Paying attention

I had to attend a "work" function last evening that included hors d'eorvers and dinner.
I intentionally skipped the appetizers so tht I would eat a good dinner.
Problem: the dinner was lousy! I'm a plain eater: no spices, I hate pepper, I like good ole' american fare.
The dinner choices should all have been good, but there were soooooooooo many weird ingredients in the meat and chicken, that I went back to the appetizer table and ate those instead.Not a good choice. The appetizers probably had more calories and fat than the dinner combined.
I figured i might get a decent dessert taste out of all this, but no.\Dessert was a concoction called: mango and coconut mousse topped with a gooseberry.
What the hell is a gooseberry? when it came tot the table it looked like a tomatillo! And the whole thing was wrapped in fudge, so I couldn't have eaten it anyway!
Bad night out indeed.
Next time I will research the dinner options with more care and plan accordingly - like eat dinner before I go!!

The End?

So, it's my 50th birthday today. The goal was to lose 50 pounds by now.
I lost 17.
I still have 33 to go until the end of the year.
I guess 33 isn't as daunting feeling as 50 was, but it still has been a struggle.
Every ounce is a struggle. I've been going to the gym 4-5 times per week for the past month. I've followed the weight loss plan - most days - as closely or as perfectly as I could.\
I read an article a while back that claimed every body has a set point where it's happy being at that weight.
My body must feel glorious! because it likes this weight I am now REALLY A LOT!!
So, I will keep plugging along, trying to lose ounces. I am no longer thinking in pounds because that just seems too difficult for my body to actualize. Ounces seems more realistic.
A few things have fallen from this journey, tho, that are good. I am definitely eating BETTER and HEALTHIER foods. I have returned to the gym so I am now getting set exercise. I feel I have a better grasp of what my body needs in terms of nutrients, and what it doesn't : white flour, sugar, fried foods, preservative laden foods. My hair and nails look great because of all the protein I now get.
So all in all it has been a DIFFICULT journey but one that will continue. I will check in periodically, esp when I get new food info to pass along. Please keep following my progress because I really do do better when I have eyes watching me.
Happy Birthday to me!!

OBESE

So I have the bloodwork of a ten year old, but am still classified as OBESE.
I can't catch a break for loosing!

Wellness checkup

So I went for my 20/20 wellness checkup today.
Weight was 5 pounds more than my scale at home; waist circumference was at least an inch more than I measure.
They had my bp at 120/80 when it routinely runs 90/60.
Lets hope my bloodwork turns out correctly!
I swear, if I am classified as OBESE again this year I am going to spit. Far and heavily!
I will have my blood work results by tomorrow, everything else in a week or two, so I'le tyou know the classification.\
God, this is humiliating. I wish they could use my measurements and my scale for their values. Its so much more friendly to me.
Anyway, once the values are in I have to fill out this HUGE questionnaire and when that's done, I get to receive my $ 75.00 "present." I can use it towards membership in health gym or to get new sneakers at the local shoe empoirum.
haven't decided which I'll do yet.
Pray for me!!

The Mall

So, I went shopping yesterday for the first time in a long time just for me.
I figured since I started this journey, I might as well see if the clothing dept. had anything new in a SMALLER size for me nowadays.
The most shocking thng to me, other than the poor quality of what passes for fashion these days, is that my feet GREW a half size! I went from a ridiculously large 8.5 up to a 9!
WTF!
DIsregarding the lousy clothes for a minute, WTF!
I have HUNDREDS of pairs of shoes in an 8.5. What am I supposed to do with them now? It's one thing to discard clothing that doesn't fit, BUT SHOES!
I LOVE MY SHOES! That;s always been my go-to item for making me feel better. It's an old fashioned cliche, but truw: fat girls loves makeup and accesoories: bags, SHOES! etc. Because you are never too fat not to wear makeup or have fab accessories.
Call me Imelda anytime! I LOVE MY SHOES!
IS there a weight loss program aimed at feet?

Somethings I really didn't know

1. Diabetes TRIPLES a woman's odds of developing heart disease.
2. Women with diabetes are more likely to die from heart disease than diabetic men are.
3. WOmen with diabetes are at a higher risk because of high blood pressure, lower HDL ( the good cholesterol), and more abdominal fat.
Was there ever a better reason to lose weight, do sit ups and get in shape??
Let's see: I'm a woman, almost 50, with a lot of belly fat.
Granted, I don't have diabetes.
Yet.
And I am doing my damnedest NOT to develop it.
Sits up: there a good thing.

MORE news

This must be the month for magazines to publish blood values,.
MORE magazine's May 2010 issue has an article titles HOW TO LIVE HEALTHY LONGER.
IT not only lists more blood values you should have checked ( ie If Your waist circumference is over 35 it is danger sign for women) and stats ( 1600 is th enumber of calories that the average woman should eat per day to maintain a healthy weight), but it also lists strategies to curb bad behavior, like eating magnesium rich foods to combat memory loss and the ancillary vitamins you need just to maintain your health.
It's worth reading.
The line that stood out to me the most is the following:
"80% of heart attacks in women are attributed to unhealthy habits - filling up on fat laden food, carrying around excess weight, being a couch potato and smoking."
The way I interpret this statement is that 80% of women could prevent heart attac ks from happening if they, a: stop eating crap; b: got up off their butts and exercised, and c: STOP SMOKING.
80%.
That's 4 in 5 women who have had heart attacks- they could have been prevented just by changing a few simple things.
WOmen can rule the world with information like this. Pass it on to every woman you know and encourage them to read the article.
More to come. ( get it?! MORE to come?!)

Clicking

Okay, so I got on the stairmaster at the gym and lo and behold: I clicked.
Every single time my legs went in the rotation, clickclickclick!
Lucikly, I was the only person in the workout room at the time, so I was saved from embarrassement, because the clicking was LOUD.
Tornado-sounding loud!
I figured out that my body does not like that go-around motion, kind of like the rotation your legs make when they ride a bike, only this is stationary on the stairmaster machine. SO then I tried the climbing machine, which looks like a small staircase that keeps revolving up and down so that you have to continuously climb stair.
Guess wht?
Yup!
CLICKCLICKCLICK.
I'm telling you ,machinery hates me!
Oh well, I'll stick with the treadmill for now.
I only pant on that from being out of breath. No clicking.

Exercise

SO I got discharged from physical therapy yesterday because I've been doing great with the exercises they gave me, and I've been back tot he gym 10 out of 12 days. Both go hand in hand in helping me with my hip pain and my ability to be mobile again.
So all this exercise SHOULD start to show soon, wouldn't you think??
My clothes feels the same. I can't really tell if they LOOK the same, but they don't feel tight and that'sa very good thing.
After work this morning I'm off to the gym again to do my regular routine: treadmill for 30 and then all the strength machines.
I am planning on trying the stairmaster for the first time in a great long while.
The last time I wa son it my hips were clicking so badly with each rotation that the lady next to me thought the machine was broken!
No, Honey. That's the sound my hips make when they are forced to do something they would rather not do.
So wish me luck with that.
I'll let you know if I still make noise!!

Enough about the gym!

The title says it all.

There's a great article in this month's REAL SIMPLE magazine called "Numbers to Live by."

It details all the blood values and ranges that are important for you to feel and be healthy.

For instance, a normal healthy blood sugar (glucose ) fasting would be 99 mg/dl. The range used to be anywhere between 80 and 120, but now a standard 99 is perfect. Your total cholesterol should be below 200.

A healthy Body Mass index should be between 18.5 and 24.9, Anything higher is considered obese.

Ugh!

To view all the values, reference the current Real Simple Magazine.

As a woman who is almost 50 the standard recommendations are to get your blood values checked yearly. Comparing the values between years will help target any problem areas that can be dealt with quickly and completely. A yearly mammogram is recommended as well.

Now I go for my yearly values on May 4. Last year I was told I was obese ( based on BMI) at my Wellness check. This year I better not be told that or I will literally bust a gut!!

I'll let you know.

More about the GYM

So I'm going again today after work.
This week I went monday, tuesday, wednesday, took thursday off, then last night and again today.
Now the questions I ask myself are : is this helping? Do I feel leaner? Do I look smaller? Do I feel like I have more energy?
1. Do I feel leaner: no
2. DO I look smaller: I don't think so
3. DO I feel likeI have more energy? NO, I'm EXHAUSTED!!
SO, is this going to the gym helping me in any way??
Probably, I just can't see/feel it yet.
So I will keep going and let you know what happens.
Pray for me and my joints!!

The GYM

Most of you know I hate going to a gym. I do it, but I hate it.
Not because I hate to exercise, which my better half believes.
But the GYM itself is what I find upsettling.
Many sweating men.
Many sweating, smelly men.
Many overweight smelly, sweaty men who think they are Brad Pitt!
This just plain repulses me to see.
Then there are the diva girls. The ones who wear skin tight second skins to exercise in, their toned butts non-jiggling away on the treadmills and stairsteppers, who are in full makeup, hair and perfume.
The perfumes are almost as bad as the sweaty man smells.
ALmost, but not quite.
And I can never watch what I want to watch on the tv. IF I didn't get to it first, the first person to turn the channel will lay claim to the remote, watching stupid shows on the Food Channel.
Really? In a gym when you're trying to LOSE weight? You want to watch a baking tourment?
I much prefer exercising in the privacy of my home. My television channels are my own to choose; since I don't sweat, I don't stink, so the smells are lovely'; and I don't have to get dolled up in skin tight clothing that enhances my bulgies.
Of course it's a lot easier NOT to exercise at home too. I can always find an excuse to put it off: the laundry needs to be done; the litter box changed'; the porch dusted.
So going to the gym is a much better option if I really do want to exercise.
I just hate the GYM so much!

The value of exercise

So I went back to the gym.

I know: I can't believe it either.

Being away this weekend and using the gym in the hotel really pushed me to go back. I haven't been in the gym since last fall. I hurt my back and it just got too easy not to go back once I felt better. The gym at the hotel was chock full of the machines I like in a gym, so I felt good using them and that endorphin rush continued once I got back home. So I went last night after work and then again this morning.

I'll admit, I'm a little sore in places I haven't been sore in in a while, but it feels like a good sore; a worthwhile sore; a beneficial sore.

