Thoughts on Working Out #1

OK. I admit it. I hate working out.

Yes, I feel better.
Yes, it aids weight loss.
Yes, it's good for me.
But that does not change the basic fact that I don't like it. Not one bit.
The only reasons I go most of the time are:
1) I know that I will probably gain 5 pounds just by skipping one day...and
2) because my workout buddy (my mom) makes me go.

This morning, for example, when it was still dark outside, I stumbled to the door to see if she had decided to work out at that ridiculous hour or not. I knew that, if she wasn't there, I could go lie on the couch and go back to sleep for an hour or more. Does she decide that sleep is also integral to good health and stay in bed? NO! There she is, sitting out in my front yard, waiting for me. Durn.
So, most of the time, I drag myself to gym only because my mom makes me. Even at my age, my mom is still making me do what's good for me because I don't have the gumption to do it for myself.

Annoying Things I Read #3

Magazine Headline:
"I just stopped eating out (or eating fast food, or drinking soda, or eating ice cream, or WHATEVER) and lost 10 pounds!"

This is another farce.
I stopped doing everything, and I GAINED several pounds!
I stopped sodas, fast food, eating out, bread/biscuits/rolls, pasta, potatoes, "nibbling" between meals, cookies, chips, crackers, PB&J, waffles, cheese, pancakes, muffins, cake, maynonnaise, dressing, butter, juices, ice cream, pizza, lasagna, donuts....and it doesn't really make anything happen. (Hey, I'm surprised there's even anything left to eat with that long list of no-nos!)
If only it were this easy...just stop eating something that you're not supposed to, and the weight just comes off...that would be wonderful!
I have had to work out like crazy and eat like a rabbit just to get where I am. There's no "easy way out". Just eliminate every good food on the planet...measure and weigh every morsel from here to eternity.

OK...I admit it. I didn't cut out the chocolate. And I'm not planning on it either.

Chocolate Escapades #2

Today, another chocolate caper. I wait for the sales, which makes it all OK, you know.
4 bags of peanut m&ms (Halloween too...with cool colors) for only $5? How can you pass that up?
And 6 large 5.5 ounce bars (the ones with big squares) of Hershey's Milk Chocolate bars for only $6. Can't pass that up either.
This should keep me busy for...say about 24 hours?

Dieting Rewards (NOT!) #2

No one will tell you this either.
You plan on losing 10, 30, 50 pounds...and you are excited about the day that you can actually say "I did it!"
But...no one tells you that the REWARD...you heard me...REWARD for losing these pounds is that you now get....

drum roll, please...

LESS FOOD!!!!

Yeah! I have worked so hard to get here, and now I get even less food than I used to get! Calorie needs are based on your weight, so if you LOSE weight, you need less calories. Hmmmm...
I wasn't counting on this.
Bummer.

Chocolate Escapades #1

This afternoon, I went to the drugstore and bought 16 packages of CHOCOLATE. Yeah!
Peppermint Patties, Snickers, M&Ms, Hershey bars, 3 Musketeers...
I ran out of the store with 3 bags full of fun...I felt like a kid with a brand new toy.
I've already eaten it all. ;-)

Dieting Rewards (NOT!) #1

OK, we all know that dieting, losing weight, and getting in shape have their many rewards.
But no one ever talks about the punishments you receive for all your hard work.
Maybe no one wants to admit it, but many of us are actually PUNISHED after months and months of exercise, starvation, and counting calories.

The first of these punishments (for women only) is the reduction in boob size.
When did you last see a magazine cover that said,
"Lose 2 cup sizes in just 4 weeks!"

Yeah, sign me up. Sounds wonderful.
You read about so many benefits: lower cholesterol, better fitting clothes, more energy, better sleep, and on and on...
But I'll scream it so everyone can hear and know that, when you work REALLY hard and suffer endlessly on your diet...at the end of it all...the light at the end of the tunnel... what you can hold on to when temptation strikes...

