Yo, for those that don't know already, I've lost 50 lbs, but I've got 50lbs more to go before I get into the Navy and 50 more than that to be at my absolute goal weight.

Though 50lbs lost is no small potatoes, I obviously still have a ways to go. I figured that people would like to know how I lost the original 50 lbs: what kind of diet I used, where/how do I excercise. Well It's All Revealled Here!!!!!

Very Important!!!!!!! I am not a Doctor, if you have any health problems or potential of health problems from following these guidelines TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR!!

1. DO NOT "EAT LESS"!  Eating less is not the answere. By not eating much your body goes into starvation mode and whatever calories you do eat your body will want to make into more fat. Eat small meals and frequently.

2. Eat balanced healthy food! Don't say that'll you'll never eat chocolate or have some cheesy puffs again. Just have them (or whatever weakness food of yours) for 1 day a month or possibly once every 2 weeks. This'll appease your like for your forbidden food, but moderation is the key!

          a. To know how many calories you need to eat/drink in a day for weight loss, multiply your current weight by 7. Don't go much over 2500 calories a day if your body is up there, and don't go under 1000. You need calories to burn calories. Again your body will go into starvation mode if your not eating enough, starvation mode is BAD!

          b. Eat plenty of fruits and vegitables, if in doubt, eat more vegetables than fruits. Fruits are very good for you, the vitamins and minerals in the fruit help w/ not going into starvation mode as well because your body's getting the nutrients it needs.

          c. Stay away from red meat! Though it's good to have red meat every ONCE in a while, red meat slows up your digestion and makes it harder for your body to process food. Again, red meat is ok to have every now and then, but don't have it every day, if you dearly love it, have it once a week at most.

           d. Eat Chicken and Fish: Chicken has lots of protein and very little fat....enough said. Fish has Good fats called Omega-3 fatty acids. These acids help your body break down Proteins, Fats, and Carbs. They help your brain function and heart function. I recommend Salmon. You can find frozen salmon fillets for only $4-$6 (for 4 fillets) at Walmart. It's cheap and Easy to make. I'll be Writing some of my Fav recipies at the end of this blog. For you vegitarians out there, Soy protein is a biggy. I buy Soy protein shakes and mix it with powdered Ovalteen to help the flavor. Lots of vitamins and minerals and good energy to start your day.

            e. Eat 5-6 small meals a day. By eating frequently and small portions throughout the day your blood sugar doesn't have the yo-yo effect that eating 2-3 times a day does(w/ vegies you can have as big of portions as you want as long as very little/no fat {like butter}is added). Plus if you eat frequently your body will think it's "summer" and a time of plenty and again "YOUR BODY WON'T GO INTO STARVATION MODE"

             f. Fat and Saturated Fat: Even if you keep your calories down, you need to keep your Fat and Saturated count down as well. Saturated Fat is fat that is solid at room temp. It makes your heart work really hard to support it (high blood pressure). Again, fruits and vegies help in this area.

             g. Sodium: keep your sodium count down. I've looked at different sites and books and have seen different counts for sodium intake and the average amount called for is 2400 mg as a max. I recomend 1500-2000. If you intake a lot of sodium it will cause your body to store extra water in your ankles, wrists and other joints, and it therefore adds weight and makes your joints hurt. So KEEP IT LOW! :D  Yes keep it low, but not 0. Your body does need salt to function, so don't take it to an extreme in either direction.

3. Excersice: This is very important. Though it's also important to not over do your self. If all else fails I recommend walking. Walking 20-30 minutes 3-4 times a week helps a lot. I also recommend that you do your walk before you eat breakfast. You haven't eaten yet and in order to provide you w/ the energy for walking, it goes on your reserve powersource: Fat!

             a. If walking isn't enough, try: jogging, walking up/down hills, join an aquacise class &/or a gym, find a dvd workout that you like, but make sure to get a couple different kinds because your body will eventually get used to the workout your doing and therefore burn less calories for the same activities. Changing it up helps things from becoming boring and your body burning more calories.

4. The way to get rid of excess water weight is by keeping down on the sodium, drink lots of water, and excersicing. The muscles being used in the excersicing uses up the excess water in your body. And since your body uses up water when excercising, you need to drink more water to make up for it. Water also helps your food digest easier, and helps you feel more full during the day.

Good foods I recommend:

Dannon Light and fit Yogurt; Jello sugar free pudding (mmm), 3 or 5lb bags frozen chicken breast, frozen salmon fillets, Herbs and spices-garlic's very nice-minced is great (you don't need salt for something to be seasoned)(look at the dollar store for cheap herbs and spices, for better quality though try growing your own indoors), low-fat apple cinnamin granola (available at safeway), Whole wheat bread, any fruits or veg you like.

My Resources: (I didn't come by this knowledge from a lightning bolt from God, but everything I've mentioned here is tried and true, hence 50 lbs lost.)

The Biggest Looser: www.thebiggestlooser.com

You are what you eat: http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/Y/yawye/

My Recipies: (though I've gotten the basics from other places, I've tweaked them to suit my own purpose. If I get a recipe from somewhere else I'll say so)

Easy Baked Chicken Breast:

Utensils: a microwave save dish w/ a top

Ingredients:

Frozen chicken breast;

Herbs and spices: I recomend chives, garlic, and pepper.