I also just found out I am a finalist in the Robert Ferguson 8 week weight loss challenge that ended last Tuesday!! Now God knows, I will not win anything, but I am thrilled to even be considered. After I got the email I had to write a 500 word essay on how the challenge helped me.

That was super easy.

So say a quick prayer for me the something comes from this.

And even if it doesn't, I am still plugging along and doing everything I am supposed to.

Vacationing and Eating

It's very difficult, I have found, to stick to a regime of good eating when you are away from your comfort zone - namely your house!
While in Boston this past weekend, I did great for breakfast and my first snack. But lunch and dinner were another story.
Although I didn't go hog wild and eat everything not nailed down, I did breaka few Ferguson rules.
1. I didn't eat every 2-3 hrs and because of this, when 3pm came around I was absolutely starving - something I'm not supposed to be because when I am starving, my insulin levels go all wacky. So, we were in a bar in boston waiting to take a brewery tour and I wanted a bowl of soup. They were out of the soup of the day so I had chicken tenders.
Fried chicken tenders.
Poor choice, but everything on the menu was fried. So my decision to eat something - antyhing at that point - was somewhat valid.
For dinner we went to PF Chiangs, a super chinese food restaurant,
Yup. Chinese food.
Most of that cuisine if wok fried.
It may be in a wok, but baby, it's still fried in the end!
I had cashew and almond chicken. Lots of veges - even tho they were coated in sauce, and some - I assume - wok fried chicekn pieces.
No the best choice I know. I could have had something vegetarian, but hey - I hadn't been out for a while and wanted something good.
No dessert - which was a good thing and then we walked back to the hotel whichw as baout a mile and chang,e so I didn't feel too bad.
I realize that I can't bring all my food for an entire trip every time I go somewhere, so I really need to start making much better choices.
next trip to boston I'm having something really healthy.
Like LOBSTER!!

Vacationing and exercizing

I'm in Boston this weekend for a quickie vacation and I went down to the fitness center in the hotel this am, hoping to get a good workout in before we start seeing the sights today and visiting with family. The place was packed.

I was able to get a treadmill next to the HUMONGOUS woman who was running on her own treadmill. She was there before me, I walked for 30 minutes, and she was still running when I left.

I'm not kidding when I say this chick topped out at about 300. She was sweating, panting, and the fat was jumping up and down, but DAMN! She could go.

I was so jealous, I can't even begin to tell you.

Got me thinking: even if someone is VERY overweight or even morbidly obese, can they still be physically FIT? I started talking to the lady - because you all know I'll talk to anyone anytime anyplace - and said, "I'm impressed! I wish I could run like you but I have bad knees."

She smiled and said she run on the treadmill 5 days a week for up to an hour and a half.

Now remember, she was HUGE! I wanted to ask her how long she'd been doing it but she beat me to the punch. She said she's been doing this for over six months and feels great. Her cholesterol level has gone down as has her blood pressure.

I congratulated her and asked if she had lost any weight, because remember: she was HUGE!

She smiled and said no, because she still eats all her favorite foods, just exercises.

I thought this sounded really crazy, because the basic laws of physics would tell you that if she is moving soooooooo much, even with eating, she should have lost weight.

Was she selling me a line of bull? I don't know, but she certainly had it on me in the endurance department!

So, I'm plugging along, getting some exercise when I can, and continuing to eat well.

Even on vacation!

All or nothing

One of my beautiful sisters-in-law says of diets "I'm either all in or nothing."
She means that if she starts a diet, she is totally committed to that diet or she won't do it.
It's really not a bad philosophy when you think about it.
When I started the Ferguson plan in january I was TOTALLY and COMPLETELY commited. I did everything I was told to do, ate what I was commanded to eat and exercised as instructed. Somewhere along week eight I started to get tired of it all.
I still TRIED to eat my 3 foodloversfatplates daily along with my two snacks. I drank more than the detailed amounts of liquids. But my motivation somehow waned and I couldn't get back on total track.
I think I realize now why.
Even though I was commited, it wasn't exactly for the long haul.
All in or nothing.
I didn't get that straight in my head. I guess I thought the 50 pounds would melt off the minute I started eating correctly.
Wrong.
I guess I thought a few months of behavior modificiation would last a lifetime.
Wrong.
I guess I wasn't all in or nothing.
Correct.
Tonight starts another Ferguson 8 week challenge on his website. I am registered and I am committed.
Totally.
Long haul commited.
I still have a significant amount of weight that needs to go bye-bye.
Like everything else in life, you need to practice to make something perfect.
My weightloss is not perfect yet.
But I am all in or nothing.

Post holiday thoughts

Easter has come and gone and I survived unscathed diet-wise. Since I don't have little ones in the house anymore, I have no need to buy Easter baskets laden with chocolate goodies. That's a plus for me.

Dinner was healthy and not overbearing.

SO my thoughts now are turning to post-Easter things, like now that the weather is warming - yes, even here in the northland! - Layers will be coming off pretty soon, and in some areas, already are. I've seen kids around town already sporting shorts and flip-flops.

I haven't bought shorts in years and am a littler terrified of doing so.

And forget a bathing suit. I haven't had one in over ten years at least.

Just the thought that I have to go to the store and TRY them on is enough to give me agita.

I am going to do it this year,tho. I think I have to. For too long, way too long, I have hidden behind voluminous, caftan-y like tops, and stretch pants have been a fashion staple in my wardrobe. These are my comfort clothes. Just like we all have comfort foods, I have comfort clothes. Those looks that make me look older and rounder than I really am just so that my fat rolls are hidden.

I finally realize this: who am I kidding? Those fat rolls are not hidden, they are shown off to all their lousy glory by the clothing choices I make.

I would absolutely love to be on WHAT NOT TO WEAR because I know they would have a field day with me. The learning curve for me is GREAT here. I need to learn how to dress NOT to make me look fatter, but to show off my assets ( If I have any!) and to hide my junk. Which I have a lot of!

If anyone knows the producers of that show - send them my name and this blog!!

I can use help.

Any and all the help I can muster.

Another Holiday

Easter is tomorrow and as a Catholic I should be fasting.
As a Robert Ferguson follower, I can't.
I didn't want to anyway. Fasting makes me hungrier, and grouchy, and just plain miserable.
I still find it hard to beleive for DECADES I starved myself, fasting a great deal and still never lost any weight.
I really wish SOMEONE had told me years ago that you need food to keep you going; that depriving your body was really not going to do anything good for your weight, and that the moment you put anything into your mouth after fasting/starving, you were going to gain it all back in a heartbeat.
It sure would have saved me decades of agony and angst.
So, even though I consider myself a good Catholic, I will not be fasting this Easter season ( which BTW is over tomorrow!) I will be eating well and healthily.
Veggies, proteins, and good carbs.
Happy, Healthy Easter.

Something that makes you go "hmmmm??!"

On Kirstie Alley's show last week she asked her daughter, "Do you only eat when you're hungry?" TO which her lovely daughter replied, "yes." Kirstie gave her a quizzical look and said, "what a concept!"
That's exactly the way I feel!
I DO eat when I'm not hungry. I eat because I "want" something. I'm bored. I'm lonely. I want junk.
I'm everything but hungry!
What a concept. To eat ONLY when you feel hunger. I don't think I've done that in, well, 50 years. I've been thinking about this ebcause I ate lunch an hour ago and I just "want "something sweet, like chocolate, about now. I'm antsy about it too. I have a snak for my appropriate snak time in another hour, but I just want something NOW!
What to do? I could go for a walk, but that would take my mind off of it for about a half a minute. I could eat something, give in to the craving, but that would defeat the purpose of trying to lose weight and would make me depressed that I once again "Failed" to control myself.
I wish there was a pill or a shot or SOMETHING that woudl take away cravings and thoughts of eating.
I would love to live in a world where for just one day I didn't even think about eating something. I would go through the entire day and only think about food when I was hungry.
What a world; nirvana.
All this talk about not eating is making me hungry.

Choices

Most of you know that I don't drink alcohol. This is a personal choice based on events that unfolded in my childhood.

Enough said about that.

Tonight on the Robert Ferguson teleconference he made the point that putting certain foods in your mouth ( body) is a choice. To whit - you KNOW you shouldn't eat that 6 pack of Twinkies, but you do because you have made the choice to. A conscious, personal, free choice.

Having made that choice you need to live with the consequences - again to whit- excess weight caused by the fat and crap in the Twinkies!

I never ever thought about it that way - that eating to excess, or eating something BAD for you -is a personal choice.

You DON'T have to eat it. It isn't calling your name, or forcing you to pick it up. You have made the free choice to eat it and must live with the effect of that choice.

Let's look at it this way: you NEED to eat to survive. That's a fact. If you don't eat, eventually you will die.

But you don't NEED to overeat to survive. You need a certain base of calories each day to keep you walking around on the planet. Anything extra that isn't burnt off will store and we all know it stores as fat.

So if you eat the correct amount of calories your body needs to just walk around daily, you will maintain your weight. IF you eat less, you will lose. If you eat more, you will gain.

That's kind of simple math, isn't it!

So, if I MAKE the choice NOT to eat something I don't NEED, I can control my weight.

So starting here and now I make the choice NOT to overeat. I make the CHOICE not to eat junkfood.

I make the choice to lose the excess I don't need.

Choice. It's a good thing.

Post Weekend

I survived the weekend and didn't overeat.
Yippie!
Back to work today and structure. I love it.
TV Chef Jamie Oliver has a new show on ABC about getting this country's kids healthy and moving. I watched a clip of it over the weekend and it wasn't bad. 99 % of the kids in this town that has been called the fattest and unhealthiest in America couldn't identify simple vegetables when shown them. They didn't know what a potato looked like right from the ground, having always eaten mashed ones with gobs of butter and salt. Forget eggplants and artichokes. These kids didn't even know what real lettuce looked like.
I felt bad for them and angry at their parents, esp when 99% of THEM were mobidly obese and setting their kids up for the same life.
In a town where EVERYTHING gets fried, including Twinkies, this is a small microcosm of what this country has become. A country of over indulgent, overeating, obese, out of shape and unhealthy citizens.
Fat knows no political parties, gender or nationality. It's basic math for all: if you put more in than you need and don't use the excess, it turns to FAT, plain and simple.
So Jamie is trying to do what Michelle Obama is trying to do and get our kids to push away the tatter tots for colored veges and fruits; put the Ipod down and get outside and play; get moving; get healthy.
When I was kid NO ONE but me sat home and watched TV after school or on weekends. The kids in my neighborhood were outside, skipping, jumping, running and BURNING calories. I was at home with the tv as my only friend and boxes of Entenmann's chocolate donuts to keep my company.
Kids now sit at their computers in their rooms all day and night, typing away. The only thing on their bodies that gets exercise is their fingers from all the keystrokes. No wonder they are the fattest generation in history.
No wonder they are the unhealthiest generation of all time.
No wonder theirs is the first life expectancy that will be less than their parents.
This is and should be a national disgrace.
Do something good for mankind today: if you see a kid encourage him to DO something physical; ask him to put down the Drake's cakes and forgo the sugared sodas.
Make his life better.
He WILL thank you one day. He WILL - hpefully -live long enough to thank you.

