*Please note that I am not a nutritionist or any type of professional capable of giving nutritional and fitness advice. All information on this page is from my own research and should be taken as such.
I am currently at the beginning of my weight-loss journey. I gained far too much weight after losing my first baby and then the subsequent pregnancy with Laney. I also could have stood to lose a few before becoming pregnant. These are the tools I am using to get healthy.
Update: I have lost the first 10 pounds.
Weight Loss:
Sparkpeople:
This is a phenomenal website. The best part about it is that it's free.
You can enter your current weight/measurements and use their tools to determine goal weights and you can set a future date by which you would like to lose the weight. They then calculate your nutritional requirements such as calories, fat, protein, and carbs that need to be consumed per day. If you want, they will also create a tailored meal plan. The site give you fitness plans to follow as well. If you don't want to use their fitness plans it simply tells you how many calories you need to burn per week and you can log any exercise on the site.
If you are just starting out, I recommend keeping it simple in the beginning. Start by just tracking what you're eating. I don't use their set meal plans, I enter what I eat. It can be time consuming in the beginning because I added a lot of foods I eat manually (they do have vast lists of already entered foods in the database).
I've barely covered the features on that site. I really can't say enough good things about it. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.
Measuring Food and Portion Control:
This is very important. It is easy to overconsume without realizing how much food you are eating. I am using a smaller plate for dinner and I try to eat slower. I also think before I eat to decide if I'm actually hungry.
I use a measuring cup to determine how much of something I am eating. I anticipate that I will need to do this less and less as I do it more often.
Nutrients:
The key for me is looking at food labels and ingredient lists. It can take awhile to figure out everything on them, but it is so worth it.
Sodium: I am trying to cut out as much sodium from my family's diet as I can. When I started looking at nutrition information, I was shocked by how much sodium many un-suspecting foods actually contain. Canned goods, prepackaged goods, and processed foods tend to contain a lot of sodium. I try to make what I can from scratch. With canned foods, I rinse them under water if I can to cut the sodium. Just look at a box of Raisin Bran (something I once thought was a healthy cereal). The amount of sodium in there is quite shocking.
Fibre: Really enough can't be said for this nutrient. I am trying to get as much in as I can. All-Bran Buds are great for this and they contain a very good type of fiber--psyllium. You only need about 1/3 cup to get half the daily requirement in. I just put them over whatever cereal I am eating.
Multivitamin: Right now I am still taking prenatal vitamins as I am breastfeeding. I will go to a regular one once I am done. This is especially important for the folic acid.
Exercise:
I am trying to incorporate physical activity into my everyday routines. More on this to come later.
Currently: The 30 Day Shred