Olive Oil (optional)

Directions: Drizzle some olive oil on the bottom of the microwave safe dish, place the frozen chicken breast in the dish and drizzle some olive oil on that too. Season w/ spices and herbs.

Cover dish. (this is important because the steam created helps cook the chicken and keep it moist at the same time.) cook for 5 minutes on high. flip chicken over (beware of steam). If the chicken is still pink on the bottom cook for about 4 more minutes; if there's no pink on the bottom, cook for 2-3 more minutes. Let it rest for about 2 minutes.

Combo options: Chicken Salad, Sandwiches, Wraps, etc.

I will be adding more Recipies in the future (I gotta get ready for work).

Please feel free to leave some feedback as well as any lowfat recipies you like; as well as how you've tweaked what I've put here. These things aren't set in stone and everyone's tastes are different. Have fun!

P.S. I've taken a lot of time to put all this info in one place. If you copy it (which is ok) just put my profile as a reference please. thanx

Update 5/19/2008: I've now lost 75 lbs, and I still need to loose 30 more to join the navy. oy, oh well, I'll get there.

Hello all!

Here's some nice tips for getting referrals and page views:

1. Yahoo and Msn Groups: getting a fake yahoo/hotmail helps for the mass emails you may get. Go for business and money making groups. Stay at home mom's sites help too. Sign up for as many groups as you can. Use good scr i pt like "Myspace doesn't pay you, but Yuwie does!" or something close. Make sure to put in "Your referral URL" that'll look something like this: http://r.yuwie.com/anoceanlover . You can find it on the left side of the page of your Control Panel.

2. Use your referral tools!! On the left side of your home or control panel page there's the menu for "blog", "friends", & "Referrals". Go to "Referrals" then to "Referral Tools". There you'll find code for many different banners. When someone clicks on these banners (xcept for on myspace where any link to Yuwie is blocked) it takes the clicker straight to yuwie w/ your referral option.

3. Yahoo/MSN/Myspace chats: the key here is not to just put in your referral link and do something else. Talk to the people in the room, get to know them and introduce yuwie gently as a site that's fun. DON'T SPAM. That gets annoying and you wouldn't want it done to you. (Myspace chat for now doesn't block links to Yuwie)

4. Myspace: Myspace is a good resource, though it blocks you from any links to Yuwie. Ask your friends to copy/paste your referral site if they're interested.

I will adding to this blog as I find more. Feel free to give some more ideas.

Page views:

1. Use your site: write blogs, add photos, visit profiles, leave comments to show you were there. People will visit your site if they know you visited theirs.

2. Yuwie Radio! There's other people there on yuwie that are almost always serious about yuwie, they want to use yuwie to all it's abilities and have fun while they're at it.

Again, I'll be adding more when I come up w/ more, but please suggest any, I'll be adding them.

Well, I'm quitting my job! Yay!!! (I work(ed) at a gas station, woo). I'm quitting for many reasons:

1. As I've said before now, I'm joining the Navy. I've lost 50 lbs now, but by now I should've almost lost 60 lbs and I'm really not even close. I'm joining the Navy in January and I still need to loose 20-30 more lbs by mid january and it's already almost December so CRUNCH TIME!! I got a membership at my local gym and I'll be pretty much living there and living here on yuwie. :D (The reason the Navy's so important is because I need the money to pay bills, pay student loans and help me finish college so I don't work at gas stations and fast food for the rest of my life).

2. My list of little complaints that I don't voice a lot, but when they get combined, they make work there.......just suck: Gas fumes, diesel fumes, propane fumes, diesel grime, a flake for a coworker, getting called in to change hours once a week by said flake, and the stress of all these things combined. I will write it here and tell anybody who'll listen though, that my boss kicks ass. She's an honest hard working woman who I respect a lot.

3. I also have family events (like the birth of my nephew), holidays, etc that I would like to attend before I'm going to be gone from home for 5 years.

Though I value my boss, and respect the job as it is; my family, my health, and my future are more important than a minimum wage job.

Hello all, I'm new to this game, so any advise you have will be greatly appreciated. I work at a small gas station in the middle of Eastern Oregon, just trying to loose enough weight to join the Navy. In fact I'm meeting with my reqruiter for the first time tonight! I've lost 40 lbs so far in the last 4 months. So yay for mee.

Music is a big interest of mine, that's most all of what I did in junior high and high school, and part of my college years. I found out that though I love music, the only way I can make a real career out of it is to teach. I don't mind teaching and respect all those who do that, it's just not for me. So I chose another field that I've been interested in since I was a child. Meteorology (weather)!! I've wanted to be a tornado chaser since I was able to start my ABC's so I figured why not? Next problem: how am I going to get there? I was out of money from my previous college and in debt, so I figured I'd kill 2 birds with one stone, I'd lose weight to join the navy. there I get paid to study the weather as well as get college money and the ability to finish part of my degree in the Navy. So as I said I'm currently loosing weight and workin part time to pay the bills till I get to my goal weight. I still have quite a bit to lose, but I'm expecting to sign up for the navy next March.

Anyway, that's me in a small nut shell.

Have a great day and feel free to comment

Erin