At the beginning of 2008 my life was completely out of my control. I decided to deal with something I could control and started to lose weight.
Most of my life I was thin or underweight – it was never something I had to think about. After my daughter was born, however, I never lost all of the weight that I had gained. I wasn’t overweight but was the biggest I had ever been. As I got older and became more sedentary the weight slowly started to creep higher.
When I finally decided to take control of this, I was definitely overweight. I weighed 156 lbs. This might not sound so bad to you but I am 5’2″ – barely. I am so short that 5lbs in either direction shows up on me.
Personal
So, I decided to lose 40lbs and get down to my normal weight. And last year I was almost successful – I lost 30 of the 40 lbs and was happy with the way that I looked.
I then got distracted by life events and over time gained 10 lbs back.
A month ago I decided to finally finish what I started and lose the final 20lbs. Reducing what I eat isn’t really a problem because I don’t eat a lot but I do love junk food and I get lazy about exercising.
The Daily Plate
To lose weight I used The Daily Plate, which has since been integrated with Livestrong.com. I started by calculating my current weight and height, how much I wanted to lose overall, and how much to lose per week. The healthy way to lose weight is to only lose 1% of your body weight per week so you if you weigh 145 you want to lose 1.4 lbs per week. The site then calculates how many calories you can eat per day to lose the weight.
It also includes a huge database of food and the amount of calories that it has. You can select what you ate, add it to your plate, and calculate how much you can eat that day.
The database also includes exercise and you can select the exercise you did and how many calories it burned. Many people on the forums say the calories burned is high so I usually cut it in half. If I do aerobics for 45 minutes, I list it as 22 minutes. Whatever you burn through exercise can be added as calories to eat that day.
As you lose weight you can add your weight and a weight lose graph will be generated as well as your Body Mass Index. You can also do the same with your measurements.
The Daily Plate has free and paid features. Most needed features are free but a membership includes permanently storing your data and no ads. A chart comparing the free and paid memberships is available on the site.
The Daily Plate also has support features such as forums, friends, and groups to assist with weight loss.
More Personal
Calculating my daily calories and tracking what I eat and my exercise has worked for me. Last year when I lost 30 lbs. I wasn’t a struggle and now when I’ve started again I’ve lost 5 lbs in 4 weeks. I find that tracking the calories helps me make better choices. Do I want the iced mocha that has 200 calories or would I rather have half a vegan chicken salad sandwich for the same amount. I almost always go with the food.
I also tend to eat slightly less during the week so I have some extra for the weekend. On the weekends I tend to go out eat and that can really add on the calories. My brother has a system where every week or so he allows himself to have a free day where he can eat whatever he wants. That seems to work for him – I have never tried it though. Sometimes I think he can do that because he is male.
As I mentioned in my dating article, I’ve been drinking a little more alcohol than usual. Alcohol can have a lot of calories so you have to be really careful with it. It’s probably best to not drink it at all or very rarely when trying to lose weight. Of course, the amount of calories I can have per day is about the same as two bottles of red wine so I could choose to be hungry, thin and very tipsy ;-)
How do you lose weight? Have you ever tracked calories and what you are eating? Would that work for you? Do you want to lose weight and need a way to get started?
photo credit: jamesjustin
That is such a cool tool! My issue is not eating enough calories. I can easily not put away more than 800 calories a day even when very active and that’s not good at all. Carbs is a killer for me so I need to tract that (and sugars) more than anything. Thanks for introducing this website to us!
.-= Carla´s last blog ..Moxsie.com – New eco-friendly shop that gives back =-.
Hi Carla – This site would help you get enough calories too. Is the calorie issue because of what you can and can’t eat? I find it a little difficult to say within the limits on days I don’t exercise.
Hey Kim,
Part of it is because all of the food I cant eat and part of it is too much coffee (takes away your appetite).
.-= Carla´s last blog ..I am here! (The Financial Cost of Multiple Sclerosis) =-.
Hmm … I drink a lot of coffee and it doesn’t seen to do anything to
my appetite ;-)
Hi Kim – Congratulations on your loss! (Now we don’t get to say THAT very often, do we? lol) This concept and tool is remarkably similar to the WeightWatcher’s theory and online tool. WW counts “points” instead of calories is the main difference that I can see.
You’re right, the exercise component is crucial. All the calorie counting or program attempts in the world don’t work for me unless exercise is part of the daily routine. You’ve inspired me to begin better habits. WW was where I had my greatest success in the past; last fall, not so much because I didn’t exercise along with it. Now I’m briskly walking about 45 minutes a day.
And you’re right, metabolism and an entire host of hormonal differences conspire against us as we get older, and it’s more difficult to lose. This is a great post with super resources.
.-= Betsy Wuebker´s last blog ..INTO INVISIBILITY WITH BREATHTAKING SPEED =-.
