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.