How does one develop an aversion to  food? Specifically, Halloween candy?  I really need to know.

I started out my day in the right mindset to leave the candy alone, but after lunch, my sweet-tooth hit me hard and I caved in to some chocolate eyeballs (shhhh! Don’t tell the kids; they came from their bags).

I tried to be good this Halloween. I even risked, and probably ruined, my neighborhood candy-giver reputation, and gave out Halloween shaped pretsels instead of candy (I won’t eat pretsels, and I would have eaten all the chocolate, so at least I had something left to give out!)

My memory lapsed a bit, and I didn’t anticipate the candy that the kiddos would bring home!  Now what!? My son is, (in this case) conveniently allergic to peanuts. Do you know what candies have peanuts?  All the good ones!  Reeces, Peanut M&M’s, Snickers. I’m sure there is a lot more, but that’s all he brought home.  And somehow, my daughter brought home different, and equally as good, chocolates than he did. (I could care less about the pure-sugar candies….I WANT CHOCOLATE!!!)

The kids leave their candy bags around the house and the chocolate is silently shouting out to me, “Come eaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat meeeeeeeeee!!!”

Grr! Go Away!  I guess I should mention that my kids are 2 and 4. There is no way that they could eat all that candy, or would notice if, say, half of it went missing!

Maybe I should think of it like I’m stealing *food* out of the mouths of my children. I don’t like filling them up with sugar, and I want to throw it all away or just let them have one a day. I try to set a good example for them, but part of me reverts to my fun childhood memories of Halloween and says, “What the hell? Let them eat it all until their stomachs hurt!”

What do you do with Halloween candy in your house?

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Article tags: chocolate, food aversion, Halloween candy, Rule of Three Diet

Posted: November 1st, 2007 under Motivation.
Comments: 2

I can’t hold it back anymore. What is it with older ladies thinking they need to ”dress to impress” at the gym?  About a month ago, I wanted to blog about somone I saw in my gym, but didn’t feel I had enough content to have a blog post. Then today, there was another one, so now, I have twice as much to say. ha! 

A month ago: Here I am, minding my own business on the treadmill. On the machines next to me were two women running and chatting (I was impressed. I sure can’t talk and run). Then it happened. A horrendous sight imposed upon us. Strolling in front of us was a woman in her late-fifties. Her frizzy hair was a disaster, but I guess that didn’t matter because it was obvious she was trying to draw attention, um, elsewhere.  She had large implants (D’s?) without a bra! Just a thin grey shirt. Please people! I’m all for implants if you want them, but wear a bra at the gym! No one wants to see grandma with her highbeams on! All three of us on the treadmills had to pick our jaws up off the floor. We looked at each other to be sure we were indeed seeing the atrocity in front of us. One of the women made a loud comment and we all snickered. I felt like I was in high school. I wonder if ‘boob-grandma’ heard her as I haven’t seen her in the gym since. 

Today: Another woman. In her fourties. Spandex capris and a sports bra.  I think I counted 3 ab rolls and I didn’t want to try to count the dimples when she turned around. Ew.

My assessment: I am a self admitted fashion amateur, but I do know that women should always wear a sports bra at the gym. And I know that if you can count belly rolls or leg dimples you should wear shirts and pants, respectively. 

Excuse me. I’m going to go throw up.

food journal Read more »

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Article tags: ab rolls, appropriate gym attire, fake boobs, fashion, Rule of Three Diet

Posted: October 22nd, 2007 under Daily Journal, Motivation.
Comments: 7

We had the opportunity to see Body Worlds 3 this weekend. The exhibit envoked a range of emotions from me: facination, somberness, wonderment and repugnance to name a few. I had tears in my eyes when I visited the fetal development room. Had I ever lost a child, I would not have been able to enter that room. It was amazing to see an 8 week old fetus having eyes and fingers. Eight weeks is usually the time when one finds out she is pregnant. There is no room for argument that I was looking at a tiny human being. I do not want to get into a debate, I’m just reporting what I saw.

Going through the exhibit, you see muscles and tendons, skin and arteries. I found myself wondering if these people had been fit or fat when they were alive, as there was no way to tell because all fat had been removed. I hoped we’d be able to see an example of what a fat person looked like on the inside; just what does fat do to your insides and how unhealthy is it? I was in luck because there was a cross section of a 300 pound man. You could tell by the cross section that his stomach hung very low. The cross section was mostly white (fat cells). All of his organs were compressed, his heart taking the biggest beating (pun intended) because it had to work doubly hard to keep this man alive.  It gave me new inspiration to be healthy.

read more about the Opening Night of Body Worlds 3 here Read more »

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Article tags: 300 pound man, black tie event, Body Worlds, Catering St. Louis, fat, St. Louis Science Center

Posted: October 21st, 2007 under Motivation.
Comments: 2

 (No this is not me, although, it very well could be! Damn, we look alike!)