Just find comfort in knowing that, when it's all over, you will have NO BOOBS left. Whoopie.

Diet Discovery #2: Calories are wrong

Fact: The good food has more calories.
It's just not fair.
Why do lettuce, celery, and other rabbit food have virtually NO calories (even if you consume an entire truckload), while the good stuff has 200 calories per nibble (or even sniff)? I guess I knew this before, but it has really made an impression on me since I've been counting calories (since February).

Things you just take a bite of here and there...those nibbles alone can add up to your entire caloric allotment for the month!

You eat a cookie or two...you've used up most of your calories for the day.
You eat a piece of cake...you might as well not eat the rest of the week.
You go to Cracker Barrel for dinner...you should plan on not eating for a month.

Why does the good stuff add up so fast? When you only get 1200 calories a day, you'd be surprised how quick that goes. Hey, if I'm not careful, my calories could be all used up before I even get out of bed!

Take, for example, my favorite: chocolate. Should be harmless, right? It has antioxidants and I'm certain a host of other benefits, not to mention that it makes your mouth feel very happy. But one little Hershey's kiss has 22 calories! You nibble 5 of those, and you've eaten the calories in an entire bag of snack popcorn! Now, the chocolate is certainly more delicious, but the popcorn more filling.
So what do you choose?
Eat chocolate and be happy but still hungry?
Or eat popcorn and be unhappy but full?
Or eat both and be fat?

I am on a soapbox today...
I want to know WHY chocolate, cookies, cake, pie, ice cream, potato chips, cheese nachos, soft bread with butter, muffins, candy bars, pancakes, biscuits, waffles, pudding, french fries, peanut butter, Coke, and all the GOOD stuff can't have the same calories as squash, broccoli, and romaine?
Something is definitely wrong here.

Fiber Tip #2 - You'll love this one...

Metamucil - my fiber supplement of choice.
(OK, not of "choice", but maybe of necessity?)




Follow your delicious bowl of mulch...oops, did I say that?...I mean "of bran" with Metamucil. This will help you get some of your daily required water amount (to be discussed later - not my favorite subject) PLUS more fiber at the same time. Some people like Benefiber, Citrucel, and others. They come in capsules, powder, flavors - you're bound to find something like (or can at least tolerate).
So, follow breakfast with a Metamucil chaser. My flavor of choice is their new Pink Lemonade. What could be a better way to start your day? Kinda helps "get things going", if you get my drift... :-)

Annoying Things I Read #2

Myth found in many diet articles:
"On my new eating plan, I'm never hungry anymore!"

What kind of crazy talk is this?
The day I'm not hungry any more will be the day they pronounce me dead and pull the sheet over my head.
Whoever they interview for these articles must be completely out of touch with their own stomach.
I do all the "right" things...
eat every 2-3 hours (small meals)...
eat fiber-rich foods (I already discussed this in too much detail)...
don't eat high-carb foods that leave your blood sugar in the depths of despair
(OK, except for chocolate)...

This is great in theory, but it doesn't work.
I woke up hungry this morning.
I went to bed hungry last night.
I often wake up IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT...you guessed it...hungry.
I think about how hungry I am (and how delicious a big piece of chocolate cake would be) at least 642 times a day.
I've talked to people who constantly diet or watch their diet to keep their weight in check. They have done this for years, and they say they are still hungry all the time. You don't get over it, get used to it, or find it any easier.

Some lady at the gym was bragging about her new diet...fish, veggies, oatmeal, lean protein, etc. "I don't even miss the sweets...and I'm not hungry either."
She has got to be fooling herself. Or lying.

And if she's telling the truth, she must be an alien.

Annoying Things I Read #1

Myth found on the front cover of any woman's magazine:
"I started walking and the pounds just FELL off!"

