It has almost been a year since I had my gastric bypass and since then I have lost 82 pounds but surgery can only do so much and it only gave me a window of time (17 months) to be the most effective weight loss tool it can be.
So in preparation for my “tool” to stop working overtime I have been taking my health and fitness into my own hands and learning to finally eat healthy and work out routinely so I can continue on my road to being the best me that I can be (Jillian Micheal’s here i come!).
3-5 days a week (I usually aim for 5 days) I do 20-30 minutes of cardio which leaves me sweating like a dog but feeling great. and for the past month I have been adding in strength training every other day. The tricky and most difficult part for me has been learning how to eat healthy and get myself in a mindset where I do not feel deprived or like im going to turn into a rabbit at any minute. Basically I am limiting what I eat to about 1200 calories a day and most of that is vegetables and fruit because lets face it, i can eat a bowl of these things and not blow my calories for the day.
I eat as healthy as I can ALL day but then eat a normal and sometimes calorie packed dinner with my family so I can feel normal and connected with with my brood. I have to say that even if I am eating a lot of healthy food I do not sit around whining all day about how much I want a cookie or a bag of chips because if I want it that bad I will have a cookie or a few chips and factor it into what I can eat in my day… portion control is super important to learn and I am trying my darndest!
Last year I bought a digital food scale and have been using it religiously for the past few months. I pre-portion most things before I eat them, like nuts I will put in a snack bag and measure out exactly 1 ounce so I will not mindlessly eat them because that is super easy to do when your snacking (especially in the middle of the night >.< ).
Honestly what im trying to do is not diet but instead change the way I eat permenantly because with diets they usually end after a while and then most people gain everything they lost back… so, if I change what I eat and how I feel about food then it wont be a diet but instead I will think “its just the way I eat” and I am learning new things everyday that are helping me to achieve this.
I never knew that I would like tofu… I mean, when I thought of tofu it made me think of a bunch of new age hippies sitting around munching granola while trying to channel inner peace lol, which is okay but for me it is way out of my comfort zone in what I thought of as ME. All week last week I was cubing up tofu and stir frying it with veggies and seasonings and I have to tell you, I was shocked at how much I really liked it and even more shocked at how satisfied I was with just eating stir fry for lunch or breakfast everyday, which makes me wonder if im going to turn into a new age hippy that munches granola and quotes Buddha.
If I take anything away from all this it is that I am stronger than I thought and determination can be gratifying because the rewards from that determination are worth every sacrifice and every bump in the road.
-Nicko
P.S. This was today’s lunch and no, I did not grow rabbit ears after I ate it.
1 sanwich thin (toasted).
1 tbls fat free cream cheese.
2 slices of turkey meat (ya ya ya its processed, sue me lol)
1/2 cup bean sprouts.
2 tbls salsa.
next time I will add salt and pepper.
Calories: 173. Booya!
