05/16/2011 22:44
17 Reasons for Weight Gain (Even Though You May Be Doing Everything Right)
Here is a link to a WebMD slide show about possible causes for weight gain, even though you may be eating right and exercising. It also discusses a few common myths about weight gain.
Posted By: Helen Wheels
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05/16/2011 22:32
Where'd All These Dandelions Come From?
I just spent about an hour on dandelions in the back garden. I can't figure out where they came from, because I sure didn't have all these weeds last year! I suspect that my neighbors, who show little inclination to attend to lawn and garden care, might have something to do with it. There are so many I think I might have to resort to weed killers to get it under control.
I got a new trough liner for the front porch planter, so I think I will move the pansies I have in it right now into some nice shady locations in the gardens, and re-line the trough so I can plant it today. The pansies have really gone crazy with all this cool damp weather we have had.
I came inside to have a nice little lunch, so now I'm planning what I will get done this afternoon. I noticed that something else has gone crazy with this cool, damp weather—the lawn. Since I have to work the next three days, I think I should get it mowed today, which I hadn't planned to do.
It's so nice to see the sun again! I hope the forecast for the next four days is wrong, and we have more sun in our future than they think.
Posted By: Helen Wheels
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05/16/2011 22:22
HUNGER?
I've been reading through quite few blogs this week, and have noticed something in common for many of the people who mention they are experiencing extra hunger and hard-to-manage cravings.
They carefully list everything they have eaten for the day, but rarely is there ever mention of veggies or fruits in that list. The lack of important volume and nutrients from fruit and veggies explains why the cravings and hunger happen.
According to Dr. Barbara Rolls, our bodies look for a certain amount of weight of food from our meals each day, before we can experience satiety. If we become accustomed to getting that food weight from high calorie, low water content foods like sugar and other carbohydrates, it is more difficult to experience satiety, so our bodies signal that they are hungry.
That doesn't mean that we necessarily give them what they are hungry for, so those hunger-driven urges to eat are not satisfied until we have eaten way to many calories. Veggies and fruit give satiety much more easily, simply because their high water content gives them more of the weight that signals satiety.
So there's one lifestyle change that can lead to better nutrition, more satiety, and a slimmer body. Those who "don't like" veggies clearly need to train their tastes if they want lasting slimness. A "big appetite" is just as satisfied with a 173g bowl of vegetable soup for 50-100 calories as it is with a 173g double cheeseburger for 459 calories. Accompany that soup with a couple of ounces of lean meat and a half cup of rice or pasta, and you will be really full and satisfied in a complete meal for about 300 calories. Accompany that cheeseburger with fries and a sugary soft drink, and you're blown all the calories for the day on a meal that will leave your body craving the nutrients you get from veggies and fruit—but the bad habit of thinking you can satisfy those cravings with junk food will lead you to eat more unsatisfying, empty calories. You may think your body is craving chocolate or ice cream, but that is just from habitually eating those foods when you feel, or think your feel, hunger.
Posted By: Helen Wheels
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05/16/2011 20:36
Planning that Trip
Are you planning to be away from home for the Memorial Day weekend, or for an upcoming graduation or wedding or any other event? It needn't mean that you gain weight or give up on your weight loss goals just because you aren't at home where it is more convenient to stay on track.
We can be especially vulnerable at those events, because we may have set an event-dependent weight loss goal that leaves us a little bit at loose ends. If we met the goal, we may feel like all bets are off now, and slip easily back into the old bad habits that made us fat. If we didn't meet the goal, we may feel like what's the use, I'm never successful anyway. Or we may just slip into those old bad habits because we don't have a weight management plan in place for the event.
Here are a few suggestions that might help:
- Keep active. Whatever you do, make sure you get some activity every day. If there's nothing going on, invite someone to take a walk, or to do some window shopping at a local mall. Or just take a walk by yourself if there are no takers.
- Rent a bicycle. Hotel concierges will be able to help you find one. Some cities, like Denver, have free bicycles available to help you get around downtown. You can explore and burn calories at the same time.
