Diet Deviations Or Learning To Slay Your Dragons

So often when we diet we exceed our calorie limit.   If that calorie limit is set per day, then how do we get back on track when we've already exceeded our limit for the day?

Shall we just go hungry the rest of the day?  At least, if we do that we won't feel like a failure.  That is if we can manage going hungry.  It's not likely we'll be able to tough it out and we'll end up feeling worse than ever.

Going hungry is never a good idea--not that being hungry is necessarily harmful in and of itself, but for someone dieting it can be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

The best way I've found to handle this situation is to not only have a daily calorie allotment, but a 'per meal' and 'per snack' allotment.

Say I've set myself an allowance of 3 meals and 3 snacks a day, with a total daily calorie count of 1350 calories, with a 200 calorie breakfast, a 300 calorie lunch, and a 400 calorie supper, and snacks of 150 calories each.

In the event I go 'crazy' and eat 1350 calories by the end of lunch, I don't have to feel troubled the rest of the day, wishing it over so I can start fresh the next day with new resolve.

Because come snack time I know I can safely eat 150 calories, and at supper 400 calories.  Being right back on track, I can immediately feel successful and not let a half a day of weakness dishearten me.

This strategy is a great benefit.  And you can employ it no matter how you measure your allowed food.  If, instead of calories, you count protein/fat/carbs, do the same--set up a daily allotment as well as meal/snack allotments.

In so doing you will always have a map to guide you should you veer off course.

As well, this strategy reduces emotional stressors  that accompany dieting.  Too often, in my opinion, diet plans don't address  the emotional elements of dieting.

We humans are emotional beings and nothing we do is cut and dried, devoid of emotion. If we don't figure out how to deal with the emotional aspects of the process we likely won't be successful.

You can tell yourself to 'just do it' all day long.  And every time you fail you will wonder 'why can't I 'just do it'?  And the logical answer, to your mind, will be 'I'm just weak'.

Well, humanly speaking we are all weak in our problem areas.  If we weren't they wouldn't be problem areas.

Understanding that this weakness is why you have the problem in the first place will help you understand that you need to take countermeasures.  That you need to learn how to slay your dragons. 

I've used this method for two years now and it has made all the difference in the world.  I feel like I've finally got a handle on how to keep track of my food intake and manage it.  And I don't feel weak any longer.  I have the sword to slay my dragon.

The Learning Curve

I guess I am a slow learner.

Having finally realized there is a learning curve for everything, I am free from the bondage of perfection.

Looking back I can see now that I gave up too quickly on many things.

Things that I've since returned to and found to be wonderful.

I missed out on them all these years.

The upside to my perfection is that I didn't continue to struggle with things for the wrong reason.

Sometimes the wisest thing you can do is 'give up'.

Having the wisdom to discern is key.

So treat yourself like a well loved friend or child.

I am often a cheerleader or offer the figurative cup of cold water to people in my life or who cross my path.

Giving myself the same kind treatment is a positive thing.

Give it a try.  You just might be amazed in the difference it can make in your life.

How Much Do We Owe Others and When Should We Walk Away?.

Read this link --it says everything I've been thinking of late.

 In case the link doesn't work, copy and paste below:

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/09/12/how-much-do-we-owe-others-and-when-should-we-walk-away/

Just A Thought

MAYBE

.....it's not what we eat that matters.....

But what we don't eat .

Sprinkles Are Pretty

But they can make you feel like swearing.

Even if you are not a person who typically uses swearing words.

I warn you.  Do not eat sprinkles over or near your computer keyboard.

Especially the large hard round ones.

Why?

Well, they can wreck havoc when they bounce from your mouth and under a key.

The key, you see, won't work.  It can't go down.

To get your stuck key to work you must dislodged the sprinkle.

The round hard ones won't be smashed by forcing the key down.  

This I know this for a fact.

They are that hard.

They must be blown out.  Preferably with canned air.

But first, you might have to dislodged them with dental floss.

Once out from under the key, they tend to migrate to other keys.

So just when you think you are home free you find another key is stuck.

