Cravings

Well I have lost 27 pounds and thats what I had planned. But now I need to maintain and that is difficult for me during the winter months. I cannot stand working out in cold weather and so I have to rely on an indoor work out routine. I had planned on having my gym membership by now but I have not done that as of yet. And to make things even worst I have injured my leg doing exercises that I am not accustomed to. So I am focusing on maintaining my diet as my leg gets better.

Along these lines I was having a discussion with a friend of mine about dieting. As we talked I realize that we were having many of the same issues with dieting. We came to the conclusion that hunger was not the main problem with dieting. Cravings were giving both of us major problems. It was cravings that was causing the most of the set backs in our weight loss efforts. I think I will look more into this craving problem. I don’t think that I am the only one with major issues with craving. What do you crave; share them with me in the comments section.

Stress

This week has been chock-full of stressful events, even more than in the past couple of weeks. I haven’t lost any weight but I have managed not to gain any either. The stress related to several family crisis, getting my house ready to sell and traveling between Maryland and North Carolina on a weekly basis is making it difficult for me focus on sticking with the program. My weight loss plan does works for me when I stay true to it, but sticking with the plan is proving difficult. Even so I am determined to try to lose 10 more pounds before the end of the year. So far the benefits of my efforts have been a fitness level that has greatly improved.

Still I’ve got to better manage the stress that is resulting in the anxiety that I feel these days. I am finding out that maintaining a healthy lifestyle also means managing stress. People respond to stress in different ways. That response just like stress itself can be defined as either positive or negative. When it comes to stress it is not the situation but our reaction to it that causes anxiety. But stress well managed can be beneficial by strengthening you for future encounters. Here are a few tips I found to managing stress while on a diet that I plan to put into practice.

• Make a list of stressors in your life: these can be people or events.
• List your typical response: the food your reach for, in a response to stress.
• List alternate responses, other than food, to the stressors, for example:

1. Call a relative or friend
2. Take a nap
3. Take a hot shower
4. Go for a walk

Use the list whenever tempted to overeat.

Tough Going

It’s a conspiracy! I am finding that trying to lose weight this time of year is really tough. Everything seems to be working against me. First because of daylight savings time by the time I get home it’s dark. The shorter days mean even less daylight to exercise outside, and since I don’t currently have a gym membership it’s a struggle to exercise regularly. Then comes Thanksgiving! Food is everywhere and everyone is eating. It’s not hunger that’s giving me trouble---it’s the cravings for those foods that I love like sweet potato pie, stuffing and all those other deliciously fattening foods. These are just some of the problems I am facing. You probably have your own. They maybe like mine or totally different. The thing is we all run into situations that challenge us when we attempting something difficult. Just don’t give up.

Solution: We all face challenges and we all fall short at some point. Just remember, you haven’t failed until you give up. If you fall off your diet just start again. It is just that simple. Find a solution that works for you. How do you do that? Well you don’t have to be alone. You can start or join a support group. Getting together in a group you can help each other. If you're like me and the weather is keeping you indoors and you don’t have a gym membership, find some exercises you can do in the privacy of your own home. If food is your problem then take care about the food you have at home. Food that is close to you will eventually end up inside of you.

Check out my website (http://www.healthylivingboomerstyle.com) for lots of good information and resources to help you with exercise and nutrition. You can even get the herbal supplements there that I use in my diet. These are just a few of my ideas. You may have some of your own. But remember don’t be afraid to reach out to others for help.

A New Look at Fitness - Second Week

Second Week of my journal. It has been a month since I started my new diet that includes herbal dietary supplements. I have lost 18 pounds so far. The dietary supplements insure that I get the recommended daily nutritional requirements while reducing my caloric intake. Now in the interest of full disclosure I must admit that I am a Herbalife distributor. I became one because the weight loss program developed by Herbalife has worked for me. Dietary supplements are not necessary for a healthy diet nor for weight loss, but Herbalife makes it easier to get results. Herbalife is a well known company that has been around for 27 years and markets in 64 countries to over 45 million people. Check out my website if you want to know more about Herbalife. There, that completes the commercial portion of my journal. Now here’s what is happening with me and my weight loss program.

Knowing My Body. I said last week that part of my diet was getting to know my body and my eating habits. Indeed if you go to a doctor, physical trainer or nutritionist, one of the first things they will ask of you it to do is keep a record of when and how much food you eat for several days to a week. You will also be asked what is your goal. The reason is simple, before you can plan a healthier life style you need to know what habits you will need change. Remember I called this a journey, and in any journey you need to know your starting point (current eating habits) and destination (goals) before you can plan the trip (weight loss program). So I took note of what I was eating, when I was eating and how much I ate. The results surprised me. Since my career requires me to sit behind a desk all day I found I was eating a lot of unhealthy snacks (ie. pastries, chips, nuts cookies). Also my meals normally included too much bread and too little vegetables. And I was not eating breakfast nor drinking enough water. No wonder I was always tired.

My solution! I set up a diet of 5 meals a day plus herbal supplements. Two of those meals were Herbalife nutritional shakes two were snacks consisting of a high protein snack and/or fruit. The third was a well balanced meal of meat, vegetables, grains and dairy. Finally, I drank at least 50ml of water daily. This was easier than I thought, since I work at a desk all day I just placed a 1.5 liter bottle of water on my desk and sipped from it all day. The other part of my weight loss plan was an exercise routine that included a two-mile course, weight training and calisthenics. I did my exercise routine four times a week for an hour. I walked the two-miles until I was fit enough to run. That is how I lost 18 pounds and I am still losing weight and feeling great while doing it. Well that’s it for this week. Next time I’ll share the problems I faced and the ones I am still facing. Until then, tell me about your experiences.

A New Look at Fitness

When it comes to our weight it seems that many of us would rather believe that we have a medical problem before we admit to unhealthy eating habits. Among our favorite excuses are big bones, hormones or genetics. We think a healthy meal is simply eating meals of vegetables, fruit, bread and dairy with no consideration for volume or how the food is prepared. Americas have become hooked on volume. Eating everything on our plate no matter how much is acceptable, because after all it fits on one plate so it must be one serving, meant to be eaten by one person. Thus we take comfort in the assumtion we are eating healthy and our ballooning weight is the result of a medical condition and not related to our eating habits. But consider this:

• 65 percent of our adult population is defined as being overweight.

If you are like I was you are part of this not so exclusive overweight club. If we can draw anything from these statistics it is that we baby boomers are not concerned enough about our health. The question is what are YOU…correction…are WE going to doing about it.

Well the solution for me was exercise but exercise was only part of the battle, diet is the other part and my diet was terrible. I know this because my wife was constantly nagging me about it (thank God). So I figured if I was going to fix this I need to be educated about my body and nutrition. I have tried low carb diets, high protein diets, calorie counting and even (arrgh) diuretics. Then it hit me. A diet is a permanent way of eating, not a temporary change to lose weight. Therefore, I need a cuisine that is easy for me to prepare and helps me to control my body weight and to optimize my nutrient intake. What I really needed was to learn about nutrition, exercise and my own body.

Through my journal I am going to share with you what I have learned. I will share my successes, failures, setbacks. So read along and find out what I have discovered, what is still being revealed to me, and the surprises I found on the way. See ya next week.