Before you pay for another new diet system or piece of workout equipment, here are some things that can save you a lot of time, money and frustration on a plan that will work better for you for the long term.
It’s the Best Diet and Exercise Equipment?
Everybody hold your horses. Take a deep breath and think about what you are doing before you pay for another new diet system or piece of workout equipment! Advertisers are pushing the sales on diet and workout products everywhere and they sure look tempting but be careful! We all know many people who have tried that new diet who, after 2-3 weeks have given up. The joke that an expensive piece of exercise equipment sure does make a nice clothes rack is all too true. Some of those people who tried and failed may have been ourselves.
I recently talked on the phone to a woman who was so excited because she had spent $75 (not including the extra amount she needed to spend on special powders and food) on this year’s newest diet. She told me how different it was and how it really works. When I asked her what was different about it, her answer was, “Well, they send you a book and dvd about how to eat healthy and exercise.” I tried to be nice and did my best not to choke and sputter in her ear.
Please don’t spend money to have someone tell you how to eat healthy and exercise. I’m sorry but most diets work in one way. If you notice, each one has strict control over how much you eat and what you eat. You can do that on your own.
It all goes back to portion control and eating a well balanced meal. That is pretty much what most diets are if you really get down to what makes them work. I know that some people say if you eat only this or that food item or this combination of food, you will build muscle or speed up your metabolism or whatever but I figure God knows our bodies better then anyone and He said it is okay to eat all the things He has given us. Now the one thing we don’t like to think about that He does say is gluttony is wrong. Ouch. As I slowly raise my hand pleading guilty.
We have just come out of the holiday season where most of us have pigged out so badly we are really feeling awful. We have eaten way too much and haven’t been eating balanced meals. As we do in most areas of life, we now are swinging way to the other side of the pendulum and are going to put ourselves on an extremely strict diet. This usually means buying tons of special foods and books, joining gyms and buying equipment. Please don’t do this.
We make these things so involved and complicated when they don’t need to be. You can do it on your own. You know what a proper portion is (about 1/2 cup of anything or the size of your fist). You just need to do it. You know what is healthy and what is not. If you don’t, you have been living in a cave for many decades because even my 8 year old grandson can tell you what is healthy and what is not. Like you, he may not want to eat the healthy stuff but he knows the difference. If you really don’t know then just get one good book from the library on nutrition or Google it.
Before we move on, let me touch on this really quickly. So often, people write asking, “How can I afford to eat healthy?” I have never been able to figure this question out.
During all the years when money was the most tight for us, we ate healthier than the times when we had more money, mainly because I couldn’t afford for us to eat more than our allotted portion for each meal. I couldn’t afford to buy the extra things like pop, cookies, chips, convenience foods and candy and I couldn’t afford to go out to eat.
Healthy food doesn’t really cost more. A 10 lb. bag of potatoes costs the same as a bag of potato chips and I can get more meals out of the potatoes. Granola (even homemade granola) costs much more than feeding my family a bowl of oatmeal with a little banana and apple and/or a couple of tablespoons of nuts in it. You get the same nutrients and, with the oatmeal and you usually get fewer calories. A bag of apples costs the same as a box of fruit roll-ups and you get many more servings from the apples and, once again, fewer calories. I could go on and on but I think you get my point.
We need to look at exercise equipment and gym memberships in the same way, too. I think one of the funniest pieces of exercise equipment that someone made a fortune selling was the stair stepper. People paid a bunch of money for an item to step up and down on. When I see one, I stand there looking at the thing wondering, “Why in the world don’t people just pick a step in their house and step up and down and up and down on it and it would be free?”
You don’t need to pay to exercise. Take a walk. All doctors agree on this one thing– that walking is the best exercising but so many people are frantically running, jogging and bouncing on equipment they paid a bunch of money to buy or to use. I know sometimes the weather is bad or you can’t get out to walk but eons ago in the olden days, we were just taught to walk in place to burn calories and guess what — it worked.
