basic steps

Are you ready to change? Studies show that most people go through the same basic steps, or phases, before they make a lifestyle change, such as quitting smoking. These guidelines can help you find out which phase you're in and how ready you are to change:

*PRECONTEMPLATION phase __if you are unsure whether you need to make a change__at least not in the next six months

*CONTEMPLATION phase__if you have thought about making the change in the next six months

*PREPARATION phase__if you have picked a day in the next month to start the new habit

*ACTION phase__if you've already changed a habit

*MAINTENANCE phase__if you've kept up the new habit for at least six months

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Trying to shed extra pounds or boost the healthiness of your diet? Rather than worrying constantly about what you're eating, switching from low-carb to fat-free then back to low-carb (and collecting bottles of weight-loss pills, potions and powders), try to pinpoint mindless habits that you may indulge in every day. Something as simple as nibbling off your partner's plate, stuffing leftovers in your mouth as you clean the kitchen or having an extra glass of wine could be all it takes to pack on a couple of pounds every year. Consider this: Each taste-test nibble you take while cooking dinner costs you about 25 calories. To identify your own mindless eating patterns, keep a food journal for one week. Write down everything you eat, how much and when . Then review your journal--you might be surprised by the unhealthy patterns that crop up.

keep-it-off

After you lose the amount of weight that puts you in a safer zone for longevity, use these tricks to maintain. Thousands of successful dieters can't be wrong. A recent CDC survey of 1,958 successful and unsuccessful dieting adults reveals the tactics that worked --and the ones that didn't --for long-term weight loss.

DO: *Lift weights

*Track your calories

*Plan your meals in advance

*Exercise at least 30 minutes a day

DON'T BOTHER:

*Using over-the-counter diet products, such as weight loss shakes and pills
*Relying on meal-replacement bars
*Tracking carbohydrates
by T.D.

misc.

FACT: Stress--particularly when it is prolonged and unresolved--provokes weight-sustaining physiological changes in your body. D.P.

JOKE: "I hear exercise kills germs." "That's silly. How do you get a germ to exercise?"

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: We cannot tell what may happen to us in the strange medley of life. But we can decide what happens in us--how we can take it, what we can do with it--and that is what really counts in the end.


If this type of posting interest you, I have many more listed since 2005 under the title of (plain) misc. Have a stress-less day. Bless all.

socializing overload

Back to my wellness wheel. I will review the categories in succession, one section at a time. Since social is on top I reviewed my standing and I have more in my life now then I have had in my whole life combined. Now that sounds like socializing overload to me! Most of it is enjoyment but why be so busy? Time to prioritize and drop four functions, later more, as I circle around the wheel, over and over again to refine my life's components. I feel free as a bird now that I don't have to be present or answer to three places I once belonged to. I'll probably save some money in the absence of such functions.

Yes, I quit my support group. I still care very much about being healthy. I just don't have to obsess about it and the weigh-in. After all I have read so much information that will get me to that point of being healthy and well. All I have to do now is utilize it all and stay informed. See me lighter, I hope.

blog reads

My entry for "thinkoffthefat" on 06-17-06 has blog reads of interest for me. They include 11 general, 10 diet and wellness, and 11 animals, all with their http:// URL link. I haven't viewed them for a while, no computer at home now.

knee pain

Help for worn-out knees? I read this the other day and it made me have a goal for knees without pain.

Being active may lessen your risk for knee osteoarthritis. People at a high risk for this problem tried out a program three times a week. The program included aerobic and strength-building exercises targeting the lower body. After four months, exercising improved the quality of their knee cartilage.

wellness wheel

I am satisfied with four out of six sections of the wellness wheel so far. I was preoccupied with the physical section and ignored the environmental section being the packrat that I am. I will work a bit on throwing out things I will not use in the next six months or haven't even used in the last past year. I tried that a couple of months ago and wouldn't you know the need came up for my trash. I must admit it felt like a load off of my mind every time I dumped something. A cluttered house is a cluttered mind. Maybe I will become so busy moving around to eliminate the things I find hard to let go of that I will be burning unused calories and not having enough of time to munch so often. Hey, that is combining the two unfinished things in my life that need touched on until sufficient to my likings of a satisfied life. No one is perfect but peace of mind is a jewel. I choose to be accountable for all aspects in my life and pleasing others, always, is unreachable. I follow His will and read His words and that is my guide. It's all in the attitude. Have a great day cause every day is a day to be thankful for. Even a hard day is a lesson and a growth spiritually.

