“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.

We are days into the New Year 2009.  Have you started you diet yet?  Or have you gotten back on the weight loss wagon? Let me ask why did you do it?

This probably seems like a silly question.  Your reason for losing weight determines whether you are successful or not. If you are serious about losing weight for yourself, for your health, for feeling better and feeling better about yourself, then half the weight loss battle is won.

The other half the battle is eating and exercise.  Your is essential for success.  What you eat, how much you eat, and when you eat – that is your eating plan. Some people like to prepare their own meals and it even works for some people.  For others, like me, it is just one more way to cheat by snitching bites here and there while cooking. And how do you cook just one portion for one person? I can not.

Portion control is a key to a successful eating plan.  Eating this amount and only this amount each day.  Do not snitch extra snacks between meals.  Drink WATER.  First you must learn what a portion is by size.  Next you must get used to eating that amount for a meal. I have learned by practice what makes a balanced meal and what size portions are. By realizing that my food plan includes everything my body needs to be healthy, I am able to listen to my body when I get that hungry feeling.  I am able to analyze what I really want, like sleep, socializing, comfort, thirst, or even actual hunger. This makes it easier to not binge. I can address what I really want.  If I am hungry, then I can snack on some celery or carrots or cucumbers or drink some water or diet drink like crystal lite until it is time to have my next meal.

For me, the very best way to maintain portion control as well has to have well balanced meals is to go with a prepared meal plan. I have lost weight and change my eating habits by using this type plan.  NutriSystem has one of the best and most flexible plans available.  Their system of distribution allows you to participate almost anywhere. You get to choose your meals which allows you to avoid those foods you do not care for.

The other important factor is exercising.  It is a must to exercise at least 30 minutes a day above your daily activities. Choose an exercise you like, that you enjoy doing. If you don’t exercise, you may lose some weight, but you probably will never reach your goal.

Let’s get going.  The New Year is already underway. Start on your weight loss journey today.

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.

Halloween has come and gone. What to do with all that candy! If you are like me, you do not keep it around the house. Here are some ideas:

1. As I said in my last post, take some baggies, decide how many per child to keep, then make one bag per child per X number of days. Put a few of their favorite candies in each bag. Then once a day you can sit down together and have a candy feast. The rest depose of.
2. Take it to work, but set it away from your desk.
3. Let your spouse take it to work – then you won’t have the temptation.
4. Get some more bags and put some candy in each bag. Tie the bag with a ribbon. Take your kids to a nursing home and let them give it out to the people there. You might want to call the nursing home first to arrange the visit.
5. Feed it to your neighbors dog. (No, don’t do this – chocolate is toxic to dogs).
6. Throw it in the outside trash can when the kids aren’t looking.
7. Let your hubby have his friends over for a football bash – set the candy in the middle of the guys. That should take care of it! (Sorry guys).

There are any number of ways to get rid of the candy – use the caramels and tootsie rolls in a batch of brownies, put them on the top and swirl them through. Hard candies you can grind up to use as sprinkles on a cake or cookies. Even keep suckers as rewards for your kids when they make their bed and clean up their room.

Any more ideas? Leave a comment. Let’s think outside the box.

Halloween is here!  Remember your strategy to avoid eating the candy?

1.  Eat a nutritious meal before the festivities start

2. Put on a costume with features that make it hard to snack. Vampire teeth, facial makeup, fake hands.

3. Make sure you will have to do some activity, like popping out from behind a bush or bale of hay.  Or maybe have a gorilla suit so you can jump up and down. Sit on the opposite side of the room from the door so you will have to walk to the door each time the bell rings.

4.  Have healthy snacks handy to grab when the candy temptation comes along.

5.  Just say no and don’t eat or drink the sugar and fats that go along with Halloween.

Another plan is to set aside a small portion of treats to have that evening, and stop with that portion.

When your kids come in with bags of candy, portion some into zip lock bags with names on the bags and number them also.  Maybe fix about 5 bags each.  Once a day, you can all sit down and get your bag of candy for that day together.  Make it a family activity.  Send the rest to work with dad, or take it yourself.

Above all, relax and have fun.  Halloween comes but once a year.

Here is a great idea for your Halloween get together, or just for the family fun time:

Get a small pumpkin for each of the guests who will be present – just big enough to hold maybe a cup of pudding. You can prepare by cutting the top of each pumpkin like you would for a jack-o-lantern.

Spread newspapers or an old table cloth on the porch or floor. Sit the children in a circle facing the inward. Or use a large table that the children can sit around. Give each a pumpkin and a large spoon. Let them clean all the seeds and pulp from the inside (they can dump the mess in the middle of the area).

When the pumpkins are cleaned out, rinse the pumpkins with cold water. Wrap the insides mess up in the papers and put in the garbage. Then ladle the pumpkin dip (prepared ahead) into the pumpkin. Sprinkle with cinnamon or powdered sugar if you wish, or top with whip cream (low fat).

Have a large bowl or plate of ginger snap cookies to place in the center of the children. They can take the ginger snaps, dip them in the pumpkin dip from their own pumpkin bowls, and enjoy. Milk makes the perfect companion for the snack.

Pumpkin dip: (from out of our church cookbook) Makes about 3 cups (adjust for the number expected)
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened – use nonfat or low fat
• 1/2 cup splenda or splenda powdered
• 1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin – be sure to get solid pumpkin, not a pumpkin pie mix
• 2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice ( or 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon ginger

Mix together until well blended.  Put in the refrigerator while the pumpkin bowls are made.

This makes a wonderful family memory.  To extend the activity, tell stories while eating or put your favorite Halloween show on to watch together.

What activities to your family enjoy for the holiday?

• Our eating habits: Be consistent in What time of day you eat each meal and snack. Then our body knows when to expect nourishment.
• Our sleeping habits: The hours of sleep you get all or most nights. I know from my experience one of my biggest obstacles is being overly tired. I compensate for being tired by eating.
• Our motivation: Keep that motivation going and as even as possible. If you are lacking in motavation, do something. Talk to your ‘cheer leaders’ – the friends/family that are supportive of your efforts. If you have written down the reasons you are on your weight management journey, read it. If you haven’t, then write one. It even helps to have a journal that you record your ups and downs, successes and bumps, your thoughts, your habit improvements.
• Remember – DO NOT be consistent in binge-ing or overeating

To help me be consistant, I would like to start sending out an email once a week – a news letter of sorts. I encourage you to sign-up for the news letter. I have ideas like sharing recipes, deals I have found on line (not sales pitches), etc. Please sign-up here, then leave a comment below if you have anything you would like to see included in a weekly email.

Halloween – another stumbling block on the weight loss journey.  Candy corn, candied apples, chocolate bars, popcorn balls, apple cider, pumpkin pies, etc, etc.  Sweets and Fats, our limited intakes.  How do we sidestep this holiday?

First – there is no law that says you have to give sweets to trick or treaters.  There are many other types of treats to hand out.

1. Reflective bracelets or necklaces
2. Halloween stickers
3. Halloween kit – like a small Styrofoam ball with a Popsicle stick, a square or circle of while cloth, a 3 inch piece of string or colored yarn, and a couple black dot stickers.  Put them in a zip lock bag with a small diagram of instructions.  The child can easily make his/her own ghost.  Or paper pieces they can make a pumpkin out of.  There are lots of small craft kits you can put together.
4. Coupons from fast food stores like McDonalds and Burger King.  They sell coupon books you can give one coupon per child.
5. A small flashlight, like those made for keychains

You get the idea.  But if you decide to give the traditional candy out,  there are a few things you can do to avoid eating the candy yourself.

• Do not open the bag of candy until the first trick or treater shows up.  Open other bags as you run out.  Immediately bag up the left over candy – give to a neighbor or take to work.
• Dress the part for Halloween.  If you actually set up a part to play, you will be too busy to snack on the treats.
• Have a party for your kids and their friends where you can control the types of foods and beverages served.  Fresh fruits and low fat/low sugar treats with water or fruit juice to wash them down.
• Take your child to a church, school, or community carnival.

Get your camera out.  Being busy taking pictures does not leave time for snacking.

The most extreme way to get through Halloween is to turn off all the lights and hide in the bedroom, ignoring any visitors.  Take a long bath, then go to bed early.

And if you do attend a Halloween party or carnival and remember – this is not a crime.  You would do best to make sure you adjust your eating during the day to offset your treat and/or step up your.  Walking the kids or grand-kids around trick or treating would be some extra activity.

Whatever you decide do, enjoy the festivities.  And leave a comment with your ideas. 

Here we go into the ‘holiday season’.  Seems a little early to think about that, doesn’t it?  For your weight loss, or even weight maintenance, journey to progress, you need to do some planning now.  Remember the ‘M’ in Magic Help?  Meal Plan.  Your Holiday plan will have to include more than meals.

If we have a plan will we ’slip’ during the holidays – probably.  But without a meal plan, we will slip right out of our journey, not just an occasional ’slip’ that can be offset by more activity/less eating.  If you go on a trip, you map out the roads you take, the places you will stay, and the sites you will see.  If you don’t plan, you are liable to spend the whole trip getting lost and trying to find the right road.

What plans can we make?  Holidays usually means shopping.  Eat before you leave to shop.   Take your fresh veggies to snack on.  Drink water instead of the sugary fatty holiday drinks.  Remember to eat a smaller amount every few hours rather than shopping several hours, then binging on a large meal.

As for the family dinners and potlucks, there are lots of recipes for low fat and sugar free foods.  Last Thanksgiving I made my MIL cranberry relish/salid with fresh cranberries, fresh orange, fresh apple – ground them up, and used granulated sugar substitute for the 3 cups of sugar.  It was delicious, nutritious, and sugar free.

