You're Either Too Skinny or Too Fat But You're Never Right...

Between the ages of 21 and now (58) my weight has varied a lot. I've been 100 lbs, I've been 220. Now I'm at an all right weight; my doctor is reasonable (maybe her being female has something to do with that, I don't know) and realizes that a post menopausal woman who's struggled with weight literally her entire life isn't, nor should be, 98 lbs. She'll be satisfied, as will I, if I lose between 15 and 20 pounds. I'm working on it and already have lost a few. I'm not "on a diet" but watch I don't overeat, eat small meals throughout the day, protein, lots of iced drinks and water, of course no sodas. Just basic "works for me" stuff.

So, I've been all these contrasting weights all my life, and no matter what my weight, someone, somewhere, always had a comment to make! Sometimes, even strangers! I was too skinny: what's wrong with me, I need to put on weight, I'd look better and would have boobs if I gained weight, etc. Or, I'm too fat, what's wrong with me, why don't I lose some weight, just use will power, etc.

Weight. Something others feel is perfectly acceptable to comment on, even if they don't know you (though whether they do or not is none of their business.) Weight. Something that is always, always, never good enough. If you were a size 20 and got down to a 12, not good enough. Someone else will come along and tell you, unasked, what they think of your weight. A size 5, too skinny, not good enough.

Now I feel pretty comfortable although I want to lose and that's my own business. I'm not depressed about it or beat myself up. And -- maybe this comes from age -- when someone does make a comment about my weight I say, politely, it's none of their business, and I ask them why they're concerned. That usually shuts them up, after a few stammerings about "just trying to help" and "concerned about your health," etc. Sometimes it's a "Wow, don't be so defensive." Feh. You brought it up.

I just remember that, no matter what weight I or you may be, there's always someone who thinks you're not the right weight. You can't satisfy everyone, and you shouldn't try to satisfy anyone, except yourself. :)

In Pursuit of my Inner Pin-up: What's Wrong With Our Bodies, Anyway?

Great post about the female body image and expectations, then and now:In Pursuit of my Inner Pin-up: What's Wrong With Our Bodies, Anyway?

Poison by any other name is still just as sweet

One thing that has been somewhat hard about dieting is making sure not to buy products containing aspartame.  Basically I know that anything sweet, that is marked as being low in calories contains this poison.  However, I still sometimes miss it.

Last week I was at Target and I saw Yoplait Parfaits with only 120 calories.  I did check the label, but not well enough.  I saw the ingredient "sugar" and kind of assumed there was no aspartame.  I also bought the regular (non-diet) jello chocolate pudding packs.

I ate one of the parfaits, not bad, but not really as good as regular jello pudding.  Something started bugging at me - why does a regular jello pudding the same size as the Yoplait parfaits have only 100 calories?  First I checked the jello again, nothing too bad seeming on that label.  Then I checked the parfaits, first noticing fructose.  I don't know a lot about that, but what I do know is that it should probably be avoided when possible.  Then near the end of the ingredient list I see "sucralose."  I was not sure what sucralose was, but I had a strong suspicion that it was aspartame.  It is actually Splenda, which even though it is not exactly aspartame, it is still horribly toxic and does not break down in the body (same as aspartame) and in no way helps anyone to lose weight, actually does the opposite.  Well, that being besides the fact that it is poison.

Also, isn't it somewhat strange that the "diet" product has more calories than regular jello pudding?  None of it adds up to making any sense.  One is making a big point about it's low in calories when it actually has more calories than a similar non-lowcal product.

And how many different names do these poisons go under?  I tried to find a list on the internet and was unsuccessful.  If anyone knows of one - please share!

Diet Dreams

I have been having some very strange dreams lately.  Even more strange because I remember most of them which isn't normally the case.

Anyhow, apparently the diet is finally getting to me because last night I dreamed of pizza and McDonalds.  WTF?  McDonalds is never somewhere I go out of choice, only because I am in a hurry and it is cheap - I can get a spicy chicken sandwich and fries for under $2 and quickly.

I feel much hungrier than normal since having that dream.  All day I had to fight my urge to eat bad things.  I finally somewhat gave in and had around 10 potato chips, even if they were the "all natural, sea salt" kind - they were still more calories than I normally let myself waste.  Well, and they are a waste because I could have had something much more filling for that amount of calories.

