Successfulness

So my wife and I have been on a weight loss journey as of late. We've actually been quite successful in the short term. I believe in the past month and a half we've both lost well over a dozen pounds, each. And that's body fat lost, not lean tissue. How do I know? You got me. I don't know for sure. But we're doing it with a combination of exercise, increasing our daily movement, and sensible nutrition with the help of a registered dietitian.

What I want to share with you today is just a little bit of what's helped us. I am not saying it will work for you, or that you'll find it easy to work with, either. But these aren't hard and fast rules; they're merely the guidelines that we decided upon and have found to be tremendously helpful. And the best part is we actually started doing them before we met with the dietitian, so we find them to be easier to abide by since we don't feel that they were imposed upon us from the RD. (Just so you don't get the wrong idea, our RD did not give us any hard and fast rules to follow, either. There were some gentle suggestions and minor tweaks to what we were doing, but that was it. I wouldn't go to an RD or any medical professional who said it was "my way or the highway". But that's a different post, I suppose.)

Anyway, here are the weekly (not daily) guidelines that we have followed. I realize it's not for everyone. But maybe you can take a few of these to create your own guidelines. Or maybe they'll inspire you to create your own.

Without further ado, here they are (in no particular order):

• 3 days of exercise (my exercise of choice is swimming)
• 1 (or more) extra workouts from home (preferably a cardio workout; elliptical trainer, treadmill, walk, or bike ride are good choices for me)
• No more than (NMT) 4 dessert SERVINGS
• NMT 4 sodas (we've been REALLY successful at this one. Most weeks I only have 1 now)
• NMT 3 coffee with creamer (black is fine for all days. But I was getting out of control with putting creamer in my coffee. If I miss on any of these guidelines, this is usually the culprit)
• 6 or more glasses of water a day
• make a meal plan for the week
  
• journal foods, workouts and/or emotions to capture any unhealthy patterns or find any triggers for overeating

And sometimes we just miss on a guideline. That's fine. That's when this little guy comes in handy:

Next meal or snack, on track.

Not every day is going to go as planned. Don't worry about it. There will be pitfalls, there will be setbacks, there will be family gatherings that will be hard to avoid certain foods. Allow yourself to have them and get right back on your path.

Believe me. It can be done!

Ciao.