When fixing the turkey and gravy, we used fat free chicken broth.  With plenty of raw veggies on the tray and fat free ranch dressing for a dip, snacks were great.  One tray had fat free sour cream mixed with  dry Italian dressing mix for a great tasting dip.  Cooked vegetables were low-fat, such as using artificial bacon bits in the green beans for the bacon taste.  Having baked sweat potatoes without the sugar and marsh-mellows cuts down the calories.

What about Grandma’s pumpkin pie, apple pie, and pecan pie?  Hey, we all have some special dish or desert which makes the day.  If Grandma doesn’t cook with low fat and artificial sugar, that’s just a fact of life.  So, have a piece – make it a smaller piece or cut it in half.  And remember what we said in Diet -  a Series of Choices - you don’t have to NEVER have that special dish, just not often and try to offset it with exercise/activity.

With all this attention to the ingredients, don’t forget portion control.  Take a smaller plate, put your meat on one third the plate, your veggies on another third, and a starch such as potatoes or bread on the other third.  That doesn’t mean pile it sky high now.  Have a small piece of desert.  Drink water or plain ice tea.  Since you have been on your weight loss journey, you will find the smaller portions more satisfying.

AHH – I almost forgot.  NO TASTING THE FOOD WHILE COOKING OR SERVING.  If you have to much, get into the raw veggie tray.

So let’s have fun the next few months, staying aware of our journey and our goals.  Wear your MAGIC HELP touchstones, or carry them in your pocket, to remind you of your eating and activity/exercise plan.

Leave a comment with your holiday helps and/or recipes.

Let’s face it:  The only way to lose fat is to eat fewer calories than you use during a day.  Call it diet, call it lifestyle, call it anything you want – this fact is still true.  Good news:  there are ways to quick start your weight loss giving you an increased momentum on your weight loss journey.

One way to start your ‘diet’ or prepare for it is to detoxify your body.  This can be done in a number of ways, some more effective than others.  Fasting is the simplest way – but your health conditions can affect the method you choose.  If you have any medical conditions, consult your doctor before fasting.  Here are three types of fasting.

1. Water. Drink only water for a period of time – normally at least a day (64 oz a day).  This is an extreme fast which will flush those toxins out of your body.  It is hard on your body since you have no nutrients during that time.  If you are diabetic, this is not a smart thing to do.  And after this period of basically starvation with a body flush, your body will carve more food than you normally eat to store up in case of another starvation period.  So, while it is affective, it can be self-defeating.
2. Juice. Drink 32-64 oz of juice a day (no added sugar).  This is a little less extreme, but also is recommended to last 3 days.  Before going on this, you might want to try the fruit fasting.
3. Fruit. I have never attempted this fast.  Again, you have to consider any medical conditions before going on this fast.  You start with 24 hours of eating only fruits (and drinking water).  Then go back to normal eating for the rest of the week.  Fast again for 48 hours, then a week of normal eating.  Continue this pattern of adding a day to the fast each time with a week in between each fasting period until your fasting period is 21 days in length.

If any of you are like me, one or two days of water and/or juice and/or fruits is the longest I would make it.  I do see where you get used to a water fast one day a week, or even one day a month.  I have tried to fast on a liquid diet:  the key word being tried.  That being said, I have been looking further into this.

Another way is to purchase one of many good detoxification plans with various products to drink. These can be expensive.  They do take a commitment for several days to complete.

If you are one of my subscribers, you know that I don’t push products and plans at you.  I finally found a system that actually works I have to tell you about.  It is called STRIP THAT FAT. This is a metabolic diet.  Knowing your metabolic type you can identify the types of foods that your body chemistry metabolizes the best will encourage weight loss.  Using the STRIP THAT FAT guidelines for eating and exercise (80% is the eating, only 20% is exercise), you can lose 2 pounds of FAT a week, not just 2 pounds of weight.  (And you have 60 days money back guarantee).

I have to go – time for my exercise!  Leave a comment please.  I love hearing from you.

When you eat is just as important in weight loss and weight maintenance as what you eat and how much you eat.  We are told that a 1200-1500 calorie a day diet will allow us to lose weight.  Some lucky people are larger boned or taller, so they can eat more a day.  Let’s go with the lower number for an example.

The next rule pounded into us from birth is 3 meals a day.  Let’s allow 300 calories per meal.  That leaves 300 calories to use another time during the day.  If we eat our 3 meals 8  hours apart, we can insert 3 ’snacks’ into a day of 100 calories each.  Eating veggies like carrots, and fruits – lets have an apple, and a low sugar, low fat dessert will fill in the snacks and use up the other 300 calories.

What is the advantage of eating every 3-4 hours?  It keeps the metabolism going and levels out the blood sugar.  It also keeps us from being so hungry that we are tempted to binge. Eating smaller portions more frequently has been proved to help in weight loss, and also weight maintenance.

Have you ever tried to exercise running low on fuel?  Doesn’t work too good.  You don’t have the energy to put your all into the workout, and when you are done, you are so hungry you want to binge.  End result, less calories burned and more calories taken in.  Not the way to lose weight.

Try eating a low sugar, high fiber breakfast with a fruit or a serving of milk.  1/2 cup of fruit juice can be substituted for the fruit.  A cup of coffee with non-dairy no fat creamer and sweetener if you wish, or tea if you prefer, would also be good.

Mid-morning have a multi-vitamin along with a no fat yogurt such as yo plait or dannon.  The yogurt contains as your second milk portion for the day – that’s it for the dairy.  Have fruit in your yogurt also.

Lunch have 2-3 oz of meat, high fiber bread or pasta 1/2 cup, and a veggie salad with non-fat dressing – 2 tablespoons.  Have water or a non-sugar drink.

Mid-afternoon, chump on those veggies – carrots, cucumbers, raw squash, etc.

Supper have 3 oz of meat, a portion of starch (about the size of an egg), veggies such as broccoli, green beans, squash.  Have another veggie salad if you wish.

Wait a couple hours.  Have a non-fat 100 calorie bag of popcorn – spray with non-dairy butter or butter flavor spray pam.  Or have a non-fat small piece of cheesecake with 2 tablespoons of non or low fat whipped cream.  Or jello with or without the whipped cream.  No sugar Popsicles are good.

Be sure to have 6-8 glass of of water a day.  Have 20-60 minutes of activity/exercise a day.  Then  the most important part – get 8 hours of sleep.

Also read:  10 Elements of a Healthy Diet

You had a slip on your diet/eating program; you went on a binge; you ate something off your eating plan.  What do you do?  The course you choose can make a big difference in the progress of your weight loss journey.

Let’s look possible reactions:

Quit the diet. Yes, you could do this.  Isn’t this the way you have reacted in the past?  If you have, then consider this.  Did you set yourself up to fail?  Were you looking for an excuse to quit?  What is going on in your life at the moment?  Are you depressed, disappointed. lonely, angry?  Are there a number of stressful situations in your life?  Is one or more of your hunger craving triggers present?  If so, you need to totally re-think why you started your weight loss journey and revisit your self-image.

Have your reasons for starting the diet been fulfilled?  Have they changed?  Are you now the healthiest you can be?  Will more weight loss make you feel healthier, fitter, increase your self-confidence?

Now is the time to start over – not on the diet, but on the thought process.  Analysis what is going on.  Realize what your normal reactions are, then choose to respond.  The definition of crazy is continuing to do the same thing expecting different results. If quitting hasn’t worked in the past, why would you expect it to now?  Think about different ways to respond to the binge trigger.  Remember you are responding to the trigger, not the binge.  People can give you hints and advice on what to do, but only you know what will work best for you ; only you can do it.

Start again  tomorrow or next  week. On the surface this looks like a good idea.  Pick yourself up and start again, making a starting point.  I have just realized that this does not work for me.  If I decided to start again the next day, I continue to binge the rest of that day – eating this and that which I will deprive myself of tomorrow.  Do you see the two pitfalls here?  I give myself an excuse to continue binging plus I use the word deprive which sets the scene for the next binge.  I have to remember that I am not depriving myself, I am choosing not to eat certain types of foods to enable myself to progress towards the goal.  I need to remember that my progress is a series of choices, not a list of deprivations.

Start again immediately. Now we are on track.  What do you do if you trip on a crack in the sidewalk?  Do you sit there until the next day?  Do you pick yourself up and intentionally trip on every crack on the sidewalk until the next day?  No – you pick yourself up and continue down the sidewalk, being a little more careful not to trip on the cracks.

Stepping up your activity/exercise to offset the slip/binge, at least for a few days.  What a concept.  Stepping up your activity/exercise to offset the slip/binge?  Whoa.  You mean I can actually do something positive other than picking myself up?  Yes – this is the best recourse.

What should we do when we fall off the eating program wagon?  Start the eating program again, immediately and then step up our activity/exercise to offset the binge.    Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  Also, we need go through the questions in the quit the diet section to better understand why we slip/binge.  The better we understand ourselves and our eating triggers, the easier it is to respond to the trigger rather than to react.

So, what do you do when you slip or binge?

Do you have to?  No, dieting is a series of choices.  This is one choice of many choices you will make during your special holiday or vacation trip.

Let’s talk about it a little more.  I am on a trip, with my daughter and family, for the Labor Day weekend.  I am staying in a motel room without a refrigerator or a microwave.  How do I stay on my eating plan?  Most veggies need a refrigerator, especially those for a garden salad.  I like warm food; without a microwave or anything to cook  on, how do I heat any food?

