Weighty Wednesday -- Hibernation Effect

Holiday season is here, Or as I'm fond of calling it -- CANDY SEASON.

It starts with Halloween and ends with Easter. November and January are lighter months, but the other months make up for it.

And, of course, I make candy.

How can you make candy without tasting the product? 

You can't. Though I don't usually eat a whole piece of the final product, I do take a destroyed one (usually cracked in the freezing process), cut it open to see how the filling holds in the candy, how it looks against the chocolate coat, and then taste a sample of the piece to decide how the flavors meld together.

--this last step is how I decide what type of chocolate covers the filling. If my filling is tart (Limoncello, Key Lime, Bronx Cheer {raspberry}), or pepperminty, and I know it will stand up to the dark chocolate flavor, then I will mold it in dark chocolate. I tend to mold Cup 'o Joe in white chocolate, because who doesn't like vanilla cream flavor in their coffee? Almost all the other flavors I make will go in milk chocolate--the velvety creamy texture combines well with all the other flavors.

And it's not just the fact that candy will be laying around the house for the next few weeks, waiting for Halloween, plus the post-Halloween extras.

--I make a point of having hubs hide the six MONGO-sized bags of candy from Sam's Club, but if he can't hide it, I make a point of 1) NOT OPENING IT, or in a moment of weakness when I open it, I make a point of 2) barely slicing open the end and using my heat sealer to cover the evidence.

Yeah, this old dog has some tricks.

The toughest part of this season is what I like to call the HIBERNATION EFFECT.

With less sunshine, we tend to become sluggish, lethargic, eat comfort food to excess, and not really care about our health. Who wants to exercise?

Only those freaks who live to exercise, that's who.

Okay, I like to walk outside. When it's spitting rain, or the wind is blowing at 50 mph from the north, and it's in the 40's or lower, I don't particularly like to walk on those days, but I still do it.  

It's a habit. And a good one. So I'll keep doing it. . . though I might change the time of day until after the watery sun warms the land just a little bit.

And I hate going to the gym more than I hate freezing my butt off in the nasty weather!

It's a tough time of year when it's dark when we go to work and dark when we get home. We put on our sweats, yoga pants or fuzzy jammies with the expandable waists and go to town in the pantry while we watch TV, or play video games, or sit and read in the evening .

Tis is the season of soups, stews, and all sorts of casseroles. The urge to bake luscious desserts, or just a batch of cookies, is upon us, as the heat from the stove provides comfort along with the food that warms our tummies.

The key to surviving the season is to have a PLAN.

Plan to eat all five servings of fruits and veggies daily. With the modern convenience grocery stores, there is no excuse that you can't get fresh fruit and veggies . . . unless you live in the boonies. A fresh salad before dinner will help fill you up.

Plan to drink plenty of WATER. This is tough since we don't think to keep hydrated in winter, but your skin will thank you. Here's my trick to drinking water on my walks: I fill my aluminum water bottle with HOT tap water. Mile one, the water is very warm, but cools enough by miles two through four to comfortably drink. The container holds 3 cups of water, which is half of the recommended daily amount of fluids.

Plan to make time for exercise. Look, just parking at the back of the parking lot and walking into the grocery store is better than nothing. Walk around your house. Walk the mall a few times before you shop. If you have a second story in your house make a point of walking upstairs to go to the bathroom. Every little movement is better than none at all.

And the biggest challenge of the season is PORTION CONTROL. If you haven't been practicing this little beauty, now is the time to start. I know you want another bowl of stew or soup or another scoop of that chicken enchilada casserole, but do you really NEED it? Are you hungry? Or did it just taste so good that you just want more to satisfy the pleasure center of your brain? Wait a few minutes before you head to the kitchen for seconds. Drink some water. Enjoy family time. Or get more of that lovely green salad instead. Do anything to get past the few minutes of wanting something, but not needing it.

Another trick is to use a ladle that has four or eight ounces marked. Use this to measure your amount of soups or stews. I know WW sells scoops that have specific amounts marked. Buy a set. Oh, and when you measure, don't make it a HEAPING scoop. We're talking level scoop. Use a knife to level it off if you can't trust yourself.

I know the food tastes good--that's what got us into this weighty predicament--but you need to have control over the food, not vice-versa.

