Skinny Girl’s Secret

So, what is the secret to becoming and staying slim? Guess what? There is no secret!!! It’s called moving your ass and monitoring your food intake. Despite what many may think, losing weight and maintaining it is no mystery. Yes, it is a challenge, a mission for some, to establish and maintain a fitness regimen and eat properly, but a secret it is not! There is no diet food or pill or potion or anything else you need to seek out and spend loads of money on.

Am I an expert on weight loss? A nutritionist? Dietician? Personal trainer? Nope, none of the above. Just someone who dropped 30 pounds of post-college weight and then kept it off for about 10 years now. So many of my friends and family ask me “What’s your secret? Do you do cardio? Lift weights? Eat right? Or do you just got it like that?" Well, yes, yes, yes and I wish!

So even though I have repeated myself countless times, I thought I’d actually share, once again, this time by putting it in writing some of my tips and advice on living a healthy lifestyle. Family, friends, readers, please read this and if you have to do so, post it on your fridge, your tack board, staple it to your clothing, tattoo it on your body. Just don’t say I never shared my so-called secret. Disclaimer: Consult your physician before beginning any exercise and diet plans. I’m not a doctor and I don’t claim to be one.

Allow me to start off by saying that living a healthy lifestyle takes dedication and work. I cannot monitor and motivate anyone but myself to do this. I often say it’s a job and for some it’s a job they don’t want to work at. Sorry, can’t help you there. What I can do is shed some light and share my experiences on the subject.

About ten years ago, while working my first full-time office job out of college, I decided to treat myself to a shopping trip. I reached for my usual size 2 or so in several pieces of clothing and struggled with them in the dressing room. Nope! No deal. Oh, okay, maybe I went up to a 4. Wrong! A six? Maybe, depending on the store and the brand, but it was more like an 8/9 that quickly jumped into a 10. Please, no skinny girl bashing responses. I’m not saying size 10 is bad. In fact, I believe the average woman is a size 12-14. Great! Well, I’m no average woman. I stand 5’2” and have a very small frame. Until my post-college years, I had never been over a size 4. So for me, a size 10 was not average, not normal at all. I couldn’t believe I had put on more than a few pounds, although it made sense. I did not work out or eat well at all after college! It was all about fast food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. On top of that, I sat at a desk for eight hours a day and went home and watched tv. I didn’t think I had to worry about my weight because I did have it like that in my teens and very early 20’s. Then again, I was moving much more – walking and biking with my friends, dancing frequently at the nightclubs and running to my classes while eating the same bag of pretzels all day.

Now that my movement was limited to picking up the phone and moving my hands across a keyboard while grabbing fast food for all my meals, hmmm? No wonder why I put on 30 pounds in about six months.

So what did I do about it? I started off slowly by doing things like packing my lunch and walking on my mom’s old school treadmill for about 30 minutes most days of the week. Soon, I progressed to running (usually outside at the park) and cooking most of my own meals. I was dropping some weight, but most importantly I felt good in my skin. I started adding weights to my routine and I loved having tone and definition. About a year into this, I was hooked and I have been for a decade! I still cook my own meals almost every day. I work out at least 5 days a week. I even have a splurge day once a week so I don’t end up on a food binge. Is this easy to do and do I always love to do so? Honestly, heck no. Some days, I’d rather stay in bed, watch movies, and eat as I please all day, and I might do this once in a great while. They key is not to do this every day, every week of every month. Even on those days, when I don’t feel like going to the gym, I already have my gym bag ready and I promise myself to at least try for anything, something that day. Then, I usually get going on a machine or an exercise and decide I might as well do more.

Another important thing to remember is to incorporate one or just a few diet and/or fitness lifestyle changes at a time. Trying to totally revamp your lifestyle all at once can be too overwhelming. Do what you can and when you can, but do something! Below are some of my tips:

*Eat regularly! Your body needs fuel in order to move and your body needs to move in order to get fit and stay fit.

*Cook your own meals. This will save you cash and calories.

*Skip all the condiments and extras (mayo, dressings, sour cream, etc). Lucky for me, I’ve always been a plain eater.

*Cut out sugary snacks and drinks with little to no nutrients. These are empty calories. They do nothing for you!

*Eat a piece of fruit with every meal in order to help fill you up without lots of calories.

*Drink water to prevent thirst and de-hydration. You may not be hungry, but rather thirsty. Down a glass of water and wait a little while to see if your supposed hunger or cravings pass.

*Move!!!! Start off with whatever you can and progress from there. 20 minutes a day a few days a week is better than nothing. You’ll soon discover you can and want to move more.

*Adjust food intake to body size, gender and energy output. Everyone is different (Using myself as an example: female, small frame, regular, vigorous workouts = 1,500 calories or so/day). Again, consult a professional on this.

*Invest in a food scale or portion-control dishware unless you’re better at this than I at measuring out your food portions with your own eyes.

*Believe in yourself! It’s nice to have support, but if you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. Be your own biggest fan!

Now, below is just one day of my sample meals:

Breakfast: (such an important meal to prevent overeating later)

2 eggs

1 light whole grain muffin

Fruit (usually a banana, orange, and an apple)

Water

Snack:

Piece of fruit or small bag of baby carrots

Lunch:

Boca Burger on toasted light bun w/half slice fat free cheese, little bit of ketchup and a sandwich pickle

3 oz. of baked potato

Piece of fruit

Diet Coke

100 calorie pack of M&M’s or Snickers or 1 light ice cream bar 100-150 calories (I have a small, portion-controlled treat every day)

Dinner:

2 oz. Grilled Chicken breast on toasted light bun with lettuce and tomato

3 oz. baked potato

Piece of fruit

Water

At the end of the day, I have usually consumed about 1,500 calories. This is ideal for my body size and lifestyle. So there you have it. No it’s not easy. It takes work. Only you can do this for yourself. You decide what goes in your mouth and how much you move. Bottom line. That’s the big secret!