Teaching Grandma to suck eggs?

Not all weight loss advice is junk.

Yes quickly Googling 'weight loss' or 'diet' or similar can bring up a haze of absolute crap. But it isn't ALL biased towards a particular program, nor overworked, nor does it always just concentrate on the 'no more than 1000 calories a day, eliminate all fat, ban carbohydrates and eat only grapefruit for two weeks and you'll lose a stone' mantras. You may occasionally, just like me, stumble across a source of advice that is 99% common-sense based, healthy and actually very helpful.

I guess my point here is to say to all my fellow fatties - don't give up, but forget the quick-fix diets or pills or teas or hypnotism or all the rest of the crap. You've tried all that haven't you? Did it work, long-term (or just for a brief, forgettable period)? Are you still fatter than you want to be and less happy than you'd like to be? If the answers are 'yes', 'no' then 'yes' you sound a lot like me.

Well, there can be some genuinely good advice out there to assist you in making long-term, healthy changes to your 'lifestyle' - so concentrate on that first bit - yep, that's the 'life' bit. Maybe then, again like me, as hard as it is to put into practice, you'll begin to learn how to do something to help you build a better one. I've slowly made some progress in the last year or so (OK, I sometimes fall off the wagon, but I get back on again) and I really do think my life is changing, and it's a change for the better.

Take as an example the Calories per Hour website, which has plenty of sensible advice for all sorts of occasions. Hmmm, its main focus is on the American side of the pond, but good advice is good advice - wherever you find it.

Tips like:

This one from their 'December - The Final Stretch' newsletter. They suggest that you 'Create a Supportive Food Environment: Keep foods such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains in your kitchen, your desk at work, and wherever else you might feel hungry'. Good advice indeed - which I now follow to save my fat ass from trips to the vending machine at work.

And this, from their 'Winter Comfort Foods Made a Little Less Fattening' newsletter. They say 'Traditional comfort foods are usually synonymous with high calories and fattening ingredients. But if you learn how to swap a few lower calorie ingredients for the higher calorie ones, you can enjoy your rich, hearty, "feel good" comfort foods without having to settle for a winter weight gain.'
They then go on to suggest some sensible substitutions, and as you'll know if you've read other posts, this is a topic close to my heart!
'For instance, a homemade mac 'n cheese recipe can use reduced fat cheeses and a light margarine to create a smooth cheese sauce, topped off with toasted whole wheat bread crumbs. Meatballs can be made with low fat ground turkey, chicken or beef, and cornstarch can act as a gravy thickener rather than the traditional butter and flour roux.'

And for a reminder of the basics, the link to their 'Diet and Weight Loss Tips' is pretty darned sound. Can't argue with these.

So, seek out the good stuff and ditch the crap - in advisory websites as well as in your lifestyle choices. And that's quite enough from me for one day, trying to to teach Granny just how to suck an egg.

Worn out but satisfied

We've just had the weekend of the big barbecue - something I've been dreading. But... it actually went very well.

Lots of work, catering for around 35. Up early for shopping and first bits of prep on Saturday, plus all the usual weekend jobs like the weekly washing and ironing. Then Sunday, with the harder part - remainder of the prep and running up and down stairs a lot with food, plates, odds 'n bits, then the cooking, plating, serving and all the clearing up afterward. Some 'good' food choices to be had, but also lots of opportunity to be bad.

Firstly, avoid the wine and nibbles before we started. One hurdle cleared - good-oh.

Then the main part of the barbie - for the grilled meaty bits, chicken breast strips on skewers, given extra flavour by a lightish soy-honey-mustard marinade and mini-patties of lowish-fat minced lamb given some moisture with mint, spices, garlic and onions. New potatoes (but keep well away once they are covered in melted butter!) and a mixed salad on the side.

Oh dear, then oodles of delicious-looking home-made desserts to choose from, brought by a variety of folk who obviously do not watch their waistline, so most with sugar & fat overload!

The good news? Actually managed to eat sensibly (phew), aided by a timely bowl of fruit and yoghurt just before we started cooking. Drank water through the cooking period and only had a glass of wine when I could sit down to enjoy it. Come the desserts I chose fruit salad (and no, I didn't drink the sugary juice - can't see why fruit needs sugar myself, but there you go) and had only a thin little sliver of the custard tart, leaving the pastry (yes, really!).

I was very pleased with myself, and more so today when I got on the scales to find I'm down to 76kg! That's amazing - at 12 stone exactly it means that my target of 75kg (to be 11 stone something in five weeks time) is definitely on the cards.

Woof!

It is nice to know that after so many years of (mostly inadvertent) self-deception, I'm finally doing something right.

What's all this about? My midriff is a touch sore today - and I now know that it's just my half-forgotten abs reminding me they exist, and that I actually started working them again the day before yesterday. What's more important is that I know this to be a good thing.

In days past I'd have felt a wee bit of discomfort like this and thought 'oh no, this isn't good - I hurt so I must rest or I'll damage myself' and truly have believed I was right to think this way. Finally, heading for the big five-oh, I am aware that this reaction was absolute cobblers!

The first hint that this might be so came while reading "The Man who Broke out of the Bank and Walked Across France" by Miles Moreland. At one point in the book Miles' wife Guislaine, another woman for whom 'exercise' was a dirty word, discovered that pain wasn't always a bad thing, while they were travelling the breadth of France from coast to coast on foot.

So yesterday, and again this morning, sore abs notwithstanding, it was back to those crunches. Yes, it was difficult (especially the motivation bit) and yes, that particular area of me has got tired easily on both days, but I now understand that if I keep at it, steadily and without going too mad at first, it gets easier and I can do more. I know it will help me trim that waistline too - no overnight miracles, but bit-by-bit, over time.

I've also finally realised (and this is a BIG step for me) that doing my morning exercises, even when it's hard to raise any enthusiasm to begin them, affects my state of mind - positively. It isn't something to avoid at all costs, but actually something which helps keep me a more balanced, grown-up, mostly positive and less stressed person. I really need to keep reminding myself of this.

Who says old dogs can't learn new tricks?

Avoidance tactics

I want the cake.
No, I'm not having it.

I want the cake.
No, I'm not having it.

I want the cake.
No, I'm not having it.

OK, have a Ryvita and a glass of water. Still want the cake?
Actually, no.

Happy bunny.

The world didn't end today!

The much discussed CERN Large Hadron Collider switch-on has come and gone with none of the ooh, er, armageddon-type scary myths being fulfilled. Honestly, that's just not fair! It's completely ruined my great excuse for scoffing just one last bar of chocolate - best make do with an apple at break I guess.

On a more serious note, I'm still making progress, sure it's a little at a time, but still doing OK. I re-started the morning abs exercises today, doing these as well as my other stuff. Two out of three went well, actually better than I'd expected given the rather long break from them, the other one not so well as my knee wouldn't co-operate at all. I'll have to devise some sort of work around.

Oh, and that comfort food I mentioned - well, we had the mutton stew last night and I've got to report that I'm celebrating a great success, for me and for lovely hubby. It was delicious - not a huge surprise as hubby is a fabulous cook. The good bit is that we didn't serve it all and eat it - no, we are making it last for another meal tonight. A new attitude maybe? Smaller portions becoming a reality?

All in all I really do think my target is sensible and I am definitely committed to achieving it. It feels good to be back on track.