There's More to Losing Weight Than the Scale!

Think that all that matters when it comes to weight loss is the number on the scale? Wrong!! There are other ways to track your progress when it comes to weight loss.

1. Muscle weighs more than fat. More than likely when you hit a plateau, it's your body balancing out. Take this into account when hitting a plateau for a few weeks!

2. Body fat percentage. Your body fat percentage is MUCH more important than your weight. You can find out approximately what your body fat percentage is and where it should be here. I actually prefer body fat percentage over the scale. I personally would rather be lean and and considered "overweight" by the BMI charts, than be within the range and be skinny. Muscles are healthy! For example, after losing over 150 pounds, the BMI charts STILL consider me obese. however, with all the healthy eating and exercise I've been doing, my body fat percentage only shows me as overweight because I'm gaining muscle. So getting your body fat percentage checked is something I highly recommend!

3. Measure yourself. Measuring yourself is a great way to see where your losing and can be very inspiring and motivational to keep going. You'd be amazed how many inches you're losing during a plateau!

4. Try on those jeans. You may be surprised and find them to be looser! Then that just gives you a good excuse to go jeans shopping, not to mention it's a good motivator to keep going!

On a plateau that you just can't seem to break? If you're doing the same exercises every day, that could very well have something to do with it. The body is very smart, the more you do something, the more efficiently it does it. Try a new machine, a new class, mix up those weights, anything to keep your body guessing!

I hope you found this blog helpful! Remember, keep it healthy!!

Next blog: Unhealthy foods masquerading themselves as healthy. Don't be fooled!

Blog for October 19th, 2010

Ok I had meant to blog sooner, but well, there's that thing called life. It gets in the way of everything! LOL

So I had someone ask me how my life is now that I've had gastric bypass, like a "In the Day Of..." kind of thing. So I'm going to attempt this the best I can and also give some background information on my experience with gastric bypass.

I had absolutely NO complications from my surgery. I had other things happen (I developed kidney stones and I threw out my back) but nothing that was in relation to my surgery. The worst thing that happened to me in association to my surgery is that I somehow got plantar faciitis in my left foot. To this day, my doctor still has no idea how that happened! I just walked it off and in a few weeks it was gone!

I know everyone has heard of at least one person who has had gastric bypass and has a hard time keeping food town, tolerating food, etc. I am not that person. LOL I haven't found anything I can't tolerate and have only gotten sick a few times. I'm really lucky to not have the problems that I could have had. I do really think it's because I educated myself about fitness and nutrition before my surgery. That has helped me more than you know! Even to this day, I still track my food intake on www.sparkpeople.com. It's so important to know what you're taking in. It's so easy to mindlessly eat, especially after surgery, so I make it a point to track. I also choose to eat on little plates, that way I feel like I'm eating a "normal" sized meal, even though I'm not. Another thing is to seriously listen to your body and eat slow! If you can't take another bite, don't because it can lead to feeling sick. I cook pretty much all my meals, I rarely go out to eat. For me, there's no point. I will sometimes, and I can drink alcohol as well, but it's a rarity for me as I absorb it very quickly due to the surgery. However, you CAN eat junk after surgery, and I found myself not so much always eating junk, but not eating as well as I should. So on Monday, I started a detox. It's going very well!

Another thing that is so important is that you exercise. The surgery can't do it all, you really need to do your part. I currently do Zumba at least 5 days a week and take a body sculpting class as well. However I do plan to up that. I want to do additional cardio 2-3 days a week and do the body sculpting another day a week. It does take time though. Start small and keep increasing your intensity, time, whatever and you will get there!!!

So I think that's all I have on that topic today. if you have any questions, feel free to post them and I will answer the best I can!


So some upcoming topics I plan to blog about are:
Organic vs. Processed Food
The Importance of Exercise and Strength Training
Weight Loss in General

If you have any other ideas for blog topic, feel free to post them in the comments section

Have a happy, healthy day!

Blog for October 7th, 2010

Hello everyone!

Thank you very much for dropping by. This will be the first of many, many blogs. I have a lot of hopes and dreams for this blog, so let's see where it takes us. So my first question to you, readers, is what would you like to see me blog about? What are your burning questions? Please let me know and I will do my best to answer them!

So there are parts of this blog still under construction. So since I'm still figuring some of it out, I'll talk about some of the things that are missing. Now for weight loss to happen, tracking what you eat is absolutely ESSENTIAL! I strongly recommend the website www.sparkpeople.com. I've been using this site for YEARS and I love it! Oh and did I mention that it's FREE? You've got nothing to lose by trying it! Not to mention it has the most awesome community ever! I'm working on getting a widget posted here, but it's currently not cooperating. I'm working on it though! With the widget I would like to post some of my recipes, and some of my favorite recipes! So keep your eyes peeled!

I just wanted to post a first post and get some feedback from you. I'm looking forward to sharing this journey with you!