Weight loss "accessories" I won't do without

   I reviewed some of the products I bought that ended up in a yard sale somewhere: not my yard sale because those are way too much work. I'm sure I gave that ill-fated thigh master to someone somewhere who probably ended up with great looking insurable legs.
   I have, on the other hand, come across some items I really feel I don't want to do without. The top goody on my list is my Mio Heart Rate Watch. I love, love, love this thing! I'm a nurse, and I know how to take my pulse so I don't really need that feature. The thing I like about it, and am hooked on, is it gives me a calories burned read out while I'm exercising, and the % of target heart rate I am working at. I entered my weight, age , resting heart rate, and I'm all set. Love it!

Another really important item I bought was a set of Fit N Fresh containers. Actually, I didn't know I bought them. They came in this cool lunch bag.

My lunch bag is zebra print. This is giraffe print. It's okay, too, but I like mine better. So this is the bag and these are the containers.

These things are great! The small ones are one cup containers and are marked for 1/4, 1/2, etc. They fit in the box with lots of room left, and there's a thin freezie thing, too.  I share a fridge with a co-worker and I really like that with my food packed neatly in the box, it doesn't take up much room, and my stuff is all together. Well, not exactly all my food because I take a lot but that's another post. It also makes it easy for me to grab my lunch in the mornings and not forget the important things in the fridge. After I discovered these in my bag, I bought another set at Bed Bath and Beyond. I feel very much in control of my food when I use these containers.
I just found the website for these so obviously I'm going to shop when I am done here.
  I also love my neoprene weights. I have two pound, three pound, 4 pound and 5 pound. I also have a ten pound kettle bell. I don't think I do what I'm supposed to with it;  it's too big. But I have found if I hold it next to my chest when I am dancing around, I burn more calories than without it.
  I have a Bosu ball like this one. I used it previously and recognize its value. I'm just not there yet this time. I will be. I am going to keep this because I will use it again some day soon. But not tomorrow.

My assortment of water bottles are worthy of a their own post so I won't go there tonight.

Shopping for Weight Loss

Does every thing I do have to involve spending??!? Yes! Okay maybe not, but I have been suckered in, or misguided, or looking for a miracle, on numerous occasions. I have purchased a lot of weight loss toys. Here is my assessment of Tried and Not-So-True (to me anyway) weight loss products. Bear in mind, many of these products rely upon use by the  purchaser in order to work. My list, not in order of failure, is comprised of products and why they did not work for me. Most of the failures, but not all, are directly related to my hopes of quick,easy, effortless weight loss, not realizing quick, easy effortless means temporary or , in most cases, non-existent. Some of the failures are related to feeling my life was in danger when I used them while  with others my self esteem as a human being was at risk. I have a fear of  just looking ridiculous.

  I've looked everywhere for a photo of this first contraption to no avail. The best I can do is describe it. Please understand this is difficult for me because I feel stupid just describing it. I can't recall the name either, possibly selective memory loss. The "device" consisted of a wooden square about 1/2 inch thick, about the size of a bathroom scale. Seated atop the wooden square was a round cork board disc that would spin with movement. The idea was to stand on the round disc and "twist" from side to side; yes, just like Chubby Checker.

 This trinket did not work. I tried it twice. The first time, I fell off; the second time I felt stupid. Again, I feel stupid just thinking about it. It didn't work for me, and apparently it didn't work for Chubby.

Now another item in my list of goods I spent money on was an Ab Lounger. It really does work for some people. Apparently I am not one of those. Luckily for me, I purchased it shortly before I purchased a new house and was able to use it as a household chair until my furniture arrived. It was very comfortable as a recliner. It was ergonomically correct for me. It felt good just to lay around in/on it. It did not feel good to me when I used it. It felt like work. It was after this purchase that I realized a valuable lesson : do not pay others to make you work. That's just plain goofy.

Decisions.....Decisions

Duh.

Really? No. I am the master of my own thighs.

Enough said.

