Archive for February, 2010

Staying with the restaurant theme….

on February 28th, 2010 by Rob

There is a really great web-site out there… that I consult all of the time…. Dotti’s Weight Loss Zone.

This link will take you to the part of the site that I use all the time…. the home page is kinda busy with ads and a whole bunch of other crap that I haven’t even looked at… might be good, I just don’t have the patience.

So, I consult this when I am about to go out to a restaurant… this site gives all of the Weight Watchers point values for things at the restaurant. There are about 1000 places listed…. so as long as it is not some mom and pop- then your good.

Now, I say your good… but what if you are going to Galatoire’s on Bourbon Street. Well, that is NOT going to be on Dotti’s list. So, here are three tips to help you through that meal. (without ketchup)- sorry, inside joke with my sister!!

1. Just get an appetizer or two. Speaking of my sister, she does this    all the time…. you know, come to think of it, she’s not fat…. guess I should have been paying attention to her more all these years.

2. Share an entree with someone else. I have a friend that he and his wife do this all the time. Last time we went to Brennan’s with them they spent like $60.00 less than we did.

3. Avoid value meals- you know… the upsize at McDonald’s or really any fast food joint… come to think of it, avoid fast food joints (I know… this is a tall order)

4. Doggy bag it. Don’t eat it all….. take some home.

5. Order water- I said it not long ago, one of the biggest reasons for weight issues in this country (and the south) is sugar in our drinks.

So, there ya have it… some strategies that will help next time you go out to eat.

Comments?????

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McDonald’s- I’m a bad parent!!

on February 27th, 2010 by Rob

So… what the Hell is this thing? Well, I will tell you…. It is a thoughtful toy that came with my son’s happy meals. Its a penguin that shoots some sort of disc out of his mouth and a suction cup on his belly. WHAT?? Yep… that’s what it is.

So, for starters- why is the penguin shooting stuff out of his mouth? Are there penguins that do this? And what is the deal with the suction cup? Can penguins climb walls like Spider-man??? I guarantee you that this is how this worked out… O.K. we have a Chinese guy sitting in his office, thinking about this toy that he is going to make…. Well, it shoots discs out of its mouth… but you know what, I don’t think that’s quite enough… so we’re going to give him a suction cup as well so the kids can stick him on the refrigerator… it just needs a little more.

So, then the Chinese company went and pitched this idea to the people at McDonald’s…. and they thought it was great…. or at least acceptable and they stuck it in my kid’s happy meal.

So, what does this have to do with weight loss??? Good question!! Nothing really, other than it is the brain trust built by Ray Kroc that we now seem to trust with the nutrition of our kids. I know, I am guilty…. I mean, I try to go to Chick-Fil-A instead, but McDonald’s was so much more convenient. You know, I have heard that before…. that McDonald’s is not really in the hamburger business, they are in the Real Estate business. So I guess we have left our kids nutrution in the hands of a bunch of Real Estate Investors and toy inventors.

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So, what can you get for 50 bucks???

on February 26th, 2010 by Rob

I know this story doesn’t have anything to do with weight loss…. but funny none the less:

I recently asked my friend’s little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal, tree huger types, were standing there, so I asked her,’If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?’

She replied, ‘I’d give food and houses to all the homeless people.’

Her parents beamed.

‘Wow…what a worthy goal.’ I told her, ‘But you don’t have to wait until you’re President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and rake my yard, and I’ll pay you $50. Then I’ll take you over to the grocery store where a homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.’

She thought that over for a few seconds; then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, ‘Why doesn’t the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you just pay him the $50?’

I said, ‘Welcome to the Republican Party.’

… Her parents still aren’t speaking to me.

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Quick Weight Loss Tip of the Day

on February 24th, 2010 by Rob

Along the same lines as my last post…. over the last 20 years American’s caloric intake has risen 15%—- a good portion of this is due to sweetened drinks (Cokes or otherwise- Yes, that is sweet tea if you live in Mississippi).

Just go with water!!! So good for you and will go a long way toward flushing your system.

I could do a better job with this.

