Use Your Tools- Food Journals

Hey Y'All Divas. I'm down 6.8 pounds so far!!!!! Wooo Hoooo!!!!

I must admit using tools to help and having a plan sure does relieve some of the anxiety and stress that go with trying to lose weight. So far we've had several discussions that have worked to lay some sort of foundation.

We've been doing a lot of home remodeling recently so I'm probably going to sound more like a contractor here when I start going on and on about tools. You can't build a house if you don't have any tools. Just think....how can we get the 2x4's to even stand up if we don't have a hammer? Well the same goes for trying to lose weight. We need a plan just like a builder needs blueprints. The plan tells us what to do, which tools to use and when.

One of my favorite tools is the food journal. I read a very good article in Good Housekeeping online over the weekend. Here is the link http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/advice/food-diary-diet-success

It states that most people who don't journal until the end of the day or not all, but just by recall, are missing up to 38% of their calories consumed. This can put you waaaayyyyy off course and delay your progress greatly. It would be like taking one step forwards and 1/2 step back every day. It will take you soooooo much longer to get where you are going if you are not completely accurate in your journaling. One of my favorite sayings is, "If you bite it, you write it." This is true. Also ladies.... let's be honest here, some us live in a whip cream bowl filled with denial. IF YOU BITE IT, YOU WRITE IT!!!!! YES that means if you eat 3 peanuts at Texas Roadhouse, you write it. YES if you finish your 3 yr old's orange juice box, you write it. YES if you eat one of your kid's chicken nuggets because you felt bad throwing it in the trash when they were done, you write it! Yes you write down everything.

I know this seems cumbersome having to carry around a journal and write EVERY L-I-T-T-L-E thing you pop into your mouth but hey...if that's what it takes for us to finally achieve success then I'm all for it. Especially with all the cool and neat little toys out there to help us. If you can afford it Divas I highly recommend treating yourself to an i-Phone. There are dozens of applications out there for the i-Phone that can help you journal. They range from simple journals to Weight Watchers and other online services that sync up with your phone and allow you online access as well.

My personal favorite is "Food Scanner" and "Daily Burn". You can get them through the i-tunes store. They both work hand in hand on the i-Phone and all you have to do when preparing foods or eating is use your camera and scan the bar code on the package. Then wha-la (choirs of angels singing), your phone pops ups with all the nutritional info you need to record accurately. If the food you eat does not have a bar code such as an apple, then you can just look up the food by doing a search on the phone and it will pull it up. It's AWESOME!!!!! I just love, love, love my i-Phone.

Anyways.....I'll try to keep this one short today. The article in Good Housekeeping was great, tools are AWESOME, i-Phone are Heaven Sent. Now go build yourself a new body and do it right!!! Remember.... IF YOU BITE IT, YOU WRITE IT!!!!

Happy Journaling ladies.

Offsetting A Bad Food Day With Exercise and Water

Thursday was a strange day Divas~ One of those days I'm sure we'll all go through at some point or another. My monthly visitor is almost here and I have been CRAVING something sweet. So..... the sweets monster came out and all reason went out the window. My will power totally broke into a million pieces. No amount of prayers were going to save me. I CAVED. I had about a 600 calorie binge. OMG!!!!!!

What's worse (and lesson learned here). I did not use my tools properly. Usually I keep my iPhone handy and use it to journal my food by getting onto the Internet and using www.calorieking.com. (It helps me make better choices). But NOT TODAY!!!!! Did you know that the Subway Tuna 12" sub has almost 1000 calories? OH HELL NO!!! I did NOT just suck down almost 1600 calories in one sitting for lunch. Not to mention I still had dinner to go and I already had breakfast.

So thank goodness housework was in my plan today. (It burns as much calories as walking at a steady pace). I deep cleaned for 3 hours and then hit a Zumba class. And I drank lots of water. At the end of the day, when all was said and done I consumed about 2800 calories but surprisingly, I burned about 4000 STILL leaving a deficit of over 1000 calories so I made my goal anyways. The Heavens were smiling down on me and they have been watching over me so I have to give thanks for that at the very least.

Here are the fine points of today's lessons learned, if you gotta binge and you just can't resist, then a) do it in the morning so you got all day to burn burn burn or correct b) exercise MORE to offset the calories already consumed c) pick exercises that you know will burn more cal/hr. d)drink lots of water e)watch the rest of the calories for the day by using your tools, know what's going in instead of figuring it all out later. You might be pleasantly surprised in the end. I know I was when I stepped on the scale. I still lost weight when I got back on the scale. Woooo Hooo!!!!

Top 10 Reasons to Lose Half of Me

Hey Divas. I thought it would be a fun exercise to make a list of the top 10 reasons why it would be good, nice, fun, whatever to lose half of me. Then.... on those hard days when we're feeling tired, sore, lazy, self loathing and all those other excuses we use to not get up and do what we KNOW we need to do.... I'll have this nice little list to refer to, which I shall post on my refrigerator door near my scale. Deep breath.... here goes.

1. It will be a good example for my daughter to be healthier.
2. My feet, knees, back and other parts won't hurt as much.
3. My long term health costs will be lower and I will save $$$$.
4. I'll hopefully live a longer, fuller life.
5. It's a lot more fun to play in the game than to sit on the side and watch.
6. I'll fit into smaller places, more comfortably, like planes, movies, bathrooms.
7. I'll be able to reach my unreachable parts and see unseeable parts.
8. Better sex, better sex, more sex...get the idea? LOL
9. Let's face it, shopping, shopping and more shopping.
10.I will become more employable and strangers will treat me differently.

I know some of these are cheezy, but hey the list is actually a lot longer than this, but these were the top 10. Make your list today and refer to it often so that you can always remind yourself of why you are taking this journey.

Have a beautiful day.