Richard Simmons Deal-a-Meal was another investment that failed me. Rather, I bought it and failed to use it.  Back in the day it was a pretty expensive kit. It came with a cool wallet and everything. I love Richard. Richard has helped a lot of people lose a lot of pounds. Imagine my feelings of failure when Richard could not help me. I couldn't even keep up with this:

I have some fitness equipment I do believe in and use. Again, many products and concepts work but the purchaser has to make more than a monetary investment. It seems through the years I had so many other  investments, too many balls on the tennis court of life, that I couldn't afford to invest in me. Maybe I should give poor Richard a second chance?!?

 Here is a link to one of my favorite websites and their most helpful take on fitness equipment:
                                                               SparkPeople
This website has a lot  to offer those who are looking for support, education, food and fitness trackers, and so much more.

Snacks, Like Men, Gotta Have ‘Em

So I have elected to remove the word “diet” from the title of this self-indulgence also known as my blog; self indulgence which, for once in my life, does not involve inserting enormous calories in my mouth. I removed the “d-word” because I am beginning to think I like eating healthy, that I like the way I’m feeling, and really, really like having control over a Cool Ranch Dorito. I’m afraid if I leave the word “diet” in my ramblings I will begin to hate the way I am eating.

I have participated in diets that did not allow snacking. Mega-fail, but  a learning experience. I eat snacks and enjoy them, at least daily if not three times daily!  I have been paying attention to the snacks I eat. I pay attention to the time of day I eat them in relationship to what I am doing, the time I last ate, and what made me think I was hungry in the first place. I pay attention to how long it is before my first food thought after I have a snack, why I have that food thought and what kind of food thought it is. Is it a food thought related to how good my snack tasted? Is it a food thought because my stomach growled or my hands felt shaky? Is it a food thought because I want to do something? Did I think of eating because I saw someone else eating? I believe all these things determine whether I just think about the food, or jump right on it? I love thinking about food; sometimes I think myself right out of eating it. Maybe it’s laziness on my part; sometimes by the time I finish this lengthy analysis of the state of my hunger, I’m too tired to get up and get something. LOL@ my lazy fat ass! It’s just like right now, while I am typing this; I think I might be hungry, but I’m putting it off until I know for sure. I am doing that by doing more food thinking. I’m convinced by the time I finish this will honestly hungry, but I’m not yet!

I have composed a list of snacks I enjoy. Not everyone will like these snacks but I find they suit me and satisfy the desire I have to snatch a brownie away from a co-worker and devour it all in one bite.

The first in my list are snacks to eat just because you  have to have one; the ones you have to have because everyone else is having something or because you need to feel like you ate something you shouldn’t have:

A bag of Pretzel M and M’s

Strawberries dipped in SF chocolate syrup

Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich

A Peppermint Patty (the big one)

Sweet n Salty bar

A milkshake made with SF chocolate, skim milk and ¾ c FF ice cream (3/4 because a serving is ½ J)

½ a single serving bag of chips

An orange sucked through a peppermint stick (the soft kind that’s all sugar)

I always keep a 100 cal pack of cookies on hand, but only one pack per day, and don’t pack these as one of my “planned” snacks; that takes the fun out. But I only eat these if I  have to because I want what that bitch is having and she weighs 102 pounds

Healthier fair : I eat these to “tide me  over”:

Cereal (not sugary) with skim milk eaten out of a 9 oz plastic cup

½ a sandwich

Fruit, water filled

1/2 banana (total one per day)

Yogurt with less than a tsp of chopped nuts for crunch

Key lime or lemon ice box pie (ok kidding…..flavored FF yogurt with two graham crackers and add SF FF cool whip)

100 cal packs of salties or sweeties

SF FF vanilla pudding with half a banana (left over from earlier snack, remember?) with 4 reduced fat vanilla wafers OMG! Is that banana pudding????

Turkey bites and an oz or so of cheese

Skim milk 1 cup with an apple

Mini moon pie

Cereal bar

Teeny tiny muffins made of angel food cake topped with a tsp pie filling, cool whip or SF FF chocolate pudding (only if I have felt like a butterless Paula Deen over the weekend, gotten a wild hair, and cooked)

Strawberry shortcake: strawberries on a little shortcake thingy (60 cals or so) with SF FF cool whip on top.

