My BEST Advice!

Over the course of my weightloss journey with Medifast, I've learned a lot of 'tricks', or 'tips'...little ways I was able to stay OP...and what's cool is, many of these have served me so well that maintenance is easier!

Here they are. Try one, try a few, try them all.
Whatever WORKS, right?

- Drink all your water (well, DUH....!)  No seriously. Drink all your PLAIN water. I know you're drinking other things (Crystal Light, sparkling water, maybe diet soda although this is something I'd love to see you off of but it's OK....etc.) But FIRST drink 64 ozs. of plain water. EVERY DAY.

- Get in the habit of checking either the clock or your cellphone, etc. every 3 hours or so.  If you haven't had your MF meal in that long, it's time for the next one! Use the MF cellphone app to remind you.  Or set an appointment in your cellphone calendar and have it remind you every 3-1/2 hours. Don't go over that amount of time before eating your next meal.

- Get up at the same time, go to bed at the same time. Regularity in your sleep leads to a healthier, happier body.  Keep doing this (even over weekends) and you won't even need an alarm clock!

- Please please don't weigh daily! You'll drive yourself krazy. I don't care if you're a physicist and you understand FULLY all the ins and outs of water retention and weight fluctuations in intimate detail....when you see that scale stay the same day after day (or...gasp!...even go UP one day) you will be affected in the back of your mind ALL.DAY.LONG.  Why DO that to yourself?
WEIGHT DOES FLUCTUATE. Get that through your head! It fluctuates from one day to the next, and there's nothing you can do about it.
The first week or two on this program you may see it go down every day...but guess what? That will NOT continue. And then ... you'll get depressed. It doesn't make sense to do that to yourself. And start questioning every little thing you ate 'yesterday' because the scale didn't show what you 'wanted' it to show or 'expected' it to show.
WEIGH WEEKLY. It will give you a truer picture of what's going on.

- THIS IS NOT A DIET. Repeat after me. I AM NOT ON A DIET.
I am here to change my eating habits. In the process I WILL lose weight but this is not a diet.
If you approach this as a diet? You'll lose the weight...and then you'll regain. I can promise you that. And then you'll have to be back here...AGAIN. And again. And again.
CHANGE YOUR EATING HABITS. Do it by working the 5/1, one day at a time, one meal at a time while you analyze what's going on in your head when you 'crave' other foods or more food or whatever.
And start getting into healthy L&Gs. That will serve you well.

- Practice DELAYED GRATIFICATION.  As often as possible. For example, save your 'favorite' MF meal as your last MF meal for the day...your evening snack. And have it right before you go to bed. (No, you will not get 'fat' because you ate right before you got in bed. There's only about 100 calories in each MF meal...stop listening to that advice, that's for "normal" eaters trying to "cut back". It doesn't apply on this program!)
Whenever you have a craving or an urge to eat something, tell yourself you can have it IF you still want it 20 minutes from now. Then get busy doing something else.  Chances are the 20 minutes will come and go and you'll be able to get past the craving much, much easier and say NO.

"Climbing Mt. Everest"

This morning we woke up to (yet another) snow event...2-3 inches predicted...but I decided I was NOT going to let it change my plans. 

Our driveway may be sloped and it may get slippery, but I hadn't done Spinning class in like, two MONTHS (between having bronchitis, then all the snowstorms...) so I decided 'no more putting it off' and got ready DESPITE the weather.

I figured, worse comes to worse? I'll park down the bottom of the hill (somewhere) and WALK up our driveway. I was that determined.

Spinning class is my own particular "Mt. Everest" of challenges; exercise-wise, anyway.  It's my hardest class by far. 
But every time I get through it? I feel AMAZING. Because...I DID it!  AGAIN! "Happy dance time!" LOL....

Sometimes this program can feel like that...climbing a mountain.
In fact, Mulrey titled her blog 'Climbing the mountain' and it's a great analogy for our journey here.

Sometimes staying OP is relatively easy...we're in a nice, easy, downward slope....but sometimes we're in a plateau (literally) which can seem to go on 'forever'....and then sometimes we get faced with easy climbs, and sometimes...Oh, MAMA, is it hard! 

And the thing is? You never know when you'll hit a rough patch!
You can't really see that far ahead. All you can see is the road ahead of you a little bit...but what's around the next bend? Who knows?

All you know is, the 'peak', the top of the mountain, is up there somewhere, waiting for you. You can try and predict when you'll get there ("Let's see, if I lose 5 lbs a week...No, No, that's too optimistic...let's be more realistic...if I lose 2 lbs a week...then I'll be 160 by March 26, and by April I'll be 152, and by May, 146...and I'll make goal in JUNE! YAY!...") 

L&G Recipe Ideas

I like to cook 'more' over the weekends, so I have leftovers for the rest of the (BUSY) week.  So I thought I'd post some of my favorite EASY recipes. 

Accumulating a bunch of good recipes like these can prevent that awful "I don't feel like cooking/I'm tired" etc end-of-the-day feeling when you're standing in front of the refrigerator wishing you could just send out for that 'p' word with the two 'zs' LOL....

Because IF you've made some of these in advance, you can have leftovers heated up in the microwave in a snap!

Easy peasey....and then think how proud of yourself you'll be! You're eating HEALTHY, -AND- you're not overtiring yourself. Relax and enjoy!

Catlovers Turkey Meatloaf
Makes about 4 servings
Each serving = 1 full lean + 1/4 of a MF 'snack' 

NOTE: There's an MF turkey meatloaf recipe in the 'Fit and Festive' recipe cards that went out in orders around the holidays, but this one is easier in my opinion....try both if you like!

Ingredients:
- 1 lb. ground turkey BREAST (99%, JennieO makes a good one)
- About a TBL or so (I don't count condiments...don't tell anyone :) of Italian spices (I like McCormick's "Perfect Pinch" Italian) and/or garlic powder, basil, and oregano...use what you like
- 1/2 cup Walden Farms basil tomato sauce (this is the closest I've found to spaghetti/tomato sauce that's OP....1/4 cup = 1 snack according to the Nutritionists...I substitute for diced pureed tomatoes whenever I don't have time to puree the tomatoes). Available on Netrition.com.
RESERVE 2 TBLs of this sauce.

