groups that you still need. I really like this quote found on Webmd.com:

"It is all about balance," says Tallmadge, author of Diet Simple. While she recommends including lean and low-fat sources of protein at every meal, she says it should be part of a calorie-controlled diet that's also rich in 'smart carbs' such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, along with healthy fats like nuts, seeds, olives, oils, fish, and avocado.

When dieting, we sometimes fail to eat enough protein which can result in loss of muscle mass and slowing of metabolism. Alternately, if we are exercising and getting enough protein, we can build muscle which burns more calories and most importantly speeds up your metabolism (muscle is much more metabolically active than fat, so replacing fat with muscle is A++++ for many reasons!).

Recent research has also shown that protein aids greatly in hunger control when dieting. For many people, it helps them to feel full longer and does not result in the constant cravings that you might have if you were to eat a diet high in carbs. For best appetite control, aim for eating small meals/snacks, more often during the day and incorporating lean protein and/or low-fat dairy into each of those.

Here are examples of protein found in common foods:

• Milk, 1 Cup: 8 grams


• Cheddar/Swiss Cheese, 1 oz : 7 grams


• Cottage Cheese, 1/2 Cup: 12 grams


• Yogurt, 1 Cup: - 7 grams


• Chicken, 3 oz: 25 grams


• Egg (1): 6 grams


• Turkey, 3 oz: 27 grams


• Beef, 3 oz: 20 grams


• Pork, 3 oz: 21 grams


• 1/2 cup cooked kidney/navy/pinto beans: 7 grams


• Salmon, 3 oz: 17 grams


• Halibut, 3.5 oz: 26 grams


• Peanut Butter, 2 tbsp: 8 grams


• Walnuts, 1/4 cup: 6 grams


• 1/2 cup vegetables: 2 grams


• 1/2 cup most grains/pasta: 2 grams

I know this is a lot of info, but to summarize, it is highly beneficial to incorporate healthy sources of protein into your diet. It is one of the major things I try to focus on every day.

Along with fruits and vegetables, here are a few of my favorite EASY snacks that have provide decent amounts of protein:

• Hard-Boiled Egg
• Celery w/ Peanut Butter
• Herbalife Protein Snack Bar
• 1/2 Cup Low-Fat Cottage Cheese
• Yoplait Light Yogurt (I also add 1 TBSP of protein powder to bump it up a little!)

Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

These suggestions were shared by the coordinator of the Idaho Falls Weight Loss Challenge. I think they are very valuable in helping to boost our metabolism and to make our body as efficient as possible when it comes to burning calories.

• Eat breakfast within 45 minutes of waking up. When you wake up in the morning, you haven't eaten in a long time. Skipping this meal means your metabolism slows down.
  
• Eat according to your activities. If you do most of your physical activity during the day, make breakfast and lunch your larger meals so you have enough energy to get everything done.
  
• Snack frequently (aka, eat when you are hungry!) Eating fruits and veggies between meals will keep you from becoming too hungry. The hungrier you are, the less control you have over what and how much you eat.
  
• Eat protein with every meal (Egg Whites, Cheese, Soy Milk, Lean Meat, Turkey, Chicken, Fish, Pork, Kidney Beans, Peas)
  
• Avoid alcohol, sugar, and fasting.
  
• Eat negative calorie foods. Negative calorie foods are foods that use more calories to digest than the calories the foods actually contain (apples, asparagus, berries, broccoli, cabbage, celery, cauliflower, chili, garlic, grapefruit, lemon, mango, onion, orange, papaya, pineapple, spinach, zucchini....)
  
• Eat foods with high nutrition values: 7-9 Servings of Fruits and Veggies/Day
  
• Keep a food diary (again, I love the google gadget "Food and Calorie Finder by Fatsecret.com" It has been a big wake up call as to exactly how much I'm eating. I realize that I need to cut a couple hundred more calories out every day.)
  
• Exercise aerobically. Start the day with 20-30 minutes of cardio, first thing in the morning. Even if your mind resists, your body loves physical activity. Plus, cardio exercise speeds up your metabolism for several hours after your work out.
  
• Lift Weights. (or some kind of resistance training) It's important to build muscle tone in order to lose weight. Muscle burns up to five times more calories than fat!!
  
• Drink Water. Your metabolism needs it in order to function properly, and being well hydrated will keep you energized (8-10 glasses a day)
  
• Lose weight gradually, but steadily. If you lose weight at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week, you will be more likely to keep it off permanently.
  
• 8 hours of Deep Sleep every night.

