A Post About Diets & Fitness

If any of you are anything like me, then your immediate reaction to the two words above isn't something positive, and more along the lines of "it'll just never happen".
Well, I got to a point where my weight, even though I wasn't struggling from a massive weight problem, was creeping into my life and changing it in ways I wasn't happy with - I felt uncomforatble in my clothes, and I love my clothes!
This is the point when I knew I was going to have to take dieting and fitness a little more seriously.
Where did I start? My doctor was quick to tell me that following the Canada Food Guide was all you needed - with a little exercise added for good measure. She said that light exercise (walking) for 30min a day would be sufficient, and if you are a more intensive workout kind of person, then it would be an hour 3-4 times a week.
She also mentioned Weight Watchers - now I am not someone who supports any of those stereotypical weight loss programs where you can't eat normal food or have to take some sort of "all natural powder", but I heard her out and with Weight Watchers it is all about portion control, allowing you to still eat bread and yes, even some chocolate every now and then.
At first I thought, why pay for something? The Canada Food Guide is free and seems simple enough, it also doesn't mean you have to cut anything out.
So my boyfriend and I decided to take this on - we banned all fast food (except for a places like Subway, Mr.Sub or Quiznos) and took a shot at the food guide.
Well months later I still hadn't lost any weight and was not feeling like I had accomplished anything. Exercise was hard to keep up with school and we were still eating junkfood. The food guide just wasn't enough for me, I didn't feel like I was on any kind of plan or that I knew anymore about what I was eating.
Weight Watchers was still burning in the back of my mind but I knew it would be expensive and if we decided to go that route we wouldn't be able to afford it, so I took to the internet.
What did I find?
Pretty much everything you need for a DIY 'Weight Watchers' plan - and more! Who needs to spend $65/month when you can figure it all out for yourself with a couple of blogs, a calculator, a notebook and perhaps a spreadsheet or two (if you're excel savvy like my boyfriend).
Start here at the Healthy Weight Forum where they have so kindly posted a calculator that will tell you how many points a day you will need - all you need to do is tell it your weight, your goal weight, gender, age and how much exercise you plan to do. Once it spits out it's calulations, it will even tell you how many weeks it will (roughly) take you to shed your pounds!
On to the next question: how do I know what all the food I love is worth?
Simple. Weight watchers bases their points for food on a simple formula that I found on eHow Health.com (they also give you some helpful tips): Calories/50 - (Fiber x 0.2) + (Fat x 0.08).
Go buy yourself a journal to keep track of what you eat and presto! You have successfully not paid too much money to lose weight effectively.
I mentioned spreadsheets - it's much less time consuming to only have to work out once how many points *whatever* is. By keeping a record of everything you've calcualted its a quick trip to the computer to remember exaclty how much your favourite snack is worth, rather than doing the math every single time (this is ESPECIALLY useful for recipes).
This has been a great diet for me - it's easy to follow and can be effective with minimal exercise. However this isn't to say it will happen quickly with no exercise and I recommend trying to throw some in there. Again, for those with a budget look for free options - run, take to Pinterest's Fitness filter or if you hate running take a walk. Some will prefer a gym membership (I do); do some running or biking there and become friends with a Swiss Ball - they are amazing for cruches (I could barely move the next day).
All I can say is even with being bogged down with school work still, I feel like I'm moving towards my goal weight and accomplishing something.
Put your mind to it, and you could do it too!
Here are a few extras we have found helpful to us while manuvering through this diet, enjoy!

Food Point List
Restaurant Lists (A LOT of US restuarants with some you will find in Canada)