I had a gym teacher in junior high who gave us girls five exercises to do. She said we may hate doing them at the time but to always remember them and, as we got older and had babies, to do all five exercises each day. If we did, we would never have a weight problem and would be always be fit. I was 110 lbs. and 21 years old when my first baby was born. After her birth, as soon as I got the doctor’s OK, I started doing my five exercises every day. They would take about 15 minutes. Some days I didn’t have 15 minutes to do them all at once but I would do 20 crunches while waiting for the family to get to the table or waist bends while waiting for the dog to do his business outside or 15 pushups while waiting for something to boil on the stove. For 30 years I stayed at 110 lbs. and it wasn’t until I had some major surgery that messed up my stomach muscles and age and my CFS hit all at the same time that I had to stop exercising and I gained weight.
I realize that it is harder for some people to control their weight. Sometimes there is more involved (like genetics) than just what you eat. My kids are the perfect example of this. Even though I fed my kids the same meals, my son could eat anything and everything including junk food and he was still a bean pole where poor Tawra, who ate much healthier, has always had to fight tooth and nail with her weight. Even so, when she watches how much she eats, she does much better.
In closing, think about this. The average American would save at least 50% on their groceries each month if they really got serious and controlled the portion size their families ate. We need so much less than we think. Not only that, by controlling their portions, we will save on “special” diets and food and exercise equipment and, because we are healthier, most of us will save on medical bills.
Who would have thought that something as simple as controlling your portions could save you hundreds of dollars a year?
-Jill
P.S. I had so many readers ask what exercises I did, so here is what I would usually do:
- 20 crunches
- 15-20 push ups
- 25 of waist bends
- 50 leg lifts on each side
- and an arm exercise or extra waist bend exercise.
Of course I would add to or take away depending on what was going on at the time. When I am sick I don’t do as much when I am better I do more.
Another thing that I think has helped me quite a bit without my realizing it is I have always had stairs and stairs that I had to use a lot. For example, the other day I made 12 trips up and down my stairs in one hour. So a person who is trying to watch their weight and get healthier might think about putting something like their computer in a far corner of the house. For many years, my phone was upstairs and I spent most of my time working downstairs so each time the phone rang I had to make a mad dash up the stairs. Sometimes, I had to go all the way from the basement to the second story.
I do other things too. I rarely go through the drive-through window for medications, at the bank or other places. Instead I park and walk in. Like I said sometimes I do things differently when I am especially sick.
Here are some other related articles in which I go into more detail:
- Children, Wasting Food and Portion Control
- Watching What You Eat But Still Overweight?
- Healthy Eating
- Stretching Your Food and Reducing Your Waste
I try to eat things as they came off the plant with limited processing. Less refined carbs, added sugars, and fat; leaving room for more heatly calories.
If you INSIST on spending money to loose weight, please send $75 to this address…
great article
crunches
pushups
waist bends
what are the other 2 exercises?
Leg lifts and depending on what I needed at the time I would do arm exercise or another type of waist bends. Depending on which part of my body I thought looked awful that week. : ) : )
This is so true! Watch portion size, eat more fruits and vegetables, and walk more, or do some other simple exercises. It really is less expensive in the end. Bags of chips are mostly $4.00 a bag for name brand now. Real potatoes are a lot less.
No need for fancy equipment or classes at gyms either. People crack me up when they have to join the latest exercize craze. I see signs for “Zumba” classes all over the place. Like Pilates I think people just like the names because they sound “cool”. People, especially women, fall for these things.
Also, women naturally have more fat in their bodies due to hormones and child-bearing etc. It’s there for a healthy reason. Women have been fed the lie that thin is more beautiful, but being too thin is an illness, and is only kept by hurting the body. Why is there even a size ZERO? Where did that come from? You’re not a size zero, unless you’re invisible, but young girls strive to be that size or a size 2. Shameful.
I agree the fads are crazy Bea, and even if someone wants to follow them it doesn’t have to be expensive. For example, I recently got interested in Pilates and I have just been borrowing DVDs from the library. If I still like it in a couple of months I might consider buying a used book off amazon or scouting the bookstores around town. My library seems to be current on the trends so I am confident I will be able to find things there to use if I want to get a taste of the latest fitness sensation :)
For my brother’s birthday I bought him a book written by a former Navy Seal. The author talks about how the only gym you need is your body because doing various combinations of resistance exercises (like the pushups and crunches Jill mentioned) uses our body weight and trains your muscles in a way that is actually useful to you in everyday life. It has confirmed the way I think about exercise and made me feel better about not liking gyms haha!
Great article and SO true!
