My Realistic Weight Loss Journey

 Hello everyone! Salad has become a major part of my diet. I endeavor to eat a salad everyday if my schedule allows. Salads are wonderful and can be customized to your health needs. I choose vegetables that are good for helping to keep a healthy blood pressure level and for the kidneys. I’m 60 years old and maintaining a healthy diet is important to maintain a healthy body as well. In my latter years I don’t want to depend on medications and doctors. The issues I have with my kidneys was caused by the medication I took for years. That medication had a major lawsuit and is discontinued. If only I’d known that years ago. I followed the doctor’s instructions and now I have stage 3 kidney disease. I was taking a medication daily that was damaging my kidneys and I had no clue. So many medicines cause other medical issues and damage other organs in the body. I truly prefer using fruit and vegetables to help heal and keep the body healthy. The salad above contained many vegetables. My new...

Hello everyone! I thought I'd share a first meal of the day with you. I usually eat my first meal of the day no earlier than 11 am. It all depends on my schedule and what I have to do that day. I have eaten my first meal some days like yesterday, after 5pm. Yesterday I had one meal and earlier that afternoon I ate a 100 calorie bag of dusted dark chocolate almonds. This meal is from weeks ago. I decided to take a photo of this meal so I could write this post.  This day I ate breakfast for my first meal. This breakfast consists of Egg Beaters and Baby Spinach, if I want to add cheese. I prefer Follow Your Heart Vegan Gouda Cheese Slices. The toast is White Smart Carb bread and it's covered with an half of a Avocado. I consider this a fairly healthy, low calorie and low sodium meal. It's quite tasty as well. I'm not going to put all the numbers in. I just wanted to share a simple meal that I eat sometimes. If I'm home I love to eat at least one salad a day, usually fo...

Hello everyone, It's been a while since my last post. So much has happened in my life. There have been so many unexpected occurrences, I find my daily peace, joy and hope in Jesus Christ. I hope all is well with each and every one of you! My main goal this year for my weight loss is to finally leave the 200's. Yes, no more mid to low 200's it's time to make it to Onederland. What is onederland you ask?  Onderland is a term used in the weight loss community to signify reaching a weight below 200 pounds (one hundred pounds). It is a celebratory milestone for individuals who have achieved significant weight loss. The scale is not my friend. I have disliked stepping on the scale my entire weight loss journey. So my first weigh in for this year will probably be the end of June because it is the 6th month of the year. I will step on the scale just to check my progress. I need to see how close to my goal I am. I believe I can meet this goal by December 31, 2025 I will firmly b...

Hey! Who ordered all this loose skin? It took a little while but I started noticing how my skin was beginning to loosen up almost everywhere! My upper arms and my stomach are the worst! Yes, loose skin. I mean really loose skin. It gets looser the more I lose weight. All the exercise in the world is not gonna completely tighten up all that stretched out skin. As a matter of fact you probably won't notice much tightening at all! Well, I'm going to have to get used to all this extra skin because surgery simply isn't an option for me. I'm 60 years old and nobody has to be bothered with it but me and that's just fine. I've been big all my life. So my poor skin has been stretched for around 60 years. That's just not fair is it? The abuse we subject our bodies to because we love food and won't discipline ourselves. Overeating becomes a norm to us and we cause all kinds of medical issues. Many times we cause our own mental issues as well.  So now that we know b...

Hello everyone! Don't be afraid of standing still. What I mean is standing still in your weight loss journey. There will be periods of time that your weight loss will stand still. I mean really still. You will not lose weight yet you're sticking to proper eating habits and exercise. This too shall pass. I've gone through periods like this often enough.  I remember, it seemed like I couldn't lose weight no matter what. All of a sudden it was like I dropped twenty pounds overnight. I'm serious, I noticed I'd lost a lot of inches my clothes were much bigger on me. I also want to point out you may not lose pounds but you will be losing inches. Look I've learned to just go with the flow. If you don't learn to go with the flow you will become an emotional roll coaster on your weight loss journey.  Just take a deep breath. Everything will be alright! Really! Just keep going. At the beginning of your weight loss journey. The weight will come off pretty easy and ...

