Create Your Habits

So, we have been analyzing what we eat for just over two weeks now. We are paying better attention to what servings sizes are in the portions we are giving ourselves with each meal and snack we consume.

Up to this point we have made absolutely no changes. We have just looked at our diet as it currently is consumed. Hopefully we were able to hold back judgement from this look into our current eating habits. However I recognize that some of you may have already cringed at some things, stopped journaling altogether, or have already started making changes.

It is all okay. Wherever you are at, whatever you are doing, is all okay.

No, seriously it truly is all okay.

It took me 12 years to get to a point where I was able to maintain a consistent weight for over a year.

During this time span I stopped and started making changes several times. I tried this fad diet and that fad exercise program. I got to points where I hated women without curves as much as I hated the fact I had so many of them, too many of them. I tried finding memes and articles that would instill in me a confidence that how I looked didn't matter as much as what is inside.

That statement is true, how you look really does not equate to how beautiful a total person you are. However, even knowing this truth, screaming it from the top of my lungs, sharing it with all my close friends and fat loss buddies, writing articles and leading rituals with this theme, the mirror never seemed to care about this truth.

Knowing the truth did not turn off my desire for fat loss, tone, strength, and some semblance of looking in that mirror with a bit of confidence in the outward beauties reflection of me.

In fact, having the truth did not suddenly change the logic my brain and body worked within either. Sometimes that truth just made it worse. Leading to imperfections on the inside, the core of who I am, that would shine through regardless of my body size and physical perception of beauty.

Not being able to take control of the situation and have some success with it was as big of a black mark on the beauty inside of me as it was an obvious mark on that physical beauty standard I desired.

Fat loss and gaining health in your life is not something that you can just flip a switch and suddenly be magically successful at doing. There are rare cases of people with this kind of discipline and will power, yet most success stories you will be exposed to are riddled with imperfect attempts.

So DO NOT beat yourself up. Just keep trying. That really is enough. Eventually the changes you are making to your "norm" will allow you to be successful in creating health habits that lead to fat loss and an overall physical and mental beauty you can come to appreciate in yourself - regardless of any external stimuli or judgement.

Let's Make Some Habit Changes!

So now comes the real challenging part - making changes.

First off I want you to remind yourself repeatedly and often that is takes 21 days to make a habit and, as you might expect, that means it takes 21 days to break a habit.

Slip up on day 6? What do you do now? Simple!
Move on to day 7 and make or break your habit!

So, whatever changes you apply you HAVE to give yourself at least a month of continually doing them, before you can easily let them go or easily incorporate them into your life.

As I mentioned already, do not beat yourself up if you fail one day. That is never going to get you anywhere. So many people will say, "well I slipped up once, might as well keep on doing it."

Don't be that person.

Instead be the person who says, "shoot, I did not mean to do that. Well, this one slip up isn't throwing me off track!!" Then don't wait to reset and go back to building your new habit, (or letting go of that old one). Instead just jump right back in like nothing ever happened!

BEATING YOURSELF UP IS NEVER THE ANSWER.

It is okay to give in. It is okay to fail. Just don't let it stop you from pushing forward and making the changes you want, or maybe even need, to be healthier!

What Kind of Changes Should I Start With?

Well, here is the part that may be harder for everyone because you are going to have to decide this on your own. Which is why we have been journaling our food consumption, times we eat, and how we feel when eating this past couple weeks.

This journaling of your current diet is now your tool for change!

What you need to do now is review that food journal and find within it habits you want to change. Be they adding something new or getting rid of something old. Look over your journal and see what types of changes you should be making. Some of these will be more obvious than others, for example, if you are not very activate your first goal may be to add 30 minutes of activity to your daily routine. Or, if you do not want to add activity you may realize that because of the low amount of activity you do your carb intake really has to be lessened.

I do have some recommendations I can make on some general changes I believe everyone should make for a healthier self. Changes and new habits that have helped me so much!

Also, if you would like to share your food journal with me and have me offer some suggestions I would be willing to do that no problem. With the understanding that I am not a certified professional anything, I am just offering help based on my personal experiences.

My Healthy Habit Forming Recommendations

Let's start with:

I own this set of WW's
portion sized serving spoons.
They are so helpful!

1. Portion control - We discussed this in last weeks blog-post in which I provided information on how to best estimate the serving sizes within your meal and snack portions.
   
