I don’t know if it is because of the four babies I have given birth to or the fact that I hit 30. In any case, I have gained a few … okay, more than a few … extra pounds that I would like to lose. As a Mommy who tends to focus more on my family than myself, I’ve had a hard time getting back to the weight where I feel the most comfortable. So, I thought maybe blogging about it would hold me more accountable and might help you Mommies out there to use my success and failure as a motivation in your own lives.
My overall goal is to lose a total of 50 pounds. I would also like to tighten up the muscles in some of those typical zones that women complain about lacking muscle tone. In order to achieve those goals, I plan to modify my diet in certain areas and exercise more. I’ll start with exercising AT ALL and then move into exercising more in a while!
Coconut oil is said to increase metabolism and decrease sugar cravings and decrease appetite. I took two tablespoons of coconut oil each day during the last two trimesters of my last pregnancy. I had no desire to eat the junk food that I normally crave during that time – Krispy Kremes, chocolate, candy bars, potato chips, chocolate and many more! It took far less to fill me up at meal times and I gained only 30 pounds total throughout the pregnancy. I have been taking it on and off since then but it only seems to have the desired effect when I take it regularly. The easiest way for me to consume 2T of coconut oil each day is in a smoothie in the morning. Apparently, I made so many smoothies that my plastic blender jar broke! Once my new glass one comes in, I’ll be getting back to my daily dose of coconut oil.
Smaller portions and less junk food and a 24-hour juice fast once a week. Instead of focusing so much energy on what I eat or can’t eat, I’l just make sure to eat regular sized portions instead of super sized portions. Being at home all day, I find it is very easy to take just one quick bite of that desert in the refrigerator. That one quick bite happens several times over the course of the day and by the time my husband comes home, he can’t find any left. I’ll be fasting for reasons beyond weight loss, but hopefully that will be a bonus. Back in January of this year (2009), I lost 10 pounds over two weeks while doing a combination of all these things and exercising each morning. I have kept that weight off even those all the pieces of my weight loss program have disappeared. I think a large part of it has to do with the weekly fasting I had been doing for several weeks before the weight loss happened.
As far as exercising goes, I have found a wonderful website that has many free workout videos. It is www.exercisetv.tvand you can specifically search for free full length videos. I had been doing a 30 minute cardio three times a week and a 10 minute abs two times a week during the two weeks that I lost the 10 pounds. For me, doing a workout is not boring enough. Since I have to pull myself out of bed extra early to get my workout done, I’d like to just be on auto-pilot. We hope to get a treadmill at some point which would provide that boring workout for me, but until then, I’ll do what is free.
Thanks for coming with me on this journey! I hope we all learn lots about losing weight and being healthier along the way!
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I’m interested in trying your idea of adding coconut oil to fruit smoothies to help with weight loss. Is there a particular brand name, or is this something that you buy at a health food store, or where can you find it? Also, on your fasting days, do you just have the smoothies as meals?
Hi Janet!! Thanks so much for the visit! I really think that Tropical Traditions has the best coconut oil on the market based on the way they make it. They use what seems like a slower and better process. They grate the coconut pulp or meat, take out the milk and let the milk set so that the oil separates out. Other places whip the coconut pulp around in a machine to force the oil out. If you order through them and use this number 4999454 , you’ll get a free book explaining the many benefits of coconut oil. They are having a sale right now – 50% off their quart size glass jar of Gold Label Coconut Oil. The sale ends tomorrow!
You can get coconut oil at WalMart and health food stores. Just be careful that you are getting something that is virgin and possibily organic if you can. The per-ounce price at the stores will be a little bit more than ordering on a sale at Tropical Traditions. You could order a very small quantity online and see how you like it. I seem to have to take it daily for about two weeks before I can really see all the benefits. I really like the less-carb-cravings benefit!
On my fasting days, I still do the smoothie in the morning as my breakfast. Throughout the rest of the day, I drink juice and water. When I sit down with my family at the other meal times, I usually have both water and juice. I really like drinking the V8 Fusion juices – they claim to have a serving of veggies and a serving of fruit for each glass. That way, your body is still getting the nutrients it needs to detox and heal, while not taking in actual food.
Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!! I plan to post a “check in” once a week with my progress and any other things I’ve learned!!