Tips & Tricks

I thought I'd share a few tips & tricks that I've learned along the way.  Most, I've alluded to in previous posts, but I thought it would be helpful to have them all in one place.

• Find your own way.  This is probably the most important thing that the reader should take away from this blog.  Each person must do what is right for him or herself.  There is no 'one size fits all', when it comes to weight loss.  Search inside to find the right path.
• Weigh yourself every day.  This has been huge for me.  It is all about accountability.  I know that popular weight loss plans advocate weekly weighing but for me that doesn't work (see above).  I've recently run across articles advocating the same thing.  Here's One
• Plan ahead as much as possible.  For me, it helped to weight out all my food for the week on Sunday afternoons.  It was important for me that my meals be quick & easy.  Getting stuck in the kitchen was too risky. I love to cook, and being in there too long meant being tempted to cook the wrong things.  An hour or so on Sunday afternoon was not too high of a price to pay to have the rest of my meals for the week ready.
• Get some good scales - both for your body and the kitchen.  Don't blow your plan by having inaccurate measurements of your body or of what you eat.
• Measure your body with a tape measure at the beginning and again about every 6 weeks.  Measure the typical areas bust/chest, waist, and hips, but also measure arms, legs, neck, ankles, wrist, etc.  It will be amazing to watch body parts shrink.
• Find one body part to love.  Don't focus on the thunder thighs, junk in the trunk, etc.  That is counterproductive.  Everyone has one thing that they like, eyes, hands, hair, something.  Focus on that part, pamper it, show it great affection.  In time the thunder thighs won't be thundering quite so much and they can be loved and pampered too.
• Tell at least one trusted friend.  I'm planning to do a whole post about this later.  I kept my efforts quiet from almost everyone I knew, initially.  After all, I'd failed too many times to count, and I did not want to be embarrassed again.  In time, people noticed and when I shared what I was  doing all I got in return was support.  It really helped me along the way.  One friend said "It is a long walk of obedience."  She is right.