Since I have last posted here, I have wondered from my path being distracted by one thing and another.  I had some health problems pop up which lead to some tests.  No surprise, since I had not stayed on my weight loss journey path, I was diagnosed with DIABETES.

And in another revolution my doctor told me that if I can lose my extra weight within the next year (or most of it) I will be able to cut my medication, or even stop taking medication.  At that point, as long as I can manage my blood sugar by diet and exercise, I won’t have to be on medication.

I started to watch my eating habits and become more aware of sugar/simple carbohydrates in my daily food intake.  I also watch the fats and limit my amount of dairy products.  My sugar level dropped, but not to an acceptable level.

Frustrated, I realized I lean towards liquids in the early morning, then I like eating a veggie salad with grilled chicken at lunch.  I would need a snack mid to late afternoon (a problem since most snacks available at my work are chips, crackers, pretzels and other high sugar or high fat junk foods).  I could eat another salad at supper, or again liquids would suffice.  Sometimes I like a snack in the early evening.

I ran across a plan called the Cinch plan by Shaklee.  I contacted a friend who had used Shaklee – and found that she still does.  She was able to get some samples of the Cinch shakes.  They were a good basis, and Cinch also has snack bars with balanced nutrition.  Two shakes a day, or a meal bar and a shake a day, and one balanced sensible meal a day makes up the plan.

I took the plunge and ordered (and got a membership).  I like the Cinch shakes, the snack bars taste good and are filling.  The meal bar is surprisingly filling.

I will be posting a ‘before’ picture, and I will post my progress on this plan.  Now I have more at stake than avoiding health problems – I have to manage a health problem.  The results of unmanaged diabetes are not pretty.  If you want to investigate further, go to my web page: Shaklee Independent Distributor.

Since each of us is different, our bodies all have their own nutrition needs.  Do you know what your body needs for a healthy diet?

Most of us don’t know.  The truth is, the amount of food our body physically needs is much less than what most Americans eat per day.  After we know, and accept, the amount of food we actually need, it is much easier to accept that we overeat for other reasons.

I found a great calculator by the US government that gives you your daily calorie needs for your age, sex, height, and weight.  After entering this data, it gives you a .pdf sheet with not only the calories for the day, but also the types of food for a day and minimum exercise.

For example, here is daily intake plan for a 60 year old female, 5 foot, and 220 pounds (which will produce a weight loss at an acceptable rate):

Daily Plan for 60 years, 5', 220 lbs Woman - 1600 cal/day

Then, to help you to use this plan, they give you a sheet to help plan and track your food intake during each day:

Very nice tool to help you choose what you plan for your daily nutrition needs.  If you already know your daily calorie intake goal, you can go to this table of links to Calories Results and Food Tracking Worksheets for 1000-3200 calories per day (in increments of 200 calories).

We all travel during the summer and face the problem -- how do you stay on your weight loss journey while traveling.  The first answer is portion control.  You can exercise portion control no matter what you eat.  But what about that long trip by car, train, or air?

I was browsing around MyPyramid.gov and found some interesting videos they provide for nutrition education.   This one I found particularly interesting.  It is called Snacks for the Road.

The headline read “Kirstie Alley: ‘Yes, I Gained 83 Pounds‘”  WHAT?? She had lost and looked so good when I started Jenny Craig!  What happened?

Kirstie Alley

The PEOPLE article goes on to say “When Kirstie Alley stepped on the scale for the first time in 15 months, it wasn’t pretty. “I started screaming,” recalls Alley, sipping homemade fruit-infused water in her Hollywood kitchen. “It said 228 lbs., which is my highest weight ever. I was so much more disgusting than I thought!”

Not Kirstie! I would do that, but not Kirstie! So did she blame Jenny Craig? NO. She stated the truth – once her agreement with Jenny was done, she did not have the ACCOUNTABILITY of weighting in every week.  She had that loaded thought that sabatages all of our weight loss journeys: Now I can eat what I want and not worry about weighing in.

That is how it ’starts’ for all of us.  We have a small thought and our rebellious side says – WOW go for it.  And we stray off the path, going a little further and a little further until one day we look up, and wonder ‘How did I get back here?’.  For me it was a vacation to my home town.  I had lost 25 pounds in 3 months. While there I said, out loud, I am on a vacation from my diet. My subconscious rebellious side took that for a go ahead.  I stopped by the grocery store, bought a two layer white cake loaded with icing, and ate it all in 2 days time. It took me 3 months to get back on the path I had set for my weight loss journey.

What is Kirsty planning now? To ‘get back on the horse.‘ To hire a personnal trainer, get back into an exercise routine, and start eating the healthy foods in smaller portions.  Doesn’t that make you feel better? It does me.  It helps to motivate me to pay more attention to my weight loss journey, to go over my reasons I started it, and to continue on to the end.

The only way you can fail is to Quit.

Do you have a story you can share? Leave a comment.  It may help someone else.

“Who Moved My Cheese” boldly leap out at me while glancing up from work the other day. It got me to thinking how this book pertains to all facets of life, including our reasons for weight gain.  Simply stated, when someone moves our ‘cheese’ what do we put in place of it?

What is our ‘cheese’? It is whatever feeds us – love, friendship, laughter, accomplishment, self-esteem – the list goes on and on. When our ‘cheese’ seemingly disappears, what do we put in place of it? Those of us with emotional eating patterns use, you guessed it, FOOD – and not the healthy kind (chuckle).

Watch this short video I borrowed from smallerindiana. I think it explains it all.

So what do we do when one of our ‘feeding’ grounds moves?  Do we sit there and gorge to try to not think about it, or do we get  proactive and go out in search of it again – in another place, probably in another way.

I really would like to hear your thoughts.  Leave a comment and share your veiwpoints.

I have met a talented writer, Mari Jarrell, who has written a guest post for us today. I hope you will enjoy it and learn from it. She has a lot to share.