By one single solitary rock hard sprinkle. 


Which is no longer an object of fun and delight, as sprinkles tend to be. 

But one you want to cuss.

Eventually, in my case, I got the sprinkle out.

After much frustration.

And a lot of googling which yielded information on how to remove the key from the keyboard.

With the dire warning to not break it in the process.

Which would necessitate buying a new key board.

No prettily sprinkled food is worth the cost of a new keyboard.

 I vowed to never again eat a dipped and sprinkled pretzel while keyboarding.

At least not close to my keyboard.

I lean far away from it and hope the little balls don't bounce THAT far.

My Word For 2011

***********

PURSUE

***********

as in

1. To be engaged in (a vocation or hobby, life)

2.  To proceed along the course of; to  follow

3.To follow after

4. To carry on; continue.

5. To carry further; advance

6. To accomplish

This May Be Happening at a Mall Near You

Christmas Flash Mob

Random Acts of Culture

No Man is an Island

I guess they don't teach that in public high school anymore.  Listening to a morning program I heard a young musician--singer/song writer--say that because he had a new baby, he had to be careful about what he wrote NOW since his boy would grow up and be able to hear it.

WHAT ABOUT EVERYBODY ELSE'S KIDS PRIOR?  Honestly--he had no concern that what he wrote might be detrimental to them????

Granted, none of us are perfect and we are always more bothered about our own kids knowing our 'secrets' than some stranger's kids.  

But no man is an island, and we are our brothers' keeper.  And my brother, he ain't heavy.  So it's a small thing to do the right thing for the greater common good.

I Did It!

Music by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, Brooklyn, NY

I reached my weight loss goal today--the first one.  Twenty six pounds--gone.

The plan was to work on the second goal after the holidays.  It would put me at a 30 pound loss.

Because it's only 4 more pounds AND because there's a week until Thanksgiving and a more than a month to Christmas I think I'll press on toward the second goal, eating just like I have been eating since February.

AND because I plan to eat this way the rest of my life it is EASY.

Thank you  fat free Cool Whip  for providing aid and comfort and helping me reach my goal.

I'd all but given up ever weighing this number again.  The moral is "NEVER give up".

If what you are doing isn't working or making you miserable, examine it, study it and find a WAY that WILL WORK that you can live with.

I've said it before and I will say it again:  make your diet fit YOU, don't try to conform yourself to a diet someone designed for commercial purposes.

Been Bitten By the Bug

The flu bug that is. Feeling miserable.  Will be well eventually.  In the meantime keeping sight of my weigh-loss goals.  The scale finally moved down another pound for a total of 24 lost.

I'm 3 pounds away from my first goal and have a second set.  To reach the second I'd have to lose an additional 4 pounds.  Both are doable.  It is within my power to succeed.  And I will.

It's too easy to drop the ball and lose the game.  Keeping our eyes on the prize and holding self accountable and giving ourselves a good swift kick in the rear is key to winning.

Making excuses is just a cop out.  We don't like and don't want to hear that.  But it is truth.

So be kind to yourself and hold yourself accountable.  Your nice friends won't--they don't want to make you feel bad.  Do for yourself what others can't or won't do.

Just do it.

It's just as hard for me to lose weight as the next guy.  Having to curtail your food intake sucks.  So what?

Having reached my 'advanced' age--I'm not 'that' old--I no longer suffer fools gladly.  And that includes myself.

How long can I go on making excuses?  My days on this earth are limited.  So are yours.

What's it gonna be?  Looking back full of regret?  Or looking back having run the race with patience.

It's totally your decision.  Yours and yours alone.  But you--as I-- will have to live with it.  And don't expect much sympathy in the end if you had opportunity but messed it up because you indulged yourself.

How's that for some tough love?

Choosing Life--the other side of the coin

I used to awake on Fridays and think "it's cleaning day.  Yuk".  And I'd rush through the job, hating it, just wanting it to be over and done for another week.

Then I was diagnosed with cancer.  In my spirit entered the stab of conviction and guilt.  And with that conviction followed by guilt came a moment of clarity.