Weekends

Why is it that the weekends are always the hardest for dieting?

At least for me.

During the week I have a lot of STRUCTURE. I get up, go to work all day, come home to exercise and then go to bed.

I can keep on track without any real problems.

But on the weekends, when I have more time on my hands, I've also realized I have more time to EAT FOR NO REASON other than I'M BORED!

I can only exercise SO much so I need other mind-controlling things to do.

I've been reading a lot, but that kind of always make me want to snack.

I've been exercising, but that only makes me hungrier!

On the weekends I need to do all the things I can't do during the week due to work obligations, such as grocery shop - there's a diet buster for you! - laundry, ironing, cleaning the house, etc.

After a while, I just want to eat something to break up the tedium.

I realize this is a big problem, because boredom, tedium, whatever name you give to it is definitely a diet killer.

I KNOW I need to keep journaling on the weekends;

I KNOW I need to keep on track with proteins, fast and slow carbs.

I KNOW I need to keep exercising - this is actually getting easier, thank you Jesus!

I know all these things and I still want a cookie.

Does this ever get easier? Will I EVER not want to eat junk?

AM I just being a baby? Shouldn't I do what I tell everyone else to do and just SUCK IT UP! Get on with the program and stop obsessing about what I can and can not eat; GROW UP even!

Okay, that felt better.

Sometimes you just have to yell at yourself to break thru the crap.

Okay, going for a walk now. That will help.

Michelle's influence

Politics and political parties aside, you really gotta admire Michelle Obama. She has made the eradication of childhhod obesity a goal of her and her husbands' administration. They might not attain the goal while in office, but if things keep going the way they have recently, I beleive we can eradicate in my lifetime.
Case in point:
Kraft food has already made the committment to cut the salt in their processed foods by 10% in the nest 2 years.
Now, PepsiCo, Inc, the makes of Pepsi and Frito lay chips has set 2 goals for the next 10 years: they want to cut the average added sugar per serving of their sodas by 25 % and the saturated fat per serving by 15 %. They will also add more whole grains, fruits, veges, and low fat dairy products to their choices.
Mrs Obama has asked the nation's largest food makes to step up and make their food with less fat, salt and sugar. The future of our children's health is at stake. The current generation of 10 years olds is the first generation is hundreds of years that has, at present, a lower life expectancy than their parents.
I am sooooooooooooo happy my daughter is a vegetarian!

Girlfriends

Last night I had the chance to go out to dinner with my three bestest friends. We had dinner at a really nice pub and - yes - I did fine. Had a great spinach salad, a few corn chips and some well deserved chocolate.

As it usually does with women, the conversation at one point turned to eating, dieting, body image, aging skins, all those female type thoughts. Now you all know I suffer terribly with body image and self esteem issues related to my weight. But what I found out from these three gorgeous, talented, successful and THIN women was that I am not alone in my issues. It seems that even women whose body types I aspire to, have "issues" at times with how they look.

Amazing! Got me to thinking: is this our culture, a result of the diet and youth obsessed media, or is it just normal for all of us to feel a little "low" sometimes?

You can't watch tv, open a magazine or even a newspaper these days without seeing ads for diet programs, anti-aging skin care, gyms. The thought you get while watching these or reading them is that you are not good enough the way you are and you NEED to change. It's like a mind game being played on us. Use this cream and your skin will feel better; join this gym and get those abs you really desire; try this diet plan and be the thinnest you've ever been.

I kind of realized I really don't need to be told all that by strange advertisors.

I have my girlfriends to discuss those life things with. Their advice and support and kind words are more productive and supportive to me than any diet plan, skin cream or gym equipment.

Going out to dinner : $30.00

New blouse I bought for it: $ 25

Girlfriends: PRICELESS

Why lose weight?

I listened to a replay of last week's Robert Ferguson 8 weight food challenge teleconference today and he posed a question to everyone listening : why lose weight? What is the single most important motivating factor for you to lose the excess weight and keep it off for good?
For me it's simple. At almost 50 I do not want to go through the second half of my life overweight, out of shape, depressed because of it, and unhealthy. I replay those reasons in my mind every day to motivate myself to keep going.
Has it been tough?
YOu betcha!
Have I fallen off the wagon?
Yes sirree!!
Is it necessary that I do this?
Yesyesyesyesyes!
DO I know I can do this?
Absolutely. IT just takes planning, patience, perserverance and a willingness to FINALLY change.
At almost 50 I KNOW I can do this.
Pray for me and get others to prayer for me too!
I need a weightloss prayer chain going on for me.

A great day.

I had a great day today, foodwise. I was hungry when I was supposed to be; ate what I was supposed to eat when I was supposed to eat it; and I exercised.
A great day.
But I have to admit, it was work. Writing everything down in my journal; planning all the meals; lugging all my food to work with me, including my beverages; having my journal on me at all times.
It requires a great deal of planning and preparation and work to lose weight.
It really is just so much easier to eat what you want when you want.
And that, at its core, is the reason why it's easier to gain weight than lose it!
Lightbulb moment, folks.
When I journal the food I eat, I get to see a snapshot of what my calories and distribution of carbs and protein are. If I just eat what I want when I want with no recording of it, I never know where I am caloriewise or with correct foods. This makes a HUGE difference in how fast and how much I lose weight.
Whenever I have recorded every morsel that has gone into my mouth, I actually OWN the food I've eaten. If I don't journal, it's very easy to just "forget" the foods I ate, including the crappy ones, and make like I never even ate them.
How many ways can you say "Denial?"
Get it?
Okay, Another great day tomorrow! I'm "Planning" for it.

Salt, Part II

I think everyone who knows me knows I like salt on food.
A LOT of salt!
So when KRAFT foods announced yesterday it was cutting their salt induction in food by 10 % over the next two years, I was actually happy. Do't get me wrong: I'm NOT giving up salt. My blood pressure routinely is 90/60 and my ankles never swell.
But it is beleived that Americans as a whole consume too much salt. And overuse of sodium has been linked to diseases such as high blood pressure, stroke, kidney disease and as a precursor to heart disease in general.
In a study published by The Standord University Center for Health Policy, it is estimated that reducing salt by 10 % can eliminate approx. 500,000 heart attacts and year in addition to over 500,00 strokes between the ages of 40 and 85.
Imagine the savings, not only in actual lives, but in Health care costs as well.
I'm sure most of us know someone who has hypertension, or diabetes. Their doctors routinely tell them to eliminate table salt to control their diseases. But even people who don't add any extra salt to their food are still in danger of taking in too much sodium.
It's in everything as a preservative, food addtitive, seasoner, and it's even in contact lens solutions.
I've said this before but it bears restating: be a label detective.
Read the labels, table of ingredients, and nutritional facts on all food items you buy that aren't in their natural states. Obviously some foods contain more salt than others just natually. Bacon and pork products come to mind. But all processed foods have salt in them as well, either as a seasoning, preservative, or additive. READ the labels. The US Dietary Guidelines recommend that the general population consumme no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium ( or 1 teaspoon of table salt) Just as an example, Progesso Light and Healthy Soup has 680 mg of sodium, 1/4 of what you need in a day. If you add some salt to it for taste ( and beleive me, needs it!) you're probably already at the max for the day.
Next time you are in the produce aisle of the market, get a gander at the sodium in a package of OScar Meyer bologne, or any deli ham that's processed.
You may switch to peanut butter and jelly for your lunchs from then on!
In all seriousness, watch the salt. You may not have a problem now, but you never know what the future may bring, and YES, I'm listening to my own advice.

Salt

I never do two posts in one day, but this news was too good not to pass on. Kraft foods has decided to reduce the use of salt in its foods sold IN the US by 10 % over the next 2 years. This could eliminate more than 10 milion pounds of salt from some of the most popular foods in the US, like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.
This is HUGE for the food industry!
Tomorrow's post will definitly be on salt and my love affair with it!

The taste of things...

So I went to a wonderful retirement dinner last night that I made the goodbye cake for. Soft french vanilla cake, with chocolate moouse filling and buttercream frosting. I was soooooooooooooooooo looking forward to having a piece because I haven't had cake in soooooooooooooooooo long. When it came time to dole out the cake, I heard everyone "MMMMMM-ing" when they ate their pieces.
I was disappointed.
It actually didn't taste as good to me as cake has tasted in the past and I was worried the cake was lousy! But everyone else ate every piece, so I have no worries about that.
Have my sweet taste buds changed since I've been on this plan, was my first question. Since I don't indulge in tons of cake and candy anymore, has my desire and natural taste for things like this gone?
It's a double edged sword question, because I'd like to think that if my taste buds HAVE changed, that maybe the weight maintenance won't be so hard. I had the craving for the cake all week but when reality hit, I was not thrilled. This may bode well for my future.
On the other hand, if my taste buds HAVE changed, does that mean that other food will no longer be appealing - food that I should be eating like fruit that's sweet, or sauces.
We'll have to see what the future of my taste buds holds.
Here's a funny side story. Recently I had a conversation with one of my beautiful sisters-in law and she posed this question: if you could be told the exact date and time you would die, would you want to know? I said "yes!" immediately and she asked me why.
My response:" If I knew exactly when I was going to die I would stop dieting immediately and eat everything in every portion that I wanted, because it wouldn't make any difference in the long run to my health or how I looked.."
If that's not screwed up diet thinking I don't know what is!!

