eek gad. I’m not 100% sure of what I ate tonight at the picnic. I sabotaged myself yesterday when I said I felt a blow-my-diet-weekend coming on. I should have said, I feel a I’m-not-going-to-blow-my-diet weekend coming on. My self-fulfilling prophecy was fulfilled tonight. I looked at 3 large picnic tables full of food and drink, and suddenly I didn’t care much anymore. I did pass on the chips, the white pasta and fried chicken, but I ate a lot. Several things I couldn’t recognize, but I enjoyed every bite! The best and worst part of the night (other than when I received 2 awards) was the chocolate-frosted caramel-infused brownie. (yes, I ate the whole thing.)Pep talk: Now.  What to do with this information? That is the key. When you try and don’t succeed, try try again, right? Well, that’s my plan. Tomorrow, I’ve already told the kids we are headed to the gym. You won’t get anywhere if you quit now. Pick yourself up and start again. You will drop any weight gained this weekend very quickly. If you continue on this path, however, all your hard work will be lost, and you may end up worse off than where you started a month ago.  One whole month of dieting, and you only went off your diet once?  Pretty darn good, if you ask me.

How do you talk yourself up? What things do you tell yourself when you need to get back on track? 

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Filed under: Daily Journal, Motivation |
Article tags: , Brownie, Motivation, Pep Talk, Rule of Three Diet

Posted: September 30th, 2007 under Daily Journal, Motivation.
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 I feel a blow-my-diet weekend coming on.  It’s 4pm as I’m writing this.  I’m hungry. I think. I’ve been snacking since 3, but nothing is satisfying me. What am I craving? chocolate chip cookies (the one I passed up the other day) Hamburgers (the ones I only took one bite of 2 weekends ago) Pizza (the one I went upstairs to avoid). Maybe I’ve been depriving myself too much. Maybe instead of using my cheats on wine, I should use one cheat a week on something unhealthy.

I’m going to a friend’s house for dinner tonight. She was kind enough to let me know in advance what her menu was so that I could plan my week accordingly. I needed to save 2 cheats for tonight’s dinner. One more if I want dessert or wine. I should be fine because I did earn an extra cheat this week (I did at least 3 strengh training sessions), but I used that cheat last night on my second glass of wine.  I was depressed last night (if you couldn’t tell by my post). No real reason, I guess, other than the kids were like little headless chickens by dinnertime and I was a screaming banshee, but I digress…

Sunday we have a HUGE potluck picnic to go to.  I think there must be thirty families going. That’s at least thirty different foods to choose from, as some families are bringing more than one thing. While I know there will be some healthy things there for me to eat (I’m bringing Hummus this time), I’m worried that since I won’t have any cheats there I might not be strong enough, and blow my diet this week. I wonder if it’s the lack of water in my diet today, or the fact that I didn’t work out that is sending me back into crazy craving mode. Hmmm…

Upon my return: I lost control. I had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn with butter, green beans, 2 glasses wine AND a slice of apple pie. No, not one bite, as I suggest in my tips but the whole piece and 2 bites of my husband’s vanilla ice cream. EEK. I have gone way over my cheats this week in one blow. I am over by 2 cheats. I have no room at all tomorrow. I guess that’s good because there will be no need to choose what to splurge on, I simply can not splurge. I’ll eat a large snack just before we go and I should have to let hunger control me.

Since I “blew it” this week, I can only dust myself off and try again starting now. No need to bring myself down and wallow in it. Then I might need to find solace in some brownies or chips and salsa (if we had any in the house). Tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow will be a good day.

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Article tags: , blew it, crazy cravings, Rule of Three Diet, screaming banshee, start over, wine

Posted: September 29th, 2007 under Daily Journal.
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So, in the beginning, I said I was in this to be healthy and that the number on the scale didn’t matter to me.  That’s a load of crap.  If that was the truth, why do I have a scale attached to my hip? I must weigh myself 3 times a day. I have always been like this while dieting.  In fact, I remember having conversations with my Father In Law about B.P. and A.P. weigh- ins (before pee/poop and after pee/poop. Roll eyes).For the most part, it’s true. I am in this to be healthy.  I made up all the aspects of The Rule of Three Diet because of the healthy recommendations by all the health gurus and associations.   It’s just that I’m finding myself disappointed if I’m not down and I’ve done well.  I think I learned this during my time on Weight Watcher’s.  I did so well, I could pretty acurately predict when I would be down even one pound.  I did work-out while on Weight Watchers, but not at the intensity I am now.  I think the strength training I’m doing now is slowing down the weight loss process.  I know I am gaining muscle, and losing fat, and muscle weighs more than fat, yada yada. I just really want to say, “I weigh 130″ again. How screwy is that? Is that a mental thing? How do I get over that? I need help. How am I supposed to help you if I’m caught up in all the same traps? Any ideas?

