How I lost weight (but don’t worry, I’ll find it again)
The following is me answering a question about how I lost weight. I wrote this over a year ago when folks started noticing I was going down in size and started asking me about it pretty regularly. I have had a very busy couple of years and have had to change my eating habits to try to keep up with my life. Stay tuned, I’ll gain again 
I’m only human.
This is not medical advice, this is me merely saying what has worked for me.
Here is what I’ve been doing. It’s worked well for me. I’m not preaching or saying this is the end all but its worked for me and some folks wanted to know about it so I thought I’d share . This is written as it comes to me in typical rambling fashion and Yes, I do eat everything I put on SouthernPlate.com.
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The main thing is, I know myself. If I put myself on a diet or start getting restrictive, I’m gonna go into MegaPity Party Mode (MPPM). Mega pity party mode yields one result – me eating anything and everything I could ever dream of.
So my #1 Rule is AVOID MPPM at all costs.
If you’re like me, I’ve found that I am always either gradually gaining or gradually losing. So my intent is not to lose weight so much as to avoid gradually gaining weight. Without focus on trying to lose, it is easy not to obsess and end up in MPPM mode.
#2 Rule is that I do my best to make the smart choice versus the bad choice.
There is always a choice to be made. For example, on those days where I am forced to go to that golden arched restaurant: I don’t actually enjoy anything they have there so rather than eat a hamburger and fries (over 600 calories and 37 grams of fat), I get a grilled chicken snack wrap, apples with caramel dip, and diet dr pepper or unsweet tea for 340 calories. Smart choice versus bad choice.
The main thing is it isn’t about calories, I don’t focus on them at all and just looked them up for this, it’s just about common sense and Smart Choices versus Bad Choices.
I eat whatever I want and whenever I want, for the most part. I don’t want to deny myself anything and end up triggering an MPPM.
SO
I did not go on a diet, I do not deny myself anything I really want, and I eat whenever I want to eat.
There are a few exceptions to this and here are the things I consider bad that I do my level best to avoid: White bread, crackers, pretzels, assorted empty carbs.
The key is that anything I eat has to have some nutritional value and then I refuse to consider it bad. If I am eating just to eat, I keep it quick, easy, and small. I’ll get a fiber one yogurt or a cheese stick or even ~gasp~ a piece of bread, as long as its wheat.
I figure there is a 50/50 chance that when I start craving something to eat, even if I don’t feel hunger, my body may be trying to get a little boost to maintain it’s energy so this is my justification for not denying it. Well, that and my #1 rule of avoiding MPPM at all costs.
I can and will eat anything I want, I just make a smart choice versus a bad one when it comes to quantity. If it’s something that is bad for me, I eat a lot less. If it’s something that is good for me, I eat as much as I want.
I try to cut down as much as humanly possible carbs. But if I’m at a restaurant and Katy has fries and I want one, I eat one. Then I’m happy. At Cracker Barrel they bring a plate of biscuits. Now I know biscuits are bad but I also know that if I don’t have one I’ll go into MPPM so I eat half of one.
Then I’m happy.
Eat protein first, vegetables second, carbs last. Drink as much water as you can, drink as few carbonated drinks as you can handle.
If it has nutritional value, I’m not going to feel guilty. I refuse, absolutely refuse to consider carrots, corn, or potatoes to be bad for me. I’m from the old school of food pyramid thought and to me, considering fruits or vegetables bad for you is nonsense. I was also taught in my college Therapeutic Dietetics Class that a well balanced diet goes primarily by the Food Pyramid.
Meat is good. Meat is my friend. Meat is protein. Protein likes me.
Water likes me. My body runs on water and runs more efficiently and effectively the more water I give it.
Eat breakfast. Eat Breakfast. Eat Breakfast. I skip this most days (or used to) but I find that if I skip it, later on hunger hits with wild abandon and I go after the first thing I can find, which is usually junk food.
