9th Sep 2008
I have always felt like my recipes could be used in conjunction with any weight loss plan that works best for you. I think that if you took 50 overweight people you will need 50 different ways for them to lose weight..
Well, when I send people to this site they are usually at the beginning of wrapping their mind around what to do about their weight. And that’s the toughest most confusing time. I think weight loss is very personal and so have steered away from imposing how I think you ought to lose weight. And I still think you should look at several plans before you choose one.
But in a effort to help anyone who needs it I will offer my opinion here. Of all the plans I’ve ever used (and believe me I tried anything and everything) the best one - at least the one that worked for me - is Weight Watchers.
I no longer go to my meetings but I credit my leader, Shelia, with inspiring me each and every week until I could go out into the world and face restaurant desserts, grocery store specials and fast food chains by myself. If you want me to recommend a plan then that is the one I would recommend. They taught me about healthy eating. I then took what I learned and created these recipes so that I could overeat on occasion and not gain the weight back. (I don’t kid myself that I will not ever overeat. I KNOW I will and I accept that part of me now.)
My meetings were as full of people who were trying to lose weight for the first time as they were with people who had been there before and were back because they gained all the weight back.
My husband says my recipes and way of eating are the missing link in a weight loss plan and I think he’s right. I have been on a real tailspin of eating lately and am just now coming out of it. And yes, I gained about 3 pounds, but I’ve been eating like a football player who’s been fasting and was let loose in a cafeteria. And now that I have my control back (and I did some serious talking to “Fat Kitty”), the few pounds I gained are coming off quickly (I expect them to be gone in the next day or so).
So for those of you who want to know my secret, the fact is there is no secret. I just walked into a WW meeitng one night and a year later I walked into my kitchen and created everything I now eat. They go hand in glove. And as it turns out they have allowed me to have my slimmer life - for the rest of my life.
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22nd Aug 2008
Not sure if Shakespeare ever thought that quote would show up in a weight loss cooking blog? Shakespeare would have been a good blogger is my guess. He was surely prolific.. and from paintings of him, he may have had weight issues..
The quote as it pertains to me should really read, “To thine own self be HONEST.” I have found that living an honest life, where it pertains to food, has been the single most important thing that has happened to me. If you don’t know what I mean or if you’re also in denial about what you might be doing - here are a few things I did and am tempted to still do…
1. Adjust the scale so when I step on it the number will be the least it can possibly be. I have a place in my bathroom where the floor is uneven and I can manuver the scale just right and it will read at least 2 pounds lighter.
2. Not eat or drink water the day I go to Weight Watchers so I will weigh the least I can possible weigh. Not healthy and this had to stop.
3. Buy ice cream and think I can resist it. I’ll eat the whole carton. I just don’t buy it.
4. Buy potato chips and think I will eat 14 of them. I’ll eat them all.
5. Not eat or drink anything when I have a doctor’s appt so I will weigh the least I can possibly weigh. My doctor is very proud of my weight loss so don’t have to do this anymore.
6. Think I can go to a fast food joint. I can’t. I wanted french fries so bad yesterday I almost did this but my foot pushed down on the gas and I kept driving.
7. Lie about exercising. O.K. here’s one that needs work.
8. Lie about how much I weigh. Not a problem anymore.
9. Lie about what I ate today. This is a struggle, but so far so good.
10. Lie about what size pants I wear. Anthing under a 20 is good for me these days. I never purchased a 22 but that was my next size up. What’s in a size anyway. It’s how you look and feel that counts! Just love yourself.
11. Not love me. This one is a stuggle everyday. I’m not sure why and I can’t speak for everyone, but as for me - there was and maybe still is something broken in me that makes me think I don’t deserve to feel and look good. I’m still working on that and if you have those same feelings - just know you are NOT alone! I love me now - but I do have to remind myself of that on occasion.
And there are so many more. With every new day there is a new challenge. Losing weight is very hard and keeping it off is just as hard. But it’s sure worth the effort.
If you are not living an honest life that might be a first step. Eat whatever you eat in front of people. If you buy three cheeseburgers, make sure you eat them in front of someone who knows and cares about you. You will feel diffferently about that experience if you do that one thing just one time. It’s life changing. Because in essence you are eating in front of yourself for the first time. If that person loves and cares about you, you will feel how painful it is for them to see you doing this to yourself. This is the thing you should see and feel yourself - about yourself. You need to love you and worry about you - and wake up!