We spend a lot of time trying to lose weight by resisting urges, getting motivated for workouts and by fighting to do the right thing. But has it ever occurred to you that this might not be the best way to begin a new weight loss regime? When losing weight, having the right mindset is almost as important as what you do physically. The easiest weight loss will not come from a different diet or exercise routine; it will come from a positive attitude. Don’t believe it? Have you ever had a major life changing event and find that weight loss just came naturally? This was not because your body magically required less food; it was because your mind was in a different place. So, to learn how to develop your weight loss mindset, keep reading and we’ll give you some tips.
The first step in creating the right mindset to lose weight is to build a strong desire to succeed. You must do this because anything you want in life has always begun with the desire; it is what allows you to enter the growth process. In order to build a strong desire you need to decide exactly what you want to gain, whether it is to lose five pounds, to start working out every day, or to start eating better – all of it starts with the right mindset. I recommend taking a few minutes and making a list of the reasons you want to lose weight as it will be easier to maintain your healthy mindset if the reasons are right in front of you when times get tough.
The second way to develop and maintain your weight losing mindset is to make a commitment to yourself. This commitment will be a promise to keep working hard to be successful with your goals. If you think you may have trouble keeping a commitment, it is a good idea to find a partner, such as a significant other or close friend, to keep you motivated when times get tough.

Another important step in this journey is to mentally build your own self worth. This means not beating yourself up every time you stray from your diet, because everyone gets off track once in a while. This also means not getting depressed or upset after stepping on the scale and not being satisfied with the numbers you see. Instead, remind yourself that the numbers shown now are only temporary, because you are working to change. Remember that if your happiness is directly tied to your weight or dieting or dieting success, your journey is going to be very difficult. Make things easier by stopping negative thoughts about your body and focus on the positive work you are doing to improve your health.
Another important step in building a strong, positive mindset for losing weight is to remember to be flexible and be realistic with your goals. Keep in mind that life is not going to slow down so that you can focus all of your energy on losing weight; therefore, it is necessary for you to become flexible so that when things do not go as planned, you can still stay on course and remain focused on your ultimate goal. Also, be realistic by setting small, weekly goals for yourself rather than one huge and long term goal. For example, make the commitment to make three trips to the gym per week instead of telling yourself that you will go to the gym every day until you lose a ‘x’ amount of weight. Extreme goals are harder and have a higher failure rate because you will become frustrated with yourself more quickly; smaller goals will keep you positive, happy, and working hard.
These few little steps will create for you a strong weight loss mindset that supports your efforts completely and will naturally lead your life on a path to better habits and behaviors. Just remember to fill your mind with new and positive thoughts, and to push the negative ones right out. Maintaining a positive attitude and mindset is truly the secret to weight loss, and now you have the tools to be successful too.
Mari Jarrell is a beginning writer for the Predator Nutrition Blog where she currently writes about Sports Nutrition. She can be reached at marij37 @ gmail.com with your comments and questions.

I received a comment on one of my posts a couple days ago, and I did not remember what I had said in the post.  So I re-read it. Guess what it was about?  I had gone into my reason or goal for this blog, and I also went into the reasons I started my weight loss journey. This was just what I needed to read right now.

I have told you that to keep up your motivation on your weight loss journey to re-visit the why’s that brought you to this journey. With posts like ‘when life gets in the way’ coming out, I am sure you will not be surprised to hear I wandered off the trail .  It started with an innocent stop to rest, then an occasional choice to deviate, and finally a realization that I had made a U turn. Re-visiting this post has given me a new starting point to resume my weight loss journey.

In the recent weeks, I have become a twitter addict along with cleaning and packing my 3 bedroom house to sell, and moving into one bedroom at my daughters. It is a good move which can help both myself and my daughters family. What better way to wake up in the morning than a wide-eyed princess saying “Grandma, get up. Its time to get up.” or both munchkins jumping on my bed to attack the tickle bug.

I joined Twitter to reach out and find those like me who have problems losing weight – not because of physical problems, but because of our relationship with ourselves and with food.  The first step was to get into the twitter flow. Now with twitter, you cannot stand on the shore and watch twitter go by and expect people to hear you as you twit. You have to jump in your boat, or kyack, and paddle downstream, twitting with all the other tweeple. You don’t wait for them to tweet you.  Listen to what they say, and tweet back.  OK, enough deviation.

Now that I have some new friends – great friends – on twitter, I decided to tweet a tip of the day.  Think about that, I am changing it to a weight-loss reminder.  Most people know the facts that can be stated in 140 characters, so it isn’t a tip, its a reminder.  But watch out what you say in 140 characters – I said – eat every 3 hours to avoid bingeing.  And what was the reply I got?  I had to laugh – “You mean I can eat a Big Mac every 3 hours?”  I had to reply “That should make you avoid bingeing, but not lose weight” (lol). The point was – its not only how often one eats, but also the portion control and food choices.

My final word today is keep traveling on your weight loss journey – do not give up. You can never reach your goal unless you are trying.

Diet, a four letter word!  No wonder all the brand name diets are saying ‘diet’s don’t work’.  My opinion:  A rose by any other name is still the same.  And a diet by any other name is still a diet.  A weight loss, or even weight gain, diet consists of more than what you eat. It also encompasses your exercise level, your self-image, your self-talk, and your attitude.

How many times have you heard:  it’s not how much you eat, but what you eat.  Boy is that true!  Some foods are loaded with calories, fats, and sugars.  One bite of them can take up the quota for one meal.  I have even seen treats that give you the whole days quota of fats in one ’serving’.

And that brings up servings.  I look at one bag of chips and it says it is 100 calories per serving.  Great!  But the small bag  contains 5 servings!  So it is really 500 calories.  Then you look at the fats, sugars, and carbs.  What appears to be a healthy choice by the wrappings turns out to be just as bad by the servings.

Portion control is an elusive concept to me.  Not as a concept, but in putting it into practice.   It includes total calories, balance nutrients, and timing of your eating.  One type of person can fix the foods, and measure the portions to make their own ‘frozen dinners.’  I am not that type.  I would binge while preparing the various dishes and put a little more in each portion.  That’s how I became overweight.

