How I Lost 50 Lbs

As of yesterday, I have lost over 50 lbs since October of last year.  I posted on Facebook, "Goodbye 50 lbs-I hope I never see you again."  This set off lots of comments of congratulations and lots of questions about how I did it.  I thought I'd share about my weight loss journey....

In October of last year, I had a Pampered Chef party, the consultant and my dear friend, Amanda had just lost 30 lbs on Prevention Magazine's Flat Belly Diet.  I was inspired.  I had taken the book out of the library several times but never really read it.  I decided it was time to get serious.  Everything I had tried over the past several years had ended in failure and I was at the end of my rope and ready to just give up ever trying again.

Good to read but my least favorite.

I can't remember if I bought the book right away or if I just used the library copy.  At any rate, the diet starts with a 4 Day Jump Start plan.  There is a special water concoction called Sassy water that you drink each day and there are specific things to eat each of the 4 days to transition you over to the diet.  It also starts you out on 1200 calories a day.  It's a diet designed to reduce bloating.  I think it claimed you could lose up to 7 lbs the first week. I think I lost 2 or 3.  It was kind of discouraging but it was a start.

I then began on the 1600 calorie a day plan.  With the Flat Belly Diet each meal has to have a MUFA which is a mono-unsaturated fatty acid.  This includes nuts, peanut butter, olive oil, avocado, olives (yuck) and dark chocolate (YES!)  A diet that includes chocolate is definitely a diet I can get behind!!

Great book to start with.  Lots of quick ideas for meals
 like  Brown Rice Salad.

It wasn't too long before I purchased some of the books in the series.  I was steadily losing a lb or two a week.  I bought the Flat Belly Diet, The Flat Belly Diet Pocket Guide, and the Flat Belly Diet Family Cookbook.  Also available are the The Flat Belly Diet Cookbook and the Flat Belly Diet for Men.

It wasn't too long after that I discovered The 400 Calorie Fix. This book which is also by Prevention Magazine still recommends 400 calories per meal and not letting more than 4 hours lapse between meals. However, you have COMPLETE freedom to eat whatever you want.  No MUFA's required.  This is something I can do forever.  It is the way I eat now.  I can eat out, I can have birthday cake, I can do whatever I want...and if I flub up I can skip my evening snack or just start again the next morning with a 400 calorie meal.

For some reason limiting myself to about 400 calories per meal is different from planning to eat 1600 calories a day...that never worked for me.  I really love this book!  It has a section on what to eat when you're out (specific things to order at restaurants including Dunkin Donuts!).  Also a section on pre-prepared meals and quick fixes.  The remainder of the book is great recipes for "regular eating" not diet food. (There is a new 400 Calorie Fix Cookbook out that I can't wait to get a look at.)

One other thing is that I sometimes exercise.  I am sporadic about it but when I am exercising I consistently use Leslie Sansone DVDs.  My favorites right now are The Big Burn, Walk Off 10 Pounds and Walk Slim: Fast and Firm 4 Really Big Miles.

I hope to blog more about what I eat and continue participating each week in Slim Down Sunday.  Would love to hear what you do to lose weight and if you'd like to read more about my weight loss journey, recipes etc.

Tuna Rotini Salad Toss for Lunch

I am hoping to write a series of posts about what I have been eating while losing weight.  Sometimes I think half the battle is just figuring out what to eat and what a reasonable serving size is.

One of my favorite diet cookbooks is the Flat Belly Diet Family Cookbook.  This recipe comes from this book and it's delicious.  (It doesn't seem like diet food!) Actually, nothing I eat is "diet" food. I eat 400 calorie meals 4 times a day.  That's really all there is to it.  If you are looking to eat a healthier diet and lower your cholesterol then the Flat Belly Diet might be for you.  The recipes are all heart healthy.

6 oz. multigrain rotini pasta
1/4 cup canola mayonnaise (I usually just use regular mayo)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (I like to just buy the frozen cubes at Trader Joe's...simple and always on hand!)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2 cans (5 oz ea.) water-packed solid white tuna, drained
2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
1 large red bell pepper, cut into 1 1/2" long strips
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

1 serving (1 1/2 cups) is 404 calories.

After I ate 1 serving for lunch I divided the remaining servings into individual containers for an easy to grab lunch.  I used a glass container for one serving and the other two I put into trays that individual frozen dinners come in covered with Press N Seal.  I make my own frozen dinners this way too.  Often times my family is eating something that either has too many calories or I don't know how to count it so I eat something else.  Pre-prepared meals are perfect for that.

Let me know if you try it and how you like it.

Brown Rice Salad for lunch

My current favorite lunch recipe is a brown rice salad.  If you've been reading my blog you know that I have been on an 11 month long weight loss journey.  I began it on the Flat Belly Diet by Prevention magazine.  In the FBD Pocket Guide there is a "recipe" for brown rice salad.

When my friend, Amanda, told me about this salad I didn't think it sounded very good but decided to try it anyway and I love it.  Over the summer, I fell into a pattern of eating a 400 calorie lunch but it usually consisted of some kind of sandwich, baked potato chips and a Weight Watchers Ice Cream bar.(Dark Chocolate Raspberry!)  Recently, I decided that I should get back to eating some healthier foods for lunch.


The recipe calls for brown rice which I do sometimes use. But currently I buy a brown rice medley at Trader Joe's that is delicious.  I cook it in a rice cooker and then portion it out in half cup portions in Press N Seal and keep it in the freezer. Then I can have rice in 1 minute in the microwave.

So my salad consists of:

1/2 cup brown rice
1/3 cup pinto beans (I use whatever canned beans I have on hand..watch calorie counts, they are not all equal)
1/4 cup avocado
2 T. salsa
2 T. lime juice
1 small tomato, chopped
black pepper to taste

(The original recipe also calls for 2 tsp. olive oil but I leave it out so I can eat an ice cream bar...yes..I know I said I wanted to be healthier but I LOVE them. :) )

(I usually sprinkle with a bit of salt.)

It's so yummy and nutritious.  Give it a try and let me know how you like it.  What is your favorite healthy lunch?