It's that time already

Ok I'll do it... :P

WWINs-day today, ya know.

So, while I am nuking my South Beach breakfast burritos for lunch, I think we should give a big THANKS! to Tech for all his posting on here and motivational thoughts and ideas. It helps me, that is for sure. I hope it helps all those that read here too. It keeps me thinking, and reminds me that although I may take 2 steps back sometimes, I am taking 3 steps forward. I am still ahead in this battle of will, and that is what counts.

With that, I am down this week 4.4 lbs. :) I got that nasty 2 pounds off and then some. Woot!

How'd you do?

Patience!

The Weight Loss Word of the Day is PATIENCE! Patience is hard for anyone. Particularly for dieters, I think. We want to be thin now! We're tired of being heavy. We're sick of it. But it takes time to lose weight.

It is easy to be become discouraged when you're only losing an ounce a week or even worse, you gain a pound. But as long as we stay the course, it's going to pay off. I have to continually remind myself of that. Here are a few things I do to keep myself focused on my goal.

1. I repeat my positive statements before each meal. My positive statements go something like this: "I am worthy because God made me. My body is a temple that my soul inhabits. My temple should be healthy and strong. Food does not control me. I control food. With God's help, I will be healthy."

2. I have a picture from when I was thin (all the way back in high school). I have it on my fridge and on my computer. It reminds me that I once was thin and can be again -- although I will probably never have that much hair again!

3. I keep my mental goals realistic. Even when I lose this weight, I'm not going to suddenly become Brad Pitt. I'm still going to be me. And that's okay. This one is hard because I struggle with self-image issues. I've always been my harshest critic. I remind myself that daily that God made me so He thought I was worthy. It really does help.

4. I remind myself that I'm losing this weight for me. I'm not doing it to please other people. It's for me. Perhaps that sounds selfish, but if you depend on other people to supply your goal, ultimately you will fail. You have to believe that you deserve to be healthy for yourself so that you can accomplish what you're supposed to during the time we have here.

5. Every step, however small, is another toward the goal. If we allow slow progress to discourage us and make us stop, we'll never arrive. And I want to arrive, I believe I will arrive, and I want all of you to arrive with me.

So don't get discouraged at small gains or small losses. We're getting there, and there really is joy in the journey. Come journey with me.

Walking

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I started walking. At first we walked together, but that wasn't working. I have very short legs and a short stride so I coaxed him to go ahead and walk at his own pace and meet me at the end. It's the only way we both get a decent workout.

We walk either the local community track, which is great because the all-weather surface is easy on your back and legs. Alternately, we walk the Los Gatos Creek Trail. It's a blacktop surface, which is great for the bicyclists, but a bit hard on the walkers. I'm up to one and a half miles a day, 5 days a week.

I don't know if I'll lose weight or even inches, but I don't care. I just want to get a reasonable amount of exercise in. Next week will be our fourth week of walking. The week after that, I hope to add one more lap on the track. We'll see how it goes. Wish us luck.

WWIN's Day..on the longest day

Hey ho! Just your happy friend in weight loss here. :P It's WWINsday again, and while I would really like to post a loss for myself, I just cain't do it. I gained 2 pounds this week. *sigh* BUT...it just made me reevaluate what I had been doing that wasn't exactly in the right direction. Which ultimately showed in the direction of the needle of my scale.

I did find a great site though. It's Calories Per Hour Very cool calculators, BMR and RMR charts and food lists. Really kind of cool and lots'o'info.

How'd you do this week?

CHICKEN!

It's Tuesday, and do you know what the Weight Loss Word of the Day is? It's CHICKEN! Skinless chicken breasts are among the lowest calorie meat out there. That's one of the reasons you see them in so many diet frozen dinners. Here's a baked chicken recipe that's both low fat and tasty!

Spicy Baked Chicken Breasts

4 skinless chicken breasts
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
No fat butter flavored vegetable spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray a baking pan with no-fat butter flavored vegetable spray. Rinse chicken and pat dry with paper towels. In a bowl, mix the bread crumbs, onion powder, garlic powder and red pepper flakes. Dip chicken in yogurt, then into crumb mixture. Place in pan. Bake uncovered 45 to 50 minutes or until chicken is done. Serve with steamed veggies and half of a medium baked potato.