Then there is the exercising.  One way is to used a pedometer to count your steps.  That is good if you want to ensure that you walk your healthy 10,000 steps a day.  To be quite honest, that doesn’t count as exercise.  The walk you talk for exercise, the time on the bike, or in the gym is exercise.  If you count every step you take during the day, you are including your normal activities.  Exercise doesn’t count unless it is extra – that is, you do your normal activities plus exercise.

Then there is the  way you see yourself and you talk to yourself.  If you are continuously downgrading yourself or calling yourself names, you have no chance of success.  You need to realize that you – that every individual – deserves to be a healthy weight.  Give yourself a break.  Instead of being down on yourself for over eating, figure out why you are overeating.

I don’t know how others lose weight, but I have to D I E T.

D – dinner and all other meals and snacks by portion control

I – my self-image and self-talk – how I see and treat myself

E – exercise above and beyond normal daily activites

T – timing of my meals and snacks to be every 3 hours using portion control.

Do you DIET?  Leave a comment.

Life, as we all know, consists of plans and directions altered by twists and turns every where.  So what happens to our weight journey when life gets in the way?

I have a wonderful family.  My grandchildren are all young and adorable (that changes as they grow).  I want to be a part of their lifes which go by so fast.  I also have a 40 hour a week job which I was hoping to be able to quit by now.  Events of the recent past have increased my debt rather than lessen it.  So, I am stuck working at a decent pay – very decent – instead of being the care giver I want to be for the grand-kids.

It is time to make a decision.  I talked to a realtor, finalized my plans to sell my house, and now I have several things to do to get the house ready to sell, fixing, packing, trashing, selling, storing, and moving.  All this on my already time crunched schedule.

What does this have to do with weight loss or even weight management?  Think of the extra stress, the missed meals, the drive through food pickups to save time, etc  etc etc.  Yes,  what does  it have to do with my weight loss journey?

It is a bump in the road; A huge bump.  It will be hard to practice the new habits I have built during the past year or so.  Thankfully, I am on a portion control plan where I purchase my meals and snacks all ready for the microwave.  The longest any takes to cook is 6 minutes.  I also will be taking an appetite suppressant to avoid binges.  I will have to purchase fruits and veggies all ready prepared to have on hand as I munch through my tasks.

And exercise?  I think I will be getting much more exercise than I want, thank you for asking.

All of this is to say – life is not always smooth on your weight loss journey, but you have to continue to reach your goal and past that to maintain your goal.  It is also to say I probably won’t get much time to post.   So, hit the RSS button  for a subscription to your favorite reader or for an email subscription.  And feel free to browse the 65 posts or more plus the extra pages.  There is a wealth of good information written just for you.

Leave a comment and tell what you do when life gets in the  way. 

After being online for a year, I began thinking about this blog.  What is my theme?  What is my purpose? Who do I write it for?

Well, first of all “be the weight you want” means two things.  One is that you can be slimmer – you do not have to be as heavy as you are.  Second is that you can choose your weight goal.  You do not have to choose a weight from some sort of chart  that tells you your ‘ideal’ weight.  You will know when you are at your ideal weight. You will feel healthy, stronger, and have more energy.  “And Stay There? ” Well, what is the use of losing the weight if you are going to put it right back  on.

I guess the main reason I write these posts is to share with other people like me – men or women – what I have learned through my life experiences and situations and also what I have learned about weight loss.  I didn’t just put weight on.  I became very depressed in my life, my marriage to an alcoholic.  I went from 100 lbs to 130 lbs over 5 years (and had two children during that time).  After my divorce, I was able to lose back down to 105 lbs.

Then I found myself in a marriage with a very controlling person.  He was very adamant that his wife not put on weight.  My way of rebellion was to slip out and eat Mexican foods and anything else.  When events happened to end the marriage, I again fell into depression.  I felt like I was a total failure in my life in every aspect of my life.  Eating was enjoyable and made me ‘feel’ better.  Going on with life, my social life became eating out with friends.  Year after year my weight went up.  I would ‘diet’ once in a while and lose some weight, then put it back on plus.

When I found myself feeling weak and tired all the time with no ambition or energy, I finally made a huge step.  I got on a program where I buy the food from them, it is portioned correctly, has the correct nutrients, and has the correct calories.  This is what worked for me.  But more than that, I met with a mentor once a week to weigh in and  talk. I had to realise and BELIEVE that I deserve to be healthy, and slim.  That I have the ability to lose the weight.  That I need to change my relationship with  food and my view of myself.

One of the first things I had to change was my ’self-talk’.  I had to stop downgrading myself.  When things disappointed me, I could not beat myself black and blue over it (verbally).  Then I had to realize that the amount of food I was eating was the correct food to keep my body healthy.  It contained everything my  body needed during the day.  Next, I had to start realizing why I was  ‘hungry’ when I felt hungry.  Was I sad, angry, excited, bored, nervous, etc?  Or maybe even thirsty.  Besides changing habits, I needed to find alternate ways to deal with these emotions.

Who is this blog for?  It is for anyone who can learn from it.  Since I weight 200% of what they say my ‘ideal’ weight is, I guess it would be  for seriously overweight people who do not have a medical reason for their weight problem – and maybe even for them also.  It would be for the people who share my emotional eating patterns, for the people whose self-image and self-worth is bad and skewed, for the people who eat to socialize, and for the people who have tried to lose weight unsuccessfully.

If anyone reads a post and a light bulb goes on “Hey, that is true for me.  I can change that”, then this blog has fulfilled its purpose.

I hope that you will browse through the site index.  There is a lot of good content – real content – that might help you or someone you care about.

Please, feel free to leave a comment.

Have you been watching, listening, or reading the ads, stories, and TV talk shows about how this miracle pill or that miracle pill will make you lose your weight so you can be the weight you want? Hogwash!!! There is no supplement nor pill that will MAKE you lose weight, unless it is an addictive drug of some sort – probably illegal and definitely unhealthy.