I have some of my choices decided by the motel room I choose to get.  I can choose what to drink in my room.  I can choose diet pop (soda for some of you), water, or a crystal lite, or some other ‘non diet’ drink.  When I go out to eat, I will choose my foods from the menu.  In fact, I will choose where to eat.

Now that we have established that what we eat is a choice and that we don’t HAVE TO diet, let’s remember that to lose or maintain weight we have to change our lifestyle and/or our habits.  If I am changing my life style and habits, I will be choosing healthier meals and snacks.  If I am changing my habits, I will be more likely to automatically choose the foods I would eat on a diet.

If I eat off my eating plan, what happens?  Well, to put it simply, I eat off my diet plan.  Lightning is not going to strike me because I did.  A huge boulder is not going to come crashing down on my head.  I will not have a sign on my shirt or hanging above my head to announce this fact to everyone.  It won’t even be on the evening news!

What really happens is that I make a choice which I either offset by what I eat before or after, or by increasing my activity.  Or I gain weight, or don’t lose weight.  It is not a world changing decision.  If I continue on this path, I will not be moving towards my goal of a healthier, slimmer me.

I feel so much better.  I can eat what I want.  This is the first day of the weekend.  I have made my choices by habit to be on my eating plan.  Since I will be walking most of the next two days, I can have a special meal of something I would not regularly eat while losing weight – and since I am in the habit of eating fewer calories, I will eat smaller portions.

What do you think?  Leave a comment.

How many promises do you make  to yourself while on a diet that you never fulfill?  Like the way I wrote posts this month.  I promised myself I would get a post written twice a week at least.  I even have the subjects outlined.  But, like when I eat off program and then promise myself it will be better next week, that I will quit cheating tomorrow, I didn’t.

This spring I have been going to my weekly check-ins and answering the same questions with the same answers for months.  I know that I am not going to do what I say I will.  And who are these ‘promises’ made to?  To me.  I am the one who will or won’t do it.  I am the one who is effected by it.  Not the lady I am talking to.  Her life will go on the same – and unfortunately, so will mine.  If I don’t even make an effort to change my habits, I won’t lose weight and I won’t get healthier.

The biggest damage I did by these meaningless promises was to enforce the feeling that I would not succeed.  Not because I couldn’t, but because I wouldn’t.  I fell back into the old trap of looking down on myself.  I did manage to not beat myself up by calling myself names.  However,  I did drive myself into discouragement and the ‘whats the use’ state using my broken promises as the example.

I have been expressing this as my experience.  I know it is not just mine.  I know many of us do the same thing. I also know that part of the reason it happened is I only had 5-6 hours of sleep a night, worked 40 hours a week, and helped with my grand-kids everyday.  Then I tried to watch some recorded TV shows and work online.  In short, I was burning the candle at both ends.

This week I have written down everything I did, including ME time.  I have written down everything I ate and drank.  I have not been perfect, but I do see I did attempt to fulfill my goals for the week.  I can take encouragement in my accomplishments.  I can say that I attempted to meet my promises instead of ignoring them.

Please realize that if you are 80-100 pounds heavier than your healthy weight and it is not caused by a medical condition, you have issues which are more than just over eating.  You have what some people call emotional problems, but actually comes down to self-image and self-worth.

What self-made stumbling blocks do you face in your weight loss journey?

For my readers and fellow weight losers/maintainers.

I am sorry there has been such a lag between posts.  I have some personal events to take care of, then I will be back with much more to share.  In the meantime, feel free to browse through the older posts and the informational pages.  I plan on having the next post by August 22th.

Remember, you deserve to be a healthier, happier, slimmer you – and you can.

All over the Internet, TV, books, magazines, etc, you are told to use portion control to loss weight.  Before you can use portion control, you need to know what a portion is.  Before you can determine what portions to eat when during your day, you need to know the daily requirement.

The USDA developed a food pyramid years ago.  I was introduced to it in elementary school when I was taught the main food groups.  While stumbling around the Internet, I found out this is actually a pictorial of the balance one should have between the food groups.

The food groups are:

• Grains – 6 ounces a day
• Vegetables – 2 ½ cups a day
• Fruits – 2 cups every day
• Milk or milk products – 3 cups a day
• Meat/Beams   5 ½ oz every day

Through the years, the USDA has continued to refine their research.  There is a wealth of information on their site.  As well as downloads and online tools.  They break the food pyramid down to focus on children, pregnant women, and ‘normal’ people.  I found some down-loadable pdfs on their site which I have put on my new page.  Just click on the tab Food Pyramid to see them and download them.

Back to food control:  I found a handy little pdf file at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the Department of Health and Human Services..  The site suggests you laminate to carry it with you.  I find it to be a very handy tool. Will these tools help you?  How?  What other tools do you find helpful?

Click here download the pdf file.

Listen to this post

Touchstone ‘P’ is for priority. Yes, the P word. We may think we do or don’t have priorities. We do. Our priority is what we choose to do instead of something else. We may think we don’t have a choice, but we always do. We can either do it or not.

Think about it. We have to get the kids out of bed, we have to make breakfast, we have to drive the kids to school or daycare, we have to pick up the laundry, we have to, we have to, we have to. There’s that phrase again ‘have to’. Truth is, these may be our responsibilities, but we don’t have to do them. There are plenty of parents out there that don’t bother. Just look at the kids running the streets. The point is, these are our priorities – the things we deem most important to be accomplished.

I am sure you all have heard the example of the jar. Fill the jar up with big stones, is it full? Pour in beads over the stones to fill it up. Is it full yet? Now pour in sand over the stones and beads, again filling it up. Is it full yet? It is? Now take water and pour it in. Finally we can say it is truly filled up.

What we need to do is to decide what the most vital things in our lives are. Make a list of all the things you ‘have’ to do in your life. Now make a list of the things you ‘want’ to do. It’s OK to have the same things on each list, although there are bound to be some that make one list and not the other. These are the big stones in the jar. The beads and sand are the other things that fill up our lives, and the water is the room, or time, left.

Have you ever wanted something so much you could almost ‘taste’ it? I wanted to travel home to see my mother (a 17 hour drive). I didn’t have the money nor the time off work. Guess what? I found the time and the money. I wanted a new vehicle – I found the reasons and the financing to get one. What we really want, we find a way to do it.

What if someone you loved was in an accident or was hospitalized, you would find the time and resources to do whatever you could to help them. Wouldn’t you? If you are overweight, your health is at risk – you are at risk. Are you going to put yourself as a priority? If you were in an airplane and the oxygen masks dropped down do you remember what you are to do? You are to put your mask on FIRST before taking care of anyone else. If you don’t, you may pass out before you are able to help anyone else. Think of your health like that. If you don’t stay healthy, how are you going to accomplish all of those priorities in your life?

Now remember: You are worth it, you deserve it, and you are going to become a healthier, happier you.

Our ‘L’ touchstone is for language.  One of the stumbling blocks to our success in changing our lifestyle and habits is the language, or word choices, we use when talking and thinking about ourselves and our lifestyle changes.  These are the two areas I want to discuss.

If you have been reading my posts, you know I keep bringing up to be kind to yourself.  Most of us have heard or witnessed someone being beaten down by the words of another.  Sadly, we tend to be even harder on ourselves.

What names do you call yourself?  Fatso, loser, dumb, stupid, unworthy, unable, etc.  Or do you call yourself a victor, a winner, deserving, smart, persistent?  Do you tell yourself you can never get fit or slimmer?  Or do you honestly believe that you can achieve your goal and change?

Remember touchstone ‘I’?  If our self-image is bad, it is very hard to succeed.  In fact, we work very hard at proving that we can’t.  Don’t we have enough to deal with in this world without beating ourselves up?

I want you to write down some affirmations that you can post all over the house, your room, your car, your work, or wherever you spend a lot of time.  Write down things like “I can do it”, “I am not perfect, but I am getting there”,  “I am a caring person”, etc.  Be sure to include this one:  “I deserve to be a healthier, slimmer me”.  You will be surprised how that one helps when you are tempted to eat off plan or don’t want to do your exercise.

Let’s go on to the way you think about your diet program. Do you think of it as something you ‘have’ to do because it is expected of you?  Do you talk about how you ’should’ do this or that?  Or even ’shouldn’t’ do this or that.  How about the ‘can’t’ word? or the phrase ‘I don’t have time’?  Do you think – it would be nice if I could obtain my goal, but that’s impossible or improbable?

Instead, why don’t do this:

Change: “I should go for a walk today”

To: “I choose to go for a walk today because it makes me feel energized, less stressed, and good about myself”.

NOTE:  Always give 2 or 3 positive reasons why you choose it.

Change: “I don’t have time to prepare my snacks”

To: “I am going to switch my schedule around to have time to prepare my snacks and meals because I deserve to take care of myself, I deserve to succeed in my program, and it helps to eat on program when I have something I can eat ready”.

Change: “I can’t eat right this weekend because I have to go on a trip”

To: “I choose to find a way to stay on my eating program and go on the trip.  I will eat salads with low fat dressings; take snacks with me, etc.  I will plan ahead how to deal with the obstacles the trip makes in my eating program”.

Change: “It would be nice if I could obtain my goal, but that’s impossible or improbable?”

To: “I will achieve my goal because I deserve to be a happier, healthier, slimmer me AND because I choose to”.

Do you notice that when you use should and have to, that makes the changes you are trying to make an obligation.  When you use choose and will, then it makes it your choice.  Again, see touchstone ‘C’ Choices.

As with all habits, the change in your language will not come overnight.  You have to consciously change the word whenever you use it to a positive word.  As your language changes, so will your thinking.  As your thinking about yourself and your eating program changes, it becomes easier to change your eating and activity habits.  You are on the road to success!

