I never thought I'd see the day....

Well, that isn't exactly true. I've noticed for some time now that the sports "news" site CBSSports.com has dealt with more gossip than anything else, but I found this headline today amusing:

Who is baseball's fattest player?

Turns out they're getting the story from GQ (Gentleman's Quarterly), but still the fact that they're actually sharing it....

As you might expect, it's 95% pitchers who are the "fatties" in the league. I have often wondered how any self-respecting athlete - making millions of dollars a year - can't control their weight better, but to be honest, what bugs me about baseball players the most is their ridiculous facial hair! If they don't have furry little soul patches just below their lower lip, they've got a thin stripe going down their chin. If they don't have that, they've got a patch of hair underneath their chin, with about 4 inches of growth extending from it.

Do they really think that looks anything other than ridiculous? But...that's baseball players for you. Just as 90% of basketball and football players have tattoos (and I'm noticing more tattoos on baseball players mow, too) 90% of all baseball players with facial hair don't have real beards, but these effete looking things. (Note there's a difference between effete - useless, and effeminate).

Well, my off topic rant for today.

Let's get back to the point of the post. It's GQ, a "style magazine." And what are they doing? They are attempting to shame guys into losing weight. Well, I suppose it's tit for tat - women have been shamed into losing weight by the media for years (and then the media turns around and expresses concern that this actress or that actress might be anorexic), and now they're going after the men. Expect football players to be the next target.

One hamburger = one portion - and don't let your parents tell you different!

I accompanied a friend (and client) to her parent's house last night. Her brother, age 50, is staying with her parents as he's been out of a job for two months, thought apparently he's been offered a job now and will start later this month.

That's not the point. The point is this guy is short, about 5 ft 5, and at least 200 pounds overweight. And apparently he's been working on that weight for 30 years (long standing overweight is always more difficult to get rid of then newly acquired weight, but it can be done.)

Anyway, it was a simple meal, hamburgers on buns, beans, onion rings - (and yes I pigged out on the Onion rings and blossom sauce, full of calories though they were.)

But what I thought was interesting, and a bit sad, was that everyone else - mom, dad, sister and me, guest - each received one hamburger. But the dad - who did the cooking on the grill - actually cooked two extra hamburgers for the son.

Who ate them.

Later on, in talking to my friend, she told me that that's the way it's been the entire time the guy has been staying there. The parents always cook "one" portion for themselves, and extra portions for the son, who most definitely does not need them.

They are enabling him.

And it's not like he wants the food, apparently. According to my friend, her brother has mentioned that he "should cut back"...yet he has apparently never mentioned this to the cooks in the household, or if he has they haven't paid attention.

The moral of this story is... don't cater to your children's appetites. (Even your grown children's.) Unless they have superfast metabolisms where they can eat everything and not gain a pound.

Kids typically don't eat as much as adults. Don't therefore give your kid an adult-sized portion, and then throw away half the food on his plate that he doesn't eat. After two years of doing this you're teaching him (or her) that waste is okay. At the very least, save the food on the plate and if the kid feels like a snack later on, have him eat the rest of the good on the plate, not a candy bar or a cookie. (And monitor the cookie/candy bar intake. If the kid stops at just one, that's fine...if he eats three - time to remove them from the house.)

Girls of course require special care, as many of them typically eat too little rather than not enough. Yes - even girls as early as 10 have been inculcated to believe that they must starve themselves so they don't gain an ounce of weight, otherwise they will be teased unmercifully for being fat (and indeed, probably will be. But, that's a rant for another blog and another time.)

So if you're an overweight individual on the other side of the spectrum - you are trying to lose weight but your parents - or spouse - keep piling the food on your plate, don't just suffer in silence. Tell them you're trying to lose weight and please not to cook so much food! It's a lot easier to lose weight if family and friends chip in to help you.

'Dancing' helps Kirstie Alley slim down

Kirstie Alley is in the news again - she's been on Dancing With the Stars (a show I don't watch, admittedly,) and apparently she's half her size.

And that's great news! I'm very happy for her.

