I have a plan
Did you ever notice that this time of year could be termed the grand kick off to one of the biggest struggles we women (and maybe men) fight year in and year out? Halloween, Thanksgiving, the Winter Holidays (how PC is that?)and the end game, New Years Eve and day. You know how it goes. Start with those cute and harmless tiny funsized candies leftover after the trick or treaters all go to bed. Head into the wonderful joy of harvest dinner and then the joy of the cookie season. Ahhh, the delicious calories. Darned 5 pounds last almost as long as the scrapbook pages I love creating .
My solution this year?
Romance!
Seriously. I figure if I get in the mood for snacking, I'll grab a book and soon it'll seduce me into forgetting that craving as it replaces a different one. If I'm caught up with an intriguing romantic plot, I'll be thinking about that instead of taste testing my pies and cookies. If I am deep into a story, I won't put it down to go into the kitchen and fill a plate with leftovers after Thanksgiving. Reading about sexy hunks and, well, hot scenes will remind me that two more cookies won't leave me feeling quite so intersted in ::ahem:: well, initiating any scenes of my own.
It should work, right?
*sigh* Okay... I'm probably fooling myself. I know darned well I'll have a bowl of popcorn next to me when I read. Or I'll be a good girl and snack on an orange as I turn the pages. I do want to spend more time this season reading, though. Given the economy I know I'll be staying home a lot and that I'll be pampering myself with more and more of my favorite past time - reading and catching up on my TBR pile.
So... do you think the reading to stop from eating plan will work? If not, how about some book-friendly, good low-fat snacks to eat while reading? *g* (extra tahnks if they're vegetarian)
Tawny, you're speaking to a
Tawny, you're speaking to a kindred spirit here! I had my annual checkup last week and the biggest thing was...me! Well, my weight, anyway. So I'll try the romance diet with you. I did switch from buttered to natural popcorn and surprisingly, it's just as satisfying (and doesn't leave any telltale fingerprints on the pages, LOL). I also create my own trail mix, with lots of nuts, some dried pineapple and mango, and yogurt-covered raisins.
YAY - Company
We'll rock this reading diet, Karen :-)
I love natural popcorn. Actually I'm just not a big fan of butter except the fake evil stuff at the movie theaters (bad me). And YUMMM on the homemade trail mix. I've done that a few times and love it, but had totally forgotten. Thank you! I'll mix up a batch tonight and have a healthy, non page smearing treat :-)
Now if I could just figure out how to exercise and read. I'm so klutzy, I keep falling off the elliptical if I try. Maybe a book on tape?
For me
I need to keep my hands busy or they're busy feeding me. So while I watch TV, I bead. Reading is better but there are times (gasp) when I'm just not in the mood.
I like to chew sugar free gum.
I also like raw veggies with a little fat free blue cheese dressing.
For a special spluge, I love the Ms Meringue cookies (you can eat like 10 for only 80 calories) but they're not always easy to find (the chocolate ones are WONDERFUL).
If I'm hungry and want to fill up, I'll also eat oatmeal.
And then there's popcorn!
ani
Popcorn!
I love popcorn. Its my favorite filler LOL. Its also the perfect reading snack. I admit, I'm a naked popcorn kind of gal but I hear a lot of praise of adding spices to popcorn.
I admit, I am not a big eater while I read. I littel bit, sure. When I'm heavy into a book, I've been known to carry it with me everywhere (showering with a book is interesting, but I've done it). But I'm not sure if, with all the distractions the upcoming holiday season brings, I can read my way out of eating faux pas.
I'm gonna try the veggies though :-)
Rice crackers
Hi Tawny,
I like to snack on the bad stuff when I'm reading. Cookies, Doritos, chocolate, ice cream and soda. There are a lot of tasty rice crackers out there. They've come a long way. I remember when they used to plain and bland, but now they have them in cheese and other flavors.
Bad Snacking
hmmm, Jane. Rice crackers?
I'm guessing if I add those to my eating/reading plan I'd have to figure out a better way to stay on that elliptical machine LOL
I eat popcorn for dinner
I eat popcorn for dinner when I'm losing weight. The 94% fat free kind. The trick is to not eat anything else for dinner. Also--those new Pop Chip potato chips are great. Only 120 calories for half a bag. (Okay--it's not a huge bag, but it's not a single serve bag either.) I like them a lot. I get them at Whole Foods.
Do tell
Pop Chip potato chips?