Combine all ingredients except reserved 2 TBL sauce and form into a meatloaf. Place in a PAM-sprayed meatloaf pan. Using a wet finger, make an indentation down the center lengthwise of the meatloaf, sort of a 'trough'. Now pour the reserved 2 TBLs WF sauce down the length of this indentation.
Bake about 60 minutes or until cooked through.
NOTE: meatloaf will look a little 'pink'; this is normal and is due to the WF sauce.
Remove, allow to cool slightly and cut into slices.
Weigh out 7 ozs. = 1 lean (since you're using 99% turkey breast). 

Make YOURSELF a Priority!

Yesterday was a busy day, as most weekdays are. I had to take our oldest cat, Midnight ("Midi" for short) to the vet to have two teeth pulled (poor thing...); I had a personal training appointment at the gym; and there were the usual assortment of errands to run and housework to do.

5 cats do keep me busy sometimes, especially since they're all 'indoor only' kitties and this requires 4 litterboxes and plenty of fresh food, water, comfy spots to lie in and 'playtime' too (cats get bored just like people do!). Plus DH wasn't feeling well -- very, very tired and hurt 'all over' after a bad night of coughing from the COPD -- so of course I worried about him and checked in via text message.
Oh - and I checked in with my elderly parents to make sure they were OK. AND did the usual housework, cooking, etc. that needed to be done.

But I took time for my own MF meals and worked out at the gym.

Busy, busy. And I don't work fulltime outside the home! I often wonder, "how did I DO it"? when I did work fulltime.

Somehow we manage, don't we? We set our priorities and we get things done. The important things, anyway.

Over the course of my MF journey, my priorities have changed; 'shifted' a little more in my direction so that I have the time to do what I MUST do to stay OP. Planning my meals, weighing and measuring, shopping for healthy food (let's face it, fresh veggies go bad quickly and need to be replaced!), and taking the time to TOP and eat those meals -- WITHOUT trying to do 5 other things at the same time -- takes TIME and it takes practice and trial and error to find the time for 'ME'.

I confess!

I can’t live a lie anymore.

I don't know about you (and I'd venture to guess, MOST of you would agree with me), but I have always found honesty to be the best policy in my life.

For one thing, it's easier!
Let's face it, who needs to 'remember' what lie they told to what person? UGH.  "NO, Thank You!" 
Secondly, WHY?
Seriously. Why LIE for heaven's sakes? After all, NO ONE in this life is perfect. Being human means you make mistakes.

So I've been...kind of feeling like a 'heel'.  Because I LIED to my trainer. Well, not exactly 'lied' -- just didn't tell her the WHOLE truth would be more like it.

You see, back when I first was thinking about doing Medifast, I mentioned the program to her. At the time, of course, I was at around 235 lbs and although I was starting to exercise at a regular gym with her as my trainer, my diet still left a lot to be desired.
And I knew I had to DO something. So like many others, surfing the web and thinking about 'one last ditch effort' before gastric bypass surgery brought me to this website and this community, and I learned there were others just like me, and decided to take a chance, and the rest of course you know.

But at the time....I asked her about it.

Headgames

We are all familiar with the 'headgames' that we can get into on this program....how our 'fat brain' talks to us (whenever we let ourselves listen...you CAN shut her 'off' if you keep busy) and tells us stupid things like,

"One won't hurt" OR
"But I'm ON VACATION" OR
"But I'm out to dinner" OR
"But I'm LONELY" OR
"But I'm angry" OR
"But I'm depressed" OR...

blah blah blah...you know the deal. Doesn't take much sometimes to set Fat Brain off. And YES she can truly 'mess with our heads', because she's got all our same intelligence, our same logic, and she knows EXACTLY which arguments to use 'against' us.

We are also quite familiar with the headgames in terms of our obsessive or compulsive behavior...how we can overstress about the scale (and jump on and off it every day to the point where we're driving ourselves - and everyone around us - NUTSO!), how we can overthink the plan, worry about carbs, worry about fats, worry about that 1/2 a tic tac you ate yesterday afternoon (did it have sugar in it? Oh NO did it throw me out of ketosis?! LOL...)

Oh yeah I've been there....

But did you know you can make your own headgames WORK for you?

Sure! You can!

It's surprisingly easy. Just take one of your challenges and turn it on its ear. Play headgames with yourself to get your GOOD habits going.

(NOTE: I find it's much much easier and more productive to work on CULTIVATING good habits than ELIMINATING the bad habits. Not that we want the bad habits to stick around; we don't....BUT....when you 'emphasize the negative' sometimes, it backfires. It's much easier to START doing something than to STOP doing something.
So emphasize the POSITIVE instead, and in the process it will OVERRIDE the corresponding bad behavior and get RID of it!)

That Exercise Instructor that I HATE

Got to the gym (YAY always a good day for me when I can say that) and did a great "BodyVive" workout. It's a low-impact aerobics class....although, the way my instructor teaches it, it definitely gets to the 'high' end of 'low impact'. My heart rate goes WAY up (which is the point).

And I find myself HATING her. She's so skinny! OMG she's like a toothpick. And yet she's a SOLID MUSCLE toothpick, not sickly looking at all. She leads like, SIX classes a week....or more! She's working out literally for hours and hours every single day.

I don't know how she does it. But I envy her.

On the other hand, she CAN be quite...pushy.

And that started to bother me...especially after one class in particular where we 'butted heads' over some equipment that SHOULD have been there but wasn't (turned out people were STEALING them...do you believe it? That SUCKS, pardon my French but it does!) The gym had to order more...and she got real 'snippy' with me when I said I really didn't feel I was pushing myself enough without them (she had advised those of us unlucky enough not to grab one of the few to 'do it without'). So we sort of butted heads a bit....and then she gave me some advice in the middle of a class about spreading my legs wider, and I thought I'd be 'funny' and so I deliberately spread them WAAAY out ... just to get a laugh... and ... well,
She was NOT amused.

