I Need to Care More

Some days it's hard to be consistent with my goals for weight loss and health. When life creeps in and brings as its guest stress, it's easy to become distracted and eat mindlessly.

That happened yesterday although if I'm to be honest, I knew exactly what I was doing. I went grocery shopping hungry, which is the cardinal sin. It was going well until I passed the kettle cooked cracked pepper potato chips, my favorite crunchy, salty food. It wasn't a big bag, fortunately, but the damage was already done the moment it went into my cart.

I promised to be honest in this blog no matter how ugly so here it is: I opened the bag in the car and by the time I got home it was almost empty. The rest was finished with lunch (low fat cottage cheese and peach slices). I suppose there are worse transgressions but the fact is I knew I shouldn't even put the bag in my cart to begin with. I knew what I was about to do yet I did it anyway. And I didn't care. I ate all 10 servings the bag contained, thinking 7 grams of fat per serving wasn't that bad while ignoring that by eating them all I had 70 grams of fat total.

I can blame it on the fact that I was tired, stressed and emotional but none of those things are reasons, only excuses.

Today I acknowledge my weak moment and am doing what I can to make up for it. The thing about bad choices is that we get to make amends with the very next choice. It doesn't have to become a cycle of one mistake after another but can serve as a red flag to let us know a change in course is needed.

I'm grateful for second chances. And thirds and fourths. However many times I need to get myself back on track, I will. I just wish I didn't have to do it so often. I did find a series of articles that might help me at Peer Trainer.

Affirmations for Weight Loss

Journaling helps me work through issues as I lose weight. I'm finding that incorporating affirmations also helps. Here is an article I found. I'm not into new age meditation, hypnosis, etc., but I do believe in the power of words and thoughts so it makes sense to focus on positive messages. Even the Bible tells us that as we think in our hearts, so we are.

Affirmations for Weight Control:

"Affirmations are simple words or phrases that you can repeat to yourself whenever you feel an urge to eat or to skip your daily workout etc.

When you have an urge to eat, take a deep breath. Now focus your thoughts in a positive, pleasant situation. Now say:

"I'm losing weight now. I love the feeling of making progress. I want to stay there."

The more positive messages you send to yourself, the more you'll want to do what's needed to slim down. Your affirmations are to be in the present tense to give them a greater sense of power and immediacy. Don't use the future tense, because it creates an inner mind program which says that you are not ready now. The present tense, in contrast, affirms your readiness and willingness to reach your goal now. Keep the affirmation positive with the emphasis on you at your goal now.

Barbara Hoberman Levine, author of "Your Body Believes Every Word You say" talked about one man who read about hypnosis and began to affirm to himself, "I am not hungry." He actually gained weight. Each time he told himself "I am not hungry," he focused his attention inside to see if he was hungry. He thought about hunger so often that he put conscious energy into being hungry. He was more hungry when he used an affirmation denying hunger than when he didn't think about hunger.

"Telling yourself not to do something, you focus attention on the very thing you are avoiding, making it harder to avoid," says Barbara. The mind and imagination must focus on the positive goal.

The wording you use is also very important. You must use statements that your conscious mind can accept. In order for Affirmations to work they must be reasonable, believable and acceptable to the conscious mind, lest the mind dismiss the affirmation as mere wishful thinking. The mind must hear an affirmation and really believe it could be true or become true.

Given below are examples of affirmations you can use. Develop your own affirmations that you can "own." Each day, write or say aloud your affirmations.

I'm on the road to fitness.
I am feeling thinner today.
I'm losing weight now.
I look and feel lighter today.
I'm enjoying how I'm feeling now.
I love the feeling of making progress.
I love the food that makes me thin.
Losing weight is effortless.
I am going to fit into the next size smaller any minute.
I enjoy being healthy.
I'm making things easy for myself now.
My body is getting stronger, slimmer, and healthier every day.
I feel so thin inside, my outer is just about to catch up.

To help with having your own inventory of nourishing words and phrases, write two affirming sentences on index cards, place them on your bathroom mirror or on your refrigerator. Read them first thing every morning and last thing at night as a reward to yourself for sticking with your plan.

