Step one.. plan for my success

The first step I have decided to take is to make a plan.

Making a plan for me is one way I hope to ensure success.

So I am getting honest with myself and making a plan to tackle my challenge areas.

I love to eat.  I know that it is the single biggest issue for me... FOOD!  I love food.  I love cheesy, starchy, fatty food.  I am not a big sweets eater, but I love me some bread and cheese and some nasty fatty bacon cheeseburgers.

I also love salad, with good dressing.. of course.. and I love veggies.  I love fruit, and I love whole grains.. sooo part of my plan is to look at all of the foods I love to eat and figure out how I can make them a part of my lifestyle without sacrificing being healthy.

There are a million weight loss "plans" out there.  South Beach, Weight Watchers, Biggest Loser, Atkins, Grapefruit diet, Belly Fat diet.. but they all have one thing in common...

Consume less calories in a day, and less fat in a day and exercise to lose the weight.

There are also a gazillion tools out there.  I like SparkPeople the best.. why?  It is Free, and you can track everything.  It has meal plans available, exercise plans, message boards, blogs, articles and recipes.  I will be using Spark People to track everything, but I am going to use my own meal plans based on a variety of information I have gathered from books, the internet, and common sense.

Changing how I eat, is one part, but I want to make sure that I can follow this lifestyle from now on.. forever.. and that is a long time.  So I don't want to completely cut out cheese, bread, pasta, or chocolate.. just shift the types and make better portion control choices.

Click HERE for the my pyramid portion sizes that we Should be eating.. it is an eye opener!


My biggest challenge with eating healthy and losing weight.. is how I eat throughout the day.  I am NOT a breakfast eater.  It is very difficult for me to think of food in the morning.  I also notice that when I eat breakfast, I become hungry faster and that of course leads to poor food choices.. when I am not prepared..so I am getting prepared.  Eating small meals throughout the day is the mantra of most fitness and health experts.. protein, healthy carbs and low fat are the way to go, 5 to 6 times a day.. hmmmm so What does that look like?  Well, I am are aiming for 1500 calories a day to start and that would be ideal to spread out over 5 to 6 meals a day.

I am not really a grazer by nature.  I am more of a stuff my face a couple times a day..and then feel like crap.




The first step to my plan is to decide how many meals I will eat a day, and what those meals will look like.

Here is the first phase of my plan:

Breakfast.. 200 to 250 calories  Eat by 9:00 AM every day.. no matter what.. NON negotiable

Snack:  200 Calories  Between 11am and noon

Lunch:  350 Calories  Between 1 and 3pm

Dinner:  400 Calories  Between 6 and 7pm

Snack:  200 Calories  Between 8 and 9pm

This is what works for me.. It may not work for anyone else.. but this is what is realistic for me.  It gives me a buffer of 150 calories a day.

So The next installment will be all about Breakfast.. including some 250 calorie choices.

I am now off to eat that breakfast.