How intriguing *g*
But do you read while you eat them, Jeannie? I'm seriously figuring I can weave in the 'read tons' goal and the 'eat less junk food' goals here. I do like the popcorn for dinner angle. I love popcorn for ANYTHING. I just love popcorn.
Don't get me started...
I figure everyone knows my ideas about food, but let me just say that two days ago I weighed myself, which I don't do more than once a month, if that, and I have officially lost 20lbs since June 2007. Woot!
And it was painless, little changes that add up a lot. I think you can change habits, but they should be permanent changes. So, make small changes you can live with, but make them long term habit. Avoid food guilt, because it's something that will, ironically, lead you to food. ;)
I think moving a lot and being physical is the best bet so maybe read on a treadmill. (instead of a snack, buy a couple of ten lb dumbbells or an exercise ball, and watch a show while you use them?)
I found thinking of food in terms of energy to get things done is more important than avoiding it. Avoiding food is futile. ;)
Sam
Smart lady
Sam, you're so good :-) and WHOHOOOOOOOOO to you on the weight loss! Thats so awesome.
Moving a lot is key, I really do believe that. Thats one downfall to reading that is the same as my writing downfall - I do it sitting on my butt. I'm so miserably uncoordinated that I can't walk and read/walk and write (Stephanie Bond was at a local meeting recently talking about how she types on her alphasmart while treadmilling... my chaptermates all gave me the 'OMG don't you dare' look)
You've got some great advice though, I'm going to see how I can intergrate the weights etc into day to day. I've already started by replacing my chair with the yoga ball. Only fell twice so far :-D
Yeah, I'm with you
I hate exercise machines completely. I could never type while I worked. That's just freaky. LOL
My exercise is usually blended into my day (walking two flights of stairs for every load of laundry, walking the dogs, etc) though I do have weights and a balance ball downstairs. When I pace or I'm on the phone, I pick up the weights. I do situps a few times a week on the ball. I park far away when I got to the store, and that kind of thing. But I find every excuse to exercise that I can without having to step foot on a machine.
I'm happy to have lost weight, though it will take me about another 5 years to lose all I should, but what the hell? I'll be slim at 50. ;) I plan to be around, so who's in a hurry, right?
Sam
Great attitude
Sam, you have the absolute healthiest attitude toward health and weight I've heard in a long time. It IS about the long haul, not the instant satisfaction.
I'm working on that- on incorporating the exercise into the simple day to day. But I'll admit, I do love my excercise machines. I really do. I just can't type on them :-( Maybe the recumbent bike, but I always felt like that was a waste of time because I never felt I was getting a workout.
I've seen pictures of you
And you are cute as a button. I think too many people obsess about weight when they should be obsessing abut health, or energy. How we look is important to us, but I think if we feel good, we'll automatically look better.
Honestly, I just got sick of worrying about it, and I hate for my friends to worry, when I can look at them and see they don't need to. I also sat at a weight watchers meeting and really listened to the advice, and I didn't like it one bit.
I was getting too heavy, I knew that -- I didn't feel good -- I tried some diets, and diets didn't work, at least not permanently, and I was getting sick of feeling guilty about anything I ate or having to weigh or count everything I put in my mouth. So I just decided to do what made me feel good, mentally and physically. Somehow, it's worked. But let me tell you, when I want a donut, I have a donut.
LOL on the recumbent -- my sister loves hers. I prefer raking, building a rock wall, etc. ;)
Sam
Health
Isn't that the most important thing? My husband was recently diagnosed with pre-diabetes and I freaked. We do eat pretty healthy here, but I tweaked things even more. Brown rice instead of white, three veggies with each meal instead of one, wheat pasta instead of white, etc... Its helping with energy, everyone feels better... but my weight hasn't changed at all LOL.
Tawny
Pick up a book called "Eat This, Not That." I love it - I don't follow everything in it, but it gets you in good frame of mind for how to choose your foods. For instance, I wanted some mini-chocolate bars in the house for snacking, so I got some mini 3 Musketeers bars, only 2 gr of fat each. There are all kinds of ways to have what you want, and still be "good." :)
Sam
Ahhh, wisdom
I think this is a crucial distinction at this time of year. Plan to indugle, but indulge intelligently.
I'll have to look for the book -thanks for the recommendation, Sam.
