"Do, or do not. There is no 'try'."
- Yoda - from Star Wars

A good baby step is to listen to yourself talk.

Do you say things like:
"I'm going to TRY and stay on plan today."
"I HOPE that I can get to the gym today."
"My WISH is to lose some of this weight by Thanksgiving."
“If I’m LUCKY, I’ll be able be able to get some exercise today.”
“I want to get in 5 servings of fruits and vegs today.”
“Hopefully, I will be able to resist the cheesecake in the lunch room…”

Many of us talk about eating healthier or exercise or losing weight like we talk about the weather or winning the lottery. We have no control over the weather or the lottery numbers.

Most of us have control over our food and exercise lives.

Life is not 100% predictable… but for most of us… much of life is fairly routine… and getting to in some exercise or eating better is not luck or a crap shoot or something to wish for… just takes planning… and then sticking to the plan!

Also "Wishful thinking" language lets us off the accountability hook... We wish for the willpower to resist the cheesecake - but if Fate or Lady Luck does not deliver on the determination - realistically, wishes don’t always come true and it really isn’t our fault if we go ahead and have some, right?

And it really helps to talk about plans definitively… even if it is inside your own head. The voice we hear the very most during the day… is our own.

“I am going to eat 5 servings of fruits/veg today.”
“I am going to the YMCA to work out at 10am this morning.”
“I am going to go for a 10 min. walk after dinner.”
“I am going to have a yogurt and banana for a snack today and I am skipping the 3pm cheesecake.”

quote:

One question...Where is the home folder? I see several yellow folders on the left hand side - is that what is considered home?

This is sort of confusing. There are several 'sticky' folders (including this one) in the Home Folder but below those are all of the 'active' posts. That's where the bulk of the conversations happen. If you look at the top of this window you'll see a line of navigation links...Fan Forum...Home Folder...Baby Steps to a Healthier You! If you click on Home Folder, you'll see the list of sticky folders and then a ton of posts. That's what I was referring to. If that didn't help, tell me and I or someone else will try again.

Peg

Thanks! I am peaking in occasionally!! :-)

One question...Where is the home folder? I see several yellow folders on the left hand side - is that what is considered home?

Thanks from a newbie!!

Tammie

quote:

Originally posted by p7eggyc:

quote:

I feel like I'm finally on the right path...

Tammie,
I hope you are still around here lurking. Welcome! You have a great plan laid out there and I hope things are going well. I encourage you to visit the site regularly becuase the folks here can really serve as the support you will likely need for success. This particular folder you posted too isn't super 'active' so I wanted to be sure to invite you to join us in the Home Folder because that's where most of our day to day postings go and where you can count on lots of people seeing your posts and responding much more quickly than a week!

Hope you'll come back often and participate lots. It's a great group.

Peg

quote:

I feel like I'm finally on the right path...

Tammie,
I hope you are still around here lurking. Welcome! You have a great plan laid out there and I hope things are going well. I encourage you to visit the site regularly becuase the folks here can really serve as the support you will likely need for success. This particular folder you posted too isn't super 'active' so I wanted to be sure to invite you to join us in the Home Folder because that's where most of our day to day postings go and where you can count on lots of people seeing your posts and responding much more quickly than a week!

Hope you'll come back often and participate lots. It's a great group.

Peg

I had been on Weight Watchers before my twin boys were born in December, and I did lose weight. I am finally re-entering the world and realize that I am going to need the strength and stamina to chase after them (without looking like the wallrus like Kathleen had mentioned in her book! LOL!).

We really can't afford the $10 per week for meetings, so I need to figure this out on my own. I know I can do it - I'm just that stubborn! :-)
I've had Kathleen books for years and I've used them off and on, but her approach seems the most doable. I am wanting to make changes for myself as well as for the health of my family. I have a six year old daughter who seems to mirror her eating after me, so that is incentive in itself to finally, finally, finally control and improve this aspect of my life.