But I seem to recall that she had lost weight before...on Nutrisystem or Jenny Craig or something, and had gained it all back. So I hope that she has at last found the secret of maintaining her weight loss - which means she can't go back to her old style of living, but must maintain the style that enabled her to lose weight in the first place.

As a wealthy actress, this would seem to be easy. She's got the wherewithal to go to a dance class every other day for two hours, have fun and keep her body toned, and have a cook who can make her good, and healthy, meals.

For those of us who don't have that much money, planning is everything. We must make time for our dancing - or are biking or are walking or tennis, whatever are exercise/sport of choice is, and we have to cook our own meals - although we can do that in advance, cook up a batch of stuff on one day and freeze it for subsequent days. (I have always found that food tastes better the second day, or even the third day... the spices or what have you have had time to marinate through the dish...)

Anyway, congrats to Kirstie Alley, and sincere wishes that her new look remains her look...

And apprehension, of course. How quickly the media will turn on her if she dares to gain back five pounds or so...

Stargazing | ‘Dancing’ helps Kirstie Alley slim down

Thirty-eight inches. That’s how many Kirstie Alley has shed on “Dancing With the Stars” this season.

That’s how much the show’s costumers had to take in the cha-cha costume she wore in her first dance so she could wear it on the season finale Tuesday.

Kirstie has been coy about how many pounds she has lost.

“There will be some reveal of that at some point, but I really didn’t care,” she says. “As long as I kept changing and changing and changing, I really didn’t care. It was like, keep whittling, whittling, whittling. And the other thing that’s really more significant to me — I mean, I love the whittling, I like being skinny — I’m really strong and really agile, and it gave me a new life.”

The show’s costume designer, Randall Christensen, says that her costumes kept getting smaller and smaller as the show went on. “Isn’t she looking incredible?” he says.

Stargazing says: Yes!

Hot Soup for sore throats and colds

It's when we feel sick - cold or flu - that we can start to eat too much comfort food, and since we spend all our time in bed (well, unless we're married and still have to take care of husband and children, who of course can't take care of themselves even if you are at death's door) we get out of our exercise routine, and depending on how long this lasts, the pounds can add up.

I bring this up because I've had a sore throat for three days, and I'm just waiting for it to develop into a cold. Frankly, I don't mind the cold, but the sore throat is getting on my nerves. Hard to sleep when your breath keeps catching in your throat, and when you swallow it feels like you're constricting your throat around a razor blade (albeit a dull one).

No chocolate! No icecream!

I've been heating up a bowl of cream of mushroom soup, and I leave it as lumpy as possible - I find the lumpy mixture of soup, when hot, soothes my throat better than just the liquid version. And after a bowl of that, it generally has coated the throat such that I can fall asleep.

How to not get a cold? Well - studiously avoid those folks who do have colds. Also, it's not enough to wash your hands each time you go to the bathroom, try to avoid putting your hand on the handle of the door as you go out, too. Easy to do in those places that give you paper towels to use, harder if you can only dry your hands on those little air dryers! Always bring your own tissue to use.

OT: Never Give Up. Never. Never. Never.

Those are the immortal words of Winston Churchill, bracing England during the Battle of Britain.

I was thinking about them yesterday, while I was browsing through the headlines of the reports of the followers of a televangelist - or whatever the heck he is - Harold Camping, who'd been preaching for 7 years that the world was going to end on 21 May, 2011.

His ministry received over $700 million in donations in the last 7 years, all from people who apparently believe his tale of the Rapture and the end of the world. And in the last few months, several people apparently quit their jobs, and gave away all their money in preparation for The Rapture.

Well. 21 May came and went, and we're still here.

Will Camping stop predicting the end of the world? Of course not. Why should he? He made the same prediction in 1994, and that was wrong, and while you would have thought that all his followers would have left him after that, they didn't. They stayed with him, gave his ministry $700 million , and fully expected him to be right this time. And they will doubtless believe him when he redoes his calculations and comes up with a new day.

Meantime, what are they going to live on? Well, government welfare will doubtless step in to help them.

