Pigging Out On Halloween Candy

I purposely did not buy Halloween candy until two days before Halloween because I new I'd be dipping into the candy. I really should be using the word "bulldozing" into the candy. I just found those Kitkats, Aeros, and Coffee Crisp bars too difficult to pass by. I'm convinced I'm a sugar addict! Anyway, Halloween has come and gone and I was so glad when the doorbell stopped ringing last night and I was only left with a few mini chocolate bars. "I'll polish those off tomorrow and then I'll start a new diet on Tuesday", I thought.
Well, my 14 year old son headed out last night to a friend's place. I asked him if he intended on going out to trick or treat. He said yes even though I told him I thought he was a little too old for it. I thought he might hit a few houses until he realizes that many adults are not too thrilled with 14 year olds knocking on the door looking for candy. Apparently, that didn't seem to bother my son and his friends as he came home with a pillow case stuffed with goodies.

I THINK I'M GOING TO STAPLE MY LIPS TOGETHER!

The Spark

No, I haven’t totally given up. Although I have had major challenges with Diet Surplus Disorder!
I started off this weight loss journey with the intentions of moving onto a new diet as soon as boredom set in. However, as I stuck to one diet too long, I became very bored, frustrated and lost my motivation. I then tried the Eat Clean Diet Recharged! by Tosca Reno. This is a sensible diet but I just could not get myself motivated to stick to it. When I feel my motivation is back, I’m going to come back to this one as the principles in this book are more of a lifestyle as opposed to a diet. That said, I need something very different to get myself back into the swing of things.
I was in a bookstore recently and The Spark by Chris Downie caught my eye. The concept is that you are to set small goals, replace negative behaviours with positive ones, be part of a supportive community, find ways to keep yourself motivated – i.e. reward yourself and `spread the Spark`. The book has stemmed from the website www.sparkpeople.com.
I have been following the diet for approximately one week. As far as food goes, there is no real gimmick to it. You select the appropriate amount of calories to consume per day based on one’s activity level. The diet recommends amounts for protein, fat, carbs, etc. I really like the website although it has a slight `cult` feel to it. You can track your food and its nutritional content, your exercise and goals daily. The website offers teams to join, forums and blogs to participate in. I actually like the interaction between other `Spark` members. Everyone really does seem supportive. If you are competitive, you can accumulate points daily by achieving your short term goals, doing an online poll or by posting a comment on a blog. So far, I’ve been having fun with it.
Stay tuned for my progress and struggles with The Spark by Chris Downie. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Wish me luck!

No longer on hiatus!

After the Beck Diet Solution I found it very difficult to stick to any diet. I seem to have lost my motivation on that diet. It's weird; once it's gone, it's very difficult to get back. The whole point of my strategy was to move on to a new diet once I was frustrated or bored with the one I was on. But, stupid me didn't follow my own plan. I stayed to long on the Beck Diet Solution and just couldn't get motivated again.
The next diet was the Eat Clean Diet Recharged! by Tosca Reno. I really could not get back into the dieting mode and I can't blame this diet at all. It is a healthy diet but I was not in the right frame of mind. I'm going to come back to this diet at a later date but for now, I need to do something different. I'll post my new diet choice within the next day or two.

On Hiatus!

Can't get motivated. Gone fishing. Unfortunately, it's probably deep fried!

The Eat Clean Diet Recharged! - Getting Motivated

I thought I'd fill you in on The Eat Clean Diet Recharged! by Tosca Reno. It’s sensible and some of the principles of the diet are as follows:
• Eat six small meals a day – each meal to have a combination of lean protein and complex carbs
• Eat breakfast everyday
• Eat 2-3 servings of healthy fat every day
• Drink 2-3 liters of water each day
• Adhere to proper portion sizes
• Carry a cooler packed with clean food
Now, I have to admit, I started this diet half heartedly 11 days ago. I feel I had my motivation sucked out of me after spending six weeks on the Beck Diet Solution and only losing 3 lbs. I have since had a long talk with myself and asked why I started to do this in the first place. I want change and I'm not going to get it doing the same old thing. I have to persevere!

I also have had to change some of my diet selections. I was really looking forward to sinful delights like chocolate and ice-cream on The Devil’s Diet by Anita Lover. When the book arrived in the mail, I anxiously began reading it only to discover The Devil’s Diet requires you to cheat on your spouse for weight loss motivation. Well, I no longer have a spouse and if I did, I wouldn’t cheat anyway!