A supplement is exactly what it says – it supplements, or helps, you on your weight loss journey. It does not lose the weight for you, it simply helps you to lose it by causing your body to burn more calories for a short time, or helping you to feel full without eating as many calories. If you don’t DIET – that is have a meal plan or eating plan AND keep your calories down, but not below 1200 calories a day – you will not lose weight, at least not very much.

So what use are supplements? One type of supplement is vitamins and minerals. In todays culture, we do not get the proper amount of vitamins and minerals we need. Two such examples are Zinc and Chromium. Zinc has to be taken with the proper amount of copper, and chromium should be taken as Chromium picolinate for the body to absorb the chromium. These are not weight loss supplements per say, but they are minerals our body needs to work the way it is meant too and have been found to affect the body’s ability to shed unneeded pounds.

Even with vitamins and minerals, and even with some herbs, we will not lose and be the weight we want simply by taking a pill.  Besides the eating plan mentioned above and in many of my other posts, we also need to exercise.  It takes exercise over and above our normal daily activity to burn the extra calories and thus lose weight and lose it quicker.

About FAST – if it took you years to put the weight on, how can you expect to lose it in a couple months?  Most women take more than that to return to their pre-pregnancy weight after  having a baby.   Dieting and exercise are the only way to lose weight unless you have surgery to take the fat out, liposuction, or staple your stomach, or put a band around your stomach (all operations).  Even with the surgeries, you have to change your lifestyle of eating and of exercise to succeed in losing and keeping the weight off.

Another type of weight loss supplement helps with HUNGER by giving you a full feeling.  Our mothers and grandmothers used water, celery, and carrots to do the same thing.   Water fills the stomach, making it feel fuller while also providing the daily intake of water you need, and not adding any calories to your daily intake.  Celery and carrots provide chewing, fiber, and vitamins needed adding very few calories to you daily intake.  This is assuming the hunger is caused physically, and not emotionally.

There are some types of plants and herbs which help ’suppress’ your appetite – helping you to avoid binges mostly.  How well they work depends on the individual.  I was reading last month about a cactus Caralluma fimbriata, a succulent cactus from India, which is available as an appetite suppressant. Caralluma Burn is similar to Hoodra, but it is in a pill form and easier to take.  It has a free trial and a 90 day money back guarantee.  Also, when you sign up for the free trial, you get access to a great site with personalized eating plans and exercise plans.  I did sign up for the free trial offer.  It has lived up to all its claims and frankly for me it works better than Hoodra.   I  have been able to let go of my evening snacking, which is my biggest obstacle.  Also, I have more energy to get up and exercise.  That alone will give a boost to my weight loss journey.

To wrap up, supplements can help you on your weight loss program – the key word being help.  You still have to change your eating and activity habits along with your mindset to succeed in your journey to the weight you want and stay there.

How is your weight loss journal coming? What journal you say? Hey, we are on a journey, we need a journal to document the trip. A recent study coordinated by Kaiser Permanente Care Management Institute’s Weight Management Initiative showed that those who kept a journal lost as much as twice the weight as those who did everything right except write it down.

What goes in this journal – everything. You put down what you eat, how much you eat, and when you eat it. Rate your hunger at the time your scheduled meal or snack, tell how you felt after eating – satisfied, still hungry, etc. Write down what exercise and activity you did, when, how long. Write down your emotions during the day. Write down any revelation you got during the day. Knowledge and actual realization are two different things.

How does keeping a journal help? First, it keeps your weight loss journey in the front of your consciousness. It is hard to keep your eating plan up if you do not remember you are on it. Second, it gives you an opportunity to listen to your body.By writing down what you notice, you become more aware of trends. As you notice trends, you can find alternate ways to change habits and attitudes. Third, you can look back and see how much you have progressed.The weight loss journey is one of changing habits in your physical activities/exercise, changing habits in your eating, and changing habits in your mental attitudes.

If you are courageous enough, you could take a picture of yourself as you reach goals – such as 20 pounds, 10% of your initial weight, or just every other month. For as long as possible, wear the same clothes when taking the picture and be in the same position in the same place. That will give you a true picture comparison.

An extra reward in writing the journal is to avoid mindless eating. I know sometimes I eat just because I forgot I had eaten something earlier. This is usually the little cheats like a donut here, a few M&M’s there, taking a sample at the grocery store of pudding, cheese, or other goodies.

Now, it is hard to keep a notebook with you at all times to write in. If you use a computer at work, send an email to yourself or text yourself listing what you ate when, or if you have internet access, use a google doc or spreadsheet to write things down. Then you can spend a few minutes at night gathering and incorporating these bits into your journal.

What help do you think a journal would be for you? Leave a comment.

Sometimes we need a break from all the down to earth serious stuff and have a laugh.  This is true in weight loss as well as anything else in life.

A freind sent this to me in an email.  Click the link below for a Grandma’s view of life.  It’s Hilarious.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWrj9TaA0Mc

Image by jonolist via Flickr

This is the time of year for New Years resolutions.  One of the most popular resolutions is to lose weight.  To make the resolution real, you must make it a goal, then find  your plan for reaching that goal.

Before you jump in and make a New Year’s Resolution think about it. It is easy in a moment of inebriation or frustration to declare “I am going to lose weight this year.” This resolution is also very easy to break. Why? Is it because you are addicted to overeating, or you enjoy the couch too much, or you are lazy? These may or may not be true, but are not the main reason the resolution might fail. The main reason is because the resolution is too vague.

How can you accomplish a New Years resolution objective if you do not have any way of measuring your progress towards accomplishing it?  We need a goal to strive for.  This goal needs to be reachable and reasonable.  You must have reasons why you want to be successful. If it is to lose 10 pounds to  fit into a size smaller prom dress you have a reasonable goal for most people.  The time you have to reach it is 3 or 4 months. If you lose the 10 pounds early, then you will have to maintain it until the prom. If you wait, you may not be able to lose it quickly enough.  Another thought:  what happens after the prom?  Do you forget about your weight and gain it right back?  Or do you continue to maintain a healthy weight?

