The LBDDiaries.com Blog

In the meantime, I discovered this incredible organic flax and sesame cracker from my local health food store… and have to walk away from it with tears streaming down my face.  It is one of those bad-to-the-bone foods I’ve talked about in other postings.

The tip for today is to know what specific foods trigger you to go bad.  Then look at your BFU* elastic-waisted pants and your pretty little LBD and YOU decide – which one do you want to wear for the rest of your life?  Me, too!

THIS ONE?  *Big fat ugly

Or THIS ONE???

I gotta tell you – if we would just be honest with ourselves, none of us would have a weight problem (other than people with a legitimate physical problem such as a messed up thyroid).

I’ve been working with my new electronic hand-held calorie counter that also washes my dishes.  Well, not really, but it does a lot!  Unfortunately, ever since I started messing with it a couple of days ago, I have really had to face that I was NOT counting every bite or drink (with calories) that I was putting into my mouth.   The counter totals my calories for me.  I couldn’t fake it anymore.  It was not a pretty sight.

I went back and read some emails of people chatting about the battles they were having.  I studied some of the people who have had great success.  There is a huge difference between those who are talking and those who are doing.  I’ve come to a conclusion that overweight people have blinders on when it comes to being honest.  Can we raise our hands?  I did.

I mean, really!  Do we really think that if we don’t write it down in our food journal, it doesn’t count?  Do we honestly believe that if we don’t weigh it, we can really tell how many real ounces we are eating?  You should have seen the small chicken breast I was eating that I thought was healthy.  I allotted myself 4 ounces.  I was eating 6 ounces – not counting the stuffing inside.  Major difference in calories.  Blinders!

And how about the way we can’t see that we are not really exercising just because we think about in and plan to?  It’s another frog story (see blog in Humor).  It doesn’t matter how many plans we make to exercise.  Until we do exercise, no calories are expended, no matter how much we wish thinking about it would knock off some calories.  Or take how we finagle.  We justify today’s fattening foods by saying we will cut back tomorrow.  Tomorrow truly never comes because then it is the today that we will forget our intentions from yesterday and eat other foods we wish we hadn’t.  Blinders!

We slap those blinders on our eyes and say, “I don’t see you calories, so you don’t count!  I don’t see anything I don’t want to see including how I really look!!”  Blinders, blinders, blinders.  We truly have gotten into some rotten habits.  The great news is that it really only takes about 30 days to break that rotten habit and replace it with good ones.  Begin to tell yourself that you can eat right and exercise correctly.  State that you make right choices and good decisions.  You have healthy habits and overcome ever obstacle to healthy habits.  Start talking in the present tense.  Don’t say you are going to.  Speak that you ARE and you DO and you HAVE. 

We’ll work on some other blinder-removers later this week!

I am packing for my move so I am going to recycle some of my older posts. I will add “redux” in the title so you will know it is a recycled posting.

In the movie, Galaxy Quest, there was the prevailing theme and saying of, “Never give up! Never surrender.”  That is the battle cry of LBD women working toward their LBDs.  We may have several different sizes of LBDs – I believe I have 13 (yes, I lie not. I like LBDs a LOT) in my closet in varying sizes – but to gain entry to each size we must never give up and never surrender. 

The one absolute in women who have failed in their weight loss programs is that they QUIT whatever program they were working.  We all can have the bad habit of giving up if we don’t see massive improvement immediately.  Ask me how I know!  I want to lose 10 pounds a week so it only takes 9 weeks to get the weight off!  Then I’ll be happy.

BUT – and here’s a key – if I haven’t been faithful to losing that 2 pounds a week “they” claim is healthy for us to lose, what makes me think I’d be faithful to sticking to the 10 pounds a week plan?  It truly isn’t about how much weight we can get off each week.  It is about NOT QUITTING. 

Type or write that saying up and post it on your mirror and refrigerator – NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER SURRENDER!

Oh I just love that title – I crack myself up sometimes – ho – more than I can chew… get it?  Journey back into LBD – chew – food?

Guess you had to be there.  It sure was funny to those of who were here.  All of us.  No, I’m not telling who.  Me, myself and I don’t want me to tell.

Yah, I’ve been alone too long today.  There is a point to this blog, tho.  I had a lot of people mention to me lately that they needed to lose some weight.  Practically everyone I know needs to lose some weight be it 5 pounds or 105 pounds.