Tough Love or abuse? Tough Love in my opinion is the truth that hurts. The exhortation that is for your good. It may hurt your feelings but the message isn't for your detriment but for your good.  Tough Love defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Love or affectionate concern expressed in a stern or unsentimental manner (as through discipline) especially to promote responsible behavior. Abuse defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary . Language that condemns or vilifies usually unjustly, intemperately and angrily. To use or treat as to injure or damage. To attack in words. My experiences as an obese child and adult was usually abuse. It's expected because of prejudice to be criticized and attacked by those who don't know you in the world. But I'd have to say the majority of my verbal and mental abuse came from inside my home and people who are my blood relatives. My definition of family is my own and many people that are blood relatives I don't consider them my ...

Take your time, but hurry up! This is a line that someone I  knew loved to tell any and everyone! Running a little late? No, problem. Take your time, but hurry up. He'd use this line on every occasion it applied. It would catch people off guard and often after digesting what was said, they would chuckle. He was kidding but not really. It was his humorous  way of saying hurry up! It's time to go! When it comes to changing your lifestyle to live healthier, I say, take your time, but hurry up! Time is against us. There is no time to waste, so let your journey begin today. Not everyone who needs to change their diet to a healthy diet is overweight, obese or morbidly obese. But what you eat everyday is unhealthy. You have a diet full of sugar, fried foods, red meats, processed foods and so much more. You don't have a balance of fresh fruits or vegetables. Some of you don't eat fruits or vegetables at all. How could you possibly be healthy? You don't even drink water. You...

My weight loss journey has been long and slow. I don't go to the gym. I do my own exercises. Sometimes in life things can become so overwhelming that exercise has to go to the bottom of my list. The  work I do 7 days a week, 12 hours a day is very demanding both mentally and physically. It's God that keeps me going. Even when I'm exhausted I know I can never give up and never quit!  My weight has come off slowly. The more weight I lose the harder it is to lose. For the longest time, I couldn't even see the weight loss. I still struggle with that everyday. I look in the mirror and I could swear I'm bigger than I was yesterday. I know it sounds ridiculous but the mind can play many tricks on us. I struggle to see how much smaller I am now than when I began this journey.  These days I'm thinking about putting myself in maintenance mode and giving myself an emotional break for a week or two. Maintenance mode is no intentional weight loss or weight gain. Just maintai...

Bad Company. The Bible even warns us about keeping bad company.  3 3 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” 1 Corinthians 15:33   This also applies to your weight loss journey. What you need is support from those around you. You don't want to surround yourself with those who do not respect you or your new life choices. Pay attention to what people do and not necessarily what they say. Actions speak louder than words!  We all have people in our lives that make poor choices when it comes to food. So, we have to use wisdom in how we spend our time around these people. I wouldn't plan to go out to a meal with someone who will constantly consume foods that may be my weakness. Those who constantly encourage me to have a cheat day or consume foods that are not healthy, nor are these foods a part of my new diet choices. Some people will be offended by your new lifestyle and food choices. That is not a problem that you need to contend with, let them be. Why chase tr...

I want to eat when and what I want! I truly do get tired of watching, planning and monitoring what I eat. This is the greatest daily challenge for me that is. I started this lifestyle change a few years ago and I get so tired of picking and choosing. I mean that's the nature of man, right? What I do to get over these rough patches? Yes, they are rough patches.  I change my weekly weight loss goal. My normal setting is 1 1/2 pounds a week. Trust me I probably never lose that much in a week but according to my calorie intake and the information in the MyFitnessPal Application that is my estimated expected weight loss. I will decrease my weekly weight loss goal so that I can consume more calories. This allows me to indulge in a craving.  Just eating any and everything without tracking the caloric impact is not wise at all and nor is it beneficial. It doesn't take much with me usually to satisfy a craving for something sweet or a dish that isn't a normal part of my diet. I do e...

I used to say that I was an emotional eater. Food is not a comforter. It does not relieve stress. It does not remove anxiety. Food cannot make you happy in life. Eating food in excess, however, will kill you! Yes, food can kill you. Excessive food intake means excessive pounds on your body. Excessive pounds can cause many health issues that can lead to an early death.  My Comforter is the Holy Spirit. I am a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Food cannot offer me peace. If abused food can only offer me grief and suffering. We should all have the mindset to eat to live and not live to eat!  Unhealthy food choices can also cause many health issues. Daily intake of fast food, greasy fried foods, high in fat, red meats, pork,  sugary foods,  and desserts can also lead to many health issues as well. A healthy daily diet is important. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables contribute to a healthier you. A balanced diet is needed and necessary to help maintain a healthy lifesty...