My own opinion is that, even if you expect the world to end tomorrow or the next day, you continue life as you've always done. You must always do what you can, until you can no longer do it, to quote the genius of Terry Pratchett. You don't give up and wait for the end, you prepare yourself for it. (And I'm not talking about giving up your nice comfy home, assuming you've got one, and moving to a remote cave to live a ridiculous existence for the next 20 years!)

I'm talking about continuing to go to work, continuing to enjoy life, with a nest egg in the bank and a nest egg in a strongbox in your house, and not worrying about stupid things like whether you're five pounds overweight.

Being one hundred pounds over weight is not stupid, however, and to increase the quality of your life, that must be taken care of, but people who obsess over a lousy five pounds..or even ten pounds... there's more important things in life to worry about than that.

But life is meant to be enjoyed. So go out and enjoy it!

Have You Had Your 6-Month Checkup Lately?

I was driving home today and had the radio on. One of those public service announcements came on: 40% of women who have heart attacks - first time heart attacks - die from them.

The announcement then urged women to go to the doctor for a checkup.

One thing the announcement didn't say was why so many women die from these heart attacks - typically, in women, heart attacks manifest differently from heart attacks in men, and so by the time an emergency room visit figures out that what you're actually having is a heart attack, you've died.

Therefore, it's important to have regular medical checkups - no matter what your age. Typically people don't get heart attacks until they are in their 50s, but quite a few people do have heart attacks in their 40s and even 30s.

It's important to visit a doctor. You may resist this because - if you're morbidly obese, you don't want to hear what he or she has to say - that you have to lose weight. Well - that's what this blog is for. With this blog I enable you to lose weight in a gradual manner, and then maintain your new weight once you've achieved your goal.

But you also may not go because you think you're perfectly happy. You eat right, you jog or bike, etc. etc. Sorry - that doesn't mean anything. There's a little thing called hypertension, the "silent killer" - if you have high blood pressure, you will never know about it until you have a heart attack - or until you go to a doctor and get a checkup. [OR, admittedly, if visit those blood pressure machines in the pharmacy of your local Walmart - on a regular basis. And write down your numbers each time so you can keep track.]

There's an old cliche - If you don't have your health, you don't have anything. And that is very, very true. Safe guard your health. Schedule a checkup with your doctor today.

Organize for Success

Are you a career woman as well as someone who is trying to lose weight - or maintain the weight you're now at?

Well, one thing that will help you is to get your life organized... this will help you not only in your career, but also in your weight maintenance goals.

A lot of people overeat because they are stressed out, and they are stressed out not so much because their jobs are stressful, but because the miasma surrounding their jobs stresses them out.

If "Weight loss books" lead the self-help book sales, "How to get organized" books are probably a close second.

A great percentage of people waste a vast amount of time in their lives - time that they will never, ever give back. Isaac Asimov refers to it as the unforgiving minutes.... well, he was quoting Rudyward Kipling... but Asimov was the epitome of the enjoy-a-holic, he never stopped working, but his writing was his work, and he loved to write, so he never considered it work.

But if you're in an office from 9-5 and hate your job, that could be paying havoc with your weight program - especially if you're not as organized as you might be.

Do you rush from home because you haven't had time to cook or make yourself a good breakfast, and thus grab a donut as soon as you get to work? Do you have soooo much work to do that you don't go to lunch, but rather grab a donut out of the break room to see you through until the evening?

And once evening comes, do you ease your stress by eating and eating and eating?

For some people, the stress is intrinsic in the job, for other folks, they cause the stress themselves because they are unorganized. Getting to work late, having to spend minutes and minutes every day looking for papers they've lost, having to recreate documents for the third time... it just goes on and on.

Get organized, and a lot of that stress goes away, and with that comes the benefit of not desiring to gulp comfort food all day long.

This could extend to your children, too, if you have any. Who rules the roost, you or your kids? If you let your kids sleep in until the last minute, or play video games while he or she should be getting ready for school, so that you're always leaving home ten minutes late to drop him off at school before you go on to work... you've got to fix that situation!

