Many of us living in the northeast aren’t equipped with central air, so when the heat reaches the high 90′s many of us just can’t function. I will never understand those who say “the hotter the better”. I can’t stand the heat and find that I am very unproductive when it hits. Read more »

I have to admit that  I haven’t been trying to lose weight in weeks. I had been planning to start the Flat Belly Diet the day after Memorial Day but had no time to sit and read the book ( I have since been reading some every day and have started stocking up on foods to start on Monday).  Still, even without committing to any diet, I was shocked to see that I am down two pounds; which means maybe losing weight without trying is not so difficult.

Last week, after I blogged about another interesting diet called the  Cheat Your Way Thin diet (a plan that has cheating built into the plan) I started to think about the time that I lost a large amount of weight back in my early 20′s. Sure, I was younger and had a pretty active job but I remember people asking me how I did it. one thing that I do remember was cheating alot but also getting right back on my diet.

In a  way, that is what I have been doing these last few weeks.  Sure I am older now and a lot less active but just making one change has made a difference-not eating out of boredom every night. Instead, I have been busy with some projects both online and offline and right around the time I start to think about having a midnight snack is around the time that I start to doze off on the couch.

The truth is, many nights when I am eating a large bowl of ice cream that easily surpasses 500 calories I wasn’t really hungry in the first place. instead, I ate out of boredom, however, keeping myself busy at night has cured that. Am I eating perfectly? Far from it. I have to be committed to not only weight loss but a healthy lifestyle change. However, I guess it does go to show that maybe you can lose weight without trying if you keep yourself occupied with other things.

In case you haven’t noticed I am a diet book junkie. If you were to peak on my shelf you would see a few dozen diet books that I have purchased over the last few years. This doesn’t count the ones that I find at the library (I always look there first to save money) or the ones that are either packed away or given away.  So yesterday I found myself in the diet section of Barnes and Noble and ended up buying the Flat Belly Diet by Liz Vaccariello.

This is not the first time I have heard of the Flat Belly Diet. I did give it a half hearted try when I read about it in Prevention magazine a few years ago (2008 I think). The cover on the book promises that not one single crunch is required  but that isn’t why I bought the book. I do remember that I liked the foods being offered, I like that you can have up to 1600 calories a day and the diet does focus on eating healthy. This is where I also heard the term Mufas (monounsaturated fatty acids) which are supposed to help target belly fat. Mufas can be found in foods such as  olives and olive oil, avocados, nuts and my favorite, dark chocolate!

There are a few things that I recall not really liking about the program. One is, you eat 4 times a day which, for someone who likes to snack is kind of difficult. Another thing is each meal is 400 calories. Now that sounds very doable except I remember struggling to eat just 400 calories at dinner. Still, if I give it a chance maybe I will be use to eating and being satisfied on less for dinner. Also, I will probably break that rule on occasion by eating a little less during the day to allow myself a bigger dinner.

Now of course I probably shouldn’t start breaking rules before I even get started. However, with any diet I think it is sometimes necessary to modify it if that is what it takes to stay on it. Back when I first joined Weight Watchers I remember that I didn’t always follow the rules exactly but I did lose.  After all, I would rather break a rule once in a while then just give up.

In case anyone wonders about my candy bar diet, I think it could have worked but I was feeling a bit guilty eating all that sugar. I know that for me, I need to watch my sugar and carbohydrate intake a little better than that, meaning a 300 calorie candy bar should be an occasional treat, not something that I indulge in every day.

I will be officially starting the Flat Belly Diet on Monday, which should give me plenty of time to read the book and stock my fridge. And I haven’t weighed in lately either so I am a bit nervous to see what the scale brings. In the meantime I will try to get a few more smoothie recipes posted over the next few days.

It has been about ten years since I went to a local Weight Watchers meetings but one thing that I remember my leader always saying: “no matter what you eat, you need to write it down”.  That’s why I am going to get more strict about keeping track of my weight loss with a daily weight loss journal of my own.

Of course, my intention was to always post everything that I eat on my blog, which I do on occasion but sometimes real life gets in the way and I am unable to blog more than once a week.  I also find that  since I haven’ t been really strict about counting calories or points  each day I tend to either underestimate or forgot something that I may have eaten.

Anyone who has been on the weight loss roller coaster for a while knows that after a while you pretty much know either the calorie or point values of most food, thus, figuring it up in your head is a no brainer. However, when we get away from measuring or keeping a weight loss journal, after a while the portions start getting bigger and we are back to where we started from.

There are some really good weight loss journals available online but for me, I am going to use my trusty tablet and start writing everything down. Not only will I keep track of calories but keep an eye on the saturated fats and sweets as well (no need to write down trans fats, I have eliminated those entirely).  Also, due to my insulin resistance I will keep an eye on my daily carbohydrate take and make sure that I don’t eat too many at one sitting.

Another thing that I am going to get strict about is weighing my portions.  One thing that I have been doing is measuring out 1/4 cup of almonds each day and nibbling them throughout the day. Almonds are very healthy but eat too many and it is easy to go over your daily calorie allotment.

So today I am going to buy myself a shiny new tablet to use as my daily weight loss journal and continue to post my menus here as well.

Yesterday I posted the question, what’s the best diet plan?  The answer to that question is going to depend on who you ask. For me, I had to find something that wasn’t too strict  yet focused on eating healthy foods most of the time.  I also wanted a plan that would benefit the host of health issues that I am concerned about such as high blood pressure, insulin resistance and high triglycerides just to name a few.