I hope some of those ideas might come in handy to you guys. I know I really need to be more consistent in all of those areas!

Calorie Counters and My Exciting Find of the Day

To go along with the last post about serving sizes, we want to be able to use those servings to figure out how many calories we've had. I have a little wallet-size book that is great for carrying around and tells me how many calories there are in various foods. It even has lists of menu items from common fast food and other restaurants. (not that you'll be eager to know how much the Big-Mac and fries cost you).

There are some great online tools as well; a lot of indexes of foods and their caloric values, and programs that you can sign up for that will track your calories for you. A very extensive counter website is:
www.CalorieKing.com
It has almost any food or brand that you can think of and provides complete nutritional info, not just the calories.

These other websites are cool, but the next thing I found flippin rocks!! It is a gadget that you can add to your google homepage and will keep track of everything for you. Here is a link to it:
http://www.google.com/ig/adde?moduleurl=http://www.fatsecret.com/gadget/finder.xml&source=imag
You can add the foods you had for each meal and the amounts. Like the calorie king, it had tons of brands and options for adding things (i.e. as servings, cups, ounces, pieces). It even keeps track of the fat, protein and carbs you've had. Could it be any easier?? It will also keep track of your exercise, your weight history and goals, and calories burned each day. Seriously check it out, it's awesome! I tried a bunch of other gadgets, but this one was by far the coolest, and it's free! If you can't tell, I'm pretty excited about it. I love google!

Serving Sizes: Is Ignorance Really Bliss?

I hope everyone had a great week! Just wanted to give a quick reminder to weigh yourself in the next couple of days and email me with your progress.

One of the biggest factors in weight-loss is watching your portions. By educating ourselves about serving sizes, we can more accurately determine how many calories we are eating and know if we are meeting the recommended servings each day for various food groups.

One of my favorite bits of advice I've been given says that when you look at your dinner plate, 1/4 should be protein, 1/4 grains, and 1/2 fruits and vegetables. Filling up on fruits and vegetables will help you from continiously going back for the higher calorie items.

Try to be aware of what you are eating by looking at food labels before you cook or eat them. I often have the "I don't want to know" attitude, but by making myself look at it, I do much better at limiting my portions. Then when I serve myself half a cup of rice, I automatically know that I've got about 110 calories sitting on my plate. If I've alloted myself 700 calories for dinner, I can then estimate how much I have left for my other food. I find that it helps to use measuring cups for serving food (when possible). I'm a little distrustful of my generous imagination!

Here are some commonly eaten foods and generally accepted serving sizes:

Cooked Cereal or Pasta: 1/2 cup
Whole Wheat Bread: 1 Slice (Slice should be size of the palm of your hand)
Fruit (apple, pear or banana): 1 Small
100% fruit juice: 1/2 Cup
Raw Leafy Vegetables : 2 Cups
Raw Chopped Vegetables: 1 Cup
Chopped cooked or canned vegetables: 1/2 Cup
Milk or Yogurt: 8 ounces or 1 Cup
Cheese: 1 1/2 ounces or 1/3 cup shredded
Cooked skinless poultry or lean red meat: 3 ounces (about the size of a deck of cards)
Cooked Fish: 3 ounces (size of a thick checkbook)
Egg: 1 Medium
Cooked legumes or dry beans: 1/2 cup

Here are a couple of websites with recommendations of how many servings you should have from the different food groups.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-diet/NU00190
http://mypyramid.gov/index.html

I really like the Mayo Clinic version (top link). It refers to everything as servings and I like the idea of unlimited vegetables and fruits. The mypyramid.gov version is good as well and is what is put out by the government. You can customize it based on age, sex, weight, etc. It gives out the amounts you should eat as cups or ounces rather than "servings". These recommendations are not taylored for weight-loss, so you can aim for the minimum recommendations for now rather than the max.

Exercise - Privilege or Punishment?

If you asked 10 people how much exercise a person needs, you are bound to get 10 different answers. I'm going to list some of the most reputable recommendations, and then add a few of my opinions as well. Feel free to comment on your experiences as well.

According to the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans:

• Adults need at least 2.5 hours (150 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week. Examples of moderately intense activity would be brisk walking, water aerobics, Pilates, riding a bike on level ground. With this type of activity, you are breathing harder than normal, your heart rate is up, and you are breaking a sweat.
• In addition, adults should do muscle-strengthening activities 2 or more days /week.

or....