Walking is also one of the best exercises and it’s FREE. If one is physically able, there are no excuses when it comes to walking. Just go outside about every day and walk somewhere for 15 minutes. Then turn around and walk back. Build up speed as you can. It really works to help with weight loss. I have even walked inside my house during bad weather. I had a house with a long open area through the kitchen, dining room and living room and then a long hallway leading to the bed rooms. I would put tennis shoes on, turn on some music or a tv program I wanted to listen to and walk briskly from one end of the house to another. Lost weight and didn’t feel so blue that winter!
I lost some weight this year.You could join weight watcher
But I have found a exercise program through Flylady.net
It one of her sponsored sites .But You need to eat very good foods, avoid allot of sweets and sugared sodas.
Eat three meals and two snack a day so you eat something every four hours .Also drink enough water and that depends
on your day. Drinking 8 glasses is great drinking four glasses is good if your busy and on the road .
Eating four to five servings of veggies and fruits keep you fuller. Also eating meats,poutry ,fish, beans,dairy with a starch and veggies have fruit for desert . Each evening and plan what you will eat for the week for yourself and family
Nothing is off the table. If you eat in moderation.
And can cook at home but eating out or take out is if
it in style with your needs. Most people don’t know what a serving size is and going on line or reading from the library .We have increased food intake by 30 percent from what we ate in 1970 and our counrty has allot of people overweight today .
And your subject is very true and honest and making the committment to be healthy take time and changing habits
and take months to see the results .
I agree, but, I’m signing up for Weight Watchers. Yes, I know what I should be doing, but the weekly accountability helps me. I haven’t been able to keep my self going & knowing that I’m going to face that scale each week makes a difference.
Love the article. I am also limiting my soda intake, seems like every time I would go get gas, I would go in and get a medium soda (32 ozs.). There is alot of sugar and calories in soda; and, many people think that the caffeine free sodas are better, but they still have the same sugar counts and calories. Water, water, water. Can’t wait for your newsletters to come. Thank you so much.
Hello,could you please share what the five exercises are ?
I am one of those people who bought every diet and fitness book but always managed to gain weight tru the years…..
Thanks for a great article. What are the five exercises your gym teacher told you to do? I would love to know because our budget is very tight and my work and family schedule has caused my exercise routine to stop.
Saw the comments above mine that answered my question. Keep up the great writing!
I thought this was a really good article. Not only does it show how to save $$$ by using portion controls, it creates less waste, AND makes families healthier. It was eye-opening to read about your example of the the 10 lb bag of potatoes being the same price as a bag of potato chips, or the bag of apples being the same price as fruit roll-ups.
Americans are dying and going bankrupt for their expensive & processed rich fatty foods and general laziness–we’ve got to walk and be more active than just taking the car thru the drive-up window for takeout!
what were the 5 exercises… I’m guessing 20 crunches, 15 pushups, and ? waist bends, plus 2 others?
You are right Dee. I would usually do 20 crunches, 15-20 push ups, 25 of waist bends, 50 leg lifts on each side and then an arm exercise or extra waist bend exercise.
Of course I would add to or take away depending on what was going on at the time. When I am sick I don’t do as much when I am better I do more.
Another thing which I think has helped me quite a bit without realizing it is I have always had stairs and stairs which I had to use a lot. For example the other day I made 12 trips up and down my stairs in one hour. So a person who is trying to watch their weight and get healthier might think about putting something like their computer in a far corner of the house. For example for many years my phone was upstairs and where I spent most of my time working was down stairs so each time the phone rang I had to make a mad dash up the stairs and sometimes it was all the way from the basement to the second story.
I do other things too like I rarely go through the drive through window for meds or the bank and things like that but park and walk in.
Like I said sometimes I do things differently when I am sick.
While I was reading your post, it occurred to me that portion size is totally out of control here. I try to portion out the food to plates, and serve that way, leaving the rest in the kitchen. More often than not, my husband will go back into the kitchen and get more. Last night, it was half a casserole! So much for leftovers. So tonight, I’m going to portion out the plates, and put any leftovers back into the refrigerator. It’ll save ME from the temptation, as well. Keep your fingers crossed – there may be a little mutiny here.