I don’t think I’ll be doing The Biggest loser either. I found the version I picked up was rather vague when discussing food substitutes. For example, 3 ounces of chicken is equivalent to how many eggs or ounces of fish or beef?

So You Think You’re Fat & Ugly Diet by Donald Wayne Eaker seemed to have some information that was a bit outdated. Under suggested fats, it recommended margarine but said to use olive oil only sparingly. Most diet experts today would agree with using olive oil sparingly simply because its fat but would prefer it be used more so than margarine.

My search is back on for healthy but different diets. If you have any suggestions, let me know. Wish me luck this month with my weight loss!

The Beck Diet Solution - Final Results

I'm so done with The Beck Diet Solution by Judith S. Beck, Ph.D. In fact, I haven't even followed the daily writing exercies for the last week. I thought the idea of this book was to deal with emotional eating but I don't think it really gets to the heart of the issue. Every time you have a sabotaging thought in regards to dieting, you are to write a positive response on a card - know as your Advantage Response Cards. You are then supposed to read the cards back to yourself when you have more sabotaging thoughts. If I did this each time I had a negative thought about dieting, I'd be spending by whole day reading these cards.

Dislikes - Daily writing exercises of a sentence or two on a new topic each day were not enough to reinforce new behaviours. The book didn't really get into great detail as to why some people are emotional eaters and how to deal with the root of the problem. Yes, some of us eat because we're stressed, angry, sad, frustrated, etc. but why do some of us turn to food under these circumstances and others don't? Perhaps I'm looking for too deep of an answer but I think emotional eaters hide behind their food and fat and I was hoping to find out why.

Likes - One writing exercise I did find helpful was writing down the advantages to losing weight and posting them by my bathroom mirror so I could read these advantages to myself several times each day. Doing so made me excited about the possibility of being lean and fit. Who doesn't want to have more confidence, self-esteem, be able to buy fashionable clothes and feel good about yourself when you look in the mirror?

I think I would have prefered working on 5 or 6 concepts in this book and spending a week on each one. I think new behaviours would have been reinforced then. I really can't remember what exercise I did on any given day.

Stats for the The Beck Diet Solution
Weight - lost 3 lbs
Bust - lost 1"
Waist - lost 1"
Hips - lost .5"
BMI - 32.39

Totals to date
Weight - lost 15 lbs
Bust - lost 2.5"
Waist - lost 4"
Hips - lost 2.5"
Initial BMI was 35.22 - down 2.83 to 32.39

I've had to make some changes to my diet choices. One of the books had outdated information and another book was not clear on food choices and amounts. The third book, The Devil's Diet by Anita Lover really is sinful. I was hoping that the title implied I could eat chocolate and ice-cream but instead the author encourages you to cheat on your spouse for weight loss motivation. Well, I no longer have a spouse bit if I did, I wouldn't cheat anyway! My next diet choice is The Eat Clean Diet Recharged by Tosca Reno. I may do some cheating on my diet but not on my spouse...if I had one!

The Beck Diet Solution is not working!

Today I've had 4 oatmeal raisin cookies and ice-cream. Cognitive behaviour...shmognitive behaviour!

The Beck Diet Solution - Frustrated!

I haven't lost any weight on the Beck Diet Solution. It's been two weeks and I'm getting a little tired of the daily exercises. I don't see how putting more food on my plate at each meal for one day and then not eating all the food is going to teach me not to overeat. There is more to overeating than that. This book doesn't seem to address why one overeats or at least I haven't gotten to that chapter yet. Another exercise was to skip lunch one day so I can learn that I can live with hunger. Again, I don't see how this will help me understand why I eat too much. I don't feel like I'm getting to the root of the matter!

