Bev's BLOB Blog

KICK THE CHIPS HABIT
by Katy Yocom

If chips or other crunchy snacks are your downfall, wean yourself off the habit by substituting dry cereal. Head to work with a cupful of whole-grain, heart-healthy cereal such as Shredded Wheat, Cheerios, or Quaker Oat Squares in your briefcase. When you feel the urge to splurge on a bag of greasy chips, snack on your cereal instead.

Of course, as always, snack in moderation. You're doing your diet no good if you chow down on cup after cup of cereal. Stick with about a cup of lighter-weight cereal. For the denser, heavier varieties, limit yourself to half a cup.

In case you're wondering, prepackaged Chex Mix, which falls somewhere in between the "chips" and the "cereal" categories, weighs in somewhere in the middle nutritionally as well. A one-ounce serving--about two-thirds of a cup--has about 120 calories and five fat grams (roughly 37 percent of calories from fat).

5 Tips for Great Abs!

Today:

Breakfast: 3/4 c. corn bran, .5 c skim milk, BIG coffee

Exercise: 30 min. Tae Bo Basic Live #2, 50 crunches

Lunch: 2 pieces rye bread, 2 slices turkey breast, one lettuce leaf, 2 slices tomatoe, 2 tsp. low fat mayo. 1 c. green tea

Snack: 1 c. (no fat, no sugar) yogurt, 1 diet pepsi

Dinner: 1/2 chicken breast, 1 c. steamed green beans, 1 small baked potatoe with 1 tsp margarine, small tossed salad, 1 tsp. dressing, 1 c. green tea

Snack: 3 graham wafer crackers and a banana, 1 diet pepsi

Water: 60 fl. oz.
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Total amounts for 01/03/2001

Calories 1297
Calories from Fat 171
Total Fat 19 g 38 %
Saturated Fat 4 g 24 %
Cholesterol 105 mg 35 %
Sodium 2023 mg 134 %
Total Carbohydrate 220 g 97 %
Dietary Fiber 23 g 93 %
Protein 71 g

CooksRecipes.com - Recipes For Every Cook! has some great recipes!

TIP OF THE DAY:

Well this time of year we get several different "diets" thrown in our face, from the old to the new breakthrough diets. Rest assured that nothing has changed from the last year about dieting: you still have to expend more calories than you take in. No matter how you slice it you will need to either eat less, exercise more or both. Eating at different times of the day makes NO difference in your weight if you are overeating. Eating different food combinations makes no difference if you overeat. Even eating one type of food over another won't make much difference: you can lose weight by eating twinkies only....but lets face it - we all know that isnt a very good choice!

Don't question your own nutritional confidence because you read about a new "breakthrough way of eating to lose weight". It is probably bogus and will cost you a lot of money for something you already know: you must reduce or burn off your calories to lose weight!

by Joanne Bednar

FETTUCCINE ALFREDO
by Katy Yocom

Fettuccine Alfredo has long been pegged as one of the bad boys of the dining world. It's sad: Such a tasty dish, but so many fat grams.

Frozen-food manufacturers know we miss this dish, so they take advantage of our cravings with healthier versions of Alfredo sauce. Healthier in some cases, that is, but not in others. Here's a look at how some of the brands stack up in the per-entree calorie and fat-gram departments.

Weight Watcher's, with broccoli: 230 calories, six fat grams
Healthy Choice: 250 calories, five fat grams
Lean Cuisine: 270 calories, seven fat grams
Banquet: 370 calories, 18 fat grams
Budget Gourmet, with four cheeses: 480 calories, 24 fat grams
Stouffer's: 580 calories, 39 fat grams (!)

link via topica

The Motivation Station: Online Personal Fitness Training has some interesting information and links.

Dyane, I have all the books for the CAD by the Hellers. I know of one woman who had very good success on that plan, and Rosie O'Donnell has lost 30 pounds on it. I've never done Atkins myself, but I did low carb off and on for a couple of years. I really quite like it! Trouble is, when you stop it... you gain your weight all back again, and it's not really a life style that I think I can stick to for the rest of my life.

I had 1 cup of (no fat, no sugar) yogurt for an afternoon snack. For supper I had a piece of salmon, 1 cup mashed potatoes, 1 cup steamed cauliflower and 1 small salad. I followed it up with 2 cups of green tea. I drank another 16 oz. of water this afternoon for a total of 48 oz. so far.

Today I plan to do Tae Bo (which will kill me after my 3 month hiatus!), eat my breakfast, shower, and then go shopping for healthy groceries!

D I E T T I P

This time it is your turn to come with a diet tip. Find out what your "hot" button is, something that will help keep you determined, persistent, and head strong on sticking with a healthy eating plan, and reach your goal weight. Is it a new dress or pair of pants one size smaller, hanging on the door for you to see each day? Maybe that swimsuit you always wanted to wear? Or is it a pretty picture out of a magazine? It could be a former thinner picture of yourself? Or maybe an affirmation that you say each day? What is your HOT button?

Kate Purcell, RN

M O T I V A T I O N

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

Believe in yourself -- in the power you have
To control your own life, day by day.
Believe in the strength you have deep inside,
And your faith will help show you the way.

Believe in tomorrow -- and what it will bring.
Let a hopeful heart carry you through.
For things will work out, if you trust and believe
There's no limit to what you can do

Emily Matthews

New Years Dieting

With hundreds of weight loss programs on the market, Remember but not all "roads" lead to healthy, permanent weight loss. Fad diets and unbalanced eating plans may produce temporary results, but the long term effect is that you will usually gain it back, plus more, and end up with a much bigger problem than you started with, plus you may permanently damage your health in the process.

