Little Changes that Make a Big Difference

When I was in college, I gained about 50 pounds. There was a boy involved. I ate what he ate, when he ate. I became almost unrecognizable to myself. I have always struggled with my weight. Always. But that was the biggest I have ever been. I would post a photo, but I made sure to destroy pretty much every photo documenting that time. I do have a few just to make sure I never get there again.  In the end, I lost it all.  I got motivated. I worked hard and, with the help of Weight Watchers, I lost 50+ pounds.

And yet, losing 20 pounds is harder.

To my credit, I have kept most of my weight off since junior year of college (roughly 7 years), gaining no more than 10 or 15 back. Then life changed and it got harder.

I am a creature of habit. Change my world and I will get really, really angry. Well, last year changed my whole world and it took a toll on me.  For the first time in my life, I have high blood pressure.  I also gained a significant amount of weight in a short amount of time.  All due to stress and change.  For three years, I have worked out before work. My job description has changed and now I am out of the office more than I am in it, meaning I get to work earlier and stay later to catch up. I used to live off Lean Cuisines and Progresso soups. Now I live with my husband, it's not just me. Now I need to cook, I want to cook.  

So, I've slowly been adapting.  I've tried to find ways to make my life work for me.  I don't really have time to diet and, really, who wants to?  It's not easy, but I have found little changes that really do make a big difference.

Exercise
When I went to see my doctor recently, she told me that I had to find time to exercise. That my stress level was not getting any better, nor was my schedule and to just "make it work, even if it means doing jumping jacks for five minutes at a time."  I took that to heart.  I don't do jumping jacks, but I also don't really do hardcore workouts that much any more.  I do zumba and kickboxing when I can, but for the most part, I go to the YMCA at lunch and walk 2 miles. Or walk a mile and do weights.  Sometimes I have a five minute dance party. It's what I have time for.  And you know what? I feel better.

Lunches
For three years, I lived off Lean Cuisines and Progresso soups.  I didn't have time or the energy to cook. Now, I can't stand them.  I've been trying to find alternatives that are healthy, but are still time (and budget) friendly.  My friend Danielle Rusher has a nutrition blog and I asked her to do some facts on diet foods and some alternatives to them.  For the nutritionist view, check out her blog, Food or Fodder.

I took her suggestions to heart and tried some different things.  Most notably is my favorite thing: the bento box.  I love the bento box.  It's easy.  If you make it like I did, you get a big-kid lunchable.  You can also make them with left overs.  I like it because it doesn't take long to make in the morning and it fills me up for so much longer than a Lean Cuisine and it works with everything!    

Bento Box with leftovers.  Took an idea from Pinterest and used cupcake wrappers to be able to take my fruit out when I microwaved the leftovers.  

Bento Box = Big Kid Lunchable (about 550 calories)

For more bento box ideas, check out my Lunch Freedom board on my Pinterest account!

Dinner
I love to cook.  I love to destroy a kitchen like none other.  It's therapeutic for me.  After a long, stressful day at work, though, all I want to do is sit on my couch and have dinner produce itself for me.  This means that for a while, we ate out a lot.

Now I cook.  And Aaron eats my cooking like no one has ever fed him before, which I appreciate and take as a compliment.  But it also means I'm still learning portion sizes in order to have leftovers.  I've pretty much decided that in order to have leftovers, I need to cook for six to eight people (when it really is only two...).

When I say cook, I'm not talking gourmet dinners.  I'm talking thirty minutes or less dinners (Aaron does the dishes and is impressed with the meal and mess I can make in less than 30 minutes!) I'm also talking 10 ingredients or less meals.  Five or less makes me REALLY happy.  Where do I get these lovely recipes? Here!

• Cooking Light - By far, this is where most of my recipes come from. They take awesome meals and make them lighter by substituting a few things.  They also have Dinner in 20 Minutes or Less and 40 Minutes or Less sections (the real reason)
• Weight Watchers 5 Ingredients or Less Cookbook/Magazine - These are published quarterly.  They are about $6 and totally worth it. They give the calories and the points value. 
• Pinterest!! Before wedding planning, I mainly used Pinterest for recipes.  Still do. 
• Fix It and Forget It Lightly and Not Your Mother's Slowcooker - I love my crock pot. The end.  
• A crap ton of other cookbooks. I just look at the calories.  I try and stay below 500 calories or less.

So what do you do when you don't want to cook? 

• Chicken Caesar Salad. (lettuce, 1 grilled chicken breast per person (hello George Foreman!), Parmesan, lite Caesar dressing, and veggies that you have one hand). 
• Keep a few family size frozen meals on hand (read the ingredients!) My favorite is the Stouffers Chicken Enchiladas 
• Grilled chicken and some frozen veggies.  Put the veggies in a bowl, no one will EVER know!

And since we do still eat out, the main change? No more sweet tea. Just water. Sigh.

BUT I'm averaging losing 2 pounds a week.  Totally worth it! 

What are some little changes you've made?