6 things you may not know about water Makes up about 60% of your body Keeps your skin healthy Supports the function of your cells and organs Regulates body temperature Boosts alertness and supports brain function Aids in digestion Drink plenty of water. I endeavor to drink more than 64 ounces of water daily. The more water I drink the better. I have to admit I do love water enhancers. I prefer liquid Crush Orange and Pineapple, but I also indulge in other flavors. I do use the enhancers in moderation. A nice lite flavor is good. A little flavor goes a long way! I don't drink pop or soda pop at all. There is no real nutritional value in soda pop. I don't drink sugary juices. I no longer drink coffee. I do like to make ice blended drinks using sugar free flavoring and unsweetened almond milk. Drinks that are yummy and refreshing, especially during the summer months. Using fresh fruits in these blended drinks is nice as well. I don't use sugar to sweeten my drinks. I use some ...

There have been days that I had to look at my daily diary and think, did I eat that? Many times, it's not the amount or portion size of what we eat but the value of the food we consume. You can have one slice of coconut cake. That's right one slice but that slice of cake is equivalent to a full meal in calories. You've already eaten a meal worth of calories for a dessert. These are not wise choices and can cause you to constantly go over your daily allotted calorie count.  Being hungry unnecessarily because you didn't say no to a piece of cake makes you realize pretty quickly that those aren't the food choices you want to make often. MyFitnessPal Application gives you the ability to input your personal statistics into the application. Allowing the proper calculation for calorie count and nutritional needs for you daily. One pound gain means that you consumed 3,500 calories more than your body needed. Yep! Take it one day at a time. Don't be too hard on yourself....

The Struggle is Real every single day.  You will feel tempted to make poor food choices. Somedays you will give in to the temptation. Remember, tomorrow is a new day. Start afresh and keep going. Never Give Up and Never Quit! I've had many unsuccessful days, but I refuse to throw away my many good days for the bad days. Forgive yourself, pat yourself on the back and focus on your weight loss journey. Yes, you will get tired of not being able to eat whatever you want to eat when you want to eat it. Eating that way is what has gotten you to the point you're at now and that's endeavoring to lose all those excess pounds you've piled on your body over the years. Living a gluttonous lifestyle in any way is a sin against God. When it comes to a gluttonous eating lifestyle, you're literally killing yourself with every excessive bite of food you take. We should eat to live and not live to eat.  Food is not a comforter but a means to provide our body with necessary nutrition ...

The process of changing your lifestyle when it comes to your daily diet and food intake is always evolving. You will constantly learn about better food choices and the value they can bring to your healthy eating habits.  When it comes to Beef, Pork or Poultry I lean towards Poultry. Pork is my last choice and Beef I rarely consume as well.  Poultry, chicken and turkey are my choices. I even prefer leaner chicken portions of breasts and wings, the white meat of chicken. Dark meat portions tend to have more fat and frankly in my opinion the pieces can be bitter to the taste as well. This of course if my opinion and choice. You may feel very different about the taste. Pork Can be High in Sodium and Saturated Fats While pork is rich in several important vitamins and nutrients, it can also be high in sodium and saturated fats, two things that should be avoided as part of a healthy diet.   I try to make sure that at least one or two of my meals a day contain no form of pou...

I began to cut my calories with better food choices. Eating healthier is critical to weight loss, especially if you're doing it naturally. When I say naturally, I mean no pills, shots or surgeries. You will have to push the plate away with smaller servings on many dishes. However, there are many dishes you will be able to eat at leisure. Salads are wonderful! I mean real salads with healthy green leafy vegetables. I was raised on Iceberg Lettuce which in my opinion is the lettuce you can consume that probably has the lowest amount of nutrients you will get from lettuce. It's got a good crunch though! Iceberg lettuce adds hydration and crunch to salads. In my research, darker leafy greens such as spinach or kale provide richer nutrient. Combining iceberg lettuce with diverse vegetables enhances overall nutritional intake. I don't purchase Iceberg Lettuce at all these days. It's just a waste of money to me. My favorite leafy greens are Spinach, Green Leaf, Red Leaf, and B...