That's just one example (and one I take from my sister, who does all things at the orders of her son, not the other way around. As does her husband. The kid's nice enough now, at age 13, if spoiled, but I dread to think what he's going to turn out to be like once he hits 16....especially since the words "thank you" have never been part of his vocabulary.)

Well, that's a rant for another time and another blog.

Anyway...there's a corollary...a conjunction, between people who are disorganized and people who are overweight. It all comes down to time management. Those who manage time well usually (not always, but usually) also manage their weight well - at least, once they make the decision to do so!

Organizing also helps in other ways. If you set certain times for certain events, you will simply get more done, and when you look back on your life when you're in your 70s, you will have a lot of achievements to remember with pride, instead of looking back and sighing about "what might have been" if only you'd been more organized - and spent more time on yourself and less time on others.

You should always make time for yourself. Make time to exercise at a time that's right for you - when you feel most energetic, and if family and friends try to sabotage it, convert them to help you instead of hinder you.

If you want to spend an hour reading before you go to bed, instead of sitting on a couch watching your son play video games - because he wants you to be there watching him - go read your book! And tell him to read a book, too!

People who are unorganized often have other things in common with those folks who find it difficult to control their weight - they try to get organized and fail! That's because, like the weight issues, organization requires that you change your life habits and practices - and though it is possible to succeed in doing this, it wont' happen overnight. Like changing your eating habits, it must be done gradually.

But it can be done...and believe me you will be a lot happier, in the future if not now! - if you do it!

Breaking Bad Habits Continued

According to studies, women who eat the most fruits and vegetables are most likely to lose weight and maintain weight loss.

"Thousands of studies spanning decades of research consistently and repeatedly show that women who eat diets rich in vegetables and fruit significantly lower their risks for most age-related diseases, from heart disease and diabetes to hypertension, cancer and cataracts."

Produce rich in Vitamin C:
oranges, red bell peppers, grapefruit

Carotene-rich
Mangoes
Carrots
Sweet potatoes
Papayas

Cruciferous vegetables
Broccoli
Cabbage

Its important to eat your veggies and fruits, as they provide phytochemicals, that supplements don't provide.

Types of vegetables to avoid
Bananas are perhaps the perfect fruit. "Banana chips" and any other fruit chips ruin them.

A bananda a day should be your slogan - indeed, make that your munch midnight snack, if you have a craving for something sweet.

Sweet potatoes are more healthy for you than potatoes (unless you smother them with sweet sauce and top them with marshmallows)

Don't be afraid to use salad dressing...real salad dressing, not low fat stuff (unless you actually like it, of course), just mix your salad and dressing up altogether to get the full taste.

How to consume more fruit and veggies
There is such a wide variety of fruit and veggies available that you should never grow bored with eating them. (I admit I have a limited palette to choose from - Red Delicious Apples, bananas, corn, peas, lettuce, beans....that's about it!)

Keep your lettuce in bags - it stays fresher than way.
Prepare salads the night before - so that when you're searching for a snack and don't want to take the time to make something...you don't have to, it's already made for you.
Keep bananas on those little banana trees that keep them off the counter and fresher longer
Instead of putting maple syrup on your waffles or pancakes, either don't use it at all or cut back...and put fresh fruit on them instead.

All sorts of ways to eat healthy - with food that actually tastes good.

Is Jenny Craig - or Weight Watchers - Better than Weight Loss Without Tears

The first article is a glowing review for Jennie Craig. You have to read all the way to the end to learn that it is a press release, probably put out by Jenny Craig itself.

The second article is from Chase Freedom Diet Reviews, which points out that "Jenny Craig is more expensive with the food compared to other programs," but otherwise gives it a good review.

What caught my eye of course was the "more expensive with the food."

If you join Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig or any similar program, it's going to cost you money which you don't need to spend!

Losing weight is common sense! You don't need to buy prepackaged food put out by Jenny Criag - learn how to prepare your own! There's any number of books on the market which show you how to create "delicious but low calories meals." I personally think "delicious" and "low calorie" don't go together, but then I do have a someonewhat unusual diet - (beef or chicken and potatoes for me, and only a few vegetables!)

As I repeat over and over in this blog, it's really just a matter of portion control, and of course, eliminating or at least curbing the late night snacking.

