Welcome, Laura! I hope you've been jumping right in and reading other posts that might be helpful.

You've taken a great first step -- KD's books are a great resource. Somewhere here in the forum, someone recently posted a web article about portion sizes. Try looking that up for more info on how much a serving is. And good job on "upping the good calories." It does help you feel full.

I just bought three of your books- I am having a great time. In just a few weeks- I feel better. The recipes are great. How do I know how to figure out how much to eat. I know you don't believe in counting calories but I kind of need to know what is excessive. I try to go by the serving sizes but sometime I add the "good calories" to the recipes to bulk it up so we feel full.
Looking forward to the next 52 weeks,
Laura

Welcome B! I just wanted to say hi and thanks for a wonderful post to CosmosLove! Hope to see you posting more and more!

Peg

Welcome Cosmoslove! I'm so glad you came upon this forum! I hope some day the thought of coming here being humiliating makes you smile. You are taking steps to take care of you and that is sooo valuable. You've found what I believe to be one of the COOLEST places on the web filled with some of the best people I've ever met online. Can't imagine life without all these folks and I hope someday you feel the same.

Congratulations on quitting smoking! Wow, what an awesome accomplishment and I bet you learned some things about yourself that are going to wind up helping you on this journey too. The good news is that while that is usually a 'cold turkey' sort of thing (or at least the step down thing with assistance), healthy eating doesn't have to be that big of a change all at once.

A couple of things that I'll comment on because Bee and Sheri definitely hit on the basics of what I would tell you too.

You mention that you aren't working outside the home and you are finding that challenging. Boredom/depression eating has gotten many of us in a place we wish we weren't so I encourage you to consider some sort of change in that arena as an early baby step. Regular visits to this forum (the more you post, the more you benefit), searching the web to learn as much as you can about nutrition or exercise (if you need sites, post on the board and you'll get enough to keep you busy for months! ), reading books and healthy living magazines, other forums like this could become a baby step to fill your day while forwarding you on the journey. Finding time to learn new exercise, etc. can be a hard won victory when working outside the home. I myself got my walking habit started while unemployed following a walking program that very gradually increased in time over a 90 day period. Maybe this is the time to try something new that always seemed to 'take too much time' or just time to do something period. It is likely to help your depression too.

I wanted to also share how I got started on my journey using KD's 5 point plan. This plan gives you one point per item per day for:
1. Making one (yes, just one) good, better, best food choice. This might be something like you want to have some potato chips. The good choice would be to measure out one serving and not eating out of the bag. A better choice might be to have baked chips. A best choice might be to have baby carrots instead.
2. Doing any exercise. A walk around the block, marching in place during the commercials, whatever you can get done.
3. Drinking 64 oz. of water. If this is substantially more than you are currently doing, scale that back and work your way up over a few weeks.
4. Take 15 min of time just for you. This really varies person to person but whatever says "I'm taking care of myself" will work.
5. Accountability: This can be whatever you want but generally I think of it as either posting to the board (many of us post our food in the What's for Dinner folder here), keeping a food journal, reporting to a friend/supporter, whatever keeps you on track.

I found this to be VERY doable and I was on track very quickly. I would keep track of my points and if I got to 30 points in a week (notice I did not expect perfection to earn a reward) then I got some type of reward.

Hope that helps. Let us know how you are doing!

Peg

[QUOTE]Originally posted by cosmoslove:
I have gained so much weight since I quit smoking and then was moved to Italy with my military hubster.

Welcome Cosmoslove!
I want to say first and foremost that I am soooo happy to hear that you have quit smoking. That is such a huge step in getting healthy and caring for yourself. This says to me that you are someone who wants to be healthy and you care about making healthy choices in your life. Congratulations on making this improvement in your lifestyle.


[QUOTE]Originally posted by cosmoslove: Now I breathe heavy climbing one set of stairs... like, from the shoulders up.

