USA: Dieting in a nutshell

We are all individual and how we lose weight successfully will be different for everyone. In the past I have tried many different diets and read many books on how to lose weight. However, for me, it came down to calorie counting and keeping a food diary.

I thought my diet was pretty healthy, but once I started writing down everything I ate each day and worked out my calorie consumption, I discovered I was completely underestimating my intake.

I downloaded this great app onto my iPod called 'MyNetDiary' which was key to my food tracking and calorie counting. It allows you to input your details and then calculates how many calories you can eat each day in order to lose weight in a healthy way. It contains a huge database of foods, and remembers your favourite things, which makes it very easy to use. The barcode scanner allows you to add new foods and the recipe builder is a great way to work out how many calories are in your meals. I found it invaluable and continue to use it everyday to help maintain my current weight.

Living in New York, or anywhere you have access to an abundance of restaurants, makes it very tempting to eat out or get take away. It is also pretty cheap to eat here, add to that my tiny kitchen, I became very lazy when it came to cooking at home. However, I invested in some decent cook books and took the time to make my own meals. It turns out I love cooking and, with practice, have become quite competent in the kitchen. I cook dinner 6 nights a week now and when we do go out I really appreciate and enjoy the experience. By cooking at home I know exactly what I am eating and how it was prepared. I weigh everything and ensure I control my portion sizes.

I have always exercised, but as I was eating too much it wasn't having much of an impact on my weight loss. Although exercise was a key part of my weight loss, it was as basic fact that I was putting in more than I was working out! I want to discuss exercise in more detail as it is such an important part of a healthy life style, so look our for upcoming posts.

Finally, I didn't deprive myself of anything. I didn't cut out any food groups and made sure that I ate a healthy well-balanced diet. If I really wanted chocolate I would have a small piece and I often enjoyed a glass on wine with my dinner. If I stopped myself eating chocolate I would constantly think about it, but knowing that I could have a small piece now and again stopped me obsessing about it.

The weight came off steadily and I lost about a pound a week. I hit a plateau that took a while to beat, more about that later, but eventually I made it down to my goal weight.

So, there you have it, that's what worked for me and enabled me to lose weight. I would love to hear your stories and how you lost/are losing weight, so please let me know how you are getting on!
 

This piece by New Girl in New York originally appeared here; her other blog is here. All original material is copyright of its author. Fair use permitted. Contact via comment. Nothing here should be taken as personal advice, financial or otherwise. No liability is accepted for third-party content, whether incorporated in or linked to this blog; or for unintentional error and inaccuracy.

USA: New York Nose Nav

Since moving to New York I have developed a rather odd and disgusting skill of being able to differentiate between the smells of the city. Not the nice ones, like freshly baked bagels or cupcakes, or even hot dogs (I know they are gross, but why do they always smell so good?), but the bad ones. The really gross, I don't even want to know what that is, kind of smells. I can differentiate between dog, cat and horse pooh. I can smell a homeless person a block away and know the difference between the smell of vomit and garbage. Lovely.

Unfortunately, New York is a very smelly city. What with the rubbish being piled high on the streets and most public areas being used at dog toilets (I think it's worst on the Upper West Side and in Chelsea), my new heightened sense of smell had come in useful on occasion. I have managed to avoid (although not always) treading in various sorts of pooh, side-stepped a rather large pile of well-disguised puke and narrowly missed getting on a subway carriage with a homeless guy who last washed in 1987. I also know the stinkiest streets to avoid in my neighbourhood and the best place to stand at my local subway station.

A strong stomach definitely comes in handy when you live here, but I prefer to try an avoid the nasty smells when I can. I have learnt a lot about living in New York over the past 2 1/2 years, but I can safely say that being able to tell the difference between animal pooh isn't something I thought would come in useful!

Reproduced with the kind permission of the author, whose blog is here.

All original material is copyright of its author. Fair use permitted. Contact via comment. Nothing here should be taken as personal advice, financial or otherwise. No liability is accepted for third-party content, whether incorporated in or linked to this blog; or for unintentional error and inaccuracy.