I try to eat at least a cup of fiber one yogurt for breakfast. That stuff is awesome. I swear I can even taste the graham cracker crust in the Key Lime flavor and I will forever more be stunned by how filling and delicious it is with only 50 calories! If I were to actually cook breakfast for myself I’d eat oatmeal or eggs with cheese…both have great nutritional value. I also love low fat cheese sticks and I get the individually bagged ones and eat at least one or two a day.
Other than keeping handy foods around the house for snacking and quick meals, I eat whatever I cook for my family. I just make smart choices about what I put on my plate. Spaghetti and meatballs will be more meat and less pasta for me orIi might even make whole grain pasta. If we have a casserole, I just eat the casserole and stop when I’m full, no big deal.
I stop when I’ve had enough. This is a tough one I know. But we went to Krispy Kreme, I wanted a doughnut. So I ate one, a hot one, very slowly, I chewed and really enjoyed it. After ¾ of the doughnut, I gave the rest to my husband to eat. ¾ was enough.
At Cracker Barrel, I got half a biscuit. I put butter on it, I added apple butter. I ate it, I chewed and enjoyed it. I left a bite size piece on my plate but I’d had enough. I left two slices of fried apples in my bowl – but I’d had enough.
I like to get a grilled chicken sandwich at Burger King from time to time. It seems like every time I do, I end up eating it and start feeling full halfway through, so I take the rest of the chicken off the bun and eat that to finish my meal, throwing the bread away because I don’t need it anyway and the chicken is what is better for me. So I look at the sandwich and make the smarter choice of which part I’m going to eat.
It took some getting used to this one because I automatically think that I need to finish what I start eating. Hand me a bowl of grits and I feel like I need to eat a whole bowl of grits, even if I’m stuffed when I put that last bite or two in my mouth. Now though, instead of having a MPPM when I leave things unfinished, I have a little Victory Party instead. I bet skinny people eat like that…its fun to feel like a skinny person.
Remember, It’s all based on one thing: I decide to make good choices versus bad choices.
Note:
I am hypoglycemic: this works in my favor because when I eat something really sweet or empty carbs, I get a negative effect. So staying away from sweets except in moderation hasn’t been a problem for me. Like the pumpkin crumb cake, I cut a piece, ate about two bites of it, and it was GOOD! Then I figured I’d eat another bite or two after supper. Rather than eat one piece then and another piece later.
I look at food in terms of bites, not pieces. That way if I have a few bites of pie, I don’t feel sorry for myself that I’m not getting a *piece* of pie. I had a bite or two = I had pie! I enjoyed it, I ate what everyone else was eating, and I avoided MPPM!
Now, starting out I ate a little more than I do now because part of me was clinging to the whole “Oh no! I’m going to deny myself!” panic. Once I kinda got used to being able to eat whenever I wanted, I let go of the panic gradually and settled down into not fretting over it, in other words, not thinking of food every second. (Even though I am usually writing about it just about every waking moment). I just calmly told my inner panic that I was NOT going to deny myself. “Chill out, Christy, you can eat. Breathe, its okay!”
When I first started focusing on this I was a size fourteen. Again, my goal was not to lose weight but to avoid gradually gaining. My fourteens got looser and looser. I tried on twelves and was stunned that they fit! I was thinking “WOW! I’m a twelve again! I can soooooooooo live with this!!”
And then last week I noticed my twelves were baggy. It was hard to work up the courage to try on the tens because I just knew in my head that they would never fit. I finally did and…they actually did. So what did I do? I took Miss Katy straight to the mall to try on tens by other designers to see if they fit me in a size ten, too and they all did! I was so stunned. Because I haven’t been focusing on losing weight, just making smarter choices, it just kinda feels like it has come off on its own and is soooooooooooooo much more fun. Its like not thinking about Christmas and then waking up one morning to find presents under the tree.
I have been thinking “maybe this is somehow in my head and I haven’t really lost weight. Maybe all of my old clothes have somehow expanded from time in storage.” I know this sounds ridiculous but me being a size ten without killing myself sounds ridiculous too.
