Weight Loss Info Center

Okay, so I’m usually pretty “good” with my eating, if you want to describe it as “good.”  I mean I eat healthy.  Sure, I have my moments when we go out to dinner and I just say “forget about it, I’m having whatever I please!”  But 99% of the time, I don’t eat junk.  That’s part of my self-control because, please, I’m like other folks, I struggle sometimes with healthy eating.  I mean I’m not a health food eating Nazi!  That’s where self-control comes into the picture.  I know some experts like to say that willpower and/or discipline (self-control) has nothing to do with weight loss, but I beg to differ - it has everything to do with weight loss!

So my family, specifically my husband, isn’t into the whole “healthy eating” thing.  My husband always been a big eater and he’s a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so I still prepare foods that I know he likes, even though I don’t eat them normally.  My kids are…well, my oldest is so picky about what she eats, but she likes junk.  My youngest will eat anything, but she likes healthy foods.  So, anyway, last night husband and the kids had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a veggie.  The night before, I had made pasta salad for them to go along with their dinner. 

So what did I have for breakfast this morning?  I had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and pasta salad!  And what did I use to wash it all down?  I opened my husband’s bottle of Pepsi and drank half of it!  Hello?  I haven’t had soda in a very long time.  Okay, okay, sips (and I do mean just sips because if I take a full drink, I will go on a week long binge) here and there, but nothing meaningful.

What was I thinking?  Well, obviously I wasn’t thinking.  It was like I was on auto-pilot.  I didn’t think twice when I grabbed the plate of chicken and I didn’t have a care in the world when I loaded up my plate with mashed potatoes and gravy!  Where was my sanity when I spooned out about a cup of pasta salad?  And why wasn’t I reciting the Serenity Prayer instead of guzzling down a half of a Pepsi?

Can we say carb overload?

I tell you - it all tasted delicious!  I finished up, threw some laundry in the wash, and then it hit me, what I had just done, and I just stood in place with the realization of what I had just put into my body.  It was like my brain had completely shut down when I went to have breakfast this morning.  I’m not even a breakfast eater!  I do not like food in the morning and 99.9% of the time I have a protein shake/smoothie.  And I haven’t been restricting my calories or carbs, so it’s not like I can chalk this up to some type of a binge.

My self-control went completely out the window.  This type of thing just doesn’t happen to me - ever.  So I’ve made a plan for the rest of the day (and maybe tomorrow too, if needed) to kind of counteract my big mistake this morning.  I’m going to have meal replacement shakes the rest of the day, workout as normal, drink tons of water, and remember that tomorrow is a new day.

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There are so many cleansing products out there that guarantee weight loss without dieting, exercising, etc.  You know the ads I’m talking about:  “Lose 9 lbs. in 9 days by cleansing!”  Yeah, okay.  Don’t get me wrong, I think cleansing has its place and has a lot of positive health benefits.  But I don’t agree that it should be used just for weight loss alone, nor should it go on for extended periods (think Master Cleanse - 10 days of a lemon juice and cayenne pepper mixture, plus sea salt - blech!).

I started cleansing about 3 years ago just for the health benefits.  I would eat totally clean (no meat, no sugar, no caffeine, no processed foods) for 3 to 5 days and I would cleanse twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall.  My cleanses basically consisted of freshly squeezed fruit juices, home made soups, lots of raw fruits and veggies, and water, and a good multivitamin.  The benefits I gained from cleansing were numerous - clearer skin, more energy, better sleep, feeling “lighter,” eliminated dark under eye circles, better focus and concentration, and just overall better moods.  And of course there was always the loss of a few pounds, which I didn’t gain back.

At the end of last year, I tried Dr. Natura’s colon cleanse because, honestly, I was being lazy and didn’t want to fix the juices or the soups and thought the Dr. Natura colon cleanse would be just as effective.  Wrong!  Let me just say right off that I did NOT get the results that are shown in the pics on the website!  I think I would have been scared to death had I seen something like that in my toilet, so thankfully that didn’t happen.  I can say that the only “benefit” I got from it (which wasn’t what I was looking for) was a loss of 8 lbs. in about 3 weeks.  But I gained it all back within about 2 weeks of going off the cleanse and I hadn’t changed anything about the way I ate the entire time.

I think I will stick with whole food cleanses instead.  A whole foods cleanse is actually cheaper and I get what I am looking for by eating real food instead of taking pills and powder or drinking funky liquids.  I just did a cleanse in March using whole foods and taking some good supplements and it actually kickstarted my weight loss and I felt awesome!

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Okay, I recently asked a group of friends if they thought clothes were being made bigger?  I have been noticing for months that the clothes I am trying on in the stores are sizes that are smaller than sizes I haven’t seen since high school.  I knew that with my current measurements, there was no way I was fitting into some of these “sizes.”  Plus, I have some of my old jeans here that are at least 8 years old.  The sizes on those (which I can actually fit into, get buttoned and zipped, but wouldn’t be caught dead in them in public just yet!) old jeans is about 2 size numbers bigger (and are tight) than pants I bought just this past weekend with the “new” sizing (and are loose).  I knew something was up!

So one of the ladies in the group of friends points out this article about Vanity Sizing.  That’s what it’s being called, this “resizing” of clothing, and at first, I felt duped.  I mean here I was thinking I’m in a size 8/10, right?  But actually, it’s just like my old jeans and my tape measure were telling me - I was being lied to!

Is this new “vanity sizing” deceptive marketing?  In a way, I think so.  It’s helping some of us lie to ourselves about our number size, isn’t it?  And then we’re so thrilled when we look in our closet and find these clothes that are bearing sizes we haven’t seen in years, but yet our rears are definitely bigger!  But isn’t there a nagging feeling in the back of your mind telling you that it’s not really true?  I know I certainly have that feeling.

But on the other hand - if this is the “new” sizing and how things are going to be, shouldn’t I/we just get used to it and go with the flow?  I mean does the number size really matter?  Isn’t how we feel about ourselves what’s really important and not just some number that can be changed on a whim?

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I haven’t been online much, but since I am on tonight, I thought I would post an update about where I’ve been and where I think I’m going.

I have been ill for a couple of weeks, but am feeling about 95% better now.  Hopefully I will be able to keep up with this blog on a more consistent basis really soon.  My kids start school at the end of the month, so I should be able to find 5 or 10 minutes a day to keep this blog going and more active, right? 

Where am I going?  Well, I’m throwing around the idea of becoming certified in personal training.  I bought the study materials and books needed to sit for the exam a couple months ago and they’ve just been collecting dust, but today I was thinking, “Why not?”  And really couldn’t come up with a good reason as to why not.  The reasons why - 1. I like helping people reach their fitness and/or weight loss goals and sharing my knowledge; and 2. I know what I’m talking about :-)  So that is a good question…why not?

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