This is by no means a complete list of snacks. No food is off limits but just as with men: Size matters. Period. If you have a big snack, then reduce your next meal a little; if it’s a little one, don’t.

A Playful List

    I have never cared much for movement.  Thinking back, I can recall a time when thinking about movement, or watching other people move left me a bit queasy. At the time, I thought it may be due to Jane Fonda/Richard Simmons overload. Now I know it was fear.  I was afraid I might drop dead if I exercised. I was a heavy smoker. I was a nurse and knew that smokers get heart disease. In my twenties I had a lot of anxiety about being a smoker. I developed an irregular heartbeat which I now know was probably due to anxiety over the possibility of developing an irregular heartbeat. I was diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse in my 20s and was convinced the end was near. I felt it important not to move. I was literally paralyzed for at least two decades by this irrational fear. Later I realized the cardiologist had not lied when he said "it's not going to kill you". Now that I'm in my fifties, it's pretty evident that premature death due to MVP is not my fate. In fact, had my anxiety been under control, I might never have been diagnosed with MVP because I would have been asymptomatic which is  frequently the case with MVP. It was a poor excuse then and it's a non-excuse now.
    I have toyed with exercise over the years.  I have gone through periods of exercising; walking on the treadmill,exercise videos, going to a gym. I have lost a lot of weight and re-gained it when I got bored. I have purchased a lot of exercise equipment not realizing I already owned the most useful equipment-my body! I have found that dancing, alone in my bedroom with my Ipod cranked up high (I know, I know) burns a tremendous amount of calories. Mixing in a few light weights while I dance burns even  more.
   Most people call their exercise music lists "Playlists". I like to call mine a "Playful List". I call it that because "Playlist" sounds very rigid to me. I am moving away from rigid; away from paralysis. I chose the songs on my Playful List for a variety of reasons. Some remind me of a time in my life of which I have fond memories. Others have a good beat. A few  are just fun. And I like Johnny Cougar. I don't play them in any particular order; shuffle is my exercise buddy.They have a variety of rhythms but I somehow manage to keep my heart rate up (Yikes!) throughout by adding in some weights and using my arms. Someone asked if I am doing "Zumba". I'm not. I'm doing "Ellen" with a little Napoleon Dynamite mixed in.  So here it is, my Playful List:
 Katy Perry  "Firework"         
John Mellencamp  "Cherry Bomb" "Small Town" "R.O.C.K. in the USA" "Key West Intermezzo" "Authority Song"  "I Need a Lover"
The Knack  "My Sharona"
Rolling Stones  "Jumpin Jack Flash"  "Honky Tonk Women"
Bruce Springsteen  "Glory Days"  "Dancing in the Dark"
Nelly  "Hot in Here"
Elton John  "Crocodile Rock"
Michael Jackson  "Beat It"
Jimmy Buffet "Brown Eyed Girl" "Margaritaville"
Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling"
 Janet Jackson "What Have You Done for Me Lately?"

Obviously my Playful List is not for everyone. I'm sure it will change over time. This is what  I need to help me like moving right now. And I am liking it, to the tune of 19 pounds down. Soon to be at my goal of 20 pounds!

First Meal of the Day

I titled this "First Meal of the Day" because the very word "breakfast" frightens some people. It may mean extra work, getting up early, or for some, having to stop smoking and drinking coffee (gee, I think I recall those days!) in order to eat. Personally, I have found that breakfast can make or break my success for the day.
 

 A good Breakfast for me is at the very least 300 calories but 350 is better! Below are some of the foods I like to have on hand to choose from. Protein is a must for me first thing in the morning but sometimes I need a few carbs for a quick start in addition. I usually eat my breakfast after I am at work and in the first meeting of the day. Often others are eating pastries, muffins, or a full breakfast. I try to always have the right choices  available in case I feel myself starting to wish I could eat five donuts. A Cinnabon bar or reduced fat cinnamon roll makes me happy in those situations!

