Guilty Pleasures

I am going to be writing this week a bit about food. But I want to pause first and talk about our guilty pleasures. The treats that we truly crave and enjoy. The ones we hide from the children (oh come on...you know you do it too!) The snacks that we lose self control over. The goodies that once we start eating we just can't stop. Is it just me? Here are some of my personal weaknesses:

- Ice cream sundaes (I scarfed the delightful confection pictured above in order to take the pic for this post. I was willing to sacrifice and throw myself at the ice cream for the good of the blog) :-)

- Snickers and Reeses

- Oreos dipped in milk

- Cherry pie, cookies...baked goods generally

- Tortilla chips and fritoes

- Pretty much anything made with chocolate!!!

- Buttery crackers and popcorn

- McDonald's regular hamburgers (yes I know they they are supposed to be for the kids! But I love them)

- Pizza

- Corn nuts (best snack for road trips!)

- Did I mention chocolate?


My daughter just asked me, "How come all of the good foods are bad for you?" I often lament that myself.  So why do we eat them when we know they spell disaster for our health and waistline? I'll talk more about triggers next time, but generally I think the obvious answer is that they taste good. So we find a lot of physical pleasure in consuming them. Emotional comfort too if we are honest. And bad habits (dare I say addictions?) can control us as well. Why would I list these items just to taunt you and make you hungry you ask? Because you cannot run...you cannot hide...snacks and sweets surround us every day. Everywhere we go there are commercials for fattening foods. We can't go to the grocery store without being assaulted with unhealthy choices. Our families still want to enjoy them even though we are watching what we eat, so they are often lurking in the pantry when weak moments strike. We have to face these cravings head on. Figure out what tempts us most so we can be sure to avoid purchasing those items (remember to never shop hungry either or you'll buy them on impulse).  Set up systems for ourselves to tackle the addictive tendencies. Sometimes counseling can even be helpful. I think if we try to go cold turkey on everything that we love to eat we end up feeling deprived and crabby. It builds up until we snap and go on a major binge and then feel guilty about it. Far better I think to plan ahead to eat them occasionally. Use these treats as a reward for your efforts on a limited basis. If you know that if you are really good for the remainder of the week that you have given yourself permission to indulge on Saturday in some decadent yummy thing, it can help you to be strong in the meantime. I realize that in an ideal world it is best to refrain from unhealthy foods at all times. And over time as you retrain your habits and start to feel the benefits of improved fitness in your body and life, you will find that you dream about the twinkies less and less. It will happen naturally over time. But if you were that strong currently you wouldn't be trying to lose weight right? So we have to begin from where we are today. Line upon line begin to change our habits and slowly wean ourselves off of the doughnuts. I shared mine, so now tell me...what are your food temptations?

Rewarding Your Family

Let's face it. If mama's on a weight loss program, than the rest of the family is too. There aren't as many yummy snacks in the house. Many of their favorite dinner dishes are nixed because they are high in fat. When they want to watch TV they have to wait while you finish up your DVD workout. The process can make other family members downright cranky at times, so it's really important to take steps to get them on your team. Talking to kids about why losing weight is so important to you is helpful, but only goes so far. They just don't have the ability to understand at their age. They think you are fine just as you are and don't see what the big deal is. And they really want their snacks back after all. So I tried really hard not to force my diet on anyone else. To make normal meals that they enjoyed, and just adjust my portion sizes accordingly. This is not easy. But my children would have been in total mutiny if fed nothing but broccoli and rice cakes. The other thing I did is institute a reward plan for them too. At every ten pound weight goal we had a family party. We celebrated with cake and a movie that went along with the theme of weight loss in some way. (We watched "Shallow Hal", "Supersize Me", "The Incredible Shrinking Man" and "Big"... don't remember the others but we had fun picking out the titles.)   I know it seems counterproductive to have cake to celebrate weight loss, but hey...you do what you need to do right? It made them happy to have the parties and ended the fussing completely. They would often ask me, "Mom...how many more pounds to the next party?" They would be the ones to tell me to get out and run so they could have cake sooner. And they cheered for me every step of the way, because there was something in it for them too. You can reward your family in whatever ways you think they would most enjoy...going out to dinner or bowling. Whatever your family enjoys. But do try to acknowledge the impact your journey is having on them and give them regular "thank you's" along the way for their patience and support. Doing so will come back to you in spades, as they become personally invested in what your are doing and give enthusiastic high fives for each success. This can't all be hard work after all. Have some fun too! You've earned it and so have they!