- Stay at a hotel that has rooms with kitchenettes. You will have more control over your calorie intake if you can fix some of your own simple meals for breakfast and lunch.
- Find other ways to stay active. Swim in the pool, walk in the pool, climb stairs, jog the hallways, take stretchy bands with you to work out, use the hotel fitness center, walk on the beach—there are dozens of ways to fit more movement into your day.
- Don't make food the focus. Many destinations will have excellent cuisine. Try to make your focus more on the things there are to do besides eat. Walk or bike to the restaurant if you can.
- Watch it with the alcohol. People like to enjoy drinks at social events, but it is also a source of many calories, especially in sugary or creamy drinks. A piña colada or margarita can have 450-750 calories each. Compare that to a light beer at about 110 calories, or a glass of wine at 90-100.
- Don't skip breakfast. Continental breakfasts in hotels rarely include the protein we need to ward off hunger. So try to get some quality low fat protein first thing in the morning. It will stick with you longer.
- Carry healthy snacks with you. Be prepared for hunger that may strike between meals, especially if you are staying active. Fast food joints, chocolatiers, ice cream shops and bakeries can be a big temptation, so carry a snack bar or some fruit with you.
Beware family members pushing food. Be prepared with a reasonable excuse for not eating what may be offered. Beg off with a "sour stomach" or some other inarguable reason why you can't eat it. If food is forced on you, move it around on the plate until you can discreetly dispose of it.
Posted By: Helen Wheels
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05/16/2011 20:01
Incremental Success
There is an art to setting goals, and I fear we often ignore them when setting goals for our weight loss journey. We focus on the big picture; that is, the end goal. We take the total amount of pounds, or the number we want to see on the scale as the end of it all. This might work OK in the short term, like if we have 5-10 pounds to lose. It's another story when we're looking at 40 pounds or more.
When viewed as a whole, it can get to be overwhelming thinking about actually getting there by losing one or two pounds per week. The future can seem like it is stretching out in front of us as months of deprivation, and we can't imagine wanting to live like that for such a long time. We focus on what the scale says every week, wanting it to go faster so we can end the burden as soon as possible. We focus on the pounds and not on changing our lifestyle, because we are resistant to the concept of living like this one minute longer than we have to. We want it to be quick. We want it to be effortless. We want it done yesterday. We dwell on how long the future success will take to get here, rather than the achievable successes we can accomplish today.
That train of thought sidelined me many times, before I learned the art of goal-setting.
First, I defined the long-term goal: Lose 50 pounds.
Then, I divided that goal up into achievable chunks; that is, ten pounds at a time.
Next, I took a look at setting mini goals that would contribute to making the effort successful: These were lifestyle changes. I would set weekly goals to produce those changes. They were easily accomplished on a daily or weekly basis. One week it might be to increase my exercise sessions by ten minutes each time. If I was struggling with negative thoughts, I would set a goal to meditate or journal my feelings daily for a week. When I found myself foraging every time I went through the kitchen to let the dogs out, I set a goal to go around the kitchen instead of through it. Each of these incremental goals were specific, measurable, and achievable.
Every time I followed through on one of those behaviors, I gave myself a star sticker on my calendar. That way, I could see at a glance how successful I was being that week.
The successful little goals all contributed to being successful getting to the big picture goal.
Posted By: Helen Wheels
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05/16/2011 18:25
Slow It Down—Breathe, Breathe
Phil McGraw describes it as "fast forward thinking." It's that time when we let emotions and feelings get the better of our judgement. It's when we may impulsively say things we later regret...
...or when we may start to eat before we even realize what we are doing.
Whatever the outcome, fast forward thinking invariably leads to regret.
The key is in identifying it, and doing an internal intervention on it. Many times, because the fast forward thinking has led to our saying and doing things that hurt others, or hurt our standing with others, we may have learned to bite our tongue. Tongue-biting though, leads to unexpressed hurt or anger, so we turn it inward. We may have saved others' feelings, but we didn't save our own.
Instead of lashing out, we end up lashing in. We get caught up in the belief that that what we are feeling requires immediate action. We eat.
