Earlier this week I made an Asian meal of stir-fried chicken and vegetables. I used a homemade stir-fry sauce which was very low in sodium (68 mg). I used less molasses and a bit of homemade (no salt) chicken broth instead of beef bullion and when all was said and done everyone loved it!

This week here’s what’s on my menu. Even though I didn’t write them down, I always have two veggies side dishes and usually a fruit as well!

Wednesday: Chicken and Dumplings

Thursday: Vegetarian Spaghetti with homemade Italian bread

Friday: Pizza night!

Saturday: Black beans and rice with homemade tortilla chips

Sunday: Herb Baked chicken

Monday: Brown rice and veggie wraps

Tuesday: Bocca burgers, homemade fries

Question: I feel like I am in somewhat of a rut and really need some new meal ideas! What’s something on your menu this week that I could “borrow”?  Diane

I was looking in my refrigerator the other day, and besides noticing that it really needs to be taken apart and cleaned, I thought about how there are certain things I always have on hand, both in the refrigerator and in the pantry.

I’ve found that having certain staples in the pantry or in my refrigerator means that I’m rarely caught in the “I don’t have any food” syndrome, which used to send me running to the nearest fast food restaurant in search of a quick fix. And unfortunately, even after I visited the restaurant, I still didn’t have any food to make good meals quickly and easily.

Over time I’ve learned that there are certain things I should always have on hand, and sadly, chocolate cookies aren’t one of them! Here 20 pantry/refrigerator staples that I almost always have on hand.

1. Beans/Lentils
2. Pastas
3. Flour
4. Spices and Condiments
5. Brown Rice or whatever you like
6. Oats
7. Frozen Veggies
8. Canned Veggies
9. Canned Fruits
10. Canned Tomatoes
11. Dried Fruits
12. Peanut Butter/Nuts
13. Sweet Potatoes
14. Onions
15. Greek Yogurt
16. Milk
17. Fruit
18. Lean Meat of your choosing
19. Eggs
20. Healthy oil

There were other things on my list, but I tried to narrow it down to the main ones.  Planning and preparation are two words we just can’t seem to get away from in this journey. Why? Because planning and preparation can often times save you from making choices you will instantly regret! Trust me, I’ve been there more times than I can count.

Question: What are a few things that you always have on hand?  Diane

You see – I am not a procrastinator  in most areas of my life, but when it came to getting started losing weight, procrastination was something I did very, very well. I put off for tomorrow what should have been done today.

It’s funny for me to look back and realize that in very few areas of my life did I ever procrastinate. When I worked in an office, I got things done on time and didn’t wait until the last minute. At home I got dinner to the table on time and didn’t stand around and wonder what we should have. And when I was in charge of something at church, it got done.

Not so with weight loss.

I found lots of reasons to procrastinate, like:

♦It’s too close to a holiday.

♦I like to start these kinds of things on Monday

♦I just put it out of my mind when the chocolate bell rang for me.

♦I really hadn’t outgrown my clothes – really.

♦I just made a cake and who’s going to eat it if I try and diet now?

♦We might be going out to dinner and it was too hard if you went out to eat.

♦I didn’t feel ready.

♦We were having out of town company come next month.

And on and on.

I realize that I kept procrastinating about really getting started because of many different reasons. I was fearful of failure, I didn’t want to deprive myself, diets never worked for me, I was too tired to exercise, I thought of the journey as all or nothing. There were so many reasons I couldn’t even begin to list them.

What finally got me off the procrastinator merry-go-round and on the right path? A visit to my doctor. I stood on his scale and realized, perhaps for the first time, that if I didn’t do something RIGHT THEN, I could easily keep gaining weight until I weighed 400 pounds or more. And I started that day.

Were you a procrastinator? And if so, what finally got you moving again?  Diane

Messy at work

Messy at home

Messy in the car

Messy pretty much everywhere!

It’s funny to think about because it was only John and I. Honestly – why was it so hard to be neat and organized? I’m not really certain, but I’m pretty sure it’s because I was lazy. After work I didn’t want to spend time cleaning the house or cooking so we’d just go out to eat and then see a movie. On the weekends vacuuming seemed like such a waste of time, and it was much more fun to go shopping or visiting with friends.

Once the children started coming along my organization skills picked up considerably, and by the time we brought baby number 5 home from the hospital I finally had my act together.

Why am I mentioning organizational skills on a weight loss/maintenance blog? I am mentioning it because I think it is important when working on such an important area of your life like losing weight to get healthy, it’s also important to think about other areas of your life that could help you in your endeavor to get healthy and fit.

And I believe that being organized in general can be helpful when attacking a weight issue. At least it has been for me.

Here are some things I do to stay organized, even with seven kids: (And although I TRY, I’m definitely not saying I’ve got it all together!! Definitely not!)

I try and only touch papers once. Whether it’s mail or papers the kids drag in, I look at it, file it, toss it, or handle it.

I loved the FlyLady website and daily emails. For a time I followed her plans and it really helped teach me how to keep my house cleaning without cleaning all day long! (And by the way – I don’t like cleaning!)

I have a set schedule for the big jobs – like cleaning windows, the garage, the game closet. That way if it gets messy I know that it will get clean shortly.

I involve the family. Even though I have a large family who can help, I don’t want them to feel as though they are constantly cleaning. So we have small things to do each day, and then have a Friday cleaning time, where I make a list of everything that needs doing and they pick what they want to do. We can clean our whole big house in about an hour. Then we are done!  Here’s what a list may look like:

• dust everything
• sweep all the wood floors
• mop the kitchen
• general straighten
• organize library books
• clean all bathrooms
• vacuum house
• straighten up pantry
• clean your own room

As a reward, after we are done, we have homemade pizza and watch a little kid movie. It’s amazing how fast cleaning happens when something good is waiting at the end.

