Part of any diet, whatever flavor you decide, is to stay with the/your plan more often than not. As readers of this blog know, I espouse the view that the diet does not matter so much (as long as it makes sense) as your ability to live with the diet. What am I talking about? Well now… I think you have to like what you eat.
When my doctor told me that my cholesterol was too high and I had to lose weight, on my most recent physical, I decided that I could no longer afford the luxury of eating real eggs because they were too high in cholesterol. I still liked eating egg sandwiches but I had to find a reasonable substitute that would not only meet my goal of eating less cholesterol but also taste good enough for me to stick with the substitute! Generally I eat a quick egg sandwich (made with an egg substitute) but today I made some delicious scrambled eggs! I will speak more on ways to find good tasting substitutes for any diet as well as how I am able to stay on track. Here is a picture of this morning’s breakfast.
Doesnt this look good? You may be wondering the calories, fat, carbs, points, and such but to be truthful, I don’t know. I have been eating this way for so long that I don’t really have to count! Here is what I do generally for me. I eat a low-fat diet and walk an hour - four days a week. Every once an a while (about once a month) my wife and I will take a day off… like when there is a birthday or just because! I know from experience that if I generally keep my choices to low-fat, what I can have approximately have to eat (including beverages and snack). As a reasonably active man, I try to eat about 1500 - 1800 calories a day total.
- 200 - 500 calories for breakfast
- 300 - 500 calories for lunch
- 500 - 1000 calories for dinner
I eat good tasting foods that can be thrown together in many combinations. I generally do not eat much red meat or real eggs as I have health concerns since I am obese. That may change some when I reach my goal but I do not miss red meat or eggs too much. The foods I eat now are going to mostly be the foods I eat when I reach my goal! I will still eat high-fat and sugar laden foods for special occasions but this will not be my bread and butter most days! Here are the ingredients for this morning’s scrambled eggs.
I think that a person should look at the foods YOU like and find ways to adapt those foods to YOUR diet! I have heard many a person tell me that they don’t like diet food and I have observed that they are not motivated yet. Well when I found I could not put on my shoes or tie them so easily… I came to my senses! I’ve lost over 30 pounds and I can now twist around to see behind me in the car… it was kind of funny while I was teaching my step-daughter how to drive… she was thinking it was bad to twist around when backing straight back. I had to tell her it was ok - I was just too fat to do it!
So… Assuming you are motivated for a change… look around to see what kind of diet you can live with and then look at what you already eat. Assuming you can modify the foods you already eat to adhear to whatever diet and exercise plan you choose - you will be successful!
I know I speak a lot of low-fat diets but I think there are a lot of ways to lose weight safely - that include just increasing your activity level and eating less calories! Whatever you do, try to mimic the foods you are already eating, so you will have the best chance of making that somtimes elusive lifestyle change everyone is always talking about! Good luck and go eat a good breakfast!
Thanks for the love. I love the info on your site and I read your story for starting the site. You can do it and you will. It took me many tries to finally get it right and in the end that only happened because I got dumped. But hey—motivation is motivation. You take it where you can find it, lol. Well anyway I wanted to return the favor and say thank you and I’ll be reading your site.
Jasmyne
Hey Jasmyne,
I loved your site and especially your results. Everyone should check it out at: http://www.jasmynecannick.com/blog/
By the way I agree that motivation is motivation… once we are ready to do what it takes… it does not seem a hard.
Take care,
John W. Zimmer