• 1 hour and 15 minutes (75 minutes) of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (e.g. jogging or running, riding a bike fast or on hills, playing basketball) every week. At this level, you are breathing a lot harder and your heart is beating a lot faster. You can probably only get out a few words without pausing for a breath.
• As well as 2 or more days of muscle-strengthening activities.

or...

• an equivalent mix of the two types above. (1 min. of vigorous activity ~ 2 min. of moderate activity).

Now in my mind, 150 minutes seems like a heck-of-alot and is a bit intimidating, especially if I am starting from a point where I've had very little or no exercise lately. One way to work up to this point is to try splitting each day's requirements into smaller increments of at least 10 minutes. For example, try to fit in one 15 minute walk in the morning and one in the evening, or 3 ten-minute walks during the day.

Another recommendation that I like was given from Oprah's famed trainer, Bob Greene. He recommends starting out by doing 15 minutes of aerobic exercise every day. After staying at that level for 2 weeks, increase it by 5 minutes, so that you are doing 20 minutes every day. Following the same principal, keep up the gradual increase, until you are comfortably doing 30 minutes every day.

You need to give your heart and your muscles some time to condition themselves, so push yourself, but don't try to be an Olympian at day 1! Try mixing in some vigorous exercise along with the moderate exercise, i.e. alternate 2 minutes walking / 2 minutes jogging for 12-16 min. You'll notice on many of the exercise machines that have pre-programmed routines, when you choose the "weight-loss" program, it will have you do intervals of low vs. high intensity. They will alternate between raising and lowering your heart-rate, giving your heart a chance to level out, and then increasing the speed and resistance to it get pumping again.

If you are consistent in your exercise, I promise you will notice results. If you are alternating walking with jogging, after a couple of weeks, you will get to the end of your 2-minute jogging interval and realize, "Wait, I don't have to stop, I can keep going!" and from then on your routine may be 2 min. walking / 4 min. jogging. Or you may be walking/jogging at your normal pace and suddenly notice that you're not having to work as hard and your heart isn't beating as fast. You'll have to raise the speed or resistance to get the same kind of workout that you have been getting before. It's an awesome feeling to feel your body's endurance and stamina increase, so pace yourself, but set goals and challenge yourself as well.

Here are a few more random tips:

• Find an exercise buddy! If you are accountable to someone other than yourself, you are much more likely to stick to your workouts. My friend and I have started meeting twice a week at 5:30 in the morning (eek!) at our church. We do different exercise videos together like Pilates and Tae Bo. If I were doing this by myself, there is no way I could force myself to get up that early, but because I know she will be waiting, it's much easier to get up and go!
• Alternate the muscle groups that you are working out, and give them a day in between to recover. For example, if you go to the gym and use all of the leg-strengthening machines, do arms the next day and give your legs a day to recover. You'll avoid injury and your muscles will be less tight and fatigued. I like to do this when it comes to vigorous vs. moderate exercise as well. If I run on Monday, it feels a lot better to do something more low-impact like a Pilates video or a bike or elliptical machine on Tuesday. Then my knees and legs are a lot more up to the challenge of running again on Wednesday.
• Listen to music or watch TV if you can while you exercise. It makes the time go by a lot faster! I have a hard time reading while I exercise, but I know that works for a lot of people as well. One thing I enjoy is to get a whole season of a TV show on DVD and then watch an episode each time I exercise. It keeps me engaged in the show and eager to watch again the next day. (My personal favorite is the show Alias. I've watched it through about 3 times. The main character is a kick-butt CIA agent Sydney Bristow, and I want to be tough and toned like she is!!!
• Try to think of exercise as a privilege or opportunity to burn calories, rather than as pure torture!! If you are having trouble fitting in the recommended requirements, fit in little bits, whenever you can, while dinner is cooking or if you are watching TV, drop down on the floor and do a few sit-ups or push-ups. Keep a set of small hand-weights nearby and do bicep curls while you are surfing the internet, reading or watching TV. There are stretches and small exercises that you can do while you are at work or sitting at a desk. Every little bit helps, no matter how small.

Monday Advice

Here are a couple of Monday tips for you:

Do not weigh yourself on Mondays! This is purely for psychological reasons, but most people tend to do worse over the weekends than they do during the week. This is why we are doing our weigh-ins on Fridays, when you've had a chance to keep on track all week and stick to a good schedule of eating well and exercising. Weighing often tends to be discouraging because you want to see results right away. Weight-loss doesn't usually work like that. You may be the same exact weight, day after day for an entire week and then suddenly drop 2 pounds at the end of that week. This is especially true when you are building muscle. You may actually gain a couple of pounds while starting to exercise, but don't worry! It will make up for itself later and much more! So my advice is to take each day as it comes, work hard to stick to your goals, and once a week step on the scale to see how you are doing. Focus on how you feel, how your clothes are fitting, your energy levels.