                                                   

Protein sources

6 Old Wisconsin Turkey Bites                                               

Carnation Instant Breakfast  (CIB)SF w/ milk                                

8 oz Smart Balance FF Milk                                                 

1 Babybel Lite cheese                                                              

1 Sargento deli slice cheese reduced fat                                   

1 string cheese                                                                         

Turkey bacon (2)                                                              

Jimmy Dean turkey sausage patty

Peanut butter (around a tablespoon)

Hard boiled egg

Ham 2 or 3 slices

Low fat yogurt

Oatmeal, heart healthy serving

A few chopped walnuts (tablespoon max; ½ is better)

Fiber sources

Thomas Whole Wheat English muffin *

Toasted whole wheat Slimwich *

Special K Waffles *                                        

High Fiber low calorie bread (35 cals per slice, may have 2 slices; other breads 1 slice)

Carb sources but low cals

Cinnabon bar, caramel or regular*

Multigrain cheerios 3/4 cup *

Reduced fat cinnamon roll *

Basically I add three of the above listed items together and may add water filled fruit also, if calories are 300 or less, and even if they are more than 300 and I'm still hungry!

* Starred items are higher in carbs so I always balance with fruit and protein

These fruits are water plentiful, so I allow myself  more than one serving; good for controlled snacking (arrrghh....the "c" word)

Grapes

Tangerine

Kiwi

Orange slices

Canned fruits in water only, no added sugar

Pineapple

Watermelon

Cantaloupe

Berries

Less water filled but still great fruit…. I just limit myself to one serving and eat with a lower calorie meal

Apple

Banana

Sample Combos                                                                Approx calories

CIB/milk +toasted muffin+turkey bites                               350 cals

Babybel cheese+grapes+warm cinnabon bar+milk             325 cals                   

Waffle with SF syrup+ sausage patty+ milk                       300 cals

Toast+ Peanut butter+ apple                                            250 cals

Melted cheese slice on toast or muffin with ham                 280 cals

If I'm faced with a big breakfast, I know  it’s okay to have it, within reason. My best choices, if I decide to eat a little heavier, on a special occasion (Like a Saturday!), are:

Egg white omelet, or with egg beaters, and eat only half, or one egg over easy light on the grease. I like eggs but my personal favorite is oatmeal.

Canadian bacon (pref) or one slice bacon or one sausage link

One slice toast

If I eat a meat and egg  breakfast l go light on lunch, or if I  have it for brunch, I do a very  late lunch and skip supper except for cereal or a sandwich minus bread.  After a really hearty breakfast, I'm not usually hungry soon after anyway.

These are just my suggestions for breakfast. I have had many other healthy meals for breakfast that others don't consider a breakfast at all such as a ham or turkey sandwich. In fact, I may have that tomorrow! It's part of what helps me stick with it; not confining myself to the  traditional three meals a day and always having breakfast for breakfast. It feels good to me to know there are no foods in my fridge off limits at any time of day. If I want smoked salmon for breakfast so be it! 

By the way, I don't actually draw the bikini on the plate but now that I see it done that way, I kinda like it!

2D's Bikini Dreams Plan

  

I treat my 7-9 inch plate (remember?) as though I am dressing it in bikini , a constant reminder of my goal. The bottom of the bikini( the bottom half of the plate) is made of fruits and veggies; one triangle of the top is grains, pasta, breads, etc, and one triangle of the top is protein. The purpose is two fold: every bite I take reminds me of the goal, (because a bikini is staring me in the face!) and it offers a ready made measure for portions.

Hello, Cakehole Control !