‘E’ is for exercise.  That’s not much of a surprise, is it?  We all have heard, at least in the US, about how our lifestyles have limited the physical activities in our every day lives.

Eating right and exercise is necessary to lose weight and to succeed in reaching our goal and maintaining our goal – which should be a healthy relationship with food and a healthy, more fit body.

Activity is a must. 10,000 steps a day should be your goal if your main activity is walking (cardio). That is total steps from the time you get up to the time you go to bed. If you get a good pedometer, you would be surprised how many steps you take. Also, you need 30 minutes a day of cardio ‘activity’ such as walking or exercise. This can be done in 10 minutes segments to start, but should gradually blend into one 30 minute session.

Yoga is another form of exercise.  The stretching and ‘meditation’ relaxes your muscles and body.  It also relieves stress.  It strengthens your muscles and increases your flexibility.   The Power yoga has evolved for burning calories.  It is a flowing moving from one Yoga stance to another.  There is no way one can do Power Yoga without firming up and toning up.

Is housework exercise?  Check out the post ‘Is Housework Exercise‘.  We can fool ourselves into thinking it is.  It is activity, but it does not burn very many calories.  And, our bodies are used to it since we do it every day or every week.  Exercise should elevate your heart rate and even cause you to perspire some.  Exercise is what we do outside of our normal lifestyle activities.

Do you every have trouble getting your exercise in?  You realize that a couple days have gone by – you missed going for that walk or getting to the gym, or turning on that low impact ‘Sweating to the Oldies”?

This is where the ‘C’ touchstone affects the ‘E’ touchstone.  You have the choice, to exercise (increase your activity) or not to exercise.  It is my CHOICE – and it is your CHOICE.

Here are some reasons to exercise

1.        Be healthy

2.       Be more energetic

3.       Be more relaxed

4.       Be more fit

5.       Lose those extra pounds

6.       Be able to play with my grandchildren without getting winded

7.       Be please with my looks when I am in front of a mirror

8.       Have my clothes fit

9.       Have more self-confidence

10.     Be able to tie my shoes without going through contortions

Touchstone ‘H’ – Health.

Let’s review the health benefits that come from losing extra weight.

1. Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death.
2. Being overweight can lead to

a. Heart problems (high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks, etc)
b. Diabetes
c. Arthritis
d. Gout
e. Asthma
f. Cancer (some types of)

If you lose even 10% of your weight, or even 10 pounds, your risk of having high blood pressure and high cholesterol is lessened. The loss of weight plus increased activity lessons the risk of diabetes.

Loss of health means limitations on your lifestyle, limitations on your food choices.  It could mean pills, walker, wheelchair, braces, nursing home.  It means that you cannot be the YOU you want to be.  It could even mean that you are no more.  If you have children or grand-children, you may not be able to enjoy being with them, playing with them, helping them.  If you leave this earth prematurely, you won’t be there to give them good memories, share your wisdom, give them guidance, lift them up.  See?  Your loss of health affects more than just you.

So, when you look at or touch the ‘H’ – remember your health is one of your priorities.  And when you need motivation, remember your ‘H’

Our next touchstone is ‘C’ – choices.  I went into Choices at great lengths in another post.  Since I believe this is an important concept, I am going to use that post again here.

Diet (noun) means the usual food and drink of a person or animal.   That is what diet is.  Now, we have modified it to also mean a regulated selection of foods, as for medical reasons or cosmetic weight loss. Whether you pick the first definition or the second, your Diet is formed by the CHOICES you make.

In going through your day, you first chose to when eat.  Then you will choose what to eat and how it will be cooked, and lastly you choose how much to eat, usually while you are eating.  You choose to stop eating when your plate is empty, when you get full, when your second plateful is empty, etc, etc, etc.

You are quite happily skipping along down the road of life when you come to a bump in the road.  Maybe you look in the mirror, or you have a health problem, or you can’t play with the kids like you used to.  Whatever it was, you make the choice to lose weight.

What is the first thing you do?  In going through your day, you first choose to when eat.  Then you will choose what to eat and how it will be cooked, and lastly you choose how much to eat.  See the pattern???  Our DIET is more about the CHOICES we make, rather more than the food we eat.  The food we eat depends on our choices.

The choice of what diet we will follow should come after studying the types of diet plans available.

1. There are fad diets which are supposed to act quickly, but are to be used for a short period of time.  And usually the weight you lost comes back plus more after you quit.
2. There are pills supposed to make the weight melt off our bodies, again monitored by doctors so you don’t develop the bad side effects.
3. There are balanced diets which avoid too much of certain aspects – such as fats, sugars, and starches – aimed at continued weight loss.

I choose the third group.  Since I have a hard time with ‘portion control’ – which simply means don’t eat too much – I choose a plan that decides the portions for me.  Further, I find that I don’t like to measure and count, so I choose a plan that puts the meal together for me.  And I am more likely to eat outside the plan when I am hungry and have to wait for my food, so I choose a plan with a meal ready to go into the microwave.  All of these are my choices, no one is telling me what to do.

When you choose your diet plan, and decide what day to start it, you have made your decision.  Anytime after that point in time you set for yourself, you decision of whether to follow that diet plan or not is already made.  You don’t have to make it every day.  Whenever you ask yourself if you can take a rest or binge or whatever, remind yourself that the decision has already been made.

Does this mean you can never eat anything off your diet plan?  No, what is means that if you choose to eat that marvelous pie that Aunt Dotty makes, it is your choice.  Is it wrong or bad to choose to eat the pie?  Neither.  It is simply a choice.  You can choose to do what will help you along your path to your goal or losing weight or you can choose to do what will turn you around to go the other way for however long you chose to travel that way.  You can choose to eat a small piece in moderation, or the whole pie.  And you choose to stick strictly to your diet for a couple days to offset the deviance, or to up your activity to compensate for the pie choice.  And your next choice will be – return to your choice to lose weight, or give up.  That is another CHOICE – you don’t have to quit the diet plan just because you had a piece of pie.

You have made your diet choice – you have another choice to make.  You have to decide whether you are going to up your physical activity, knowing that to lose weight everyone has to up their physical activity.  In my case, I don’t feel I have a choice of whether to up my activity or not – I don’t lose weight unless I also up my activity.  I do, however, have to choose what type of activity, when I will do the activity, and to what extent.

Now remember – there are no GOOD or BAD CHOICES, but there are choices that will help you reach your goal, and there are other choices which will turn you in another direction.  It is up to you, it is your choice:

Be the Weight You Want – and Stay There (or not).

Today’s touchstone is ‘I‘.  This is the one where you have to change your way of thinking about yourself and about your eating program. So lets call ‘I’ image short for Self-Image.

What is your image of yourself?  Do you feel like you are a failure?  Do you feel like you cannot do anything right? Or tell yourself that even if you feel you can?  Do you feel undeserving or unappreciated or unwanted?

I am here to tell you – you were made to be healthy and fit – therefore you deserve to be healthy and fit.

Who benefits if you become more healthy and fit? YOU.  Who pays the penalty if you don’t?  Again, the answer is YOU.  So you have to start your journey for YOU, not anyone else.  If you are overweight, you can become healthier by losing just 10% of your body weight.  Check out the post Why Should Baby Boomers Lose Weight.  There are a multitude of health conditions you can avoid or delay just by losing 10% of your body weight.  This is motivation you can hang on to, no matter how you feel about yourself.

Let’s look at a person, Sally, as ‘ME’ ‘MYSELF’ and ‘I’.   Let’s say ‘I’ is the standard keeper.  ‘I’ watches to see that  ‘ME’ does everything ‘right’.  ‘I’ will tell ‘ME’ every time something happens that it is  ‘ME’s’ fault.  ‘I’ will tell  ‘ME’ that ‘ME’ is lazy, dumb, ugly, clumsy, and responsible for everything.   ‘I’ will badger and bad mouth ‘ME’ at any given moment because ‘ME’ is not perfect.  Poor ‘ME’ is beaten down and sad.   ‘ME’ is depressed.  ‘ME’ is rebellious because  ‘ME’ does not believe  ‘ME’ is a bad person.   ‘ME’ feels that  ‘ME’ deserves good and deserves rewards once in a while.

In the diet, ‘I’ says: ‘ME’ - Sally can’t eat that apple pie Sally loves, never ever.   ‘ME’ sits and wants that apple pie.  ‘ME’ tries to be good, but keeps thinking about that apple pie.  Finally ‘ME’ thinks – I don’t care what ‘I’ says, I want that apple pie and I am going to eat it.  And ‘ME’ does – the whole pie.

In comes ‘MYSELF’ .  Have ‘MYSELF’ mediate between ‘I’ and  ‘ME’ .  Let ‘MYSELF’ tell ‘I’ and  ‘ME’ that they are really both wanting the best for Sally.  They are just at odds.  Get ‘I’ to realize that ‘I’ is hurting Sally when ‘I’ badgers ‘ME’ and that ‘I’ needs to be nice to ‘ME’.  Get ‘ME’ to see that ‘I’ only wants what is best for Sally, just like ‘ME’ does.  Have ‘MYSELF’ convince ‘I’ and ‘ME’ to work as a team, building each other up, not fighting.  ‘MYSELF’ can get ‘ME’ and ‘I’ to compromise, to let Sally eat a small piece of apple pie – maybe have Sally do 10 minutes more on her aerobics that day to offset it.

Bottom lines, ladies be kind to yourself, give yourself a break, and always remember (and remind yourself at least once a day):

“I DESERVE TO BE A SLIMMER, HEALTHIER ME.”