So you may have mutiny on your hands Diane. : ) : ) One thing you might try which will keep you in your family’s good grace is to give them a smaller first serving. Then tell them they can have seconds but make it a smaller serving too. Not so small to make a huge difference but smaller then normal. In their mind they will still be getting their seconds but just less of it. Then after a few days make the servings a little smaller. Also as handy as leftovers are you might try making smaller casseroles or amounts at first so you won’t have the leftovers to tempt you. You wouldn’t have to do this forever just until you get things under control. And one last thing is try serving a simple broth, soup or large salad first thing before you bring on the casserole. Just some things which might work so your family won’t throw you over board. : ) : )
Dear Jill,
Your diet and exercise post was excellent! Thank you very much. I do understand Kim’s comment about accountability being helpful. If a person needs that kind of boost, then a group format such a Weight Watchers might be just the thing. One just might want to use their own food, though, and not be persuaded to buy all the W.W. stuff.
I think you’re right when you say that the resources most people need for losing weight and eating healthy are right within easy reach. It appears to me that the biggest weight loss-hurdle today is our culture’s general lack of self-discipline. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been at a buffet restaurant and seen people with plates piled so high I don’t know how they’ll make it back to the table. And then they eat several more plates the same size!
I am an avid walker of 2-3 miles per day, but I’m also an avid eater. I love food. A few years ago, I was out walking and bemoaning an extra 20 pounds. I was contemplating people in impoverished countries who are emaciated for lack of food. A light went on in my head and I realized that I would undoubtedly lose weight if I just ate less. I went on to lose that 20 pounds by doing exactly what you prescribe – eating only portions and only ONE portion (key concept), adding extra exercise, and eating more fruits and, especially,vegetables with each meal. I tried to follow the “half-plate-rule” with half one’s plate being mostly veggies and some fruit, while the other half was 1 protein portion and 1 starch portion.
Recently, after a busy and very emotional time of relocating to a new state after 50 years in the same neighborhood, I have found myself carryng that extra 20 pounds again! (I’m an empotional eater. Oops!) But just this week I determined to get my eating back in order (by God’s grace and much prayer) and I’ve already seen a small bit of success! Your post came at just the right time to reaffirm what I’m doing and give me a boost. Thanks very much for your common sense approach and best wishes to all who might be in the throes of trying to lose weight. You CAN do it.
Sincerely,
Kathy W.
I get a kick out of people’s attitude about exercise and gyms being a must. We live near a lot of Old Order Amish and people think they are so odd. They, the Amish, question why the “English” pay people to clean their houses, mow their yards, and use riding lawn mowers and then spend money joining a gym to work out and exercise. How many of our conveniences are necessary?
One idea before joining weight watchers would be to get some cook books by weight watchers and the heart healthy books by Bonnie Stern.
Low fat ideas and since I have used the heart healthy I can say they are really good tasting. I wouldn’t use them twice if they weren’t.
Join an aquisize class and do this for a month or two if you find your not as shy about being seen in a bathing suit you are on the right track.
Walking is one of the greatest exercises and it is not only cheap but a necessity of life if you want to go anyplace.
Dance while sweeping or vacuming. Brooms don’t complain about missed steps and it doesn’t step on your toes.
Get dressed every morning and brush your hair so when the urge hits to maybe go outside and enjoy a walk in the sun you are ready to go.
I was up to 260 pounds at one point and I am now at 150 so weight loss can be done without major expence.
I am also mobility challenged so for me a long walk is to the store 2 blocks away and sometimes I make it back home. Usually it is just a block to the post office. But I keep trying.
When a snack is wanted take a walk. I do not eat anything while in public except at restaurants so walking in public is a bigger bonus.
If I go out with friends to the donut shop for coffee it is only coffee no added treats. My friends feel the same so we have a conversation a cup of coffee and head home.
Find a friend to tell your weight loss or gain to and avoid the cost of the organizations. Your friend cares the organizations only really care about your loss in the wallet.
Try different types of meals. If meat is a must cut it smaller and make stir frys. great tasting and with lots of vegetables lots of less calories.
All these work as I said since I have done them.
I gave up the water exercise but now I go swimming at the private lake at the rod and gun club. Nobody sees me in my bathing suit and we take the boat and canoe and get the exercise of fishing and paddling or tubing with the boat.
Make changes small to begin with and let them grow while you shrink.
Don’t watch the scale. Watch how you feel and the energy and love you have for your life grow. These are much more important.