So today at the Doctors I had them look at my file and tell me my last weight and weigh me again. Wow. 22 pounds and YES I had my shoes on and NO I didn’t go to the bathroom first ~giggles~ Y’all Weight Watchers folks know what I’m talking about here!
Okay, so in recap here are my rules:
#1. Avoid MPPM at all costs
#2. Smart choices versus bad choices.
That’s it. Honestly. Just start with rule #2 and you’ll be on your way.
Smart Choices Versus Bad Choices will have you gradually losing versus gradually gaining.
Now I gotta work at not jinxing myself by writing all of this and letting y’all read it! lol
Hope this inspires or makes sense o some of you. I’d love to hear back from you in the comments but I prefer not to get into calorie or fat gram talks as that would require me pulling out textbooks and doing math- My text books are dusty and Math is against my religion
Gratefully.
Christy
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Jan 13 2011. Filed under Life at Bountiful.
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[...] To view the notecard I mentioned in my answer to the diet question, please click here. [...]
This post made me insanely happy.
I think it’s what I’ve been trying to do, not in so many words.
Now I feel a lot more motivation to keep it going! Thanks!
Great tips, thanks for sharing! I use portion control too. It’s a great way to trick yourself into thinking you’re not deprived. I will admit though when my Great Aunt’s neighbor came by yesterday I ate the whole piece of butterscotch pie that was warm! LOL!
thanks for sharing. I have to watch my sugar and trying to be better at picking the right choices. I have dropped 23 pounds over the past year. I have not been the size I am now in years. So with a little more of the right choices I can dropped a few more pounds.
Oh boy! Grad school has done a number on my weight- a higher number- ha! Sitting in front of a computer a lot and letting my husband bring home food two nights a week is not conducive to maintaining a healthy weight. He has no sense of portion control! I’m trying to cook more this semester. I checked some Mediterranean diet cookbooks out of the library. There’s one on pressure cooking that I’m really enjoying. My little pressure cooker hadn’t seen any use for years! I also bought a cookbook at Ross called Not Your Mother’s Weeknight Cooking that has lots of quick, healthy meals. The title was funny to me since my previous cookbook purchase was Southern Plate which is mother’s and grandmother’s comfort food cooking! I know you have some healthy recipes in there, too, and I’m going to work some of those into my meal rotation. Fried weenies and kraut has become a standby on class nights when I have no time for an elaborate meal or to go out! Hebrew National brand products are yummy and Publix puts them BOGO free often.
I’m also trying to get moving more. I enjoy zumba and my gym just started a new class on Fridays that fits my schedule. It’s more fun than pounding the treadmill, although I’m trying to do that at least once a week, too, since that really burns the calories!
I’ve lost two pounds since the end of last semester, even with Christmas so I hope to get at least five more off so that I can fit in most of my pants again!
This is exactly how I did it. And no one believes me. I almost feel bad telling people how I did it because it seems so easy.
Thank you for this blog post!
woohoo, i love it! THANKS for sharing!! =D
Christy!
Thanks for sharing what works for you. The last time I lost weight, I pretty much did the same thing…cut out white bread, regular pasta, etc. and replaced with whole wheat versions. Cut back on sugar. That was it and I lost 20lbs without feeling deprived. I need to do that again…
Keep up the good work! BTW, red is a really good color for you.
Denise in Dallas
Good Morning Christy….
)
“Everything in Moderation” I’ve always believed that and it seems your practiceing the same thing.
I Just wanted to thank you for all your hard work and time your spending on all your Southernplate recipes,stories,information and now videos. Your site starts my mornings in a positive way and lasts through the day, and for that I alwo “Thank You”
I have printed so many of your on site recipes that I have two huge binders full.
But I treated myself for Christmas and bought the book…. I Love It Christy!!
Wishing you blessings for the new year and big hugs to you and your family.
Linda in Louisiana
This is how I’ve eaten for years. When I’ve tried some of your recipes that look so good, I wind up not feeling so good because of the high fat, I think. I’m not as good about eating 1/2 a biscuit or a few bites of pie, though!