I had wasted my life.

Each moment is a gift.  And I possess the gift of free will.  My choices are mine.  (As well I live in a free country where I can express my free will.  Praise God.) 

I had chosen to gripe and complain--I was a murmurer like the Israelites wondering in the wilderness! ( You can read the account in the Old Testament of the Bible.)

God gave them provision freely as they had requested, yet they were not satisfied.  Each morsel they ate was not received with thanksgiving in their heart, but with resentment and anger.  They ate and pointed their figurative finger at God as if to say 'you are not gracious'.  All the while they were showing themselves to be ingrates.

In my moment of clarity I realized I too had been an ingrate.  God had given me life, a home, a family, and the ability to care for--to enjoy-- all that provision.  Yet I complained.

On that day, in that moment, unknown to me how much time I had left on this earth I determined that I would never ever again complain about housework.  And I haven't.

I do it with joy in my heart, thankful that I am here, I am alive, with my family.  Mind you, were I able to pay someone to do it for me--I would!  And I would fill that free time with other joyful activity.

Joy is where you find it, where you will take it.  In every choice you must make, you can choose the way that is life giving or you can choose 'death'...death of your spirit, body or soul.

Having an intact physical body is a precious gift.  Using that body to create life is a demonstration of thankfulness.

How will you feed that body?  Healthfully?  Instead of thinking of it as denial or restriction, think of it as your choice--because it is!-- when you forgo those foods that don't nourish your body.  And don't be resentful.  It is your choice, your free will to eat or to not eat, to eat poorly or to eat well.

If you want choose death instead of life, so be it.   But do that with joy--if you can.  If you are gonna eat junk, overeat and burden your body with extra weight, let no one judge you in that--it is your free choice, your free will.  But quit beating yourself up.  And quit being resentful.  Why?  No one is doing it to you--you are doing it to yourself.

And should you realize you no longer want to travel that road that leads to death,  don't beat yourself up either.  Instead, change direction.  It may take time to get in the habit of choosing life, but if the desire is there you will succeed.

A Rescue Day

After vacation or two or three days of 'high end' eating--by that I mean eating to the limit of my parameters--or when weight loss is slowing and I want to kick start things I have a special eating day--or two. 

My goal is to cut way back on fat and cut back on calories, without eating less food volume.  I don't want to go hungry or feel deprived, but I want to go to the low end--to change things up.

Remember, I'm already eating small, so you might think this would be hard, but it's really not.  Here's an example of what I eat on a rescue day.

Breakfast:

• one serving fat free yogurt
• one serving blueberries or strawberries 
• a small sprinkle of crumbled crunchy cereal--like bran flakes
• coffee with 2% milk

Mid-morning snack options:  (I'd eat one or the other, not both and only if I was hungry.)


Sweet:

• 2 plain regular size brown rice cakes
• spread with low calorie spread
• sprinkled with cinnamon and calorie free sweetener
• Iced green tea

Savory:

• same as above except sprinkle the rice cakes with onion powder

Lunch:

• 2 slices bread (50-70 calories per slice)
• 2 slices fat free cheese
• thin spread of reduced fat mayo 
• half or one cup of V8 or tomato juice
• iced green tea

Afternoon sweet:

• 1 or 2 individual sugar free jello cups, cubed
• add one sliced banana
• add a blob of fat free Cool Whip

Supper :

• 3-4 ounce boneless skinless chicken breast or other lean meat 
• one very small baked potato, sweet or white with spray butter
• 2 servings low carb veg, like green beans, zucchini, cabbage, broccoli

Evening snack or dessert:

a piece of fresh fruit in season

OR

Fat free Cool Whip Chocolate Mousse*

Coffee or hot tea with milk

 

*To one fourth tub of FF Cool Whip (56 grams) add one teaspoon cocoa powder

 

There you have it.  I don't go hungry and it always seems to result in getting the fat burning machine stoked.

If I do this a second day the menu changes.  That way I never feel bored or deprived.  Usually I only do this 2 days in a row.  When I make my food choices my goal is to eat protein, fiber and small amounts of carbs and very low fat at each meal and snack--and get in some healthy fruits and veg.