So I started to 'hate' her. Not really but you get my drift. My rebellious side kicked in. The more she told me to jump higher, move faster, etc. (and obviously she was yelling this to EVERYONE, not just 'me!') the more I started thinking 'NO! I won't! I won't risk a heart attack! I'm not as young as her! I'm not as fit as her! What if something happens? SHE wouldn't care....'....grumble grumble...

Turn Willpower into COMMITMENT!

When we start the TSFL program, we are filled to the 'brim' with...willpower! We're so psyched, we're motivated, "we're gonna DO this thingee!!!"

We have so much willpower we consider it a 'test of strength' as we stare down that plate of brownies in the break room, without even breaking a SWEAT. Wow, we are STRONG! With a capital 'S'! 
Lookit her GO!....

....but....the weeks go by, and the scale maybe doesn't move as quickly, and life does its thing and stuff happens...and your willpower fades.

So what do you do? You want to get to goal, you have a ways to go yet, and you need to 'stay motivated'.

Get COMMITTED. That's what you do!

Turn that willpower into COMMITMENT by sitting down and really thinking about the DEEPLY (maybe private) PERSONAL reasons you have for losing weight.

Things like 'eating healthier' and 'taking care of my body' are great...but they aren't deep enough. Or important enough. They SOUND important, sure...but believe me, when push comes to shove, you need MORE than that.

You need a deeply personal COMMITMENT to the plan.

Struggling? Get ANAL about it!

I know this is going to seem stupid....it SOUNDS stupid to me when I say it out loud. 

But it WORKS.

Whenever I'm struggling, what I find helps me? Is I get 'super anal' about weighing, measuring (literally levelling off those measuring cups, etc.) and staying OP. 

The discipline required to do that ... helps. It's not easy, I won't lie to you....obviously it's much easier to say "I'll just have a little more today, I'm having such a HARD DAY..." or "I need this today, look at how much SNOW I shovelled..." or "I am so SICK AND TIRED of this, the scale isn't moving, maybe if I ate 'more' it will move? (krazy Fat Brain illogic at work here LOL...)" 

But DO IT ANYWAY.

WHY?  Because...here's the thing...you're 'forcing' your brain to get in line and stop screwing around. You're getting RECOMMITTED to the program. You're telling yourself you will REMOVE any and all obstacles to weight loss stalls or 'why' isn't it moving as fast as I want, etc. You're staying 100% OP and you KNOW you're doing it....

....and in that case, it's simply a matter of PATIENCE! 

Emotional Eating - Part III - Dealing with "Fat Brain"

On this program, many of us almost quite literally come out of our 'shells', sometimes for the very first time, and learn how to stand UP for ourselves and get what we need instead of being pushovers all the time.  Assertiveness is a byproduct of our self improvement as we deal with the food pushers in our lives.

But it's even MORE important sometimes to say NO to....ourselves!
Because we have an inner voice that is always keeping us company, whispering in our ear "You deserve this", or "Just one bite won't hurt", or "Do the program tomorrow".

I like to call this inner voice "Fat Brain" for lack of a better term....Fat Brain is that hedonistic, animal nature inside that could care less about what's right;  about what we KNOW we should do in terms of our eating;  all fat brain wants, is to go back to our OLD ways. 
Eat eat eat and "damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!"  Fat brain IGNORES all of our promises we made to ourselves. She doesn't care about the future, all she cares about is doing what you 'always' USED to do....EAT. If you eat, you will 'feel better' (yeah, for about 30 seconds...)

Fat brain doesn't CARE about the goals you so carefully made to get the weight off, all the lists of 'reasons why' you wanted to lose weight, all your dream 'timetables' of weight loss ("Let's see if I lose 10 lbs by June, then...and then by July 4th I'll be...." ...oh yeah I played that game!), etc. She doesn't care about calories or how you look or even how you FEEL when you can't button your jeans up in the morning. All she cares about is doing what you ALWAYS did....which is, whatever is easiest....whatever you USED to do...EAT. She craves that 'quick hit' of sugar+fat+carbs+salt that sends you into a food trance and makes the world 'go away'...at least for a short (very short) while.

The most interesting thing about Fat Brain though, to me, is that she's part of YOU. Therefore she has ALL your experiences...good and bad, and all your intelligence - and she will USE this knowledge to argue with you just as you're hitting a weak point or your weight loss has stalled. She will put forth the most illogical explanations on Earth and you will believe her. Things like "I'm constipated. I need to move my bowels. EAT something quick - so I'll be able to go to the bathroom and eliminate this BALL that's stuck in my gut".
OR "I'm having a horrible day today. NOTHING is going right. There's only one thing I can count on and that's my friend - FOOD (insert beautiful picture of your favorite goodie here).  THINK how much BETTER you'll feel when you eat that! It's OK...you NEED it today. All this STRESS...it must be burning calories, right? You NEED IT!"

Fat Brain makes NO sense when you really get down to it, when you really STOP AND THINK about her words.

Emotional Eating - Part II - Loneliness

....boy, talk about 'appropriate', right? Half the country is snowed in, the rest is awaiting more snow, and the ones in the sunshine?
Give 'em the raspberries! LOL! 
Seriously....appreciate that sunshine if you have it, gang....

I want to talk about a biggie for me in terms of overeating....and that is, LONELINESS.

It took me awhile to even 'figure it out', that THIS is what I was doing, I was eating more often when I was ALONE, in fact when I really got into my 'binge mode' I would WAIT for times when I'd be alone, so I could 'party'!  I'd load up on the junk food, my favorite goodies, and just sit home and eat. And maybe read...but mostly EAT.

It was loneliness. I know that now. I was looking for 'love' in the feeling I got from eating! I equated a full stomach with a full heart. But it's not the same thing (of course!)

So...having identified it...what do you DO?  I mean, so many of us are stuck at home, snowbound or whatever.