For those of us who have more than a few pounds to lose, we have to follow through with a long term goal.  We have to change habits in our lives:  eating, sleeping, activity, schedules, etc.  Our resolution needs to contain levels of accomplishment.  One way to do this is to make our goal 10 pounds, then another 10, etc.   Say someone is 229 pounds and need to be about 140  pounds.   Make your first goal to get into the 200 teens, then the 200’s, then the 190’s etc.  Make it totally unacceptable in your mind to be above the goal.  Most of us, including me, are too comfortable at our heavier weight. How can you obtain a goal unless you feel it is a meaningful goal?

If you do not like the sub goals of  tens of pounds, try a percentage of the total pounds you are at the initial point.  So, if you start at 200 pounds and lose 10 percent of your body weight, you would be at 180 pounds.  In this instance, you simply need to know what percentage of your original weight your goal weight is.  For example, you weight 200 at the initial point, your healthy weight is 150 pounds, you need to lose 50/200 or 25% of your weight.

In weight loss, you also need to keep the time frame reasonable.  It is reasonable to lose 5 to 10 pounds the first week or so IF you have not been watching your food intake and IF you go on a strict 1500 calorie diet.  Most of the initial weight loss will probably be excess water weight.  After that, the safe weight loss rate is 1 to 2 pounds a week.

I have mentioned defining your goal in your resolution and making a reasonable time line.  The time line must be flexible as you will have plateaus in your weight loss.  To reach your goal, you need to decide what your eating plan will be, what your activity or exercise plan will be, and work on changing your mental attitude and picture of yourself.  I will not expand on that here.  That is the plan or the journey you will be starting on.  The resolution is the beginning of an interesting and challenging journey.

How do you plan on keeping your weight resolution?

Are you making your list of New Years Resolutions?  You probably are not doing it consciously, but how many of you are thinking, oh well I can start after the holidays.  Buy it now, pay later, Eat it now, lose it later.

While that sounds OK, it leaves you with two things.  Extra fat to lose and more debt to pay off.  If you are really serious about getting to your healthy weight, you cannot diet only when it is convenient.  There is no miracle pill or exercise that will take the extra pounds off over night, nor will it keep them off.

I generally do not encourage taking supplements to lose weight.  Truth is, there are some ingredients that do help you lose weight.  The key word here is helps.  It does not take off the extra weight, it merely helps you to take it off while you are changing your life habits.  Zinc and Chromium are two essential minerals that we do not get the minimum daily does of in our daily diet.  These are two ingredients in a lot of supplement.  Zinc and Chromium not only give your body what it needs, but also aides the body to shed the extra weight.

To lose weight and maintain weight you have to change your eating habits, your activity habits, and your thinking habits.  I am not going to list the eating changes as I have listed many of them in other posts.  Basically you have to eat less, eat smarter, and drink water.  You have to move more.  And you have to give yourself a break.  You have to change your attitude or relationship to food.

When you do get ready to make your New Years resolution, when it comes to losing weight I suggest that you make the resolution to improve your attitude about yourself, to increase your activity or exercise through the year, and to work on changing your eating habits.  Make a resolution to get a good nights rest each and every night.  But do not sabotage yourself by making a resolution to diet for three months to take off 50 pounds with the idea that after you reach your goal its over.

Weight maintenance is a way of life.  It becomes more and more important the older you get.  Just as you have to keep your mind active to maintain your mental abilities, you have to keep your body active to maintain your health, strength, movement, and weight.  As your life slows, you have to adjust your eating habits.

Habits are not made in a day, nor are they changed in a day.  We must work on them every day.  In fact, we need to consciously continue to practice our new habits more through the holiday season so that we do not practice our old habits.

I find the holidays are filled with tons to do and not enough time to do it, which leads to grabbing food at the fast food place to save time and because it is convenient.  The same habit that helped me to become overweight.  Food and goodies show up every where as co-workers bring treats to work to share.  Bedtime gets later and later, even though the alarm sounds at the same time every morning.  Exercise routines get tossed aside as I drop in my recliner exhausted from the day.

I cannot afford to wait until New Year’s to continue on my weight loss journey.  I have worked to hard to get this far.  How about you?

At my house, Christmas is the most hectic time of the year.  More visitors, lots of shopping to do, decorations to put up, plus all the regular activities.  During this  time, we need to keep the P touchstone with us at all times. P for priority.

Remember what Priority is?  Our priority is what we choose to do instead of something else. We may think we do not have a choice, but we always do. We can either do it or not.  We may think we have to do this or that; in reality we may have the responsibility to do it, but we still have the choice to do it or not.  Watch out that what you feel is your obligation does not pre-empt your priorities.

In weight loss, as in weight management, one of our priorities is to eat healthy and portion control.  With so many social gatherings going on with the traditional food and goodies, remember your priorities.  Choose what you will consume, do not just grab anything that looks good. Choose the smaller plate when you choose your food. Concentrate on socializing rather than eating.

Remember to continue your eating schedule.  You can adjust how much you eat while maintaining your 3 meals and 3 snacks.  Eat your breakfast everyday.  When you are out shopping, take some healthy snacks along.  Zip lock bags can carry a variety of snacks.

Christmas, or Hanukkah, or the season are about love, thinking of others, peace, giving.  It is about being with friends and family.  What if you are alone – no family around?  There are many people in shelters and nursing homes that would love company.  Many groups meet together to wrap gifts for the needy, serve dinner to the homeless and needy, deliver food and gifts to their homes.  Volunteers are always needed.  Doing something for someone who needs it can feed your soul.

No one to celebrate with?  Ask others who live alone to come to your house – make it a pot luck or provide for our friends, depending on your and their financial situation.