Tasty! Try it and see.

Shop wisely!

The Weight Loss Phrase of the Day is SHOP WISELY! A friend of mine has lost 20 pounds just by changing her shopping habits. Melinda found that if she didn't have fattening food in her house, she wouldn't make a special trip to go get some. So she simply stopped buying it. Instead, she focused on fruit and veggies, lean cuts of meats and low-fat alternatives to her favorite whole foods. If she bought canned fruit, she made sure it was in water and not syrup. If she bought yogurt, she purchased the low-fat yogurt. All her soft drinks became diet drinks. She switched from whole milk to calcium added 1 percent. All these changes added up.

It's taken her nearly six months to lose the weight, but she hasn't felt deprived. "It hasn't even felt like I'm on a diet," she said.

So SHOP WISELY and see if gives your diet the boost it needs!

Perseverance!

The Weight Loss Word of the Day is PERSEVERANCE! It's easy to start a diet, easy to say you're going to make a life change, easy to follow the latest fad diet, but starting the diet isn't the trouble for most people. It's continuing on. It's having the determination to follow through to the slim end. How do we gain that determination? Here are five suggestions that I've found helpful:

1. Every day tell yourself these statements: "I deserve to be healthy. I deserve to be comfortable in my own skin. God made me so I have worth. My body is the temple my soul inhabits. I will not let food control me. With God's help, I will overcome." Phrase them as you like, but that's the idea. If you say these positive statements ten times a day, you'll be amazed how it will change your attitude.

2. Avoid people who tempt you with fattening foods. Friends who push desserts on you aren't your friends. They're trying to sabotage your new life. Don't let them. Be firm.

3. Pick yourself back up after every slip and keep going. A life change only fails if you stop. Let's not confuse this with diets. There are a thousand diets out there. If one isn't healthy for you or simply isn't workable, find another that will work. As long as you continue to pursue your goal, you will reach it eventually.

4. Remember that you didn't gain weight all at once, and you won't lose it all at once. It's going to take time, but everything worthwhile takes time. Love, relationships, happiness, they all take time and work. Why would this be different?

5. Most importantly, remember that you have only one life down here. It's up to you to make the most of it. Approach losing weight as an adventure with ups and downs, but you have the certainty that you'd going to make it through and come back with lots of great stories and a new healthier you!

Fight cancer with food!

The Weight Loss Phrase of the Day is FIGHT CANCER WITH FOOD! According to the National Foundation for Cancer Research, many foods reduce the risk of cancer. NFCR suggests the following:
1. Teas, such as green, white and oolong are rich in powerful antioxidants. Antioxidants reduce the risk of cancer by counteracting the harmful effects of free radicals that damage the cells of our body.
2. Tomatoes, especially in ketchup and tomato sauce, contain lycopene, another powerful antioxidant that many studies have shown help reduce cancer risk.
3. Oranges and other citrus fruits rich in vitamin C can help prevent mouth, esophageal, lung, stomach and colon cancers.
4. Cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts and turnips are thought to stimulate the immune system and help reduce the risk of colon, stomach and respiratory cancers.
5. Carrots are an excellent source of antioxidant compounds, and the richest vegetable source of the pro-vitamin A carotenes. Carrots' antioxidant compounds help protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer and also promote good vision, especially night vision.

For more information about healthy foods, visit The World's Healthiest Foods.

Happy WWINSDAY!

Hello, my friends! I know I've been missing in action for a while, but I've been inspired by Tech's "Word of the Day" entries. Keep it up, please, as you are able. They offer a lot of good information and inspiration.

I have not progressed. I'm standing at a 4-pound total off. I'm just happy I'm not right back at square one. I could make lots of excuses but I won't. I'm just not doing what I need to be doing to take care of myself.

Two of Tech's words that have real importance to me are "water" and "sleep." I think a couple of relatively simple steps to include more of both of these in my life would have a profound influence on my overall health and weight loss. So here's my bold step of the week: I am making myself accountable to you this week. If it's OK with you, I'm going to check in once a day to report to you how I'm doing in these areas.