You will not be able to lose weight, or maintain your new weight, until you can control your appetite and eliminate late night sweets, and be satisfied with carrots or even a light salad instead.

Lose weight gradually, and you will be able to keep it off. Rapid weight loss typically results in rapid weight re-gain.

But I share with you these two articles on Jenny Craig. Make up your own mind.
Jenny Craig Catching Massive Media Attention-Weight Loss Community Stunned

Los Angeles, Ca-
Jenny Craig weight loss systems has been getting a lot of attention in the news media recently for their constantly evolving diet program which users are calling the most effective diet system on the market today.

The name Jenny Craig is synonymous with standardized low calorie meals, loyal client support networks, and of course, rapid results for its clients. It is a household name that first pioneered the weight loss industry back in the 1980's, and it has continued its decades of success by providing diet solutions that give unprecedented results for its users.

According to a recent study by Women's Fitness Magazine, people trust Jenny Craig more than any other diet program on the market. Perhaps it's because of their stellar reputation in the diet industry, or perhaps it's because many notable Hollywood stars have used the program with success. Whatever the reason, Jenny Craig is raising eyebrows in the weight loss community, and clients are lining up in record numbers to become part of the movement.

Past users say that while using Jenny Craig they were able to lose 2 to 16 times more weight than they were with other dieting systems. They are also able to keep the weight off for much longer because Jenny Craig shows them how to remain thin as a permanent change to their lifestyle.

This is perhaps the biggest difference between Jenny Craig and other weight loss systems; not only do they show their clients how to lose weight quickly and easily, but they teach them how to keep it off well after they have left the program. In fact, Jenny Craig's main goal is to help people become independent of them- a characteristic quite unique among diet programs.

Jenny Craig also gives their clients unyielding support during every phase of their weight loss journey. For Barbara Davidson, it is Jenny Craig's support structure that separates it from all other dieting systems: My weight loss consultant was absolutely phenomenal. It really felt like a team' dynamic, and since leaving the program I still keep in touch with her. I am still at my target weight and I have Jenny Craig, my consultant Sarah, and of course myself to thank for that.

This sentiment seems to be shared by all those who have used the Jenny Craig system. More than being a way to lose weight, it invites clients to become part of their family- Perhaps that is the main reason for its many decades of continued success.

Jenny Craig Review from Chasefreedom.com

Jenny Craig is one of the true icons of commercial weight loss. The fundamentals of the program have not really changed over the years, but they do offer different plans and continue to refresh their pitch. All Jenny Craig membership options are offered "In-Centre" at any one of their 650+ physical locations or over the phone through their "At-Home" Program. They also offer specific programs for Men, Teens, older people (Silver) and those with Type 2 Diabetes. Each require the purchase of Jenny's Cuisine, which averages $11-$15 per day in the US and slightly higher outside the US. Basic program fees start at $6/week.


Jenny Craig is a reduced calorie diet that focuses on balanced nutrition (60 %-carbs 20%-fat 20%-protein) which follows the Food Guide Pyramid, the near-universal recommendation of health care and nutritional professionals. Jenny Craig meals consist of 1200-2000 calories/day, which gives you a lot of leeway in determining just how aggressive your approach is. The Jenny Craig approach is fundamentally a meal delivery program of pre-packaged meals, exercise and personal counseling. The primary focus of these counseling sessions is teaching a healthy relationship with food and behavior modification, which includes living a more active lifestyle. No commercial weight loss program puts more emphasis on the personal interaction between dieter and support personnel. Exercise is actively encouraged, but no specific exercise regimen is advocated.

The key to success on Jenny Craig is the transitional period where the client goes from pre-packaged to regular, prepared meals. But, unlike most meal delivery programs, Jenny Craig actually plans for your transition away from their products. That's unique in the diet industry.

As to whether consumption of pre-packaged meals is a good strategy: they are extremely helpful in dealing with controlling portion-size, and are invaluable in your mental battle with food. It's really hard to make good, disciplined choices when you're confused and used to eating anything and everything you like.