My Newest Obsession

I may be in my second childhood here.  But I've 'discovered' paper beads.

Rubber stamping on beautiful paper is something I've been doing for a couple of years.  Trying to develop my craft I read a lot of internet sites that show paper crafts and when I came across a tutorial for making paper beads I had to try it.

And my paper of choice?  A McDonald's paper 'to go' sack.  Yep.

It had many colors on it--pinks/reds, blue, yellow, white...some polka dots, the text....all of that shows up in the beads.  And I was able to get enough beads out of my sack to make a bracelet.

At first making the beads--cutting the paper, rolling them, top coating them-- seemed a tad tedious....but somewhere along the way I developed a rhythm in the process and it became very soothing.  Time passes quickly and I don't want to stop making beads.  They look so pretty all piled up once rolled.

I have no idea how to make jewelry so my beads are strung onto elastic jewelry cord--no clasp necessary.  And it's easy to make any size needed.  Child size, adult size..whatever.

This would be a great craft for kids.  To my surprise there are adults who have made a business out of making and selling paper beads.  I guess there are other people out there who love them as much as I do.

This new hobby is a better pastime than being consumed by food and eating.  And it makes me wish I'd been exposed to arts and crafts growing up.  At best I can remember coloring some mimeographed picture with some crayons and cutting with rounded scissors and pasting--and eating the paste, which tasted like wintergreen.  But that was the extent of art for me.  Sadly the kids today are missing out as well.

Perhaps if we'd fill ourselves with arts and crafts and hobbies that empty place we try to fill with food wouldn't exist. Reading is good and watching television can be relaxing, but they are passive activities. We need to be doing--we need to be living..not reading about  or watching others' lives, but living our own life.

The take away here for all the dieters out  there is this:  if you hate exercise, get busy with a hobby that does appeal to you.  You may not be burning many calories but you will be filling your time with activities that don't involve food and eating.

How Did I Do It?

It's got to be a first for me--vacation and weight maintenance.

I ate whatever I wanted.  But I made a point to eat small portions and to quit before I felt full.

That strategy allowed me to indulge without bulging.  Indulging usually leads to bulging.

But I guess a person can eat whatever she wants as long as she keeps the portions small.

Wanna be small?  Eat small.

Wanna be healthy/healthier?  Eat healthy/healthier.

It seems simple doesn't it.  Well--I think it is simple.  Good ole common sense.

Whats Your Limit?

Over the years I've gained weight, lost it and regained it.

My limit--the number at which I drew the line in the sand?  Fifty pounds overweight.

It's hard for me to fathom allowing oneself to become 100 pounds overweight.

But then I think--why 50?  Why not 25?  Or even 10?

Just think.  If ten pounds had been my line in the sand limit, how much easier would it  have been on me to lose it?

I think I've only realized the connection between my weight and my decisions these past few months.  There are consequences to the food choices I make.  How could I not 'get' that?  How can any of us not 'get' that?

I think all to often--myself included--we deceive ourselves.  We justify our overeating on the grounds that others get to eat whatever they want and so should we.  But we are foolish.

The reality is that 'others', those without weight issues are not eating whatever they want.  I know a woman who says she eats whatever she wants.  But she doesn't.  She is a very careful eater.  To those observing her she is indulging all the time.  But that is an illusion.  Like most people, she manages her weight.

I wish someone had been 'mean' enough to give me the cold hard truth.  But I understand why they didn't.  It's not popular to be the bearer of bad news.  So nice reigns, sits in the high seat, while many go to heck in a hand basket.

Don't make the mistake I did.  Don't deceive yourself.  Don't believe the lies you tell yourself.  Only you can decide what to eat and how much of it to eat.  And ultimately, you as well decide how much weight you will carry on your body.

And remember--there's no fool like an old fool.  I'm just getting in under the wire of wasted years, almost too late for it to matter.  Don't go there.  Please.  For your own sake.  Don't go there.