The touchstone for today is ‘G’ – goals.  This touchstone is to remind you not only of your ultimate goal, and the reasons for the goal, but also for your more immediate goals. To this end, I encourage you to set up a chart to trace your performance daily:

1. Staying on your eating program
2. Activity for the day – type, time, and count (if applicable)
3. Thoughts, feeling, frustrations in a journal type entry
4. Your goal for the week and motivation for the week.

In the ‘M’ touchstone I mentioned having a list of what you were going to eat for the day.  This performance record can be kept at the bottom of you list.  As you line out the foods you eat, you can enter the thoughts you have and the activities you do.  Also very important is to put foods you eat outside the program and why you ate them – we will get into why later with the ‘C’ touchstone.

Let’s get back to talking about Goals.  Your ultimate goal will be the weight you determined to be your goal.  Hopefully you made this an obtainable goal.  You can always lower it when you near the first goal.  So, say you are 220 lbs and think you should be 115 pounds.  There is nothing wrong in making 150 pounds your goal, and then deciding to go to 130 pounds, then again lowering it to 120 pounds, etc.  That way, if you feel good at 150 pounds – good, you are there.  But if you want to try to go further, you can.

Although we think about the goal as being pounds lost, there are other goals we have.

1. Become healthier
2. Become fitter
3. Become stronger

Don’t lose sight of these goals.  They are the ones which will keep your motivation up.

While time goals are OK – they tend to put demands on us, stressing us out when we don’t meet them, depressing us and encouraging us to give up.  For those reasons, I don’t recommend setting time goals.  I had one year in my mind as the length of time it should take me.  Watch that ‘should’ word.  We will talk about it again in the ‘I’ and ‘L’ touchstones.  I have reached the one year, but not the goal.  So I have to shrug off the time limit and determine to continue – because I deserve to be a slimmer, healthier me.

Each week we need to go over our progress, do the weigh-in (around the same time of day each time) and once a month do our measurements.  Remember, if we lose 10% if our initial body weight, our health is better.  See this post about measurements and tracking table.

As we contemplate the past week, we can see what patterns evolve.  If we ate extra foods, we see what types and what was happening – a special event, an emotional time of loneliness or sadness, a stressful time.  Then we can determine if this was a choice we made, or if it was a situation we could deal with in a different way.  Such as loneliness – maybe call a friend or family member – walk over to the neighbors to say HI – talk a long walk and enjoy the outside – even take a bath by candlelight.  Then the next time it comes up, we have alternatives to eating.

Check to see if you drank your water, stayed within the program eating, choose healthy snacks, did our activity.  Think about the next week.  Write down what your motivation will be this week.  Then write a goal for that week.  For example, you find that you walked an average of 7000 steps per day (10,000 steps a day is the standard).  Make a goal to up that average by 200 or more steps a day.  A good pedometer will track your steps each day and even keep 7 days worth of data for you.

One of the most important factors is – do not put yourself down for missing your goal.  Instead, look for the things you did ‘correctly’ and give yourself a pat on the back, like you remembered to write everything down or your off plan eating diminished.  Nothing will be gained by being hard on yourself – actually, it could push you into giving up.  The only way you won’t reach the ultimate goal is if you give up.

Keep reminding yourself ‘I deserve to be a slimmer, healthier me”.

Don’t you wish you had a fairy godmother to give you some MAGIC HELP with your weight program?  We all do.  So I am here to give you some MAGIC HELP.

No, it is not a pill.  Not a liquid.  It is, in fact, the touchstones I wrote about a few days ago.

Go to the craft store and buy some elastic to make a bracelet out of.  Then get the alphabet beads that spell out M A G I C  H E L P.  Get whatever other beads you want to put between and around the bracelet in whatever color you want.  Making the bracelet long enough to be comfortable around your wrist, put a small bead between each letter, with 2 or 3 between the C and H to separate the words.  Fill the rest of the bracelet up with the rest of the beads.  Or, make a tassel type string for your key ring using the same letters.  Or just carry the string of letters in your pocket.

Each of these letters is a touchstone which stands for a principal or standard.  Looking at and/or touching the bead is to remind us of important principals that will help us reach our goals.  So, let’s talk about the touchstones.

M – Meal plan.  Remember you have a plan for your eating today.  You have a breakfast, a lunch, and a supper.  You have two snacks and a desert.  You are going to spread these out throughout the day, eating smaller portions every three hours.  You are going to have something for breakfast within 30 minutes of getting up.  It may be a non-fat yogurt, a fruit, a cup of skim milk (or small fat free, sugar free latte), or an actual breakfast meal.  You have spent time choosing what you will have today and have a list in your pocket or purse to check off each item.  And, if you should feel the need to have an extra snack, you will choose one of the free foods such as raw carrots, cucumber, summer squash, or other raw non starchy veggie.  You will make sure you have the liquids you need including water and non-sugar drinks (limit dairy milk to two cups a day).

A – Awareness.  One of the biggest habits I have and I know a lot of people have is rushing through the day getting everything done.  I tend to eat while driving, watching TV, working at the computer (which I do at work, then again in the evening on the internet), etc.  I seem to always be multi-tasking.  What we need to do is to do eating, and everything we do, consciously – being aware of what we are doing.  When you eat, take the time to chew your food.  Feel the texture, enjoy the taste, and be aware of what your body is feeling as you eat.  Notice your hunger being satisfied.  If you are not aware of eating, you won’t remember eating, and your mind will tell you that you should be hungry.

There are many times I get something to eat, sit down to the computer, take a bite, work on the computer, and then reach for another bite.  The food is gone.  I ate the whole meal or snack thinking about the computer or internet instead of my food.  It leaves me wanting some more.  On the other hand, if I sat and ate the same food, conscious of the eating experience, I am satisfied.

Another facet of awareness is being able to distinguish what your body and mind really want when you feel ‘hungry’.  Are you hungry, thirsty, sad, stressed, nervous, lonely, just what is it that you really want?  Lots of ‘diets’ say only eat when you are hungry.  That is a good rule, but you need to first realize when you body is hungry versus using food to satisfy other ‘hungers’, usually emotional.

That’s enough for today.  We will tackle the other touchstones in later posts.

Do you know what a touchstone is?  I thought I did.  I thought that a touchstone was a smooth pebble, marble, or other small object that you carried to remind you of something – like a worry stone, or a cross in my pocket – So, I carry a cross in my pocket reminding no one but me – much like tying a string on your finger to remind you of something.

The dictionary says a touchstone is a black siliceous stone related to flint and formerly used to test the purity of gold and silver by the streak left on the stone when rubbed by the metal.  Another source says it is  a black siliceous stone used to ascertain the purity of gold and silver. Assaying by touch was one of the earliest methods employed to assess the quality of precious metals.   Yet another source says it is a yardstick or an informal substitute for criterion and that a touchstone suggests a simple test of the authenticity or value of something intangible.

One thing common to all the articles I read, the touchstone evolved into a smooth polished stone, either a gem or regular pebble, in the shape of a flat oval, usually carried in one’s pocket.  The touchstone is used as a reminder of something that indicates a standard or criteria.

How do touchstones pertain to weight loss?

I will start the answer to this with another question:  Why do you deviate from your eating program or diet?

For me it is forgetting that I am on an eating program or diet; forgetting that I have a goal to lose weight and become healthier.  It is forgetting that I desire to reach my goal.  It is forgetting to pay attention to what I eat while I am eating it.

I have four touchstones that I have to carry in my pocket.  I will tell you about one of them today.  This one is to remind me and make me accountable to myself to live up to:

• I deserve to be healthier and slimmer.
• My weight loss and exercise to better health is my priority.
• If I do not take care of myself first, I can not take care of others.
• If I were at the bottom of a swimming pool, I would not stop half way up for a rest, I would struggle up to the surface to get a breath which would be obtaining my goal.

Would this help you obtain your goal?  You can use any small object as a touchstone – a cat’s eye marble perhaps, a different color for each touchstone.  Or name the touchstone – maybe priorities.  There is a site online where you can order touchstones engraved with whatever word you wish.  Or find a smooth stone and write a letter on the stone with a permanent marker such as P for priorities.

What other touchstones would help you?  Remember, it is a standard to help you make choices which help you reach your goal.

Read the rest of this series to learn about the touchstones M A G I C  H E L P.

You have probably noticed that I have a new look.  Partially due to the fact that the other theme was not compatible with some of the plugins I want to use.  And partially due to the fact that I totally blew up my word press installation.

In the midst of all this, I did not backup my files using wordpress, so I am not able to import the content and comments.  I will be manually re-creating the posts and as many of the comments as I can.  I feel that your comments added so much to the purpose of this blog.

Thanks for sticking with me.  I will be adding fresh content soon.

In previous posts I have talked about motivation to lose weight, mental attitude that we can and deserve to be a healthy weight, and if looking better comes with it – who is going to complain?

Let’s review the health benefits that come from losing extra weight.

1. Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death.
2. Being overweight can lead to

a. Heart problems (high blood pressure, strokes, heart attacks, etc)
b. Diabetes
c. Arthritis
d. Gout
e. Asthma
f. Cancer (some types of)

If you lose even 10% of your weight, or even 10 pounds, your risk of having high blood pressure and high cholesterol is lessened. The loss of weight plus increased activity lessons the risk of diabetes.

Exercise is good for all of us. However, if you haven’t been active in a while, start out slow. Start by walking 10 minutes a day, then twice a day, then 3 times a day. Then increase the activity to longer periods, or even try aerobics (low impact – at least at first). Remember that it takes 20 minutes of continuous movement (walking, bike riding, aerobics, swimming – anything cardio) to get your metabolism started. Just doing this much helps prevent diabetes or helps keep in under control.

