Healthy Eating & Weight Loss

Bella~Mella reporting on weight loss...

You may have noticed in my sidebar that I have an article slated to appear in August on the Proverbs 31 online section "Every Day Life." I wrote this article last spring and submitted it to P31. The article is entitled, "The Summer of My Blueberry Cobbler."

(Hello! Anyone else remember the book, "The Summer of My German Soldier"? I read it in middle school.)

Now my article has nothing to do with a German soldier but everything to do with blueberry cobbler!

You'll have to read it to find out why.

January 2008 I figured out an eating plan that was do~able, pain~free and helped me lose 16 pounds. I have kept off the weight and since recently removing sugar and chips from my diet, I have lost 6 more pounds!

So I thought I'd share with you some of my healthy snacks and tips that have worked for me.

Snacks~

1/4 cup of raw nuts

1/2 cup of Greek yogurt with a swirl of honey (Delicious! Really.)

frozen blueberries, thawed slightly, with a swirl of real whipped cream (To me Land O Lakes is the best and I get it in a 3 pack at Sam's. I know it has a little sugar but it's minimal.)

Cucumbers sliced lengthwise, sea salted, dipped in hummus (I like Sabra classic hummus.)

What I like for breakfast~

Whole grain waffle or 1/2 of a sourdough English muffin toasted with a tablespoon of natural peanut butter and sliced bananas (Favorite English Muffin - Bays sourdough)

My homemade smoothie with blueberries

1 fried egg (Spray the pan.) on 1 piece of toast

2 eggs fried, no bread

1 piece of Ezekial bread, toasted with a bit of butter.

The lunch that helped me lose weight last year~

1/2 sandwich, 9 baked tostitos with fresh salsa (I saved the other 1/2 portion of tostitos for an afternoon snack.) I rarely deviated from this lunch. My variety came at dinner time.

Tips for dinner~

Biggest portion came from vegetables or a salad

Smallest portion came from carbs like 1/2 baked potato

Meat portion was less than veggies but slightly more than the carb

Portion control. Portion control. Portion control.

Other strategies that helped me~

Food journal ~ which I had never before been successful in keeping but this time I went over 30 days and I credit that a great deal to my success. I kept a daily calorie count.

Prayer ~ Before I decided on how to lose weight, I prayed that God would direct me to a plan that would work for me. He did.

My watchword ~ "Consistency over time pays off."

What I didn't do~

Beat myself up if I didn't stick to my plan each day

Talk about it incessantly

Give myself a deadline

Exercise strenuously & a lot (I did walk but my focus was on the eating plan.)

Look for my article in August. I have the "backstory," the reasoning behind the title and more tips!

Now...what is your #1 tip for managing your weight?