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Weight Loss Motivation

on February 24th, 2010 by Rob

I have copied and pasted a post from Heather @fitinto.ca  —–because I think that it is so spot on.  Read and enjoy- visit her blog too at:  http://fitinto.ca/

To reach your fitness or weight loss goals, you need two types of motivation.

“Away from” motivation and “towards” motivation…

…as Renee Stephens calls them. (And I couldn’t agree more.)

Renee does an incredible job of explaining the two types of motivation in Episode 1 of her Inside Out Weight Loss podcast series, but I will try and do her justice by summarizing for you here.

“Away from” motivation is often what gets you started. It’s what you have too much of in your life, and want to avoid in the future. For example, maybe you want to move away from requiring prescription medication daily. Or maybe you want to move away from having to purchase larger sizes each season when you go shopping. Or maybe you simply want to move away from feeling bad about yourself.

We need “away from” motivation. It helps us to realize that it’s time for change. And that’s a really good thing.

The problem with “away from” motivation is that it is relatively easy to satisfy (though, it can still be a huge deal). The point is that you can do better. If it is your goal to stop requiring prescription meds, and you make the changes in your life necessary to do that, your goal has been met. You might be healthier, but I’m almost positive that you could do more at that point to further improve your life. The same goes for the other examples. If, when you go shopping next season, you need the same size as the previous season, you’ve met your goal. But could you do more? Of course. And if your “away from” motivation is to stop feeling bad about yourself, you’re likely to stop trying to make change in your life as soon as you feel a little better. Will you be at your best? Probably not. But you’ve met your goal – and that might make you think that it’s time to settle.

That’s where “towards” motivation comes in. It takes over when “away from” motivation stops working. For example, when you stop needing to purchase larger sizes, your “towards” motivation kicks in to keep you moving forward on the path towards bigger goals. Maybe you want to have a certain look, or be a specific dress size, or have a specific-sized waist. Feel free to dream. It’s okay if it seems like a big goal – that’s what “towards” motivation is all about.

The two motivations work best when they’re used together. And they work even better when you’re clear about what they are.

So take a moment to think about it. What’s your “away from” motivation? What’s your “towards” motivation? How do they interact? How will you know when you’ve made the shift from “away from” to “towards”? Do you have any other thoughts on motivation?

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Unbeleivable- after all this time!!

on February 20th, 2010 by Rob

O.K.- So I’m in Columbus Thursday, I go into a convenience store/gas station.

Why is it that EVERY gas station in Mississippi has to have fried chicken for sale???? What is the deal???? And fried chicken is not the only thing that they have… they have fried potato wedges, fried okra, fried corn, fried shrimp, fried EVERYTHING you can imagine. Sounds like Forrest Gump…. you know, “shrimp gumbo, shrimp scampi… etc.” I mean, is it any wonder that we are the fattest state in the union?? I think not!!!

O.K.- So what was so funny about this particular store?? Well, nothing about the store was funny… but there was a guy in there that was funny. See, Columbus is home to Columbus Air Force Base. They do pilot training primarily, I think. Anyway, I go into the bathroom and I get all lined up and this guy comes in. Lines up next to me… he is in his full blown flight suit… I swear I thought he was going to have to strip down to his knees to go to the bathroom… Anyway, so he gets up to the plate and what happens??? Cell phone rings….. and I swear to God….. NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS….. its the Top Gun theme that is serving as his ringer—- you know “forward to the danger zone”.

Unbelievable- I guess goofiness never sleeps.

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See… This is EXACTLY what I am talking about!

on February 18th, 2010 by Rob

O.K.- check this article:

http://www.menshealth.com/men/nutrition/food-for-fitness/nutrition-for-fitness/article/61943ff7a2657110VgnVCM20000012281eac?cm_mmc=ETNTNL-_-2010_02_12-_-HTML-_-1

Copy and paste into your browser if you can’t get the link to work.

This is a glaring example of something I have been saying for two years. Avocado toast. Avocado toast. WHAT??? Oh, sure… I’ll have that right after my arugula and broccoli rhabb salad. Come on!!??

I am not going to make and eat this. This is not real food…. unless you pose for the cover of Men’s Health Magazine on a regular basis. I need to know what kind of hot dogs are best… what kind of beer to drink if if want to avoid being fat!

