Friday, October 9, 2009

More Tips from a Calendar

I have pieces of that tear away "Biggest Loser" calendar all over the place on my desk so I need to present them for you so I can throw them away. I need to straighten up everything here in front of me so this is a good place to start.

1) Just a friendly reminder to not drink your calories. I admit I slip on this a lot because sometimes drinking a Gatorade tastes a hell of a lot better than water. I still buy my fizzy water drinks from Hy-Vee and those rock since they are zero calories. I need to be mindful of this tip as I enter the hot cocoa and hot cider season.

2) A suggestion to hang up a "skinny outfit" so you are reminded of that type of motivation each day. I had to chuckle because a lot of my skinnier clothes are in a Rubbermaid tote in my closet. I should just set that out and trip over it each day so I get my reminder.

3) Craving-Control Technique: Just walk away! If you're craving something (something not so healthy that is) just walk away for 15 minutes and distract yourself with something else. Go grade papers, clean something, take a quick walk, etc. If you return after that time, and still want that food, then eat it. This always gives you time to decide why you are craving it. Are you truly hungry? Are you stressed? Are you bored? I definitely need to try this out more.

4) Do not eat food out of it's original container. You usually overeat if you do this. Put stuff in bowls and on plates. The same goes for Tupperware containers. If you haven't portioned things into containers, you shouldn't eat from them directly.

5) Ice Cream! Statistics show that people eat about 23 pounds of it a year. What words should you look for when purchasing ice cream to try and make it more healthy? Look for phrases like "slow-churned", "cold-churned", or "double-churned". When it's churned it means the globules of milk fat are evenly dispersed so the richness is distributed in each bite without all the fat in each bite. I personally like some frozen yogurts but unfortunately they wreck havoc on my digestive system. Regular ice cream isn't so mean to me.

I ordered an amazing ice cream from Schwans this week. It's called Autumn Treat. It's pumpkin ice cream with cinnamon swirls and pecans. It's very good. It's also rich so I can't eat a lot at once. I never thought I'd enjoy pumpkin ice cream (I don't like other pumpkin products) but I love it.

6) An excellent quote..."It's not how many times you fall down; it's how many times you get up." Just something to think about as we struggle and succeed with different aspects of weight loss.

2 comments:

LeAnn said...

Concerning #1, I have a hard time drinking just water because I would prefer something with taste. I have good luck with those drink mixes, sugar-free and tasty.
Concerning #2, The skinny outfits make me feel bad, not motivated. So I am not sure hanging one in plan view is the right idea for me.
Concerning #3, sounds like a good tool or trick to make sure you are eating something because you're hungry rather than bored or just craving sweets. I think it would work also for having seconds at a meal. Wait fifteen minutes before eating seconds and maybe you'll find out you're not as hungry as you thought you were.
Concerning #4, I can't say I follow this rule enough. I've eaten chips and ice cream from the container and it seems like I have an endless supply, which is bad news bears. Things that come in bags, boxes, or cartons are dangerous for this reason.
Concerning #5, I've always wondered what kind/type of ice cream to buy. I'll have to try remember that cold-churned, slow-churned, or double-churned are the healthier choices. We too have bought Schwan's ice cream and it's rich. It's hard to control portions.

project.100.gone said...

Excellent blog! Here are my thougths on your tips.

1) I LOVE water and have no excuse not to drink it. I just don't sometimes...which is ridiculous. There are people who either simply dislike water or just would prefer something else and I can understand the struggle to drink it if that's the case. I, on the other hand have no such excuse. I need to work on this!

2) Great tip! I'm going to go through my closet today and find 2 outfits, one for my bedroom door and one for the bathroom (too bad I don't have somewhere to hang one in the kitchen)!!

3) It's like Alton Brown says...just walk away. This would be a great idea to add to my goal lottery!

4) Guilty as charged. Portion control is so big. I need to be better about this. Another great idea for the lottery!

5) I love ice cream and that ice cream from Schwanns sounds amazing but I like most things pumpkin. I feel like I made a smart choice the other day that I will share with you. I rarely buy ice cream because I feel like I eat it too quickly. However, at the store they have the little cups. You know the ones...vanilla with chocolate, caramel or strawberry swirl? Well, I bought a bag of 12 cups for $3. They're so good, but already portioned and 100 calories...not too shabby!

6) An excellent quote and I'm so glad that you ended that way because it's a fabulous segway into a video I wanted to share in my blog entry!