This is a challenging season. I know you can do it, because I'm right there with you.

And the sun is up enough for me to change and go on my walk.

Later, Peeps!

Weighty Wednesday -- Insanity is . . .

This is the way many of us approach weight loss.

We eat the same foods, don't change our activity level, and yet we expect the weight to slough off like the snake skin off a snake.

It isn't going to happen, people!

I'm the prime example of this. For months, I've been whining about my 3-5 lb. weight gain, BUT I didn't do anything about it. I simply coasted along and pretended to do something about it while all the time magically expecting something to happen.

This week I had a 1.4 lb weight loss. It isn't much. But considering I didn't have my mental attitude adjustment until Sunday and weigh-in was Tuesday morning, I think this is a fantastic amount! It's because of the way I'm approaching this. I'm finally buckling down and making it happen!

Look--if what you're doing isn't working, then CHANGE IT!

If you want to lose weight you will do the hard work. You just have to want it enough. Many of you talk the big game, but you aren't ready or able to do the hard work. Whether it's the mental block or a physical block, it doesn't matter. You can make change happen if you set your mind to it.

Do you want it bad enough, or are you really happy with the place you're at?

Something is stopping you from losing weight, but I can't fix it for you. Your Weight Watcher leader can't fix it for you. Your spouse and family can't fix it you.

You have to be the one to make the decision.

You have to be the one to make the choice to lose that weight.

You have to be the one to figure out what's stopping you from losing weight.

And don't you dare say, "Hormones."

Hormones don't help, but they aren't the ones that keep packing the weight on--you are.

Yes, losing weight does take some self-control.

You have to WANT to lose weight bad enough to change your habits. Are you ready to take that first step?

It's all about baby steps, my friends.

First you develop an awareness of what you are eating by:

• writing everything down
• thinking about what you are putting in your mouth
• becoming aware of what a real 'portion' size is

Then you develop a plan through:

• limiting certain foods
• increasing intake of other foods
• increasing your activity

Then you follow that plan until you gain the satisfaction:

• of seeing the scale numbers dropping
• of clothes feeling looser
• of compliments about how you are glowing with vitality

As I've said before, we all know what we have to do to lose weight.

The question is, do you want the results enough to do the hard work?

Later, Peeps!

Weighty Wednesday--Turkey day, are you prepared?

Slight weight gain this last week-- +0.2 lbs. Not much to worry about. Shoot, I could have had an extra gulp of water before I walked into weigh-in. Considering I made a bunch of candy filling, I think that this tiny increase is okay.

My weight loss total since June 19th is 33.4 pounds!

But this next week will be seriously challenging. It's Thanksgiving.

For my international visitors, a week from Thursday will be our Thanksgiving Day. It's a day we celebrate enjoying family and friends over food . . . lots and lots of calorie-packed food.

To make matters worse, my SIL, Margie, and I usually cook the desserts and appetizers. We thoroughly enjoy the planning and making the food, as there is usually a lot of wine and laughter to go along with all the hard work.

So how do we deal with this holiday?

I asked this of my WW leader, she said, "It's a holiDAY, not a holiWEEK."

Now the semantics are all fine and dandy, but that doesn't deal with my daughter's sleepover birthday party (pizza and ice cream cake), family staying and eating with you, a family birthday party get-together (lasagna and more cake) or cooking and taste testing the various food products (cakes, tarts, tortes, etc, etc), or the leftover issues.

So what to do?

Do I go into this (it starts this Friday, which is why I'm thinking ahead!) with the intentions of losing weight, staying the same or be happy if I have a slight gain?

I think I'm going to be happy to stay the same.

I don't want to gain weight, which means I'll be drinking HUGE quantities of water, eating copious amounts of leafy green veg, AND walking every day . . . sometimes twice a day.

Pre-Thanksgiving, I'll be verifying the 'serving sizes' I intend to eat. But remember to keep this in mind:
If I don't want something, I won't get it.
If I don't like it, I won't finish it.
If I'm happy eating one bite, then that's all I'll eat.
I will be sampling all the desserts, but I'll be eating ONE bite from my hubster's plate.

There! It's in writing, now it's there to make me accountable.

If you have a challenging situation in your near future, what is your plan to deal with it? Do you even have a plan?

Later, Peeps!