Fiber,Fiber,Fiber

I feel like I'm a nutritionist-wannabe! But here's some more foodie news that I think is worthwhile.
Researches from Tufts Universtity ( not exactly a slacker institution, so they must know that of which they speak!) analyzed the diet habits of a random 434 people. They found that those people who ate three servings of whole grains daily - mainly from morning cereals - had lower body mass indexes that those who didn't. Roughly 25.4 to 27.3. These people also had about 5% less fat around their bellies.
Whole grains are typically very fiber rich, so the researchers figure that the fiber in the cereal may pump up digestive hormones, which improve your sensativity to insulin, which in turn leads to reducing the amount of fat your store - esp. in the middle region of your body. The moral of this is that if you eat fiber rich foods, esp. whole grains in bread, cereals, pasta, you can reduce belly fat.
Now, as an aside to that, The FERGUSON plan I am on instructs you ONLY to eat whole grains in most of your fast cars. I have eaten no while flour foods since January 1 of this year. My weight loss aside, my stomach has definitely shrunken. It no longers looks bloated and even feels as if it is smaller. So the fiber issue is truly an important one.\
One adjunct to increasing fiber, tho, is that you have to drink more water to make sure you don't dehydrate yourself. I'm gonna let you fingure that one out by yourselves. I don't want to be TOO graphic here!
Moral of today's post: eat good cereal - I'm not taking Cap'n Chrunch here folks, but good cereals, like Cheerios, Wheaties, Raisin bran, those kinds, and switch to 100% whole grain bread. Be a lable detecetive to make sure your bread REALLY is whole grain. It must be listed in the first 2 ingredients and shouldn't say 'Made from enriched white flour.' That IS NOT whole grain!!

Protein,protein,protein.

Since starting the FOODLOVERSFATLOSS system, I have been ingesting alternate sources of protein in my daily diet through the use of Protein powder recommended by the program. Lately, I have noticed several changes in my skin, nails and hair that I think are directly related to increasing my protein. For several weeks, I have had to cut my nails at least two times a week, where as just a few months ago I could go for over a month and never even see a white line on them. In the past two weeks, several people have commented on how "good and healthy" my hair is looking,not to mention how long it has gotten in a relatively fast amt of time. I even had a patient ask me if I got hair extensions!! As for my skin, it just looks good. Enouch said.

This got me wondering. I didn't think I was a protein slacker before starting this program, but I probably didn't take in nearly the amt I needed each day.

The Harvard School of Public Health published a paper that says adults should get a minimum of 0.8 grams of protein per kilo of body mass, so roughly 65 grams for a 160 pound person. In the Us, the article states, we get about 15 percent of calories thru protein each day. If you take in 2000 cals a day, that's 75 grams of protein. Not bad.

Believe me, I know I got nowhere that amount before this!

All protein is not the same I learned too. A 6 oz porterhouse has 38 grams of protein and 44 grams of fat. Six ounces of salmon has 34 grams of protein and 18 grams of fat. Less than Half! That's quite a savings in the calorie dept. So even tho I love steak, I realize fish and beans are better, calorically, for me.

Veges and beans are a great source of protein for low calories, so I'm still waiting for those vege recipes from people!!

Try and figure out how many grams of protein you take in in a day and see if you make the basic requirements. If not, an alternate source might help.

WHo knows. Maybe you'll get compliments on your hair and skin, too!

Back to basics

Remember when your Mom told you to eat your vegeatables because there were starving people in 1. Boliva, 2. Asia, 3. Africa, 4. Haiti ( take your pick) and you said, "well, send them this stuff ( !) just so you wouldn't have to eat them??
I heard this refrain nightly growing up and still didn't eat my veges because they justed tasted lousy. Now granted, my mother was possibly the world's worst cook. Nothing was ever seasoned and she considered boiled carrots a delicacy, so my choices growing up to eat well and healthily were few and far between.
But even as an adult, I still have trouble choaking down some veges, broccoli being the most difficult. The only part of a salad I like is the lettuce or spinach used as a base. FOrget peppers, onions, tomatoes, and anything else you can add to it. I just eat the lettuce. Plain. No dressing.
I know, pathetic.
So I've really made a conscious effort to try to incorporate more veges into my diet. The easiest way to do it for me is to mask them. For instance, last night I made a quiche. It had spinach, and green and red peppers in it in addition to the eggs/egg whites and cheese.
Delicious. I've also included asparagus at times.
The idea of eating a carrot in its entirety gags me, but I like them finely shredded on and in salad at times. Yes, I will eat a salad with more than just lettuce!
Omelets are great for hiding veges, too. Vegetable lasagne is downright tasty!
One dinner favorite is baked eggplant on flat bread. Slice the eggplant really thin and lay it out on flat bread dough or even pillsbury rolled out crescents. Season with garlic/herb salt and baked until crispy. Love this!!
I know people have recipes they like that hide or - to use a better word "incorporate" -veges into them. Send some to me and I'll try them and post them here.
We all need to eat more veges. I never have a problem with fruit - but the vegggie eating is tough.
Help me!

Detoxing, Day 2

SO I did really good for 3/4 of the day yesterday. Stuck to all the liquid stuff, wrapped my head around the no reall food issues I wa shaving.
And then we went out to dinner after Church.
But it was okay because I had a spinach salad so no real diet blaster there.
Today, back on track.
I had my breakfast smoothie, substituting the vanilla protein powder with chocolate protein powder. Hey, if I have to fast, I'm incorporating as much chocolate as I can into the plan!
We'll be home today so I can be rally strict with this. No outside influences.
Detox/fasting is something that has become somewhat popular among the diet-illuminati of late. Taking food completely out of the equation and just sticking to a most liquid regimine - from a psychological viewpoint - is a pretty good thing. Without choice, I feel that I do better sometimes. Being told exactly what to eat(drink!), what time to do it, and in what quantity kinds of puts my in another plane headwise. I can follow any plan if it tells me those factors. I get into trouble when I have to choose from a myriad of possible food combinations. That's the biggest reason I think Weight Watchers finally started to fail for me. DOn't get me wrong - it's a great program, I was just at a level where it really wasn't getting me any results anymore. I had to many points to count, and combinations to come up with. I was always sweating either being over or under count and then thinking I had somehow failed.
It's funny that I like the stictness of a detox/fast, with no real substitutions or choices, when I'm the first person to say we should all have choices in life.
Go figure.

Detoxing

So I started the detox this am and I already miss food!!! Oh well. I'll give it a day or two and see if my resistance not to eat fortifies me onward.
With the detox you have to drink EVEN more than usual, which for me is now 12 - 8 oz things a day! So you can guess where I'm spending half my day. That's right.
In nursing school, back a 150 years ago, I remember learning the reasons for different urine colors. Bright orange if you ate asparagus ( and smelly!); reddish orange for hematuria; bright yellow if you were taking Pyridium. Normal urine should be slightly strawcolored, mostly yellow.
My is crystal clear!
There is absolutely no urea in my urine at all. It looks like I poured a bottle of Perrier down the toilet.
TMI?? Probably. But you get the drift.
I keep thinking I can feel my stomach shrinking - actually shrinking -throughout the day. Hopefully that's true and tomorrow I'll wake up able to fit into fitted trousers once again.
Hope springs eternal.
Off to detox.
(SOunds like I'm going to Betty Fords'!)

Fasting and Detoxing

Part of Robert Ferguson's weightloss program has an optional 6 day detox. The detox is planned so that the colon and liver are cleansed and rehabed. Many of you may remember that after Erin was born I did a six month fast that had a detox inlcuded it in and I lost 60 pounds.
I am going to try the detox for a few days and see what happens. I have been stuck in neutral the past few weeks, exercising and eating as prescribed and I have yet to see the scale go down to were it really should be by now. If the detox works it will jumpstart my body again towards losing the rest of the weight.
I read this interesting article today and wanted to share it. Read it and see if you think this is true, a myth, or something that the future of weightloss will hold.
I'll keep you updated on the detox/fast. Wish me luck.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100305/hl_time/08599196980700

NUmbers Part II

Things to ponder:
a chocolate chip cookie at Starbucks has 540 calories. McDonald's Quarter pounder with cheese has 530
The number of teaspoons of sugar in a 20 ounce reggie soda: 13.5
The number of teaspoons of sugar in 50 jellybeans: 13.5
250 calories is the total in a 20 oz reggie soda
A serving size for one breakfast bowl of Special K is 3/4 cup and 150 calories. Most people double the serving size without realizing what an actual 3/4 of a cup looks like, volume-wise, so in truth their cereal is costing them 300 calories, not 150. And that's without the milk added.
Most weight loss programs suggest a serving size of meat or chicken to be between 3 and 5 ozs.
Most steaks in restaurants average 12-18, 4-6 times the serving size.
Grilled fish is preferable over baked because most restaurants baked their fish in oodles of melted butter. Real butter, not "I cant' beleive it's not!"
A baked potatoe with sour cream on the side averages 120-160 calories. The same potatoe with butter melted over it averages 300.
One slice of bacon has 70 calories. When was the last time you ate 1 SLICE of bacon?
Does anybody wonder why this country is fat?
Be a Lable Detective. Know what the calorie cost is to what you are eating.

My New Job: Label Detective

It's no seceret my favorite tv shows are crime shows. Criminal Intent, CSI Miami, Bones. Love them!! My secret desire in life has been to have a job as either a Police Detective or a Private Eye. And guess what? I got my wish - kind of.
Since starting this weight loss program I have become a bonefide Label Detective. Before January 1 I didn't care about the nutritional labels or the ingredients listed on food wrappers. Not so any more. I read eveyrthing now. It used to take me about 30 minutes to grocery shop from the time I went into the store until Iwas back and loaded in my car.
Now it takes anywhere between 45 and 60 minutes, depending on how much I need to read. And I read everything.
For instance, I used to buy bread ( which will remain nameless just in case the manufacturer is reading this (( in my dreams!)) ) that said right on the label "100 % whole wheat." And like most people, I believed the adveristing. The first time I went to purchase that bread after starting the program and learning the tool of reading everything, I found a HUGE discrepency in what the outside label claimed and what the ingredient list said. You would think that the claim of "100% whole wheat" would be repeated in the ingredient list by listing "whole wheat" as a first ingredient, or at least somewhere near the top. Na-ha.
THe first 4 ingredients of this bread were: Unbleached white flour, sugar, maltose and high fructose corn syrup.
Where was the whole wheat? It was down at around ingredient 15 and said "processed with refined wheat flour."
I'm not kidding.
I stopped buying that brand of bread and now buy one that has truth in advertising. It says "100% percent whole wheat," and the first ingredients are "Enriched whole wheat flour, flax seed, water and yeast."
If the first ingredients listed in any product are sugar, maltose, high fructose corn syrup, or unbleached white flour, buy something else. You will be sabatoging any weight loss by eating stuff loaded with these items. Be a Label Detective and you'll eat better.
I love my new job.