The Beck Diet Solution - Thinking like a thin person

I'm one week into The Beck Diet Solution and I've chosen to do this book with Weight Watchers. Again, the premise of this book is to change your behaviour and way of thinking around food. I've done Weight Watchers, I'm sure, a hundred times before and yes, I'm bored with it. I figure If the premise is to think differently about food, it really shouldn't matter what diet I do as it's all in the mind.
According to the book, I must put my reasons for wanting to lose weight on paper and I have to read those reasons to myself several times a day. I am also to put any sabotaging thoughts down on paper and then write a contradicting response to the initial thought and read these as often as required too. Each daily exercise is to get me one step closer to thinking like a thin person. Today I am to differentiate between hunger, desire and cravings by writing down how my stomach feels before, during, immediately after and twenty minutes after each meal. Other examples...Day 10-set a realistic goal and day 33-eliminate emotional eating.
I don't know if I've lost any weight this week. I had family over for dinner last night and I had 9 Weight Watcher points more than I was supposed to yesterday ( that's probably equal to 450 calories) but I did take them out of my weekly reserve so I really haven't gone off the diet.
For those who are not familiar with Weight Watchers, you are allowed "X" amount of points a day depending on your start weight and activity level. Each point is approximately worth 50 calories. I have not actually joined Weight Watchers this time round, but I do have all the booklets from the last time I joined so I am just following the program I did then. If it was supposed to work then, I'm sure it's supposed to work now.

The Flat Belly Diet - Final Results

I've completed 31 out of 32 days of the Flat Belly Diet! By Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass, RD. I've lost an impressive 8 lbs but I have to confess that I cheated the last couple of days. No, I haven't been into the ice-cream again. I actually cheated by repeating the last 2 days of the intitial 4 day "jumpstart" portion of the diet and I'm sure I dropped another 1 or 2 lbs because of it. Well, I'm ready to move on to another diet. I don't think I'd want to do this diet long term. I missed having things like yogurt and eggs but I'd definitely recommend this diet for a month.
Likes - I definitely liked the 4 day "jumpstart" to the diet. I would use the 4 day "jumpstart" again if I had been eating poorly - lots of junk food and I just wanted to feel better. I also really liked the sassy water. Unlike most diets where you feel like you're forcing yourself to drink 8 glasses of water a day, this was very easy to drink. I also liked being able to eat things like olives, peanut butter, nuts and pesto as "MUFA's" (mono-unsaturated fatty acids) are a must with every meal.
Dislikes - The diet consists of 4- 400 calorie meals a day. I just can't lose weight on that many calories. I often cut out a meal and replaced it with a 100 - 150 calorie smoothie containing only milk and frozen fruit. I was also not keen on 6 days of exercise a week. I found this not very doable. Lastly, I was not thrilled with many of the recipes. They just felt like they were lacking something.

Stats for the Flat Belly Diet!
Weight - lost 8 lbs
Bust - lost .75"
Waist - lost 1.5"
Hips - lost 1.5"
BMI - 32.95

Totals to date
Weight - lost 12 lbs
Bust - lost 1.5"
Waist - lost 3"
Hips - lost 2"
Initial BMI was 35.22 - down 2.27 to 32.95

My next diet choice really isn't a diet. It is The Beck Diet Solution By Judith S. Beck, Ph.D. The premise of this book is to teach dieters to control their eating through cognitive behaviour. While completing the exercises in the book, you are to follow any healthy diet of your choice. I have chosen Weight Watchers. Stay posted!

Flat Belly Diet - Struggling

The Flat Belly Diet isn't suiting me as well as I would like. I'm finding it difficult to lose weight on 1600 calories a day. 1600 calories allows me to maintain my weight but not lose. I am also getting tired of the recipes (how many grilled chicken breasts can a girl eat). On a couple of occasions, I have considered ice-cream as one of my 400 calorie meals. What the hell, throw an olive on top and I've got my "MUFA" (mono-unsaturated fatty acid) that I am supposed to have at every meal. I really think "MUFA" should stand for MY UNATTRACTIVE FAT ASS! I have also found it difficult to keep up with 6 days per week of excercise. It does not work well into my schedule. 4 days a week I can handle. I havn't given up completely on this diet. I'm going to give it the full 32 days as required. I believe I have lost about 4 lbs on the diet but most of that is from the initial 4 day jump start portion of the diet.
One thing I've realized over the last couple of months is how strong my cravings are for sweets. I don't seem to stray from my diet over potato chips. It always seems to be something sweet. So my weight loss journey continues!