Try the Quaker Rice Cakes
I also snack when I am reading or watching TV so I got some of the Quaker Rice Cakes, which are very good. I like the Cheddar ones and the Caramel corn ones for a little something sweet. I think the cheddar ones have 45 cal. and the Caramel one have 50 cal. which is not to bad. They work good for a snack. I have a weight problem myself and can't seem to loose any. I have been walking every day for the past month about two miles a day and have not lost a lbs. I think I am going to have to double up on the exercise and start eating more salaids.
Mmmm
I've had the caramel rice cakes- yummy!
I hear your frustration on the lack of progress. The longer I'm writing, and the more intense my schedule, the more frustratin I'm seeing myself. I'm trying to revamp my life so that by the first of the year, I can focus on health first, then weave all the rest of my commitments around that instead of always sidelining exercise for "more important things".
Have you tried walking with weights? I've seen a few people doing that around here and always figured it must be like a double workout.
Weights
The only weights I have right now are ten lbs which set under the end table in the living room and I left those while I am watching TV. When I am walking I carry a big stick to keep the neighborhood dogs away so I kind of swing it around and twirl it around. Keep in mind I have never had to use the stick on a dog but I have had them come at me barking and just swinging it around they back off.
Snack foods
I like seedless grapes and eat stringless snow peas when I need crunch. Both are kind to books and they also add fiber to the mix which you need as you age.
Yum
Now thats a yummy, healthy and book friendly snack. Thanks Kaelee
You guys are going to hate me
I know I'm such a motor mouth on this, but really, I think get rid of the rice cakes, popcorn, etc. Don't eat anything that's "empty food" or "filler." IMO, a couple good chunky oatmeal cookies with some raisins and wheat germ will get you farther and taste better. (Also, watch for salts, sodium. Bad stuff.) Have those with a banana, and you're better off.
Walking with a stick is also a great idea -- I see people walk with weights, too, but you have to be careful or you could do damage to your joints. ;)
Hang in there, LB. Don't go into this thinking about losing weight and weighing your self -- in fact, put the scale away. It's about feeling better and being nicer to yourself, not punishing yourself for failing -- that's a diet mentality. Just do what's good for you, and be happy about it. :) YAY for you on walking! Keep at it!
Sam
I hear you, Tawny!
I start every holiday season with such good intentions, and it's that first bite of Halloween candy that does me in. My youngest said he didn't want to trick-or-treat this year and at first, I panicked, thinking, "OMG, NOW WHERE AM I GOING TO GET MY STASH FROM?" (he's a good sharer :-).
Then I thought, oh, this is good, now I won't start eating all that candy. I'll lose some weight instead of gaining over Halloween.
Then he changed his mind and decided to trick-or-treat after all. And the sugar craving part of my brain went YES!!!!
I'm a pitiful creature ;-)
Shirley
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
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Halloween
Even though we don't have Trick or Treaters (see Sam's blog on this subject), my guys still want some Halloween candy around.
I make them buy Mounds and Almond Joys. They're satisfied and, since I'm deathly allergic to coconut, it keeps me from nibbling!
"My" chocolate is Dove Caramel promises. I throw them in the freezer as soon as I buy them and allow myself 2 per night.
Since they're frozen, they melt slower.
I don't believe in giving up chocolate for anything!
ROFL
Leave it to the kids to get us all in a tizzy over sugar. My youngest loves to dress up and trick or treat, but she doesn't eat the candy. Guess whose stuck staring at that treat filled pumpkin? *sigh*
*sigh*
All the temptation that comes this time of year! I think that in general I think what Sam said is right on--have a little of something (the real thing, otherwise you'll just be unsatisfied with that prune cookie or whatever and STILL want the Twix) and then get the temptation away if possible (I usually load DH down with the extra trick-or-treat stuff and have him leave it in the office kitchen). Like Ani said, gum's good (although my jaw gets sore after a while ;)). Drink lots of water, and keep yourself buried in a good book :) Or sometimes other little things that seem a little silly help me--if I wear certain kinds of lipstick or glosses, I don't like eating as much, so sometimes I'll intentionally put those on to lessen the likelihood I'll give in to the siren's call of the refrigerator.
I love water
Fedora, we do that each year too. A day or so after Halloween, we send whatever's left of our handout candy to work for his coworkers to snack on. It helps. And I just have to say OMG a prune cookie? REally? Um... hmmm. Yeah, I want the real thing LOL.
I love the lipgloss idea. I have a MAC lip balm that tastes so good, but is super sticky. GREAT idea to use that to cut back on eating (heck,I think the food would stick to my lips)