Build up your endurance some, then add in some strength exercises. Resistance bands, weights, or bars are some equipment to help you with the strength exercises.

Don’t forget the agility or stretching exercises. Yoga can help with this. Or palates.

The best part of the weight loss dieting/exercise combination is that we FEEL healthier, more energized, and alive. The fact is, we ARE healthier, more energized, and probably even look a bit better.

So what are you waiting for??? Let’s do lose/maintain our weight to improve our quality of LIFE.

Summer is here.  Schools are letting out.  The kids are home.

Life as we know it is more hectic than ever.  More and more demands. Unfortunately, if we forget about what we are eating, we lose it – not the weight! – the progress.

Here are a few ideas of how to meet the demands of summer.

1.  Buy bottles of water in the 16 oz (1 pint) size.  Then get a huge box of your favorite Crystal Lite (or other ‘diet’ powdered drink) in those new handy packets.  Keep the water in the fridge, and ever time you get juice for the kids or a coke or whatever, you can pull out the bottle of water and pour a packet in it.  Or just drink the water.   I have a water spicket in the door of my fridge, so I just take one of the empty water bottles, fill it up with old water, and in goes the packet.

2.  Get your cucumbers and zucchini/summer/other squashes you like, put them in a food processor to slice them, then put about a cup in a zip lock sandwich bag.  Again, when you are in there getting snacks for the kids, grab a bag.  You could add some fat free ranch or italian dressing if you wanted (but I would put that in just before you eat them).

3.  You can core and slice apples like that too and put them in bags.  They should last a couple days in the fridge.

4.  Get a couple boxes of sugar free Popsicle’s.  Blue Bunny makes some good ones that come 24 to a box.  They are like 5-10 calories each, so you can eat several during the day.

5.  Make turkey burger patties out of ground turkey, dried peppers (green peppers), and finely diced onion.  Either precook them and freeze, or freeze until you are ready to cook them.  Then while others are having their BBQ, you can have a tasty burger.  Remember the whole grain bread, tortilla, or bun.

6.  To complement the turkey burger, you can have 13 fat free Pringles.

7.  Make cole slaw out of splenda, fat free mayo, and mixed cabbage.  I actually like to use either fat free ranch dressing or fat free italian dressing instead of the mayo.  The splenda tops the whole taste – not very much, just enough to make the difference.

8.  2/3’s cup of Kaashi autumn wheat or Cinnamon harvest wheat cereal has plenty of fiber, a tad of sugar, and tastes wonderful dry – leaving the skim milk for a skinny latte.  You can get it either hot or iced at Star Bucks (yes I am a star bucks junkie).

9.  Then there is always the sugar free jello, which with fat free whip is wonderful.  But watch the label.  The Whip might have extra sugar in it.  The best I have found is the Redi Whip fat free in the squirt can.

10.  Summer is great for grilling.  Chicken breast is always a good pick from the grill.  Make sure it wasn’t marinated in a sauce that adds fats or sugars.

There’s my ten – we need your summer tips too – leave them in a comment!

I have been researching and have combined several charts for calories burned per different exercises/activities. I have it put together on a spreadsheet so you can enter your weight and the minutes expended to come up with the calories you burned. Since it is in a spreadsheet, you can put several activities in and it will give you the total calories burned at the bottom of the spreadsheet.

I want to put this as interactive on the web, but I am not sure exactly how to do it. I will figure it out. In the meantime, I am working on getting it down loadable. It should be up in the next day (or two) at Exercise for Fitness. It is in the newer excel version. If you do not have excel or have an older version of excel, you can get the excel viewer for free from microsoft.  Click here.

Keep watching and I will tell you when it is available as interactive online.

I just read an interesting article by – to my surprise – Vincent DelMonte, bodybuilding and personal trainer. The title is All About Fiber. I thought – Bodybuilding and Fiber?????

Vincent says that fiber is essential to a healthy diet – I agree. It promotes a healthy digestive system, and helps in lowering your bad cholesterol levels and therefore helps in the prevention of heart desease. He goes on to say that women who have a higher level of fiber in their diet tend to weigh less.

Further, you should have about 21-28 grams of fiber in your diet a day. If you are not getting enough fiber, increase your intake amount over several weeks to avoid any digestive discomfort.

Soluable fiber, such as that found in oat bran, oatmeal, beans, peas, rice bran, barley, and fruits, plays the role of helping to lower the bad cholesterol levels. Insoluable fiber, found in hole-wheat breads, whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, wheat bran, cabbage, beets, carrots, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and the skin of apples, helps to slow down gastric emptying – thus making you feel fuller – helping you to cut down on your eating and keep the pounds down.

Notice, both types of fiber are needed in your diet. If you do not feel you are getting enough fiber, trying using a soluble fiber in your foods – sprinkled in or cooked in.

Vince’s article is at Weight Workouts are for Teens, Women, and Men.

I was looking around the net to find a good fiber product with both soluble and insoluble fiber. I found this to be a good all round fiber product: Fiber Smart

I am sorry I have been negligent about posting. I do have a couple posts in development, but not ready to published.

Today’s question is: What diets have you tried and how did they work for you?

Mine are:

Akins diet -
stayed on it for the two weeks, lost, it worked. I had my free weekend and managed not to binge. Went on it for another two weeks, lost some more, then had my free weekend. I couldn’t make myself stay on it after
that. The weight did stay off.

Zone Diet - worked in stabilizing my blood sugar so I didn’t have huge drops, did help me to lose. Again, I tired of it and quit

Weight Watchers – got tired of counting, not having a partner to go to meetings with, was not good for me

Vegies and Fruits - mostly raw veggies. Stayed on it for 3 months, lost 30 pounds. Basically Slowly gained through the years after that.

TJ soup - ( Dolly Partons) worked for a few days – I loved the soup. Did lose a few pounds

Mayo Clinic diet – had nothing to do with hospital – again, worked for a short while, then dropped it and pounds came back

Cambridge Diet -
this again was working for me, but after a few days, I started getting nausea. The person selling the diet said I must be sensitive to lactose, so that was the end of that.

Jenny Craig -
I have to say that this is the diet for me. I lost 25 pounds in 3 months without starving, or doing much more than increasing my activity. They have good food, it is packaged in the correct healthy combination of nutrition and calories (fat, sugar, fiber). And I didn’t have to measure, count, or cook. At the weekly check ins (which gave me accountability), they educated me on the problems people face and ways to deal with it – like emotional eating, bingeing, etc. I am ‘taking a break’ for a while to get my motivation and thoughts back in line. I will continue to watch what I eat and increase my activity.

Over the years I have tried many different supplements that supposedly you can take and eat anything you want – and still lose weight. Remember – supplements don’t make you lose weight. Some of them do help you to stay on the diet and may help you lose weight a little faster, but the supplement alone won’t do the job. Calories and exercise – just like Grandma said generations ago.

I know I have started many other diets, I just can’t think of them right now. Which ones have you tried, and what results you have.

I am excited.  That’s me.  I am either excited or level, but I rarely am just pleased.  I love that you are leaving comments and talking.  I believe it helps each one of us on the journey.

Which brings me to a question – is weight loss truly a solitary journey that we must each travel alone, or is it a shared journey?

My thoughts:

It is a solitary journey in that each person has to decide to take the journey.  No one can make the decision to start for you.

The goal is one you must set for yourself.  You can have input by friend, family, professionals.  The ultimate choice of your goal is yours alone.

The planning, the shopping, the ordering at restaurants – that is your choice.  It can be influenced, but these are your choices and your actions.

When to pass a chance to eat, when to stop eating at a meal or snack, when to allow yourself to deviate from your plan, and when to limit your choices – these again are ultimately set by you.

It can be a shared journey – having someone to be accountable to.  Having someone to listen to your struggles and victories and share our joys and our frustrations.  These are benefits of a shared journey.

Having someone to remind you of your goals, your desires, and discuss your choices – whether the choice leads to your goal or drifts from the path – why you made the choice – if you made a choice away from your goal, why did you make that  choice, what can you do next time.  All these things are much easier with a partner or group than on your own.

Having someone to pick you up when you fall that you can be there for when they fall.  Someone to help when they are down.  Someone to discuss technique, food value, track progress, etc.

To rap up a short post, the journey can be solitary, or it can be a combination.  I believe the combination is the best situation.

What are your thoughts on this?

I have heard for years – write it down.  Everything you eat during the day, write it down.  Keep a small notebook (like a 3×5 spiral) in your pocket or purse.  Write down everything you eat.

Write it down.

These words have been ringing in my ears the past few days.  Along with thoughts of ‘cheats’ I have been allowing myself.  And the word ACCOUNTABILITY.  And this was all brought on by a reader who innocently pointed out I have no pattern in my posting dates.   In fact I am adding a calendar in my side bar to
remind me to post every two to three days.

Back to the subject.  If we are on a journey to lose weight, we need to be accountable to ourselves.  We can choose a trusted friend, a weight doctor/counselor, someone we are dieting with, or a family member.  Or we can just be accountable to ourselves.

How can we do this?  That dreaded daily journal.

Why do I call it dreaded?  Because it will not be a true record if we are not truthful – totally truthful.  And once we write down everything we eat, we can’t ignore the cheats any more.  I am one who will cheat with a medium latte when I am only supposed to have a small latte.  Then eat 1/2 a dough nut.  At night, forgetting
my ‘cheats’, I pop some popcorn,  or put a cheese sauce over the broccoli.  Oh – and did I forget to mention grabbing 8 peanut M&M’s at the receptionists desk?