What do you think about my posting every day? I know I miss it when I don’t post.  Sorry, Eric Kintz, I don’t mean to hog the internet, but I feel I do better on my diet when I post. This is where I write my daily food journal. This is where I reveal that I am a real person who struggles with diet as much as the next guy. This is where I keep my motivation, and try to get help from others when my motivation is down, like it was this weekend:

This weekend was my son’s 4th birthday party.
What I planned: I planned on being good. I planned on using all 3 cheats on 2 pieces of pizza and one piece of cake. When I used one of my cheats on chips earlier in the week, I knew that I would have to settle on only one piece of pizza. And as I had already used all 3 alcoholic drinks, I knew I wouldn’t be drinking the rest of the week.
What actually happened: I DON’T KNOW! The pizza came, and I ate 3 pieces, then had my cake (double icing) and then I started in on the wine (3 glasses).
What happened next: We went fishing the next day. I ate fairly healthy during the day (as always), but was so tired when I got home I didn’t feel like cooking. I ate half a veggie pizza, 2 breadsticks, and I munched on chips & dip before the pie came. Wine? 3.

I am depressed. I feel dumb. The ONLY reason I haven’t posted before now is because I am afraid of what you (my invisible audience) might think. I feel like I should be the perfect model for this diet so you know it works and that it’s easy. These setbacks do not go along with my master plan (insert evil laugh: mwah haaa haaaa!)  So far I am only 50% successful (in weeks, measured) and let me tell you; Failing sucks. In fact, I celebrated that fact tonight with a whole (mini) loaf of whole grain bread and a whole bottle of wine.

Help me.

food journal Read more »

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Article tags: , depressed, diet struggle, failing, food journal, healthy diet, Motivation, pizza

Posted: October 15th, 2007 under Daily Journal, Motivation.
Comments: 2

 I got new Asics this weekend.  It seems that’s what I needed to re-motivate. Something to excite me back into the gym. That, or the fact that Monday is the start of my diet week, and I could start with a clean slate today. I’ve had my week-and-2-weekends ’off’ and I’m not proud of it. Yes, I did enjoy good food and drink, but I feel I could’ve done that with healthy foods instead of chips and pizza.  I thought (and posted) several times that I was over my indulgences, but I was apparantly trying to convince myself instead of actually being over it. So I’m not lying to you (or myself) this time when I say, I’m back.

My husband tried to stop me from eating chips on Saturday. I told him, “I’m starting over on Monday.”  That’s been my M.O. with dieting. Once I’ve messed up for the day, week or month, I roll myself into an avalanche of excuses and end up feeling broken with a mountain to re-climb. I used to run a Diet Challenge with a bunch of my friends. We’d diet for a month at a time, comparing BMI (body mass index) Points lost at the end of the month. We’d stop a day or two before month-end, so we could get together for a reward dinner where the losing team bought dinner for the winners. Every month, I’d go off my diet at that dinner, and the next day or so until the Diet Challenge started again the first of the month. I would have gained some weight in those few days, making my starting BMI a bit higher, which would then be easy to lose and I’d help my team. I quit running the challenge because I got tired of tricking myself and I was steadily gaining weight.

I think if I can figure out how to stay motivated all the time, I would be set. Duh. I put the 3 Cheats into The Rule of Three Diet to keep me from going off track, but apparently, that hasn’t worked for me yet. I am going to make myself use my cheats on food this month, and not wine. Maybe that will help keep me on track by allowing small treats throughout the week, instead of ending up feeling so deprived that I take another full week off.

If any of you have any suggestions for how you stay motivated, I’d love to read them! Please add a comment.

click here to view my daily food log from the weekend Read more »

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Article tags: Asics, BMI, Body Mass Index, cheats, Motivation, Rule of Three Diet, shoes

Posted: October 8th, 2007 under Daily Journal, Motivation.
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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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Article tags: , Brownie, Motivation, Pep Talk, Rule of Three Diet

Posted: September 30th, 2007 under Daily Journal, Motivation.
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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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Article tags: goal, Motivation, Rule of Three Diet, unsupportive

Posted: September 24th, 2007 under Motivation.
Comments: 2