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See- I told you so….

on February 17th, 2010 by Rob

Y’all, I just found this on another blog and I wanted to repost it. Excelent information:

Your comment about keeping things simple reminded me…. I was catching up on some journal papers I’ve had piling up on my desk since before Christmas, and there was one that I think you’ll appreciate. There was a paper that appeared at the end of the 2009 in the journal Appetite in which a team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute in Germany and Indiana University studied people’s ability to follow different diet plans. Anyway, the study and the finding are more complex than what I can describe here, but one of the major conclusions was that the more complicated people perceived their diet plan to be, the more quickly they lost motivation to follow it. The most effective diets (in terms of compliance, at least) are the ones that have the fewest rules to follow that people think are the simplest.

I agree wholehartedly!!!!

Thanks for reading!

Rob

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I’m not the only one that needs to watch out!!

on February 17th, 2010 by Rob

Yep!!! That’s right, skinny people need to watch it too! It seems that even though you might not look like you have a problem (like I look) – you might. I guess the main thing is cholesterol—- but there are others.

I think that the problem here is going to be convincing those that look fine… that maybe even look skinny, that they need to work out and watch what they eat.

In addition to those people that might have other risk factors… like being overweight, hypertension, high cholesterol… everyone needs to be checked for heart disease. People that don’t have any of these things have problems every day…. Happens all the time.
In order to reduce risk, you need further evaluation if any of your “numbers” don’t fall into normal ranges. The ones you should be aware of:
Cholesterol…………. Total Cholesterol should be under 200 – LDL less than 100 (also check “good” cholesterol) – it should be over 60
Blood Pressure……. Systolic (top) should be less than 140; diastolic (bottom) should be less than 90
Blood Sugar………… Measures risk for Diabetes- should be less than 100
Body Mass Index- (BMI) should be less than 25 (mine is like 29 or 30)- if it falls in the 25-30 range, then you are considered over weight, over 30 and you are considered obese… welcome to the club!!!

So, the next time that you see someone that (and this is big for me) seems to have it all together… they may not.
You know… this ^- these numbers are what it is all about. I mean- I would be lying to you if I said that I don’t care about how I look…. I do. But at the end of the day, these numbers are what I really work on. That is I why I do what I do. Do I look better because I watch what I eat and run 12 miles a week????… Maybe a little. Do I feel better???….. You better believe it!!! Am I healthier??…. NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!

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So, Where do I start????

on February 12th, 2010 by Rob

It seems like I am getting this question more and more. With the rise of obesity it seems like everyone is looking for a quick and easy way to lose weight. There is a vast array of products on the market such as supplements, berries, magic software, drinks and replacement meals (Jenny Craig, Nutri-System)  that guarantee to help you lose weight in the least amount of time. The question is, do they work?

You know… I would say NO. Really, its as easy as that.

So- I have put together a few tips to get you started. And think, you didn’t even have to trade your e-mail address for this information.

1. It is best to visit with your physician before you start any weight loss program, you should inform him of your goals and plans. Hey will also be able to give you ideas and tips on how to lose weight naturally and safely.

This step is very important as this makes sure that none of your plans or future actions will cause any problems with your health.

2. Start keeping a food journal where you write down everything you eat. This will make you more aware of things you are eating that have unnecessary calories or are high in fat. This will help you determine where to start your weight loss program.

3. Based on what you see in your journal you should try to cut out foods or snacks with elevated calorie counts. This should help you develop an easy to stick to meal plan. Once again… I have said this before, I don’t think that it makes sense to cut out EVERYTHING you like… just cut back on some of the higher calorie items.

4. In planning your meals, try to be more selective of the food you eat. Go with more greens and less with greasy food and sweets.

Dieting is hard and can be tedious, especially if you don’t like fruits and vegetables. Get a group of friends or family together and try different ways of preparing your fruits and vegetables. It will be fun and maybe you will find a new favorite meal.

5. Another way to lose weight is to exercise. Not only is it one of the quickest and most inexpensive ways to burn fat, but  by exercising helps increase your metabolism for long periods of time—– which helps burn fat faster. Then later, when you have built up muscle, your RESTING metabolism will be higher.

O.K.- 5 tips- I trust that this will get you started on the right path!!

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