And just so you know, I don’t have all the answers. I still want to overeat - but to modify Shakespeare - to my ownself I have become honest. Even if I fail I did it honestly. No more secrets.
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14th Aug 2008
PEOPLE READ THEM!!
All you bloggers out there probably already know this but I’m new to this medium. When I feel like blogging I just sit in front of my computer and write whatever in the heck I feel and it’s almost like I forget that anyone but me will care.
Well, News Flash! When you write down your thoughts, and you really reveal things, someone is going to care. My good buddy in the weight loss war read a blog I posted yesterday and called me out on it…and thank goodness she did. I was whining about guilt and Weight Watchers and all kinds of things that ultimately were pretty selfish and only about me.
This blog is intended to help anyone who wants it to. For me to start complaining and whining like a third grader doesn’t do anyone any good - even me.
I love my new “lighter” life. I can wash my feet in the shower without my head feeling like it will pop off from the pressure of bending over - I can cross my legs (okay that may not seem like a big deal, but if you can’t you know) - I can order a desert in a restaurant without feeling like people are looking at me saying “Well, no wonder she’s fat” - I can walk up a flight of stairs without huffing and puffing - I can buy clothes in a regular store (meaning NOT Walmart’s sweat pants aisle) - and I can look at myself from the rear (I can actually stand to take a mirror and see what I look like from the back. Never have I ever felt comfortable with that)
And this site is dedicated to helping anyone who wants it to - for them to be able to do all those same things. If you do not have a weight issue you have no idea how hard life is overweight. And the perplexing thing is how hard it is to get on the road to a healthy weight.
I will try to do a better job of focusing on my mission here and not myself. Yesterday was an “Oops!” moment - but I am fortunate to have a watchful eye on me keeping me straight so I can help you get or stay straight.
Thanks for the wake up call. I deleted that post.
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28th Jun 2008
If you don’t drink beer there’s no need to read any further, unless you know someone who does and then by all means pass this on. If you do occasionally like a cold brewsky (how do you spell that - can someone tell me?) and because of your diet you can’t drink anything but lite beer - AND most of it tastes like half beer and half water - HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU!!!
It’s Friday afternoon and it’s hot here in SoCal. My week has been like most everyone’s - good and bad and ready for Friday! I stopped by the grocery to pick up a few things and low and behold in the beer cooler there sat a revelation, Miller Genuine Draft that is 64 CALORIES! I knew Becks had one, but Miller? When did this happen? Where have I been?
SO I purchased it, came home, put some in the freezer and waited patiently. Now I’m not big on beer in a can. I MUCH prefer my beer in a bottle, but after about fifteen minutes to get this really cold, I popped a top and poured it into a glass and MAN, this is real beer!
And I’m not promoting drinking by any means, but one thing that trips a lot of people up on their diet is the restriction of alcohol. You can’t drink very many beers when you get 19-20 points a day. HA! One lite beer is 2! And all you sticklers for the WW code of honor, I do know that it should come out of my 35 extras. This Miller is a 1 point by my calculations. So, I’ll probably have another! Yeah! It is Friday after all.. CHEERS!
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25th Jun 2008
Do you do that? Make bargains with yourself about what you’ll do?
I had a day like that yesterday. I got up yesterday morning and weighed myself. I don’t weigh everyday but on Tuesday I always do. It is the day I go to Weight Watchers. If I’m up sometimes I go and sometimes I don’t go to my meeting - BUT if I’m down I ALWAYS go, because I feel good about going. Crazy, but hey, who said anything to do with weight is sane?
SO I got up and weighed and I was down. Big problem was I was taking a co-worker to lunch for his birthday and I never eat lunch on my Weight Watchers day. I have breakfast and drink my water but after about 11:00 I have nothing so I will weigh as little as possible by the 5:00 weigh-in.
Okay before you say anything - this is how I make this work. This is the bargain I’m talking about. If all of the moons are in the right house - I go to WW, but if one thing trips me up, I may go or I may not.
I’m being honest here. I could lie, which I’ve done all of my overweight life, but honesty is key to my keeping the weight off now, so here it is - healthy to do or not, it is a fact and is what I do every Tuesday.
So Ron, my co-worker, and I went to lunch and had a wonderful time. It was a Cajun restaurant in Burbank and since I’m from the Mississippi Gulf Coast, not far from New Orleans, the cuisine was right up my alley. We had Shrimp Creole and Gumbo and I had a bite of spoon bread (and I only had a bite). I found myself adding rice to my gumbo and Fat Kitty kept telling me it was alright. She really can get on my nerves sometimes.