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Article tags: 3 min. walk/run interval, Bike trick, Rule of Three Diet, scale, Weight Watchers

Posted: September 28th, 2007 under Daily Journal.
Comments: 1

Yesterday’s post got me to thinking just how much we can learn by watching small children eat. Granted, they end up liking all the crap we give to them, but that’s just it: they are influenced by us. If we never gave a kid a sip of soda, they’d never want it or crave it, and would be that much more healthy.  Did you know that one soda can have as much as 13 tsp. of sugar in it? Anyway, if you watch a small child, they will eat slowly and stop eating when they are full, whether they love the food or not. For me, if I’ve paid for it or if it’s delicious, I want to finish it, even if I am full. I’m having to retrain my mind to think it’s OK to have leftovers. And with portion control so out of control in this country, I should box up half my meals.  My grandma used to say, “Better it go to waste than your waist!” I try to keep that in mind or I’ll box half of it up for another meal.

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Filed under: Daily Journal, Strategy |
Article tags: Better Homes and Gardens Magazine, fajitas, Rule of Three Diet, Spinach Toss, waist, waste

Posted: September 27th, 2007 under Daily Journal, Strategy.
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“Let’s turn on the candles, Mommy,” says my 3 yr. old son at lunch today.  I say, “Good idea!”, but think, ‘You could write for my magazine (if you could write)!’ I recently read a magazine article which suggested lighting a candle at each meal to remind you to slow down, savor your food and feel your body filling up.  When we rush through our meals and/or multitask while we eat, we tend to overeat because our mind does not yet know we are full. If we can be mindful, chew slowly and drink or converse between bites, we may eat less.  That, or send your three year old to the bathroom mid-meal. Ha!I did my Yo Yo workout today. It was really good.  I was dripping sweat again after 15 min. (I wonder what my cool Yoga companions thought of my sweatiness in class today?) I ran about 30 seconds longer than last time at my top speed. Again, I wasn’t bored, and it was easy to follow.  I found that at the beginning of the workout I look forward to the “easy” jogging, but by the end, I look forward to the “easy” hill walk.  I like how the workout keeps changing.  Thanks to ‘Jess’ for posting your review of the workout; I’m glad you liked it!

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Article tags: 3 minute walk/run interval workout, candles, lazy, natural peanut butter, Rule of Three Diet

Posted: September 26th, 2007 under Daily Journal, Strategy.
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Howdy Ho!
Why must my three year old son always wait until I’m eating to poop? I’m diving into my wonderful chicken salad when my three year old son gets up from the table to use the restroom. Two minutes later I hear him, “MOM! I went poops!” This is my signal to go in and help him with, well…yeah. Then I am supposed to go back to my half finished meal and look at it the same way. While I can’t wait for this phase to be over, I guess it’s good for limiting calories in the meantime.

I crack myself up.

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Article tags: Better Homes and Gardens Swiss Oatmeal, Poop, Rule of Three Diet, V8 juice

Posted: September 25th, 2007 under Daily Journal, Kid Stuff.
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I lost 1 pound last week.  I’m at 138 this morning. Although it’s not much, it is something, and I am not discouraged.  A healthy amount to lose is 1-2 pounds a week, so I’m right on track. I tried a new workout today from Health Magazine.  For 20 minutes, you are supposed to ride a bike doing the following:  Pump hard for 8 seconds, then rest-ride for 12 seconds. I noticed my 8 seconds were up to about 120RPM and my rest-ride was around 80RPM.  I was out of breath and bored after 10 minutes, so I moved to my new stand-by walk/jog routine.  After 10 minutes of that, I was ready to try the bike routine again. I couldn’t stop thinking about the magazine article boasting about a study where women who did this trick lost 3 times more fat (especially from their legs and butts) than women who exercised at a steady pace for 40 minutes. So I went back to the bikes, but this time I tried a recumbent bike.  It was not as hard a work out as the regular bike.  This is a definite ’try again’ work out. Maybe next time I’ll last longer than 10 minutes. If you try this biking trick, I’d love to know what you thought about it.

