GoalWtIn6Months

My depression is taking me over.  TOM started a couple days ago and since then I’ve fell off the wagon and just can’t get myself up.  I ate too much, slept too much, and didn’t workout at all.  Now I don’t even think it’s so much TOM than it is my depression setting in.  I hate this feeling.  All I want to do is sleep. 

I think I’m going to stay off line for a few days in hopes I can re boot…. re energize some how.  what can I do??  Why does this always seem to happen when I’m on the verge of finally leaving the 200’s??? Am I scared of something, a new life, change…… why does this happen to me??

This happened three months ago and I gain 6 pounds.  Went from 201 to 207….. and stayed there until I re  joined Buddyslim.  Well I got back down to 2o1 but here I go again…sabotage myself…  God I hate this.  If I can only break thur to the one hundreds just this once.  Then maybe it will be different.

I’ve never been a big fan of counting calories. In fact, in the past year, I have lost about 30 pounds without counting a single dietary digit. Sure, I know recording everything you put in your mouth can help peel off pounds, but I also know that obsessing over calories makes you more likely to eat lowfat, low-fiber foods that wouldn’t satiate a starling.

Instead of crunching numbers, I munched on healthy food to become a weight loss success. If a food lover like me can do it, you can, too! Try these tips:

• Pick up produce. Have at least one fruit and veggie at every meal. On busy days when I know my lunch won’t have a smidge of green in it, I have two fruits at breakfast; I toss berries or peaches into my nonfat Greek yogurt and sprinkle it with granola. I love asparagus, green pepper, sun-dried tomatoes, sprouts, endive and more. Fruits and veggies are high in fiber, which staves off hunger. Shoot for nine servings daily. It sounds like a lot, but if you don’t have to be a rabbit to reach that goal. Eat a salad at lunch or dinner, and you’re there.

• Snack smart. Add protein (such as a stick of lowfat string cheese or Parmesan) to your between-meal bites. Research suggests protein may enhance the effect of leptin, a hormone that reins in appetite. I love hummus and dip veggies into it instead of pita bread or crackers. Protein is also filling and can help curb cravings for chips, cookies and the like.

• Sip more water. Dieters who swapped sugary drinks for water lose weight, but those who gulped the most H20 peeled off the most pounds, according to a study at the meeting of Obesity Society in Boston. Don’t love agua? Try the flavored kind but check the label for sugar content (it should be below 8 grams per serving).

• Map out your meals. A little attention to portions can help you eat less and still stay satisfied. Start by using a salad dish (8 inches in diameter) and divide it into quarters to help keep helpings healthy. Half the plate should get veggies, top another quarter with lean protein (3 to 6 ounces of fish, chicken or tofu) and the last quarter with whole grains (1/2 to 1 cup of brown rice, sweet potatoes or whole wheat pasta).

• Eat every meal. When you wait longer than five hours between bites, your body may release extra cortisol, a hormone that can increase appetite. I call it “hangry.” I get hungry and angry: My stomach starts to burn and my brain gets annoyed at every little thing. Then I eat whatever is in front of me, usually a cookie or other sweet, empty-calorie treat. I realize I’m putting out the “hangry” fires, but it is better not to get there in the first place!

For additional tips on eating healthy without hating it (and shedding pounds in the process), check out SELF’s Eat Like Me blog, by Cristin Dillon, R.D.

Lets Get Positive about Weight Loss Now

If you really want to achieve any goal, you need to think positive. This is true not just of weight loss goals but of every type of goal you might have. Be it a business or a family goal, you cannot achieve it unless you succeed in overpowering negativity. Once you set a goal, there will be obvious roadblocks on your way in the form of negative thoughts and feelings that will make you depressed and de-motivated. Your job is to weed out those negative thoughts from your mind and replace them with positive ones.

When you launch your weight loss program your mind will become preoccupied with thoughts such as “I can never be slim’” or “I am not meant to lose weight” or “I hate to do exercises”, etc. Instead of looking at your past thoughts you need to open up, you need to fight them. If these negative thoughts keep you from reaching your weight loss goal, you are not alone.

Why Being Positive Will Help You Lose Weight

Most people fail to lose weight because they start with a negative mindset; instead of thinking what will happen once they lose weight, they think about what MIGHT happen if they don’t. But then again, some of these people actually end up losing weight, when they decide to fight with these negative thoughts, when they realize that they deserve to lead a healthy life as much as others, when they realize that they can lose weight only by harboring positive thoughts in their mind.