wellness

I have been so focused on physical fitness instead of complete wellness. I know losing weight is the first step but because of the long term journey it will require I have decided to touch a bit on all the facets of wellness, all in due time.

lost

I just lost my idenity in this blog a couple of weeks ago. Nothing is the same and 23 additions are gone along with the coloring design. Hello stress, back in my life again? Holiday eating and gaining or being on guard and constantly denying and saying no over and over again? I will not allow that kind of stress to interrupt my seven week holiday celebrations this particular year. Last year was a depressing transition that made me sick the whole season. Yes I ate on Thanksgiving, and I probably have a gain, and tonight is my weigh-in. So what. I will put my vigilance on hold and just enjoy what is left in my life as far as time and family goes. In the back of my head is knowledge of how to get healthier and live a little longer, that will be brought to the front of the line with my New Years Resolutions. Sorry if you are looking for motivation about dieting it won't be found here at this time. I will try to at least find articles to post once in a while to refresh the reason for this blog. I need technical help again to reestablish the state of this blog as it was three weeks ago. Thanks for your patience.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Though it goes against our senses to think so, what seems to be a bad alternative may be the best one.

first link

http://www.Google.com/

healthy foods

See this is an example but we have to be aware of the portions. When choosing processed foods (not a good idea) make sure you do read the label to see what you are putting into your body.

too little too late

I have too much to say and not enough of time, as usual. Big deal, I'm losing about fifteen pounds a year, but, at that rate, it will take almost ten years to reach my "before-babies" goal weight. I don't think I have that much time to spare. I was five feet two inches then, I'm now four feet eleven inches. For ten years I was a boarder-line diabetic, now I'm in the ranks of daily medications. The only thing that has stayed the same is my dishonesty within myself about why I am overweight. Today it is the medications, but in reality I have always known that a more active lifestyle will always make the change that is needed to continue a consistent weight loss. Of course I could go the route of decreasing calories, or cutting way down on empty calories. The choice has always been mine, the buck stops here! As a matter of fact the weight I have lost has caused some skin to change its' molecular structure, that I am not too happy with either. Now let's get to the heart of things. Don't fail me now, I promise I will lose more weight if you let me be okay in that area again (medications and procedures, I don't like.) But when you get to be my age you are happy every day that you are just beathing, and that I am. After all I don't mind going home, but I have a lot of lose ends to tie up, if it be His will. Now this is not a goodbye. It is just speaking in retrospect and being honest with myself. I am doing good but I pledge to do better.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Effective weight management demands that you require more of yourself in terms of personal integrity, honesty, and maturity.

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When you blot your pizza, you do more than turn your napkin a scary shade of orange: You also absorb 9 to 14 percent of a slice's total fat and 17 percent of the saturated fat, according to a study by ABC Research. That makes the occasional slice a nutritious choice; tomato sauce in the vegetable category, crust for grain and cheese for dairy.
Just stay away from the stuffed crust: The fat will overwhelm the pat. J.B.

That's all well and good if you can manage to eat only one piece, not! I never never can. Until I have self control in my corner, I have to stay away from the trigger foods that make me overeat, for now. I also know you can downsize the calories by using whole grains for the crust, tomato paste for the sauce, no or low fat cheese, and all the vegetables you desire for toppings. That will keep me from eating more than one slice.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something tomorrow.

myth

You have to train for weeks before you get any benefits?

Nope. It may take a month or two before aerobic workouts get noticeably easier, but you'll shave pounds within a week. And your strength will sharpen: Studies done at Ohio University demonstrate that muscle responds to weight-lifting after only four sessions. It gets better: Recent researach suggests reduces stress, a rosier outlook, more confidence, better sex, sounder sleep all kick in after one workout. H.

