First Few Weeks - The Start of my Transformation - Flexible Dieting AKA Marcronutrients

Every journey has a moment when you've decided you've just simply had enough and want change. This change in my mindset has been a longtime coming for the last 4 or 5 years I've wanted to make a major change, but the final push to begin in a big way just wasn't there until very recently. The biggest positive change has been meeting and communicating with other people on the same path. This is a key piece in the journey!

A bit of my backstory. My weight loss journey has been on and off for most of my adult life. The first time I can remember "dieting" (as we called it back in the day) was after changing schools going from a relaxed environment to a super serious one. Being young and not sure what do with all the emotions I turned to food first (bad idea, but thought it was a good one at the time) Which worked for about a month or two, until I realized what was happening to my body. I can remember my mom had snapped a picture of me on the couch and I did not recognize myself.  The very first diet of my life began shortly after that picture was taken. 

For a few decades after this first diet I was on top of my food intake, very aware of everything good or bad which I put in my body. That change had been a catalyst for change in a good way. I was super committed to staying healthy, studying nutrition and exercising in moderation. All was good for many years. When I met my husband and had my children over a decade later things changed. The birth of my children brought about many changes in my body. The birth was pretty easy to recover from. All seemed fine for months then a serious weight gain started about a year later. That's when the battle with my weight started. Eating healthy everyday and exercising was the only way I could manage my weight consistently and this continued for another decade. Staying really conscious of what I consumed for food and how much exercised.

After that 10 year stretch I'd taken several office jobs back to back and not been as active, because of long hours and driving more. {Which we all need to be active regardless of how busy we are with our families, no excuses} Ready for a change for the last few years I've been meeting with personal trainers, dietitians, nutritionists, doctors and weight loss experts looking at different programs and paths to follow. One wanted me to be on a low fat plan. Another one wanted me to try a high protein plan. To tell you the truth they all have different views on what works and doesn't based on their own training and their clients success rates with different strategies. Much of what is written in books about weight loss is cookie-cutter and not as hands on as it needs to be. For many of us weight loss is just not as simple as calories in and calories out.

In real life we have many factors which prevent us from losing weight easily - hormonal differences, gender, age, metabolism issues, health conditions which prevent easy weight loss, etc. Bottom line is you must not give up and keep trying different plans until you find one which works for you.

I personally have recently started flexible dieting A.K.A. following my marcronutrient intake of foods for the last month. I've found it easy to follow and a convenient for a busy lifestyle. It's not short-term quick fix! It's not one of these trends were you'll drop 20lbs then when you stop you put it back on after you stop. This is a lifestyle you can follow long-term. I've been working with my dietitian and tracking my daily intake of food using My Fitness Pal - ​www.myfitnesspal.com  The strategy we've been using is looking at my health concerns first. Then next looking at the precise amount of calories from protein, carbohydrates and fats which are recommended based on those conditions. Then moving the numbers around based on those health concerns to get my weight to move.  Creating a calorie deficient to create weight loss is the goal, but at the same time working with the differences with metabolism, hormones etc. I must say loaded in the my fitness pal app are the default numbers which I must say will not work for everyone. A very fit person will have different numbers than someone who is not when it comes to carbs, fats and protein. 

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