Thanks Christy for that post! I think you hit the nail on this one! I totally agree about making ‘smart’ choices and portion control. When I think of ‘diet’ it just makes me more not to stick with it because you can’t have that or you can’t have this! I’m going to try your method and hopefully have the same results! I love your blog, I have your cookbook and use it all the time! Thanks again!
Thank you Cristy!
You are able to put things into words in a way I can understand and relate to. Putting a name to “MPPM”is going to really help me because I think that is also my biggest weakness. I may get into a “MPPM” because I think I’m not doing enough or it’s not good enough and then I use food to feel better. AAK! It just goes back to being grateful and positive about everything in life!
Thank you again!
I’ve just started a sort of new approach – instead of dieting. When I say I’m going to diet (last time it was a diet shake plan), I end up cheating to make up for that feeling of being deprived. Now, instead, I’m cutting out fast food and joined the nearby YMCA. I’m going to work out each session until I feel done and not going to punish myself. Each workout should be a little longer and more fun than the last. Also, looking at more fashion blogs than food blogs. I used to skip breakfast, too. Now each morning I stop at Whole Foods before work and get a bran muffin and build a healthy salad for lunch (instead of skipping breakfast and eating a giant plate of nachos from La Salsa for lunch). I refuse to buy clothes another size up and am holding onto smaller clothes I haven’t worn in a couple years. The next new dress I buy needs to be a size 6.
Yep, yep, yep. Hardest part for me is to stop when I am full. Life gets so busy that I find myself just snarfing things down instead of enjoying them and then my plate is empty, I am stuffed and I wonder why I feel like a nap when I have 100 things left to do in my day.
and lost 30 pounds in about 6 months.
I did this through South Beach which is basically what you are saying here with a few more rules in the beginning
I can’t do splenda or many of the artificial sweeteners though – my tummy no longer likes them
Thanks Christy!
This is what I SHOULD be doing. I’ve been dieting and giving my self MPPM. And I can’t lose weight to save my life. Thank you so much for sharing this!
My husband and I lost 25 lbs following the basic wt watchers point system and have settled into our mode of better choices and portion control for the past month or two. I am learning more and more to leave off the carbs to fill myself with more veggies and things. I’d rather have a Jordan roll than 1/2 cup rice.
Jordan Rolls are my new weakness.
Thanks for all your helpful hints and especially letting us know when we can use Splenda. My hardest thing to change was sweet tea. Splenda is perfect for me. You are a gem! Thanks!
I totally agree with your approach and attitude, Christy! It has worked for me. You presented it in such an encouraging way. I needed that because I have gained some weight (by not following this smart way of eating) and it is time to get back to enjoying food more, eating wisely.
This is exactly what is working for me!! I take one day at a time and keep on keeping on! If I do overindulge…I try to keep it less than what I used to do, don’t beat myself up for it and get back into the ‘smarter eating mode with the very next meal!! Thanks for sharing this plan, Christy! The progress may be slow, but you have a much better chance of keeping your weight off and it is a lot less stress on your body!!!
This is encouraging. I had success with Weight Watchers before, but tracking everything got very burdensome after a while! I was within five pounds of my goal weight when I got pregnant. I really need to lose about 35 pounds, but I do not like being told I can’t have certain things. It’s about balance–allowing myself to still have a cookie or MAYBE two if I’ve skimped on food the rest of the day–just not three or four plus . . . Life is too short not to be able to enjoy your food!
I’ve been finding, too, that smaller amounts can be satisfactory. We tend to eat whatever the serving size is, but fill up a smaller plate with smaller servings, eat slow, and I feel satisfied.
I am so glad to be able to encourage you Andrea!!
Christy, You have so much wisdom in that little ole size 10 body of yours!!! thanks for sharing, you inspire us all on a daily basis!
Christy, I am so proud of you. I have been doing weight watchers for about 4 yrs and lost 49 lbs but have gained about 8 of it back. I went from a size 14 to a 4. It is hard to do but i know you can do it. Keep up the good work.