Rhonda, there is a book that you might like that I borrowed from the library a few months ago called, “Money Secrets of the Amish: Finding True Abundance in Simplicity, Sharing, and Saving.” Those Amish are filled with common sense wisdom, which is so lacking in today’s culture. No dummies.
Question: Of the five exercises that your teacher told you to do, you mentioned crunches, waist bends, and pushups. What are the other two, please, and how many did you do? Thanks.
I had a gym teacher in junior high who gave us girls five exercises to do. She said we may hate doing them at the time but to always remember them and, as we got older and had babies, to do all five exercises each day. If we did, we would never have a weight problem and would be always be fit. I was 110 lbs. and 21 years old when my first baby was born. After her birth, as soon as I got the doctor’s OK, I started doing my five exercises everyday. They would take about 15 minutes. Some days I didn’t have 15 minutes to do them all at once but I would do 20 crunches while waiting for the family to get to the table or waist bends while waiting for the dog to do his business outside or 15 pushups while waiting for something to boil on the stove. For 30 years I stayed at 110 lbs. and it wasn’t until I had some major surgery that messed up my stomach muscles and age and my CFS hit all at the same time that I had to stop exercising and I gained weight.
They are now posted at the end of the article or you can go here too. 5 Exercises
After having been in several car accidents (none my fault) I had to go to the Chiropractor for a long time. I developed Fibromialgia from the trauma of the car accidents. My Chiropractor told me to walk as it is the best and most natural excersise for your body. I walk 5 days a week around my neighborhood and I also eat a healthy diet. I am strong and in great health. I work with children who are aggressive and so I have to be strong in order to help them. My Fibro hasn’t been bothering me lately and I really feel good. For those with this problem and other types of immune disorders take it slow at first. When I first started I could only walk about three minutes. I built myself up over time but don’t get frustrated build it up and it really does work! Now I am walking 5 nights a week for 30-35 minutes!
My mom used to tell me that ounce for ounce potato chips are much more expensive than steak and it’s true. I have had a real ordeal with my knees. I had the joint replace in one and then the other 3 months later and did great. Then, 9 months later I got an infection in the left knee. Your Dr won’t tell you but it is not that uncommon. When you get an infection in your body it usually can fight it off but if you have any part that is alien to your body the infection goes there. If it’s heart valve you probably will not survive it but in the arificial joints you stand a chance. My son found me very ill and the ER Dr told him in another hour he would have found me dead. I was hospitalized for 89 days and then went to a nursing home for therapy for 3 weeks to be able to walk again. When that all happened I was still making payments to the place where I had done my physical therapy after my first two surgeries and I knew I didn’t want to put myself any further in debt than necessary so I did my PT at home. My son is a nurse and that’s how he recognized how sick I was when he found me and he had worked on the PT floor at the hospital so he set me up at home with a cement block step. We started with a decorative block on it’s side at first and then a regular block. He found me an exercise bike at a garage sale for $25 dollars and if you hit the sales regularly you know that kind of stuff is easy to find. So many people get on an exercise kick but don’t stay faithful to it and sell the stuff. We set it up in the living room right in front of the TV so I would use it. What I used the most was an exercise ball. It was fun to use and came with a booklet of exercises. I knew what to do since I’d used one after my original surgeries. I often thought to myself at that time how I could have been doing the stuff at home but I had good insurance. However, my big illness cost in the neighborhood of $600,000.00 and my part was over $20,000.00. The hospital kindly wrote off a large part of it but it’s been 4 years next month and I’m still making payments on the rest of it. Saving the thousands of dollars that the PT would have cost me has make a big difference. The infection that nearly cost me my life is called Sepsis and if you would like to know more about it go to SepsisAlliance.com and you can read my entire story as well as many other people’s. You will also read how lucky I am to have not lost my life or my leg as many many others have. More people die each year from Sepsis than from breast cancer and AIDS combined yet you seldom hear about it or it’s warning signs. That’s why I tell about it whenever I can so you don’t have to lose someone you care about to it. And you can do therapy at home.
remember when the big craze was exercising on those huge beach balls everyone had to have .. ? . omg . i never laughed so hard in my life but this one day i was in the er waiting room (cant remember for what now) but the infomercial came on for hte exercise product and that huge huge ball and this older woman sitting across from me (and several others) .. kept saying “get on one of those things and if u have a big rear, you will break a hip! .. no one over a size 2 can sit on those things! .. you will roll off!” .. and she kept talking and talking and talking about that ball for the whole 30 mins the infomercial was on ..