The worst that can be said about pre-packaged meals is that they often fail to prepare the dieter for food preparation and life once the diet ends. Learning the proper habits, which are essential for long-term success, takes a back seat to short-term weight loss goals. Weight loss programs succeed or fail based on a general transition to healthier eating and a long-term increase in activity level.

Jenny Craig is more expensive with the food compared to other programs and the advertising tends to be a bit over-the-top, but it does focus on the things that are most important.

No, you aren't losing your mind

If there were posts here yesterday that you read, which are not here today, it's because...they're not here.

Blogger.com, the platform that hosts this blog, was down for much of yesterday afternoon and all night...just coming up now (11 am mountain time.) And all posts made yesterday have disappeared.

Supposedly, those posts will be restored. I'll give them a day to do so, and if not, will re-post them tomorrow.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Don't Shop While Hungry

This is an old tip, but it works. If at all possible, do your shopping after you've had breakfast or lunch - or even dinner - so that you're full and not craving anything, when you walk into that big ol' store with all its shelves of goodies.

And if possible, don't bring your kids in with you, either. Or if you do, start in on them young to teach them discipline - no eating in the store, no opening of things you've bought for them - no, not in the store, not in the car, they must wait until they get home. Patience, and Willpower needs to be taught in kids from a young age.

You should also have a list of stuff you're going to buy, and then buy only what's on the list. No impulse shopping. (Unless you're impulse is to try certain, low-calorie foods!)

Avoid going down the candy aisle to get somewhere else.

And of course, don't buy a candybar as you're waiting in the checkout line.

Although, offering candy at checkout lines does seem to be diminishing. I'm sure the guv'mint is pressuring stores to do this.

What I've noticed is that stores are going towards these self-service checkout counters, where you run your own items over the bar scan, bag them, and so on. And around these scanners, there's no racks of goodies at all.

(I could talk about the rise of the self-service checkout counter, but that's a rant for a different blog...)

Of course, saying "Don't shop while hungry" is easy, but what if you're at home, have a craving for something, and decide to hop into your car, go to a store and buy it?

That's the hard thing...the thing that you've been training and exercising your willpower to resist. The thing to do is take your mind off it.

If watching TV triggers a craving (and I always turn the sound down on the commercials, and even walk out of the room while they're on so I don't see commercials for restaurants) then try reading a book instead. Get involved in a craft project, somethign that takes all your attention, so 10 minutes later, you've completely forgotten about your craving.

How Varied Is Your Menu? And can you make a habit out of it?

I tell my clients not to bother about counting calories. Just eat whatever you want, but do it in small portions...and if you must snack after 8 pm or so, snack on carrots or something of that nature.

But it is necessary to start from a baseline - to know how many calories certain kinds of food have.

Of course, it's really common sense. Obviously a whole pizza is going to have a gazillion calories. Likewise a blooming onion (mmm, I love blooming onions, but they have over a thousand calories. But then, you'll probably only have one if you're out to dinner at an Outback Steakhouse, and you'll share it with friends, and split the calories that way).

A big piece of chocolate cake will have a lot of calories...a small candybar, about half, and so on.

So the question is...how big is your menu? By that I mean, over the course of two weeks, do you have five different things for dinner, and then just repeat them over and over? Or do you experiment and have a different type of meal every day of the month? (IF you do, I salute you!)

I eat chicken and beef, and eschew fish, veal, etc. I also don't eat a lot of vegetables - corn, potatos, peas, carrots, those are my staples. (Do you fix spinach with cheese and butter. Supposedly it's the cheese and butter that makes it taste good...and adds on the calories...)

So if there are only about 20 types of foods you eat, its easy to find out the calories for those kinds of foods, and that gives you knowledge of what you're consuming each day.

But don't make an obsession out of it.

The book might say... 3 ounces of chicken, 100 calories. Don't put a piece of chicken on a scale, and start cutting off tiny slices in an effort to get it to precisely 3 ounces. An extra ounce doesn't matter at all!

Live "Purpose-Driven" Days

There is a religious movement out there called "The Purpose Driven Life," and I think they've copyrighted the phrase, but the term "purpose driven" is necessary to be used in this context.