Well, #1 for me is the MF Community Website. Writing my own blogs, reading others' blogs, commenting, asking questions on the forums, etc.

I mean, HOW can you EAT when you're using BOTH HANDS to type? LOL....
Blogging, commenting, reading the forum entries or asking a question on the forum of my own, contributing a recipe maybe, posting a picture, whatever...participating in that website made a HUGE difference in my 'alone' time.

But you can't ALWAYS blog/write/comment...so what about the rest of the time?

Well, I make a PLAN of what I will eat that day (especially if I'm alone!). I decide that that will be my 'roadmap' for the day...I'll follow the bouncing ball, and eat exactly what I planned for each meal.

Emotional Eating - Part I - Dealing with Anger

I was thinking this morning about my ongoing battle with emotional eating, and how I've managed to make a lot of changes in the way I deal with my emotions during my journey here. I've changed from the INSIDE, OUT. The running dialogue in my head has changed.

I still find the need to 'spoil myself'....that's what it is, really...whenever I have a triggering emotion...which for me is anything from loneliness to anger to despair to frustration to...anything in between!  In many cases I've found 'substitutions' that are healthy and yet still spoil myself, but that topic is for another blog.

DEALING with our emotions is tricky...and KEY! to permanently changing our eating habits.

LOTS of emotions can be triggers for my food addiction. But the difference is, I've learned new ways to handle them.

And each emotion is different, and can require different ways to manage it.

The process of 'debuging' each emotion isn't easy, and it isn't fun, but the end result is AMAZING. Because the end result can be a PERMANENT CHANGE in my eating habits.

Today I want to talk about ANGER. Which goes hand-in-hand with FRUSTRATION, another 'triggering' emotion for me. 

Anger was a big trigger for me to overeat. (and I still struggle with it sometimes, but not - thankfully - as often).

This Valentine's Day...Remember to Love...YOURSELF!

This Valentine's Day, as we give our hubbies and boyfriends cards and they give us flowers (and hopefully NOT chocolate LOL), I'd like to remind everyone of ONE very important thing you need to succeed on this program.

You need to LOVE -- YOURSELF!

We do so many things for so many others....and we put ourselves DOWN....oh, the stories I hear, where we berate ourselves (and I've done it a few times myself), call ourselves "stupid", HATE ourselve because we failed ... AGAIN.... we didn't have a loss, or we gained, or we binged, or we left this site for awhile and now are back trying again....wondering what went wrong....

But it all comes down to, how do you feel about YOU?

Do you LOVE yourself enough to take CARE of yourself? To do the right thing for your body and you SOUL? 
To TRY AGAIN?

Bend.Lift.Toss. Bend.Lift.Toss. Bend.Lift.Toss. ARGH!

If you live in the NE, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  

If you don't....GOD BLESS YOU, Hang onto your nice weather!

We are being hit with Winter Storm #4 this week. THIS WEEK!

This is getting ridiculous! 

This morning hubby yelled for me to come downstairs and help him with the driveway. AGAIN.  The last storm, we shoveled thoroughly. HOWEVER....then the weather changed, it rained, then froze, then dripped from the gutters and made ice flows right down the driveway. The poor man was out there HACKING at the 2-3" thick ICE that USED to be our driveway, with a garden hoe and another implement that frankly looked a little menacing and kind of medieval.  ..LOL.....anyway, he was chopping it up, and it was my job to shovel it. UGH.

Bend. Lift. Toss. Bend. Lift. Toss. After awhile I was mumbling this mantra to myself, mimicking my Body Pump's teacher's instructions before the worst of the storms hit last week (she said 'lift with your LEGS, not your back').  Yeah, good advice...but after awhile, it don't matter, the back GETS it. OOF!

ME and my BIG MOUTH. I went on and on about how great snow shoveling was. Back in December I was posting these beautiful pictures of the snow...."Ain't it gorgeous?....sigh...love it...it's so peaceful and quiet..."

Uh...now it's more like a NIGHTMARE!  LOL!  

Seriously; we cannot remember a worse Winter.

Snowbound - Day 2!

Once again, I'm stuck inside....we got hit with another 6" of snow overnight, and after shoveling out our driveway, hubby went to work, but reported that our lane isn't so great...it hasn't been plowed yet and I do NOT have 4-wheel drive. (He does, though).

I'm sad to miss the gym....but then again, my exercise class was cancelled so I'd have to just use the treadmill at the gym and the weight machine circuit. And I could do that here using the treadmill in our basement (ugh, don't like it, there's nothing to LOOK at, but what can you do? At least I can plug my iPod Shuffle into my ears and SING my heart out! LOL)

BUT...I might not even do that, because I shoveled the outside stairs (and still have the deck to do) and my back, shoulders and arms are KILLING me! Who needs Body Pump? LOL.....

I'll get through another day inside....left to my own devices...because once again, I'm into PLANNING.  BIGTIME!

Challenge....or Excuse?

I'm a Gemini, and Geminis are fond of seeing both sides of every issue. And today is no exception!

Today could've gone one of two ways.  It could've been used as a challenge, OR ... an excuse.

This is true WHENEVER I face a trying situation. And today was no exception!

I mean, let's face it. Most of us in the East were hindered by the weather. Locally, we couldn't get out at ALL...the roads were a mess, 8 inches of snow fell followed by sleet and now overnight we're expecting ANOTHER 3 to 8 inches of snow. Our lane is impassable until the guy we hire to plow it gets to us (and he's got his work cut out for him today!) So we're 'stuck' at home.

In the past this would equal a huge opportunity....to BINGE!

30 Lifestyle Changes

I want to talk about lifestyle changes. As you move through the program, you will probably find yourself changing...in many ways. And that's a GOOD thing. You'll get more assertive and more confident. You'll stand a little bit taller and prouder. And you'll establish routines and habits that will serve you well when you reach transition and maintenance...and help you maintain that slim figure for LIFE.

Here's a list of the changes I've made in my life over the course of my two-year journey on this program (thus far).

These changes came on slowly...and gradually. But they have become an important part of my program and my LIFE, to keep me on track and keep me healthy, slim, and strong.