My Fitness Pal

I found a very useful app on iPad today.  You can also use it on any computer by going to myfitnesspal.com.  I think it was especially made for diet dummies like me.  First you answer some questions and it tells you how many calories you can eat per day and how long it will take to lose the amount you want to lose.

You type in your meals, most brand names are in the database so you don't have to check the package for calorie and fat content.  If you make something, like I made my own latte earlier, you can give that a title, fill in calorie content and next time you have the same thing it is easy to find with no need to type it in again.

It also keeps track of your exercise and subtracts calories for it.  For example, we took Pooka for a slow paced 20 minute walk, which according to the site should have burned about 63 calories - I would have never known how many calories that would burn.

Something else I learned - I could have had two glasses of Merlot instead of one Latte.  I would have, if I had any, but since I didn't I settled for the Latte.

According to their calculator I can consume 1200 calories per day and lose two pounds per week.  Though it is only the first day it seems easy enough.  I have eaten less, but I am not hungry.  So far, I have not even eaten half the calories I can have today.  Although, night time is when I tend to "snack" so I will have to watch that carefully.

It will be interesting to see (assuming I can actually stick to it for a week) if I have really lost 2 lbs by the end of my first week.  :-D

Weight Whine

Remember last summer when I was going to lose weight?  I lost a few pounds, gained them back and forgot about my "diet."

I didn't lose any weight over the winter, but I didn't gain any either.  However, I weighed myself the other day and found that somehow over the past few weeks I have gained around 4 lbs!  Staying that same weight was bad enough, but now I am gaining more?

Well, then after thinking about it I realized my eating has been totally out of control lately.  Oh, I blamed it on being busy and so on, but I was eating way more junk food than I normally allow myself.  A couple weeks ago I remember having pizza and a caramel frap (with whipped cream) for lunch.  Not to mention the tons of breakfast burritos and chocolate I have been consuming.  Honestly, I don't know what I was thinking.  There was a time I could eat like that every day and not gain an ounce, but those days have been gone for years now.

Anyhow, I am totally fed up with myself and since that horrible weigh in two days ago I have been eating naturally low fat food that is good for me.  Hopefully I can stick with it this time and throw in some exercise too.

I suppose there is always Weight Watchers.  My niece has lost almost 10 lbs in three weeks with that, but I would like to avoid it if at all possible.

Girls' Shape Ups X F - Mary Jane - SKECHERS Official Site

Skechers is now targeting preschoolers and grade school girls with their shape up type shoes. Messaage: you're never too young to start obsessing about your body or feeling like a huge bag of dung for not having the right body image. They're $50.00 which is not even in the equation for a lot of families; these days, or, ever...

Girls' Shape Ups X F - Mary Jane - SKECHERS Official Site

Aspartame now hiding in your organic food

http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/monsantos-neotame-molecule-allowed-in-usda-certified-organic-foods/

Not that it isn't already hiding under many names in many different foods.  This is the rule I follow, if anything claims to be low in calories and is something sweet or that normally has sugar -- I don't buy it.  However, there are probably lots of products that I don't think of as containing sugar or that isn't claiming to be low in calories that I might buy being unaware that it contains Aspartame.  At this point I will just have to check every label and try to remember all the many deceptive names.

Losing It!

Over the past 5 days or so, I have managed to lose 5 lbs!  After over-thinking diets and such for many months I am shocked at how easy it was.  This is pretty much the basic way I did it:

I quit buying bags of chocolate, which tempts me to take one each time I pass it.

I didn't eat any pizza or cheese.

No white bread, no potatoes. 

When Britton had a hot dog, I chose a turkey sandwich on wheat instead.  I didn't miss the hot dog at all because I don't really like them.  I only eat them because he wants one and it seemed silly to make something different for myself.

I didn't eat anything fattening near bedtime.  If I was hungry it was just celery and other veggies.

When I did have a meal, I ate less, but not so little that I didn't get full.

I don't want you to think that I totally deprived myself because I didn't.  I even totally pigged out on popcorn when we went to the movie.