I'm a funny duck in some ways. There are things I will do if I am accountable to an "outside authority" that I won't do if I'm only accountable to myself. I suppose it's a need for validation and acceptance rooted way, way back in childhood. Yeah, I know that in my 50s I should have developed an internal sense of responsibility, but I still need someone to grade my papers, so to speak, and let me know I'm performing at a satisfactory level.

In summary, I will:

1. Drink more water, and
B. Get more sleep.

I will try not to do 1. too close to the time when I need to do B. Otherwise I'll be up all night!

Heeeeeeere's WWIN!

Okay, ya'll, how'd you do?

I'm not thrilled with my results, but at least it's still in the right direction. I'm down .3, for a total of 5.8.

I'm glad the weather has warmed up because it makes it more enjoyable to eat more fruits and veggies. True, it's also easier to succumb to ice cream, but I keep a supply of the WW Fudge Bars on hand. (When they're on sale, I stock up.) WW's Toffee Bars and Cookies-and-Cream Bars are also good, but I can make the Fudge Bar last longer by sucking on it, and they're only 1 point each! The other bars are 2 points each and I pretty much gnaw right through them.

I bought a small watermelon last week, cut it into chunks, and kept it in the fridge ready to eat whenever. I'm going to have to do that more often. Prepping fruits and veggies ahead of the snack attack seems to really help. I'm more apt to choose something appropriate if it's ready to eat.

Did you try any new ways of doing things this week? How did it work for you?

Heard at WW This Morning...

In answer to those who try to encourage you to eat more than you need to, or what you shouldn't, just tell them you're allergic.

If they press the issue say, "I'm allergic--I break out in fat!" :)

Sing

The Weight Loss Word of the Day is SING! Research shows that singing is good for you, both emotionally and physically. Good singers learn now to breathe properly and increase their lung capacity. And singing reduces stress and releases endorphins. So belt out that song in your shower, dance around living room, sing!

Sleep

The Weight Loss Word of the Day is SLEEP! Getting seven or more hours of sleep a night may help you loss weight. That’s the finding of a study presented in San Diego at the American Thoracic Society’s International Conference. Data came from 68,183 healthy women who took part in the Nurses’ Health Study. The Nurses’ Health study started in 1976, when women were 30-55 years old. Women who reported sleeping five or six hours per night gained more weight than those who got seven hours of nightly sleep, the study shows. Other studies have also linked a good night’s sleep to lighter bodies.

So get your sleep. It's good for your waist!

Carrots!

The Weight Loss Word of the Day is CARROTS! Those favorites of Bugs Bunny should be one of your favorites, too. Carrots are low in calories, high in fiber and make a wonderful crunch in your mouth. They may also fight cancer. According to a 2001 British study in the International Journal of Cancer, women who ate just four carrot sticks at least 5 days a week cut their risk of ovarian cancer in half. Scientists attribute the risk reduction to beta-carotene -- carrots are loaded with it -- but other research says that it's beta-carotene in combination with the 100 or so other substances in carrots.

It's easy to add carrots to your diet. Shred them over salads, take a bag of baby carrots to work as a snack and munch on them, add them whole or shedded to soups, chop them finely and sprinkle them on sandwiches or on hamburgers. You can even add them to Jello -- not that I'm saying you should, mind you.

Here's some info about carrots from the web page of P. Caunce & Son Brow Farm.

"Carrots are a taproot, a type of root which grows downwards into the soil and swells. Carrots come in many sizes and shapes: round, cylindrical, fat, very small, long or thin.

"Native to Afghanistan, carrots were known to both the Greeks and Romans. In fact, the Greeks called the carrot "Philtron" and used it as a love medicine -- making men more ardent and women more yielding. The Roman emperor Caligula, believing these stories, forced the whole Roman Senate to eat carrots so he could see them "in rut like wild beasts."

"India, China, and Japan had established carrots as a food crop by the 13th century. In Europe, however, they were not well known until well into the Middle Ages. At that time, doctors prescribed them for everything from sexual maladies to snakebite -- which some would argue, are Biblically connected. In Holland, the original red, purple, black, yellow, and white varietals were hybridized to today's bright orange, with its potent dose of beta carotene.

