Entries from June 2008 ↓

For years, I’ve said “I don’t know how to cook,” or “I don’t cook.”

I mean, when my husband I were first married, I’d try my hand at the packaged meals like Hamburger Helper… and I didn’t really “mess them up”, but I didn’t enjoy cooking, and I didn’t enjoy the food enough to want to do it again.

So I developed a habit of eating out.  Over the years, I’ve tried a few times to cook - fry some catfish here (it did NOT go well), bake some chicken there (umm… again, not so good)…. and you get the picture.  I just “learned” that I can’t cook.

Until now.  I bought a cookbook full of low fat, balanced meals that are EASY to prepare.  Wow!  I never thought I’d find that combination!

I tried my hand first at the chicken enchiladas… and surprise surprise!  They were DELICIOUS, and I enjoyed the preparation and the cooking.

Tonight I made chicken parmesan.  It was yummy!  And I actually enjoyed preparing it, again.  Somehow, knowing that all of that effort (not like it was alot… LOL) is going into a healthy, delicious meal that I can say I cooked MYSELF… is awesome!

Here’s a pic:

I’m still in shock that I can make a delicious entree - and a healthy one at that! 

Bethany

I don’t know about you, but I’ve certainly been there.  You put in the effort, you work hard, you change the food you eat, and you lose weight.  The feelings of euphoria and success can go away so fast when you start gaining it back, can’t they?

It’s a shame that there are so many “lose weight fast” plans out there.  The truth is, the faster you lose weight, the higher the probability that it will definitely come back.  Think about it: if you cut out carbohydrates and lose a bunch of weight… chances are, you can’t live without carbs for the rest of your life… so you gain it back.

I know that’s what happened with me.  I’ve lost weight using so many of the popular methods… and inevitably, it’s always come back.  And each time it came back, it brought more weight along!

The reason we girls gain our weight back is because of the “diet” mentality.  We think, “Oh, I don’t want to live without these foods forever, or exercise this way forever, but I can do it for a few months.”  So we lose weight… and then once we revert back to old habits, of COURSE the weight comes back.

The key is to change the habits - how we eat, and how we move.  When we change those habits, we’ll keep weight off long-term.

Bethany

It makes sense to eat less when you want to lose weight, right?  And most of us are pretty rushed in the morning, so it makes sense to cut out breakfast.  It’s easy, we’re not that hungry anyway, and we skip some calories that way.

The problem with skipping breakfast is how your body reacts to it.  Three things happen when you skip breakfast, and NONE of them are good for losing weight.

First, you get hungry about an hour later.  That’s right - you’re hungry by 10, for sure.  And most of us wait until at least 11 to eat lunch… so here we are, ready to go to lunch, stomach growling.  And what looks good to us when our stomach is SCREAMING for food?  Anything BIG.  Lots of food.  Preferably heavy, calorie-laden food like a burger & fries.  It’s far better to eat a small breakfast before you get started in your day, so that a few hours later when it’s time to eat, you’re not starving.  You make much, much better choices for weight loss when you’re a little hungry as opposed to famished.

The second thing that happens in our bodies when we skip breakfast is this: our brain knows that we haven’t had food in 9 hours or so… and it knows it’s time to eat.  So when we skip breakfast, our brain sends a note to our fat storage that it’s going to be a while before we eat… so better hold onto some of that fat for future use.  Our brain’s primary job is to serve our bodies, and it will do it’s job when it comes to not letting us starve.  Our body doesn’t allow for missed meals - so it holds onto fat storage to make up for missed meals.  Odd, isn’t it, that by eating you actually give your body permission to release fat?

And the third thing that happens when we skip breakfast is that we unintenionally slow down our metabolism.  When we eat, our various body functions digest and metabolize the food.  The energy that powers all of that processing is called our “metabolism”.  So when we start our day off by eating breakfast, we kick our metabolism into gear and start our day off by burning calories to process and digest our food.  Our metabolism, once it’s kick started, goes on auto pilot, looking for the next set of food to process and digest and metabolize.  If we don’t give it that food, our metabolism dips back down, taking all of its calorie burning energy with it.

So don’t skip breakfast.  Use that time in the morning to make a healthy choice.  Use that time to take a few deep breaths, enjoy a smart breakfast, and start your day off the right way.  It’s the #1 most under-utilized way women sabotage their weight loss efforts.

Bethany