To read my history with weight and feeling healthy, click here.
I’m being completely honest when I say I don’t care how much I weigh. I really don’t. I just want to FEEL good. And to look good. Weight is irrelevant in that equation for me. It’s an easy gauge to see if we’re on track to our goals, but it is not the end goal for me.
So. Post baby number 4. 50 pounds to lose. Where to begin.
I should add that I did not exercise the entire time I was pregnant with baby number four. Partially due to 9 months of pregnancy sickness. Partially due to laziness and lack of motivation.
There were two huge keys for me while losing weight getting healthy. The first was WHAT I ate, WHEN I ate it, and HOW much I ate. The food we put in our mouths will have THE biggest impact on the health of our body. I don’t care how much you exercise, if you eat like crap, or don’t eat the right things in the right amounts at the right time, you’ll never be as healthy as you could/should be.
And not all calories are equal. Eating a 250 calorie donut is NOT the same as eating a 250 calorie chicken breast. For a better explanation of the non-equality of calories, click here.
So let’s cut to the chase. Here’s what I did.
5 “meals” throughout the day. Roughly 300 calories at each meal. I was strict and religious about that.
Something to ALWAYS keep in mind. Losing weight is WAY harder than maintaining a healthy weight. So while I was losing fat and gaining muscle, I was very strict to the 5 meals throughout the day. Now that I’m pretty close to where I want to be, I don’t always spread it out into 5 meals.
So. 5 “meals” with the calories spread out. To calculate how many calories you should be eating just Google “how many calories should I eat in a day” and it will give you plenty of options to choose from based on your needs.
Once I figured out how many calories I should be eating a day, I spread those calories throughout my meals. If you aren’t exercising, you have to eat less. If you exercise, you can (and should) eat more and still lose weight (because you’re burning off the calories with your exercising)
Then with EACH meal, I had some source of protein AND carbohydrate. I also tried to have 2 healthy fats with one (or two) of my meals (avocado, nuts, etc.). And then I ate fruits and vegetables in there as much as I could, but I wasn’t as consistent about this. The biggest key for me was eating AS MUCH PROTEIN as I could handle.
Part 2 of Getting Healthy. What to eat and When to eat it.