Choose to be alone?  Nothing wrong with that.  Just don’t sit in depression or despair.  And don’t eat to fill loneliness, sorrow, or an aching  heart.  Turn on the radio, put a CD or DVD on.  Exercise or dance to Christmas songs and carols.  Rejoice because you woke up on the right side of the grass.

Above all – remember that Christmas is NOT about food and binging.  Keep your priorities in place whatever you do.  And have a wonderful holiday season.  Remember  You are worth it, you deserve it, and you are going to become a healthier, happier you.

18 Days until Christmas.  Hanukkah is around the corner.  Many other cultures have gift giving days this month also.

What can you get that special person who is on their weight loss journey?  What might they like?  Of course, I can’t talk for all dieters, but here are some things I would like from friends and family.  You might want to make a list for your family of things you would like.

1. A weight scale that tells your BMI and water percentage.
2. A year’s subscription to something like Diet Watch where I can track my progress, get good support in forums, and even check my diet.
3. Something new and fun to exercise with like the 21 day yoga training from International Yogayalam or Tony Little’s Rock ‘n Roll Stepper
4. Yoga tapes and accessories.
5. A gift certificate to use towards a new wardrobe as I progress down the scale.

It really is hard to give gifts to someone to help in their weight loss journey.  We are afraid of offending our loved one, and that is a good consideration.  If I was to get a gift like this from a casual friend, I might wonder why they thought I needed it.  On the other hand, if I had put a gift suggestion list somewhere, I would be glad to receive it.

I know one gift I definitely want to find under the tree is a WII fit package.  So if you really want to buy me something ……

OK – your turn.  What do you want for Christmas?  Don’t be shy.  Leave your comment!

A subject I never thought about was white potatoes vs sweet potatoes.  And now I find out that yams and sweet potatoes are not the same.  I always thought that white potatoes being starchy it would follow that sweet potatoes are sugary.  I got an education. I have discovered that sweet potatoes contain lots of good fiber.  Look at this comparison:

• 1cup baked potato =26.3g carbs & 1.83g fiber =24.47 net carbs
• 1cup sweet potato (cubed, raw) = 41.83g carbs & 6.15g fiber =35.68 net carbs

Sweet potatoes clearly have more carbs, but a lower glycemic index. What this translates to is: eat a baked sweet potato instead of a baked white potato, and your blood sugar will rise about 30 percent less! Plus, sweet potatoes are an excellent source of beta-carotene and vitamin C. For candied the sweet potatoes try this: cut up the potato, use the no sugar added crushed pineapple, sugar substitute – Xylitol is my pick because it does not have the bad side effects other substitutes can have, apple chunks with the skin on, and a little bit of brown sugar.  Top it off with sprinkles of cinnamon powder and pecans.  Leave off the marshmallows. While some people do not want sweet potatoes unless they are ‘candied’, the baked sweet potato is really good.  I love them topped with brown sugar and butter. I didn’t say that, did I?  OK, I do love them that way.  This holiday I used ‘I can’t believe its not butter‘ one time and butter buds the next.  Both were good.  Instead of brown sugar, I used a English toffee flavored powder .  That sweet potato was delicious!  Best of all, I can wrap it in cellophane, pop it in the microwave for about 5-7 minutes, and it is ready to eat.  Great for a weekly treat. Sweet potato pie is a traditional holiday desert.  You can adjust the recipe in the same way as the recipes above. I even found a recipe for sweet potato salad at All Recipes

INGREDIENTS

• 2 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 2 potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
• 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
• 1/4 cup light mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup light sour cream
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon curry powder, or to taste
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1. Mix the green onions, celery, and cilantro with the potatoes. Pour the dressing over the potato mixture, and toss to evenly coat vegetables. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving to let flavors blend.
2. To make the dressing, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, and curry powder in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
3. Place potatoes in two separate saucepans and cover with water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn heat to medium-low. Cover, and cook until tender but still firm, 12 to 14 minutes for sweet potatoes, and 10 to 12 minutes for white potatoes. Drain and place in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with vinegar, and cool.

Whether you say potato or potahto, sweet potatoes are a good treat for your eating plan. What is your favorite recipe for sweet potatoes?  Share it with us.  Leave a comment.

SSSHHHH! It’s a SECRET.  I gave you this secret a year ago, but it is time to reveal the secret again.

Or at least you would think it was a secret based on all the ads for weight loss miracle supplements.  Actually, it’s not a secret.  Remember our mothers, grandmothers, and even great-grandmothers telling us:

• Get plenty of rest
• Exercise
• Drink plenty of water
• Eat your vegetables
• Watch your sugars, starches, and fats.

Is it that simple? Well, really it is. The simple fact is that when our insulin levels go higher, our body stores fat.  And to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you bring in.   To gain weight you have to take in more calories than you burn.  So what do we need to do?

• Keep our insulin level level - follow a low glucatrol diet.
• Limit the sugars and starches and calories. Don’t take anything completely out of your diet like fats or sugars.
• Find out what your healthy weight should be, the calories per day you should have, and then plan your meals.
• Eat your vegetables raw or steamed as much as possible,
• Limit your fruits to 3 servings a day
• Do your exercises for at least 20 minutes a day to get your metabolism kick-started.

I found a neat site that you can track your weight, exercise and diet on no matter what diet you are on. It is Dietwatch Diet Planner & Diet Tracker.

How can you reach your weight loss/gain goal?  Just as there are simple rules that cannot be changed to lose weight, there is one rule to succeed.  ‘The only way you can fail is to quit.’

I heard this in regards to starting an online business.  Thinking about it, I realized that this is true in my weight loss also.  I did so well when I started the last time.  I lost almost 30 pounds.  The length of time it took me to lose it really doesn’t matter unless I am trying to spin it to sell something.  The thing that matters is that I lost it.  Then I gained it back, or most of it.  The good news is I was gaining about 10 pounds a year previous to the last year and a half.  Then I started taking a medication that some people gain 20 pounds a year on.  I still am under my starting weight.