Wait a minute here, I am gaining weight a little, the last couple of weeks (although I have started four new medications.) I started to pedal for at least ten minutes for the last month straight in a row faithfully and I am not losing weight anymore. I did not say I was exerting myself to a sweat. That is what I get for bragging about all of my new better health habits I have incorporated into my lifestyle for changes. Don't give up, when all else fails, add something new to your regimen. (My self-pep talk!)

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: HOPE IS OUTREACHING DESIRE WITH EXPECTANCY OF GOOD.

stumbled

I lost weight seven weeks in a row (small amounts.) Too good to be true, I had to break my record by gaining 1.50 pounds two weeks ago. This week I recovered with a 3.75 pound loss at my weigh-in. I try to have at least one salad a day. I pedal (stationary) ten minutes or more a day. I alternate days with stretching exercises....twister....or cardio. I take vitamins and herbs. plenty of water and get sufficent sleep. Eating lots of vegetables and now incorporating a continual cut-back on sweets until I wean myself completely, "I hope." I have faced the fact that you have to do the right thing to get the right results!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Before you put on a frown, make sure there are no smiles available.

lowered expectations

I quit beating up myself with goals that are too restricting and unattainable in a small amount of time. That causes me to feel defeated and strips my motivation for that week. A pound or two gain may happen once in a while but that just spurs me on to try harder the following day. So now since 7/31 I have kept a blue or black weigh-in in my book. So far this year I have only lost nineteen pounds (a drop in the bucket.) I am looking forward to that day soon to come when I change my size of clothing, in a decending number, one size at a time.

I found a new tip I must try. Simply serving your food on lavender-colored dishware can keep you from overeating. Because there so few violet or blue foods in nature, we instinctively feel less hungry when surrounded by these hues, say color therapists, who use this trick to help dieters stick to their weight-loss plans.

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Q. I always order dessert even though I know I shouldn't. Do you have any willpower tricks?

A. Try popping a piece of gum right after you finish your entree. It takes at least 20 minutes from when you begin eating for your body to start feeling full. Chewing gum keeps your mouth busy and your tastebuds distracted in the meantime, says Richard Baybutt, PhD, an associate professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University.

Last week I lost a few more pounds but didn't go to my weigh-in yesterday. I added some pounds over the holiday weekend. I have had two months of losses and don't want to see that red weigh-in mark messing up my book anymore! I have to work a little harder this week to continue with a loss. I thin I can, I thin I can, I know I can!


Happy Birthday 9/10 to my youngest daughter, I really love and miss you and my grandson very very much. I hope someday I can be in your lives again. God Bless you both!

diet help

We've read it all before, what to do, what to eat, how to increase activity, all for the success of getting healtlhier and losing unwanted weight. There are no surprises in the process. Hints: 1. Support from others is critical to making a successful lifestyle change. 2. Plateaus are an inevitable - and frustating - part of the weight-loss process. 3. Varying your exercise routine can help bust a plateau and keep you from getting bored with your workouts. See you next weigh-in, a little lighter I hope.

hooray

It's been almost a month since I have had access to a computer. The good news is I have lost six pounds since my last weigh-in. I did it the hard way, I was very sick. Of course, that means I have not exercised in over a month. I am stilll somewhat weak but I don't like how my muscles have seemed to let loose. I must get back into the habit of stretching and doing moderate exercise as before. I am also seeing loose skin. I can't wait until I can do things like aerobics again. I know because of my heart, I will need to drop about eighty pounds to be able to handle the cardio stimulation.

I just read a short paragraph on "What Works." Based on studies of people who've successfully lost weight and kept it off, the strategies that appear to work the best are eating a low-calorie, low-fat diet, and exercising. As if we didn't already know that! I say it is utilizing what we do know. Actually foods that are good for you, really do taste good. My problem is I let myself get too hungry and I feel like I need instant gratification. Ahh fast food!

Hint: Chew gum while you're making dinner to prevent those calorie-laden bites that can really add up!