"From thence, carrots moved to England, during Elizabethan times. Some Elizabethans ate the roots as food; others used their feathery stalks to decorate their hair, their hats, their dresses, and their coats.

"Carrots arrived in the New World with the early colonists, but they were allowed to escape cultivation and subsequently turned into the omnipresent and delicate wild flower Queen Anne's Lace. If you doubt it, pull up a plant by the roots and surprise your nose with its carroty smell.

"The folk belief that carrots enable one to see in the dark -- or at least improve vision -- enabled the British Royal Air Force to disguise its use of radar from the Germans during World War II. The story goes that the Air Force bragged that the great accuracy of British fighter pilots at night was a result of them being fed enormous quantities of carrots -- and the Germans bought it because their folk wisdom included the same myth."

So eat your carrots, and you'll may be rewarded with better health!

CIY!

The Weight Loss Word of the Day is CIY! Weil, it's really not a word, but it stands for Cook It Yourself. I see you nodding your head. You already know that home-cooked food tastes better and retains more natural goodness. You can also prepare it in a way that minimizes fat. However, did you know that CIY can help with binge eating?

Binge eating is almost unknown in the Third World. Scientists believe this is because they have to spend so much time preparing their food as well as working to afford it or gather it. It is completely unknown in primitive tribes except at occasional feasts.

But here in the US, we only have to walk into our kitchens and tear open a bag of chips and grab a box of Twinkies to settle ourselves in front of the TV for an evening of chowing down. We are not mindful of our food because we don't have to be.

Mindless binge eating used to be a real problem for me. My cabinets were full of quick, convenient food. If something triggered my appetite, it was all too easy to binge until you'd find me unconscious in the living room, greasy remote in one hand, hunk of cake in the other and a large bowl of lard-fried potato chips on my rounded belly. How's that for an image?

What did I do to change this? Well, I stopped buying that convenient food or bought only convenient food that was good for me. For instance, you can't beat the food preparation time of baby carrots. You open the bag, rinse them off and you're crunching happily almost immediately. And Weight Watchers Smart Ones microwave meals are quick and delicious (many of them, anyway). Next, I determined that my binge foods were usually sweets. So I decided that if I had to have them, I had to bake them or make them. Just that decision cut back on a lot of bingeing

I also decided that if I was going to binge, it was going to be on something I really loved. Such as chocolate-covered strawberries or other fruits. So I went out and found some chocolate formulated for microwave melting. (Wal-Mart has it.) And now when I just have to have some sweets, I get out a bowl, measure out the chocolate, microwave the chocolate, wash and cut up the fruit while the chocolate is microwaving, take out the chocolate and wait for it to cool slightly, use a fork and start dipping. The thing is, by the time the chocolate is ready and the fruit is cut, many times the impulse has passed, so I dip a few pieces and then put it all up.

So try CIY. It may help you to SDY! (Slim Down Yourself)

WWIN once more

I'm down 1.2 pound. I should have done better, but I cheated too much this week. There was a coconut cream pie that called me and several soft drinks and let's not forget that side of beef ...

How did you do on this Wednesday Weigh In? Trixie, Frenzied Feline, Michelle, Crystal, Jeanne, Jaime? How many pounds did you lose?

Relax!

The Weight Loss Word for the Day is RELAX! Yeah, that's right. Relax. Kick your shoes off, get a large glass of your favorite diet cola or flavored water, find a lounge chair outside and sit down and watch the world go by. A lot of studies have shown that people who succeed in weight loss plan for downtime. That's right. Naps, an hour or so of peace during the day and other quiet activities help people lose weight! Now, why would that be? Researchers believe that such quiet times decrease stress, and since stress is an appetite trigger for many people, any reduction decreases their desire to eat.

So relax a little. Enjoy the sunny day in a shady backyard. Take a slow walk in the park. Your waist will be glad you did.

Substitute!

The Weight Loss Word of the Day is SUBSTITUTE! You can make substantial advances in your weight loss plan by substituting healthy food for unhealthy food.

You love ice cream? There are hundreds of low-fat, low-sugar, no sugar ice creams and yogurts out there. Start trying them out.