Why am I boring you with my story?  Not because I am proud of it.  I feel a bit ashamed to admit it.  I am telling you this so you realize – just because you gain some weight (or lose if you are trying to gain) is NO reason to quit.  In fact, just because you reach your goal is no reason to quit (or you might back slide, so you have to maintain).

What I can say is  I am more aware of what I eat and why I eat.  Everyday I realize what I eat that is outside my eating plan – it may be a ‘permitted’ food, but over the calories or just foods that I shouldn’t eat to continue to lose.

If I am going to be of any help to anyone reading this, I must be honest.  And being honest to you I have to be honest with myself.  That makes me accountable since I care what my readers feel.  Each of you are a unique and precious individual.  Each of you deserves to reach your healthy goal.  And every pound we gain or lose towards our goal makes us healthier.  It boosts our self-image and self-confidence.

So remember when you decide to tell yourself what a failure you are to stop yourself.  Remember what you have accomplished.  And always remember that

The only way you can fail is to QUIT.   So don’t.

Now it is your turn.  Share what progress you have made in your thinking, attitude, education, and/or weight change.  Remember – this applies whether you are trying to gain or lose weight.  Leave your comments!

Also, I have started a forum at I have started a new forum on weight loss and weight gain. Come join in http://groups.myspace.com/betheweightyouwant.  It is on MySpace.com, so be sure to add me as a friend also.

Thanksgiving. What images does that bring to your mind? Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, and all the goodies. Eating until you are stuffed, and then some; Aunt Beebe’s spring rolls; Grandma Mary’s pumpkin pie; Cousin Sue’s special hors d’oeuvre; Brother Bob’s special home made wine.

However, Thanksgiving is more than food. As you think about the upcoming festivities, try to focus on the social side like family and friends, and spending quality time, especially with those you don’t see often. This should be the center of the festivities, not just gorging on the food. Eating will leave you filled (or stuffed) but not fulfilled.

Before the special day of your event comes, whether you are hosting Thanksgiving dinner or bringing a few dishes to share, you will plan what to cook for the dinner. When you cook, use less fat, sugar, and thus lesson the calories. After all, most recipes call for more sugar and fat than is necessary to have a tasty dish. Try these tricks:

• Fat-free chicken broth works very well basting the turkey and making gravy.
• Use sugar substitutes and/or fruit purees instead of oil in baked goods.
• Reduce oil and butter wherever you can. Use canola oil for cooking and butter buds for that butter taste.
• Try plain yogurt or fat-free sour cream instead of milk in creamy dips, mashed potatoes, and casseroles.

Thanksgiving is here (or the day that weekend that works for your group). When you wake up in the morning, be sure to eat your normal breakfast. If you skip your breakfast, you will be famished by dinner and overeat. If your dinner is a little later than noon, have a healthy snack such as vegetables with low fat/no fat dip or a piece of toast with a tablespoon of peanut butter to take you through to dinner. If your dinner is in the evening, eat a lunch with protein – such as a peanut butter sandwich.

Here is a great tip: when you get dressed, wear SNUG clothing. Fitted slacks, a snug pair of jeans, or a belt will help you remember not to eat too much. As your stomach become fuller, you will feel it physically and it will remind you to check and see if you are really hungry or eating just to eat.

Make your drink water for the day. Your brother’s wine might be wonderful, but it is more fattening. Take a small glass to satisfy the taste, but drink water with everything else. You will feel better as water will help you to digest the food and will also keep your body functions running smooth.

Ready to eat? Be sure to have more than one size of plate available. Those who are trying to gain weight can take the larger plates, while you (trying to lose) take a smaller plate. Since we are all computer ‘nuts’, remember when filling your plate “A deck of cards, two computer mice, some salad and two slivers of pie, please.“

• Eating a large green salad before the rest of the meal will start filling you up
• Deck of Playing Cards is the size of meat or protein portion (3 to 4 oz). This can be more than one type of meat, just keep the total to 3-4 oz.
• A Computer Mouse is the size of a starch portion (1/2 cup). You get two of these. Pick wisely. Remember this is your choice. A roll and a small potato or some corn are examples.
• If you are still hungry and your pants are not too tight, go back for some more garden salad and/or veggies.
• For desert, you can have two pie slivers. That means you can have two different pies. What a concept!

Now, visualize your stomach. Do you know how big your stomach is? I don’t mean how much it can hold, but how big it is physically. Double your fists and put them side by side. This is the approximate size of your stomach. When you fill your plate, keep this in mind. Being overstuffed is not a good feeling.

Stop When You’re Full. This is one of the most repeated rules of eating, and it works when you are trying to lose. If you are trying to gain, you might want to eat a little more to stretch your stomach. Everyone else may be eating, grabbing seconds, and generally pigging out. So when you feel your pants getting tight, slow down, drink water, grab some raw veggies, or even find an excuse to leave the table (like playing with the kids). Trying to keep up with the heavier eaters will not make you feel better.

When everyone is done with dinner, be sure to have doggy bags ready to fill. Share the leftovers with your guests. Keep out a portion or two in your refrigerator, and freeze the rest in portion sizes. This gets the temptation to snack all day away from you, and lets you eat the leftovers a portion at a time.

Plan a family activity for after dinner, such as taking a walk to feed the birds or organizing a family football, basketball, or baseball, or soccer game.

At the end of the day, look back at your activities. Feel the joy of the time spent with loved ones. Remember your eating victories. Above all – DO NOT go on a guilt trip. This is only one meal on one day. Your weight loss journey will not be overturned by one meal. And as I always say, dieting is a series of choices, my choices, your choices. We are free to choose to eat something off our eating plan once in a while.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Please leave a comment with your tricks for handling the Thanksgiving Feast.

The traditional Thanksgiving Turkey is one of the healthiest choices of meat/poultry.  It is naturally lean, especially the white meat.  We can cook it in all sorts of ways to diminish or destroy the health benefits.

• Fry it – or deep fry it
• Drench it in butter as we baste it on the rotisserie
• Bake it again drenching the stuffing in butter and fat baste

The best way I know of to keep the benefits of turkey and still have a moist flavorful bird is to bake it slowly.