So...my baby steps are:

Some type of activity for 15 minutes every day. Make time at home to do this, so my daughter can actually see me making the time to do it.

Food...Plan meals for the week and weekend. Eat out only once per week.

Home...Bring order to our home once again, and purge the things not necessary to our daily blessings!

Tammie

Food: I started by identifying (time, place, situation, food) and dealing with my worst food habit. The resolution of my worst food habit alone "saved" me a significant number of calories. Then, on to the next bad habit...

Exercise: I started by buying a (YAMAX / New Lifestyles Digi-Walker) pedometer and taking walks in a local park. Among other things, walking is easy on the knees.

My first baby step is carrying my lunch instead of buying it. I've got two casseroles I've made (Tuna and noodles, and Porcupine Meatballs) and I freeze let the leftovers and I put enough in the fridge for lunch.

My lunch is 1 portion of casserole and a huge portion of salad (BTW You can dress 4 cups of salad with two capfuls of vinagrette). The first week I did this, I lost 5 lbs really quickly. The next week I didn't do it, and I gained it back and then some - although some of that could have been hormonal . Last week I carreid again, and my weight went back down. So this week I am back to carrying full time.

Added bonus, my pocketbook doesn't suffer from overspending.

I've found that I do better going for a walk if I have a place or reason to go.

I'm fortunate to live in a city with sidewalks and to have a choice of coffee that is either 1 mile away or 1.5 miles from home.

I take enough money for JUST the coffee, so that I'm not tempted to buy a scone, too.


That is another tip actually... if you have to walk by vending machines, etc... don't keep cash on you to feed the machines...

Rewards are great.

But truthfully, I often PRE-ward myself.

I had some really gross kitchen utensils. I bought a really nice, $10 vegetable peeler and threw away my disgusting rusty one. I sometimes collected my rewards in advance because I knew that a nice, new shiny peeler that I really enjoyed using was going to HELP me stay on track and help me meet my goal of 5 veggies/fruits a day.

I did the same with exercise music. I was on the elliptical machine for 10 mins one time. I literally thought about quitting 40 times and every 15 seconds I said, “Just 15 seconds more! You can do this!” I did my 10 minutes and got off the machine and immediately got on-line and bought $40 worth of music. $40 is kind of a big reward for 10 mins of work… haha!... but that music has carried me thru hundreds of 30 minute workouts and was worth every penny!

And sometimes you HAVE to pre-ward your self! Don’t risk injuring yourself by walking in worn out sneaks. Get a good pair of walking shoes with the understanding that you deserve them and you are making a commitment to use them and get healthy and you WILL get your money’s worth!

Try a walking program that starts small. I used this book:
90 Day Fitness Walking Program It is out of print but many copies are available online at the various used book outlets.

There is also a beginning walking program at about.com

Peg

My first official KD baby step was to follow the 5 point plan. Each day give yourself one point for each of the following:

1. Make one good, better, best choice (example: if you are going to have potato chips a good choice would be to measure out one serving and put the bag away, a better choice would be to choose baked chips and the best choice might be to have baby carrots (or some other veggie) instead.)

2. Exercise (any exercise counted when I first began)

3. Drink more water (if you aren't drinking any water, getting a cup/meal will be a great place to start)

4. Take 15 minutes for yourself (many of us have to practice caring for ourselves. Take 15 minutes to rejuvenate however works for you)

5. Accountability (food journal, reporting to a buddy, posting day's food in the What's For Dinner folder or whatever you want to do as long as you are recording or being accountable in some fashion)

I would set goals for things like 30 points in a week and set myself up for a reward when I reached it. Later when these baby steps were firmly entrenched I changed them or made them more challenging. Exercise became exercise for 30 min or more. Good, better, best choices became fruit/veggie servings. You can totally customize this for yourself. This is where I go back to when I am struggling. It's simple, it's easily attainable and I find myself back on track within a day or two.

