New Year, New Approach

This is my first post for the New Year, and that tells you something. But what? When I disappear it is often because I've gone off the deep end with my eating and I don't want to face my readers. This time, that's not the reason. My workload has tied up most of my time, and let's face it, that takes precedence over blogging. However, I'm here now, and thank all my readers who have contacted me to see that I'm okay.

I'm really more than okay. I've started to exercise regularly again. That always makes me feel better. I've started thinking about my upcoming garden plan and adding a section for herbs. And for my eating...it could have been better over the holidays, but it could have been worse. We chatted about this quite a bit over at the diet forums.

Currently my plan, if you want to call it that, is to limit snacks between meals to fruit. I'm also trying to plan ahead to know what I'll have for breakfast or lunch so I don't grab something on a whim that triggers a binge. Eating healthy is a one day at a time process. Instead of saying I'm doing this for six weeks, I say, "I'm doing this today."

The All Or Nothing Approach

Have you ever followed a diet successfully for two weeks or more and then fell prey to some gooey or greasy temptation? Once you eat that forbidden fruit, do you spiral out of control eating everything you've denied yourself?

This is a pattern I've witnessed in my life, and often, once I start eating the wrong foods I continue to do so for days if not weeks. One of the reasons I think this happens is that the "all or nothing" approach sets you up to be either a success or a failure. There is no in-between. Once I fail, I figure I might as well fail big time and eat what I want before I start again. How crazy is that?

The all or nothing approach is not realistic or practical. Let's face it, life happens. There's all kinds of reasons we may go off our diet, or make an unhealthy choice. The sad thing is to let that one time throw us into a tail spin.

My suggestion is to follow the new day approach. Each day is a new beginning. We have a clean slate. Don't carry failures or success from the previous day with you. Take each day as a new start and make the best of it. Have a plan to give you direction. For example, on Saturday I made an Asian salad of greens that have been marinating and will be perfect for lunches this week. I won't have to figure out what I'm eating for lunch, when I'm hungry and the Christmas cookies are an easy target.

Whether you're trying to lose 15 pounds fast, or working to get your cholesterol down, it is accomplished one day at a time. Today is a new day! A new start! Enjoy it!

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To support the author of this blog, consider buying her books.

Pumping Your Muse (Creative writing book)

Windwalker (Fantasy)

Beyond the Fifth Gate (Fantasy)

For more about the author of this blog check out Theinkslinger.net.

Losing the Last 10 Pounds

I've finished my fast, actually yesterday. Decided to end at 3 weeks instead of 4. My body told me it was time to start eating again. All in all, it was a rewarding experience. I lost almost 12 pounds, some of which I expect to gain back, but this morning when I stood on the scale I was pleasantly surprised to see I'd lost another .2 pounds even after eating yesterday.

My goal for the fast was to break the cravings that seemed to rule my life in recent times. By rule, I mean they took over. I'd start each morning with good intentions and by 10:00 I would cave, eating something like cookies or chips, two of the foods that seemed to call my name most often.

The Master Cleanse Diet allowed me to exercise the entire time, with plenty of energy, and I plan to continue exercising 5 days a week. That's one of the keys to losing weight and keeping it off. The fun thing for me is that I'm within 10 pounds of my goal weight. That feels good. However, I know how it is with those last 10 pounds. It's slow going. The only way to get rid of them is to continue eating sensibly and regular exercise.

So what is sensible? For me, as much as I don't want to, I'll be revisiting something I don't want to do...counting calories. This will help me see what I'm really eating, and serve as a tool to retrain myself as to what is sensible. It's so easy to eat more than I need.

More Ideas on How to Not Gain Holiday Weight

I'm more than half way through my cleanse and just about 10 pounds down. Remember though, that when I start eating, some of that weight will come back. However, I have to say it really has motivated me. My clothes are fitting, I can bend over with out cutting off my air, and I can cross my legs and feel comfortable.

While my focus has been taken off food, I'm also considering my strategy for how I'll eat once I finish the cleanse. Portion control seems to be one key to keeping weight off, and for continuing to lose. Along with that is learning the habit of eating slowly. These are all elements to take with us into the holiday season. Instead of saying you can't have any holiday goodies, which tends to be unrealistic, allow yourself to have a little. Yes, little. For example, a tradition in my family is to make Christmas cookies. In recent years I've cut back to making two kinds of cookies instead of six or so. And my plan is to make them for other people. That way I can have a couple from a batch and give the rest away. And I'll savor my goodies, eating them slowly so I can enjoy them.

Our society is one of excess, and that's one of the reasons we have such a weight problem. We think nothing of super sizing, eating plates piled with food and then having dessert too, or snacking enough to equal a big meal and then still eating a full meal.

Portion control. Let's take a look at how much a serving is, and when in doubt, use your palm as a guideline. If it fills your palm, it's a serving.

Eating...and Eating

My guests left yesterday morning. The weekend was filled with visiting with people I haven't seen for years and plenty of eating...and eating. I started out with good intentions, and even enjoyed smoothies for breakfast each day, but going out to buffets and all the pot luck scenarios did me in. Even with that, I did exercise. So while I did not stay the course, I also didn't wander from it totally. And now, it's time to get back in the groove.

I've decided to do a cleanse in October. I don't know exactly what I'll do yet, but I'm leaning toward the Master Cleanse as the last time I did that I had more energy than I do now, and it is not as expensive as a regular juice fast. We'll see.

With all this going on, my book Beyond the Fifth Gate was also released on Fictionwise yesterday. Normally I'd think of going out to dinner to celebrate. Right now, I'm just thrilled to have another book out and very happy to get back to eating for health rather than to celebrate or "feel good". That's progress!