In order to harbor positive thoughts in your mind, you need to think about the future: about the kind of life you will lead once you lose weight. For example, when you become slimmer, you will get rid of a host of diseases, appear sexier and achieve an increase in virility, or maybe that you will feel more comfortable with yourself, etc. Take a paper and pen and write down the reasons behind your desire to lose weight, and then stick it on the wall so that you can see it everyday! This way it will be easier for you to grab your negative thoughts by both hands and throw them out!

Be Positive Today and Start Losing Weight Today

It is a fact that most of us know how to lose weight but very few of us actually make the necessary efforts to put that knowledge into action because we don’t have the mental strength needed to achieve our goals. Once we start making an effort towards the achievement of a goal, we tend to get overpowered by demons such as anger, sadness and depression. Once you get control of your life and weed out those negative thoughts, you will see that losing weight is much more easier than you think!

Floating poop leads to weight loss?

 Dr. Oz on Oprah……

As usual, he had a ton of new and interesting, traditionally gross-ish research to share. Floating poop ranks right up there in all three categories.

Recently a study was conducted where the subjects were placed on a highly controlled yet moderate diet, which was low in calcium for one week. At the end of the week, each subject ‘contributed’ some doo in a jar as their sample to be analyzed. (Imagine doing that!) The next week, subjects were placed on the exact diet except this time tweaked it to provide the subjects with 1200 mg of calcium each day, which is ideal for adults. At the end of the week, once again they had the pleasure of providing a sample.

The poo samples were frozen, dried, turned into a pill, and then crushed (hate to be that scientist). The samples were then analyzed. The study showed that by the end of week two, the high calcium week…the subjects samples contained 100% more fat than the previous week. Which means, calcium is an excellent transporter of fat. Ideally, we’d prefer to expel the fat we consume rather than absorb it. This in the long run, will help lead to weight loss.

Dr. Oz recommends low fat dairy products and/or calcium supplements to achieve the desired 1200 mg of calcium recommended daily. Oh! And about the floating poop thing…poop carrying fat will float. Poop that sinks does not. Won’t it be fun for you to keep tabs on that?

Everybody wants a quick fix, and as we all know, they are pretty hard to come by and usually too good to be true. There is, however, a simple way to fix up your diet that will help you get healthy and lose weight.

All you have to do is add five food items and subtract five others. And you can do it at your own pace, in your own way. You don’t have to add and subtract these foods immediately, but the sooner you make these changes the sooner you’ll see good results.

If you’re already eating some of the “add” items, just add the rest. If one or two of the items is a complete impossibility for you, go to the nearest possible substitute.

If you’ve already subtracted some of the “remove” items, just subtract the rest. If you’ve cut back on a given item but haven’t done away with all of it, see if you can raise the bar and eliminate even more.

Even a week of diligence on this plan should yield some results.

Five Items to Add:

1. Fiber. Do this one gradually or you may get some (harmless) gas while your body adjusts to the new higher level. Great sources of fiber: vegetables, fruits and beans.
2. Raw vegetables. Add these on a daily basis not only for the rich phytonutrient and vitamin and mineral content but for the enzyme content as well. Raw, freshly made vegetable juice definitely counts.
3. Berries. The reasons berries are beneficial for your health could fill an entire column. Trust me.
4. Nuts. A serving is a quarter-cup. Pistachios, raw almonds or cashews, macadamia nuts, Brazil nuts, pecans, you name it. They’re packed with good fat and protein, but don’t overdo it. Consider scattering them on a salad and you can take care of two items (nuts and raw veggies) in one.
5. Protein at every meal. Make it fish at least twice a week, preferably more. Fried (anything) does not count.

Five Items to Subtract:

1. Pasta.
2. Most bread. Unless it is honest-to-God, certified, authenticated whole-grain bread (which is not the brown junk in the supermarket masquerading as health food). Even then, I would prefer you limit it to one to two slices a day, tops.
3. Commercial cereals. This includes anything in a cute box with the word “crunchy” on it. Read the ingredients. If you find more than five grams of sugar, put it down. Real steel-cut, non-instant oatmeal is not in this category, by the way, so eat up.
4. Sodas, even diet sodas.
5. Packaged cookies, cakes, pies, crackers and desserts. I know this is the killer one, but bite the bullet and try it for a week. Don’t think of it as a “diet,” think of it as an experiment. You want to see what happens if you remove a couple of harmless-sounding compounds like sugar and hydrogenated fat from your diet, just to see? Try it. Maybe nothing will come of it. Maybe you’ll finally start to lose weight.

