Chicken Soup for the Dieter's Soul (12 page)

Keep a chart.
Post a chart in the bathroom on your mirror with all of your vital statistics: date, weight, and measurements of your chest, waist, hips, thighs and upper arms. Update it at the same time each week. If you are ALMOST a certain weight or size, write down the higher one to keep you on your path.

Set realistic goals.
On your weight/measurement chart, write down your goals. How much is your ideal weight? What is the halfway point? What weight will you be when you’ve lost one-fourth of the target weight? Highlight the weeks when you reach these goals.

Reward yourself!
When you reach each goal, give yourself a present. Buy something great, sized just a bit small. Make sure you love it so you’ll want to fit into it. Hang it where you see it every single day. Keep trying it on. Do not wear it until it fits perfectly. The rewards will help keep you on the right track. And tell your support teamabout them, sowhen they see this reward, they’ll know you are seeing success.

Learn how your body works and help it.
If you know that soda stimulates your hunger, don’t drink it, and by all means, get rid of any you have in the house. If you know that something fills you more than something else, take advantage of it. If you know you must be active, then be very active. Learn what makes your body tick, and help it tick faster.

Change how you look.
Sometimes a new look can help your body feel weight-loss worthy. Change your hairstyle or hair color. When people notice the change, they will also see how much weight you have lost. It’s natural for people to reward you with compliments. These compliments will keep you motivated. Having fabulous posture helps you look thinner and helps you tighten muscles. Slouching only makes you look round and fat and sloppy.

Keep a journal.
Write down what you eat and when. Then when you see changes, you can analyze why you lost or did not lose weight. Write down how you feel from day to day. Were you tired? Did you feel energetic? Did you break your diet? Did you feel hunger? Did something happen to trigger a bad habit? Besides having a place to vent, it gives you something to do besides going into the kitchen to find something to eat.

Exercise a lot.
You have heard this before, and if it were not true, it would not be mentioned as much. Exercise makes the weight come off faster, and it helps keep it off once you have lost it. Exercise can be as simple as turning the slow walk with your dog into a brisk walk with your dog.

Photograph yourself as you go.
Post the pictures around your home so you and others can see where you were. A mirror is often deceiving, but pictures do not lie. Plus, you’ll have a record of your hard work when you reach each goal, especially your final goal.

Flaunt it.
Wiggle your stuff. Strut. Feel proud. Let the world know how good you feel by how you move your body.

Felice Prager

Raspberries & Cream Soy Smoothie

M
AKES
2
SERVINGS
E
ACH SERVING
: 0
GRAMS SATURATED FAT

1 cup soy milk or low-fat milk

8 ounces silken tofu (or 1.2 package of Nasoya Silken Tofu)

1½ cups frozen raspberries, semithawed

3 tablespoons ground flaxseeds

2–3 packets Splenda sugar substitute

1 teaspoon pure almond extract

Toss all of the ingredients into a blender and whip until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.

Reprinted from
The Gold Coast Cure.
©2005 Andrew Larson,M.D., Ivy Ingram Larson. Health Communications, Inc.

3
NO PAIN . . .
NO GAIN

S
uccess consists of getting up just one more time
than you fall.

Oliver Goldsmith

Slow and Steady

A
pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;
an optimist sees the opportunity in every
difficulty.

SirWinston Churchill

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” my doctor said, poring over my chart, “but you know about those warning signs for stroke and heart attack?Well, you have them all.” In that moment, my life changed. I had avoided going to a doctor for years for just this reason. I was afraid to hear these very words. Now I had finally found the courage, and I was forced to face my worst fears.

Don’t get me wrong. I knew there had to be problems. I was clearly overweight. I had been taking medication for high blood pressure for years. I was smoking and eating every bit of junk food I could lay my hands on. I was fifty-four years old when it caught up with me.

I could have received the doctor’s verdict as a death sentence. Instead, I took it as a challenge. There I was, already faced with the weight and blood pressure issues, and now I had high cholesterol and borderline diabetes to deal with as well. Some changes had to be made immediately.

I started thinking about things that I needed to stop doing. Smoking was first. That stupid habit, always more of a social thing for me, was finished. The diabetes demanded that sugar had to go. That was a problem. I had always loved my sweets, and I still do. I could cut down on my fat intake, including red meat, and maybe give up white flour in the bread I loved so much. Some exercise wouldn’t hurt, and perhaps a vegetable now and then would do me some good. I hated all green food.

I had tried the various popular diets. I’d done Scarsdale, Atkins and Nutri-System. They all worked, in that I lost a lot of weight on each one of them, but I gained it all back. It was clear to me that a diet wasn’t what I needed. I needed to change the way I thought about my life in general, and my eating habits in particular.

I’ve been around long enough to know myself pretty well. I know that if I deprive myself of all of the things I love, I will quickly revert to form. I had to find a solution that would help me regain my health while still allowing me to enjoy one of my great passions, eating. It was a short drive from the doctor’s office to my home. By the time I got there, I had a plan.

My plan was not low-carb. I’d done that, lost some weight and become bored. It was low-fat. That just made sense to me. It began with oatmeal topped with one half of a banana in the morning, followed by about thirty minutes of exercise. I knew that if I made the exercise routine too strenuous right off the bat I would find excuses. I needed something I would be willing to do every day. I created a little routine that involved yoga and some work with an exercise ball. Though it had some difficult features, most of the workout was about stretching. In other words, it made me feel good.

I ate a lot of chicken and turkey. I grilled some salmon once or twice a week. I filled the vegetable requirement with lots of salads that included raw vegetables. I stayed away from white bread, though I did supplement my meals with a snack of a wheat bagel now and then. I switched from sandwiches to wraps, and only wheat wraps at that. If I had tuna, I mixed it with some good olive oil instead of mayo. I tried to stay away from salt to help with my blood pressure. I developed a sensible, healthful diet that I could live with.