To break that habit, it is necessary to break that cycle. When thoughts start speeding up, telling us to take immediate action of some sort, that is the time to STOP.
Breathe deeply and slowly. It's time to NOT take any action of any sort. It's not time to strike out, and it's not time to eat or take any other action we will regret later.
Breathe. Just breathe. Concentrate on the breath, and be calm. Slow it down. Breathe.
Posted By: Helen Wheels
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05/16/2011 18:21
Here Comes the Sun
It was a chilly, rainy day yesterday, but I still had a good one! I was on track with food all day, and I got plenty of activity, burning over 2600 calories. In fact, to prevent having too large a deficit, I had to have a good-sized snack in the evening.
I have aday off today, but wouldn't you know it—the sun is shining. So far, the forecast for the rest of the week is cloudy and rain, but at least we're on a warming trend. It's getting tiresome having to bring so many plants indoors every night. Luckily, the pressure is on customers—they have graduations and Memorial Day coming up, so they're all hoping to get their flowers planted soon. So we are busy, which is good. All this cloudy weather will be really good for planting. Our scorchingly strong sun can be really hard on recent transplants, so the cloudy weather gives them a chance to get established without additional stress.
It looks like it will be warm enough, that I'm thinking about getting another couple of hanging baskets planted today, and maybe some of the garden plants. The hummingbirds are back from their winter vacation, and they will be hungry for the sage plants I got for them.
Posted By: Helen Wheels
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05/15/2011 16:39
Fear of Flying
One thing I see many people admitting when they first start a weight loss regime is that they feel fear. I was there myself when I first decided that it was time to stop the yoyoing and constantly climbing scale, and get serious about lifestyle change.
I was afraid, first and foremost, because I had failed to complete the journey so many times in the past. Was I headed, despite my best intentions, to another failure?
I was afraid because it meant that I would have to find a way to break away from dependence on food to deal with my emotions.
I was afraid because it meant after taking a long time to recover from a knee injury, I was going to have to face down pain to rehab the knee and re-establish good activity and exercise habits.
I was afraid of my fear of hunger. Understand, there has never been a time in my life when I've had to go hungry. Never. Yet I had this terrible fear of not being able to get enough to eat. I think it arose out of my dependence on food to manage emotions. If I couldn't turn to food, what was I to do about the storm in my head?
I was afraid because every time I had gotten close to my goal in the past, I had gotten the attention of men, and it caused jealousy problems with my husband. Would this awaken the old suspicions and fights?
I was afraid because I have always had a bit of fear of success—at everything. I would work very hard to accomplish something, and then it would fall apart just as the rewards started. I was afraid of how success would change my life.
And I was afraid to confront my fears.
Yes, I can understand the fear people experience when they start a weight loss program. Success spills over into so many areas we might not be ready to manage. Yet.
Posted By: Helen Wheels
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05/15/2011 16:28
Rain?
Today was supposed to be sunny again, but it looks like the front is not moving through as quickly as anticipated. I will be very surprised if I'm not sent home early today, unless the clouds break in the next hour or so.
I made it through yesterday evening without extra snacking, so it was a very successful day. It's becoming easier to do. I'm feeling so much better since I decided to stop taking the allergy meds.
It's definitely a lot easier dealing with the allergy symptoms than with the side effects. Everything outdoors continues to be covered in yellow dust from all the pollen. The rain has definitely helped to clean the air. Please, trees, be done with your reproductive thing soon!
Posted By: Helen Wheels
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05/15/2011 01:40
I Didn't Mean To
I had decided when I went in to work today that I wasn't going to buy any plants. I have plenty of planting to do before I buy any more plants.
But James came to the store this week. James is one of our orchid suppliers. He brought in a vanilla orchid. Did you know that vanilla beans are the seed pods for vanilla orchids? Neither did I. It's a very interesting plant, sort of scroodley in its growth habit.
Here's a picture of the plant. It's sort of viney.
And here is what the blossom looks like
Posted By: Helen Wheels
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