   For a lot of us how much we eat is much more of a significant impact on our overall health than what we eat. Take the time to get serious about being portion aware and not eating more than a serving of any one item you are going to put on your plate.
   
   This will mean creating a habit of weighing and measuring all your meal items. Invest in a cheap scale as well as some pre-measured serving utensils. Weight Watchers has quite a few of them - as do many other places I am sure. It is truly worth it to invest in these tools while you are learning what a real serving of your foods actually looks like.
   
   If you are eating anything from boxes or packages be sure to portion out an actual suggested serving of that item. You will be truly amazed how little food you actually get from these items when you portion yourself out a serving.
   
   Which leads to my next suggestion ...
    
2. Cut out all unnecessarily processed and all packaged foods - Not only will this eliminate tons of unnecessary carbs, sodium, and unnatural ingredients, it also allows you to fully know and understand exactly what is in the food that you are putting into your body.
   
   Sometimes you cannot avoid buying something packaged for example condiments. Yet almost everything else you can avoid being packaged. Personally there are a few items I buy processed and/or packaged still such as whole grain bread, saltine crackers, greek yogurt, cheese, lunch-meat, coffee creamer, 1% milk, fat-free sour cream, and whole grain low carb tortillas.
   
   When I really think about my cupboards these really are the only packaged items they hold anymore. Everything else is bought in bulk bins - flour, wild rice, beans, sugar, grains, dried fruits, etc. or fresh, meats, veggies, and fruits.
   
   As well, if there is an item you really need but it is out of season fresh, such as a particular fruit, always go for frozen first and then canned. Frozen fruits and veggies retain almost the same levels of vitamins and nutrients as fresh. This is because of the very adept flash freezing technology that really keeps the whole fruit in tact during processing.
   
   As well, stay away from any additives to these frozen or canned items. For example the Green Giant varieties of frozen veggies with flavorings added. Just get the frozen without added crap and make your own sauce! Most of the time the sauce you create will be ten times tastier and have 1/3 to 1/2 the fat, carbs, and sodium that you find in those packaged items.
3. Pre-plan Your Monthly Meals (at least dinners) - Doing this really helps you be successful with items 1 & 2 as you are able to know what portions you will be looking at for each meal and then shop for the ingredients you need for the month - meaning you can now evaluate how many packaged or processed items you will truly be exposed to all month!
   
   It is also really great on your budget as you can purchase meat and bulk items in quantities that will last you the entire month. Storing or freezing them until you need them. I separate my meats out into meal servings that equate to enough for the recipe or enough for two, put them in ziploc freezer bags, and pull them out to defrost that morning before work.
   
   This means that once a month I purchase bulk items (meat, bulk) and once a week I purchase the perishable items that cannot be purchased in bulk (veggies and fruit). As well, most items from the bulk section, (flour, rice, beans), last for months in storage and are cheap to purchase in large quantities. Meaning I also only shop for a larger amount of items about once every quarter.
   
   Planning a monthly menu is truly not that hard to do nor does it require an over-analyzed and well documented daily plan, I promise! For example, I know that twice a week I can take some chicken and some rice or tortillas and make some sort of meal. So twice a week I write down something like "chicken crap bowl" or "chicken wraps" and then that week I decide what veggie I would like to add to them. I also know I want to have fish once a week, so I pick a day of the week to have fish with rice or tortilla, mark down, "fish tacos" or "fish bake", and, like with the chicken, I pick a veggie to go with it to purchase that week.
   
   I also like to have items that can have leftovers for a day or two. So I pick crock-pot meals, or turkey breasts, or some other type of item to cook that I enjoy eating lots of leftovers from.
4. Cut Your Carbs - Mind you I am not saying eliminate them entirely. Just learn the good ones and choose to only eat those kinds of carbs instead. Taking on item 2 will do this part for your naturally as well.
   
   Carbs are not bad for you, however they are the nutrient that produces fat in our body and are the first to get cut in every diet plan you will find. Especially when your physician needs you to lose fat quickly for a procedure you may need to have done.
   