I think that noticing the difficulty you are having can be a good thing for you. It can be a huge motivator. Start out the week by making it a goal to work on your breathing as you're going up a flight of stairs. Remember calm, slow breaths that do not cause you more strain. If it takes you longer to do it this way that's fine. What matters is that you're doing it. I hurt my back a couple months ago and every week is a struggle in trying to improve what activities I can. We live on the second floor, 16 steps in all, so whatever takes me outside is something very important to me. Each week I try to concentrate on my progress. One week ago I was finally able to alternate my feet going upstairs. I still have to pause and concentrate on what I'm doing each step, but I'm doing it. You can make your ultimate goal being able to walk up a flight of stairs while talking on the phone without being winded.


[QUOTE] Originally posted by cosmoslove: I have never shared in a weight forum before, so I am basically humiliated that I have reduced myself to where I have got myself. But, I know I need help.


All of us had to start somewhere and I think we would all say that we have benefited somehow from these forums. You cannot believe how many people out there have the same thoughts, fears, and experiences as you. It's almost scary how normal it makes you. I only joined about a week ago and I am sooo happy that I have, even though I gave myself a C- for my first week (I met the ice cream monster). I have felt so much support and friendship from people that I have only heard from once or twice. I feel with some threads that I am a witness to some very private and meaningful discussions.

You should feel very proud about the steps you have made thus far. You have made the awesome decision to quit smoking, you are becoming more aware of your body which can only lead to wanting to improve it, and you have taken the step to open yourself up to new friends. I think that you can really learn a lot from the people on this site. Let yourself explore and learn from the gifts here. You could try rewarding yourself with postings every time you don't smoke. Try new things and figure out what makes you happy and go with that.

Good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by cosmoslove:
Hi, I'm new.
I got Kathleen's book of recipes and saw that she had a "planner" book as well. I have gained so much weight since I quit smoking and then was moved to Italy with my military hubster. This is a country (in the North anyway) where the majority of women do NOT work. For me, being forced to stay at home has led to depression-eating. Plus, my attitude is in the sewer. Mindsets like, "who cares! I'm SICK of having to have watched my weight my whole life! I'm going to eat what I WANT!"
And I did.
Now I breathe heavy climbing one set of stairs and I totally avoid mirrors - which really isn't that hard in Italy, because all mirrors are like, from the shoulders up. They're for tall people because everyone in Northern Italy is over 6 foot tall. Not me. I'm 5'2.
I have never shared in a weight forum before, so I am basically humiliated that I have reduced myself to where I have got myself. But, I know I need help.
I'm not sure how to start, so I've been checking out how you guys got started, but you all seem way out of my league.
I will just keep on keeping on. One thing I do have going for me is that I am stubborn as a mule when I make up my mind about something.
For consistent healthy weight loss, though -- what do I do? I can't just take a few drags off of 20 cigarettes every day to keep the weight down..?
Take care, all.

Welcome to you from me too! Please don't be intimidated or feel like the folks here are in a "different league"! While we are on different parts of the journey, we all started someplace.

When I began, I could barely march in place for 5 minutes before getting winded. Just do what you can and build from there.

I started out by cutting down on my portion sizes first and just trying to be a bit more active.

I would echo the advice of reading the "baby steps" threads.

You don't want to turn your world upside down all at once. Make small changes and once they are comfortable, take on some new ones.

PS My mom was born and raised in Venice and her entire side of the family is short. I'm the tallest at 5'3 so I was really surprised to hear your comment that Northern Italians are so tall : )

quote:

Originally posted by cosmoslove:
I'm not sure how to start, so I've been checking out how you guys got started, but you all seem way out of my league.

First, welcome!

Second, way out of your league?!?! In what way? We are all just trying to do our best every day...sometimes succeeding, sometimes not...but just trying to keep it going. There are people here who have lost their weight and have been in maintenance a few years. There are people here who have been in the process of losing weight for a long time (like myself) and there are people just starting to figure it all out (like you). There are people of all kinds here and none of us are out of your league unless you want to look at it that way. If you will stay open to the possibilities that these people and this forum can bring to you, you will benefit greatly, I assure you!

quote:

For consistent healthy weight loss, though -- what do I do?

You could sit down and talk individually with 50 people here and they'd all have their own take on "what do I do?" but there are some common threads among most of us and I think these are among them (I'll also bump up the Baby Steps 101 threads for you--please look for them on the forum list).