After I was finished eating I noticed Ron still had plenty on his plate. I wasn’t aware but I had gobbled my food down. He must have taken a full ten more minutes to eat. I saw how much he was enjoying the meal and how he was taking his time to eat. (Ron has never had a weight problem in his entire life). He would take a bite and talk for a bit and then take another bite. Sometimes he just sat and talked, not even eating. He wasn’t consumed by the food in front of him. He was more interested in talking to me. This was amazing to me.
We got back to work and our work day resumed. But I had to think about WW and if would go or not.
Okay, I didn’t go and today I feel really guilty. And I didn’t weigh this morning so don’t know if I’m up or down. But I stayed within my points yesterday, so that’s a victory and one I will think about everyday until next Tuesday when I go to my meeting.
No matter what, I promised myself, I will go to the next one. We’ll see if I do..
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18th Jun 2008
…have you ever had one? The kind of morning that you know is going to go downhill fast? I’m having one today and I knew it before I left for work this morning. I used to stop off at Carl’s JR and get an order of fries when I had a day like this. I tried something today and I have done it in the past and I hope it works. It’s always a gamble for me when it comes to food.
I brought a 100 calorie pack of popcorn to work. It’s 9:33 am and I’ve already eaten it. I have a big bean burrito for lunch waiting on me and I may eat that soon. That’s all I brought so that’s all I will be able to have. I can somehow keep myself from ordering lunch to be delivered, but if I bring food with me on a “Hungry Day” I’m gonna eat it all - no doubt about it.
I guess what I’m trying to say is, if you have a habit of bringing a lot of food to work OR if you have a habit of going out for lunch, why not try what I did? Restrick what you bring but don’t deprive yourself. And on a day like this maybe you need to bring your lunch to work if you normally go out. I gobbled down the popcorn, but it was a real treat and I knew that if I didn’t treat myself somehow I would end up at the gas station next door buying a candy bar. The jury is still out and the day is too young for me to promise I won’t go next door for that candy bar…but so far so good.
Do you have a tip that helps you? I’d sure love to hear from you. As I have said many times. This will be for the rest of my life. I still need all the help I can get! Thanks…
And I gained a pound last night at my Weight Watchers meeting..ugh. (Too many taste tests for my TV Appearance last week - okay that’s the excuse I’m using today) I have gotten very lazy counting my points. Time to get the ole pencil out and start writing them down again.
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11th Jun 2008
As some of you know I began my weight loss journey two years ago by joining WeightWatchers. I still go to meetings and love them. You may not need that reinforcement, but I feel that I do. I say, you should do what it takes to help yourself. This helps me (along with all my great recipes that I can dive into and eat) so I do it.
I’ve know for a while that I was going to appear on Good Day LA (this link will take to the FOX11 site and you can click on the GDLA link to watch me tomorrow in the 9:00 hour Pacific Time!) but I hadn’t said anything at a meeting because I guess I didn’t want to seem like I was selling out. I have mixed feelings about much of the multi-billion dollar weight loss industry (I’ve tried everything and feel resentful of some of the money I wasted on quick fix weight loss products) and felt like I might appear to be trying to tap into that.
My WW leader Shelia allowed me to make the announcement about the TV appearance right as the meeting came to order and what a wonderful response I got. Better than I ever dreamed. All of my apprehension went away immediately. My recipes are just a tool (and a free one at that) to help anyone on any weight loss plan. I really want to get that out and tomorrow I have the chance to do that!
I FINALLY figured out a way to keep the dad-gum (and believe me I can use a fowl word here but won’t) weight from coming back. Losing the weight is very hard. Probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but keeping it off - MAN that’s a killer. I look at myself now and wonder if I deserve to look like this. Crazy stuff like that used to trip me up and I’d just go to eating - anything.
I still do have moments like that and I guess I always will BUT now I eat an Eat Great Lose Weight recipe and magically nothing about my body changes - I’m just full.
Someday I hope to not think about food so much. But I can’t guarantee that will ever happen, so I just go forward with what I’m doing now, developing dishes that I CAN eat.
If anyone from my WW meeting is reading this, please know that you lifted me up last night. We all need each other and we need to lift each other up. Thank you for that..
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