Lie. Big fat lie. OK...if you already weigh 500 pounds to begin with, maybe.
Or if you never do ANYTHING to exert yourself, maybe that too.
But most normal, everyday people do not start walking and then watch the pounds "just fall off".
Someone's got to be missing something somewhere in this.
How can they publish this????

I started working out at the gym in January.
http://www.gym365.com/
45 minutes cardio 6 times a week and then 20 minutes of weight training 3 or 4 times a week. And I'm not strolling along here. I mean working out HARD. Sweating bullets. The real deal. And did the pounds fall off?

HA! Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.......NOT!

I did not lose anything. Nada. Zip. Nil. Zero. Scale stuck. And stuck fast.

I don't know who they get for these "success stories", but they must not be real people.

Diet Discovery #1: Eyes are Deceiving

Mind Trick #1 for Dieting : Use small plates and bowls
As silly as this sounds, it works. Much of the eating experience is visual anyway, right? Put a small serving in a large bowl or on a large plate, and how does that feel? It feels like you're being ripped off, right? So...
Put your oatmeal, yogurt, fruit, cereal, etc. in a kids' breakfast bowl...you know, the kind with Disney Princesses, Winnie the Pooh, Dora, whatever. First of all, this will make you happy to see a smiling kids character in your bowl. :-) Second, your serving will seem much larger if placed in the smaller bowl. This sounds crazy, but it's true.
Put your dinner or lunch...salad, sandwich, veggies and meat, spaghetti, pasta, etc. on a SALAD plate, not a dinner plate. Your plate will usually be pretty full, especially if you eat large amounts of veggies. It's a great feeling to actually get a bowlFUL or plateFUL of food when you feel like you are constantly being deprived and starving.
Hey, when you diet, you think a bit off anyway. Most of us who have dieted know that any idea is worth trying, especially if it actually helps or works!More again next time....

Fiber Tip #1...Who said this would be fun?

OK...I choose brown for fiber...and for the results of fiber.
Yes, gross, I know.
The first rule of my diet plan:
When dieting (and even if you aren't), you MUST consume lots of fiber. Try for 25-35 grams per day.
There are many sources of fiber, but most are only 2 or 3 grams per serving. It is best to buy CASES of Kellogg's All-Bran Bran Buds (http://www.all-bran.com/) if you are dieting, because you can have 13 grams of fiber in just 70 calories of cereal. Plus, you get much of it over with first thing in the morning and don't have to worry about it all day. There are other All-Bran products with high fiber counts as well...check them out.
On the up side, FIBER:
-fills you up
-empties from your digestive system more slowly than other foods (allowing you to feel fuller longer)
-is good for your system
-helps with "bowel issues" (keep things "regular", "moving", whatever you want to call it that sounds appropriate, but really never is) (if you are over 40, you will know why this is important)

On the down side, FIBER:
-tastes like cardboard, mulch, pine bark shavings (like you get at Lowe's or Home Depot), and other inedible things from the earth's floor
-grows in your mouth if you don't hurry up and just chew and swallow it
-gives you the most terrible gas that you will swear it was the dog, even if you don't have one or the one you have is not around

I cannot help you with the last thing on the list. You are on your own. But you might want to get a separate bed if you sleep with another unfortunate soul. Or feed them fiber, and you won't be able to tell who it was...
I can, however, help with the first fiber problem. Sprinkle your All-Bran with Post Cocoa Pebbles or Kellogg's Cocoa Krispies. I've tried both and prefer the former...the latter is not chocolately enough for this chocoholic. It is amazing the difference a few flakes of crispy chocolately rice cereal can make.
Believe me, I've been eating this stuff for a LONG TIME, and the Cocoa Pebbles make it much more bearable.
It isn't the best part of the day, but has many benefits.

P.S. My hubby has discovered Nature's Path SMART BRAN and loves it. http://www.naturespath.com/ 90 calories for 13grams of fiber and very edible.


GO BRAN! You have now successfully absorbed the fiber portion of this diet.