For me to be totally truthful with myself, I need that notebook.  I need to write it down every time I put  something in my mouth – what it is and how much.  This needs to be a habit.  To increase the help, I need to write down what I am feeling at that moment.

How does this help?  It should help me to cut down the ‘cheats’ and to not treat myself 2 or 3 times a day.  By putting down my feelings and what I am doing, I can find eating patterns that can be adjusted.  I learn when I eat for reasons other than actually being hungry.  Having a craving and being hungry are NOT the same thing.

Each day is new, each page is blank.  It is up to me to fill it up.  Do you keep a journal?  how does it help you?

I was invited to guest blog at Weight Loss Articles .  This article was posted yesterday.  I am posting it here again today for those of you who might have missed it.

Before I get into the discussion about choices, I want to review what DIET actually is.  Diet (noun) means the usual food and drink of a person or animal.   That is what diet is.  Now, we have modified it to also mean a regulated selection of foods, as for medical reasons or cosmetic weight loss. Whether you pick the first definition or the second, your Diet is formed by the CHOICES you make.

In going through your day, you first chose to when eat.  Then you will choose what to eat and how it will be cooked, and lastly you choose how much to eat, usually while you are eating.  You choose to stop eating when your plate is empty, when you get full, when your second plateful is empty, etc, etc, etc.

You are quite happily skipping along down the road of life when you come to a bump in the road.  Maybe you look in the mirror, or you have a health problem, or you can’t play with the kids like you used to.  Whatever it was, you make the choice to lose weight.

What is the first thing you do?  In going through your day, you first choose to when eat.  Then you will choose what to eat and how it will be cooked, and lastly you choose how much to eat.  See the pattern???  Our DIET is more about the CHOICES we make, rather  than the food we eat.  The food we eat depends on our choices.

The choice of what diet we will follow should come after studying the types of diet plans available.

1. There are fad diets which are supposed to act quickly, but are to be used for a short period of time.  And usually the weight you lost comes back plus more after you quit.
2. There are pills supposed to make the weight melt off our bodies, again monitored by doctors so you don’t develop the bad side effects.
3. There are balanced diets which avoid too much of certain aspects – such as fats, sugars, and starches – aimed at continued weight loss.

I choose the third group.  Since I have a hard time with portion control – which simply means do not eat too much – I choose a plan that decides the portions for me.  Further, I find that I do not like to measure and count, so I choose a plan that puts the meal together for me.  And I am more likely to eat outside the plan when I am hungry and have to wait for my food, so I choose a plan with a meal ready to go into the microwave.  All of these are my choices, no one is telling me what to do.

When you choose your diet plan, and decide what day to start it, you have made your decision.  Anytime after that point in time you set for yourself, you decision of whether to follow that diet plan or not is already made.  You don’t have to make it every day.  Whenever you ask yourself if you can take a rest or binge or whatever, remind yourself that the decision has already been made.

Does this mean you can never eat anything off your diet plan?  No, what is means that if you choose to eat that marvelous pie that Aunt Dotty makes, it is your choice.  Is it wrong or bad to choose to eat the pie?  Neither.  It is simply a choice.  You can choose to do what will help you along your path to your goal or losing weight or you can choose to do what will turn you around to go the other way for however long you chose to travel that way.  You can choose to eat a small piece in moderation, or the whole pie.  And you choose to stick strictly to your diet for a couple days to offset the deviance, or to up your activity to compensate for the pie choice.  And your next choice will be – return to your choice to lose weight, or give up.  That is another CHOICE – you don’t have to quit the diet plan just because you had a piece of pie.

You have made your diet choice – you have another choice to make.  You have to decide whether you are going to up your physical activity, knowing that to lose weight everyone has to up their physical activity.  In my case, I don’t feel I have a choice of whether to up my activity or not – I don’t lose weight unless I also up my activity.  I do, however, have to choose what type of activity, when I will do the activity, and to what extent.

Now remember – there are no GOOD or BAD CHOICES, but there are choices that will help you reach your goal, and there are other choices which will turn you in another direction.  It is up to you, it is your choice, to Be the Weight You Want – and Stay There (or not).  I hope this thought will help you on your journey to lose, or gain, weight.

What choices do you make?  What changes in your choices do you need to make?

Motivation – that’s a four letter word! Without motivation, no ‘diet’ will work. And what is Diet again? It is the food we eat – whatever it is that we eat. So what do we do for motivation to reach our goal?

1. Because someone we care for is concerned about us, maybe even worried because we are overweight

2. Because we want to look better for our husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, or so our children will not be embarrassed.

3. To have a better image at work and thus be able to progress further in our career.

4. To look like ‘they’ think we should – to be the perfect ‘10? (whatever that is – who decides what is the perfect ‘10? anyway)

Or do we do it for our own fulfillment, for our own betterment such as:

1. For our health – to avoid issues which are linked to being overweight – diabetes, heart disease, knee replacements, etc etc

2. To feel better, have more energy

3. To have a better self-image

4. To have more strength and stamina to keep up with kids, nieces/nephews, grand-kids

5. To be able to take care of ourselves to have a better quality of life when we are older – to not end up in a nursing home

I know through being taught by many weight programs and by proving it myself – if you are dieting to please someone else for whatever reason, such as the first group above, your motivation will run out and your rebellious side will rule the day – and the diet (see post How does Self Control Work in a Diet? ) “I hope this has helped you some in understanding that self-control is not enough to stay on a diet or maintain weight.

However, if you are motivated to lose weight for something YOU want, the diet is much easier to continue. Remember: YOU DESERVE TO BE THE WEIGHT YOU WANT. Do not forget that. It is true. Everyone deserves to be healthy. We normally mean you deserve to lose the weight down to your ‘ideal’ weight. But the same goes for people who are ‘under’ weight.

How do we keep that motivation going?

1. Choose the correct reason to change our weight. If it is something that is good for us, we will be more likely to follow it and we remind ourselves of that reason when we are feeling discouraged. Be sure to do that – write the reason down. Read it when you are discouraged to remind yourself why you started this journey.
2. Keep track of the progress you have made. Not daily – everyone’s weigh wavers from day to day and hour to hour. Weekly is often enough. Track your weight, your clothing sizes, your measurements. I was given a ribbon which was the length of the inches I had lost from my initial starting point.  The measurements were at the bust, at the waist, at the hips, and at the ‘bust. Keep a table record – for example, using the table below my first ribbon would be 8 inches and the second would be 11 inches.  Just looking at the ribbon gives a sense of accomplishment – putting them beside each other also shows the progression for an even better visual of your success.

3. Take a before picture. Put it with your written reason (motivation) for losing the weight. Now, when you get discouraged – look in the mirror. Can you see the difference? The fat that disappeared from the face – the waist line that wasn’t is now starting to be again – the pants that don’t give you a ‘wedgy’ any more.

4. Give yourself a break – don’t scold yourself or call your self names or give up just because you don’t do everything perfectly. Just go a step at a time, a day at a time. If you have a set back, if you binge, don’t let that throw you off course. Don’t give up on your goal. Just keep your goal in mind and keep moving towards it. You do deserve to reach your goal weight and your physical health level. Just shake it off and move on.

5. This last point I am going to put down is the most important to me. Be accountable to some. Get a mentor or best friend who you can talk to – or get on a program like Bristol MD where you have a ‘counselor’ or whatever their title is who you report in to periodically (don’t make it any longer than every other week). Have them help you do the measurements, weigh you, record your progress. They can remind you of your motivation, help you recognize your progress, and be your cheerleader to keep you going. If I did not have my ‘councilor’, I would have given up long before now. I have been on my journey for almost a year. Before I started this ‘diet’ program, I would be lucky to continue on a ‘diet’ for 3 months. Because she won’t give up on me, I am motivated to not give up on myself.

How do you keep the motivation going? Please, leave a comment and share it with us.

1. My car had a flat tire today.
2. All my grand-kids invaded my house today.
3. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed – the other side is my diet side
4. The cat decided to mess in the middle of my bed.
5. Today was red hat day
6. Today was girls out day
7. Today was the big game.  All the guys met at the sports bar to watch it.
8. I have a headache
9. I have a cold
10. I hate salads
11. It was my next door neighbors birthday
12. We had a potluck at the church
13. There were so many leftovers from the holidays, I couldn’t let them go to waste
14. I never have time to eat, I have to go through the drive through.
15. Some one is always bringing donuts or goodies to work.  I can’t hurt their feelings.
16. It was below zero today.
17. It was over 100 today
18. It was raining today
19. My spouse looked at me funny
20. My bathroom scales are broken
21. I lost my pedometer
22. No one cares how I look
23. I always fail, so why try
24. My teeth hurt
25. I have NO will power
26. I can’t control my eating habits
27. I have a hang nail
28. The vacuum broke
29. If I lose weight, I won’t have any clothes to wear.
30. It costs too much to buy healthy foods
31. I am too tired
32. I am too stressed
33. I am too short
34. I am too tall
35. I . .  I. . .I . . oh well, there was another one, but I forgot.

Anyone else have an excuse why not to lose that extra weight?

Wow – that is a big subject, isn’t it.  This being hopefully the end of the flu season, but going into allergy season, we all have a few days when we aren’t filling well.

First thing, when we are sick, we, or at least I, don’t care about my diet or anything else.  Especially if I can’t keep anything down.  So, when we are sick, or getting over it remember:

1.  When you don’t eat your amount of calories per day, your body goes into starvation mode.  That means when you do start to eat, it will start storing food.

