Losing Weight

Losing Weight: This is a biggie. It's probably going on most people's resolution list somewhere, even if you are like Betty and are already perfect (look at that woman's BMI at the bottom of her blog!), but you still want to lose a couple more pounds.

I think I've told the story before, but the impetus for me to lose weight came last January when I had to renew my driver's license complete with new photo. My kids were with me that day, and once I looked at that photo I ask in despair if that is what I really looked like. My little ones just answered yes, but Amber being older and wiser said that it really wasn't that bad of a photo. Yes it was, and I was determined to lose weight, but I wanted to do it healthfully.

I listened to Jack Stockwell's morning talk radio shows about losing weight. As I listened I learned that the books they were working with was Fit for Life and Eat Right for Your Type. I found the Fit for Life book and skimmed the Eat Right for Your Type.

I was impressed with what I read in the Fit for Life book:
Eat as much fruit as you want before noon, but ONLY eat fruit.
Quit eating at 8:00 p.m.
Between Noon & 8 p.m.: eat as many vegetables as you want, but eat meat separately from carbs. Wait 4 hours after eating meat to eat carbs, and 3 hours after carbs to eat meat.
If you are trying to digest easily, don't eat or drink dairy products with your food. I haven't figured out how to inlude dairy products in my diet yet, because dairy has an entirely different pH from carbs and meat.

The reasoning of eating meat & carbs separately is because they break down in different pH's. If you eat them together, it will take several mores hours to digest and your food will rot before it is digested. A great realization for those suffering from reflux! Eat the foods separately and let them move out of your stomach quicker and lessen the reflux problem!

There are great calorie counters out there, too. You can look on food labels, but if you are cooking from scratch like I mostly do, I regularly used websites like this one to help me. I used a microsoft excell sheet and wrote down everything I ate along with the calories I consumed. At the top of each day's entry I dated it and put my first-thing-in-the-morning weight. As I started losing weight I noticed the pattern of how many calories I needed to maintain my weight and how many I needed to lose weight. It was a wonderful "aha" moment.

After I got ulcers from my GERD, the only thing I changed was to stop eating at 6:00 p.m. That gives me 3-4 hours for my food to digest completely before I lay down flat in bed. If I haven't digested completely I have to use a big bed pillow to sleep sitting up in bed until I have digested, and that stinks!
So far so good though. My ulcers have stopped hurting, which is a huge blessing.

So, for a recap:

1) Eat only fruit, and as much fruit as you want, until Noon.

2) Stop eating entirely at 8:00 p.m.

3) Eat as many vegies as you want from noon until 8:00 p.m.

4) Eat Meat & Carbs separately: Wait 4 hours after eating meat to eat carbs, and 3 hours after carbs to eat meat.

5) If you are trying to digest easily, don't eat or drink dairy products with your food because dairy has an entirely different pH from everything.

6) Watch caloric intact and look for patterns of how many your body needs to maintain its weight and then how many fewer you need to lose weight.

And most of all: Eat healthy. Eat more whole foods. Eat fewer processed and refined foods. Take your vitamins. And drink plenty of Water.

Thirty pounds lighter, these are the things I've learned, and I share them with you along with much love and good wishes for your feeling of well-being and for your health.