Breakfast

For years, when I was a new nurse, I didn't eat breakfast. I just didn't feel hungry in the morning when I go tup, plus I thought my uniform looked better with an empty, flat stomach.
I know. I have issues.
Anyway.
Any weight loss plan or diet guru ALWAYS tells you to eat a good solid breakfast when you wake up and the science behind that advice is sound.
When you're asleep, your metabolic rate lowers and decreases, basically starving you. When you starve yourself for more than 8-10 hrs ( the normal time from dinner until you wake up) your metabolic rate actually lowers by 40%, throwing your body into protection and storage mode. YOur brain doesn't know the next time you are going to get a meal, so it protects you by slowing down the rate at which you burn your energy stores, kind of like when a bear goes into hiberation for the winter. YOur body panics, thinking it won't be fed, and hangs on to every ounce within you. Or pounds, in my case!
By eating breakfast when you arise, you're effectively telling your body "hey, it's okay. Momma's got food in the pantry! Go ahead and burn some calories for good measure."
It's been proven by study after diet study that people who eat breakfast tend to be thinner, and that Chronic DIeters who started eating breakfast tend to keep their weight off with more ease.
Now this doesn't give you a license to go get a cheese and buscuit egg mcmuffin with hash browns and potatoes. But a good, solid, nutritional breakfast is a sound idea.
I had Irish Oatmeal with walnumts and protien powder this morning.\
What'id you have??

Supersize me??!!

I went out to dinner last night for the first time in a VERY long time. I had all my plans in place for good eating and they pretty much worked. For a slow carb I had an undressed salad, my fast carb was a roasted potatoe. My protein was a meat. The problem came when the waitress asked if I wanted the 12 oz or the 16 oz cut.
I really wanted a 4 oz cut because that's all I'm supposed to have. Now, conventional dieting wisdom says when faced with an overabundance of ounces and calories, cut the sucker in half and take it home for the next days' lunch or dinner.
My problem has always been that I don't listen enough to conventional wisdom and advice.
So, yes, I ate the whole thing and will pay for it today by exercising more. Still a plan.
Most people, I've observed, when asked if they want a size on food they're ordering ( "Do you want the supersized?") say yes immediately and choose the larger cut. I can't quite figure out the why to this.
Is it that they feel they are some how putting one over on the restaurant by getting more food than originally advertised? Do they feel entitled to the larger portion? Does the promise of more food make them silly with gustranomic glee?
When McDonalds first came out with their Supersize menu, I remember hearing a woman I know say that she was glad she could finally get a portion she really wanted. Apparently, in the past, she had ordered 2 large fries with her meals. Now she could supersize it, get just the one order, and she felt great about that.
I think I would just feel sick. I have never supersized anything with food because I always think I have more than enough.
Our society, tho, always seems to want bigger, better, faster, and more. And because of that we are turning into a nation of unhealthy obese people.
When the calorie and nutritional counts came out on fast food I really thought we'd see a decline in eating at these places.
No such luck. McDonalds, Burger king, and the like are all still doing boffo business despite the public knowing how much crap they are eating with their meals.
Go figure.
Americs the beautiful.
And Obese.

On track!

I am looking at today as if it were day 1 all over again. What's that Yogi Berra saying?: "It's like Deja Vu all over again!" That's me
I am remotivated and recharged to keep going on with this. Many of the program rules are already habit : I eat every 2-3 hrs; I have 3 fatloss plates daily; I upped my water to 12 glasses a day. All good.
Now that the rules are habits, I need to get the MIND into the habit as well. Blogging helps considerably, so let's talk about something near and dear to me today: Obesity. Namely, childhood obesity.
Luckily, I was never classified as an obese child, but I was certainly more than chubby and pleasingly plump. Probably by today's insurance standards I would have been considered obese.
Our first Lady, Michelle Obama, has made fighting childhood obesity one of her causes and I am standing up applauding her. It's about time. Working at the clinic I see way too many fat kids, and I don't view that word as discriminary. They are FAT!. If you did a body mass index, many of the kids I see walking around this clinic and in town, in schools and at the Mall are probably anywhere from 45-50 percent fat. The younger a kid is when they are fat, the greater their risk to a whole slew of chronic diseases down the road. We know all this. How many times do we as a society need to hear how we are killing our kids with food? When a ten year old has a fatty liver and a fasting blood glucose of 200, there's something wrong there, and it's not with the kid. It's with the parent. Parents are the ones who feed their kids. If the parent gives the kid lots of junk food and crap to eat, the kids' body is going to go to fat. How hard is this to understand?? It's not rocket science and yet I know people in my very town who eat McDonald's 3-4 times a week and I always see the kids with something in their hands heading to their mouths.
As I've mentioned before, my Clinic has this goal called 20/20 where we hope to be the healthiest community in America by 2020. We've instituted family Wellness seminars that teach parents and children how to eat healthier, and with an eye towards the economic crisis. We understand that not all people can afford organic food. We have exercise programs free of charge for them to learn how to move their bodies and take care of them.
And still, people resist. The reasons are varied, but my feeling is just this: these people do not want to change because they see nothing wrong. They don't care that they have to take insulin, or are losing their eyesight from diabetes; they don't care that they should eat 5 servings of fruits and veges minumum per day. Cake and candy just taste better and if they have to give themselves a little more insulin, well, then they will.
We need to protect and save our kids, that's the bottom line. I'm proud of my clinic that they have adopted this goal. I just wish more people who really need it would take advantage of it and listen.
Spread the word and save a kids' future life. Eradicate obesity and especially childhood obesity now. It's never been more imperative that we try. We are talking about the actual future of this country.

Reality

I need to get real.
Real MOTIVATED, that is.
I can feel that I haven't lost any weight this week and it's starting to bum me out royally and big time, so here's my MOTIVATION PLEDGE.
I WILL NOT:
... obsess
...give up
... "cheat"
...revert back to old bad behaviors
... give up.
I WILL:
...progress
...write everything down that I eat
...exercise 5-6 times weekly, or at least 4-5
...stop drinking soda again ( this will definitely be the hardest thing!)
...choose sensibly amongst snacks and food choices
...drink 12 glasses of h20 daily, in addition to my tea, which I AM NOT giving up!
...go back to blogging daily : it really does help to use this as a public diary!
...NOT eat out of boredom, sadness, grumpiness, after having a bad day at work, or a good one! and not in front of the tv
...read this list everyday and recomit to it.

I need to get back on track. May 19 is just around the corner.

Overcoming Boredom

Today marks the beginning of my 8th week on the program. On the other programs I've done ( Nutrisystem, Weight Watchers to name just 2,) now is usually the time I start to get bored with the whole recording everything you eat, timing the food, the exercise, and the junk food deprivation.
Strangely, not this time and not on this program.
I think the reason is because for the first time in my adult life I am actually eating real food - not diet meals, or prepackaged portions - but REAL honest- to- goodness everyday food.
With the simple changes of HOW to eat that I've made on this program, I am noticing changes in my skin, body, energy level, and how my clothing fits. I have not been on the scale since my plateau last week, and I think I am going to avoid it for another week, just stick to the program and do everything I am supposed to do. March 1 is next monday. I think that will be a good day to weigh and then possibly weigh myself every 2 weeks or even monthly if I am sticking to the program religiously like I want to.
I will continue to blog since having eyes watching my progress is good for my soul, and my motivation, but I will forgoe the drama and stomach-pains of weighing myself weekly.
At the beginning of the program I was not allowed to weigh myself for the first three week. That turned out to be horribly hard, but worthwhile, because the first time I setpped on the scale after that, I had a loss.
And I hope to have one again next week.
Until them: the goals remain the same - 3 FOODLOVERSFATLOSSPLATES daily, with snack every 2-3 hrs; 12 glasses of water every day, sleep 7- 8 hrs, and get some exercise.
I hope you all keep coming back for progress reports.

Keeping hydrated

Conventional dieting wisdom has always been to imbibe 8 glasses of water daily, for a total of 64oz, or 1 solid gallon. On fOODLOVERSFATLOSS, wisdom is tossed aside and we're told that 12 glasses of water is the norm.

For a normal person, that's a lot of liquid to fill up on daily.

At the beginning of this program I drank nothing but water for the first week. Forgone was soda and tea. At the end of the first week I didn't feel bloated, but getting that 12 glasses in every day ( or 6 16 oz bottle) was a little difficult, esp when I had to work. I was going to the bathroom every 20 -30 minutes! Inconvenient to say the least.

After the first week, I got a little bored with just the plain taste of water, so I started back on my tea with breakfast and started having soda in addition to the water. Now I still had about 5 bottles of water a day, but my tea is a 16 oz cup and most soda bottles now are between 20 and 24 ozs. The second week I estimated I was taking in about 96 oz a day and for some reason I didn't go to the bathroom as much.

I learned that once you adequately hydrate your body, the water won't be used as a flush to your system as much as an adjunct to keeping you hydrated. The water is "used" to help with digestion and in keeping your organs and skin hydrated, esp during the cold dry months. I still didn't feel bloated, but I did notice a subtle change in my skin - it started feeling a little smoother and softer.

I love that: secondary benefits from fluid intake!!

Couch Potato Pledge

I realized something important when I got home today from a particularly busy and stressful day at work. All I wanted to do when I walked thru the door was sit down and veg out, while watching some TV for a while. Since it was time for my afternoon, every 2-3 hr snack, I grabbed my 100 calorie yogurt pretzels and turned on the tv. Before I found something to watch, the pretzels were gone. I looked on the table for the package and couldn't find it. Then I glanced down at my lap and saw the empty package.

I don't even remember eating them.

This is not the first time I've unconsciously eaten something. When your mind is sooooo tuned out that you can't remember to breath, you KNOW that is not the time to eat something. And the truth is, before starting the FOODLOVERSFATLOSS program, I would have gone back to the pantry and gotten something else to eat that I could remember doing. Sitting in front of the tv is one of the worst things you can do if you really want to lose weight, because your mind isn't focused on the food; it's focused on the screen.