Of course, now I am afraid that after the 5 lbs this plan will totally quit working, but we will see.

Bran Muffins -- yuk!

Until yesterday I had never tried a bran muffin.  When I was at Trader Joe's I saw some in the baked goods section.  They are suppose to be "good for you" and they looked good (TJ's normally has really good baked goods) so I thought they would be a nice idea for breakfast sometimes and bought 2 package, one blueberry and one mango/blueberry.  I tried a blueberry one last night and it was HORRIBLE!  It was so horrible that even my dog (who will pretty much eat anything) wanted nothing to do with it.  Is it just the particular ones I got or do they all taste that bad?  Are there people that actually like bran muffins or are they something people strictly eat because they are constipated or trying to lose weight?

Dr Oz about Artificial Sweetners and Weight Loss

Although, I disagree with him about no evidence they are dangerous (aspartame wouldn't be banned in so many countries if there were no evidence) he does explain well why it doesn't help you to lose weight.  Personally I think that is true of all diet food (meaning anything that isn't naturally low fat or low calories).  True story -- I did not start gaining weight until several years ago when Britton needed to go on a diet because of blood pressure and cholesterol problems.  At that time I started buying mostly low fat foods instead of the normal types of food I had always bought and that is when I started gaining weight.  Maybe it was just a coincidence, but it is an awfully odd one.  Anyhow, I still think portion control is the key to weight loss rather than what you eat.

From The Larry King Show:

KING: Another question from King's Things, our Twitter: is there any danger in consuming artificial sweeteners.

OZ: I'm not a big fan of artificial sweeteners. I have to be clear in saying that there's no compelling evidence that they're dangerous, or they cause cancer in the doses humans normally take. But here's the real argument, Larry -- I mean, these products, the diet sodas, for example, that are commonly imbibed by Americans, I mean, they are sold by big companies that have marketing budgets. If they truly helped you diet, don't you think they'd present that data and show you can lose weight if you had a diet soda?

The reality is, Larry, you don't lose weight with diet soda. So they don't accomplish their main goal. In fact, if you sat down and had a cup of iced tea and a tablespoon of sugar, you know how many calories you'd get? Give me an idea?

KING: A hundred?

OZ: Twelve, 12 calories? I'd rather you put real sugar in a the tea, enjoy a little sweetness with it. Get your 12 calories. You're going to get your 12 calories anyway. Don't get fooled. When you have an artificial sweetener, Larry, what happens is your brain is smart enough to realize you're giving itself something sweet but no calories with it. It's reminding you, hey guy, you cheated me, give me back the calories you promised me. People who have artificial sweetener in their diet tend to get more obesity.

KING: We will try to be equal to that task. We'll be right back.

Maybe Butter isn't as bad as you think

Pass The Butter .. Please.

This is interesting . .. .

Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back.

It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow colouring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavourings..

DO YOU KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter?

Read on to the end...gets very interesting!

Both have the same amount of calories.

Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams; compared to 5 grams for margarine.

Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.

Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and
only because they are added!

Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavours of other foods.

Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years .

And now, for Margarine..

Very High in Trans fatty acids.

Triples risk of coronary heart disease .
Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)

Increases the risk of cancers up to five times..

Lowers quality of breast milk.

Decreases immune response.

Decreases insulin response.

And here's the most disturbing fact.... HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC... and shares 27 ingredients with PAINT

These facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).

You can try this yourself:

Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will notice a couple of things:

* no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)

* it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value ; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic . Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

Share This With Your Friends.....(If you want to butter them up')!

Chinese Proverb: When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others.
Pass the BUTTER PLEASE

Aspartame (formaldehyde) doesn't help to lose weight

Several months ago I ran into an old friend of mine at a health food store. She was there looking for Agave sweetner. Even though she works out like a maniac (seriously - like a maniac) and watches what she eats, she could not manage to lose any weight and so she visited a doctor. That doctor told her that one of her problems was using Aspartame sweetner and sent her in search of all natural sweetner. So even though women (and men) take the risk of eating and drinking what is basically formaldehyde (you know, the stuff they embalm dead people with), it apparently doesn't even help to lose weight. What a rip off!

