Be The Weight You Want By Portion Control & Healthy Eating

Tweeting for Weight Loss

April 11th, 2009 | 3 Comments »

I received a comment on one of my posts a couple days ago, and I did not remember what I had said in the post. So I re-read it. Guess what it was about? I had gone into my reason or goal for this blog, and I also went into the reasons I started my weight loss journey. This was just what I needed to read right now.

I have told you that to keep up your motivation on your weight loss journey to re-visit the why’s that brought you to this journey. With posts like ‘when life gets in the way’ coming out, I am sure you will not be surprised to hear I wandered off the trail . It started with an innocent stop to rest, then an occasional choice to deviate, and finally a realization that I had made a U turn. Re-visiting this post has given me a new starting point to resume my weight loss journey.

In the recent weeks, I have become a twitter addict along with cleaning and packing my 3 bedroom house to sell, and moving into one bedroom at my daughters. It is a good move which can help both myself and my daughters family. What better way to wake up in the morning than a wide-eyed princess saying “Grandma, get up. Its time to get up.” or both munchkins jumping on my bed to attack the tickle bug.

I joined Twitter to reach out and find those like me who have problems losing weight – not because of physical problems, but because of our relationship with ourselves and with food. The first step was to get into the twitter flow. Now with twitter, you cannot stand on the shore and watch twitter go by and expect people to hear you as you twit. You have to jump in your boat, or kyack, and paddle downstream, twitting with all the other tweeple. You don’t wait for them to tweet you. Listen to what they say, and tweet back. OK, enough deviation.

Now that I have some new friends – great friends – on twitter, I decided to tweet a tip of the day. Think about that, I am changing it to a weight-loss reminder. Most people know the facts that can be stated in 140 characters, so it isn’t a tip, its a reminder. But watch out what you say in 140 characters – I said – eat every 3 hours to avoid bingeing. And what was the reply I got? I had to laugh – “You mean I can eat a Big Mac every 3 hours?” I had to reply “That should make you avoid bingeing, but not lose weight” (lol). The point was – its not only how often one eats, but also the portion control and food choices.

My final word today is keep traveling on your weight loss journey – do not give up. You can never reach your goal unless you are trying.

Listen to this post

Tags: portion control, Twitter, Weight Loss
Posted in Twitter, achieve your goal weight, motivation | 3 Comments »

Rants and Raves about Dieting

February 22nd, 2009 | 7 Comments »

Diet, a four letter word! No wonder all the brand name diets are saying ‘diet’s don’t work’. My opinion: A rose by any other name is still the same. And a diet by any other name is still a diet. A weight loss, or even weight gain, diet consists of more than what you eat. It also encompasses your exercise level, your self-image, your self-talk, and your attitude.

How many times have you heard: it’s not how much you eat, but what you eat. Boy is that true! Some foods are loaded with calories, fats, and sugars. One bite of them can take up the quota for one meal. I have even seen treats that give you the whole days quota of fats in one ’serving’.

And that brings up servings. I look at one bag of chips and it says it is 100 calories per serving. Great! But the small bag contains 5 servings! So it is really 500 calories. Then you look at the fats, sugars, and carbs. What appears to be a healthy choice by the wrappings turns out to be just as bad by the servings.

Portion control is an elusive concept to me. Not as a concept, but in putting it into practice. It includes total calories, balance nutrients, and timing of your eating. One type of person can fix the foods, and measure the portions to make their own ‘frozen dinners.’ I am not that type. I would binge while preparing the various dishes and put a little more in each portion. That’s how I became overweight.

Then there is the exercising. One way is to used a pedometer to count your steps. That is good if you want to ensure that you walk your healthy 10,000 steps a day. To be quite honest, that doesn’t count as exercise. The walk you talk for exercise, the time on the bike, or in the gym is exercise. If you count every step you take during the day, you are including your normal activities. Exercise doesn’t count unless it is extra – that is, you do your normal activities plus exercise.

Then there is the way you see yourself and you talk to yourself. If you are continuously downgrading yourself or calling yourself names, you have no chance of success. You need to realize that you – that every individual – deserves to be a healthy weight. Give yourself a break. Instead of being down on yourself for over eating, figure out why you are overeating.

I don’t know how others lose weight, but I have to D I E T.

D – dinner and all other meals and snacks by portion control

I – my self-image and self-talk – how I see and treat myself

E – exercise above and beyond normal daily activites

T – timing of my meals and snacks to be every 3 hours using portion control.

Do you DIET? Leave a comment.