1. Baby steps. Don't try to tackle every change at once. Phase them in every few days or once a week or you will find yourself so overwhelmed that you'll give up and quit.

2. Drink your water. Gotta drink your water! That's not coffee and that's not soda. It's water. 8-10 glasses a day.

3. Move it. Gotta find a way burn some calories on a regular basis. Even if it's just a lovely stroll through the Italian countryside (or a city park, if that's your situation), you'll still be burning more calories than sitting still. You don't have to kill yourself with cardio 5 days a week but you do need to move.

4. Portion control. This wasn't a major problem for me, but many folks here say it was their #1 problem. If eating too-large portions is a problem for you, you may want to invest in a food scale and some measuring cups to weigh and measure your food for a while until you get a really good idea of what a real serving size is.

5. Clean environment. If at all possible, get rid of tempting high-fat snack foods and such in your kitchen and pantry. If it's not easily available, you will have to work to actually go get it if you want it that badly.

Good luck!!
Sheri

Hi, I'm new.
I got Kathleen's book of recipes and saw that she had a "planner" book as well. I have gained so much weight since I quit smoking and then was moved to Italy with my military hubster. This is a country (in the North anyway) where the majority of women do NOT work. For me, being forced to stay at home has led to depression-eating. Plus, my attitude is in the sewer. Mindsets like, "who cares! I'm SICK of having to have watched my weight my whole life! I'm going to eat what I WANT!"
And I did.
Now I breathe heavy climbing one set of stairs and I totally avoid mirrors - which really isn't that hard in Italy, because all mirrors are like, from the shoulders up. They're for tall people because everyone in Northern Italy is over 6 foot tall. Not me. I'm 5'2.
I have never shared in a weight forum before, so I am basically humiliated that I have reduced myself to where I have got myself. But, I know I need help.
I'm not sure how to start, so I've been checking out how you guys got started, but you all seem way out of my league.
I will just keep on keeping on. One thing I do have going for me is that I am stubborn as a mule when I make up my mind about something.
For consistent healthy weight loss, though -- what do I do? I can't just take a few drags off of 20 cigarettes every day to keep the weight down..?
Take care, all.

It's fun to see the new people posting. Living in a tulip field must be beautiful.

I spent today tearing out weeds in my garden and I already got in a run. I am down a few pounds since my latest "new start" a few weeks ago. I got into the 160s this morning for the first time in months. Before that I had been bouncing around 172, 170, 172.5, 171... I'm hoping to keep the numbers going down for a while.

With the food, it's baby steps. Trying to set a time when the kitchen closes is one small step I'm working on, adding back in more veggies and remembering to plan healthy meals is another. Trying new grocery stores now and then helps get me out of the rut of buying the same old things all the time. For a while I was following KD's tip of one new veggie on every shopping trip -- that would be a good one for me to start back up.

Hey B, the tulips are great! Of course the rain will deter a few tourists...oh darn We live right in the middle of tulip fields so it can be a crazy time of year.

Do you have a food scale? I use mine to weigh meats, cheese and even a serving of chips. I also use measuring cups/spoons quite a bit. I even bought an extra set of both so I could leave some in certain foods (like cereal, oatmeal, rice, etc).

I agree that adding healthier choices to your menus is a great way to start. That is how I started and I did that for about 8 months and lost 40 pounds. I then got more serious about the exercise and portions. It took me another 16 months to lose the last 43 pounds. My motto this time was "slow and steady wins the race". I have kept it off for over a year now and can't see myself falling off the wagon again.

I try to make a new recipe at least once a week and then there are times I go a few months without trying a new recipe. Just do what is best for you and your hubby.

When I first started I loved going grocery shopping and trying new healthier choices. I find it harder now, but when I do find something new I still get excited! It keeps it fun for me

quote:

Originally posted by B:
In addition, I'm wondering how to go about revamping/overhauling our meals without completely scaring us into failure.

quote:

Originally posted by Bee:
I don't know how much you are eating now but my $.02 would be not to try to cut down on your portion sizes too quickly. Make the changes gradually and cut down a little bit at a time until you get to the right portion size.