   The truth about carbs is this, most of us are NOT that active and carbs are like premium gasoline - they are made for a car that works really hard pushing it's limits and straining itself regularly. The carbs are turned into energy for hard working bodies and for those of us whom sometimes do not even do the bare minimum of 30 minutes a day, well, the carbs are turned into fat. Weee!!!
5. Quit Consuming Alcohol, Soda, Fancy Lattes, or any Suagary Beverage - This goes with that whole carb thing. With these items you are drinking huge portions of sugary carbs that, in one serving, typically go well over any daily recommended serving of a "good" carb you could get. It is like ordering a burrito from Baja Fresh and then realizing that burrito accounts for your total recommended daily calories ... just one freaking burrito!
   
   These liquid carbs can, and most often do, ruin any efforts you have made all week in just two servings. It is ridiculous how bad these are for you in more ways than just trying to lose some fat.
   
   Which leads to my last, and what I feel might be, most obvious suggestion ...
        
   
6. Stop Eating Fast Food - If it has a drive through or can be delivered to your couch stop eating it. I don't know that I really have to explain the reasons for this one, yet there are many. If you would like to see a blog post about the horrors of fast food I am sure Google Search can offer a bajillion!
   
   
   Just stop eating it ... it is so, so, so, ridiculously, horribly, bad for you. 

These are just a few things I have made a habit of that really work for me.

Don't Do Them All At Once!

I am not suggesting that you do every single one of these in one sitting. Nor am I suggesting you have to do any of them. It is up to you to evaluate your food journal, review your current diet, and decide for yourself what changes should be made.
 
Only you can truly tell what adjustments are going to benefit you.

I just provide this list for ideas of ways you can build new habits in your life that will create a healthier situation overall. Ways I have applied to my own life and have found much success with. Ways in which I still sometimes slip up or give in, (I do love me some Starbucks every now and then!), yet ways I know to be successful even if I slip up ever so often.

When Should I Start?

Whew! This post seems to contain LOTS of information.

What will your one habit change be?

I suggest we start on November 1st, just two days from now. Then we can check back in 21 days, right before thanksgiving. Giving us some time to prepare for glutinous feast day. So we can work out our plans to enjoy all the deliciousness we will be exposed too!!!

~TigressSky~

Serving Yourself

So you have been journaling your diet for a week now and, as we start week two, I want you to really pay attention to the piece you are doing in acknowledging your serving size amounts in the portions you are consuming.

I find that my biggest issue with fat loss comes from overestimating the serving size of my snacks and meals. Although I admit that sometimes I purposefully choose to eat way more than a serving. Why would I do this? Well, for one, I love food!

I am a fresh off the boat third generation Italian girl. My love of food has been taught to me throughout my youth. I love the way food tastes, smells, looks, and feels! I especially love the adventure of cooking food - taking some ingredients and making a delicious and beautiful concoction out of them makes me so happy!

Then there are those times when I have not ate anything for awhile, I feel so incredibly hungry, so I load my plate up to full and, because I love food, I eat every last bite! Even though I am typically feeling satiated and full way before I get to the end of the plate.

These are hard habits to break. More importantly they are even harder habits to discover and admit too. Especially when I find myself slipping right back into them from time to time.

Yet, as classic G.I. Joe cartoons will tell you, "knowing is half the battle!"

It truly is, being aware helps me to curb these habits. I can tell myself, "don't load your plate, you are just feeling hungry RIGHT NOW, but if you put ALL of this on your plate you are going to regret it and feel stuffed in just a few."

This is the point where understanding what serving size your portions actually equate to helps! Knowing what a serving is truly aids me in filling my plate correctly and helps me to enjoy eating what I want without worrying about the habits that got me into trouble taking over again.

What is a Serving

A serving is the amount of food "experts" recommend you eat of a particular food type. Whereas a portion is the amount of food you actually eat.

For example I love avocados! When I eat an avocado I can't help but eat the WHOLE thing! So my portion is one whole avocado, however, the recommended serving is 1/4 of an avocado. That means I am eating 4 servings of avocado in one portion.

Learning what the recommended serving size is can be so much easier when you can equate it to physical objects you are familiar with. Below are a few charts I found on SparkPeople.com that I thought might help others in analyzing their portions as well.

Fruits and Veggies: 

Meats, Legumes, and Proteins: 

Grains: 

Dairy: 

Fats & Oils: 

Now, I listed what the recommended serving sizes are but I did not give you the recommended daily servings. You may be wondering why, and no, it is not because I am opposed to those "expert" recommended guidelines like so many other fat loss guru's seem to be.