This is why movie theaters do such big money on concessions stands. They know that you're so wrapped up in the screen that your hand is just moving up and down from the food to your mouth without any conscious thought, and that when you're done with the snack, you'll feel like you never tasted it, you'll feel gypped and you'll want more. If you don't believe me, the next time you go to the movies watch the couple near you who has the giant tub of popcorn. Before the movie starts, as the preview trailors are rolling , that tub is half gone and guaranteed the soda and candy that went with it are too. This is the guy who will leave the movie about a half hour thru the show and go get a refill.

And he can probably be catagorized in the obese column.

TV watching is a killer when it comes do keeping strict with a diet. If you need to have something going into your mouth as you watch Oprah, or the Office, Project Runway or the Closer, make it something chewy and noisy like an apple or a pear. That way you'll really know you're eating something and just not moving your hand to your mouth without any thoughts whatsoever!

Excuses to eat, Part 2

Yesterday was Mardi Gras, or for the Catholics among us, Fat Tuesday. This has religio-historically been a day celebrating all you can eat to fatten up for the next 40 days of Lenten fasting and sacrifice. Great idea, isn't it? Eat and drink like a pig for ONE day inorder to fast for 40 DAYS!! Kind of feels a little off balance if you ask me.
Anyway.
I got to think about all the other days that we eat, aside from the holidays mentioned in a previous blog.
First, there's your birthday, typically commemorated by a huge fattening and delicious cake to celebrate another year thrusting you into old age. Special birthdays get tagged here too, specifially your "Sweet"16, and 21st, not to mention 30th, 4oth and then 50th, all celebrated using food and spirits (booze!) in some way to excess.
Then there's high school and college graduation, again, typically passed with a party, cake and alcohol.
Weddings, the arrivals of babies, and anniversaries bring their own compliments of over-indulgence in the food category, but all typically do have a celebratory cake to go along with the passing of the day. Here you really graduate to Champagne, tho, forgoing the cheaper spirits.
And let's not forgot the somber events that cause us to eat.
I remember a time a close friend of mine injured her arm and the first thing I thought to do was make a tray of baked Ziti to take to her house so she wouldn' t have to worry about cooking for her family for a few days with a bum arm.
WHen someone passes away, almost the first thing neighbors and fellow mourners do is bring food to the house just in case the bereaved didn't have time to shop, or cook a cow. And it' s not just any food. MOurning food is an entity unto itself. People who wouldn' t dare make a pimento loaf, or macaroni casserole during normal times, seem compelled to put forth their efforts into unusual and sometimes disgusting dishes during times of personal sorrow.
Mourning food can fall into several categories as well. There's the "just died food", where neighbors descend enmass the minute they hear about the passing, with overflowing, srange smelling Corell dishes covered with aluminum wrap. Then there's the "wake food," usually cookies, or something sweet and hot to drink to help the mourners get through the hours of funeral home sitting.
At last we have the "burial food." This one has always been a mystery to me. After crying, wailing and mourning for days, the family and friends of the lost soul gather at the survivors' home to mourn and eat some more as a toast and testament to the dearly departed. This is casserole karma. There is a certain generation of folks among us who have come to feel about wakes they used to feel about weddings. It's almost a celebration for them, and I guess I can understand it in one way : they are celebrating the fact that they are still alive.
But does it have to be celebrated with a green jello mold, stuffed with marshmallows?

Plateau!

So I didn't lose any weight this week. Major bum! But I'm not discourged.
In the past, when I went to Weight Watchers, if I didn't lose weight when I PAID to weigh in and be bummed out I would immeidately put on the failure face and go out after the meeting and eat something ridiculously high in fat and calories, figuring, well, I didn't lose anything anyway, so why not.
I'll tell you why not : because that is the most self defeating thing you can do when trying to lose weight. And that's one of the reasons I was never able to keep anything off for very long. Like I've said before, failure becomes a familiar friend after a while and the shame factor associated with it seems to dissipate.
But not anymore. Failure now is just that: failure.
Now, I have the tools and knowledge to counterattact this plateau. I know if I bump up the exercise, the fiber, the good food and the water, I will definitely show a negative number next weigh in. So that's my plan. Last week I exercised 4 days. Most of it was arm work and treadmill. This week I plan on working out a minimum of 5 days, with more attention to cardio and fat burning - so not just the treadmill. I also slacked off a little in the water imbibing department and have been drinking a lot of diet soda - my addiction!. This week I am scaling that back and drinking more good old fashioned H20. Less salt in ech glass and no bloating effect.
I'm going to conintue with my FATLOSSPLATEs for the three meals a day and snacks, so I know I'll be okay in the hunger department.
The biggest motivator so far though, has been this blog. With eyes watching me closely I am determined to acheive my goal. It's no longer okay to fail myself. I also don't want to fail any of my "followers."
Pray for me!

Ho;idays or Excuses to eat days??

So it's Valentine's day. The day the HERSHEY chocolate company calls CHRISTMAS! Today more chocolate is sold than any other day in they year. A day that is primarily devoted to LOVE has become a symbol for giving CANDY to your loved one.
What does this say about us as a society? Let's look at the rest of the "Holidays" we celebrate throughout the year.
After VAlentine's day we gear up for St Patrick's day, March 17. What is the main thing American's do on this day whether of Irish decent or not? They drink copious amounts of beer until they are dead drunk, eat corned beef and cabbage ( still the grossest meal on the planet!) soda bread and boiled or mashed potatoes.
April brings us Easter and here we go again : chocolate bunnies, chickies, and PEEPS. We'll eat the Easter ham with all the trimmings and try to summon up enough energy for an Easter Egg hunt. How does any of this equate with the Resurrection of Jeasus Christ??
In May we celebrate Memorial Day. THE First barbeque-ing day of the year. Hot dogs, Hamburgers and fried chicken; cole slaw, potatoe salad and beans. Lots of BEANO is taken on this day.
We get a little All-You-Can-Eat- Holiday break in june, and then bounce back in July with the 4th and more grilling, frying and eating to excess.
Labor Day rounds around in September and now we celebrate THE LAST grilling day of the year with even more backyard get togethers centering around eating and drinking.
October gets us ready for winter by giving us yet another candy day in Halloween. DUring this one, children actually go house to house begging for candy. And they usually get it. The more stuffed your Halloween bag is with candy the better.
Thanksgiving gives us an opportunity to gather with friends and family ( yet again!) to eat a stuffed to the gills turkey and all the fattening trimmings. Trytophan aside, this holiday usually results in the larget percapita use of Alka Selzter and Pepto Bismol than any other holiday.
Great. A holiday where you eat so much you make yourself sick.
Christ's birth is celebrated with more gathering and eating. A CHristmas goose or turkey with cranberry sauce, potatoes ( see a theme here?) bread and lots of desserts. A Carbohydrate lover's dream come true. Gifts are given in the form of homebaked cookies and jams, and we actually have events called COOKIE SWAPS, the purpose of which is to bake enough cookies to feed a small nation with.
Then we get to the NEW YEAR, where most of us make resolutions to lose weight.
Who are we kidding??!! Valentines day is only 6 weeks away!
And so it starts again. That vicious, predictable cycle we call HOLIDAYS.
A last thought: Actress Kirstie Alley said that the real reason she got so fat before doing the Jenny Craig commericals was because her HOLIDAY SEASON started in October with Halloween and went straight through until after Easter.
Kirstie babe, I can relate.

Numbers

Numbers. A strange topic to talk about, but do you know yours?
Do you know what your resting blood pressure is? How about your resting and exercising pulses? WOuld you be able to tell me your last cholesterol levels, both good and bad kinds? What about a blood sugar reading?
DO you know what a PCR is or a FBG? Would you know what your uncorrected ( minus glasses) vision is?
I bet the one number you alway sknow is your weight!
I found all mine out when my clinic started their Wellness Clinics last May. Lucikly, even though I'm classified as obese ( GOd, I hate that word!), my cardiac values plus my glucose values are all excellent and more than within normal limits. I have no history of cardiac disease, diabetes, thyroid problems or any endocrine abnormalities. I'm just fat. I must eat good food not a lot of fast, high fat food, so I just get weight on, not bad blood values! Both, beleive me, are equally bad.
Knowing what your body is doing with regards to your blood values, is an important part of knowing how to go about changng your lifestyle habits from bad to good ones.
Eliminating high fat fast food, stopping smoking, eating more fruits and veges and fibrous foods, restricting alcohol, all these factors have been around for decades promoting better health. And yet as as society, Americans still have such terrible eating habits. Childhood obesity has just become a national concern of the First Lady's. It's been one of my concerns for years. I can't tell you how many kids I see as patients who are HUGE! I just want to slap their parents and say "DO you know what you are doing to this kids' future?!"
DOn't worry. I keep my hands to myself.
For the next few days I'm going to explore what obesity does to the health care system in this country and the individual person's overall "Health status." For now, get to know your numbers and think about the changes you need to make inorder to get them down to perfection.

The thing I hate the most...

I really don't know anyone who hates exercizing more than I do! First off, I refuse to sweat so I never really do get a good cardio workout no matter what I do, because the instant I start to "glisten" I stop. SO , useless.
Walking on the treadmill may be considered a mild form of exercise, but at least I don't mind doing that. With the tv on in front of me, I can actually keepup a 3.5 mile an hour pace for upwards of 45 mins most days. That is a major accomplishment for me. But, as we all know, cardio isn't enough. You've got to strengthen the muscles too, so weight training needs to be incorporated somehow. Again, and here's my running theme with regards to exercise - I use my body bar and my free weights while I watch tv. It's pretty horrible how quickly I get bored if I don't have something visual in front of me while to "work out," a phrase that really can' t be applied to me in the true sense of the phrase. But anyway.
I just read a report that says women 50 and over need to get 30 mins of some kind of movement daily inorder to keep their bones and muscles healthy. 60 minutes is ideal if you are attempting to lose weight. 45 is my goal most days. After that I'm done and a wreck.
Walking, dancing, climbing stairs, whatever gets the body and muscles moving in a postive way has good long term effects.
So, I'm off to watch BONES on TNT and later I'll lift for a few minutes.
In a perfect world I would just watch BONES!

