About

Hi! I’m Jessie Gold and I created food.health.play to share recipes, health tips, photos and other interesting things, hopefully inspiring others to embrace a healthier and active lifestyle.

In 2005, I aspired to lose weight and embrace that healthier active lifestyle. By September 2006, I lost 110 pounds, and I’ve kept it off ever since.

I’m often asked how I did it, which is one of the reasons for the website.

It was largely portion control and keeping a record of what I was eating (using weight watchers online), as well as getting active by taking up running and yoga.

Weight watchers taught me the fundamentals of portion control using the points system and learning how much was really in one serving. I found measuring out proper portions of say pasta/rice/oil was essential to ensuring I was eating the proper amount. I was also shocked to find out how bad some “healthy” choices at restaurants were. For instance, I always thought I was having the healthier option at Jack Astors by ordering the vegetable fajitas. Little did I know, that it had ~1200 calories and 50 grams of fat. That’s enough calories for almost a whole day for someone trying to lose weight! I could then see where I had been going wrong for so many years. These days many restaurants have nutritional information available, which is a good way to avoid many high calorie meals. If a restaurant doesn’t have nutritional information easily available, be careful. Also, a salad might not be as low calorie as you think, which is why I always order the dressing on the side.

Along with the dietary changes, I also began a consistent exercise routine. At my heaviest, I could barely run more than 20 seconds without wanting to walk. I began just doing walks after dinner with my husband (boyfriend at the time) for about 30 minutes. When I lost my first 20 pounds, we began the Couch to 5k running program. It was hard at the beginning, but after a few weeks I was hooked. Now I can’t get enough of running and am addicted to the “runner’s high”, and know it was a major factor in my weight loss. I have since run 5 and 10k races and maybe one day do a half marathon.

I also needed something else to help define and tone my body so I turned to yoga. I love the different poses that are in yoga and the constant challenge it provides – both physically and mentally. Plus it’s a great stress relief.

Once I lost all the weight, the big question was how to maintain it. I realized during my weight loss that this was not a temporary thing. I knew that I was making a complete lifestyle change, and would have to continue eating right and staying active. I still keep track of my portion sizes in my head. I run, bike, practice yoga, swim occasionally (I would really like to try a triathlon) and do some resistance training. It might seem like quite a bit, but I love it all! The biggest thing, is finding some activity you love to do, do it and never give up food that you love. Just eat it in moderation. Otherwise you’ll set yourself up for failure.

In 2009, my husband and I decided to go vegetarian. During my journey, we cut out red meat. I never really liked working with raw meat. I never realized how badly the animals are treated, the environment in which they live and the stuff they are fed. We decided to try cutting out all meat and fish and have done so since. You would think this would limit our meal choices, but I’ve found that it has opened my culinary world immensely. I now cook with all kinds of new grains, beans, legumes and vegetables I had never heard of before. I like to cook and discover new foods for us to try. I also like to bake and change recipes to make them healthier (and share them here with you).

I know now that only you can push yourself to lose the weight. I think back to the many years of struggling with my weight, trying different diets and never really being able to lose and maintain it. I remember my doctor at one point telling me “some people just can’t lose weight”. I’m not sure if he was using reverse psychology on me, but it helped put me on my way. I also know that people telling you to lose weight doesn’t help. You have to want to do it. And once you know you want it, the rest will follow.

Before & After:

I would love to hear any of your stories and if you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment or email me: jessie(at)foodhealthplay.com