Flat Belly Diet - 4 Day Anti-Bloat Jumpstart

I started the 4 day anti-bloat jumpstart of the Flat Belly Diet on January 1st and I think I lost about 3 or 4 lbs. I am not sure of my start weight on January 1st as this was the day after New Year's Eve and to say the least, I indulged. I was not willing to get on the scale the morning of January 1st. In fact, I lay awake most of the night with a stomach ache due to the fact that after a month of eating very healthily on the No-Fail Diet , I was unable to tolerate greasy appetizers and pizza. The 4 day anti-bloat jump start is rather calorie restricted - I would guess 1000 calories/ day, possibly less. However, there is also a water concoction that you are to have 8 glasses of per day. You add mint leaves, minced ginger, lemon and cucumber slices to water. It's actually quite refreshing and I found it very easy to drink. It felt a bit like a detox which was well needed after New Year's Eve. I would imagine its rather helpful in aiding digestion as it contains ginger and lemon.
For the rest of the 28 days, I have an issue with having 4 - 400 calorie meals a day. My gut is telling me that I will not lose weight having 1600 calories a day so I sometimes eliminate 1 of the meals.
I have started weighing myself everyday again and this is a big no-no for me. I get discouraged if I go a few days without seeing any results on the scale so I am going to go back to weighing myself every 2 or 3 weeks. Stay posted for my likes, dislikes and results on the Flat Belly Diet!

Flat Belly Diet! By Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass, RD

My Diet Surplus Disorder kicked in again as I had to select a new diet for the month of January…too many diets to choose from. Well, I’ve selected the Flat Belly Diet by Liz Vaccariello with Cynthia Sass, RD. The principal of this diet is to include mono-unsaturated fatty acids at every meal. They like to call these MUFAs. (Add an extra “f” to MUFA and in Italian, this means mold. Not very appetizing!) Anyway, according to the book, research has shown that dieting with MUFAs help eliminate visceral fat more so than dieting without them. Visceral fat is the underlying fat that sits closer to all your organs and is considered more dangerous than surface fat. There is a 4 day anti-bloat jumpstart phase to the diet and this is followed with a 28 day plan.

There are 3 basic rules to the diet:

1. Eat 4 - 400 calorie meals/day
2. Don’t go longer than 4 hours without eating
3. Eat a MUFA at every meal

There is an optional exercise program with this diet that includes brisk walking and interval cardio along with belly and resistance workouts. The exercise plan has you exercising 6 days a week. I find this to be a bit of a pain as it’s not always easy to fit it in everyday. That sums it up in a nutshell!

The No-Fail Diet - Final Results

Today is the last day on the No-Fail Diet by Leslie Beck. I have lost only 4 lbs for the entire month. It's been a struggle trying to get through the holidays on a diet. I was hoping for better results but I can't really blame the diet. I did find the results for the first two weeks disappointing - only a 3 lb weight loss and I stuck to the diet. The last two weeks I've been struggling with temptations and the poor results have been entirely my fault. However, I'm glad I lost 4 lbs this December as usually I gain a few instead.
Likes - the diet is healthy and I did not feel too hungry very often. Initally I was unsure the excercise plan would reap many benefits as it didn't seem too strenuous but after 4 weeks, I can definitely see an improvement in my strength. I went from being unable to do any lady's pushups to being able to do 30.
Dislikes - not many, really. My one beef is having to constantly refer back to the book and flip back and forth between pages on a daily basis i.e. - refering back to serving sizes, charts illustrating # of servings per food group, exercises for the week and pictures of exercises. I'm learning that this seems to be pretty standard for most diet books but it's still rather annoying.

Stats for the No-Fail Diet
Weight - lost 4 lbs
Bust - lost .75"
Waist - lost 1.5"
Hips - lost .5"
BMI - was 35.22 now - 34.47

Would I recommend this diet? Yes. It's healthy and doable!
My next diet is the Flat Belly Diet! by Liz Vaccariello with Cynthia Sass.

The No-Fail diet - Making it through the holidays!

As of December 23rd, I was down 6 lbs. I lost more weight in the 10 days that followed the 2 week "jump-start" portion of the diet which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. However, I'll take whatever weight loss I can get. The last week of December has been a real struggle. December 23rd - work Christmas party, December 25th - family dinner on Christmas day along with ample temptations of chocolate all over the house, December 26th and 27th - difficult to get back into the swing of dieting, December 28th - behaved myself, December 29th - into the chocolates again. I'm hoping my weight loss for January will be the 6 lbs I had taken off as of December 23rd. I'll be pretty happy with that, all things considering!