I don’t have a scale in my house. The only way I know if I’m losing weight is by how my clothes fit, and after a couple of weeks on my new eating plan, and everyday exercise, my pants were already feeling looser around my waist. There is nothing like results to keep you on your path. If anything, my will to get healthy only intensified as the results became more apparent. I surprised myself by not only resisting temptation, but not even feeling it.

It’s been about six months now. As of my last doctor’s visit I had lost thirty-five pounds. I’m doing it slowly and healthily. My blood pressure is under control, my cholesterol has been cut in half and my blood sugar is close to normal. I still monitor all of these things very closely. I don’t smoke, and I exercise every day.

I know that I can’t go back to my old lifestyle. It’s not an option for me, so there’s no sense wasting time thinking about it. I feel good, and friends tell me that I look good, too. I’m not going to say that anyone can do this. In my case, it took a virtual death sentence to break me of a lifetime of bad habits. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could turn it all around now, before having to hear those dreaded words from your doctor?

The key, at least for me, is moderation. Crash diets have been proven time and again to be ineffective. I needed to create a plan for myself that I could live with. I know what’s good for me, and what’s not. I go slow. I enjoy the way a deep stretch feels in the morning. I challenge myself and then exceed my expectations.

Ken Shane

Thin! Nine Years . . . and Counting!

I
’m not overweight. I’m just nine inches too
short.

ShelleyWinters

There were no fat shirts available to hide the 200-plus pounds overloading my 5’1” frame. Life had happened— pregnancy, middle age, bagels and burritos. Everyone said I carried it well, but it’s impossible to carry 100 excess pounds “well.”

I knew the weight had to go. My health was not good, and it was time for commitment. I had tried every weight-loss program known to womankind, plus a few I invented myself. Clothing-covered relics hid in my basement— workout machines promising miracles, all unfulfilled.

I had everything to lose—100 pounds, literally! A friend was losing weight on a low-carb plan, so I headed to my local bookstore, settled into one of their comfy chairs and read everything I could find about low-carb dieting. It was time for action!

At the grocery store, I became a compulsive label reader, taking notes and memorizing the carb counts of my favorite foods. I was astounded to find that I was regularly eating in excess of 300 grams of carbohydrates per day! No wonder there was too much me! Following the plan’s guidelines, I tabulated how many grams of carbohydrate I could eat in a day and made my food choices, being careful to include as many food groups as possible. The more I learned, the more food choices I included, loading up on veggies and low-carb fruits. About a month into this adventure, the comments began, “You’re losing weight! Congratulations!”

I was on the way to a much thinner, healthier and happier me, but I did not become overweight overnight and could not expect to become thin quickly. It took over two years to lose 100 pounds. However, nine years into this lifestyle, the weight has not returned. My weight varies three to five pounds, one way or the other, and I wear size 6–8–10, depending on the cut of the clothing. Size 22–24 is gone forever! At a youthful fifty-four, I look like I did in my twenties, plus a few wrinkles!

This is a lifestyle change, nothing less. Lifelong weight loss requires long-term decision making. To succeed, I had to change how, what and why I ate. I had to decide what was more important—improved long-term physical and emotional health or indulging my craving for cherry pie. Instant gratification and emotional eating were contributory factors to my largesse. I finally decided I was more important than what I ate.

I approached this life change one day at a time, one meal at a time, one bite at a time, keeping in my mind’s eye a thinner, healthier me. By breaking the process into small, manageable decisions, I wasn’t overwhelmed by the enormity of losing 100 pounds. All I had to decide was what to do with this one bite. I plannedmy eating, especially in the early stages. I wrote down everything I ate, which brought awareness of the actual amount I ate, and I was shocked.

When eating out, I have a choice of two or three meals. I eat chicken frequently. I also love pork and fish. These foods, accompanied by a salad and veggies, are low-carb, delicious and I don’t feel deprived. Because the protein I eat keeps me satisfied, portion control is managed well, and I rarely eat a complete meal. The three hot wings remaining on my plate will be a snack later. I never count calories, as I automatically eat less. I eat breakfast and often find it is midafternoon before I am hungry.

During my transformation I realized that the social aspects of eating are just as, or more, important than what I am eating. When my friends and I eat together, we laugh and share our lives. Mashed potatoes and gravy have taken a back seat to enjoying my friendships.

Those late-night cravings still strike, but I have predetermined foods ready to eat. Sugar-free chocolate pudding made with half-and-half, covered with whipped topping, is especially yummy at 10:00 PM. So is low-carb yogurt on low-carb cereal. Not only is this delicious, it is crunchy. You can snack—you just have to plan ahead.

When shopping, I don’t stray from my route. I buy what I can eat and leave. Not only is my shopping accomplished quickly, there is very little impulse buying. On the perimeter of the store I find my dairy, veggies, fruit and meat. My only forays into the aisles are for salad dressings, sugar-free puddings, some Jell-O, or tea and coffee.

I’ve learned being patient with myself is vital to my success, as is having achievable expectations. It took more than forty-five years to reach my highest weight, and I had to be realistic about how long it would take to reach my goal. I also had to accept how I would look when my goal was reached. I have a medium bone structure—I will never be as small as my best friend, who is very small-boned. Sharman is the right size for her bones, and I am the right size for mine. Some things we have no control over. We keep each other on track and have made a lifelong commitment to this plan and promised to encourage, as well as chastise, each other, when necessary. We exercise together frequently, walking and sharing where we are with our eating and exercise. Accountability is a good thing.