Smart Snacking

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 by Becca.

I’m a snacker.  I eat three well balanced meals everyday, but I usually also eat three snacks.  Snacking can be wonderful for your health.  It’s a good way to keep your blood sugar levels even throughout the day, it can keep you from over eating at meals, and it provides your body with a constant fuel source which can boost your energy resulting in a higher likelihood that you will be more active.  The list could certainly continue!

Unfortunately, snacking can also be a major speed bump on the road to living a healthier life.  If you snack without thinking about it or really seeing what you eat, you can derail your otherwise stellar eating habits.

I keep this from happening by planning my snacks the same way I plan my meals.  Sure, sometimes it feels a little bit like kindergarten when I look up at the clock and think “oh, it’s morning snack time” or “is it time for afternoon snack yet?”, but maybe we were on the right track back then.  Now, if I could only get away with “nap time” every day!

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Fun Theory

Saturday, October 17, 2009 by Dea.

Would you take the stairs over the escalator if it were fun and silly to do so?  Volkswagen tested what they call the Fun Theory in this viral video.

This video got me thinking about every day work outs and ways to be healthier. Would we all develop better habits because we’d made those habits fun? It’s an interesting concept.I like to mix up my work outs by using different equipment, different music. But I know I really enjoy my work out when I bellydance or play the Wii Fit games. I’m sure that we all have ideas that could test the Fun Theory. And I would bet we’d all do these healthy little habits more often because they’re fun.

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Calorie Traps - Eating Up After the Kids

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 by Dea.

I was reading an article Becca sent me that opened my eyes.  I had never really thought about how many extra calories are in those mouthfuls of food that I don’t necessarily keep track of throughout the day.  A little taste here, clean off a plate there - and according to the article, it can really add up!

The author suggests keeping track of just those tastes, bites, and gulps you take when cooking or clearing the table.  It came out to a whole day’s worth of calories extra over the course of a week for the author.  That shocked me.

As other moms know, kids don’t always finish their meals.  It’s tempting to finish it, to clean the plate, in order to not waste food.  Is it really better, though, to allow that food to hit your waist?

So the moral here it try to be more aware.  I think I’m going to keep track of those morsels I pop into my mouth as I prepare dinner and pack lunches.   I also want to pay attention to those moments when hunger strikes - and I’ve only stocked the car or my purse with those treacherous kid snacks.  One whole day’s worth of calories a week - that I do not need!

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Keeping Busy - Eating Less?

Tuesday, September 8, 2009 by Dea.

As everyone can see, it’s been a busy few days around here.  I haven’t been on the internet much at all, and keeping up here was - well, it was nonexistent, right?

There is one thing I noticed during my frenetic schedule this past week.  I ate less.  Not just a little bit less - a whole lot less.  I was shocked when I was finally able to input my foods in my tracking site.  I hadn’t snacked more than I should, I hadn’t wound up eating a huge lunch.

I tried to think about the differences between this week and a normal week.  I was busy helping at the school book fair, which means I was out of the house and didn’t have time to eat.  We had a bonfire and went to an apple orchard, so we were busy carrying wood or driving in the car.

So what do all the things I was doing this week have in common?  I was out of the house, and I was busy doing a lot of physical things.  So the main lesson I need to take away from this is never go home?

Well, that’s not possible.  I think, though, that if I concentrate on doing projects that aren’t near the kitchen, that might help.  I also want to get my workspace set up for my computer.  I sit on the couch right now to use my laptop.  And the couch is awfully close to the refrigerator and pantry.  If I have a designated work space, I think this will help avoid the computer-time snacking!

So here’s to Distraction Dieting.  Eating less through keeping busy means less obsessing.  It seems to work fairly well!

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Goal Setting

Monday, August 17, 2009 by Dea.

I think one of the hardest parts of weight loss can be setting reasonable and achievable goals for yourself.  So often good intentions will be wiped out by huge disappointment when a goal that was set too high isn’t reached.  It’s important to avoid high expectations, which often lead to feelings of failure.

One guideline for weight loss goal setting is the 10% rule.  With this rule of thumb, you set your first goal to be losing 10% of your body weight.  For my starting point, that would be 25.3 pounds for my first goal, as my starting weight was 253 pounds.

A goal of 25.3 pounds is a lot less daunting than the full 75 pounds I want to lose.  It is still rather a large number, however.  To avoid feeling like it’s utterly hopeless to lose all the weight I want, I set several types of goals.  The first goal I determine is the total amount I want to lose.  I call this my Long Term Goal.  I want to eventually be 180 pounds.  So this is my Long Term Goal, and that means I have to lose 75 pounds total.  Seeing that large number can create panic, though, so I set my Intermediate Goals.  These are not nearly as large as my Long Term Goal.  For this, I use the 10% rule of thumb.  For other people who have less to lose, this can be a halfway or a third-of-the-way sort of thing.  Anything that divides the Long Term Goal into portions can work well here.

Since I have so much to lose, I find that my Intermediate Goals are still rather large.  I need encouragement and success to keep me going, which I am sure is something that helps any person trying to reach a goal.  So I set my Minor Goals.  These, for me, are 10 pounds.  Each time I lose 10 pounds, I reward myself.  Normally, I buy myself a new top or a pair of jeans.  Reaching an achievement point is a big boost to self esteem.  It can make or break a person’s journey.  This is why setting reasonable goals is so important.

Expecting a body that gained the weight over time to lose it quickly is unhealthy both for your bdy and your mind.  It’s important to maintain a healthy rate of weight loss.  Losing 10 pounds in a week isn’t sustainable weight loss.  And the following week, if you only lose 1 pound, you might feel like a failure and quit.  Which is better - consistently losing 1 to 2 pounds a week, or losing 10 one week and 1 the next then quitting and gaining it back?

So be kind to yourself.  Set several types of goals, small, medium and large.  Reward yourself in different ways each time you reach a goal.  And in regards to time limits, be reasonable and don’t expect more than a 2-pounds-per-week loss.  Remember - a journey of 100 miles is not finished in a short time.  And you must take the first smaller steps in order to get to the finish line.

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Pitfalls at Work

Friday, August 14, 2009 by Becca.

Office culture can be hard on a gal who’s trying to live a healthy life!  For one thing, being stuck at a desk most of your day limits the activity you get.  You can counter this by walking to a coworkers office instead of emailing them or hand delivering paperwork instead of using interoffice mail.  One trick I use is to run something to the copier or fax as soon as it’s ready instead of “saving up” a few items to copy or fax.

Another hurdle to overcome at my office is resisting the “goodies”.  Almost every week, there is some type of baked good in our kitchen, which doubles as our copy and fax area, making it impossible for me to keep it out of sight.

I have a few strategies for dealing with this.  I have become the unofficial party planner in our office.  I’m the one who organizes the potlucks and ice cream socials. This works for me because it keeps me busy while everyone is eating at gatherings.  It also gives me the power to insist that people take leftovers home.

I also try to prepare myself if I know there will be a yummy treat nearby.  I try to  have some guilt-free treats of my own on hand.  Sometimes I even prefer these treats to their more fattening counterparts.  One of my favorite treats is berries mixed with fat free sugar free pudding.  Another is fat free cool whip on top of almost anything.  If I really want a piece of that danish on the kitchen counter, though, I just have a piece.  I enjoy it, I don’t beat myself up about my “slip”, and I move on to my next meal.

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