Exercise on Mondays! Although Mondays are often the busiest and most stressful day of the week, do whatever you can to fit in exercise on this day. It can be too easy to put it off on Mondays and say you will for sure do it on Tuesday. Once you start with those excuses, it will become habit, and before you know it, it will be Thursday or Friday and you won't have gotten any exercise in. Set a precedence on Mondays by exercising and it will come easier on the following days. Even if you can only fit in half as much time as you do on other days, you will start your week feeling energized and proud of yourself for making exercise a priority and putting your wellness first!

Make it Count

So today it begins! Good luck to everyone as you do your initial weigh-in and start working towards being more fit! Every one who signed up should have received an email with a Log-Sheet that you can use to keep track of your progress. Please email virtualfitnesschallenge@gmail.com if you did not receive it.

Also, if there are any of you that are still undecided about whether to give this a try, you still have time to sign up! The earlier you sign up, the more time you will have to lose the weight, but we will still accept new participants for the next 2 weeks!

If you're wondering where to start, and how you're going to lose the weight, here are a few of my recommendations. I look at it pretty simply, as a numbers game, based on eating less and exercising more.

There are about 3500 calories in 1 lb., so for each pound you want to lose, you are going to have to use that many more calories than you eat. The fitness coach that I had did a body shape scan for me. It calculated my percent body fat, percent lean muscle and water, and a few other things. It spit out a calculation that my body, under normal circumstances, needs about 1600-1700 calories to maintain itself every day. Now let's say I'm going to try to exercise and be very active every day, and will burn an extra 400 calories. So now my body is now going to burn through a total of 2000 calories that day. To lose the weight that I wanted to, I cut down my calorie intake (eating) to about 1300 calories every day.
2000-1300 = 700 calories that I could burn from my "excess storage" every day. That comes out to about 1 1/2 lb. lost a week. Now these are kindof conservative numbers. I was probably burning a lot more than just 400 calories because along with exercising, I was running up and down stairs, carrying kids, lifting laundry, and finding other ways to keep moving. All in all the actual numbers were closer to 2 or 3 pounds a week.

Now this is just an example of how the math worked out for me. You may lose it faster or slower. Many people can lose weight by cutting down to 1500 calories. I definitely wouldn't go lower than 1200. It all depends on your body and how fast you want to lose it. Here are a couple of websites that explain calculations you can do to figure out where you want to be:
http://weightloss.about.com/od/eatsmart/a/blcalintake.htm
http://www.shapefit.com/dailycalorie-calc.html (*this one will calculate how many calories your body uses every day, not what you should cut down to. the numbers seem a little high to me)

I will be honest. Eating this way is not easy! At first, my stomach would growl and I was grouchy and irritated. I missed my food!! But after sticking with it, my body got used to how much I was eating. I felt energetic and satisfied with what I was eating. When I did try to eat a big meal, I felt full much faster. I didn't feel starving. I did need to make sure I had snacks. Eating 5 times a day, with smaller portions helped a lot with appetite control and seemed to speed up my metabolism. I could pretty much feel when I was on empty and needed to refuel. Now that Christmas is over, I feel myself going through that phase again. I got into the habit of eating a lot and stretched out my stomach. Now I'm having to retrain my body to work with less.

If you are going to go this route, you need to be very careful about what you eat. Your body is going to be confused with not getting as much food. If I were going to make up my own weight-loss plan, I would call it the "Make it Count Plan" because with fewer calories, you need to make sure that each one counts for something. Your body needs all of the nutrition and energy it can get from those calories, so they should be protein rich and full of nutrients. You could probably go around eating candy all day and stay within your calories, but you would feel horrible and your body would break down. I prefer to go a route that is Lower Carb and Lower Fat. You need a lot of protein to be able to lose weight, but make sure it is lean, low fat sources of protein. You also need carbs still, but try and get them from better sources like whole grains, fruits and vegetables rather than starchy, refined foods. It's also important to take a multivitamiin to supplement the nutrients that you need.

I will do more detailed posts on proteins, carbs, fruits, and vegetables soon. For now, here is a tip on protein. A good range to shoot for is 70-99 grams/day. It seems like a lot, but it will make a huge difference. It will help you to build more muscle and burn more fat.

Feel free to post about your preferred methods of weight loss or with your questions and opinions.