    I am in charge of my cakehole. I realized this was important a long time ago but it seems I rocked along for quite some time  perfectly happy not being in control, which was my undoing. My scale screamed at me that  I was out of control; that I felt hopeless; that my fat was making me a miserable person; that my lack of control over my own oral intake was going to kill me. Yes, my scale said all of that, in 3 digits: 210. I weighed more than two of the contestants on the first Biggest Loser!! I'm actually lying a little bit ; my top weight was 213, after my first trip to Mexico in April, 2008. As I look back on the photo, I realize that I was likely even larger than the scale revealed two weeks after my return. I had become ill as we were leaving Mexico as a result of my lack of.....yes, self control. I drank entirely too many margaritas and beers which resulted in failure to apply sunscreen, and I ended up with a horrible collection of fever blisters which made it difficult for me to eat. It was a difficult lesson to learn, that excess alcohol and sun don't mix.It was a full two weeks before I had the courage, or energy to stand on the scale and face my fatness.
  Since that time, I have become more aware of the effects of food drink on my body and spirit. I have by no means given up all the fun things in life. I have given up  excess. I have become aware that hangovers don't occur only with alcohol; they occur with food  too. A huge slice of chocolate cake with ice cream is just as likely to cause me to feel bad later as a few huge ass beers.
  

Since 2008, my weight has been up and down, (never back to 213!) as have my moods and my degree of self management also been up and down. I have waxed and waned in my efforts to be healthy although the desire is always there. I have binged on food on bad days, and on good days. But I have also seen a change creeping over me over the past year or two: commitment to non-surgical fat removal.


I don't know about you, but isn't life better without the hangover? Have you ever noticed a food hangover? Have you ever noticed an alcohol hangover results in overindulgence in food which results in a food hangover? I have, and I am so glad to be done with that. Saying goodbye to excess has been very good for me. Saying hello to Cakehole Control has been a lifesaver.

By the way, I DID make it to 191 on Friday. So happy I only have one more pound to goal!

Small Plates

  I have come to love small plates.  In the eighties the diameter of a dinner plate was only 10 inches and I managed to gain a lot of weight. Today's dinner plate is 12 inches. Imagine the possibilities!!
I use an 7-8 inch plate when possible. I find that an 8 inch plate is plenty large for a meal. I also love paper plates because it helps me avoid a prolonged kitchen clean up which can trigger snacking, and the ugly habit of "cleaning" other peoples' plates, usually  by scraping all the left-over food into my mouth. Once the left-overs are in the trash, they are off-limits although I vaguely recall a time when nothing was off limits, including partially eaten chicken drummies left by my kids. One of my favorite left-overs by others is dressing and mashed potatoes after a holiday meal. Sick, huh? Table to trash is the best way to go when breaking bad habits, and when dealing with the "just one more bite won't hurt" syndrome. It will hurt, especially when one becomes two becomes three, etc.

    I  like themed paper plates, or party plates. They make the meal more enjoyable for me, especially if they remind me of my goal: enjoying  the beach in a decent swimsuit. These cute plates are available at any party store, and online. The matching cups are great , too, for snacks. A seven ounce plastic or paper cup is perfect for cereal. One of these punch sized cups of cheerios and skim milk is only a  partial serving of the cereal or the milk, and is very satisfying.

   There are , of course occasions when a small paper plate is not appropriate, or available. In these cases, I have to have to prepare myself for a full size plate.  Preparing does not include meditation, prayer, or medication (I have tried each of those). Preparation for this trial is simply saying to myself (and listening!), and to others around me, "These plates are huge! Are they making them bigger these days? What do they think we are? Fat slobs? No one can each this much!" This sets my 12 inch plate up for scrutiny by all in attendance. Who wants to be a health-hypocrite? Not me.

So next time you are out and about, stop by a party supply store and stock up on party plates. If you buy them in the off-season, you can get really good deals and have enough to last until your goal is met, and you set a new goal.