Peg

PLAN!!
Take 5 mins each evening and write out your food plan (snacks, too) for the next day.

Take 10 mins and write out 4 nights of dinner menus before you go to the grocery store.
(Make a plan that is SENSIBLE and DOABLE! Don't devise some crazy plan of deprivation and restriction!)

OK, I'll admit planning takes all the fun and spontaneity out of dinner. No more family conversations in the car at 5:30pm… “Kids, what shall we have for dinner tonight? Wendy’s? Burger King? McDonald’s? Taco Bell?”

But if you follow thru and keep to your plan, you WILL lose weight.

DITCH ALL OR NOTHING THINKING - PLAN FOR THE DAY THAT YOU FALL OFF THE WAGON

If you drop 1 egg on the floor, do you smash the other 11 onto the linoleum, too?

If you fall of the wagon and have a bad meal or a bad day… don’t let it continue and let it turn it into a bad weekend, week or month. Don't say to yourself, "Well, I've blown it now. I've had two brownies. Might as well eat the rest of the pan and start again on Monday."

EVERYBODY falls of the wagon from time to time. You can either jump on the very next wagon to come along… or you can lay in the wagon ruts and let the rest of the wagon train go bumpity-bumpity-bump over your chocolate and cookie crumb covered body.

Don’t go on some kind of crazy deprivation diet to make up for going off your plan. For a great article on Falling off the Wagon

http://www.weightwatchers.com/util/art/index_art.aspx?tabnum=1&art_id=19111

Keep a food diary. Log both the food and the amount. Studies show that people that keep a food log lose more weight. (See page 114 of the book "Eating Thin For Life" by Anne Fletcher, M.S., R.D.)

I REALLY resisted this for a long time and when I got really serious about logging my food and calories, the weight came off.

Use Kathleen's Daybook!

A) OR keep a different food diary. Draw a pyramid and keep track of your food group servings. Or print out a food log at http://www.mypyramid.gov/professionals/food_tracking_wksht.html

(Choose a food log with at LEAST 1,200 calories.)


B) Keep track on line with WW eTools or www.fitday.com or www.SparkPeople.com (Fitday and SparkPeople are free.)

C) Go low tech and go back to the basic note pad. Turn your food journal into a coloring book. Use colored pencils for different food groups. Use green markers for the 8 health guidelines. Draw a pair of scissors next to foods you are trying to cut down on. Make a column and write “Worth the calories!” or “So NOT worth the calories!”

D) I keep a log of the food groups on the fridge door and if I eat half a serving of dairy I put an / and I put a X for a whole serving.
I usually end up with a log that looks like:
Grains - XXXXX /
Vegs - XXXX
Fruits - XXXX
Nonfat or lowfat dairy - XX /
Meats, poultry, fish - X
Oils - XX
Nuts, seeds /
Beans - X
Sweets - 0

E) Take pictures of your food. One guy did this and actually had it published into a book.
Everything I Ate: A Year in the Life of My Mouth

http-//www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811847721/102-2602543-4936153?v=glance&n=283155

F) I took pictures of my food and posted it on-line (THAT is some serious accountably and it is really kind of fun…). http://tinyurl.com/cft6m

G) Post it in the "What's for Dinner" thread.

Be creative!!! I’ve got about 9 different ways I journal. I change when I get bored or it stops working.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GoingSkiing,

I think NSVs fit very well with Denise's last post so, while they are also explained over in the Help for Newbies thread, I'll talk about them here too.

NSV = Non-scale victory: Something you achieve which is related to your health, body, strength, endurance or behavior which may not be reflected on the scale. Some examples:

• Today, I ran farther than I ever have before.
• Today, I saw muscle definition in my arms that wasn't there before.
• Today, I could see/feel my collarbone when I couldn't before.
• Today, I chose to leave half my lunch behind when I ate out.
• Today, I was able to lift more weight than I could before.
• Today, I tried on my skinny jeans and they fit!
• Today, I made the decision that I will no longer beat myself up when I make a choice that I know isn't the best for me.
• I lowered my cholesterol 20 points from my last blood test!