Avoid any "diet" that severely restricts your calorie intake. This will only torture you both physically and mentally. This type of dieting is one of the best ways to GAIN extra fat.

Starving yourself will burn fat and muscle as fuel. Your brain will sense the famine, and will slow down your metabolism even more than it already is, in order to conserve energy. When this happen, and when you resume normal eating, for you, the same number of calories will cause you to gain weight. Muscle burns calories, but you've lost some muscle tissue while starving your body, so your body can't burn off calories as efficiently as it did before. This is why people do the "yo-yo" syndrome, loosing and then re-gaining back the weight, in fat, plus additional fat.

In order to burn fat, and not muscle, you must continue to feed you body with small, portion controlled meals, while exercising to build more muscle for burning calories. By exercising you will burn more extra calories and tone and build muscle tissue at the same time.

Kate Purcell, RN

Need some weight training, but do not have time for the gym?

Here are few examples of doing some weight training with tour daily activities:
1) While you are cooking and waiting for the water to boil, Grab a can of tomato sauce and do a couple of biceps curls.
2) You put something in the microwave for two minute, while you wait balance all your weight on one foot for one minute, and then the next foot for one minute to firm up your thighs.
3) Waiting just 5 more minutes for the oven buzzer to go off, then take the tomato sauce cans and press it up over your head to give your shoulders a workout.
4) Wait for the sink to fill up with water, then do some butt Squeezes while you wait, to firm up your buttocks.
5) Standing at the stove cooking some entrée, then suck in your Stomach for the count of 10 to firm up your tummy muscles. Keep doing this while your standing over the stove. Combine it With # 4 and get double the benefits.
6) While riding the escalator shopping, hang our heels off the end of The escalator to stretch our your calves.
7) Sitting a desk job, then lean over and reach towards your toes, while sitting in your chair, to stretch out your lower back and backs of your thighs.
8) Waiting in line at the bank or shopping, clasps your hands behind your back as you wait bank to stretch out your shoulders and chest.
9) Another sit at your desk activity is to sit straight up in Your chair and hold both legs straight out to help firm Your mid-drift and tummy.
10) To add to # 9, balance a book on your feet while holding your legs out for one minute for intense firming for the tummy.

Kate Purcell, RN

Any activity that gets you moving, instead of just sitting, is considered exercise activity for the body.

Examples:

1) A quick run through your garden to pull some weeds (burns 60 calories)
2) Lugging your toddler around the house for 5-6 minutes (burns 40 calories)
3) Taking the one flight of stairs instead of the elevator (burns 16 calories per flight)
4) Walking and window shopping for 10 minutes (burns 35 calories)
5) Singing a song (burns 20.7 calories)
6) 10 minutes of constant walking (burns 100 calories)

Kate Purcell, RN

Snack Attacks No More

Snack attacks can add 10, 20, even 30 pounds on the body over a years time, and this does not take into consideration all the food that is eaten at meal time. Snacks are "extra" calories, taken into the body, during the day. If you are in the habit of allowing yourself to take 2 or 3 snack breaks a day, this can add up to another dress or pant size. According to the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, American's "choose" snacks, they place availability over personal preferences.

To help avoid these pound adding snacks,
1) Drink water instead of eating.
2) Keep a schedule by using a timer for meals.
3) If you truly are hunger, eat some fruit, like a crunchy apple.
4) Even if you are home, pack yourself a lunch, and avoid the kitchen.
5) Only keep healthy choices in the refrig on the counter.
6) Use trick food flavorings and spices - such as lemon in your tea, or sprinkle cinnamon on your toast for a rich taste.
7) Keep sugar-free Jell-O made up for desserts.
8) Popcorn, air popped, helps with the need to chew.
9) Just DO NOT buy it! If you don't have it, you cannot eat it.
10) Brush your teeth right after eating, and any time you get the urge to snack. The brushing helps signal your body that you are done eating.
11) Find a new passion besides eating. Listen to music, do tongue exercise, tense your neck and chin to firm up that double chin, take deep breaths and sing a song, just stay our of the kitchen and away from the snack machines at work.
12) Get some house or office plants, and water them, re-pot them, rotate them around for the sun on your breaks.
13) Starting the day off with a good health breakfast will stop the mid morning hungers and need to snack.
14) Just deal with it, stress that is. Many people eat due to stress.
15) Call a buddy who is also trying to avoid snack, and give each other encouragement's.
16) Controlled Snacks - If you absolutely have to have a snack, then set snack appointments ahead of time, and only snack on the healthy food you have chosen and at that time of day.

Kate Purcell, RN

Home Body

Are you having trouble making it to the gym? Don't despair: When it comes to working out, there really is no place like home.

Researchers found that individuals who exercised at home lost more weight than people who exercised at a gym in a group setting. It seems that people find it easier to stick to a routine if they work out in the comfort of their own home.

RealAge Benefit: Maintaining your weight and body mass index at a desirable level can make your RealAge as much as 6 years younger.

Tip via Real Age

This is the Day!!!!

This week I've been slowly getting ready for beginning my new way of life. I've reconnected at Diettalk, the greatest source of support and information I've ever found! I've been going there off and on (along with my diet) for 3 years now. I've updated my Laughing While Losing website, dusted off the dreadmill, and now all that remains is to go shopping for groceries in the morning!

Coming Into My Own is Cherise's weight loss journey. I will add her to my list of weight loss web logs.

Good Housekeeping: Ten Top Diet Blunders seem s a good way to start the New Year, as tomorrow is the first day of my new way of eating and living! Stay tuned for more links!