I'm not talking about living your days Religiously, by the way, but religiously.

Set your goals, and then do what you have to do to achieve them. Typically, in order to achieve goals, you have to work on them every day, and when you're not working on them, you have to think about them.

But I'm not talking about losing weight, in this context.

The more you obsess over losing weight, the harder it will be... perhaps not to do so, but to maintain that weight loss once you've finally achieved your desired weight. I've made this analogy before... weight loss (or your nerves) is like a rubber band, stretching further and further. When you achieve the goal, and "release the band" it comes together with a snap, and all of a sudden every precept you'd held on losing weight - eating only small portions, having a treat only once a week, exercising every day - they go out the window and all of a sudden you're eating larger portions and more often, treating yourself twice a day, and not exercising.

And worst of all...you can't stop.

With this sudden "snap", your body - and your subconscious - wants to return to the way it was...and does what it can to achieve that.

Which is why once you achieve your desired weight, you can't stop "cold-turkey." You need to gradually increaes your food portion size, gradually give yourself a treat every other day, and NEVER stop exercising.

(And when I say "treat" - I don't mean to say that prior to this you've cut out treats entirely. The example I use is freshly baked cookies. I can't have freshly baked cookies in the house, they don't last two minutes. But I can have Oreo cookies. I eat two for dessert, they satisfy my chocolate craving, and I don't yearn for more. My "treat" is to go out to a Mrs. Fields Cookies in a mall - once a week, and have one of their freshly baked cookies.)

No, when I say "Purpose Driven" days, I mean something quite different. While eating should be an enjoyable part of your life, your whole life's goal should not be to stay at a healthy weight! No, your life's goal should be to achieve something...to accomplish something.

The accomplishments can be small - at least, small to some people - like reading a book every day on a different subject. Creating a miniature model train set. Learning to draw. Creating a garden. And so on.

Or, it can be large - inventing a new piece of equipment that can simplify life for others, Volunteering to visit the aged in nursing homes, or helping disabled kids at Special Olympics, or teaching adults to read...

But those are important goals in life.

And more often than not you can't achieve them unless you set yourself smaller goals each day, goals for the week, goals for the month, goals for the year.

With your mind on important things, and with food reduced to its proper scale of importance in your life, you can get on with your life and enjoy it!

Are You Honest in Your Record Keeping?

Whenever I first meet with a client who wants to lose weight, I tell them that the first thing to do is spend a week keeping a journal - in which they write down everything they eat.

I want more than that, of course. The times they eat, how they feel before and after they eat, and so on.

Keeping a detailed journal allows the individual to know themselves - do they overeat because they are hungry all the time...or because they are bored? Or because they are depressed and need comfort food?

Are there any foods they eat that engender cravings, such that they can't stop eating that particular food after a small portion? (Chocolate and salty snacks are the main culprits here...)

But when they, and you, keep this journal (and even after you get started on your new life, you should continue to keep a detailed journal), are you honest about it?

According to 10 Habits That Mess Up a Woman's Diet, there are people who lie...even in private journals to themselves! (Well, I can believe that. Many years ago I caught my mother stepping on a scale. She did not like the amount it told. So what did she do? She adjusted the scale so it read 5 pounds lighter! Well, that's one way of losing weight...)

Losing weight - and maintaiing your new weight once you have achieved it - is a never ending process. I hasten to say it's a process like learning a new skill, learning a new topic, and so on.... it's not something to obsess over and fret about.

Health is the key, not weight.

(Indeed, on that note I've found a new blog I like, called Defiant Athletes. http://liveoncejuicy.com/imperfect-athlete/. These are athletes who are large and in charge, and participate in sports because they love sports, not to lose weight.

A couple of weird old tips...

I was surfing the web this morning, checking out the lies and truth on weight loss and weight maintenance tht permeate the web, and came across these interesting little tidbits, that I'd never heard before.

Most of the tips on the page were kind of silly, but these two sounded interesting:

I don't know if they'll work...but hey, give 'em a try...not just once, of course. As with anything that you're experimenting with, you need to give it a fair trial. Keep notes of your success, or lack of success, over the course of a week:

1) Are you having a craving for a sugary trick? Break out a vanilla candle (or open up a small bottle of vanilla extract).