Thaw the bird (if frozen) and take the insides out.  Be sure to get the neck and the giblets package.  I like to buy a brand that has the plug that pops out when the turkey is done.

Take whole grain stuffing mix, or some whole grain bread which you set out to dry for a couple days.  Add some stuffing seasoning (or more sage to packaged stuffing) and mix with fat free chicken broth.  Add green peppers, onions, or other seasonings that you like to the stuffing – even butter buds if you wish but NO butter or oleo.  Fill the torso of the bird and the neck cavity.

Put the bird into an oven bag and then place on a flat roasting pan.  If you are fixing this the evening before, be sure to put it in the refrigerator.  When ready to start cooking, place in the oven at 300 degrees.  The bird will have baking times on the label when you get it.  The cooking bag will close in the moisture and flavor – a chef’s pride.

When done, drain the drippings out into a pan for making gravy with more fat free chicken broth and the chopped up giblets.  Spoon the dressing into a serving bowl.  Then place the turkey on a platter with cooked broccoli florets and cooked carrot slices as garnish.

What is your favorite way to fix a turkey? Or do you have a different tradition in your family?

Are you one of those people who have a hard time gaining weight?  I googled the keywords ‘weight gain’ and guess what I found?  The first entry was “How can I Gain Weight” and then came a series of links to ‘build muscle and gain weight’ and ‘the reasons for weight gain’.  It would seem that the internet is not interested in those that need to gain weight.

Actually, that is not true.  Unfortunately, most people have a problem with being over weight.  There are tons of sites out there (including this one) which address that subject.  This blog’s aim is to cover subjects around ‘Be the Weight you Want’.  That means weight loss for some, weight maintenance for others, and weight gain for others.

What I find interesting is that the answers for ‘how to gain weight’ are so similar to the answers of ‘how to lose weight’.  I suspect that the reasons, barring medical reasons, are similar also.  I posted an article and post on my other blog Weight Workouts are for Teens, Women, and Men entitled Guide To Gaining Weight and The Skinny Gal’s/Guy’s Guide To Gaining Weight.  They have some good pointers about gaining weight besides the ones for the weight training which i would like to explore here.

Eat every 2-3 hours. I would say every 3-4 hours.  Eat your first meal within 15-30 minutes of waking up – absolutely no later. This first meal of the day should always consist of REAL food to flood your body with quality nutrients.

Sound familiar?  it should.  This is what you need to do to lose weight and to maintain weight.  The difference? You eat more when you are trying to gain weight and less when you are trying to lose weight.  In fact, the rule of thumb for gaining is to double what you are eating.  And no, it isn’t as simple as this.

Eat Nutritional High Calorie Foods. In other words, eat foods that have more calories per volume and not so many with less calories per volume.  Eat a chef’s salad with ham, dressing, cheese if you do eat lettuce salad.  Choose corn and potatoes more for your vegetables, or flavor you green beans, butter beans, etc, with bacon grease (but not too much, we don’t need clogged arteries).  Focus on caloric-rich foods that are loaded with nutrients.

Here are some of the best choices: Oatmeal, rice, breads, yams beans, potatoes, fruits and veggies. Steak, chicken, lean beef, cottage cheese, whole milk, eggs and salmon. Olive oil, flax oil, avocados, nuts and peanut butter.  Ice cream, raisins, dried fruit and trail mix.

Use Big eating utensils: Get a BIG cup, get a BIG bowel, and get a BIG plate so your smaller portions will get lost on the plate.  This will encourage you to double your portions.  The opposite of losing weight by using smaller eating utensils.

Never Stop Eating sounds a bit harsh.  You do need to eat regularly.  As you set up your habits of eating more and eating more frequently, it will be easier to eat during those ‘emotional’ or ’stressful’ times.  Caution, do not make eating your comfort, your stress re-leaver, or your pleasure.  This will set you up for the opposite problem – wanting to lose weight because of emotional eating.

I promise you this will not be the only post for people who want to gain weight.

What are some of the ways you use to gain that hard to gain weight?      

Are you ready for thanksgiving?  Is your family coming to your house?  Are you traveling?  Is your church or other social organization having a potluck?

You plans for Thanksgiving can have a lot to do with how you plan your eating for the weekend.  If you are cooking, this is a good time to stock up on:

1. Sugar substitute (powder, brown, white, granular)
2. Butter Buds
3. Non-fat or low-fat Mushroom soup
4. Non-fat or low fat Chicken stock/broth
5. Non-fat or low fat whipped topping, cream cheese, etc
6. Frozen veggies

Most of your favorite recipes can be modified simply by substituting for the sugar and fats contained in your dishes.

Other suggestions:

• When using nuts, choose the healthier cashews and almonds.
• Choose to bake or boil or broil rather than fry.
• Try baked sweet potatoes rather than mashed white potatoes
• If you have to candy veggies, use the sugar substitutes
• When making dips, use the non-fat cream cheese or non-fat sour cream
• LIGHT on the SALT
• Accent is a great flavor enhancer, but it is mostly sodium – try not to use it. A small amount of vinegar will have the same affect.
• Make or buy breads in whole grain – not processed white flour
• Turkey breast is the leanest meat for you. And leftover turkey can be ground for turkey sandwiches, mixed with non-fat mayo and seasoned with onion and your other favorites.

You might even want to plan your menu now.  Try to balance it for protein, dairy products, carbohydrates, starches, and fats.  If you are taking a dish somewhere, make it one that you can eat.  Fresh veggie trays are always a hit.  And sugar free/fat free deserts can be very tempting.

I have written this post as if the only reason for Thanksgiving is to feast.  Actually, it is a time for friends and family to come together to reflect on the good things in like and enjoy the time together.  When you are at your festivities, keep this in mind.  Just as we need to be aware while we eat, we also need to be aware when socializing with friends and family.

We all need help and ideas.  Please leave your suggestions in a comment.  I know you all have good ones.