Hi Betsy – I’m finding it much slower than the weight I lost last year. But I think when you are further from your target weight it comes off a little faster.
I’m so glad you’re walking. When I worked outside of the house I easily walked 5 miles a day. I don’t walk as much now so I’m doing aerobics and things like that.
It gets a lot harder as we get older ;-)
Hello Kim,
Despite the way it feels, losing weight isn’t a mysterious process. It’s a simple matter of burning more calories than you eat. But, if it were really that simple, none of us would have a weight problem
.-= Hosted Call Center´s last blog ..Predictive Dialer – An another form of Hosted Call Centers =-.
Hi – It really isn’t but we seem to make it much more difficult than it is. I think one problem is that we don’t realize how much we are eating or how many calories can be in something really simple like a muffin. A site like this helps track that so you are more aware of the food you are eating.
The Daily Plate is an awesome website. Nice job promoting it. It seems that they’re pretty big yet I’m not really sure of too many other people that use it.
Congratulations on your progress. Don’t rely too much on the scale. Track how your clothes are fitting.
And I love the little turtle progress bar!
Keep up the good work, you’ll get there. :-)
Hi Jim – I got three people to use it last year. Jennifer M. from TR lost 25 lbs using it. Someone I know online lost weight using it too :-)
Yeah – I’m done with the scale – I’ll go by the fact that I can’t wear most of pants without a belt. I’ll be wearing my purple hipster jeans in no time ;-)
iam glad somebody explained how to calculate calories. People are always talking about calories and i had no idea how to count them in portions to what i have eaten
Hi Audrey – It can be hard to tell how many calories are in something. A lot of packaged foods list it but for other things like fruit and vegetables it’s nice to have a chart.
I haven’t been over here in awhile Kim, but have been watching your Twitter feed re: the exercise/weight articles. Here is one guys prospective (mine):
We all get caught up too much in weight control for various reasons. From being a practicing physical therapist for almost 12 years prior to making the leap as a tech nerd, I can tell you with great confidence that our bodies seek a natural weight and look. Unless we diet and exercise like an athlete, we can never look like one.
That being said, my recipe for health and well being is moderation. It is SOOO hard in our society to do that, but learning to moderate and not deprive accomplishes most of our goals. You mentioned junk food…we all like some food vice…the key is to moderate the intake of it and lean to make substitutions. I am a french fry junkie…don’t eat them every day (although I could), but I have learned to not eat a hamburger bun or not get the milk shake if I want the fries. And I’ve learned that it’s ok to share my fries or heaven forbid, only eat half an order!
Point is, I still eat and enjoy them…just not as often and not in large portions.
Same with exercise…I used to be a gym rat 5-6 days a week and hated missing workouts. As I got older and more responsibilities fell on my plate (no pun intended), I had to learn to accept that walking the dog in the morning was the only “exercise” I would get that day. Movement is still VERY important, but I don’t obsess about it any more because I just do not have the time for it.
Obsessing over it and worrying about it led to decreased well-being and borderline depressing at times! Yikes, don’t need that!!
Lastly, you don’t strike me as a person who is doing this for the opposite gender, but again, as a guy who talks to lots of other guys…and we guys talk a lot about women and yes, we look too. (full disclosure). The dirty little secret, that really isn’t a secret, is guys find smart, personable, witty women who are fun to be with and talk FAR more attractive than the woman who catches our eye visually and then has nothing to offer after that.
I’ve never met you in person, but I can tell you that your photo “attracted” me to your services when I was hunting for a WP consultant, and our brief phone conversation solidified that I wanted to work with you. Reading your posts, tweets, and our emails back and forth show me that you are not only an attractive woman, but also an interesting, thoughtful and smart one as well!
I guess I could sum this all up and maybe should have just posted:
Kim, you are a great and beautiful person AND woman, and just remember moderation is the key to everything.
.-= Rick Castellini´s last blog ..Email of the Week – 021 =-.
Hi Rick – I love fries too. I could eat them every day. I try to make them at home now because they are healthier that way.
I’m doing this for me. I look fine now – I just want to be healthier and stronger.
And thank you so much for all the wonderful things you said! I really appreciate it and almost don’t know how to respond. Why am I not meeting people who think the same way when I go on those terrible dates ;-)
You are welcome…everything I wrote was true, but man, I got a little wordy…probably low blood sugar! Ha, ha! Seriously, though, it has been a genuine pleasure getting to know you this year! If I’m ever in Philly or you out here, we need to get some fries and talk shop and laugh….
.-= Rick Castellini´s last blog ..Email of the Week – 021 =-.
Or if I’m ever in Colorado – although I think it’s more likely that you end up here ;-)
You’re doing such an excellent job with gradual weight loss! I exercise almost every day, which enables me not to worry about food intake. But I also try to eat healthy and stop eating *before* I’m very full.
