hmmmm.....

so looking at some old posts after a weekend filled with pasta, pizza and general debauchery, I'm feeling a great deal of remorse. The New Year brought new hope for diet renewal, or so I thought. But as I'm gaining weight at an alarming rate, mostly due to the fact that I eat enough for three people, it's beginning to seem a hopeless case. How do you say "When" when "When" is enough. Or maybe 5+ pieces of pizza (crusts don't count, right) is really when? When will I know?

A world of choices....

I missed the weigh in yesterday. Actually, considering what I have eaten and not eaten this week, all I missed was the opportunity to feel humiliated.

Which brings me to the point. How do we stay motivated in a world full of calories. I mean to be good, I want to be good, I plan to be good...but when faced with a bag of chips and salsa, I am not good.

Do you guys have any suggestions on what keeps you on track (other than a device that makes a mooing sound when you open the fridge door or cookie jar).

Susanne Somers says...

that because I'm over 40 it's not my fault that I can't lose weight. That's a relief....cause I thought it might be the brautwurst and corn muffin for breakfast.

Whew!

ya know...

this whole dieting thing would be SO much easier if we didn't need to USE more calories than we EAT. It's just so unfair!

Woo Hoo!

So - I lost a WHOLE pound this week. Not much - granted. But a start. I find that I start out great - eating well in the morning - and then start not eating so great and not logging what I eat (probably out of embarrasment)....

do you guys ever notice that? What keeps you in line throughout the day?

Feeling hungry ALL THE TIME?

According to Calorie Counter (and Weight Watchers said the SAME thing today on their blog), it's probably WHAT you are eating....

Calorie Counter says....

"If you want to feel full all day on less food, focus on these eating strategies:

• Get enough lean protein and fiber. A study of 22 men who changed the amount of protein in their diets for 18-day periods showed that those who ate the least protein were the most likely to report being hungry. "Protein is the number one thing to help you feel full," says Emily Banes, RD, clinical dietitian at Houston Northwest Medical Center. "The second thing is fiber."
  
• Eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. Researchers tracked the weight-loss success of 71 obese women between 20 and 60 years of age on a low-fat diet. Half of the women were also told to increase their fruit and vegetable intake. At the end of one year, both groups of women had lost weight, but the women who ate the most fruits and veggies reported the greatest weight loss and were less likely to say they felt hungry on any given day. In fact, when the researchers crunched the data, they found that whether the women reported feeling hungry frequently predicted their ability to lose weight. Other studies have shown that changing your eating habits to focus on these water- and fiber-rich foods will help you maintain weight loss for up to six years.
  
• Sip soup. Adding two low-calorie soups to your diet every day could stave off hunger pangs and keep you satisfied longer. Choose soups that are broth-based, not cream-based, to reduce the calorie count; also look for soups that are low in sodium. Consider chunky, pureed vegetable soups, as they have been shown to produce the most lasting full feeling. Timing your soup so that you have it before a meal also reduces the amount you eat at that meal by about 20 percent, according to a study of 53 overweight adults.
  
• Eat whole grains. A serving of whole grains will stick with you longer than a serving of refined wheat bread or any other refined flour product, for that matter. Most refined flour is white and often bleached.
  
• Pick "airy" snacks. If you must snack and you don't have a piece of fruit or a veggie tray on hand, choose the snack food that has more air in it — think cheese puffs instead of potato chips, rice cakes instead of cookies. You will feel just as full as you would if you ate the same serving size of another snack, but you will consume fewer calories on average.

It's Never too late to start....

I copied this from Calorie Counter this morning because it REALLY spoke to me - and it might to you as well. You should ckeck out the entire posting today - the link is here on the site. She's not that much older than us (insert heavy sigh here) but what she said really sounded so much like me (as well as a conversation I had with my lovely Lisa the other day). She needed to lose about 20 lbs. She had kinda just figured that being older meant being softer (Diane - you wild woman - that does not apply to you). She had tried Atkins and gained all 15 lbs she lost back the minute she put a piece of pasta back in her mouth (sounded familiar). But her story is really interesting and she looks amazing. If you don't read it - know this. TRACK EVERY SINGLE CALORIE! I fall off the wagon and then won't write it down cause I'm ashamed of myself. DO IT ANYHOW! Love ya!

"The title is one tip that our this week's featured member, Jenpnc would like to share with you. She’s 53 and she was resigned to the fact that her weight was slowly creeping up on her. Then she started counting calories and lost 21 lbs. Losing that weight gave her self confidence back and she's living a much healthier and happier lifestyle."