(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.

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Filed under: Daily Journal, Motivation |
Article tags: , depressed, diet struggle, failing, food journal, healthy diet, Motivation, pizza

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

 Success! I did my Yo-Yo Workout at the Gym today. I ran my top speed for the entire 3 minutes! I have been trying to do this for a few weeks, and would only last about a minute, and need to reduce my speed to finish out the 3 minute running block. Now my goal is to do this for a few more weeks until it becomes comfortable, and then I’ll up my starting speed, thus increasing my top speed. The machine I used did not let me enter my weight and age, so I don’t know how accurate this count is, but it said I burned 400 calories in 30 minutes! I think that’s pretty good, considering magazines like Shape give you half hour workouts to burn about 250 calories.

I was reading my Wellness magazine today, and came across an article titled Melt the Last 10 Pounds. I love getting little tips like this, but I particularly liked #6:

6. GO FOR THE CALORIE BURN
Have you been heeding the advice that longer, lower-intensity exercise bouts maximize fat burning? That may be why the scale isn’t moving for you. While it’s true that the percentage of calories from fat that you burn does decrease as you up your exercise intensity, when you’re trying to lose weight, you want to burn as many calories as you can, whether from fat or carbohydrates. If you double your exercise intensity, you double the rate at which you burn calories – both fat and carbs. Add an incline to your treadmill workouts or notch up the intensity on your workout machine of choice.

 This goes along with what I said in my Diet Tips and Strategies Page (the 3rd one):

When you work out, try to work out hard! The harder you work out, the better it is for your body. Hey, you’re there anyway, you might as well get the most out of your time.  Don’t let that overwhelm you though, just walking and breaking a sweat is better than nothing at all, so get moving!

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Article tags: Burning Calories, Diet Tips, Motivation, Rule of Three Diet, Shape, Wellness

Posted: October 10th, 2007 under Daily Journal, My Favorite Workouts, Strategy.
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 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.

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

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