.-= vered | blogger for hire´s last blog ..Ten Stupid Fashion Trends =-.
Hi Vered – I think gradual is the only way to keep it off. And for me to avoid cheetos and beer as much as possible ;-)
I’m v. impressed with your self-discipline, Kim!
.-= Siel´s last blog ..Meet the next eco-model at Project Green Search’s Hollywood party =-.
Thanks Siel :-) If I had enough discipline I wouldn’t need to lose in the first place …
I used the site for a while, until I got the hang of knowing how much I could eat on days I worked out vs. days I didn’t. I lost 15 lbs. while using that site! Great tool, good motivator. I even used the iPhone app.
.-= Charity Hisle´s last blog ..Racing to the Twitter Finish Line =-.
Hi Charity – That’s great! I never get accustomed to knowing how much I can eat :-) And I’m a little obsessive about filling out all the data ;-)
Nice post Kim, and I am working on getting over to the website too as I keep my records so many spots and it is getting overwhelming…
Congrats. on the weight loss….bravo
Thank you for the recipe too…
I will be back tomorrow…more computer problems today..just got back up and running
.-= Patricia´s last blog ..Brian Williams – I could use a little help here =-.
Hi Patricia – Hope your computer behaves. And I’m really curious to find out if you like The Daily Plate or not.
I’m in the middle of weight loss myself (a lot more then you lol), so this is very cool. Thans!
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..As Promised – An End Of The Year Advertising Special! =-.
Hi Dennis – That’s great! Maybe the site will help. And I think it helps when you know others are trying to do the same thing.
I’ll keep ya posted on progress and you do the same, maybe accountability buddies. LOL ;)
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..UPDATED – $10 LESS! – As Promised – An End Of The Year Advertising Special! =-.
I’m currently emphasizing more on eating healthy. Sometimes it’s challenging to follow the ‘rules’ and I do let myself go once for awhile, but never over-doing it though. ^^ Very good advise you’re giving here, I wish you all the best in your career and weight loss. Be healthy! (always for the health, not the scale) ^^
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
.-= Ching Ya´s last blog ..3 Easy Ways to Share Selective Tweets on Facebook Pages =-.
Hi Ching Ya – Thank you! It’s about moderation and getting enough exercise. Keeping track really helps me out.
Kim, your advice is always right on!
I was relatively successful two years ago and then dropped most of the exercise component and slid backwards. I set up the Daily Plate for me today and we will see if I can be more consistent. I tried another calorie counter but found it hard to use.
For me, like you, weight loss isn’t about weight exactly, it’s about being healthy and feeling good. Thanks!
.-= Julie Walraven´s last blog ..Fatal Errors or LinkedIn Interaction (Use Social Media in Job Search #3)) =-.
Hi Julie – I’m so glad you joined and I hope it works! I added you as a friend.
Your weight gain/loss story sounds so similar to mine. I used MyFoodDiary.com (I like their UI better than Livestrong) to track what I was eating and how much I was exercising and have now lost a little over 30lbs. I’ve stopped tracking what I eat and am just working on maintaining the loss and have so far been able to keep where I am for the last few months without the aid of MyFoodDiary. Tracking calories is such a huge eye-opener and really does teach you how to better manage your food!
.-= Jennifer´s last blog ..Little Cook – iPhone Game For Kids =-.
Hi Jennifer – I’ll have to take a look at that site. The Daily Plate is the only one I’ve ever tried. It’s amazing how much we eat or how many calories can be in something simple like a muffin.
Congrats on the weight loss :-)
Popular topic! That looks like a good website. I’ve tried a lot of ways of losing weight, but my favoirite is very low-tech. I made a set of Deal-A-Meal style cards and I use them. They’re based on a healthy exchange diet system where you’re allotted so many protein exchanges, so many starch exchanges, etc.
Hi Dot – It seems that weight loss is a popular topic. Do the cards work for you? I think that whatever works for us is the best way.
This is such a cool tool: it’s been proven time and again that calorie counting is the best (or only) way to really lose weight, but I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve never been miuch good at it – because I know that I’m far from being the only one! As for Kim’s brother’s idea about “taking a day off”, I think that it really is a male thing! It’s probably safer to stick to the method of saving up a few extra calories for the weekend.
.-= Ravi Kuwadia´s last blog ..How I Got 700 Unique Visitors Last Month? =-.
Hi Ravi – My brother’s system seems to work for him but it always makes me nervous – if I eat too much one day then I eat x amount less for a couple of days. I’ve found that I tend to eat more on the weekend – you’re more likely to go out, the kid is home, etc … so I just eat a little less during the week.
The exercise is helping a lot too – at least with getting toned.