Why are you doing what your doing?

How did journaling go over the weekend? Was it hard to remember to write everything down when you are on the go without the structure of work?

This is the point. When you are on the go without the structure of work, many of us stop paying attention to what we are eating. With the fridge just a few steps away in the kitchen, are you the person who finds herself hanging out in front of it -- just looking to see if the food status has changed since your last visit?

Journaling doesn't have to be formal. Throw a pad of post-its and a pen on the counter and as you eat and fill them out, stick them into a spiral binder. Get creative and problem solve the situation in a way that seems sensible to you.

Studies have shown that it isn't the plan that determines how successful a person is at losing the weight -- it is how much the person buys into the plan. If you are modifying your behaviors in ways that seems sensible and maintainable over the long haul -- and then reevaluating them as you move through the changes -- you will be successful in losing weight and keeping it off over your lifetime.

Do something Friday

Are you journaling?

Most of my clients wrinkle their noses at the idea of writing down everything that goes into their mouths -- "It's too much of a pain in the neck" they say.

But really, that is the point. If you are going to eat 3 pretzels from the break table but then you know you are going to have to go write them down, it tests your commitment to how badly you want those pretzels. If they aren't worth the effort of writing them down in the journal, you probably don't want them that badly in the first place.

You don't have to weigh or measure either.

Grab a notepad and write down the time you are eating, what you ate, whether you were physically hungry when you started eating and how full you were when you got done. Your goal is to do this as close to the time that you eat as possible. People are notoriously bad at remembering all of the little bites they took during the day if they journal for the whole day at the end of the day.

That's it. Not rocket science and it will give you all of the information you need to know to help you eliminate the calories that aren't adding value to your life and lose weight without feeling deprived.

How much do you need to reduce your intake??

If you reduce the amount of food you eat per day by 9 bites (think about it -- that is just 3 bites per meal), you will have saved enough calories in a week to lose a 1/2-1 pound in a week.

Can you be happy eating 9 bites per day less?

This has been bothering me for a while...

There is the concept many of us hold that we have a "right" to eat whatever we want. While in principle that it true, it doesn't mean that there aren't consequences for overeating.

The Borgess Heart Institute just put out it's next edition of the Light Hearted Living cookbook -- that's cool. All of the recipes have been taste tested and analyzed by dietitians so they meet heart healthy guidelines. But, here's my problem with the whole thing....

The tag line on the promotion stuff is:

"Eat to your Heart's Content."

What this says to me is that the food in this book is heart healthy so I have a free pass -- I can enjoy as much of this heart healthy food as I want and the consequences will be different than if I enjoy as much McDonald's as I want.

Is this actually true? Would the consequences be different?

I don't think so.

If I spend all of my disposable income on a really, really expensive gym membership, wouldn't I still have a problem when faced with an unexpected bill? But...wait...the gym membership being a healthy choice should count for something, right? Well, maybe working out would help me manage the stress of not having any money to pay the unexpected bill but it wouldn't be the best solution for the problem.

Same goes for food -- it is a great thing to be able to eat great tasting, healthier food options. But if you over eat, it doesn't matter what you are over eating on -- it is possible to over eat on carrots! If you are eating when you are not physically hungry -- that is the definition of over eating. We do it all the time -- I just want you aware that there aren't "get out of jail free" foods because they are healthy. Don't let the media tell you different!

I had this discussion with.....

So, how much holiday food do you still have in your house?

I had this discussion with myself last weekend and with a client and 4 members yesterday. It is time to get the holiday food gone. We have eaten enough cookies, sweets, peanut brittle, chocolates, drank enough soda, etc. It is time to clear things out.

For myself, I still have cookies. I am NOT going to throw them away (they are special once a year cookies and cannot, under any circumstances, be mistreated0. But it is time to get them out of the kitchen freezer and into the garage freezer. There, I will leave them alone for month or so while I detox all of the Christmas sugar out of my system.

And start drinking more water! I know it is cold outside (at least here) and sometimes that makes it hard to drink water. We have to move the sugar out of our systems. If you are getting those sugar cravings (because you have had at least a month with tons of available sugar around the office) drinking water will help you get over the cravings. Just make sure it isn't sugared water. If you don't like plain water, try it flavored with lemon, lime or orange. Or find a tea you like.

It is time to reestablish the things you do well. Once that is done, then move on to one new small change.

I love you guys!

So, first, let me say -- it has given me a huge charge to check in every day and see the hit counter at the bottom of the page moving up and up. --Especially, these last two weeks when everyone has been so busy with the holidays and so many of you (and me too) have had vacation time. It is really cool that you are still checking the blog even though you are not at work! Thanks!

Secondly, I was talking to a buddy of mine who is preparing to head out on a mission trip in January. He needs to raise funds and I was taking a look at the website of the group he is going with (mostly because I hadn't ever heard of this organization and was curious about how they worked). I stumbled across a tab entitled Motivational Minutes. I am always curious to see how others motivate, so I clicked on the tab and ended up on a the page entitled "I can do Anything for Ten More Minutes". The gist of the article is that when something is difficult (the author specifically talks about running but this is applicable to most any situation) if you can focus on getting yourself over the discomfort of the immediate future (the next 10 minutes) then usually the discomfort passes and you don't get bogged down by the whole distance you are trying to go -- just focus on getting through the next little bit (does this sound like mindfulness to anyone??)

It made me think about how we talk about weight management. Sometimes, we get so bogged down thinking about the whole amount we have to lose (let's say you want to lose 50 pounds) and it just seems like too much when you break that down into how long it is going to take, how much you won't be able to eat, how many weeks you are going to need to deprive yourself of your favorite foods, how often you are going to have to tell your friends you can't eat out with them because you are on a diet -- it all becomes too overwhelming and you just want to quit!

Don't quit!! Make a decision to deal with the next 10 minutes or the next snack time or the next boring breakfast meeting with donuts sitting on the buffet that you don't really want to eat but you are so BORED out of your gourd and it would be nice to just be able to stretch your legs because this meeting is putting you to sleep and it is only 8:20 am!!

Just make the next eating decision with as much grace as you can muster. Once that is done, then think about the next one. One decision at a time. Eliminate 30calories here, 150 calories there -- the weight will come off consistently if you are consistently making the small decisions to eat a bit less.

You can do almost anything for 10 more minutes. Keep that in mind next time you start to get bogged down.

1 January 2010

How are you moving into the New Year? Are you full of regrets of your holiday eating? Judgment about your weight?

LET IT GO!!!!!

The mindful approach to weight loss is all about letting go of judgment, both for the kinds of food you eat and for yourself. Guilt, shame and anger don't work as a long term weight loss strategy.

Have you seen the commercials for the Taco Bell Drive Thru Diet? That woman did not lose her weight because she was eating high quality food -- she was losing weight because she was eating fewer calories that she had been in the past. You could create a Twinkie Diet if you wanted to -- you would just need to eat fewer Twinkie calories than the total number of calories you have been eating. (I am not endorsing Twinkies -- don't get the wrong impression -- anything with that long of a shelf life probably isn't a food you want as a staple)

Who would have thought a person could lose weight eating at drive thru's?? Even if you haven't actually watched Super Size Me, we all understand the idea that fast food makes us fat. BUT, it doesn't. LOTS of fast food makes us fat. And most restaurant food (fast or not) is designed to give us a feeling of monetary value (huge portions to justify the larger price tag). But if you ate the portion size your body needed at that time (based on hunger and fullness cues not portion size cues) you would lose weight.

So, it is the first of the year! Get creative with your weight loss solutions. Make small changes and do more of what's working well already.