Psychologists recommend that every time you sense yourself giving a negative message, snap your fingers gently. For each snap, make a mark on a piece of paper. At the end of the day, count the marks. If you can remember what you told yourself, write it down, then see if you can come up with a more realistic message."

Daily Disciplines

I was pleased to see a drop in weight when I got on the scale this morning, especially considering Thanksgiving last week. I think what is helping is that I've committed to a set of daily disciplines. They are small steps that will help keep me on track with my goal.

1. No computer time until I get in my exercise (30 minutes on the treadmill). The computer can be a huge time-waster for me and if I start my day with it half my morning is gone before I realize it. So now it is my reward for exercising, but it also makes a big difference when I start my day with affirmations through prayer and Bible reading to fill my mind with positive things before venturing online.

2. Plan to succeed by planning my food for the day. There's a lot said about keeping a food journal because it makes me mindful of what I eat. The night before I write out what I plan to eat the next day. I may change it some but it helps to have a general idea of what is available so I'm not eating mindlessly. Writing it down makes me aware and planning ahead helps me avoid the pitfalls of snacking.

3. I'm making a real effort to avoid all sugar, bread, pasta and potatoes for now. It isn't that carbs are all bad, but for me with my insulin issues I need to avoid them at least temporarily. There are other whole grains that are better choices. I also am committed to get in more servings of vegetables each day. For some reason I don't eat them much, maybe because they take more time to prepare than grabbing something already made (like baked goods, bread, cheese, etc.). But, it's a choice that really doesn't take that much extra time. I'm not looking at this as deprivation but rather a temporary discipline that will help me succeed and feel better. It's not forever and I can live with that.

Not The Biggest Loser

The Biggest Loser is a reality show I have a love/hate relationship with. On the one hand it is inspiring to see people succeed with losing weight. On the other hand I am well aware that it isn't reality for most of us to exercise intensely for 6+ hours a day (unless you are a professional athlete or training for the Olympics) and live on a secluded campus with cameras and trainers where the focus 24/7 is on weight loss without the triggers of daily life that got a person fat in the first place. And losing 6-15 pounds a week is definitely not reality nor is it normal or even recommended by any doctor on the planet. I don't like the show because for most of us the spectacular results in such a short amount of time are simply not attainable.

No, real life is much harder than The Biggest Loser. That's why nearly all of the contestants end up gaining some of the weight back after the show is over and some end up back right where they started. It's a fact the show doesn't advertise. Reality is where life, temptation, and moments of weakness meet several times a day, threatening to undermine the most stalwart attempts at losing weight.

What I need are lifestyle changes that are practical yet effective that I can continue for the rest of my life. Whatever I do to lose weight is what I need to be willing and able to do indefinitely. I'm sure working out at the gym for two hours, five days a week, or 45+ minutes of aerobics a day would get me results but neither is something I'm willing to do, at least not yet. But, I can manage a 30 minute walk each day and working with weights twice a week. No doubt a strict diet that completely eliminates carbs in any form will give me at least short-term success, but I know sooner or later I will want dessert or bread so instead I will plan for those foods in order to control the quantity without deprivation.

My biggest ally in this battle is Awareness. If I remain in a state of awareness I am able to distinguish between real hunger and emotional hunger. I am able to pay attention to portion size and healthier food choices. Awareness helps me manage stress and daily life so the tyranny of the urgent doesn't completely derail me and lead me into mindless eating. It helps me stay focused on my goal and gives me the power to politely decline anything anyone offers that will set me back.

I can make better choices and even if I don't meet all my goals each day, I will do what I am able to do and strive to make next week a little better than this week so I can keep moving forward. I won't be the biggest loser but I will be a loser who wins in the end.

It's Hard to Ask For Help

One theme I keep coming across as I educate myself on what works for weight loss is how important it is to have a buddy, join a group, or have some kind of accountability. It just hasn't worked that well for me in the past. It's not that I'm having such success on my own either, but in the past I have ended up feeling abandoned, let down, criticized, or misunderstood. Sometimes my asking for help in the form of accountability meant having my efforts undermined by the very people who were supposed to offer support and I never understood why a friend or family member would be that way. Because of negative experiences I made the decision that I would go this alone but sometimes I'm not my own best cheerleader either.

