Shhhhh...It's a Secret!

Many people have asked us about our “big weight loss secret” and wanted to know how we did it. Well, I’ve finally decided to reveal the secret…you ready??? We counted calories, controlled our portions, and exercised! Wow…shocking, huh??? We really didn’t do anything aside from changing our lifestyle, which is really the best kind of diet you can do.

When we were counting calories we used a website that really helped us. We used this website: http://caloriecount.about.com. It'll set up a profile for you and tell you how many calories you should eat daily. It’s also got a huge database of foods which makes keeping track of your calories so much easier than trying to calculate everything yourself. It's a great tool and if you combine this with exercise then you'll see great results!

Counting calories also helps you develop better eating habits, control your portions, and just teaches you what you really should and shouldn't be eating. You should spread out your calories evenly throughout the day so that you're not starving your body at any point in the day. Don't eat fruit for breakfast and lunch and then a big piece of chocolate cake for dinner. Instead, try to eat several smaller meals throughout the day. I try to eat about 300 calories for breakfast, 300-400 for lunch, 100-200 for an afternoon snack, and then the rest for dinner. And if you don’t already, then be sure to eat breakfast! Even if it’s just cereal or a granola bar…your body needs this to get your metabolism going. Also, try to eat as close to your amount of calories per day that you can. If you eat too many then of course you won’t see the results you want, but if you don’t eat enough then eventually your body starts to hold on to everything it can because it’s not getting everything that it needs on a regular basis.

For the exercise, of course running is always a good thing. When I first started running I was running 3-5 days per week for about 10-15 minutes. It was hard and I didn’t enjoy running when I first started out, but once I started seeing the results it got a lot easier. Then I just increased my running times and distances as I went along and felt I was able to. If you can, you should also say to incorporate some sort of light weight training or maybe a good 15-20 minute abs workout before you run. Doing resistance training gets you into the fat burning zone faster once you start your run. Plus good abs actually helps with the running too, believe it or not, so that would probably be a good way to go. I wish I had learned that at the beginning of my diet, but I’ve had to learn as I go!

One final thing...if you have someone who can do this with you and hold you accountable then it helps SO much! In the beginning my whole family did this together as a weight loss competition that we called Chub Club. It was great to have that support, especially during the hard times. After the wedding Chris and I kept doing it together which was great too. So if you can find someone to do it with you then it’s even better in my opinion.

Good luck and happy calorie counting! Please let us know if you have any questions. We love to help others with this because we’ve seen the results and know that it works if you just stick to it!