Hello, Friends!
I know, I know, it's been WAY too long since my last blog. So, to make it up to my loyal readers, today I am going to give you a 2-fer.
I recently was cast as the female lead in a musical called "tick,tick, BOOM". I am very excited! My character is the girlfriend of the lead character, is smart, is vulnerable and is...a professional dancer??? RUT Roh, time to lose a couple of pounds. And, I need to do it in...3 weeks. Sigh.
Now, every nutritionist worth their weight in salt will tell you the same two things as basic principles to weight loss and healthy living; you need to burn more calories than you take in and you need to keep a food journal to keep track of what you are eating. Now, I am lazy and forgetful when it comes to things like this, and really, nothing puts people off like pulling out a spiral notebook and jotting down everything you eat in the middle of a nice lunch. I am also not very disciplined. However, the principle of "calories burned must exceed calories consumed" is a tried and true fact and really the only way to lose weight. So, how do I keep track of the food I consume, so I can lose a bit of weight by the time I need to and not alienate my friends in the process? Then, I had an ah-ha moment. I can use my cell phone.
Most of us ALWAYS have our phones on us and feel a bit out of sorts when we live it behind. So, why not use that electronic tether to get sexy? I do not have a smart phone (yet) and so don't have any of those spiffy apps that track your food and count your calories for you. If you do have a smart phone, and can download these apps, then go for it. I, however, do it the old school way. Whenever I would have a candy bar, soda, any snacks or any meals, I would snap a picture of it. I do that all day. At the end of the day, I plug my info into a free website called sparkpeople.com. You can search for what you ate in the data base of sparkpeople.com and they USUALLY have all of the nutritional info for whatever food you have consumed. I have a habit of "treating" myself for every little thing I have done that day or may still do. Did I have a bad day? I deserve a treat. Did I finally tackle that mountain of laundry? I deserve a treat. Did I continuously breath in and out all day long? I deserve a treat. When I looked back at the pics I had kept for one day, I was shocked. In one day alone I had consumed 2 Marie Calendar's frozen chicken pot pies, a packet of Ding Dongs, a Taco Bell 5 layer burrito, an order of cinnamon twists, a packet of Twix candy and a whole 2 liter of diet DR. Pepper. Yes, I would have loved to have ignored all of this information, but there it was just staring me in the face!
The benefit of keeping track of your food this way is you are able to realistically see where your strengths and weaknesses are. Also, it's quick and easy, as long as you actually look at the info at the end of the day. A lot of Americans live in blissful denial about the amounts and types of food we eat. Our portions in America are HUGE and we eat them because we can. A lot of use were also taught not to waste food. I had no idea at the end of the day I had consumed not only Ding Dongs, but cinnamon twists and Twix as well!!! That's a crazy amount of sugar and carbs! Not to mention the complete lack of any fruits or veggies.
So, here are a few tips and trick I have learned that have actually helped me lose weight, and I think can help you, too! No diet required.
1. Take a pic with your cell phone of everything you eat in a day, then at the end of the day document it somehow (my favorite way is sparkpeople.com). Try that for a week. You will be surprised at what you find out about your eating habits.
2. Restaurants in America give HUGE portions. If we continually eat large portions, this stretches our stomachs and makes that much food feel normal. That's why, when you diet and eat smaller portions, you feel like you are starving for the first few days. Here's a little tip. Try sharing your food with other people, tapas style. You will get to taste lots of yummy food, but you can control the amount of each item you consume. Or, try only eating half of what you order yourself and saving the rest for later. If you really can't do that, then ask your server to put half of whatever you order in a "to go" box before it ever reaches the table. That way, it's out of sight and out of mind. Eat the rest of your meal for dinner or bring it home to someone you love. That way, everyone wins.
3. Learn what an actual portion size is. Sometimes, we scarf down a frozen entree thinking it's not too bad, when really the entree was actually 2 portions so you need to double all nutritional info on the box. Yikes!
4. Know that, whenever you change you eating habits, you body will not like it at first. You will feel odd. But, that goes both ways. If you eat really well, and then suddenly devour a huge slice of chocolate cake, your body won't like that either and you will feel sick.
5. Baby steps. I am addicted to diet soda and have been for years. Instead of going cold turkey, I am now down to one a day (except on holidays, and by one I mean a small bottle, not a can). Yes, it's still bad for me, but I am proud of the progress I have made because i know how severe my addiction is.
6. Don't be so hard on yourself. If you simply had to have the amazing homestyle mac and cheese a certain restaurant is known for, enjoy it. Don't beat yourself up about it. But, don't spend the rest of the day binging because you screwed up in one meal. Just do better at the next one. Have some chicken or fish and some veggies. Make your next meal protein centric and very clean. See? No harm done.
7. Everybody self sabotages once in a while. Just don't do it.
8. It's been said before and I'll say it again. Water, water, water. I personally don't really like water, so I use Crystal Light to spice it up a little. Crystal Light, however, contains aspartame, so if you have an issue with that, try some sliced cucumbers, some lemon or try my recipe for skinny water.
9. Try the rule of 2 out of 3. If you are faced with a choice of bread, dessert and alcohol, have only 2 items and skip the 3rd. So, have either the bread and the dessert, the alcohol and the bread, the alcohol and the desert, etc.
Just try these few rules for a week or two and see if it doesn't change your life. Take control and thrive!
Warmth and Peace,
The Thrift Store Barbie
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