Skinny Pants Chick: How I Did It

For those of you who know GeekChick in the flesh, you know that I have recently shed many pounds in a short time period.  I was asked to share how I accomplished this feat, and I am more than  happy to do so!!!

First, a little back story.  Upon the birth of my second child, I was very strong and in shape.  Mind you, "in shape" does not in any way refer to washboard abs or minimalist butts.  I had my curves, but I was strong as an ox and hotter than the sun side of Mercury.  However, somewhere over the next couple of years I felt all my strength sapped.  Then began the not-so-slow descent into fathood.

It got to a point where I said, NO MORE!!!  I refused to by yet another pair of fat pants.  I decided it was time to go all out, and I sprung for a trainer at my gym.  Yeah, it's pricey, but so is buying a new fat pants wardrobe every six months!  (not to mention the health bills for being overweight).  Ok, so long story short, here is what I have learned and done......

First and foremost: it is NOT about "turning 40" and your metabolism slowing, perimenopause, or any of that shit.  It's about your fat-to-muscle ratio.  What happens when you're around mid-life?  You have kids, you maybe change to more of a desk job, your life in general becomes more sedentary.  You have less time, as you focus on career and childrearing or whatever.  So, let's keep activity level in mind as we proceed through the steps here....

Having a less active life is only step one......the second part is how you eat.  Did you know that eating less frequently is detrimental?  Yep that's right -- eating MORE often is actually better for you. Most of us have heard about grazing vs. meal time....and it's true.  For me, there is a HUGE difference between eating every 2 hrs and every 4 !!! 

And then of course, there's activity.  It's not enough to do cardio.  It may seem like it burns fat, but in and of itself, it doesn't.  You need to increase your muscle mass, because muscle burns more calories than fat does.  So, you can cardio all you want, but if you have no muscle mass, you're just gonna stay fat. 

Got the basics?  Ok, so here's the program that has worked for me.  And by "worked" I mean, I have shed two sizes in the course of one summer, without feeling deprived in any way.....I feel good about myself and am getting compliments on how I look (which I wasn't when I was in Fat Soccer Mom Mode).......

• Eat only a palm-sized portion.  At first you will feel like you are eating all the freaking time...but after a few weeks you will adapt.  By only eating what your body needs at the time, you will not put on fat.
• Eat frequently.  When you go too long between eating, your body takes the energy it needs from your muscles, not fat.  So, fasting only compounds the problem!  Twice in my life I have shed mass pounds simply by eating small amounts every 1 or 2 hours. 
• Eat responsibly.  You don't want to Atkins-out, but you do want to be aware of your carb-to-protein ratio.  Eat both in every meal, in a healthy balance.  Personally, I try to aim for more protein than carbs in each "feeding," and of course the carbs are healthy carbs like veggies and fiber.  For myself, I aim for no less than a 50/50 ratio of carbs/protein, though I do not always make it, and each person's optimum balance will be different.  Yeah, I miss having toast once in a while, but being in my skinny pants makes up for it!!!
• Do resistance workouts.  Resistance = weight training, but it doesn't have to be with weights.  It can include things like pushups and ab work....The point is to build up muscle mass and strength.  More muscle burns more calories! 
• Do cardio in harmony with resistance.  I started with an elliptical regimen after my resistance workouts, but over time I find that I prefer the more kinetic workout of cardio kickboxing.   No matter what cardio you do, it's best to do it in conjunction with resistance, to maximize your fat burning!
• Stay motivated, set reasonable goals.  It's a hell of a lot easier to stay on track if you set attainable goals.  Then, once you reach them, you have automatic positive feedback to carry one.  Force yourself to go to the gym or class even if you don't feel like it.  Case in point: recently, I was extremely tired and didn't think I'd be able to do my kickboxing class.  I gave myself permission to skip if I really felt I couldn't do it, but in the end, I did it and it was GREAT!!!! 
• Toot your horn.  A key motivator is to have folks compliment you on all your hard work -- so prance around the office bragging about how much you've lost!

In the end, I work out probably 3-5 times/week for resistance and 3x/week for cardio kickboxing.  Some days I do both, for a total of 2 hours/day.  This, plus the eating every two hours, does the trick.  I've lost tons of fat, gotten toned up and in better shape, gotten stronger, and I feel and look great. 

The bottom line is twofold: One, that each of us will have a different regimen that works for us, and Two, that we need to accept ourselves with REALISTIC woman bodies and not hold ourselves to some stupid standard of size 0 heroin model in  Cosmo ....but that's for another post.....