Announcing My First Contest!!!

I'm so excited to announce my very first Contest!! I'm hoping to increase traffic to my sites. So to enter all you have to do is visit any of my three blogs this week and then email me the title of a post you read to - admin@makessense.com. If you go to all three blogs and send me a title from each, that will be three chances to win! One chance per day per email address per blog. Just send a new email each separate day that you visit with post titles from whichever of my blogs you read that day. So up to three chances per day! It would great while you are there if you would post a comment and sign up to be a follower too, but that's not required to enter.

Drawing to be held on Wednesday March 16th at 10 AM. The winner will receive a coupon code worth $45 of free merchandise from CSNstores.com   No minimum purchase. You are free to spend it on anything you like from their site. The winner will be notified by email!

** I am sorry, but this company does not ship internationally, so this contest is only open to my readers in the United States and Canada.

My Blogs:

www.thankfulforthisday.com

www.flippingthescales.com

www.makessense.com

Twitter

I'd like to invite you all to follow me on Twitter. I just signed up and am excited to get busy tweeting real soon. You can find me as   "MakesSenseMom"   which will be the user name I use to cover all three of my blogs and my website. So I'll be updating for all of them on the same twitter account. If you sign up as my follower, I'll return the favor and follow you too!!! Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks so much for your support.

--Laura

Get moving!

The undeniable truth of weight loss is that you have to burn more calories than you take in. There are many ways to accomplish this, some healthier than others, but there is no way around that basic principle. And every little bit does indeed help. We'll talk more about different diets and workout programs later, but today I want to talk about changing your overall mindset and incorporating exercise into every day living. Because it doesn't really help to restrict our diets if we go on binges in between. And working out hard for a half hour three days a week doesn't solve everything if we remain totally sedentary the rest of the time. Most of us don't have time to focus on our health every single second. We have lives to live right? But there are simple and easy changes we can make that fit seamlessly into our daily living. And lots of little things can add up to a lot of extra calories burned. Here are a few ideas that can be easily incorporated starting immediately:

1) Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Stair climbing is one of the very best ways to build those large muscles in your legs. You'll be burning calories and toning up without having to hit the gym.

2) Park in the back of the parking lot. There's always empty spots back there, and it forces you to take a few extra steps every place you go. It makes a bigger difference than you might think.

3) Save on gas by walking or riding your bike to work, school or the store whenever you can.

4) Put up wooden swing sets in the backyard that have bars for pull ups and leg lifts etc. Then you can be getting workouts in while having fun with the kids. They will love to have you out there with them, and hardly realize you aren't just playing together!

5) Fidget. When standing in line or sitting in a waiting room just move your body a little. Focus on maintaining good posture.  Flex your calves. Do kegal exercises. Shift from foot to foot. Any small movements done repetitively add up to calories burned.

6) Volunteer to help coach your child's sport's team. If you are going to be there anyway, you may as well be out on the field moving around rather than sitting on the sidelines.

7) Make your date night active rather than passive. Choose hiking over seeing a movie for example. You'll see some beautiful scenery and have a chance to talk.

8) Shop til you drop. As convenient as online shopping can be, a good long walk around the mall can really work your legs.


Be creative as you go about your day. Try to find as many little ways as you can to work fitness into your normal routines. Challenge yourself. Buy a stepometer and set a goal for yourself. Increase it each day just by adding a few more steps to your usual activities. All it takes is changing your mindset from conserving your energy to looking for ways to get moving!