and yes i think she was right .. me? i look like an italian meatball adn 2 balls can not be stacked on each other .. one will roll away .. hehehehhehehee :D ..
or that bean chair thingy .. it looked like a kidney bean .. our neighbor had one of those and if she weighed more than 110 lbs (soaking wet) that is even too much and well .. she popped it by sitting on it .. how is that supposed to help u ? .. hehehee …
life has become too funny these days with some of htose exercise equipment ..
our great grandmothers and the others didnt worry about weight .. they burned all their weight off by cleaning hte house .. (of course i do appreciate alot of the modern conveniences we have now tho) ..
:D
Dear Jill, Thank you for your article on diet and exercise. I have shelves of workout tapes, but I have more fun walking my dog. It is gratifying to get outside, breathe fresh air and be part of the human race- not to mention that it makes my dog very, very happy. I purchased the workout tapes second hand, but I still don’t want to think how much I spent for them!!! (If I didn’t own a dog to take on walks, I think I would borrow one from a neighbor. Somehow the companionship on a walk makes it more pleasant- also it would be doing a good deed for a neighbor and a furry friend!)
Joanie I did borrow a dog for quite awhile to take on a walk. When I moved into my last house I would look out my front window and there was an older dog looking out the fence every morning. I finally figured out there was a very elderly man living there and couldn’t walk the dog.
One day at the risk of him thinking I was crazy I asked him if I could start walking his dog. The hardest part was convincing him I was really doing it for my sake, for me to get motivated. It got to where there were days when I didn’t feel like walking but I would see the poor dog looking at my front door waiting for me to come get him so I had to drag myself out and walk.
I really enjoyed that article. I was just about to join Weight Watchers….thanks for saving me some money.
Two of the most successful ways I find to turn my eating habits around after the holidays are about not feeling deprived. I make it my goal to eat (must eat each day) 5 – 9 servings of fruit and vegetables, included in 3 meals and 2 snacks each day. This way I look at my 4 o’clock slump and think “I still need to eat 2 servings of fruit and 3 of vegetables” instead of “I should wait till 6pm at dinner to eat. The other tip is to cook healthy food and portion it out for the week; chicken breast or thighs, turkey slices, to be served with baked sweet potatoes, brown rice, or whole grain pasta, also, legumes, quinoia and other super filling foods all cooked and packaged in 1/2 cup servings.
When hunger hits and you have lunch planned just needing to be heated and served you feel pampered instead of deprived.
Blessings to all in the new year!
I knew all this yrs. ago when I would buy all those stupid exercise things, machines, DVD’s, cassettes, special potions, etc., etc.. I loved this article, it is just pure common sense on how to lose and a ‘just pure want to’ thinking. I am now a senior citizen, takes a long time for finally set in and I made up my mind to do the right thing. I love walking so me and hubby try to go at least 3 days a week. We walk till we get tired and then turn around and head home. So enjoyable and a great stress reliever. Thanks again! God Bless You and have a wonderful & healthy 2012!!!
Most universal problems are simply solved, they just take too much work for most people to follow through. Lot’s of good points on this one. The key with diet is I think you need to find a sustainable diet. After all, eating less is hard for most people. I’ve found the key is to re-balance your diet as opposed to going on a diet. That way you can keep eating what you love just in different proportions.
The best exercise and ” diet” is simply this… Eat mostly whole real foods. They generally are portioned out by nature. A piece of chicken, an apple, a handful of nuts, grapes, seeds. Too simple. You can get as freaky with this as your eating lifestyle is. I know one family who won’t eat anything they don’t grow, like their cow, and their fruits and veg. They even drink the raw milk from their cow. I agree eating healthy is not more expensive when you no longer buy the junk. Let me ask those who disagree how cheap is that illness or weight provoked disease you are dealing with with meds and dr visits from eating crap foods and not moving? It’s all about perspective. :)
Exercise… Walking simple and as free as it gets as hard as you want to go. I so agree about stair stepper machines!!!! Just pick one step, put on some fun music and their ya go. Or DANCE if stairs are hard to do for whatever reason. If you are chair or bed bound do to your size, bed or chair dance…. All free and it works wonders.