Just a thought I wanted to bring up to you due to a great forum I joined that has put some motivation in me.  What would you like to be for Halloween this year??  Imagine losing 10-30 lbs from now until then……more confidence, fitting better in your clothes, loving the way you look.  FEELING MORE ATTACTIVE AND SEXY!

I don’t know what I want to be but all I know right now is that I would love to be 15-20 lbs lighter by Halloween.  I would choose a cute and sexy costume that I might have not worn before….. Minnie Mouse, Nurse, Witch, Devil, Angel….all cute and sexy ofcourse…lol  What would you choose, and how much would you like to lose by then?

Why have I been back and forth between 205 and 202 for the last 4 months??  I’ll tell you.

I give up right about now.  It’s about this time in my weight loss journey that I give up.  In the 2-4 week period of being “good”.  I get discouraged after only seeing 1-4 pounds weight loss and just say “f#%k it” and go on an eating rampage.  I was about to do that yesterday and this morning.  Why?

Why do I sabotage myself like this??  Right when I’m gonna finally leave the 200’s for the first time in 4 years.  What is wrong with me?

I can’t give up, I have to continue for the first time and see what else comes with being consistant.  I’ve only once kept going past the 4 week period, only once and I lost 15 lbs total.  Don’t I remember how it felt when I was 232 lbs??  Shouldn’t that have been enough for me to say “wow, I will keep going, it’s actually working”……

I really wish I knew what it was in me that causes this self destruction, self sabotage behavior…….right when I’m about to turn a huge corner in my life…..finally being under 200lbs.   I really hate this about me.

I really need to keep going and may need some real pushing and kicks in the a@# so I won’t give up…….not yet….  I’m too close.

Oh how i”m totally loving life right now!  I’ve been consistantly active for the last 3 weeks now, working out 5 days a week and loving it.  It sure wasn’t easy at first but I can see and feel myself really enjoying it much more now. 

Most impressive for me though is not the exercise…..I’ve always been able to get that down.  But it’s the eating.  I’ve always had problems with that…….that is until now!  I can’t believe I FINALLY have that under control!  And wow, it’s really showing in my shrinking belly fat and overall strength I feel in my body.

When I started this weight loss thing about a year ago I was pushing a size 22…..  was able to get to a size 18 last Oct 2007, but was stuck at 18 till now!!  On Monday night I went out on a date with hubby and guess what??  I put on a size 16 dress, and it fit well and I felt great!!! 

And just so you know,  for those of you who might not be so motivated or hate to workout….. I did all this by mostly just plain ol’ walking.  That’s mostly it, walking 2-4 miles 5-6 days a week.  I’ve also added strength training now using small 5 & 10 lbs hand weights to help build more muscle, plus lunges, squats and crunches 2-3 times a week.  But it really all started with the most simple and easy to do exercise….WALKING.   Something we all can do for sure.  It’s being consistant that’s really important!

Well, I’m soo close to my first ever mini goal!  I don’t know if I’ll reach it this weekend at weigh in but I know for sure it will be met in the next 7-10 days….. I can just feel it.  Good Bye to the 200’s once and for all!!

My Monthly Mile Tracker

8/1 - Walked 3 miles
8/2- Off
8/3- Walked 3.25 miles, Jog 1.25 miles
8/4- Walked 2 miles, Jog 1 mile
8/5- Walked 3 miles, Jog 1 mile
8/6- Walked 3 miles

So here is my question, is it okay to skip dinner a few times a week?

Right now I’m on the Weight Watcher points plan.  I eat about 27 points a day.  Now today for example, I already used up all my points and it’s only 3:30pm.  Is it okay to skip dinner altogether tonight?  Or is it a bad idea.

 I realize the importance of each meal.  But most experts stress the importance of Breakfast, lunch and snacks as a never miss kinda thing.  If we get in all our calories and nutrients in for the day before 4pm, is it safe to skip out on dinner?  Maybe just drink H2O and have a peice of fruit?  I wonder…

Let me know what you think…….

Okay…. it’s offical!  TOM is here!  Came last night, just something we women have to deal with each month, like it or not. 

At least it explains my difficulty I had in this last week trying so hard not to overeat.  I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me earlier that it might be my PMS and Aunt Flo getting ready to visit. But it explains it all now. 

So yes, I did have a doughnut for breakfast along with my coffee.  Man did that fill some wierd void I had in the last few days.  Well I’m still counting my WW points on that so I will still remain on track with my eating the rest of the day.  I will just make better food choices. 

I hope I still show a loss this weekend with all my bloating.  Wow, no wonder my pants are all so tight…lol  Duh!