What are you doing??

I was asked today to share what I'm doing to lose weight.

"Using common sense," was the first response that popped into my head. But the more complete answer is diet and exercise.

I'm working out 4-5 times a week. Not because I can't do more or don't want to do more, but because I'm being realistic and I'm still recovering from a pretty major surgery, so I don't want to overdo it. In my workouts, I'm doing HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) every other day and weight/circuit training on the opposite days. Of the workouts in the link, I'm currently warming up with a 30 second workout. In short, that means, I'm stretching (always!!), then doing a 5 minute warm-up on the treadmill. Then I "sprint" for 30 seconds. After that 30 seconds is up, I slow it down to a more leisurely pace for 1 min 30 seconds. I repeat this 6-8 times. Then I cool down for five minutes to get my heart rate back to normal, then stretch out again. I put "sprint" in quotation marks because right now, I'm FAR from sprinting, but ideally, that's where I'll be when all is said and done. I have a LONG way to go to get back to where I want to be, but for now, my heart rate is in the cardio range and I'm okay with that pace. On days when I don't have the time for 30 mins on the treadmill, I'll switch it up and do a Tabata workout instead. Essentially, that's a 30 second sprint on the elliptical and 30 seconds at a slower pace. I repeat this four times. Add in a warm-up and cool-down and my workout is done in under 15 mins. On the alternating days when I do weight training, I go through almost the entire circuit in my gym: leg press, bench press, arm curls, leg curls, ab curls...whatever is available, I'm on it. The whole circuit, not including stretching takes me about 30 mins or so. I lift the weight that's comfortable for me and instead of increasing the weight just yet, I increase the number of reps I do. If it starts to hurt at 15, then I push to 20 and stop. I believe in endurance, not building bulk.

As far as my diet goes, it's just eating smarter. I don't really deny myself anything (although, I have cut out soda for the most part...I might have one once a week or so), it's just a matter of cutting back on portions. Instead of having a 12oz steak, I might have an 8oz instead. Or a 6. Instead of a double-burger and large fries, I cut back to a single and a small. My body still craves junk...it always will, I think...so I pacify it with the smaller portions. In the past, I've even ordered that small fries and thrown half of them away before I even sit down so I don't eat the whole thing.

One thing I absolutely REFUSE to do, however, is use artificial sweeteners like aspartame or Splenda. The dangers to chemically-enhanced sweeteners is SO much worse for me than real sugar. I'd rather go without entirely than poison my body with those things. I think I've blogged about them before, so scroll back if you want the scoop (or Google "side effects of Splenda" or "dangers of aspartame" sometime). I do, however, use Stevia sometimes, which is a natural sweetener and is becoming more popular as the dangers of the artificial/chemical sweeteners are being talked about more frequently. Overall though, my recommendation (and what I'm trying to do myself) is just cut back on the amount of sugar I use.

The rest is just like I said: common sense. Bake instead of fry. Steam instead of boil. Eat less red meat. Use oils sparingly and if you can,  Eliminate processed foods, artificial flavors/colors/dyes and incorporate as many natural/whole/organic foods as you possibly can into your diet. Our bodies weren't designed to digest all this boxed and frozen food. It simply doesn't know what to do with it.

As time goes on and I'm feeling more and more energetic, my workouts will increase and my diet will become more regimented. But, for right now, even just these few changes has yielded me some AMAZING changes. I've lost 17 lbs, 2 inches in my waist and I'm down two sizes so far. I know the weight loss won't always be this rapid, but for now? I'll take it.