By Anna Kathryn
Here’s a new feature to my blog…..Arbitrary Friday. It’ll be
whatever whimsical thing I want to talk about that day, from history to writing
to what’s going on in my life. Today, I’m
going to talk about my weight loss journey.
Spring 2011
About 20 months ago (May 2011), I started watching what I
was eating. I joined a site called
My Fitness
Pal (
www.myfitnesspal.com). They also have an app for your smart
phone. My Fitness Pal helps you with
your calorie intake each day, in that you record what you eat each meal and snack
and it lets you know how many calories you have left for the day. I should be
on a 1,200 calorie in-take, but man, that’s hard to do! But this app and website helped me start on
my weight loss journey.
A few weeks after joining My Fitness Pal, I also decided to
join a
Zumba class given at my local community center. The class meets twice a week and is a real
cardio workout. In the course of year, I
lost 10-15 pounds.
In July, 2012, I joined an on-line diet with my daughter,
now called the Stefan Pinto C Diet (https://www.facebook.com/StefanPintoCDiet?fref=ts). This
is a three month plan in which the participants take pictures of everything
they eat and send it to Stefan, who then posts the pics on his facebook page. Wow, that really helps you watch what you eat,
because you get yelled at by a lot of people you post a hamburger, fries and
shake. Stefan also passes along some
great eating right tips. I lost another 15 pounds on the C Diet.
I hit a plateau with 10 more pounds to lose. Then came the 2012 holidays! I gained about 5-7 pounds, dang it! Now, it’s the new year and instead of 10
pounds to lose, I have 15. But I am determined to keep plugging until I get
down to my goal. In the meantime, I have
lost at least 25 pounds overall and am feeling better about myself.
August 2012
I still do Zumba and in August 2012 I did my first 5K
walk. Since then, I’ve done 3 more and
am signed up for two additional ones. I
don’t run, I don’t ever plan to run. I walk and out of the 4 I’ve done, I’ve
come in last place two times. But, it
doesn’t matter when I cross the finish line, just that I do finish. Because I am
doing 5K’s, I’m also walking around my neighborhood, between 1-3 miles at a
time. Oh, I am also participating in Fab
Abs February…a torture event to tighten up your abs. You start off doing 10 sit ups, 4 pushups and
10 seconds of plank. At the end of the
month, you should be doing 100 sit ups, 25 pushups and 2 minutes of plank. But hey, I’ll also have 6-pack abs,
right? LOL.
An aside note: If you walk, run or bike please look into the smart phone app Charity Miles. This organization helps raise money for different charities, like Autism Speaks, Feeding America, Stand Up to Cancer, and several more. You can choose a different charity each time you walk, run or bike. So, raise money for your cause while doing what you're doing already! (You have to take your phone with you.)
Are you still with me?
One of the tips Stefan passed on is the wisdom of eating a
green apple before going to bed each night. Why? Because they help with metabolism and
eating one before bed helps you burn off fat as you sleep. Then just the other day, my Zumba instructor,
Ana, was telling us about the benefits of cinnamon. So I came home and looked up information on
cinnamon. It does have a lot of health benefits. Below are some links to find
out more about apples and cinnamon and their benefits to your health.
December 2012
What about you? Have
you vowed to get healthier? What is your
favorite health/diet/exercise tip?
Cinnamon – Heath Benefits
Apples –