Which is the REAL "Me"?

Last night I started to think back to one of my slip-ups, and I thought 'Maybe I'm just fooling myself here. Maybe I'm just a FAT WOMAN in a slim woman's body now and I'm struggling to get back OUT and this is all a pipe dream'.

Logging and Tracking...

Pre-TSFL, whenever I started a diet, I would keep all kinds of charts and graphs and lists of goals to help me and keep me motivated...and I'd post them up on my bedroom wall with thumbtacks and keep track of my weight, etc. Counting calories was important; and sometimes (depending on the plan) I would count carbs, fats, and protein grams as well.

When I joined this program I decided I wasn't going to get all krazy like that. I would stop stressing over the numbers and just DO IT.

But...as soon as I saw my first week's large weight loss (7.4 lbs!) I was 'hooked' and wanted to see MORE. So I drew up a graph, redid my charts, and hung new ones on the wall.  And I was struck with how LITTLE progress I had made on other programs...despite really trying....I mean, it would be months and I'd be lucky to see a 5 lb  drop.

On the TSFL program though that was all in the past! I could see REAL results from my efforts. What a refreshing change!

So I eagerly tracked my weight losses....watched that graph move in a downward line, and was SO proud of myself. I tracked my food intake via the Daily Log sheet (I made copies and put them in a binder...I TOLD you I was anal LOL)...as well as logged my food herein.

But I DIDN'T get involved in a FitBit or BodyMedia armband (I'd gone that route before and to be honest it was making me NUTS, because it would swear I'd burned 'X' # of calories so I figured I HAD to lose 'X' amount of weight that week, etc...ugh...driving myself krazy...similar to what happens to me when I succumb to daily weigh-ins) or MyFitnessPal... or any of those things.
And I have nothing against those of you who use these things. More power to you if it works for you!

But I had to simplify...and 'just do it'. I DO log what I do, but in my own way.

I track my food intake with the Food Log on this website...which granted takes some practice and isn't the greatest (HINT: input your favorite foods as private foods, along with their nutrition content, and it will be quicker and easier to log what you ate every day), but it's a great way to track OVER TIME how I'm doing.

Specifically the weekly report, which shows me ON AVERAGE how many calories I'm eating per day, and my percentages of protein/carbs/fats etc....is very helpful information.

Back to the GYM!

I got back to the gym finally this morning (YAY!) ... and it felt SO GOOD!  Honestly, I was very happy to be back working out again.

[If someone had told me, 2 years ago, that I'd feel like this? 
I would've laughed till I cried, then told them they were NUTS.
But this is what happens when you try...little by little...and you find exercises you actually ENJOY...and you lose the weight and can do more than you ever dreamed possible!]

My trainer had me doing lunges with 12 and 15 lb. weights in my hands...and reminded me when I could barely do them with NO weights in my hands. She also had me use the TRX cables for a few exercises....and Oh GOD I have to BEG my DH to let me order these for our home, they are so WONDERFUL!

TRX cables are these heavy duty strap/cable things with these hand grips, and you do all sorts of exercises on them. The cables are suspended from the ceiling. You hang on them, do pushups with them, you can even stretch with them. And you can get quite a workout! (The Navy SEALS use them, folks!) 
The best part is, they are FUN. They really are! I think so, anyway.
Here's a link if you're interested:
http://www.trxtraining.com/

I'll repeat this post this in my "Exercise for Beginners" forum, too.

The KEY to exercise is finding something you can enjoy. And granted, that's not always easy and sometimes you have to try LOTS of different exercises or ways to exercise before you find what 'floats your boat'. And, at first, you won't 'LOVE', well, anything! (that's perfectly normal....your body isn't used to moving so it will rebel a little at first). But if you persist...and keep doing it...and don't work out TOO hard so you're overdoing...sooner or later you'll start finding exercises you enjoy.

I like a variety. A lot of different things. I like my classes -- body pump, body flow, pilates, and low impact aerobics -- because the 'group' setting makes me keep up with it because there's sort of a little bit of competition there, I mean you want to keep up with the other women in the class, right? (the secret is NOT to stress over being PERFECT, though, just do the best YOU can and realize you'll get better with time), but I also like the weight training circuit...I used that today, after my 1/2 hour training session with my personal trainer...and just did a few machines (maybe 20 minutes worth), including my favorite 'assisted chin ups', which make me feel like a real JOCK (LOL!) because I can do them (AND I love sneaking looks at my slim physique in the mirror now) and my most hated machine, the 'Glutemaster' (UGH) which...well, you have to experience it...NO ONE likes the Glutemaster but it's a necessary evil for the BUTT!

Then I relaxed for a few minutes and chatted with a guy in the lounge area who used to be OVER 450 lbs!...and still is very overweight, he's in the 300s now, but hey...he's lost over 100 lbs and is still losing and he uses the weights (so don't tell me you're too heavy to join a gym!).  I tried to talk up the Medifast meals and TSFL program of course (I'm a walking advertisement anymore LOL)....but he's into Atkins. Ok...whatever floats your boat....

Here's the thing about Atkins, though. First of all, I think they tend to overdo it in the fat department. Just my opinion but...I mean you need SOME fat, but...not to excess. And the second thing was, he said he has a 'carb allowance' of 20 grams a day (only 20! We can do about 80 on the 5/1...even as high as 100...and lose weight) and he can 'spend it' on whatever he likes. So he bragged that he's had pizza, or a cheeseburger WITH the roll (and french fries, although how he justified those is beyond me) once in awhile ... and that he can have his goodies and 'still go right back on plan' the next day.
I shared how I really couldn't see myself doing that, because high-glycemic carbs like those in goodies or bread make me too hungry. (I could see his wheels turning, thinking about how they probably got hungry for him, too....not that he admitted it).

People are funny sometimes. They like to justify their actions with their words....but the whole time he was saying all this I could see he was thinking "I DID feel like overdoing afterwards...maybe this girl is onto something". 