2) Add more hot spices or spicy foods to your meals

Spicy foods can reduce your appetite by increasing your body's norepinephrine and epinephrine levels. Canadian researchers found that people who ate appetizers with hot sauce ate 200 less calories than people who did not use hot sauce and... Another study in the British Journal of Nutrition found that women who added 2 teaspoons of dried red pepper on their food ate less calories during the day.

Beware Email Warnings or Requests For Charity

Well, if a finance blog can give diet tips (or rather, diet guilt tips), I can use a day's posts to warn my readers to not believe the 90% of emails they receive.

If you're like me, you have friends and relatives who send you, and everyone else on their list, emails about cancer-afflicted children who have written poems that they want forwarded to everyone you know (I received this one yesterday) or warnings that your cellphone number is about to be sold to a gazillion advertisers and there's nothing you can do about it. (Received this one about three weeks ago.)

And of course, they are all frauds.

When you receive an email like this, the thing to do is go to your favorite search engine - I use www.google.com, and type the topic in and do a search on it. Usually Snopes.com debunks the warning emails - most of those have been floating around for years, and you'll also find these charity requests debunked on a variety of sites.

It's a pity, really, that there are people out there with so much time on their hands that they try to think up these things and then see how long they have an internet shelf life...all too long, apparently.

So just a tip, if you ever receive a request - especially for a charitable donation - do your research on it first - in particular if it comes from Nigeria! They are all frauds.

There are no "weird old tricks" or "secrets your doctor doesn't want you to know'

In my daily surfs through the web, I come across those advertising phrases often. "Try this one weird old trick to lose belly fat" or "Lose weight with this secret your doctor doesnt' want you to know."

Such claims are bogus.

I dont' really understand the psychology behind such phrases. Does calling someting a "weird old trick" appeal to teenagers who feel attracted to the words "weird" and "trick"? And are we so distrustful of doctors and the medical profession that we really believe there are "secrets" that they don't want us to know?

Losing weight is common sense. Burn more calories than you consume, and you'll lose weight. There are no tricks to it.

There's only a problem - for a lot of people. There's soooo much food available, and food these days tastes soooo good, and we've got so much free time on our hands because most of us don't have to grub in the dirt for a living.

Losing weight is simple (for those individuals who are healthy and mobile - that's who my advice is directed toward. If you've got chronic illnesses such as diabetes, you'll need to approach things a bit differently) - will power must be developed.

And that's easy if you approach it gradually.

Most diets insist you cut out certain kinds of foods - processed foods, sugars, carbohydrates, fat, and so on and so on. Not necessary. Just eat them in moderation.

Of course if you're unable to moderate...then they must be cut out completely. For myself, that's fresh baked cookies. I can't have them in the house because for all my vaunted willpower, I can't resist them. The whole batch would be gone before two hours had passed. So I confine myself to a couple of Oreo cookies for dessert, which satisfy my chocolate craving but don't "call to me" to come and get more.

You must find foods that you react to the same way.

And of course there's buying for kids. I don't give much advice on how to lose weight while coping with the demands of a family, as I have no kids and am quite happy about it, but I do have a nephew, and see the crap he eats.

Such things as "Fruit rollups" should be abolished. If you want your kid to eat fruit, give him or her an apple, or an orange, or something. Even a blueberry muffin is better than a processed piece of sugar with fruit flavoring called a "fruit rollup."

There are other foods designed for kids which really should not be touched. Indeed, the best thing to do is, if at all possible, don't go shopping with your kids in the cart. They'll see things they want, which you'll either buy, or if you don't buy them they'll cry which will distress the other shoppers!

Tip of the day
Water. Start developing the habit of drinking a glass of water after every meal. A full belly - albeit one full of water - will keep you feelng fuller, longer. Indeed, at night when the cravings call, try to distract your mind by turning to a good book and drinking a glass of water at the same time. The cravings will generally disappear, and you'll be able to go to bed with no hunger pains.