Bare Bones of Diet and Exercise

I have struggled to lose weight for years, ten to be exact. After my son was born I weighed 187 LBS, and that's not pretty at 5'2. I was always small. I weighed 105 and wore a size 3 when I married. I never thought I'd hate shopping for clothes, but I hated shopping and I hated myself.

I ran, I walked, starved myself, I tried all the diet fads out there to no avail. Four years ago I found out I had hypothyroidism. I felt helpless, wasn't that supposed to be the end of any results? Then, at 165 LBS, I let myself go because nothing seemed to work for me and I thought my thyroid was the barrier.

I was so wrong. It has taken me all this time to realize that diet and exercise work together. How stupid of me to think I could exercise and eat what I wanted, or starve myself and not have to workout.

It's been six months since this revelation, and I now weigh 140 LBS and am in a size 6.

What did I do? Here it goes:

DIET

1. Eat every 2-3 hours. Why? because it keeps your metabolism up throughout the day.

2. Stay away from rice, potatoes, bread, and pasta.

3. Eat mostly chicken and fish. I eat red meat occasionally, like once a month. I don't eat pork, ever. I just don't like it.

4. Don't fry anything and stop eating at fast food joints.

5. Watch your portions! I eat a little meat, a little carb, and a little veggies at every meal.

6. Drink at least 2 liters of water per day. Don't ignore the importance of water.

EXERCISE

1. Exercise in the morning on an empty stomach. Some say it doesn't help, but I've tested it and I have better results when I do, especially in my mid-section.

2. I exercise 5 days a week for 12-30 minutes depending on the intensity. I only do bodyweight workouts either in intervals or cycle through a series of exercises counting reps. I don't use weights, although I'm not opposed to them. And, I don't spend hours doing cardio, it doesn't work for me. Your body is heavy enough. Just try to do 25 push-ups if your out of shape.

3. If I am weak and I can't make it through a workout, I do half in the morning (on these days, I have to eat breakfast first) and then I do the rest later, when I feel better.

4. I love pilates, so I do them at least 3 days per week before I go to bed. To me, it's relaxing.

I hope this is helpful, I will go into more detail later, but this is enough to get you started. I'll add links and post some workouts for you.

Read my other fitness articles:

Counting Calories--Do I Have To?

Bulking Up or Trimming Down

How to Get Faster Results in Your Workout--A Website Review

When is the best time to do cardio forum.

Thanks for reading,

Ann