I do hope everyone has a great new year!!! If weightloss is a goal of yours, you can do this!!! And if you want a chubby buddy email me !!! I still have 50 pounds to go, I am down 65 pounds.
If a person feels they MUST go buy a diet book or exercise plan, please go to your local library first, and check out such a book for free. While you are there, take note of how many books on diets, and eating plans and exercise, have come and gone. As a veteran of the weight wars, having won and lost and am currently maintaining, I can attest to the truth that portion control, eating for physical health and simple walking are the keys. No magic bullets. If walking is an issue, then just becoming more active in your daily life will make a difference. I knew one woman who was wheelchair bound, but regularly exercised her arms and upper torso. When we over eat, there is often an emotional component to it. If that is the case (as it was for me), then the problem has spiritual roots, and needs to be taken to the Lord. This was very freeing for me. When I go through a bookstore now, and see all those ‘get fit and eat this’ books, I feel such a sense of relief. The food that God has provided for us (even the occasional treat) eaten in a single serving portion, coupled with activity, and thanksgiving takes care of my weight problem. Spiritual problems need spiritual food. Physical food was designed only to meet physical needs.
Grandma, I loved your comment about dancing with brooms “they don’t step on your toes.” It made me laugh aloud.
Hello Jill! When you say waist bends do you mean ” reach to the sky and then you toes” or side to side bends?
Thank you!
God bless
Side to side
Thank you!
I am 30 and tired of dieting. I will try this. Do I just copy the food pyramid and use my hands and measuring cups?
Yes Kayla I would do that. You will find after about a week or two doing this you will have it memorized and probably won’t even have to measure anything. Most of the time a serving size is the size of a small fist or what will fit in the palm of a hand. This is really more of a life style change and once it becomes a habit you won’t have to measure or even think about it. I always grab 1 cookie and no more, I eat a slice of cake that is about half the normal size cut, 1 piece of bread with a little peanut butter on it is enough for me for lunch. I don’t even think about these things. If I want cheese I eat 1 slice not 2, when I make a sandwich I use 2 very thin wafer slices of meat not a huge pile. Also watch things like when you spread butter on toast just put a very thin layer (keep soft butter helps make this easier) on it because you get the taste you are craving whether it is thick or thinly spread so go with thinly and this goes for other things like jelly, peanut butter, honey, cream cheese. See you aren’t denying yourself and getting the taste of it but by using it thinly you don’t get hte calories.
So do we count calories? Sorry. I am just checking.
You don’t need to be diehard about any of this but just watch your calories some what but if you do really good portion control on a balanced diet you usually will get the right amount of calories
Thank you so much, Miss Jill. I am sorry I keep bothering you about this. I guess it’s because I never was a good dieter and I think I struggle with disordered food issues. I am praying to God for help about it, but I just want something easy to follow.
I am blind and so never could guesstimate calories in home cooked foods. I am about 5:3 and since I have been forcing myself to diet since twelve, at 30 I no longer know what a healthy weight is for me. So I came here because you and Tara make sense and give commonsense answers in this day and age where everything else is so confusing or far too complicated.
God bless you both. I hope I am not tiring you out when you write back.
God bless you and your family.
Kayla
No problem at all Kayla. I totally understand how complicated so many people make these things. What I did was find out how many servings of food I need each day and just eat that amount. Since you and I both are smaller built I go with the smallest amount on the food pyramid. For example I need 2 servings of dairy (milk, cheese,cottage cheese,), 2 servings of meat (meat, eggs, beans), 3 servings of veggies, 2 servings of fruit and 6 servings of grains (bread, rice, cereals) each day.
Here is the food pyramid that I use – wasn’t sure if you could use it. https://delishably.com/food-industry/Meaning-of-Food-Pyramid
1. It might help you too to know most serving sizes are the size of your fist on average.
2. Be sure to pay attention to everything you eat. For example sometimes people will eat spaghetti and forget to count the sauce as 1 serving size of veggies.
I hope this wasn’t too confusing but start slow. Learn portion control first, once you feel comfort with that then start thinking about things like calories but take your time and if you feel like you are getting overwhelmed just step back and slowly start again. It is hard at first because you are trying to break old habits and learn new ones and it is hard but doable it you take it slow and don’t give up. Hope this helps some and be sure to holler if you have a question.