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Filed under: Daily Journal, My Favorite Workouts |
Article tags: lose 3X the fat in 1/2 the time, Minestrone Soup, Rule of Three Diet, Spicy V8 juice

Posted: September 24th, 2007 under Daily Journal, My Favorite Workouts.
Comments: 2

Saturday night: 1 huge box of Lemon heads, 1/2 bag of diet popcorn with butter powder.
Sunday night: ribs, cole slaw, baked french fries, more than 1/2 of a pepperoni and jalepeno pizza. 

This is what my husband ate for dinner this weekend.  He is trying to be supportive of me doing The Rule of Three Diet.  Kind of. He’ll ask me if I want to use a cheat and order pizza.  When I say, “No, I’m really trying to stick with this diet”, he’ll ask me if I mind if he orders one. I say, “no”.  Pause, then say, “I’m really motivated right now, but if I weren’t, I’d probably be really pissed off.”  

It’s hard to be around people that eat the unhealthy foods we love and that we know are unhealthy. We all come across people who tempt us. It’s up to us to realize that they won’t change for us.  We have to change how we think about and deal with the situations we find ourselves in. Maybe it’s wearing a special bracelet or ring that will remind you of your goal.  Maybe it’s asking your loved one to not eat junk food and fast food in front of you. Maybe it’s not going to a happy hour because you know you won’t be able to control yourself. For me, my methods change depending on my focus.  When I’m really focused, nothing will tempt me.  That is how I am right now, and the reason I told him to go ahead and order the pizza. Before the pizza arrived, I felt a twinge of hunger and decided to go upstairs with my wine and chocolate to read before bed.  I was getting my (healthy) treat, he was getting his. While I would love for him to have the same health goals I do, I can not force it on him.  As I say on the motivation page, each person has to be ready. It has to come from within; a goal you truly want to achieve.  Only then will you find the sacrifices worthy.

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Filed under: Motivation |
Article tags: goal, Motivation, Rule of Three Diet, unsupportive

Posted: September 24th, 2007 under Motivation.
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I’m not sure why, but I’m up 2 pounds today.  This is the reason that you may not want to weigh in every day.  If something like this can discourage you or send you into an I’ve-already-failed-so-why-not-eat-that-brownie mood, then DO NOT weigh in every day.  This two pounds is either water weight, because I didn’t eat my 3rd snack, or the scale was wrong yesterday morning. No, I still haven’t gotten a new scale.  I was planning on going to the wineries today with my friends and had saved up 2.5 cheats for the occasion.  They all flaked on me, and I ended up at the In-Law’s for dinner.  My mother in law is one of the healthiest people I know, so I was not worried about eating there. I’m glad I had some cheats left though because she cooked ribs, baked french fries and cole slaw.  I needed to use one cheat because ribs are not a lean cut of meat.  I didn’t need to use cheats for the BBQ sauce or the cole slaw because they were sugar free.  The fries were baked with a bit of EVOO and spices.  I decided to use my last cheat and a half for the week on wine when I got home. (big smile)  

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Article tags: cheat, Mexican Bean Salad, Minestrone Soup, Rule of Three Diet, scale, weigh in

Posted: September 23rd, 2007 under Daily Journal.
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 I am happy as a clam today. I went to a wedding last night, and stayed on the diet.  Not only that, but I felt like I splurged and I was down this morning!  I’m down to 137#. Appetizers were served at 7:30, and I was so thankful there was a healthy option. I chose small pieces of tuna steak on slices of cucumber with a bit of wasabi sauce and ginger. The other option was sausage stuffed mushroom caps. I passed because sausage is full of fat. I had some champagne and red wine. Dinner wasn’t served until 9:15 (thank God for the appetizers) I was starving! I ate my salad, steak my and my husband’s asparagus, and passed on the cake.  I was planning on getting in some dancing, but it was so late already and I ended up with heartburn.  I woke up with a headache this morning (I think it was the champagne).  I didn’t make it to the gym because we got busy doing yard work.  I cleaned out the garage.  I took a much needed nap when the kids napped.  I’m happy that this diet has come so easy for me. 

I ended up not eating 3 snacks today because I had my breakfast so late, and I was not hungry enough to warrant a snack the rest of the day.  This is the first time I’m going off the diet.  I wonder if it will affect my weight?

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Article tags: happy, Mc Donald's, Rule of Three Diet, splurged, Wedding

Posted: September 22nd, 2007 under Daily Journal.
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