For me, I know that it is important to watch my carbohydrate intake and choose healthy carbs over simple carbs most of the time. When  I say healthy carbs, I am talking about the whole grains over processed foods and foods that are loaded with sugar.  I am also watching my intake of saturated fats, avoiding trans fats and trying my best to avoid processed foods.  I have increased my fruits and  vegetables and fiber and also try to incorporate heart healthy fat such as olive oil and almonds into my diet.  All of these thing are working but there is one thing that I am doing that may sound detrimental.

Most evenings  I have been allowing myself a full size candy bar. Right now I have full size snickers in my freezer as well as dark chocolate. And yes, eating full size means a lot of calories, not to mention sugar but the way I see it is this, I am trying so hard to choose healthy foods that I know are good for me and that will make me feel better so why not have one treat a day if it keeps me eating healthy most of the time? After all,  my days would normally consist of plenty of soda, chips, candy and tons of other processed foods so in my opinion, having a 300 calorie candy bar at the end of the day is fine since the rest of my days I have eaten really healthy and watched my portions.

If I am successful with this plan, I will most likely cut back on the candy over time. However, having a candy bar waiting for me at the end of the day seems to be just the thing that has kept me motivated. And although I haven’t been counting calories I have been watching portions and making smarter choices.

There are so many fad diets, in fact, I recently read a blog from a guy who planned to eat nothing but three king size snickers each day.  Will he lose weight? I am sure he will. However, besides that fact that he will most likely get sick of snickers  really fast,  eating nothing but one thing means your body is not getting what it needs like it does from eating a variety of healthy foods.

So anyway, I did sneak a peak at the scale again this morning and I am down 4 pounds in 5 days so I know that I am doing something right. Of course I don’t expect big loses like this every week but even a pound a week following a plan that I can live with is worth it.   I am just really determined to get it right this time.

What’s the best diet plan? I have been asking myself that question since I started this blog nine months ago at 204.5 pounds. On April 19 I weighed in at 206 so obviously what I have been doing is not working. I really thought that having a blog to document my progress was the key to success  but sadly, it didn’t turn out that way. However, this time I think I have finally got it. And today, four days  later and down to 203 pounds I really think that things have turned around.

If you go back to my oldest post you know that my health issues include my high risk of developing type 2 diabetes (I was diagnosed with insulin resistance a few years ago and had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant). I also have an insane amount of belly fat-not from getting older but because of genetics.  I also have high triglycerides and although my overall cholesterol under 200, my good cholesterol (HDL) is too low. Oh and did I mention my high blood pressure?

So this brings me back to the question, what’s the best diet? For me, it’s one that I can live with for the rest of my life. Over the years I have tried them all, Atkins (lasted a few days), The South Beach Diet, a diabetic diet plan designed for me after seeing a nutritionist, The Insulin Resistance Diet and of course, Weight Watchers.  With the exception of the Atkins Diet (no offense to those who follow this plan, this is just my own opinion) each of these diet plans is  pretty healthy and  has something valuable to offer yet I can’t seem to make any of them work for me.

About a month ago I bought The Belly Fat Cure by Jorge Cruise. The book looked promising for me and I could see where it could really help those of us who have health issues due to excess belly fat. Still, I found it to be a little too strict for me. For example, with my risk of type 2 diabetes I know that watching carbs is important but Jorge counts both sugar and carbs. Having no more than two carb servings per meal was pretty doable but I also had to stay under five grams of sugar per meal and less than 15 grams of sugar a day. And because all sugars are counted, even those in fruits and vegetables, I found it hard to stay under 5 grams at one sitting. Still, I picked up a lot of great tips.

I am currently reading You: On A Diet: The Owner’s Manual for Waist Management by Dr Mehmet Oz and Dr Michael Roizen, that I was lucky enough to get at my library. Actually I started to read this book a few years back but never finished it so this time I made the commitment.  I will admit, I am not doing everything that they suggest either but I have picked up a lot of good tips (such as eating a few almonds 20  minutes or so before dinner so that you will eat less).   Among other things, the authors  go into great detail about inflammation (internal) and how it can really do damage to your body. Eating the right foods can go far in preventing inflammation.

This post is really getting long winded so I will go ahead and post tomorrow about some of the changes I have made that is making a difference already. And even though losing three pounds isn’t a success story yet, the fact that I am able to stick with my diet  plan without feeling deprived and have already noticed an increase in energy  makes me feel as though I just may be on to something!

I don’t know why I don’t go to Sam’s Club very often,. After all, it is only about a ten minute drive.  I did make a trip there yesterday though and got plenty of yummy Weight Watchers friendly foods. Here are a few things I picked up:

Member’s Mark Spinach and Asiago Cheese Chicken Sausage: These are so good, I hope they never discontinue them. They are just 2 points each or 2 for 5 points. I usually treat myself to two, no bun. I also use them in some of my Weight Watchers recipes

Ground Turkey:  Great for meatloaf or anything that I would usually use ground beef for.

Tyson Chicken Tenderloins. I actually had these at my brother’s last week when we spent the night (got conned into pet sitting).  They are trimmed of fat and really easy to prepare. In fact, I baked them from frozen, drizzled with a little olive oil and seasonings and they were great. I plan to keep these on hand for quick dinners and chicken parmesan.

Fat free pudding. More for my son but at just 2 points each I am sure that I will eat them too.

12 pack of canned mushrooms.  I love mushrooms but never seem to have them on hand for recipes.

Two big jars of green olives-Gotta have my mufas! (Monounsaturated fatty acids)

Big bag of naval oranges. These things are huge so I may have to count them as 2 points each. I hope they taste as good as they look.

Big bag of California blend vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower and carrots).

Tonight I planned a low point dinner including the chicken sausages, steamed veggies and probably rice. However, we were just invited to dinner at my brother’s. I really wanted to stay home because I have more control when I cook for myself but that’s okay. It is always nice to have dinner and spend time with family .

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