Frankly, I had always wondered. Years ago, my sister who had a terrible coke habit, switched to diet sodas and other no sugar foods. She drank at least a 6 pack per day (though I imagine more than that) and you would think that switching to a diet soda and no sugar foods, since she really didn't eat much, would have caused her to lose a few pounds, but no.

7 Reasons You're Still Overweight (and How to Get Slim Fast)

7 Reasons You're Still Overweight (and How to Get Slim Fast) on Yahoo! Health

#7. Overweight people skip breakfast.
A simple habit, but missing this crucial meal raises your risk of obesity by a whopping 450 percent! Start your day with some lean protein and fiber—which will jumpstart your metabolism and keep you full. (An egg sandwich is actually a great choice.)

I keep hearing this and so I guess I will try to start eating breakfast. I have never eaten breakfast, except for when I am on vacation, which for some reason makes me extra hungry. Even as a child my grandmother would cook these huge breakfast meals with hash browns, bacon, eggs, toast and I would take about two bites and feed the rest to the dog. I am not hungry when I have just got up from sleep, it normally takes at least 2 hours.

Evolving Diet Thoughts

So it occurred to me at the grocery store today, it isn't that I eat a lot - it is what I eat that is the problem. Most days I have 1 meal, instead of three meals I snack a lot. Normally my snacks are more fattening than my meals. My favorite being salami, yogurt with mint (and/or sometimes cheese) and crackers (triscuit hint of salt) or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Also, add lots of chocolate throughout the day and anything else that is easy to grab like crackers (luckily I have never cared much for potato chips, unless they are BBQ which I rarely buy). So anyway I thought to myself that I will never eat more healthy and less fattening unless those healthy snacks are easy to grab, which means I always need a lots of washed and cut fresh veggies and fruit, ready for me to grab and eat. So that is what I did when I returned from the grocery, washing and cutting -- ready for when I get hungry.

I also bought some Boca burgers. I have never really minded those. They don't taste like a hamburger and anyone that tells you they do are lying, but they don't taste bad. I also found these amazing buns -


I have never really cared for big thick buns anyhow and these only have 100 calories, which is less than half of a regular bun and less than a wheat pita pocket or whole wheat tortilla. I haven't eat one yet, but I took a nibble and they seemed tasty.

All that said, somethings I consider outside the realm of diet. For example, when we go out to dinner (which we don't do very often, once a week at most) I will eat whatever I want. If I make myself feel too deprived this will not work. I will do my best to stay away from white at home and to make the less fattening choice, so long as it is bearable. There are some low fat things that are unbearable - mayo and cheese come to mind. I would rather have neither if I have to do the no or low fat alternative. I also stay away from most things that are not naturally low fat because often they have aspartame sweetner or something equally as bad. If I wanted to eat formaldehyde I would just buy some. Also, I am convinced that the stuff they call margarine is really just whipped plastic. Although, there is a yogurt spread (that I will start buying again) that is pretty tasty and all natural.

So those are my updated plans. We will see if they do any good.

Diet Dummy

For most of my life I was one of those rare and lucky women that could eat whatever I wanted and not gain an ounce. As a result, I have never learned anything about dieting. I don't know how many calories someone is suppose to have and I totally have no clue about this "points" system that people talk about.

A few months back I read about Jennifer Aniston's diet, which is simply that she doesn't eat white food -- that I could understand. I noticed that Rapunzel over at In Pursuit of my Inner Pin-up also seems to follow this. I am sure like all diets it isn't as easy as it sounds, but it sounds easier than counting calories or points. I don't buy white bread, except tortillas, but I rarely eat those. I am going to guess my biggest problem will be the no potato part. I love them in any form, mashed, baked, fried and I like to put more white stuff on them, like sour cream, butter (is butter considered white?), gravy and sometimes ranch dressing. Still, at least I can understand the basic concept of it. Best of all, by those guidelines white wine is out (which I don't like anyway) and red wine is perfectly fine!

So anyhow, that is my plan because so far over the last 6 months (most of which I worked out pretty regularly during) I haven't lost a pound, in fact, I gained 2.

BTW, Rapunzel also has a yummy sounding veggie recipe on her blog that I am dying to try!