Sometimes, when we are trying to lose weight, we get obsessed about that number on the scale. As Denise said, we can't control the scale. I have hypothyroidism, which can make it not only more difficult to lose weight but to maintain a loss. So, after I'd worked hard to lose 35 pounds, I stopped losing weight, even though I was continuing to do the same things I did to lose the weight. Sometimes these things happen.

If you are totally focused on that number on the scale, and you get into a plateau and stop losing weight, you are going to freak out. But if you shift your attitude to NSVs, you can keep achieving great things for your body and health even when there is no change in that number on the scale.

Trust me, it can make a HUGE difference in your mental attitude and, in the end, will help you toward your goal!

MAKE BEHAVIOR GOALS
I stopped making scale/size number goals in 2003. I stopped saying, "I will lose ten pounds this month" or "I will weigh 150 by June" or "I will wear a size 10 next Christmas".

If I "only" lost 3 lbs in a month, did that mean I had failed? Plus, I NEVER met my weight goals and was miserable.

I started making behavior goals and had my most successful weight loss year ever. "I will eat at home 5 days this week and only have McDonalds on Saturday for breakfast" or "I will exercise before typing on the computer 4 days this week". “I will eat 1 serving of fruit/veg at every meal and snack today.”

You can't control the scale. You can control your own behavior.

“When I practice SHELF control… I don’t need as much SELF control.”

“Resist it at the grocery store, I only have to resist it once. Bring it home, and I have to resist it every waking hour of the day.”

Keeping my pantry and freezer “clean” has been a REALLY important baby step. I’ve been losing/maintaining for 5+ years now and I still can’t keep a bag of peanut m&m’s or a whole half gallon of ice cream in the house and eat them with something resembling “moderation”.

I also don’t buy food and pretend that it is “for the kids”. The kids eat the same foods and snacks that I do.

We still eat candy and ice cream. I didn’t ban it from our lives. But I buy “just enough”. My family of 3 doesn’t need 16 servings of ice cream sitting in the freezer 24/7.

My first baby step was to start drinking water. Lots of it. I realized I almost never remember to drink. Some days all I drank was one latte and a glass of something with my meals. That wasn't much.

Currently I drink so much water it seems that's all I do, but I feel a lot better for doing it. I still have to work on not drinking so much before bedtime though.

My first food baby step was to measure out the high fat/high calorie foods. I kept (and still keep) measuring spoons by my oil and the food scale right below it by the stove.
Weighing and measuring really helped me get a grip on my portion sizes.

Changing my habits in regard to eating out was a huge baby step for me as well. I went from eating lunch out in a restaurant EVERY DAY at work to eating out only once per week and bringing a healthy home-made lunch the other days. That made a huge difference right away. My cholesterol dropped so drastically (69 points) and so quickly (2-3 months) that my doctor was nearly speechless.

Another important step was changing from "whites" to "browns"--i.e., changing from white bread, tortillas, English muffins, white rice, and white sugar to whole wheat bread/tortillas/muffins, brown rice and raw sugar. It took me a year to change white pasta to whole wheat because I'd heard that some brands of ww pasta tasted like cardboard and I was "askaird"! But once I tried the 365 brand (Whole Foods' store brand), I realized there was almost no difference in taste and texture and I have been using it ever since.

I have read that hypothyroids have less tolerance for the white stuff and I find that to be true for me. I used to have a white bagel every single day for breakfast and many days, esp. at home, I would pass out in a sugar coma within an hour of eating a white bagel (sometimes pass right out in my chair watching TV an hour or two after I'd just had a full night's sleep!).

I stopped eating bagels entirely for a long time but have returned to eating wheat ones now and then. I don't find that the brown products put me in sugar coma like the white ones--I still get a sugar coma now and then, but it is rare.