Saboteurs

Keeping in line with what makes people fail at weight loss plans is the subject of people and situations that sabotage the efforts. These are the people who - for whatever reason that motivates them - always try to get you to eat things you shouldn't, try things you know aren't good for you, encourage your to overindulge in desserts or alcohol, and who basically don't want to see you attain your goals. Included with that are situations that have failure built into them such as buffets, and allyoucaneat deals at restaurants.

How do you deal with these potentially dangerous situations?

The easiest way to avoid people who you know want to sabotage you is basically that: avoid them. If the co-worker you know drinks like crazy and thinks happy hour appetizers is a meal choice on par with breakfast or dinner invites you to got out, just say no. Nicely, but firmly. If you know the smell of those buffalo wings will put you over the edge, don't put yourself in the mix.

If you're invited to a wedding where the choice isn't chicken or fish, but BOTh and filet, and wings, and macncheese, etc, have a plan before going. When I know it's going to be a buffet, I tend to eat something before I leave for the event, that way I won't be starving and eat anything that isn't nailed down. I can make better choices without the thought that I need to eat everything in order to get my money's worth or have a good time. I've been to events recently where I haven't eaten a thing because I ate before I went and I just wasn't hungry or tempted.

If you have to eat - hey it's s it down dinner and you don't want to look like a crazy when everyone around you is eating and you're not, just make better choices. You don't need to eat the bread on that table. Pass it around instead. I share my meal sometimes with my husband. I remember one event we went to years ago where I gave him my filet mignon and he had already eaten his! There are always way to get around overindulging and sabotaging any efforts you've made in weight loss.

Don't let saboteurs get you down!!

a thought

MOTIVATION is what propels you to change. HABIT is what makes that change permanent.

More success!

As you can see, I'm down another 1.6 pounds! Something's going right!

One of the biggest changes I've made in the past six weeks is the journaling aspect of losing weight. At the beginning of this program I was supposed to write down every single thing I put in my mouth for one day. That included "tastes," gum, mints, etc. Anything that went in had to be charted. I was floored. By calorizing it I found that I take in about 500 wasted (waisted??!!Heehee) calories a day just by knoshing, tasting, and snacking unconsciously. That's 3500 extra calories a week or an entire pound of not needed fat.

Writing down everything you eat, when you eat it and how you feel when you eat it ( starving, bored, etc) has made a huge difference in sticking to my goal of weight loss and this program. And that's actually part 3 of Ferguson's reasons why people fail at diets. We lose track of stuff during our busy days, and even our not busy ones. I realized I eat more junk and snack unconsciously when I am home on the weekends. Part of this is boredom but a big part is because the food is so easily available and ready for me to eat. It's so easy to just go to the pantry and grab something lousy/snacky to eat. Bringing food with me to work everyday has helped tremendously is avoiding my buying crappy food when I am hungry. And writing it all down has definitely made a difference in how and what I eat.

The results are speaking for themselves, just look to the left of this page!!

More reasons for failure...

One reason for failure I forgot to mention yesterday was the use of pills to lose weight. All those things that claim to speed up your metabolism are a dangerous shortcut many people take to drop pounds. Relying on a little pill to change your metabolism and then starving on top of it will not - repeat -w ill not result in long term weight loss and in keeping it off for good. The only thing that has been proven to work to lose and keep weight off is a lifestyle reinvention of balanced food, exercise and paying attention.

A second reason people fail at weight loss according to Robert Ferguson is that they don't have a clean, concise goal planned out to implement. It's one thing to say I want to lose 5o pounds this year. It's quite another to define the steps that will be taken in order to accomplish that goal. In my case, 50 pounds for 50 years was the spring board idea. The plan was to find a weight loss program that I knew I could follow without the fear of deprivation, starving my self to death, or having to eat prepackaged food that many times tastes awful. It had to incorporate exercise because i knew I needed to do that in order to keep the weight off, and it had to be easy. FOODLOVERSFATLOSS plan was perfect for me because it made sense, I could eat, I need to exercise, and I need to journal. Plus I had a support system through the web that could help me if need be. So that was my plan. The goal was 50 pounds. The plan was to utilize his system for the weight loss. 5 weeks into it and I haven't felt deprived; I'm seeing results in my clothing and on the scale, and I've developed some good habits like journaling, tracking, and understanding the food I eat. I'm not knocking other legitimate weight loss plans that have proven successful for people. I just knew I was sick and tired of not eating, or eating food that had more preservatives than a person should see in their lifetime, of counting points, and trying to fit all this into my busy lifestyle.

So far, so good.

So don't be a vague goal say-er. Be a goal planner and implementor.

Things that cause failure.

I was listening to a radio show today starring RObert Ferguson and he listed 6 things people/dieters do that will ultimately result in failure to lose weight. I remember saying in a previous blog that failure to someone like me who yoyo's and diets all the time becomes familiar and after a while it isn't really seen negatively. Which of course it should be. So for the next few blog entries I'm going to go over a few of the reasons why dieters fail ( according to Ferguson.)

The number one reason he states is because people tend to take shortcuts. This manifests itself in many ways. The most obvious one is in fad dieting. You know the type: I'm going to my high school reunion and need to lose 150 pounds by next Friday! So, if I drink nothing but slim fast 3 times a day for the next 10 days, I will be skinny.

No you won't. YO'll be sick to your stomach, probably have diarrhea from all the liquid fiber, and after a few hours you'll be so hungry you'll eat whatever is within your reach. End result: you'll be fatter than ever at the reunion.

Situation number two is the deprivation diet. These are the diets that eliminate an entire food category or dietary necessity, like protein or fat. God constructed our bodies in such a way that in order for us to live and survive we need basics like carbs, proteins, and fats on a daily basis. Yes, eliminating a group over time will definitely result in weight loss, but it's not good weight. It's probably muscle wasting weight and the first time you go off a diet like this you will gain back real weight immediately because your poor body has been deprived and robbed of a nutrient for so long.

Skipping meals is another way people think they can lose weight, and for some reason skipping breakfast is the favored meal to eliminate. DUMB! Your body needs fuel to make it run, just like a car needs gas ( or in some cases, like the Prius, electricity!) If you don't gas up the car it won't run. If you don't fuel your body it will go into survival mode which means it won't metabolize anything you've got in your body stores and you will shut down in order to save your life ( metaphorically speaking!)

Bulimia is another shortcut and just as stupid and dangerous as full out anorexia. I was bulimic for over 30 years ( good GOD, I'm old!) and I have always thought that getting rid of food before your body naturally eliminated it, sounded like a good idea. Isn't it funny how we can trick ourselves into thinking something so stupid and bad for you is really good for you??!! The real problem with bulimia is that after a while your metabolism never knows what is going to happen next so it just basically shuts down and your are forced to externally get rid of the food you've eaten because your body doesn't know what to do and basically stores everything that goes into you.

Shortcuts. They may work to get you someplace faster when your drive. They don't work when you diet.

More thoughts...

I tried to think of some more reasons why I overeat and came up with too many to name. So I figured I'd just put down the ones that were REALLY wacky.
In college I once ate 7 Entenmen's chocolate donuts in a row ( 8 come in a box) because I was so stressed out for a nursing midterm, and then got sooooo disgusted with myself I threw the 8th one out the window and into oncoming emergency bay traffic at Bellevue. I swear I hit an ambulance! This is true story. You can ask any of my college dorm mates. They saw me do it!
Also in college, I once ate an entire Pepperidge Farm's Chocolate layer cake as a reward for acing a Nursing midterm!! Two extremes of motivation: same outcome - overeating.
I had a fight with a co-worker once when I was a nurse and was sooooooo furious I stopped at a Chinese food restaurant and bought 2 full combo dinners, ate them and then went to Friendly's for ice cream.
Sick to my stomach doesn't begin to describe the hell I went throught gastronomically that weekend!
The first time I saw BEACHES in an actual movie theather(!) I ate a gigundo popcorn with buckets of butter, a real soda - I think it was a pepsi - and a theater sized box of Junior mints. When Barbara Hersey died, I remember running out to the concession stand and getting Hersey's kisses. Get it?! Hersey dies so I needed some of her namesake chocolate to get through the emotional termoil.
I wasn't even sick that time because I ate all that over the 2.5 hrs of the movie.
The main theme here is that I overeat due to some sort of emotional flux.
So the theory would seem to be: if my emotions are stable, would me eating habits be too?
Something to consider and ponder for the weekend.

Why we eat

Yesterday I asked you to consider all the reasons you eat. And really, the only true reason we should eat is to fuel our bodies. We shouldn't eat because we're depressed, having a bad hair day, or because we're worried we'll pass a test. We shouldn't eat just because we're watching television or a DVD. We should never eat because we've had a bad day, the cat died, or a great pair of pumps got ruined in the rain or snow. I've eaten for all these reasons and hundreds more. There have been times in my life that food was my one and only friend. It was always available, never gave me any grief about stuff, and willing to share my day/year/life with full flat-out committment. Food has comforted me, tormented me, emboldened me and disgusted me. It's made me happy, sad, depressed, joyful, orgasmic ( just mataphorically!), satiated and satisfied. I've used food; abused food; delighted in it and purged it from my body. It's made me fat, thin, bulemic and for one brief time, anorexic. It's always been a part of my life and sometimes the only reason I liked living. I've used food to forget, to remember, to pass the time and to waste it ( or is that waist it?!). The longest relationship I've ever had is with food. It's been the most satisfying realtiohsip and the most destructive.
So, this is why I started this journey. I not only want to lose weight - don't we all?! - I also need to get this dysfunctional relationship fixed. For the past 5 weeks I've been very motivated and had success with looking at food the correct way - as food only. I am determined to keep plugging along so that one day soon I never look at or use food for any other reason but fuel, again.
Wish me luck and please pray for me!!!

Up and running.