I just figured out this week one of the reasons I blow it about 2 weeks into any program I start, restart, begin again, follow, etc.  I bite off more than I can chew.

Rather than take it one goal at a time – one item – one change – I decide to do it all right now.  If one thing works, then it stands to reason, adding another thing in will make it go faster!   Exercise, drink plenty of water, take the right supplements, eat right, weigh all foods, write everything down that goes into my mouth, get plenty of sleep, cut out chemicals and processed foods, etc., etc., etc.

Pretty much?  I set myself up to fail.  This is true of any goal we want to accomplish, but especially so for those of us who need to lose some weight.  Why?  Cause our bodies are just waiting for us to blow it so it can, first get us to eat that pan of brownies, then second, start the guilt talk.  You know, “Man, you blew it AGAIN!  What is the matter with you???  Can’t you just stick to the plan?  You never do it right.  What’s up with that, chubby??”

Yeah, negative self talk is the WORST thing we do to ourselves.

Today’s point is this:  Long term goals are great but you get that elephant eaten one bite at a time.  Whew – profound, huh?  It’s a mix of other peoples proverbs.  What does it mean?  how the heck should I know Oh, it means ONE STEP AT A TIME gets a big goal or project accomplished.   One change.  One something done until it becomes a habit.  One change you get down pat before you go on to the next change.

Instead of worrying about how much I have to get off long term, I need to break it down and take one week.  I say, “This week’s goal is ____. ”  Then I take it one day at a time to get to the end of the week.  What can I do today to ensure I make this week’s goal?  Sometimes you gotta break it down to hours such as, “What can I do RIGHT NOW to meet today’s goal?”  Even minutes.

You know what I mean – right before you stuff that bag of potato chips into your mouth, maybe you can stop and ask yourself, “Will this bag of potato chips help me reach today’s goal that will help me meet this week’s goal?  No?  Oh, well, maybe just for this moment, I’ll wait on the chips and save them for later.”  Don’t tell yourself “NO I CAN’T HAVE IT” ’cause then your body will go into, “What? I want it.  I want it now.  I want it I want it iwantitiwantit” and pretty soon you’ll be throwing yourself in the floor having a 2 year old type tantrum.  It’s ugly.

Just tell yourself, “I won’t eat this right now.  I’ll save it for later.”  Then, the super smart thing to do once you’re past the craving (and you can fool your body) is either hide the chips, get rid of the chips, or stomp the chips into inedible mush. 

No temptations mean no temptation.  Ooooh wasn’t that good?  I made that up all by myself.  Can you tell???  But you know what?  I did NOT eat that chocolate candy bar for one reason only.  It was not in the house.  Because it wasn’t in the house, there were no temptations to each a chocolate candy bar.  Trust me, your body knows when it is on the shelf no matter where you put it.

So take your long term elephantine goal and break it down into little sized bites.  Figure out how much weight you need to lose, then forget that number. Instead, figure out how much you are willing to work toward losing by the end of one week, the set that goal be it 1-2-3 or 5 pounds. Create short term goals that lead up to the long term one – but only focus on what you can do RIGHT NOW.  Then do it.

See my new little thingie to the left there?  Isn’t it cool?  OK I know most of you have that on your blog already – the Google Friend Connect – but I just figured out how to put it on my site.   So sign up and help me feel less like a little red-headed stepchild and more like a full blown real life blogger, k???

Today I am just going to ramble a wee bit about some things I’ve learned over the past year or two or 10 about healthy eating, exercise, chemicals, processed foods, blah blah blah.  HEY some people asked so I am going to answer from my great and vast wealth of research and information gleaned over the years.

It will be a short post.

NOT! 

Bwaahahahahahaha!  Hey, I get my kicks where I can. OH seriously, I have researched those topics ad nauseum.  I finally had to figure out for myself that if I don’t DO instead of research I was never going to lose the excess weight. Don’t wanna keep looking like my little friend below there.

But the tidbits – this stuff is just what Alpha Hubby and I have learned or changed over the past few years to great success.  I am not saying you have to do this but I am asking you take a little time and research for yourself.  There may be things in here that will help!   I know that any one of these tidbits can solicit groans and moans of denial and disbelief.  That’s OKAY!  This is what we are doing; not saying you have to.