I think the tendancy is to try to do everything at once and make sweeping changes. That can be very overwhelming!

Welcome from me too, B! You make a VERY wise comment there about "scaring us into failure." I think that happens with a lot of people. They go "pedal to the metal" in a drastic direction (often without adequate information on what they're doing) and then are disappointed with the results. No wonder!

I wanted to ditto some of the things that Bee said above. I think that, with the way most folks eat, just making small changes will start to show great results. Before I started "officially" eating healthy in July 2003, I thought I had already made some positive changes and was eating healthier on the whole than I had been a decade before. Still, my first blood test after July 2003 was astounding...my cholestrol dropped 69 points! Obviously, I wasn't eating as healthy as I thought prior to July 2003!

Start looking at the things in your meal plans that are the fattiest and make changes in those areas first. For example, if you're drinking whole milk, switch to 2%. If you're drinking 2%, switch to 1%. Some people here have reported mixing different kinds of milk 50/50 to ease their family into the change. If you're deep frying, try baking. If you're eating a lot of beef, increase the chicken and fish.

I was a lifelong veggie hater so a big deal for me was eating more vegetables. There were days before July 2003 when I didn't eat a single vegetable (except maybe a potato!). Even after almost 3 years, it's still a struggle for me to get as many servings of veggies a day as I should have, but I eat SO many more veggies now than I did 3 years ago. And nearly 100% of the veggies I eat are "clean" (i.e., not cooked or served with fat)...raw baby carrots and grape tomatoes, green beans, snow peas or sugar snap peas steamed with or cooked in chicken or vegetable broth, salads with lowfat or fat free dressing, etc.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by B:
In addition, I'm wondering how to go about revamping/overhauling our meals without completely scaring us into failure. Do you just slowly start incorporating Kathleen's recipes over the course of a week? How do you determine portions and calorie limits? QUOTE]

I started by going to www.caloriecontrol.org and putting in my favorite foods and getting the portion sizes from there. www.mypyramid.gov also has a list of serving sizes.

In general, I try to make sure my lean protein is the size of the palm of my hand (or a deck of cards) and that my starch is around 1/2 a cup (what would fit in my cupped hand). I don't worry about portion controlling veggies (unless they have fat on them) and usually load my plate up with them.

I don't know how much you are eating now but my $.02 would be not to try to cut down on your portion sizes too quickly. Make the changes gradually and cut down a little bit at a time until you get to the right portion size.

In terms of foods, I actually started by just making my family's favorite foods but just healthier and in smaller amounts.

I slowly incorporated new recipes/tastes/foods over the course of a year.

I think the tendancy is to try to do everything at once and make sweeping changes. That can be very overwhelming!

Just take it slow and you will get to your goal!

Thank you for the warm welcomes from Kat N. and Bee. It is definitely encouraging me to keep checking the site. I am going to start the journaling tomorrow and hopefully begin a process of improving the eating habits of my husband and myself.
I really want to achieve positive results with this program and want to make sure I am eating correctly. I am wondering how everyone determines proper portion sizes for their meals. It is simple with packaged food that provides nutrition information, but when you are dealing with the actual serving size of cooked food and/or fruits and vegetables it's harder for me. In addition, I'm wondering how to go about revamping/overhauling our meals without completely scaring us into failure. Do you just slowly start incorporating Kathleen's recipes over the course of a week? How do you determine portions and calorie limits? (My husband is interested in losing weight and wanting to improve our eating habits but he probably will not be able to do the journaling portion. At least he's wanting to take part and supports eating changes. I think it will be more convincing when he finds out the food is actually good and it's not adversely changing the quality of our meals.)
I'm sorry to ramble on here. It's nice to be able to connect with people who are also concerned about similar issues and focused on good health practices. I'm so tired of hearing about friends starving and torturing themselves to supposedly receive immediate results. I'm trying not to pressure myself about making this process perfect because as Kathleen says in her books it is a never ending practice. If you hadn't already noticed, I have the tendency to worry about doing things "right."
It was fun to find out about Kat N. being in my little corner of the world. Kat how are the tulips doing right now?
Thanks everyone again for the warm wishes and support. I'm excited to become part of this community. Again I apologize for rambling. I hope I haven't bored anyone. Have a great week!

