What every Diet needs part one

What every “diet” needs.

Portion control, flavorful foods, fun exercise, an open mind and a forgiving heart...

For someone to “diet” well they really need to find what works for them but at the heart of every successful reducing plan are the above truths.

Portion Control

No matter what you eat, high fat, low fat, full of carbohydrates or low in carbohydrates, high fiber, low fiber, no white foods, all white foods, if you don’t control your portion sizes you’ll get nowhere with your “diet”. All foods contain calories and if you’re not following the calories in are less than calories out, it won't work. No matter how low fat a food is, how few carbs it has or whatever, you will not lose weight if you consistently eat the entire box of whatever you're eating at the time.

So just what IS a portion anyway? The National Institute of Health states that “a ‘portion’ can be thought of as what you choose to eat whereas a ‘serving’ is a unit of measure used to describe the recommended amount of food from each food group, the amount listed in the nutritional servings panel of the package of food.” They also have a nifty little guide you can print out and laminate that shows what a serving size looks like. (For example a cup of salad is the size of a baseball.)

Now, if portion and serving are not equal, what does portion control mean? Portion control is when you watch how many servings of a food you are eating. Next time you go to get a bowl of cereal, pour out your usual portion of cereal and then measure out an actual serving, based on the nutritional information panel on the box, and compare. Bet you’re eating at least twice if not 4 or 5 times what an actual serving is supposed to be. Sure that Cinnamon Toast Crunch is tasty but do you actually need 6 cups of it? There’s a reason that cereals are touted as “PART of a healthy breakfast”. ½ of a cup of cereal is not going to fill me up and keep me filled until snack time or lunchtime. So I have to decide if I want to eat more cereal (which really, cereal doesn’t keep me filled unless it’s Fiber One and even then I’m pretty hungry by lunch.) or do I want to add in a serving of fruit (1 piece the size of a tennis ball or ½ cup) or some protein? (3oz of lean meat which is about the size of a deck of cards) Eating healthy meals does take some work but once you get the hang of serving and portion sizes, you’re on your way!

I'm BAAACK

And I'm ready to write! I've been working on an idea for a possible book...I mean, there's already hundreds of books on dieting and stuff, why shouldn't I be able to get on the bandwagon.

So I'm going to share with whoever is reading this, some of my ideas. Hope you like 'em. Drop me a line if you do!

Still reading....

Yeah...it's been like that. *G*

Good news from the weekend? I didn't gain any weight.

Bad news from the weekend? I didn't lose any weight.

But I'm okay with that. I'm not trying to lose so I'm not bothered by not losing. Now NEXT week...LOL we'll see.

Still reading

I'll report back later. Interesting stuff. I'm on Body Clutter by the fly lady (www.flylady.net) and the Bob Greene book...Best life diet.

Like I said...interesting...

Starting the research

So, I've started reading the "diet" books that I've checked out from the library. The first one is the Change One Diet from Readers Digest. It's a good concept. Basically, you change one thing at a time begining with breakfast. For a week (or so) you just eat breakfast in a healthy way. The diet advocates eating whole grains, a small amount of protien and a fruit for breakfast everyday. It continues with lunch and then with dinner, each step bringing you closer to "dieting". Then the program has you work on things like eating out and celebrations and finally maintenance. After mastering all of these, the plan then (finally) works in fitness.

The thing I like about this plan is that they totally advocate changing things slowly. The human body isn't geared toward making and maintaining huge changes all at one time. I can get behind something like this.

What I don't like about the book is that they leave fitness for the very end. Everyone knows that the actual easiest way to lose weight is Calories in < Calories out. Right? What is the easiest way to get those calories "out"? Exercise. (yes, I hate it too but there it is.)

All in all, the book is a good read. I'm still reading parts of it but for now, the very basic idea of the book is "change just one thing at a time". Good advice.

Soupy kind of day

So it's day 3. I spent last night on the library website holding books on dieting. I think I just want to research and find out all the different ways people say you should lose weight. Fascinating stuff. I did weed out the really stupid ones and anything that's over 10 years old. Gotta have that new info you know.

Had some soup for lunch when M got home. Campbell's pot roast soup is pretty dang tasty. I also tried out a packet of Candy Cane Pop Rocks. I used to love pop rocks. Not so much any more. But the kids will love them. (my SS kids. I don't have any of my own...nor do I plan to have any of my own.) I have to stay away from the candy cane kisses though. Man are THOSE addictive.

So, all in all, it's been a pretty good day. I need to get on the water consumption and get a walk in...or maybe just some housework.

Day 2...what an original title.

So I was right. The scale DID go down this morning. Whew! A whole 5.2 lbs! Man that must have been SOME dinner I had last night.

I've decided to go ahead and follow WWers (yes those damn points) while I search for the "perfect" solution FOR ME.

I'm going to do a few "unconventional" things as well.

1. Spend more time with God. I need to get rid of these empty feelings I've been having. They're just leading me down the path of FOOD MORE FOOD!!!

2. I don't know how I'm going to do it yet but, I think I'm going to try a new "trick". If it's too small to pray over (ie, a "snack of chocolate" or something like that) then it's not going in my mouth.

3. I'm going to keep up my water intake. I do love water. I'm sure I'll be talking about this as the weeks go on. But I know that water is one of my GOOD things. So, it totally stays.

There's going to be more...I'll keep you updated.


Today? Today has been an okay day. I went to Church, played my last performance of handbells and taught my SS class. Then we went out for brekkie (Yum Frisch's) and I limited myself at the breakfast bar. I had some of everything I enjoyed and only took small amounts. Usually, I'd have LARGE portions and then go back for more and more and more...not today. I'm still sort of stuffed from breakfast.

Oh yeah,

4. I need to remember that my "car" needs "fuel" and I'll need to eat accordingly.

Think that's it for now. I'm having a kitty standoff in front of the monitor so if there's any spelling mistakes, blame it on the cats.