Of course he asked if that was 'my' picture up on the gym wall and I said 'yes' and he congratulated me....but man...HE's lost even more and has a much longer road to travel!  He said what finally 'did it' for him, was, his wife took a picture of him and he 'Looked like a BLOB with a small head on top'.

So we talked about how everyone has to reach THEIR particular 'rock bottom', their 'moment of truth', before they get DESPERATE enough and DETERMINED enough to DO something about their weight.y

It was nice to talk to the guy. I'd seen him around the gym, of course (he's a regular!) but never talked to him. For the first 6 months to a YEAR I never talked to ANYONE! I was too shy (YES I AM ...I hear you laughing but you don't know me 'irl' In real Life LOL....)

I worry about coming on too hard and strong. So I just keep my mouth shut. Funny thing is, people ARE curious and WANT to talk to me, especially after they see my poster on the wall. So I'm 'coming out' a little bit more and it feels....GREAT! 

What is a "Food Addict"?

I've been thinking a lot about the term 'food addict' lately. I even looked it up in my Webster's dictionary...to see if it was there (it wasn't). 

WebMD had it listed, though. They said:

Experiments in animals and humans show that, for some people, the same reward and pleasure centers of the brain that are triggered by addictive drugs like cocaine and heroin  are also activated by food, especially highly palatable foods. Highly palatable foods are foods rich in: Sugar, Fat, and/or Salt. 
Like addictive drugs, highly palatable foods trigger feel-good brain chemicals such as dopamine. Once people experience pleasure associated with increased dopamine transmission in the brain's reward pathway from eating certain foods, they quickly feel the need to eat again.
The reward signals from highly palatable foods may override other signals of fullness and satisfaction. As a result, people keep eating, even when they're not hungry.People who show signs of food addiction may also develop a tolerance to food. They eat more and more, only to find that food satisfies them less and less.
People who are addicted to food will continue to eat despite negative consequences, such as weight gain or damaged relationships. And like people who are addicted to drugs or gambling, people who are addicted to food will have trouble stopping their behavior, even if they want to or have tried many times to cut back.
Science is still working to understand and find treatments for food addiction.
Some argue that recovery from food addiction may be more complicated than recovery from other kinds of addictions. Alcoholics, for example, can ultimately abstain from drinking alcohol. But people who are addicted to food still need to eat.

Sounds very professional, doesn't it?

But....there's something MISSING from this definition and I find it kind of sad. And it's something that I'll wager a majority of us here can attest to.

It's NOT ALL PHYSICAL!

What about the EMOTIONAL side of it?

I mean, I don't know about you, but I can overeat LETTUCE.
YEP! Thankfully it won't do much harm to my body, but I can overeat it, sure....!

So what IS it? What causes us to want to eat so badly?

I compare myself to my husband. He's a 'normal eater'. He gained a few lbs but that's because he's not as active as he used to be, and his metabolism has slowed down with age as well. And he can be a bit lazy with his eating habits.
So for him, just learning how to eat HEALTHY is really all he needs. A strict program like Take Shape for Life using Medifast meals will work....but it's not really necessary.

People like him just need the awareness kicked up a bit. They can do things like 'stop eating after 8 pm', or 'substitute a piece of fruit for that bag of chips' and lose weight.

People like him don't THINK about eating. He can get involved or interested in doing something...and totally FORGET ABOUT EATING. I mean, ALL DAY LONG! This is a totally foreign concept to me.

I can't even wrap my MIND around it! How can he NOT think about eating? I think about it all the time!
...Although... I have to admit, thanks to this program, I AM having more and more 'food free' times....which is wonderful, by the way, albiet a little scary at times. (THEN I worry about planning the 'right' meals and whether forgetting is such a good idea, as if suddenly the local grocery store is going to run out of vegetables or something LOL...)

My hubby can eat ONE Reese's peanut butter cup and 'save' the other one (personally I think ANYONE that can do this is part MARTIAN, but that's just my opinion LOL).
I couldn't do that if my LIFE depended on it. If you took that second peanut butter cup away from me? 10 minutes later I'd be BEGGING you for it. If you hid it from me? I'd spend HOURS trying to find it.
(and eventually give up in frustration, grab my car keys, and go to the local grocery store and buy SIXTEEN packages of peanut butter cups just to get 'back' at you, and eat 10 of them on the way home and then be 'sad' because I've only got 6 packages left).

THAT is a food addict.

A normal person feels 'stuffed' when they overeat.
For a food addict, that's just "getting started!"

WHY?
Because the emotional need is not satisfied. The physical side may be...but that's not what we're looking for! We're searching for MORE than what food can give us.

A normal person eats alone when and if they have to.
A food addict has discovered many JOYS of eating alone...because there's no one to criticize! They can eat whatever they want. And so...they DO! They learn to 'sneak eat'. They learn which foods they can get away with that aren't noisy. They have strategic places to hide food and store it away "just in case".

A normal person thinks about food the correct amount of time. They specifically think about it when they are hungry, or they'll think about a new recipe around the holidays, or when going out to dinner.
A food addict thinks about food 24/7. They have dreams about swimming in a giant sea of melted chocolate (I had a lot of these when I started MF...still do occasionally). They fantasize about what it would be like if they could eat 'whatever they wanted' 'whenever' they wanted and never gain a pound. HEAVEN will be like this for them. (I don't care about not having a body...as long as I can EAT ... so what? I'm a spirit? Just PLEASE GOD let me be able to TASTE food anyway and eat whatever I want!) LOL

A normal person sees a food commercial and thinks 'Hmm...that looks good...next time I'm at "X" restaurant maybe I'll order that'.
A food addict sees the same commercial and thinks 'How can I have that NOW? What can I make that RESEMBLES that? What do I have in the house that's available...Hmmm....how long would it take me to get to the store and buy the stuff...or maybe that restaurant is still open....wait! Where are my keys! What do you mean, it's midnight! I NEED THAT FOOD!' LOL

A normal person feeds his dog a bit of his steak once in awhile.
A food addict cuts off the bone and gives that to the dog, the BEEF IS MINE.

