Lose Weight by Using Common Household Items

From time to time we all find that we would like to lose some weight. I am not going to discuss the facts around weight loss; calories in and calories out. I just want to give a quick over view of what worked for myself.

Having children I never found time to eat, or so I thought. I was always spending my days running around and coming up with quick meals for the little ones. When I realized I kept gaining weight instead of losing I sat down to find out why.

Obviously I was taking in and eating more than I was burning. The main culprit I found was that when my children decided not to eat their meals I would consume theirs along with my own. Wow, I was snacking all day long. Another thing I noticed is that I was not as active as I had thought. Yes, I was up for hours on end but I spent a lot of my time sitting. Whether I was coloring with crayons on the floor or sitting rocking a sleeping baby I definitely was not as active as I had once thought.

With a limited budget I decided I needed to find household items to help me lose weight.

The pen and a piece of paper. It is amazing how something so simple can be so powerful. Everyday I started to write down everything that I ate and drank. Before I never took into account the extra snacks, the two bites of ice cream here, the chip there that I ate. When I actually started to take an inventory of my daily calories I realized that I was consuming almost a thousand a day between sodas and iced coffees! You add those calories onto what I normally ate, plus the left overs from the kids, and some days I was well above 3,000. It takes only 3,500 additional calories to gain a pound. At this rate I would be gaining a few pounds a week.

When I started to gain weight I totally avoided the mirror. This was the first time that I was actually happy that we only had a small one in our bathroom. When I stood in front of the fridge one day contemplating yet another food choice it came to me; put a mirror on the fridge. With double sided tape I hooked a floor length mirror right there in our kitchen. Now every time I wanted something out of the fridge I had to take a good hard look at myself.

When I would cook I never used a kitchen timer. Who knows perhaps I had a fear of setting it wrong. However, when I wanted to lose weight that kitchen timer became my best friend. Whenever I wanted to snack I would set the kitchen timer for ten minutes. When the time was up I would decide if I still wanted the snack. Usually within the ten minutes I could talk myself out of wanting it. I realized it was not a hunger craving, but more along the lines of "I am bored." This was such a big accomplishment from someone who use to snack while cooking dinner!

Another thing I noticed that added to my horrible weight gain were my proportion sizes. All my cups were oversized, the bowls were big enough to hold three servings of cereal, and I often used a tablespoon when eating. Instead of measuring out my food since I was usually in a hurry I decided to switch to my child's bowl and spoon. This way I consumed a much small proportion and it virtually took no effort. If I decided to have a larger bowl of cereal one morning I would simply use one of my usual bowls, but I still would use my son's spoon. By using such a small spoon I was forced to slow down. I not only learned to enjoy my food, but I also learned what it felt like to be full before finishing a meal.

For those of us that have children how often do you trip over one of their toys? Instead of getting frustrated go ahead and use it! Those toys cane help get those calories burning. Do not just send your children out there to play on the swing set; go out there and join them. Use their jump rope, fly a kite together, or play kick ball. Your children will love the company and your body will love the exercise. Even better yet you are now instilling healthy exercise habits into your children.