One last suggestion: If you need an extra boost of willpower, a little extra incentive, pick up one of these at the party store and wear it while you eat, preferably in front of a mirror:

Listening to Me

My current weight issues have followed me over the past thirty years with ups and downs of the scales every few years. I have become a weight loss expert. I know exactly how to shop, cook, eat, dine out, and behave, in general, as though I am a very healthy person with a normal weight. I am able to advise others very well in these areas also. Unfortunately, I have not been in the habit of listening..... to me.
Did I just say that? I think so. I guess it's a new beginning!
I can only attest to what has worked in the past for me, what didn't work, and what is working now. I can only give a perspective. The habits I am clinging to, the foods I eat, and the philosophy I am developing work for me but not for everyone. Each person with weight problems has to develop his or her own philosophy of healthy eating and exercise, find their own healthy balance in life.
I suppose my blog is the method I have chosen to say "death to the double standard". I am now practicing what I preach. I am listening to me.
Enough of the silly stuff. On to the fun!

It's all about the cake hole

    I am an eater. I was raised in a restaurant family therefore I was totally into grease. Lard was my friend. I remember eating a paper  cup full of graham cracker meal from a barrel when I was about six. I licked  doughnut icing off  whatever surface it fell on when my dad was making the best doughnuts ever. I had the fortune of being raised alongside a soft serve ice cream machine. This environment must have had an effect on my mother because I recall seeing cans of "Sego" and "Metracal" in the fridge when I was looking for a stick of butter to spread on my bread which I then topped with sugar.
  Now, believe it or not, I was never a huge person, in spite of my exposure to trans fats before they were discovered. I was overweight as a child but not crippling  huge. I really slimmed down in my teenage years and college just by being entirely too busy to eat, and when I did eat, it was most unhealthy. Breakfast for me, in my senior year in high school consisted of a carton of Borden's Dutch Chocolate Milk, a bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos, and a Honey Bun. Oh God, I'm so hungry.
   After high school and college came marriage and children and numerous "diets", or "nutrition mishaps" as I prefer to call them now. The Grapefruit Diet was interesting. It involved eating grapefruit four times a day; three of those in the place of a meal, the fourth as a snack. I made it a full day on that one. I tried the hard boiled egg and banana diet; a hard boiled egg for three meals and a banana for a snack. Really? I lasted a day on that one also.  I tried an assortment of meal substitutes including fiber cookies. Several nurses eating fiber cookies on one shift can clog even the best of industrial toilets. I lasted a week or so on that one, but lost zero pounds. The cookies were good though. I tried a diet pill one time. I ate a lot faster that day, and even stayed up all night eating.
  Eventually I lost the baby weight from child number 1. On her first birthday,  I stepped on the scale and discovered I was finally at my pre-pregnancy weight. I immediately hopped off the scale and threw up my breakfast. Another bun was in the oven. Right away, within five minutes, I began eating for two again. It was such a relief!

I hope this blog takes off faster than my weight loss

 I'm  finally taking off the baby weight. My youngest  child is 30.  So, I've been a little lazy lately. I wish I had started this blog when I first embarked on this new life but I really thought I would not be successful so I figured, why burn the calories typing. I could be eating instead.
I hope my words will  be helpful to some, and  amusing to others; mostly, I hope it keeps me in line, because , at this point, I am successful.
I have now lost seventeen pounds. I only have one more to go! I started , at my peak, at 210. I am now at 193. I want to weigh 192 . By Friday. Today is Tuesday. I have one more pound to go. When Friday comes, and I reach 191, I will only have one more pound to go.
Now some folks will tell you to take it five pounds at a time; some suggest two. That's just not going to work for me. I have to take it one pound at a time. It's only 3500 calories. I used to pack that away for breakfast at the local greasy spoon.
I arrived at "I Dream of Bikinis" due to a series of vacations in the Riviera Maya, on the Caribbean side of the Yucatan peninsula. I want to retire there but have come to the conclusion a fat person has no business living that close to the equator. For one thing, it's way too hot when you carry your own
insulation. Secondly, I swim pretty well, so I don't need to be my own inflated personal flotation device. Lastly, sunscreen can be quite costly for a fat person; there's a lot of exposed flesh to cover, even in an old lady swimsuit. (By the way, I have bought the last one of those I'll ever have.)
I am returning to my favorite spot in September : Akumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico, my future home. I will not be the slightest bit overweight this time. Just watch me.