A normal person looks into the refrigerator and sees leftovers.
A food addict looks into the refrigerator and sees a BANQUET.

A normal person can't find that jar of peanut butter so he gives up and walks away.
A food addict can not only find that jar of peanut butter, but knows where there are 3 others hidden away 'just in case'.

A normal person goes to the drivethru and orders a value meal.
A food addict goes to the drivethru and orders a value meal and they'd like to 'supersize' it, by the way...oh, and I forgot, give me TWO, I'm bringing one home (liar liar you're just going to eat one full meal on the way home).

A normal person says 'Yeah, I need to lose a few lbs'
A food addict says 'I CAN'T lose weight, I'm special....I have a (insert excuse here...thyroid/metabolic syndrome/celiac disease or gluten problem/vegetarian/starch problem with certain foods/food allergies/stomach issues/I've NEVER been able to lose weight no one can explain it even my doctor is stumped/I'm just a big girl/I need more calories don't ask me why/I can't diet it makes me too weak')...etc until your eyes glaze over and you walk away.

THAT is a food addict.

A normal person goes to the gym to exercise and get in shape.
A food addict goes to the gym to work off the huge container of ice cream she ate last night. "What do you MEAN I only burned 200 calories? Oh shit I need to burn 600 more...what can I do to do that?"

A normal person finishes dinner and puts the dishes in the dishwasher.
A food addict finishes dinner and then has a SECOND meal while cleaning up the kitchen...can't let all that good food go to waste!

THAT is a food addict.

How to Overcome a Craving or Urge to Overeat

Yesterday was a hard day....for me as well as for a lot of us, I think.

The combination of the long, hard Winter...being stuck indoors, everything by us was closed down due to ICING conditions (schools closed, DH's work closed, etc.) and also I'm feeling just a bit sorry for myself since I've got a stupid cold again and couldn't get to the gym to let off steam, ....well, it all adds up to a recipe for disaster.

But I'm proud of myself because I overcame several strong urges to overeat. And I know that I only did so because I've LEARNED, over time, how to do that.  So I thought I'd share 'my process'.

Hopefully this will help you the next time you have a craving.

HOW TO BEAT A CRAVING

1.  STOP

The most important step is to STOP in your tracks before acting on a craving. I know it's painful;  I know every instinct you have is urging you to 'chuck it all', screw the plan today, you NEED this today, you'll make up for it tomorrow, tomorrow you'll get back OP but in the meantime the pressure is intense and Ahhh GOD I need to eat!

I hear you. But STOP anyway, just stop and take a deep breath and remind yourself that these thoughts of yours AREN'T in your best interests -- despite outward appearances. These thoughts are Fat Brain talking. Which of course is your animal side, your hedonistic side, your 'same ole same ole' bad habits side that just wants you to do what you ALWAYS did, because it's "easier". That's ALL!  Whatever logic it's using...and it can be very crafty....it does NOT have your best interests at heart.

Imagine the craving is like a huge, violent WAVE coming in, straight at you. You have two choices:
- You can get pushed around and knocked down by the wave, OR
- You can STOP right here and now, analyze what's going on, and CHOOSE differently. In so doing, you are pulling yourself AWAY from the surf, away from your negative thoughts emotionally, and detaching yourself from it completely. You are putting yourself 'on the shore', safe and sound on the warm sand with a clear blue sky and the sun beating down, and just calmly observing the wave. You're NOT being battered by it because you're away from its path.  You're peaceful and calm. Away from harm. You can't be hurt by the wave because you're out of the water!

Another way to do this is to imagine your thoughts are like a movie playing on a DVD player. When you feel a craving or an urge to overeat coming on....push the PAUSE button. STOP the movie in its tracks. "Freeze frame" it.

2.  CHALLENGE

Now 'hit the reverse button' on the DVD player, so that your actions and thoughts replay in slow motion. Sit back and watch. What led up to the craving? What were you doing? What were you thinking? More importantly, what were you FEELING? 

PRETENDING!

I'm struck by the power of the MIND.

The other night, for example, I was watching an old Jerry Lewis/Dean Martin movie called 'Artists and Models'. The movie isn't one of his best, in my opinion, but it did have a very entrancing scene in which Jerry and Dean sit down to dinner...and they have like, NO money so they have only a single solitary BEAN for dinner.

And Jerry eats his bean like it's a BANQUET. He goes through all these motions...salt and peppering it, tucking his napkin in, licking his lips, cutting his single solitary bean into two tiny pieces, so carefully....and then he pretends to open a bottle of champagne, and then he chews and swallows the half of a bean like it's a huge mouthful, and pours ketchup on the other half....it's hysterical.
He makes a huge meal out of a single bean because that's all he has, and he's going to ENJOY it!
(later on he's 'rewarded'....the guy upstairs throws his steak away and somehow Jerry winds up with it...and now he's actually EATING a huge steak and he calls to Dean, who's in bed, to share it, but of course Dean thinks he's still pretending and so refuses to believe it's a real steak....consequently Jerry gets to eat the entire steak himself...LOL...)

I'm too OLD to Lose Weight!

...that's what I always told everyone. From age 40 on, I would say "I'm too old"...and then back that up by talking about how metabolism slows down as you age (which is true, BUT not to the degree I liked to believe) and how I had metabolic syndrome on top of that.

Metabolic syndrome just means I had a combination of things working against me that put me at increased risk for heart disease and stroke...including a large waistline (I'm an 'apple' body type, which is more likely to develop this problem than a 'pear' body type), elevated triglycerides PLUS low HDL or "good" cholesterol levels, which impairs the body's ability to rid itself of "bad" cholesterol found in food, high blood sugar levels (I was actually considered "Pre-diabetic") AND high blood pressure (even though it wasn't high enough to warrant medication).

I remember asking my gynecologist about my weight...telling her I had tried 'everything', and she said "Well, you have metabolic syndrome so there's no point...you CAN'T lose weight, your body is working against you."

(Can you BELIEVE that? From a medical professional? Just GIVE UP because I "can't"?)