I listened to the hour long webcast from Robert Ferguson last night and actually did learn a few things. I should be eating every 2-3 hrs, regardless of how many snacks that would make for me. If I eat breakfast at about 430 am - which I do , and then lunch at 12, dinner at 7, using his program I need to snack before 730 am, 1030 am and then 3 and 6. That's alot of eating! But his theory is that you need to keep your body in fat burning mode and not fat storing mode, which is what happens naturally after about 3 hrs of not eating. Your body doesn't know where it's next meal is coming from, so it starts to protect the stores you have by going into storing mode. If you eat consistently, your body is "tricked" into thinking it will always be getting food at a prescribed time, so it doesn't worry about your starving to death ( not gonna happen to me ,regardless!), and starts to rev up metabolism-wise. This must be what has been happening to me because I am ALWAYS hungry after about 2.5 hrs and I am still losing weight. Where has this man been all my adult life??!! I can eat and lose instead of not eating and not losing - or worse, gaining, which is what ususally happens to me.
Yippie.
So for breakfast today I had oatmeal and protein powder at 430. A banana at 730. A yogurt at 10am and then lamb salad at 12:30. I have a snack left for 3 and then I'll nibble on a clementine when I get home. Dinner will be at 7 like always. Unbelievable amount of food for me.
Tomorrow I am going to start exploring the psychological reasons why I eat - or ATE - the way I did ( do!) I have a new mindset now so I have to get the right tense too when writing.
Here's a thought-plan for tomorrow: Think about all the reasons you eat. Not when you eat, but why. List them and then compare them to mine when I list them here tomorrow. Should be interesting.

The 8 Week Challenge begins

But first, another pound gone for eternity! So happy that the scale is still on the downward trend. This week the exercise gets pumped up a little more so I expect to see good results for next week too.

The first webcast of Ferguson's 8 week weight loss challenge is tonight at 7. I intend to be in front of my computer for it, so any pearls of wisdom I will send along. Five weeks into this weight loss journey and I am thrilled to admit I am still motivated. No slips or slides yet, and I hope none will come. I really think the main reason I have been able to do this without "cheating" is because I am eating real food for the first time in a very long time. No diet foods, no zero fat zero carbs zero taste things just to fill up on. Real, honest food that I am enjoying cooking. Healthy food, as well, cooked with thought and attention to flavor details. The fact that I got into some jeans I haven't slid across in a while over the weekend prove that the scale can sometimes be a poor indicator of weight loss, too. Along with the weight coming off, some readjustment and redistribution of my body fat is taking place and THAT is a very good thing!

Off to exercise now. Keep watching me and I'll keep delivering the negative numbers on the scale.

And thanks again for keeping me honest!

Yippie!

Yippie because yesterday I got into a pair of jeans that had not seen my skin in a while! Something's working on this plan.

I saw an amazing movie last night that I want to share: FOOD, INC. If you were a fan or Supersize Me, you will want to see this movie. It details where your food comes from from seed to supermarket, travel to table. I found it fascinating and very disturbing. Watch and you will see why.

Had lunch out yesterday with Erin. First time I've had a meal out since starting the plan. I did well. No overeating and ate a balanced meal, so it can be done! And even by me!

Tomorrow morning starts the Ferguson 8 week challenge, so I'm looking forward to that. It will keep me motivated and on track.

Strategy...

If you eliminated 100-200 calories a day from your diet without changing anything else in your diet, you could lose up to 2 pounds a month. Imagine that. Without really going nuts about your "diet" one simple change could help you lose a couple of unwanted pounds without much thought or aggravation. Ways to do this are easy.

Change the bread in your lunch sandwich to a low fat bread like Arnolds or Pepperidge farms Sandwich thins. Two pieces is 100 calories compared to regular bread that has 110 calories per slice.

Switch from regular soda to diet, or even better, flavored water. Each 12 oz can of soda averages 144-160 calories. Diet soda and water = 0.

Change your condiments; Regular mayo has 130-150 calories a tablespoon. Hellman's Light has 35.

Saute your veges in Pam, not olive oil or butter. Depending on which you use, you could save 200-300 calories per serving of food.

Simple.

I like simple.

8 week challenge....

Robert Ferguson is starting an 8 week weight loss challenge beginning Monday, Feb 1 and I signed up for it! Good motivation and it will keep me on track and honest. Over the weekend I expect to have more info on the challenge so I'll post it here. Until then, I'm still plugging along. I KNOW my metabolism is finally working again ( after 30 years!) because I am HUNGRY routinely every 3 hours and I wake up starving! I carry a backpack to work everyday filled with water, drinks, snacks and my lunch. From the outside it looks like I've got enough food to last me for a week! But it's only for 8 hrs! It looks pretty funny. My patients ask me almost daily "is that your lunchbox?" And I laugh and say, "Yup." I have to tell you, I do get some strange looks.

Hopefully, when I'm at goal, those strange looks will change to looks of appreciation.

One can hope.

Week 4 begins....

not with a bang but not a whimper, either! One of my bestest friends, Jill, sent me a card today with a caterpillar on it. Inside, she wrote that she chose the card because of the transformation I am in the process of undergoing - like a caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly. Boy, Jill ALWAYS picks the best and most appropos cards! She's a Zen master at it; she just gets it right. I do feel like this weight loss journey is a metamorphosis of sorts. I am finally starting to emerge from my cocoon of fat and self loathing into a new being. And like any change, it takes time, dedication and consistency. So as I enter my fourth week, I am reminded of why I started this journey: to become healthy and whole in mind, body and spirit as I approach my 50th year on earth. It will not happen overnight but over time; it will not be easy, but will require me to fight and work hard - just as the butterfly must work hard and fight to free itself from the shackle of its cocoon. Once free of the weight, I will "fly" off into my newfound life of health and wellness.

That Jill. She always - and I mean ALWAYS - gets it right!

Induction complete!

So you can see by the pounds countdown to the left that I am down 5 solid pounds! That may not seem like a lot for some people, but for me to be able to eat and lose weight is nothing short of a miracle. I would be lying if I said I didn't wish it was more, but 5 for me is a good thing. Considering the last time I tried to lose 5 pounds I starved myself for a month and didn't lose a thing, So maybe there really is something to eating to rev up your metabolism.

The rest of the program begins today -FATLOSSFORLIFE. More techniques and situational eating to lose weight, so I am up for it. The exercise gets bumped up too, and that is good because I need to do more.

One major breakthrough this morning was that I actually went into a different numbered zone - like going from the 130's into the 120's ( not me of course! I am way higher). I haven't been in a different weight zone for almost 4 years. This is a red letter day!

I can weigh myself weekly now, so that will be posted and updated every Tuesday to really see my progress. Later on today I can measure myself too, to see if there are any differences in my body makeup.

I'll let you know.

One more day...

and I can weigh and measure myself! Funny, today was the first day I woke up and actually "felt" like I had lost some weight. We shall see tomorrow.
After I see if and how much I've lost tomorrow, I am going to start exploring the reasons why this journey was needed. I have such food "issues" that they really need to be addressed and analyzed. Is this the proper forum for public pyschoanalysis? Probably not, but it's the best and cheapest I've got! So if you're following me and sometimes have problems with food or eating habits, try to think of the reasons why. I KNOW I am an emotional eater and food abuser when times are - in my mind - trying. I KNOW I depend on food sometimes to be a friend, and I KNOW that overeating is not the way to solve problems.
KNowing why you are doing something and correcting it are two entirely different beings in two different galaxies.
So..........for today. I will follow the FOODLOVERSFATLOSS plan and hope tomorrow is full of great results.
I'll let you know.

Home and on track!

Well, I had a little blip yesterday, but I am back on track today. I think I may have eaten too much yesterday for an afternoon snack, because we had hors d'oerves after the ballgame. I had only a few nuts and cheese, tho, but I think the combo might not have been the best thing. Oh well, I had a grilled chicken salad for dinner, so that kindo f offset it.

Home now and back on track! Today is day 19, only 3 more to go until the induction phase is over and I can weigh and measure myself. Yippie.

My metabolism is definitely changing because I am really hungry every 3 hrs or so, and that it what is supposed to happen when you are burning and not storing fat. I really hope it's burning the fat from my hips and waist more than anywhere else. I couldn't care less if I lost inches on my arms or inner thighs. Hips and waist, baby, that's where it's at!

SLoppy Joe's for dinner with a salad tonight. Yumm!!

Exercise today is supposed to be 36 minutes of cardio. I think I'll hop on the treadmill a little later on to get that done.

Wish my luck!

Off to the Ballgame!

Okay, so today starts my first, real test with this food plan ( notice I didn't say "diet.") We are traveling and will be eating out a few times. I have already prepared my morning snack and lunch and I threw in a few more snacks for this afternoon and the ride back tomorrow, so I will not be tempted to purchase something on the fly. Breakfast is provided by the hotel, so I know I will be okay with that. My biggest worry is tonight for dinner. I have my foodloversfatloss plan book with me, so when we decide where to eat, I'll flip through it and find the best meal that fits the plan.
Okay. So, here I go. Wish me luck.
Prayer helps, too!

Day 17

Wow! ALmost done with the 21 day induction phase! Today I am allowed to eat any of my favorite foods! that's the plan. No diet food, nothing that wreaks of calorie counting. I almost couldn't believe it when i listened to the audio cd for the day. It isn't a license to go hog wild - which I probably can do very easily. No, you're just supposed to follow the plan and make fatloss plates using your absolutely favorite foods.

This I can do.

My first hurdle will be this weekend, tho because we are traveling out of state and I won't have the ready availability of the foods I need. But I have a plan. I will bring everything with me but the main meals - which we will be eating out, so I will have lunch, snacks, and liquids at the ready. No cheating and no overeating situations will be tolerated! In my foodloversfatloss planner there is an entire guide on how to order when you eat in a restaurant and I am going to have that at the ready, believe you me.

Weigh in in just 5 days.\

Oh, my!

Almost there!

So day 15 has come and gone and I'm still motivated. I was sooooooooo hungry today, tho. I couldn't explain it but it might have something to do with more exercise. I've been walking everyday about 20-30 mins on the treadmill ( with my new tv downstairs - thanks La!) and also doing the cd's from the program every 2-3 days, so maybe I'm staying in fat burning mode longer! Let's hope! I actually did the unthinkable yesterday and ordered a new dress on-line. I won't tell you the size I ordered, but I'm hopeful it will fit. Again, prayer helps!

At the end of this 21 day induction phase I start the "eat right for the rest of your life" portion of the program where I hope to lose the bulk of the 50 pounds. There's also a 6 day detox you can do to rev and speed up the loss. I may do that as well, I'll keep you posted. I'm gearing up for the all too stressful weigh in next tuesday - day 21. I can't tell if I've lost weight be3cause someone who is fat as me doesn't really see the change until they lose about 20 pounds or so. I can assure you I haven't lost 20 pounds yet. That I would know! I'll be happy with 5, tho!