I did not share them simply because they are not necessarily right for each person. Finding out what is right for you is exactly what we are trying to do here. There is no "average" here. Just you, discovering how you can eat the way you like and get healthier, leaner, and, (for so many of us), more confident with who you are and how you care for yourself!

The first step in doing this is working on getting your portions under control. Eventually we will try making our portions equate to a serving of whatever items we are having for our meals and snacks. Getting this part down is way harder than it sounds and, as we will learn, does not always equate to failure if you go under or over those "expert" recommendations.

For now though, just keep writing what you eat - but this time with more accuracy as to WHAT servings are in the portions you are eating. Do not try adjusting anything just yet. This is still just a learning process, go with it and find your bottom line before you try and adjust how your bottom looks!

Examining Me

Speaking of bottom lines ... here it is, as promised, my Food Journal for week one.

On average I have about 5 "meals" a day. Of these 5 meals I go over in my servings about 2 times per day and under maybe 2 times a week.

When you look at your portions and the servings within them do not let your overages scare you too much yet. We are still in that learning phase. Still trying to figure out what our diet is and right now, we are just trying to become familar with our typical portions and what a serving looks like within them.

Next week we will start trying to make some adjustments to our diets and most likely see just how hard it really is to change these habits we have formed!

WE CAN DO IT THOUGH!

~TigressSky~

Learn Your Diet

Last post I discussed the difference between a diet and dieting. Now that we have that concept down comes the hard part ...

Dissecting and Understanding Our Own Diet

So here is where the hard part comes - analyzing yourself.

Step one to being successful in making changes and creating lifelong habits that lead to easily maintainable fat loss is to start where you currently stand and really see it.

What kind of Confucius styled rhetoric am I spouting here? Let me try and break it down with a even stranger story ...

Did You Check Your Oil?
In my youth I knew this older woman whose solution to everything that went wrong with an automobile was to "check the oil."

"My car won't start, turn the key and nothing!"

"Did you check the oil?"

"Shoot I have a flat!"

"Did you check the oil?"

"I ran out of gas."

"Did you check the oil?"

It did not matter how obvious it was that the alternator was out, the tire had a nail in it, and the gas tank was empty - all solutions to car troubles were fixed by checking the oil.  In her mind there was never a need to stop and look at the condition of the car to discover any clues as to WHY the car had an issue - the solution of checking the oil, (which at some point in her life must have solved many a car problem or been taught to her?), was always the place to start.

I have discovered the exact same concept of focusing on the solution to be true when it comes to dealing with fat loss. We look in the mirror and say:

"Ugh, I'm so fat!"

And for some reason we hear the mirror respond with,

"Have you tried dieting?"

So it is we jump on the dieting bandwagon, maybe even rushing into some sort of work-out program, never taking a moment to truly SEE the condition of our "car" (body) to discover the clues as to WHY we have an issue.

This is a truly serious problem as for many this can lead to the exact opposite of being over fat; by instead becoming underweight - sometimes to a degree that is so unhealthy we could die. Anorexia and bulimia are the extreme form of always "checking the oil" and never truly seeing the condition of the "car" we live in and are responsible for.

We are not automobiles, yet in a way our body is much like an automobile.

VVVRRROOMM! VVVRRROOOMMM!!!

We are the drivers of our own body vehicle.

What we often forget is that not only are we the driver but we are also the mechanic. In order to be able to drive such a great machine we have to be great mechanics. In order to be great mechanics we have to understand how our car operates. The first step in understanding our car is to understand our fuel. The food we put in our body is the fuel that allows it to continue to thrive and operate under the demands we command of it and that is the first place we will be focusing as mechanics: HOW WE FUEL OUR BODY.

The Challenge

For two full weeks the only thing we will focus on is journaling our current fuel intake.

Many will be tempted to eat all the right things in all the right portions during the next two weeks. Don't.

Many will be tempted to not account for and leave out of their journaling any of the indiscretions they make in food choices on a regular basis. Such as ordering take out pizza twice in one week, eating a full pint of ice cream in one sitting, or snacking on half a bag of their favorite Halloween candy. Don't.

Many will beat themselves up with every item they write down. Don't.

JUST WRITE IT.

All of it.

Don't be ashamed. Don't hide anything. Don't make changes.

JUST WRITE IT. 

This is a very simple format you can follow that will
aid in track everything you need for the next
couple of weeks!