Switch from whole milk to 1 or 2 percent. This is sometimes hard to adjust to. Do it slowly. Buy one gallon of whole milk and one of 1 percent. Mix the two milks in your glass, slowly increasing the amount of 1 percent. Eventually you'll adjust.

Instead of having cheese sticks as an appetizer, have a salad.

Choose diet soft drinks or flavored water over the regular sugar filled sodas.

Buy low-fat, low calorie treats, such as Smart Ones muffins or Healthy Choice brownies.

Crunch on some carrots dipped in no-fat ranch dressing instead of those potato chips.

By remembering to substitute instead of simply doing without, you won't feel cheated or hungry. Let's all substitute slim and happy for heavy and sad!

Participation!

The Weight Loss Word of the Day is PARTICIPATION! The only way that The Great Slim Down can help you reach your weight loss goal is if you participate! Post a recipe, ask a question, share a tip, make a comment, tell a problem, upload a cartoon, you name it. Just because someone else has posted doesn't mean that you can't. We need your voice, your viewpoint. What you share could be exactly what another reader needs.

Remember, we're all in the same boat, folks. Let's reach our goals together!

Attitude!

The Weight Loss Word of the Day is ATTITUDE! Whether or not we lose weight depends on this more than anything else. Do we look at exercise as something we get to do or as something we have to do? Do we look at cutting back on portion size as healthy and slimming or do we look at it as a hardship and annoying? Do we look at changing our menus as an adventure into new tastes or as a disruption to our routine?

It's not easy to be positive about losing weight. It seems to be about cutting back on the things we love and fighting a constant battle every day of our lives. I know I struggle with this as dieting really depresses me at times. Why shouldn't be able to eat what I want when I want? And I can do that ... if I'm willing to live with the consequences of that: poor health, shorter life, less energy, etc. Hey, I'm not willing to give up my life for food. I really will learn to eat to live and not live to eat. It's all comes down to my attitude.

So I'm going to stop whining about not getting to eat what I want and having to exercise. Instead, I will approach it that I get to eat healthy and get to exercise. And I'm positive that, by keeping the right attitude, we're all going to be healthy and slim.

Veggies!

The weight loss word of the day is VEGGIES! That's right. Just like your mom used to tell you: Eat your veggies. Most veggies are loaded with vitamins and fiber and are usually low calorie.

But don't smother them in sauce or cream. That just adds fat and smothers their natural taste. Try them steamed or grilled, seasoned with red pepper flakes or seasoning salt. Combine several that have different colors to create a colorful and healthy side on your plate.

In buying veggies, remember that fresh is best, but frozen is good, too.

Here's a quick and delicious veggie recipe.

Tech's Rainbow Veggie Mix

1 large yellow squash cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 bag of frozen okra
1 large tomato chopped
1/2 bag of frozen broccoli
1 sliced red pepper with seeds removed
1 cup of baby carrots
1/4 cup of lemon juice
2 tablespoon of seasoning salt

Combine veggies and juice in large microwave safe bowl and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of seasoning salt. Cover bowl and microwave 10-15 minutes or until the veggies are tender. (This depends on your microwave. Your mileage will vary. Don't overcook the veggies. You want them to have some crunch.) Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of seasoning salt on veggies again. Toss veggies and then serve. Serves six. Adjust quantities as needed.

So eat your veggies!

Walk!

The weight loss word of the day is WALK! Walking may be the perfect exercise. It's easy on your joints, requires no special equipment besides supportive and comfortable shoes and a place to walk. Michelle has been walking in the morning and is finding it to be the perfect way to start her day.


Here are a few ways to incorporate walking into your day.

1. Use part of your lunch hour to walk around the block or even better a local park.
2. Park at the far end of the parking lot when you shop.
3. If the weather is bad, walk from one end of a mall to the other.
4. Use the stairs. My roomie works in a four-story hospital. He almost never takes the elevator, and he goes up those stairs like a gazelle -- if gazelles can climb stairs easily.
5. Get a pedometer and attempt to add 500 steps to your day.
6. Call a friend and set up a walking date.
7. Many schools have a walking track that is open for the public to use during the summer and evenings.
8. Many churches have family life centers with a walking track.

What walking tips do you have to share? Let’s walk our way to fitness and health.