It is interesting to note that in my research on longevity, these very same things popped up.  Longevity as in living past 80 on into the 100′s healthy, looking good, and active. And the closer you get to 80, the more you’re gonna wish you’d taken better care of yourself. The closer you get to 50, too. 40… Falling apart and losing your mind is NOT inevitable!

I will just toss out in no particular order -

Water – amazing and relatively inexpensive – is your very best diet and life friend.  Your body needs water to function correctly, brain, joints, and skin to mention a few things.  Not iced tea, soda, diet soda, caffeine free soda, coffee, or fruit drinks.  WATER.  At the least, you need 8 cups of plain water every day (well you can add lemon, fruit, etc.).  If you are overweight, drink an extra cup for every 25 pounds you are overweight.  It honestly flushes you out and helps you feel full. One note – sometimes when you think you’re hungry, you’re not – you’re thirsty and/or dehydrated!

One little secret we learned?  Your body can’t recognize artificial sweetener so when you try to diet drinking diet soda, food, drinks, it messes up your metabolism.  Yeah yeah, don’t believe me, look it up for yourself.

Exercise - aerobic, anaerobic, resistance, and more.   I’ll add a link and leave it up to you to check this out.

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2010/06/12/growing-evidence-links-exercise-and-mental-acuity.aspx

Start Exercising first thing in the morning -  As soon as you wake up in the morning do some form of exercise for at least 30 minutes.  Studies show that working out in the morning has been shown to burn up to 3x as more fat as opposed to working out at any other time during the day.   BUT the REAL reason is that if you get up 30 mintues earlier and get it out of the way, you won’t end up forgetting or making excuses or getting to the end of the day and realizing you allowed everything else to take your time away from it.

Eat Breakfast – Another way to keep your metabolism revved up all day long is to eat breakfast.  After you workout in the morning, just have breakfast and you’ll give your body the perfect 1-2 combination to jump start your metabolism.  One excellent breakfast choice is oatmeal: steel cut oats, old fashioned, quick cooking.  NOT instant (often loaded with sugar, salt & artificial flavoring).

Chemicals and Processed Foods – we changed our lifestyle last year and got off these things.  It doesn’t mean we don’t have occasional chemicals (like when eating out), but in our own home, we kicked them to the curb.  I can honestly tell you I feel better, everything tastes better, and my body feels better (knee stopped swelling [inflammation] like it had).  I can’t believe how many aches, pains, runny noses, matted eyes, cold-symptoms, etc., were the direct result of chemicals in my food.  I’ll never go back, ever.

Healthy Omega-3 Oils – We switched to krill oil (http://krilloil.mercola.com/) because we’ve discovered it is better than plain fish oil.  Also learned most of the products on the shelves don’t have enough of the DHA and EPA (the good stuff) so you end up wasting big bucks. An awesome source of information is a website: http://www.consumerlab.com/ which will tell you the truth about health and nutritional products through independent testing. Huh? In other words, no one can buy them off to lie.

Organic Apple Cider Vinegar – organic, unfiltered, unprocessed – There is a wealth of information about ACV – one is – http://www.apple-cider-vinegar-benefits.com/index.html - some say it’s all hype and some are behind it’s “miracle working power” 100 percent.  I know what it has done for me personally – about 2 tbl a day mixed in water – but it is something to reserach.  I can say I haven’t had any acid reflux since I began and when I eat to the point I get indigestion, a little ACV and it’s gone.  But again, that’s me.

Coconut Oil – Another product we added to our lives for a variety of health reasons.  Alpha Hubby takes is straight; I cook with it.  Along with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, it is a very healthy alternative to bottled oils on the store shelves.

htttp://www.tropicaltraditions.com/virgin_coconut_oil.htm -

Gadgets – I’ve mentioned quite a few in this blog – electronic food weighing scales, pitchers that will help you flavor your water, food tracking devices (portion size, fat and calories), etc.  Anything that helps you to know what you are putting in your mouth – and how much – is good!

Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-That’s all, folks.  For sure, enough for now to give you food for thought! Why not share things you’ve learned on your own journey? I can use all the help I can get!