I no longer see that woman. LOL.

Anyway. These were great excuses and no one argued with me.
Why bother, right? They walked away.
And I justified my eating....once again.

It was SO e-a-s-y to blame my problems on the "American diet" and "too much sodium" and "diet soda" (which I was addicted to), and "Stress", and.... well, you name it; I had an answer for it.

But I KNEW in my heart that I was lying. To myself and everyone around me.

I KNEW that my life wasn't 'over' at age 40+. I looked around me and saw other women in their late 40s, 50s and beyond who were vibrant and healthy and doing things I couldn't even dream of doing.

So I played it 'both ways'.

On the OUTSIDE, I told people the same thing..."I'm too old", etc.

But on the INSIDE, I searched DESPERATELY for an answer. An answer to the obesity that was making my life a living hell. An answer to my quest for HEALTH.

And I found it here. I started out a skeptic, but turned into a proud 'convert' and follower and advocate. I learned that 6 small meals a day with the right combinations of nutrients COULD cause me to lose weight, and I learned that if I just MOVED, a little bit, and started to exercise regularly, gently at first, carefully...but consistently...I could shed the weight and attain good health.

Today my blood pressure is normal, my blood sugars are normal, I'm at a healthy BMI AND I feel wonderful. I can MOVE again. I can squat on my haunches, I can cross my legs, I can lift my legs, I can do sit-ups, I can bend over and touch my toes, I can walk down the hallway of my house WITHOUT my thighs rubbing together painfully.

Today I can look at myself in the mirror and SMILE. And I'm feeling better than I did in my 20s.

So I'm 58. So WHAT? I'm HEALTHY at 58. And life isn't 'over'.
Far from it! I feel like I'm only just beginning to explore what life has to offer me. I spent so many years....TOO many...'hiding' behind a wall of fat and a fortress of FOOD that I forgot what life was all about. I operated from FEAR. If I 'hid', maybe no one would notice me and nobody would bother me or hurt me.

Now I know I'm entitled to live a life, a GOOD life, an interesting life, and I can take more chances and STOP HIDING because I TRUST myself, I've learned so much about who I am and what I can accomplish and I have FAITH in myself.

I trust my instincts a lot more. I know I'm not stupid and I can defend myself with the best of them. I know I'm a decent person, deserving of love, and what's more I know I can GIVE love and HELP people....and expect nothing in return except the good feeling I get by doing so. Other people have hang-ups? Sure....but I don't let THEIR hang-ups get to me. It's not MY FAULT.

As long as I'm comfortable in my own skin, and do what I think is best every day, then I can be satisfied with my life.

I don't have to look around for 'more' because I'm where I want to be and I'm doing what I love to do. And every day I'm getting better because every day I learned something new. I'm growing on the inside, now, spiritually....and I'm also maturing emotionally.

There's a lot to be said for getting older. You have had lots of experiences in your life that have taught you lessons, if you're open to learning them. If you can get past the 'shoulds' in your life and realize that everything happens for a reason, a lesson you needed to learn -- well, then, you have no bitterness, you can just look back and smile at your own naiveté and realize you HAD to learn that lesson. You are mature enough not to jump on every bandwagon that comes along...you're a healthy skeptic....but you also know a good thing when you see one.

And most of all, you don't go looking for happiness anymore; because you know that happiness lives WITHIN YOU. It's a state of mind, of LOVING YOURSELF enough to be confident of yourself, to be able to say 'I'm sorry' or 'I messed up' and laugh at yourself while at the same time having the strength and courage to stand UP for yourself when you need to. It's being assertive without being aggressive. It's loving your family and friends without becoming a doormat. It's taking care of yourself, your body and your mind, because YOU are the sole owner of your life and it's YOUR responsibility.

Am I saddened that it took me till age 57 to see all this? And to finally, once and for all, conquer my "Ahab's Whale"? My biggest problem in my life? (I often said 'IF ONLY I could get my weight down....' Well I DID it! The next step is getting past any FEARS of FAILURE, right? Because it's not all 'weight'. Sometimes it's more than that but we SAY it's weight!)

YES part of me is saddened that it took me this long. Had I been open to it sooner....who knows what would've happened?

But I also KNOW, deep down, that I HAD to go through the bad experiences I had with other programs in order to be OPEN enough and ... let's face it.... DESPERATE enough to try this program!
Had I tried it too soon....another program might have caught my eye when the going got rough. But I had 'been there done that' so many times, that I KNEW there was no 'magic bullet', I KNEW there wasn't an easy way, there just was ME and the RIGHT PLAN and my own determination to see it through.

And a funny thing happened along the way. I found that whenever I had a particularly BIG hurdle or stumbling block, something I just couldn't get past, if I kept trying it (and yes, failing, multiple times)...each time I tried I learned a little more and got a little stronger so that eventually I was able to clear that hurdle....and then I was able to 'coast' for awhile with a big sigh of relief.

The road on my journey hasn't always been easy....but there are hills and valleys and straight stretches...and whenever I get to a hill, I remind myself that the hill ALWAYS has a downward spot where I can relax and 'coast'.  So it's just a matter of getting to the top, then I can relax for awhile until the next one!

You will have good days and bad days....good weeks and bad weeks...times when the weight seems to be falling off like crazy, and other times when you struggle and struggle and you're 100% OP and the scale DOES.NOT.MOVE.

But this is just another 'test'! A test of perseverance, of persistence, and (most of all) of patience.

I could NOT have gotten through a patience test when I was in my 20s or 30s. NO WAY. Patience is a LEARNED skill....over time and with many experiences. I'm positive I would've given up the minute the going got tough...because when I was younger I wanted, heck I EXPECTED....'instant' results.

I no longer expect instant results. I know that anything GOOD in this life comes with HARD WORK. Period.

So I'll keep saying it....KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON.  Remember that it's a long road...a journey...not a 'race', not a competition; it's just a series of learning opportunities that you have to LOOK upon as 'opportunities' instead of 'hurdles'.

Keep.... you know LOL!