Remember we are NOT fixing anything in our car right now, we are not changing any oil, we are just observing our car, the fuel we put in it, and how it reacts to the types of fuel we give it.

How you write this is up to you. There are however things you MUST be responsible for writing down:

1. What you ate.
2. What time you ate it.
3. How you felt before you ate.
4. How you felt 20 minutes after you ate.
5. How much you ate. Don't over think this one, just jot down if you think you ate a normal portion, more than, or even less than.

At the end of week one I will share my first weeks journaling with you all. Others can share if they would like, but do not feel like you have to.

As well, if you would like to share your journal entries with me privately I am up for that. I can be a secondary set of "mechanics eyes", one that may be a little more familiar with the effects the type of fuel you intake has on the body. However, in the long run it will be you whom take on the ultimate understanding of your bodies fueling needs.

That level of analysis comes later; for now, JUST WRITE!

There are many free and pay sites that allow you to track your food. Feel free to journal there if you would like however DO NOT use their tools and review everything with a fine toothed comb. The goal is to get it down so you can review it later and understand better what fuel you are feeding your body.

Excuses?

You will come up with so many of them as to why you just could not journal that day: "I was so busy" or even "my dog ate my journal." They will all be valid reasons and here is the thing, I don't care. This is for you and about you and NO ONE is going to reprimand you for not doing this, except yourself.

Remember that part - YOU are doing this. YOU are the mechanic. The only person whom you have to explain not doing this to is YOU.

I will however state that I know, like me, many of you have already put in plenty of time, effort, and expense to lose fat. Even if it only lasted a few weeks, you made the effort. The effort asked for here is to write, to use a piece of paper and pen and write. It's perhaps the least amount of effort you have ever made in your fat loss journey. So be diligent with it. Give yourself this chance to really make it all happen!

~TigressSky~

Diet vs Dieting. Is there a difference?

Diet vs Dieting. Is there a difference?

As simple as it is to explain, it seems to be one of the hardest concepts to "get" when starting down a path to fat loss. My own journey began more than 13 years ago and it wasn't until the past few years that I truly "got it". What I am talking about here is the difference between diet and dieting.

Is this something you eat regularly? Then this is part of your diet.

A Diet is what you eat on a regular basis.

Dieting is making a sudden and sometimes drastic change to what you eat regularly in order to aid in fat loss.

Okay simple right? 

Actually, it isn't that simple. Especially if you want to ensure that your fat loss efforts will be something permanent and easy to maintain.

Permanent and Easy to Maintain You Say?

We all pretty much understand the difference between Diet and Dieting what we do not seem to understand is that changing your diet does not mean nor equate to dieting.

Wait, what? Do the definitions not show that in order to affect my fat loss I need to change my diet which requires dieting?

Technically, it looks like that is in fact the case. Everything we read and are exposed to also makes these same pleas to us of using this pre-defined nomenclature in order to achieve any success. Dieting companies, authors, and reality television shows all push this same agenda of dieting upon us, each focusing on their particular fool-proof plan!

You can burn calories just reading all the rhetoric!!!

Plans such as: "Eat these pre-packaged meals," and/or, "eliminate these types of foods" and "take these supplements that come in boxes of rhetoric for you!" As well as the more simpler plans of: "eat this many calories," and/or, "eat this many meals a day within this caloric range." Plans that are really not maintainable in the long run, so much so that I would beg to call them Dieting Fads not plans.

Almost all of these dieting fads come with a type of work out program focused on getting you into the "best shape of your life!"

(There is a reason the dieting industry is one of the most profitable and it isn't because of their success rates.)

I guarantee you that if you spend the time, effort, and dollars needed on any of these dieting programs you will lose weight and you will see results. I also guarantee you that as soon as you stop following them you will gain some back, most likely all of it will come back; with the very typical added bonus of a few extra pounds joining you anew! 

Truth is, if we want "this" to work then we have to change our diet altogether 

and that change is not helped but instead hindered by dieting.

What is "This"?

This is successfully changing our diet to ensure healthy fat loss that is so easy to maintain we barely have to think about it!

This is something we can all do.

This takes time and will typically not produce nor cause immediate results.

The first step of this is to recognize that we are NOT dieting!!!

It is truly that simple. The first step is to STOP DIETING!

The next steps come in simply understanding our own diets; through such understanding we will discover how to make the individual changes to them we need without the dieting fads we don't.

~TigressSky~