Calorie Count

Yesterday`s final tally: 1,618 Calories :-)

That works for me! You can lose weight faster if you get a bit lower (closer to 1,200), but for me at 1,600 the weight will still come off.

Why I was able to succeed:

• I chewed a lot of sugar free gum!! lol.
• I ate fresh fruit, which gives your body nutrients, thereby reducing your hunger.
• For dinner I had a can of chicken noodle soup, which is filling, but only about 150 calories. (I wouldn`t eat canned soup every day because of the sodium - sometime this week I`ll probably make some homemade veggie soup - but in a pinch it`s quick and easy, and the calorie count is right there on the label).
• I did have 100 calories worth of candy, but I made it last by sucking on the candy rather than chewing it.
• I drank green tea (clear with no sweetener) in the evening, when I usually get the urge to snack.

So far so good! Today will be just as successful :-)
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Overeating Solutions

While will power is an essential component in any successful diet outcome, there are ways to make things easier on yourself. For me this can be done with a three step process. Consider the following:

Step 1: Figure out what the problem is
Step 2: Figure out why the problem happens
Step 3: Figure out an alternative that eliminates the problem

Insert your own stuff and apply. For example, here are some of mine:

Step 1: I eat too much at once.
Step 2: The food is in front of me!!
Step 3: Smaller portions. For example, last night DH and I ordered pizza. He ordered a small, and I ordered a personal size (which is the equivalent of about two medium sized slices). I ate it all and was satisfied, whereas if I had ordered a small, I would have eaten it all and been too full.

Step 1: I eat all the time.
Step 2: Bored, restless, flavour craving, you name it.
Step 3: brush my teeth more and chew gum.

Anyway, you get the idea. Instead of waking up one morning and thinking "I'm going to lose weight - ahhhh!!! I can't eat anything!!" and then being overwhelmed and giving up, if you break it down into small pieces and address one at a time, it's so much easier!
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Diet Start Date

Tomorrow?

I mean literally January 12th, not tomorrow as in some random day in the future (lol, lol). I looked at the calendar on Friday and thought, "Hmmm. Monday would be good, I think."

My best option will be to count calories. This has worked for me in the past, and so this is what I'm going to do again.

(Sadly I've gained weight since starting this blog, so now I'm on a mission to lose 20! Yowsa.)

Starting Weight: 140 lbs
Goal Range: 120-125 lbs

I've found in the past that setting a goal "range" instead of a goal weight makes it much easier to maintain your success, because the normal daily fluctuations in weight (from retained water, etc.) don't bump you off your goal weight and make you feel like you've failed.

Why I gained it all back: two years ago, I lost 18 pounds and kept it off for over a year. To lose it I ate about 1500-1700 calories per day, and to maintain, I ate about 2500-2700.

Somewhere in that second year I started eating more. You know, grazing, indulging, snacking on bad things, eating entire pizzas, entire boxes of KD... you get the picture. Plain and simple, I was cocky and thought I'd never gain the weight back. I'd gain a pound, then two, and think "oh that's easy for me. I can lose that in a week. I'll start tomorrow."

Fyi, when I was in high school I was one of those lean girls that could eat an entire fridge a day and not gain a pound. This changed after pregnancy, sorry to say (although my babies are definitely worth it :-)

Step 1: Set up my new 2009 calorie counting journal!!

I'm off to do that... 'bye for now!
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Interesting Diet Tip

The appearance of your food shouldn't matter if you want to lose weight, according to a recent study in Japan, as well as weight loss guru Paul McKenna: results have shown that when people eat blindfolded, they eat less.

Reasons for this are varied, including the fact that when diners don't see their food, they're more likely to savour the flavour and eat more slowly. Also, if there is no visual impetus to eat more, one is more likely to stop when actually full, as opposed to when the food is all eaten.

Hmm. Eating blindfolded. In theory it makes sense and might be worth trying (unless you live with a practical joker - yikes).
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Day 2 Of My 2009 New Year's Resolution!!

Yippee.

Day one was easy, because there's nothing like waking up tired and, uh, overindulged from New Year's Eve to curb your appetite. Now here we are on jolly ol' Day 2, with me being rested and feeling like my old self - my old piggly wiggly self!!!

I've not done too badly. For instance, instead of diving head first into the left over chocolate covered almonds (even I, with all my pigout prowess, failed to eradicate them by January 1st), I instead sucked on two brazil nut flavoured toffees. That's right - only two!!!! Yay me.

Sucked - as in, no chewing allowed!!! My new diet strategy: whatever treat I pop into my mouth has to last as long as takes for it to dissolve on my tongue (because asking me to NOT have treats at all is like asking the dog to not bark at his ball).

Hey why not? It's worth a try.
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