I'm not sure what the answer is. Right now the Internet is my source of inspiration and support as I find others who are in the same struggle and I'm thankful for it. Whatever the program any one of us follows, we all have the same goal and that is to lose weight in order to be more healthy. It just isn't quite the same as having a friend to meet for encouragement who either is with me in the battle or has at least been there herself and truly understands, but it does help to connect with people and good sources of information online.

Diabetes: A Closer Look at Healthy Eating to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes

I'm very close to having type 2 diabetes so I have every reason to work to lose weight and get healther. I'm always looking for good information to help me with my choices. I had to smile though at an article from A Weight Lifted I read about a study done on the evils of sugar ( Just Say 'NO' to sugar?) The author asks the question: "In the interest of science, what I want to know is, when they shoved those little rats full of sugar, were they happy and full of cheese beforehand? Were they asked nicely if they cared for an after dinner mint, or just force fed M&M’s within an inch of their lives?"

On a more serious note, here's an article from the same website that I found informative:

Diabetes: A Closer Look at Healthy Eating to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes

"The silver lining to being at risk for type 2 diabetes is that you truly CAN control and prevent it by being more mindful about the foods you eat.

This holiday many of us stop thinkig about ourselves and our health as much as we ought with all the fun (and stress) of shopping, traveling, entertaining, etc.

How about instead of agonizing about "the perfect gift" for someone else, first try giving yourself a gift by planning ways to manage the stress and focus on healthy eating strategies?

Studies demonstrate a healthy eating lifestyle that includes whole grains, fruits, veggies (all those good nutritious foods doctors go on about for good reason) diminish your chances of developing type 2 diabetes.

But let’s take a closer look at what the experts recommend. For example, proponents for diabetes education at John Hopkins University suggest a 4-pronged approach (from Yahoo!Health):

■Healthy Weight Loss. Healthy Weight Loss, by reducing overall calorie intake, is a straightforward way to help prevent diabetes. But don’t get hung up on what your specific calorie should be; just think about reducing. If you don’t need to lose weight, go on to some of the other strategies.

■Fats. Research shows that people whose diets contain the lowest percentage of calories from fat reduce their risk of developing diabetes the most. (Persons who actually have diabetes must limit saturated fat consumption to 7 percent of total calories.) To prevent diabetes, strive for a daily intake where less than 30 percent of your total calories come from fat and less than 10 percent of total calories from saturated fat.

■Fiber and whole grains. Aim for 25 grams or more of fiber each day. Fiber is listed on every food label. To help you reach your daily fiber goal, look for foods with more than 5 grams of daily fiber per serving. Choose foods whose list of ingredients contains the words "whole grain" or "whole wheat" as the first ingredient.

■Fruits and vegetables. These foods provide vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that our bodies need. Fruits and vegetables are also fat-free foods, so they’re generally lower in calories than other food choices.

Make the most of the holidays and take care of yourself! You’ll be thankful you did."

Choices During the Holidays

The word "choice" has become my mantra lately because I know in my heart that is what all this comes down to. There may be other things affecting my struggle with weight but choosing wisely can make a difference. Mindful eating - that is, paying attention to what I reach for to put in my mouth - is key for me even if I am not measuring and weighing food. I know in my heart what is too much and what is going to undermine my efforts. There are a lot of things in this world I can't control and have no choice concerning but what I eat isn't one of them.

I am in charge of the menu for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'm the one doing the grocery shopping and cooking. Yes, we will have the traditional foods everyone expects but I can reduce the fat, salt and sugar in most of the dishes without anyone knowing what is missing. Keeping the food simple usually means healthier. I can make sure that there are good choices for myself like a tray of fresh vegetables and fruit. I can limit myself to one plate of food with a little bit of everything I really want to eat. By taking just a sample of everything I won't overeat and I won't feel deprived. I'll give myself permission to enjoy a small slice of pie without guilt.

And yes, I will make a priority to get in my exercise despite all the preparation for company because it makes me feel I've done something good for myself and it helps relieve the stress.

Most of all I am seeing the holidays as a time of being with family rather than focusing so much on the food. Gluttony simply isn't becoming to anyone whether they are overweight or not.