Welcome B! I noticed you are from Bellingham. We are neighbors..I live in Mount Vernon

I think you should start eating healthier now..don't wait until the exercise can take place. Many people start with the eating healthier and exercise comes when they are ready. You will have success by changing your eating habits.

Read Kathleen's books and it will inspire you. Try some new recipes, choose a small goal, check out the daily homeworks and join in (don't be afraid of us...we are a nice group, make your next meal a little healthier.

Let us know how it goes and good luck on the recovery.

quote:

Originally posted by B:
So I'm brand new to the list serve forum world. I'm actually kind of nervous about writing something and sending it to an unknown number of people in cyber space. It's kind of the new kid feeling all over again.
I have the first Cooking Thin book and was very inspired by Kathleen's forward. I have purchased the second Cooking Thin book and 52 week journal, but have not had the opportunity to read them yet. Unfortunately I am currently recovering from a back injury so I am not able to jump and get on the treadmill right away. I am wondering if I should wait until my back is better or if I should just start with the 52 week eating plan. I guess I'm just wondering if any of you have any advice on the best way to start this new journey. I am really excited but somewhat nervous. I don't want this to be just another thing to try, I want it to work.
Good luck to you all. It looks like you have some interesting and informative posts.

Welcome to you B!

I certainly don't think you need to wait to start eating healthy. The exercise piece can come when you are able.

Just pick a couple of small changes to make in your diet and start there.

PS I hope you have a very smooth recovery from your surgery!

So I'm brand new to the list serve forum world. I'm actually kind of nervous about writing something and sending it to an unknown number of people in cyber space. It's kind of the new kid feeling all over again.
I have the first Cooking Thin book and was very inspired by Kathleen's forward. I have purchased the second Cooking Thin book and 52 week journal, but have not had the opportunity to read them yet. Unfortunately I am currently recovering from a back injury so I am not able to jump and get on the treadmill right away. I am wondering if I should wait until my back is better or if I should just start with the 52 week eating plan. I guess I'm just wondering if any of you have any advice on the best way to start this new journey. I am really excited but somewhat nervous. I don't want this to be just another thing to try, I want it to work.
Good luck to you all. It looks like you have some interesting and informative posts.

I really had not been keeping up with the daybook. My husband and I both want to journal every night so I asked him if we could do it together. We tried it for the first time last night -- it was nice.

I started Bob Greene's "12-week Body Makeover" yesterday. This book does not recommend a specific diet plan other than some big guidelines, so I think that between the increased activity and "eating KD style" I could have a good weight-loss plan. I need a jumpstart into my summer tri training. The weight training in the book is basic stuff but enough that I will see some results -- I'm sore today.

I found the Body Makeover book on sale at Krogers for 25% off and I always liked "Make the Connection," so I thought it was a good way to kickstart.

I defend my dissertation proposal May 3. That is all going well, but I'm having some frustrations on other fronts, especially with my work situation. I am waiting for an important phone call/message and it just won't come....

So this is week 1.... I made 3 of the recipes through out the book. I need to have ready made dinners so that I can take some for lunch and have a better plan for my day. AND I snacked on all of them while making them, and so no need to eat dinner tonight!! I made the mushroom stew, summer squash - basil - parmesan fritatta, and the really yummy corn, black bean, avocado, tomatoe salad (can't think of the title for some reason...)
So I am looking forward to starting my week off on the right foot.

You can put me in that category, too. Been doing a lot of lurking lately -- no time to post and not much to contribute anyway. I have been keeping up with my daybook entries, but I'm writing stuff in the "What I Wish I Hadn't" box way too often!

quote:

Originally posted by patty-mom/of/3:
I'm kinda guilty lately too. I have been reading but not replying.

(sigh) This seems like a real epidemic around here lately. No wonder it's so quiet.

P.S. It's great to see you posting!