I wrote a post a few days ago surrounding the standard advice that people give for losing weight: eat less and exercise more. I was the one who always thought I had an “efficient metabolism” which used every small tidbit I ate and punished me with never being hungry nor being able to lose weight. Lean muscle? Got it. Eat less? Do that. Exercise more? Well, I challenge anyone to keep up with the fairly regular exercise this single mom of remote rural property gets! It usually makes people tired just thinking about it. I did, however, trust someone (a personal trainer) and the associated diet enough to give it a try.

My frustration after the first week frustrated the trainer too due to “my reaction” which was something like “see, this is why I don’t bother.” I stuck to the diet, worked out as scheduled, received comments on the strength I had, and lost a big ZERO after a week. So, you say, it is only a week. My sister lost 7 pounds the first week! Know this, though. The diet was not as much of a change for me as it was for her. I never ate salty foods, ate almost no processed foods, never ate fast foods, and had very little treats. Not so for her.

The good news is that after the first month I lost 10 pounds and 20 after three. It does not sound like much, but remember, I was fighting the “efficient metabolism” and already possessing lean muscle. The major change was, as we often hear, to eat 6 small meals a day. Each of them has a small (1/2 chicken breast for example) serving of protein. No eating after 7PM, no carbs (except dark green) after 2PM. It is tricky when away from the house for upwards of 12 hrs a day, but it works, even for me, the one that could never lose on purpose.