Into the bee-you-tee-full star’s palatial driveway zoomed the handsome fairy personal trainer in his expensive Ferrari. He leaped out of his car carrying his magic tool bag, ran into the house and cried, “I am here to save the day! Let me look at you!”  He paused in his running to glare at her, flung back his glorious mane of salon-styled hair and declared, “Non, non, non! You are zee disaster, bee-you-tee-full Hollywood star! You have zee 50 pounds on zee bee-you-tee-full body.  Theeze do not belong there! Zees is zee dee-zas-stair! We can not have zees.  It would besmirch my famous name.  And et iz all about c’est moi.

“No worries, let me dig out zee magic wand,” he paused, digging into his magic tool bag, “urr, no no, wrong story, dagnabit,” he muttered (although his clients thought he was from France, he was truly Elmer from Arkansas), “magic dumbbell, magic dumbbell! Ah yes, here is zee miracle! Zee magic dumbbell!”

He dramatically shook his golden magic dumbbell at the bee-you-tee-full-Hollywood movie star with the beautiful baby girl and the unsightly 50 pounds on her famous body and cried, “BEGONE oh thou foul excess weight and body fat. Vanish and never come back again.”

And poof, the 50 pounds were magically gone from the bee-you-tee-full Hollywood movie star’s body, including her thighs, thankyouverymuch, and they all lived happily ever after… NOT.

You’ll have to read the next blog to find out what the moral of this story is…. 

The Magic Dumbell, Part Deux - click on the link below to find out the moral to this amazing story: 

Do you ever wondered why you “fall off the wagon” when it comes to dieting, or changing any bad habit you want to change? Obviously, when one is working to get back into a Little Black Dress, it would behoove them to discern why they keep falling off the wagon.  (Wasn’t that a professional sounding sentence there?)

I was sort of hoping that I could report to you, “Well, you see, there is this little evil troll and every time I get near to making something a good habit, he comes to the back of the wagon, pushes me off, commands the driver to stop, to back up and to run me over a few times, and that is really why I keep falling off the wagon.”  I know what you’re wondering.  You’re wondering, “Can that possibly be true?”

Well, no.

I *think* the truth is, I JUMP off the wagon, gleefully, thinking I’m going to really enjoy my time in the wagon ruts.  I don’t.  Oh sure, for that moment in time, I truly do enjoy wallowing around in the ruts eating whatever it is I’m not supposed to be eating right now – chocolate, bread, too much of any given food – or maybe not exercising.   But later – be it moments or the next day – I always end up thinking, “Was that really worth it?”

And the answer always NO NO NO!  I always look back and think, “Man, all that ground I gained is now gone.”  And I feel awful and don’t like myself.  It becomes a downward spiral into more wrong eating habits or not getting off my bum and moving around.

PHEW - this sure sounds depressing and a big FAT downer posting, doesn’t it????

Well, it’s NOT.   My son is getting married in Vegas in September.  I started looking at the hotel we plan to stay in and realized it’s pretty high end.  There are places and shows I’d like to see and I don’t want to physically look then like I look now.  I don’t want to be wearing fat clothes.  So I have two choices here.  Keep jumping off the wagon, wallowing in the ruts then wondering why I keep doing that OR – and this is a really big OR – I could - *gasp* – this is such a novel thought - I may not know why I’m jumping but I could…

just…

quit…

JUMPING! 

I could enlist help that gently reminds me in a week or so that I’m still on the wagon and to stay there.  I could mark on the calendar or post on the fridge, “NO wagon jumping today.”  I think by reminding myself that I tend to jump about 2 weeks into any given program or habit-change, I will be more aware that the big jump is coming and then just NOT do it at all. 

I usually find myself in the ruts after I jump and THEN think, “AGAIN? I’m here again? Failing again? Blew it again? Ugh, what am I doing here again?”  So how about an early warning system?  Big siren, flashing lights, megaphone voice, “Step away from the edge of the wagon.  You are about to jump.  M’am, just step back and get in the seated position.  Do NOT jump.  Jumping is not going to happen today, lady, not on my watch.”

I know all the destructive emotional reasons not to jump.  I know one is supposed to have goals that will magically keep them on track because they want them so badly (yeah, right, like THAT has worked).   I think by simply reminding myself that I do jump at around the same time each time, and keep it in the forefront of my mind, I might just NOT jump.

Staying on the wagon beyond that normal jumping point would be a really, really good thing!