Personal Rewards

Once you have set your ultimate goals I strongly recommend that you then break them down into smaller chunks. While it is critical of course to know your ultimate destination, it can be rather daunting on a daily basis to focus on that if it is quite far distant. I knew at the start that I had about 80 pounds to lose. This weight did not come on over night so it was clear that it would not come off immediately either. It would take a long time to reach that final goal. I floundered around a lot for the first year and lost about 15 pounds, but my focus was always on the end goal. So even though I was having some success, I still felt constantly overwhelmed by the scope of what I had left to do. It kept me in a continual state of feeling like I was failing when focused on how far I had to go. Always thinking about how fat I still was instead of how much thinner I was getting. So in the next year, when I hit my total rock bottom place, I knew I had to do things differently than I had been doing them in the past. I understood that in order to remain motivated I needed to feel successful and proud of myself along the way instead of only at the end of the race. So I did two things that made a huge difference for me. I broke my weight loss goal down into 5 pound segments and attached a reward to each small victory. I was at about 205 at the time so I wrote on a piece of paper 200, 195, 190, 185 etc. down to 140 which was my finish line weight goal. And then next to each number I wrote down a reward for myself that I would earn when I got to that weight. I used things like pedicures and new clothes mostly, with a couple of big things mixed in that I wanted to do for my appearance...like having my spider veins treated. But you can reward yourself in whatever ways would be most motivational for your personally. I'd definitely suggest though that you be sure to make your rewards JUST for you. And linked to your improved appearance and/or energy level in some way so it is directly tied to the hard work you are doing. Now I know some will say "but I can't afford to give myself rewards"...well...than choose things that have low to no cost like a date to a free local concert or a pair of used jeans from a consignment store. Be creative and you can think of things that will make you smile.  When contemplating losing 25 or 40 or 100 pounds it's easy to tell yourself "I can't" - but a 5 pound loss feels far more doable. And it's so much more fun to push to achieve that smaller goal knowing that there is something waiting for you as a prize when you reach it. Your focus begins to shift to how many successes you are having and that provides the extra little boost you will need on days when you just don't feel like getting up to work out. You'll think...yeah I know it's hard but I only have two more pounds to lose before I get to have that massage I've been wanting so bad. I can do this!!! And you will! In the second year of my weight loss I lost the remaining 65 pounds and had so much more self confidence and enjoyment in the process. These principles were significant factors in that. So chop those goals down into more manageable pieces and have some fun deciding which rewards you're going to be earning soon!

Reading Material For Read Across America Day!

In honor of Read Across America Day I thought I would share with you a few books I like about fitness and health. I hope you also find them informative and inspirational:



This is a new book out by Tony Horton...the man who brought you P90X. I have not read this one yet, but I intend to as soon as my copy arrives. Having gone through the P90X program personally, I have great respect for Tony. His enthusiasm and example helped me so much along the way. He's a few years older than I am, but is in better shape than most men half his age!!! And he has such an upbeat friendly personality that it made those difficult early morning workouts far more fun. I can't wait to read the book and hear what all he has to say.




This is a great overall program that covers both fitness and nutritional tips. My favorite part of this program is the "free day". Bill Phillips' message becomes like a voice inside your head helping you press forward when times get tough. Very motivating!





All I can say about this book is WOW! I read it straight through. Laughed and cried. Dean Karnazes pushes the limits of the human body to extreme levels and shows you the possibilities. I figure that if he can do THAT then surely I can get up and run a couple miles right? This is a great book even for non fitness enthusiasts, encouraging all of us to reach for our dreams and expand our potential.




Joyce's workout is easy to follow and really tones you up. It's not easy necessarily , but when you see the pictures of how amazing she looks in her 50's you figure what the heck? It's worth the pain. The exercises are illustrated clearly and the plan laid out in a well organized way. Great book for those looking for a simple at home weight lifting program.