Weightloss Update

Down 15 pounds.  Yay me.

I feel like I've found the magic bullet.  Of course there is no magic bullet.  But when one struggles to achieve a goal-- falling down, it seems, a million times-- to finally 'walk' feels like a miracle.

The take away is this:

When you try to lose and can't, you have to figure out why and what.  Why aren't you losing.  What is going on?

Our individual bodies are unique.  What works best for one may not work for another.  And different stages of life require different approaches too.

For me eating 'small' several times a day; eating less fat; not restricting any food--instead putting it on the 'eat once in awhile'  list;  eating adequate protein and fiber at mealtime and snack time; those are the strategies that have worked for me.

If you think it is hopeless, that nothing works, don't give up.  Keep trying.  Eventually you will discover what does work and experience your own miracle.

Note:  If you've been dieting for years with little success and much frustration it may be time to take a break from dieting and read the book Intuitive Eating.  Reading that book helped me begin to unravel the lifelong muddle of  lose and regain.

Blah Here

Haven't been in the mood to post anything lately.  I get like that sometimes.  A slump I guess it is.  Have a lot of thoughts, stuff to say, but no interest in organizing my thoughts into a coherent assemblage.  If I could sum them up-- the flotsam and jetsam in my brain-- they'd be this:

• I don't suffer fools gladly
• Quit whinging--everybody's got it or had it bad or will have it bad at some point
• There is no magic weight loss bullet
• Over fat people are people who overeat.  You can bet that 300+ pound man or woman is eating 3000-5000 calories a day--or more.  That is a lot of food.  Oink.
• If you're a preacher and excessively fat, don't preach at me about personal discipline things.  Straighten up your own act before pointing the finger.  I tend to despise those who think they are 'better' when it is obvious they suffer from the same excesses that are common to man. It's fine to speak the truth, but not from a high place that looks down on my shortcomings while you ignore your own
• If I keep fooling myself, I will continue to be a fool or behave foolishly.  Wise up. 
• Quit making excuses.  No one wants to hear it.
• Cut the crap

And on and on I could go.  I'm in a no nonsense mood.  Maybe it's because I'm getting older.  I understand a lot of things now that I didn't before.  And I am getting to the point where I feel I must voice some of my thoughts--the ones that might not sound so nice.  But they need to be said.  Nice is not nice if it promotes error or harm or is indifferent.  I'll try to be diplomatic in what I say, because people do have feelings.

 But I'm even getting a tad tired of the feelings stuff too.  Focusing on how we feel puts us in the dynamic of being a victim. Instead of saying "what you did hurt my feelings"-wah wah-- how about saying 'that was rude'.  To the point, and pretty easy to understand.

Ah well, now I'm rambling.  Time to shut 'er up.

It's been another two weeks of mindful eating and I've lost another pound.  That makes a total of 11.  Think I'll keep on with the changes I've made. They're the closest thing I'll ever find that resembles a magic bullet.  Who knew it'd be eating small amounts of healthy food frequently and the other junk once in awhile?

Eating Less Food

Eating less food is hard for those of us who love food and who are used to eating generous amounts of food. And restricting ourselves via diet is sure to cause a rebound effect--tell me I can't have a thing and what do I immediately want? And even if I hold out now, or for months, the time comes when I will eat the forbidden fruit.

I gave up dieting per se a couple of years ago after reading Intuitive Eating and after life long experience of losing weight on a diet but always regaining it. Even after keeping the weight off 5 years I regained. So weight lost by dieting is at most a failure in the long term for me.

Appetite plays a tremendous role in how much a person eats. I know this first hand because the first time I lost 50 pounds I was taking Sudafed around the clock--doctor's orders for chronic ear fluid due to allergies. I didn't make the connection to my lack of hunger being caused by the Sudafed for a long time. It was so easy to stay on my allotted 1200 calories a day. But when my ear got better and I discontinued the medication my appetite returned. And all those months of eating small amounts seemed not to make a difference--I returned to being hungry.