2.  If you eat a lot of high carb foods, such as 7-Up or jello, or pudding, or if you eat high fat foods – maybe a good chicken soup, your insulin level will rise which will also tell your body to store food.

So – what can we do?

Remember – the best thing for you in every sickness I can think of is water – pure water.  And you can eat your starches, sugars and fats in moderation.   Do not quit eating, but don’t eat all the junk type food either.  Try to eat as healthy as possible and try to eat your full daily calorie intake.  If you can’t stay on the diet – don’t worry about it and don’t beat yourself up.  Just get well.

After you are feeling better, you need to stick to your diet faithfully for several days.  Make sure you do your daily activity/exercise.  You may find you lost weight during your illness.  To keep it off, or to keep from gaining it back and more, you need to be very faithful to your diet plan.

The main thing is:  Don’t let your sickness throw you off course.  Don’t give up on your goal.  Just keep your goal in mind and keep moving towards it.  You do deserve to reach your goal weight and your physical health level.  Just shake it off and move on.

How does self-control work in a diet? That is such a good question. I always figured the reason my ‘diets’ didn’t work was because I had no self control. Luckily I learned something that explains it.

Let’s look at ourselves. If we have a part of us that is self control, what would be the opposite of that? A part that is rebellious? The part that wants to stay up late if someone says you have to get up early. Or wants to eat a dozen hamburgers if someone says you can’t eat hamburgers on a diet. And on and on. Do you have a rebellious side? I do.

All of this goes back to my post ‘Why do you lose weight?‘ If you lose weight because you want to be healthy OR if you want to feel better about the way you look (if you are truly overweight), you have a much better chance of losing it than if your husband, your boyfriend, your mother, your classmates, etc, think you should use weight.

When you hear the words ‘have to’ or ‘must’, this wakes up your rebellious side. The word ’should’ can trigger it also. Your rebellious side doesn’t like to be forced into a behavior nor to be denied what it likes (say chocolate cake). The more you deny your rebellious side its desires or try to force it to comply, the more the rebellious side fights. The end result is a binge (big or small, it is still a binge).

When you go on a diet for your own good, your rebellious side pauses before it acts. When you eat right because you ‘deserve to’ or because you ‘decide to’, you know that you are in control. It is YOU deciding what you will eat. And you can decide to eat a child’s meal at Mickey D’s, both giving yourself a small break and keeping portions in control. You can drink diet soda with it or water or unsweetened tea.

You can gather low fat recipes and use splenda for the sweetener. Use whole grain flour to make mini pancakes. Add turkey sausage with some sugar free syrup. You can have good tasting meals that satisfy your sweet tooth without all the calories. Your rebellious side will love it, and your self control will approve.

I hope this has helped you some in understanding that self-control is not enough to stay on a diet or maintain weight. I suggest you also read these posts in the blog as they complement and expand this post.

Food and Me – Partners in Everything

Losing Weight: Do ‘Diets’ Work? List of 5 Obstacles to dieting

10 Elements of a Healthy Diet

YOU DESERVE TO BE THE WEIGHT YOU WANT. Do not forget that. It is true. Everyone deserves to be healthy. We normally mean you deserve to lose the weight down to your ‘ideal’ weight. But the same goes for people who are ‘under’ weight.

After you accept that you deserve to lose weight and you want to lose, THEN you can really start taking steps towards that goal. Until then it will probably be an exercise in futility. What do I mean by steps? I mean you don’t have to do it all at once. And you don’t have to lose it all at once. After the initial weight loss from excess water weight, etc, during the first month, the ideal weight loss rate is 1.5 to 2 pounds a week. This is considered a healthy rate.

Fad diets – what can I say? I find that with fad diets we get burned out rather quickly. You might lose weight, but once you get burned out on that food, people tend to binge. Most fad diets deprive your body
of something it needs to be healthy. When you start eating normally again, it grabs the food and stuffs it in storage (fat) as quickly as it can.

Step 1. Ensure you are getting your daily vitamins and minerals, with an extra dose of chromium picolate and zinc. When you add Zinc to your diet, you also need to take copper to balance it. 11 mg of Zinc and .9 mg of Copper a day generally is the recommended daily intake. Chrome is available very inexpensively in Chromium Picolate – normally in 200 mcg tablets for weight loss. Both of these minerals help your body to eliminate the excess fat.

As a side effect, they also help your immune system. It seems unreal that people are not buying out the Zinc and Chromium Picolate at the stores!! I guess it remains an unknown secret – even though Chromium Picolate is in a lot of ‘diet’ compounds and Zinc is in cough drops. You might want to ask your doctor or pharmacist how much they would recommend you take.

Step 2. Start cutting down on your sugar, starch, and fat intake along with upping your intake of non-starchy vegetables. If you want something sweet, eat a fruit – usually 3 a day is a good limit to put on yourself. I weaned myself from Coke a Cola by drinking peach tea and raspberry ice by Crystal light and also available in generic brands. Now when I want a sweet drink, I open a Coke Zero (vanilla or cherry or mixed). It is amazing how quickly I was able to satisfy my sweet tooth with those drinks. I also was able to become accustom to the sugar substitutes. Later I discovered a brand of pop cycle which is sugar free and 15 calories day.

Cutting out French fries and fast foods was a little harder for me, but I did it. I even was able to pass by the donut box at work without grabbing one.

Step 3. Get started increasing your daily physical activity. Park a block or two away from work and walk to the building. Take your dog for a walk around the block. Play basket ball or tag with your kids. Turn on your DVD or CD player and dance/move to your favorite music. When you go shopping, park in the far corner. All of this will increase your activity.

After you get going, you start to feel physically better. It is easier for me to ‘diet’ when I start feeling physically better – which makes me feel better about myself. I get a sense of accomplishment. And I really start to believe that I deserve to lose that extra weight to be a healthier, happier me.

The diet plan that works for me is not just a daily menu, but a lifestyle. It does deal with the food eaten in any given day, but also deals with the mind and body.

We all know that when we diet we have to exercise to get it to really work. OK – diet? Diet is that food we do eat all the time.  What good is it to lose the extra pounds only to gain them back? And is dieting for looks enough? Not in my book. In fact, I would rather be healthy – and I will take the better appearance as a good side effect – I am not stupid!!

Most of us that are over weight, and I mean over over weight, not just a few pounds, have some issues to deal with. We need to adjust our self-image, change our thinking about food, and find other ways of comfort, enjoyment, and fulfillment.

Now, if you combine all of that with PORTION CONTROL you will lose weight.  One of my problems is I have no portion control, at least not all the time.  There is a great program NutriSystem which gives you help with all those aspects, plus is the ultimate in convenience. Who has time to fix those fancy low fat, low sugar meals and snacks?

This is not an ad for NutriSystem as such. I really believe everything I have written here. I have all those problems myself and have lost 25 of the 100 pounds I have to lose. I lost them in a three month time period.

I have found that NutriSystem is convenient, good tasting, and works.  They have several plans to fit many unique requirements. See my NutriSystem review page.

As I was ’stumbling’ through the web today, I ran across a banner that caught my interest:

I decided to investigate and here is what it said:

“has just release what many are calling the end of the need for potentially harmful weight-loss drugs and designer foods made to help you lose weight. Dr Suzanne’s discovery allows anyone regardless of their particular diet to do “just one simple thing” and instantly start shedding anywhere from 15 lbs to
as much as 200 lbs of unwanted and dangerous fat!”

It goes on to say:

“Dr Suzanne discovered that harmful crusty “plaque” builds up over the years in all of us – and which is the direct result of harmful chemicals, preservatives, pesticides, etc. deliberately placed in perhaps every food on the market . . . . The result: This harmful plaque is responsible for your weight gain because is BLOCKS your body’s natural ability to absorb proper nutrition – and which causes two (2) chief things to occur:

>> Your body starves no matter how much you eat – so by not feeling satisfied you continue to stuff your face and get very very fat (and eventually at the permanent cost of your health!)

>> Your body thinks it’s starving so your ‘hypothalamus’ adjusts your metabolism to burn food much, much slower in an effort to store food – thus making you even more and more fatter than even before!

. . . As if this ‘plaque’ goop weren’t enough, Dr Suzanne identified multitudes of specific species of “parasites” (i.e., little worm-like “critters” – some which have ‘fangs’ but no eyes) living inside nearly 99.964% of all people’s small and large intestines in the United States alone, and about 92.36% of people on average worldwide.” and it goes on.

And it says the results: “fall nothing short of the truly FANTASTIC!” and that “it doesn’t require a major change in either your lifestyle or diet.”

If you click on the link below (takes you to a new page), you can hear more of what she has to say. I think it is very interesting. I do believe that we have tons of stuff in our bodies that are not supposed to be there (toxins and goop) so this is plausible. I plan to buy it myself and see just what it is. After that I can write a review.

Lady Doctor Blows the Lid Off of the World’s Most TOP SECRET Fat Loss Secret!

If you buy it or have ever tried it, will you please come back and leave a comment so
we will know how it worked for you? Let’s work together to research these diet plans.

Food, exercise, portion control, activities, water, and on and on. All these things contribute to whether we maintain our weight or lose more or gain more. The amount of food, the type of food, when we eat, what physical activity we get – we all know these are important.

If we want to lose weight, we must have the right relationship with food. Does that sound funny? It did to me the first time I heard it – a relationship with food? Then I started thinking – what was my relationship with food? It comforted me when I was sad. It gave me an outlet when I was mad. It kept me company when I
was lonely. It gave me something to do when I was bored. And it celebrated with me when I was happy. Yep, that is definitely a relationship!

What should my relations