Dieting Strategery: Week 4

Wow, week four has been a hard one for me. I hope all of you out there have had a better week! Sickness, teething infant, lack of sleep, PMS (again), and schedule changes have really made it hard for me to stick to any sort of exercise plan or dieting strategy. You know when your sick all you want to do is eat carbs? Well, that's been my story for the past week. The lack of sleep due to illness in the family has really put a stop to my exercise routine as well. It's so hard when you know you're on the right track and circumstances beyond your control prevent you from accomplishing your goals. It's at this point where it would be easy to walk away from my weight loss strategy and give up. But, I am reminded that to everything there is a season. Right now might be a tough week, but they are not all going to be tough weeks. Last week I may not have lost as much weight as I wanted to, or toned the parts of my body I would have liked, but all is not lost. The work I put into losing weight/living well for the first three weeks is still there. Even if I put back on all the pounds I lost over the three weeks, I still would have formed habits, I still would have increased my heart rate on the days I exercised (huge health benefits), I still would have three weeks of monitoring eating which makes future monitoring easier. All is not lost. I need to fight off those little voice that are telling me to quit. I need to be determined and to jump back into exercise as soon as I can. Thankfully I did not put on any weight, I actually lost .4 pounds (not too bad under the circumstances). Prayerfully my family and I will be back up to speed starting tomorrow and I can get back to planning meals and my weekly exercise regiment.

Moving on: here's my favorite weight loss secret. Drink only water! Cut out the sodas, juices, sugary teas, milk shakes, etc. (Having some milk is OK) Water has zero calories and is wonderful for you. I'm sure you all know by now that they recommend you drink 8 glasses of water a day. So do it! Soda (even diet) has no health benefit. Every time you drink pretty much anything but water, you are taking in unnecessary calories and carbs.

Now, I know I said I would talk about the things we should be eating, so I thought I would just post a picture of the food pyramid on here because that's what I've been trying to follow. BUT, I can't seem to get it to fit right on the page. So, here's a link to a page with the new food pyramid on it.

So, how did everyone do this week? Do you have any dieting secrets or good recipes to share? Any tricks or words of encouragement that keep you motivated?

Phillipians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Last week: 139.0

This week 138.6

Dieting Strategery : Week 3

First things first, special thanks to Sarah for making this cute little graphic and letting me use it for my dieting posts!

Now, on to business. We've had some slight changes over here on our dieting strategery (as my husband calls it). For one, we're no longer weighing in on Sunday mornings. My husband and I weigh ourselves pretty much every day and for some reason we were weighing a pound higher on Sunday mornings compared to the rest of the week. SO, we changed it to Saturday mornings because we like that number much better. :-)

While we're on the topic of stepping on the scale, allow me to say a few words on the matter. I think it's important to weigh yourself every morning. While it's a bad idea to become a slave to the scale, it's good accountability to weigh in every day. Sometimes those pounds can sneak back on and it's good to catch it right away.

The other thing I've changed is how I am dieting. I am no longer on the full six week challenge Curves diet. I realized that cooking good meals for my family is very important to me and I was having a real hard time serving bland pork and brown rice for dinner. I found that it was making me feel like less of a woman and making me feel like I wasn't doing my part as a wife/mom. So, I am now cooking regular dinner meals for the family and just dieting during the day. My daughter and husband eat different meals than I do for breakfast and lunch anyway, so it's easy for me to cut calories then. The trick is to just balance carbs and protein during the day and allot myself extra carbs/fat for the evening meal. Also, because I'm not following a strict diet, I've stepped up the intensity of my exercise to accommodate the increase in calories. This way everything still balances out about the same. I think it's important to find a diet/exercise plan that is right for you and your family. Just because one plan works for one family, doesn't mean it'll work for you. The Curves diet worked great for me the first time I went on in, but now I'm finding our needs are different and it's just not the best diet for me at this time.

Now, aside from dieting to lose weight I am also, as the graphic above says, choosing to live well. I'm just starting to look into 'what is in our food' and I stumbled on this site that talks about food additives and how they believe it can cause hyperactive behavior in children such as ADD and ADHD. It's scary for me to think that something in the food I feed my children could cause them harm. In the coming weeks I'll definitely be taking a closer look into the foods that we eat and sharing some of the information I find. Next week I'll be talking about what foods TO eat.

In the meantime, what about you? How are you doing with your diet? How do you choose to live well? Are there any foods that you cut out because of potential harm to your family?

Last week: 140.6
This week: 139.0 !!

Dieting Strategery

First things first, we can all thank my husband for the title of this post.
On to the next order of business.... I did not do so well this week on my diet. I had McDonald's for breakfast one morning and snacked on some chocolate throughout the week. Ugh. Why do we women love chocolate so? It's so hard to resist! But, I did managed to keep up with my workout routine.

I've been pondering the question this week: Is it such a bad thing to sneak a snack, cookie, or have a meal out once in a while? My thought, no it's not. I think the problem comes when we eat nothing but junk all day (or all week even) and slack off on exercise.

So, how do we avoid overeating on the foods that offer us no nutritional value and still keep some treats in our home? Here's what I've come up with:

First of all, figure out what foods you can live without and what foods have to stay.
Make a list of all of your favorite foods that you tend to overeat on. Cross off any foods that you know you can live without and find substitutions for as many of the remaining items that you can.
For example: I like ice cream and that's something I'm not sure I could ever give up. So, instead of crossing it off the list I found a sensible solution, Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches.

Secondly, understand portion size in relation to your family.
For example: If you have a family of 5 and you want to have chips with your sandwiches. Don't buy one bag of chips for each family member. Instead buy one bag for the whole family. Then each person gets a handful of chips which will satisfy the craving and also leave none left over for binge eating.
Another example: If you have a three person family, it's probably not a good idea to make dozens of cookies or a pan of brownies for dessert. Instead, make it an out-to-dinner treat because restaurants will give you a single serving size. That way you're not tempted to eat the entire pan or tin yourselves.

Thirdly, plan ahead.
If you know Sunday's are always busy and you always go out to eat after church, plan ahead and make Saturdays' meals or Sunday morning's breakfast really healthy. Make sure you keep up on exercise if you know your going away and will be eating travel food all week. If you know you're having guests over on Thursday and there will be lots of left over foods and desserts, don't make desserts and high calorie meals earlier in the week. Having a weekly meal plan really helps cut back on take out and helps you visualize what you are actually eating week to week.

Lastly, just don't buy it. If you know you'll struggle with a certain food, just don't have it in the house. DO keep lots of fruits and veggies, peanuts or granola out to munch on. Keeping healthy foods readily accessible definitely helps in making better snack choices.

OK, now how about you? What foods do you struggle with? Have you found any healthy substitutions for that food? Any ideas on how to keep binge eating at bay? Link up or leave a comment!

To view my first weight loss post, click here. Next week I'll be talking about processed foods and how it can effect behavior.

Last week's weight: 141.0
This week's: 140.6