Nowadays my approach to minimize hunger is to eat foods that are high in fiber, foods that take a long time to leave the stomach, and foods that are bulky or very filling--like soups--so I will fill full sooner and stay feeling that way longer.

As well I have worked to come up with foods that have the lowest calorie intake but still give me great pleasure and food satisfaction. We foodies must have that satisfaction with our food--life is just not the same if we can't have what we consider wonderful decadent food. After all, life isn't worth living if one can never have chocolate or cake or ice cream or cheese and such like, is it?

The framework I came up with for me is 3 meals and if I am hungry in between 3 snacks. I call it 2,3,4. Two hundred calories for breakfast, three hundred for lunch, and 4 hundred for supper, plus 3 snacks around 150 calories each. These calorie amounts are approximate. Obsessing about them, trying to be exact creates frustration and anxiety, which serves to make me hungry. I only lose my appetite if I'm am seriously afraid. Fear will make me sick. Anxiety or frustration makes me hungry.

But--I don't actually count the calories I eat. Instead I eat by protein, fat and carb categories and small portions of each, per meal or snack. I put food into two classes--those I should 'eat often' and those I should eat 'once in awhile'. Classifying food in this manner helps me make better choices. If I've already had a regular hot dog this week, I don't need to be eating another one any time soon.

Breakfast is almost always a half portion of oatmeal, with some low fat milk for protein, and a dab of nut butter for good fat. And I have coffee with low fat (1%) milk. It's small and it gets me going. Later, if I am hungry I have a snack, usually a piece of 'easy' fruit--a banana, an orange, an apple--it depends on what is in season. When I tire of oats I eat an egg and a piece of toast, plus my coffee.

This small breakfast works for me because I'm not that hungry in the morning. You might need a more substantial breakfast. It might work better for you to have your snack portion with your breakfast meal. The snacks can be moved around--maybe you don't need a snack after supper--generally I don't, so I might eat those snack calories at supper instead.

If your are like me and you hate measuring every forkful you put into your mouth, come up with some breakfasts, lunches and suppers, and some snacks that will fit the approximate calorie amounts. Be sure to include fruits and veg in your snacks a lot of the time. A serving of V8 and a couple of celery sticks for crunch can be very satisfying...cold, crisp, salty--and spicy if you add a dash of hot sauce.

Make a checklist too--be sure you get in the good stuff nutritionally every day. You want 5 servs combined of fruit and veg daily--minimum. I aim for 2 fruit and 3 veg minimum. You want some green food every day. You want lots of slow carbs--beans, brown rice, oats, stuff like that--it'll fill you up. You want some protein, preferably lean, and some good fat. Eat some fat free and very low fat foods and save your fat calories for the good fats. I don't like most fat free foods, but some are tolerable and they can be a tool to help you enjoy your food. A Laughing Cow Light Cheese wedge--which is low cal and low fat-- spread on 4 whole grain crackers is nice. If you are having a sandwich and would miss the cheese, use a fat free or very low fat slice to replace what you usually eat. Opt for mustard instead of mayo. Or use low fat mayo or even fat free if you can abide it.

It's all about making choices, picking options that fit you; that you can live with forever.

Remember when you were a kid and ate a hot lunch at school? It was handed to you in the proper portions, with all the food groups and always included a small dessert. I never went away hungry, was always satisfied. I think it was because the meal had balance (that was waaayyyy back in the day mind you, when the food workers really cooked, versus the opening and heating they do today). At home, when mom cooked we often had dessert. But it was simple. A small dish--maybe a half cup--of pudding.

How did we go from eating and being satisfied with that half cup of pudding to needing/wanting the whole pan full? I imagine television and marketing had something to do with that, and I often wonder if subliminal messages played/play a role. We can make our bodies smaller and our pocket books fuller by eating less and beat the marketers at their own game--a win/win.

The real key to long term success with weight loss is to take the time and figure out what you must have food wise for the rest of your life. Then, use that knowledge to devise your own personal plan that will get you where you want to be.

Short and Sweet

Another two weeks has passed and I've lost two more pounds, for a total of 9 pounds. I will continue as I've been doing for these past 8 weeks. The way I am eating now is the way I will continue to eat 'for life'.

