Show Us Your Life - Weight Loss Tips/Diets/Workouts

This week, I am again participating in Kelly's Korner "Show Us Your Life". This week the topic is Weight Loss Tips/Diets/Workouts. Throughout the years, I have tried many things to try to lose weight. I finally had success five years ago. I will share what I did and how I have maintained my weight. Now, I don't claim to be an expert on this subject at all. I just know what worked for me.






First, let me share some pictures with you! I share these to show that you can have success! If I can do it, anyone can!

These are the before pictures!

These are the after!

Here are some words of wisdom from my experience:

Weight Watchers
I used Weight Watchers to get my weight off initially, and I followed it to the dime. It took me ten months to get rid of the extra 70 pounds, and I consistently lost weight each week. I feel this is because I followed the program exactly. I figured that someone put a lot of work into developing that program, so I followed it exactly! If you choose Weight Watches as a weight loss program, I also suggest you attend the meetings. I hardly ever missed a meeting and this kept me accountable from week to week. My fabulous leaders were also part of my success with Weight Watchers. If you can find a Weight Watchers group in your area with great leaders, you will go far.

Livestrong.Com (The Daily Plate)

Holly and Karen
Music City Half-Marathon

My sweet friend Karen (see above) introduced me to "The Daily Plate" on Livestrong.com . When this happened, I was at a point where I was gaining a little bit of weight and couldn't seem to get back on the wagon. I made two decisions at that point - First, I decided I wanted to run a half-marathon and second, I decided I needed to get the extra ten pounds off before they turned into twenty. The way I lost those ten pounds and about ten more was to track my food and exercise on The Daily Plate. The Daily Plate allows you to input your weight, height, and amount of weight you want to lose each week, it then tells you how many calories you need to eat. Each day I would log in EVERYTHING I ate and any exercise I did (I might have been a little obsessive about it). The key is to log in EVERYTHING! It takes the calories you need to eat and subtracts the foods you have eaten that day. It allows you to see how many calories are in the food you are eating. This really opened my eyes, and I imagine it might yours too! Again, I feel the key was to log in EVERYTHING! Now, I am a firm believer that Weight Watches works miracles, but "The Daily Plate" was amazing for me. I lost the weight it said I would like clockwork.


The Gym
I was so lucky to find a gym that was very inviting and encouraging. It was not easy to walk into the gym with all that extra weight, and I really felt uncomfortable at first. But, there was no need for that because everyone was so nice and encouraging. I guess no one ever told me that working out was a great thing to do for you body. Now that I have told you, maybe you can find a gym you like. My gym has wonderful classes put out by Les Mills that are offered all across the United States and can probably be found near you! I am copying the description for the classes I do from the Les Mills website, but if you want more information you can click here - Les Mills. I am a firm believer that these classes work when done correctly.

First of all, each of the classes produced by Les Mills are choreography driven. That means that your instructor will teach the same choreography that my instructor teaches for a certain release. About every three months, the instructors across the country get a new release. This means that the music and choreography change, but the basic moves remain the same.

Body Pump (weights) - BODYPUMP™ is the original barbell class that strengthens your entire body. This 60-minute workout challenges all your major muscle groups by using the best weight-room exercises like squats, presses, lifts and curls. Great music, awesome instructors and your choice of weight inspire you to get the results you came for – and fast!

Body Combat (cardio) -BODYCOMBAT™ is the empowering cardio workout where you are totally unleashed. This fiercely energetic program is inspired by martial arts and draws from a wide array of disciplines such as Karate, boxing, Taekwondo, Tai Chi and Muay Thai. Supported by driving music and powerful role model instructors strike, punch, kick and kata your way through calories to superior cardio fitness. This one is my favorite! My friends Terayn, Tyler and I love to do some Combat!

Terayn, Tyler, and Me

RPM (cardio) - RPM™ is the indoor cycling workout where you ride to the rhythm of powerful music. Take on the terrain with your inspiring team coach who leads the pack through hills, flats, mountain peaks, time trials, and interval training. Discover your athlete within – sweat and burn to reach your endorphin high.

BodyFlow - BODYFLOW™ is the Yoga, Tai Chi, Pilates workout that builds flexibility and strength and leaves you feeling centered and calm. Controlled breathing, concentration and a carefully structured series of stretches, moves and poses to music create a holistic workout that brings the body into a state of harmony and balance.


Helpful Gear
My last suggestion is to purchase a heart-rate monitor watch with a calorie counter. This was helpful to motivate me on days when I really didn't want to work hard at the gym. When you look down and see you have only burnt 100 calories, you tend to really get working. If you plan to try indoor or outdoor biking, I suggest some padded bike shorts.


Ok . . . . . that is all the information I have to offer. I do suggest taking one meal a week and eating what you like within reason. I usually did this on Thursday after my Weight Watchers meeting. This sort of helped to keep me on track and didn't seem to mess up my weighing in each week! Good luck!