Healthy Lifestyle Update Babble

It's been a while since I've done a Healthy Lifestyle Update. As you may or may not know, Sunday is my weekly weigh day. I don't believe in weighing yourself more than once a week because the body fluctuates and it can be very stressful seeing the needle on the scale go up and down.

My goal is 1 pound a week because it's a healthy goal. The whole idea behind losing weight is to be healthy. Losing weight and looking better is a fantastic side benefit, sure, but developing healthy habits to take with me into my 40's is the ultimate goal.

So today is the last day of week 27 and I've lost 31 pounds. I couldn't be happier with my results. Sure, if I went on a crash diet I could have lost it faster, but this way I don't feel deprived. I don't know about you, but when I feel deprived, I find something really bad (a pint of Ben and Jerry's regular ice cream--not the frozen yogurt which isn't bad--or a bag of soft batch cookies, or wedge of cake from the bakery counter, or a giant Cadbury Milk Choc Toffee bar) and eat the whole thing. Not good. We eat at restaurants and fast food places on a regular basis, by the way, but I make healthy choices.

Tonight we ate at Red Lobster. I ordered grilled shrimp, a garden salad with low fat dressing, steamed broccoli (I love broccoli-no sacrifice) and yes, I did have a cheese biscuit. There are 9 grams of fat and 160 calories in a cheese biscuit, but I was careful the rest of the day. The other items I ordered only had 8 grams of fat and 300 calories total! And it was delicious. It's important to eat delicious things so you don't feel deprived. Remember this is a healthy lifestyle, not a diet. Depriving yourself is not what it's all about. It's better to make small changes every day. Small changes daily equal big results weekly.

I think I'm going to start posting healthy lifestyle tips on a regular basis. I grew up with a dietitian mom. I'm surprised that a lot of things I think are common knowledge, many people don't know. For example: carbs are NOT BAD FOR YOU. I live for carbs. If I had to go on Adkins I'd have gained 31 pounds by now. Too much protein makes me feel full, sick to my stomach and weighted down. If you are like me, you don't pig out because you're hungry, you pig out because you're not satisfied or feel deprived. Protein foods do not satisfy me. Of course I eat protein, but I eat it as part of a balanced diet that includes carbohydrates, lean protein and some fat. A healthy lifestyle follows the food pyramid because your body needs all the food groups to run smoothly.