The one thing I have taken away recently is that if I want to be a 'little' woman--as in size--I must eat 'little' food.

Funny isn't it. And profound. The amount of food we eat is relative to the amount of weight we carry. Duh.

Whether we reduce our caloric intake by eating less food or eating less caloric food, the result is the same.

And we would do well to remember the Holocaust survivors when we reach a plateau and stall in our weight loss efforts. Those people existed on a tiny amount of food each day. The survivors were all, every one of them, skin and bone when they were released, which proves that starvation and the metabolic starvation mode our body supposedly enters will not stop weight loss if that starvation continues long term.

If I continue to eat little food in time I will be a little person.

One piece of chocolate. One bite of cake. One small portion of lasagna. A hot dog. Once in awhile. These types of foods can be eaten--if they are eaten infrequently and in small amounts.

I have a pretty good idea that all the 'small' people out there practice a lot of self control when they eat. They don't chow down, scarf the whole lot, pig out. They use reserve and self control--which cost nothing. Which require no special diets or programs.

Reserve and self control are functions of the will. And each one of us has a free will and the ability to exercise it as we wish.

Reserve and self control coupled with some brain power--i.e. using the knowledge we possess to make wise food choices that won't spike our blood sugar and insulin and affect our hunger-- are the key to long term success.

If I fail in this effort to become a 'little' person, it is my own fault. Owning that fact is critical. Blaming my failures on my past--the less than perfect childhood, the hardships and hurts-- is just an excuse, a cop out.

4 Week Goal Results

On my March 7th post I mentioned I was trying a few things, incorporating them into my daily eating.  Not a diet, because that is something you go on which means you can also go off, but a way of eating day in and day out.  My 4 week trial period was up this past Tuesday--I started the trial long before my March 7th post.

The result:  I lost 5 pounds in 4 weeks.  I did not count calories, nor points.  I did not count carbs either.  I did incorporate the following daily habits:

• one teaspoon of Metamucil 2 times a day--per doctor's orders (for cholesterol, for IBS, and the fiber helps you feel full)
• one tablespoon of flax meal a day
• green vegetables every day
• raw food every day
• 1 or 2 servings of good fat every day, limiting other fats by using some fat free or very low fat products  so that my body will burn my stored fat first
• a serving of beans/legumes every day
• 2 fruits and 3 or more vegetable servings every day
• green tea every day
• eat less animal and more plant--the bulk of my food  was plant.
• eat less processed foods, eat foods in their closest to natural state--the test:  would my great great grandmother recognize this food?  The exceptions were the fat free and low fat products which I will eliminate once I lose my excess fat.

I made a chart and used tic marks to keep up with my habits each day.

While there were no forbidden foods I do try to limit or avoid using any food with fructose, high fructose corn syrup and trans fats/partially hydrogenated oils.  I personally believe these things make us fat, that they are a major contributor to the obesity epidemic we are seeing.

I divided food into two categories.

EAT OFTEN
EAT ONCE IN AWHILE

When I ate food that tasted really good I used my head to prevent eating past no longer being hungry.  Jack LaLannes "if one apple is good you wouldn't eat a hundred" was my mantra.

For portion control I made  a half cup my standard serving size no matter what I was eating.

I'm going to give it two more weeks and see what happens.

Here are the fat free and low fat products I used:  fat free cheese slices on my sandwiches mainly; 1% milk in my coffee instead of half and half ; for a savory snack Laughing Cow Light Cheese wedges; buttery spray and light heart smart buttery spread--it has no trans fats and is a good source of omega 3's.

Aside from my morning coffee I drank water the rest of the day--at meals and in between.

I ate 3 meals and 2 snacks most days.  If I ate an early breakfast and an early lunch I skipped the midmorning snack.

This worked for me.  It may not work for you.  We each are different.  We each must adopt a way of eating that will help us to achieve optimal health.  Critical to long term success,  it is key that it be something we can live with day in and day out.  And a key component for me:  keep it simple--simple plain foods, simply prepared.