Tomorrow is the first official weigh in day since I have really started watching calories and attempting to lose weight. Having a goal like Hawaii is very motivating and I am hoping to see a change.
One of the ways I am trying to amke a change is to make a simple goal every month. Each goal will add on to the goal before and in this way I hope to make life style changes a little at a time.
The goal for this first month, was to stop eating after 8. We have a bad habit of having second suppers or big desserts fairly late at night and I wanted to first goal to be to cut those out. It has been fairly successful so far. There have been a few night where a snack was eaten, but it was small and no where near the late night calories consumed before.
From my reading this goal seems to be a bit of a controversial one. Some articles and doctors...Dr, Oz. for one, all seem to agree that eating after 8 is a bad thing and cutting out the late night eating will help you lose the weight. Other articles say that calories are calories no matter when they are consumed.
I'm not sure who is right, or if there is a right, but I know that cutting out the late night eating has been a positive change to my lifestyle and I am hoping that will be reflected in my weigh in tomorrow....
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Decisions decisions....
So it's Friday. I've made it through 4 days of "real" calorie counting and food restriction.
I used to think that deciding to diet was just in making a decision. You decided you were going to diet and exercise and life was better for you from that point. I'd never actually fully committed to that choice. This time I have.
I've realized it isn't just a choice, one decision. It's a hundred choices and decisions a hundred times a day. It's a choice and a decision every time you look at a menu, at every meal and at every craving or oppurtunity where food is available. You don't just tell yourself once, you tell yourself over and over and over again through out the day and through out the week. You need to have your goal at the top of your mind at every minute of every day.
I have way more respect right now for people who have quit smoking. That is a choice they made one day and a decision they have been faced with a hundred times a day since. They have the added difficulty of it actually being an addicition and still they have been able to turn their back on it.
I think there are some food addictions. I think there is also an emotional mental addicition to food. However, hunger is still hunger and I can choose to fill it with a healtheir alternative containing less calories rather than my normal diet. I am still able to satisfy myself in a way smokers can not. My hat is off to anyone who has made that choice and has succeeded.
I used to think that deciding to diet was just in making a decision. You decided you were going to diet and exercise and life was better for you from that point. I'd never actually fully committed to that choice. This time I have.
I've realized it isn't just a choice, one decision. It's a hundred choices and decisions a hundred times a day. It's a choice and a decision every time you look at a menu, at every meal and at every craving or oppurtunity where food is available. You don't just tell yourself once, you tell yourself over and over and over again through out the day and through out the week. You need to have your goal at the top of your mind at every minute of every day.
I have way more respect right now for people who have quit smoking. That is a choice they made one day and a decision they have been faced with a hundred times a day since. They have the added difficulty of it actually being an addicition and still they have been able to turn their back on it.
I think there are some food addictions. I think there is also an emotional mental addicition to food. However, hunger is still hunger and I can choose to fill it with a healtheir alternative containing less calories rather than my normal diet. I am still able to satisfy myself in a way smokers can not. My hat is off to anyone who has made that choice and has succeeded.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Conviction? Devotion? Will Power?
Why have you forsaken me? Why is it that I can not seem to call you into the line of duty in this manner?
I read somewhere that it takes 3500 calories burned to lost a pound. The same article says that is 500 calories a day that you need to either not eat or work off. It gave a formula of 12 X your current weight is the number of calories it takes to maintain your current level of weight and that most people will lose weight on 1500 calories a day.
This all doesn't sound difficult! I can pretty much continue to eat the way I am eating and try and through in a 500 calorie workout everyday...and lose a pound a week.
I can cut back what i am to 1500 calories a day and almost lose a pound a day...throw in some exercise and I should be able to start seeing some success.
So where is my will power to stay away from my cookies, ice cream and carrot cake? Where is the will power that says no to seconds and thirds...or just orders a salad when we are eating out?
Where is my devotion to an exercise program? I should be able to find an extra 30 minutes a day that I can work off some calories.
Where is the conviction during the rest of the day that this is a change that needs to happen?
I read somewhere that it takes 3500 calories burned to lost a pound. The same article says that is 500 calories a day that you need to either not eat or work off. It gave a formula of 12 X your current weight is the number of calories it takes to maintain your current level of weight and that most people will lose weight on 1500 calories a day.
This all doesn't sound difficult! I can pretty much continue to eat the way I am eating and try and through in a 500 calorie workout everyday...and lose a pound a week.
I can cut back what i am to 1500 calories a day and almost lose a pound a day...throw in some exercise and I should be able to start seeing some success.
So where is my will power to stay away from my cookies, ice cream and carrot cake? Where is the will power that says no to seconds and thirds...or just orders a salad when we are eating out?
Where is my devotion to an exercise program? I should be able to find an extra 30 minutes a day that I can work off some calories.
Where is the conviction during the rest of the day that this is a change that needs to happen?
Monday, January 3, 2011
Holidays
People tend to gain between .4 and 1.8 pounds per year. Most of that is to blame for the time span between Thanksgiving and New Years. Holiday parties, alcohal, chocolates as gifts and get togethers at people places, not to mention the turkey dinners and the desser tthat goes with them that has us all packing back too many calories at each meal. Delicious. Wonderful. But not for the waist line.
My weight can vary that much or more in a day or two, much less over a year. Holidays do tend to take their toll, but not by a significant amount. It does bring home the essential fact that "I have no will power!"
I am the type of person that can purchase a chocolate, take a bite of it and nurse it for weeks...if not longer. Savoring the yumminess of it for whenever I need a chocolate binge. I still have a Terry's chocolate orange I purchased 3 months ago...conveniently waiting for me every time I feel the urge to indulge in some chocolate. However, give me a basket stuffed full with goodies in excess and I am likely to spend all day snacking on them.
I often wonder how in the world I ever survived as a vegetarian. How did my lack of will power allow me to sit at countless meals where meat was served and not feel the temptation to even try the dishes that were there? That was only 10 years ago. If I had will power then to resist what was in front of me, I can have will power again.
I'm not the type for New Years Resolutions. I am going to try to set a fairly reasonable goal. Let's say 20 pounds by this time next year. That should be attainable with steady effort and decisions, not too lofty or over zealous. That should be a goal I can reach without being discouraged at the end. Let's aim for weekly weighin's on say, Monday mornings. Let's give this a try! It's time to go!
My weight can vary that much or more in a day or two, much less over a year. Holidays do tend to take their toll, but not by a significant amount. It does bring home the essential fact that "I have no will power!"
I am the type of person that can purchase a chocolate, take a bite of it and nurse it for weeks...if not longer. Savoring the yumminess of it for whenever I need a chocolate binge. I still have a Terry's chocolate orange I purchased 3 months ago...conveniently waiting for me every time I feel the urge to indulge in some chocolate. However, give me a basket stuffed full with goodies in excess and I am likely to spend all day snacking on them.
I often wonder how in the world I ever survived as a vegetarian. How did my lack of will power allow me to sit at countless meals where meat was served and not feel the temptation to even try the dishes that were there? That was only 10 years ago. If I had will power then to resist what was in front of me, I can have will power again.
I'm not the type for New Years Resolutions. I am going to try to set a fairly reasonable goal. Let's say 20 pounds by this time next year. That should be attainable with steady effort and decisions, not too lofty or over zealous. That should be a goal I can reach without being discouraged at the end. Let's aim for weekly weighin's on say, Monday mornings. Let's give this a try! It's time to go!
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