I make daily to-do lists. This helps a lot – even if I don’t get it all done.

I look at a room as I’m leaving it. When I leave the bathroom I take a quick glance over my shoulder and see if there is anything I need to take out with me, or something I should put away before I walk out. Training myself to do this has helped a lot. Now if only the kids did this too!

Being organized around the house has helped me with my weight maintenance. Because I don’t have to spend a lot of time and/or energy with the household chores I find it enjoyable to plan meals, precook foods, and fix healthy snacks for everyone. It also frees up exercise time without guilt.

How do you feel? Do you think that trying to be organized can help you in achieving your goals? Diane

One place I still don’t have any good organizational skills is the car. If you have any “keep the car clean” tips I’d love to hear them!

Weekends throw us off our schedules. Monday thru Fridays are predictable for a lot of us. Weekday by weekday we go through our days knowing what to expect. Predictability helps with weight loss. So when the weekend comes around with its crazy kids schedules, get togethers with family, birthday parties and errand running, our predictable eating schedule is out the window. Unfortunately for me, also out the window would go any semblance of making good choices. I really wouldeat 2 Cinnabons, which I now know have 813 calories a piece, washed down with a diet coke.

I would let the freedom of the weekend schedule be an excuse to “take a break” from my diet and every time I did that, I’d fail to start my diet back on Monday. The freedom of weekend schedules can be wonderful. It’s healthy emotionally to have some days during the week that you are able to catch up with friends and get some things done around the house. But with that freedom comes the pitfall and danger of letting down your guard with regards to your food choices. Year after year went by with me using the day of the calendar as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted. And year after year I got bigger and bigger.

The year I lost weight I realized that weekends were yet another thing I had to worry about.

Previously the different diets I had tried felt restrictive and rule oriented, so when I started losing weight using my own plan, I wanted to lose weight in a way that I could follow always, not just on the weekdays, and not just until I lost weight. I wanted something that really would become a new way of life for me.

So using my three steps, I started losing weight. Weekends which were previously a food free for all became less about the food and more about relaxing and enjoying the family being together. I consciously chose to not overeat, not buy the Cinnabon when we were at the mall, and bring my own snack to the movies. (I know, you’re not supposed to do that, but who is  going to tell?!)

Realizing and acknowledging that weekends were dangerous for me was one more step towards achieving my goals. As you head out for kids ball games, trips to mall, cookouts with family and friends, remind yourself that the weekends are about recharging your emotional batteries, and not about eating as much food as you possibly can! 

Even to this day, all these years into maintenance I am still deliberate about not overeating on the weekends. How do you do on the weekends now as opposed to before you started getting healthier?  Diane

Why did I want a chocolate, or ice cream, or chips in the first place if my weight was such a source of anguish for me? You would think that I would have shunned fattening food rather than welcoming it like an old friend. Logically that makes sense doesn’t it? If something in your life causes you pain, don’t you normally take steps to avoid the pain? For example, if your old car continually breaks down, don’t you begin the process of replacing the old clunker with something more reliable? If your best friend betrays you time after time do you still beg her to be your friend? I wouldn’t think so.  Yet we who struggle with the love and addiction of food do that very thing. We turn to food as a soother for any emotion we feel, thus adding to our weight problem.

I have yet to speak with someone who struggles with their weight who doesn’t experience this phenomena. Time after time I talk to people who express their frustration over their inability to stop using food to sooth emotions. I hear the frustration in their voices because I too felt that frustration. Learning to break the cycle of running to food wasn’t easy, but it was a key component to my success.

During the year that I lost 158 pounds, I learned a lot about myself. I learned that I didn’t just love food, I craved food. I realized I treated food in a way that was similar to the way alcoholics treat alcohol. The difference with food is however, is that we need food. As hard as breaking an alcohol addiction is, at least you don’t need alcohol to survive. Food is essential, vital,  and necessary for life.  There were three things I did to help me break my bad food habits.

Preparation – I knew food was a problem for me, so when I started following my Fit to the Finish plan, I prepared for the inevitable times of running to food. I got rid of all the “happy, fattening” food in the house. Gone were the chips, high fat crackers, secret chocolate stashes and full fat ice cream. In their place came crunchy veggies, baked chips, frozen yogurt, hard candy, gum (lots of gum), and hot drinks. I liken it to a breakup of a relationship. Before I was married, and would part ways with a boyfriend, I rid my life of any reminder of him. Even if I still cared emotionally for that person, I knew that part of my life was over and got rid of any reminders. That’s what I did with food too, I broke up with food. I still loved food, but I knew that certain types of food weren’t good for me, so I replaced the bad food with good. That took preparation.

Practice- It didn’t always work to be prepared. There was still the issue of overeating good food. After all, even a whole bag of baked chips has a lot of calories, and will definitely cause a weight gain if the whole bag is eaten on a daily basis. So I practiced making right choices by consciously choosing better, healthier foods. Portions were measured and memorized, and when I made a mistake I tried to figure out what had gone wrong, and moved on to the next opportunity to make a better choice. Over time the mistakes became less frequent, and the results became more visible.

Persistence- Sometimes its easy to get complacent once you have seen some success on the scale. It took about 50 pounds for me to really be able to tell that my body was starting to change. In the past, it would have been at this point (or sooner) that I would have said, “Oh, I’ve got this eating plan down. I can relax now.” NO. Don’t relax, don’t let down your guard, instead persist and persevere and point your mind towards your final goal, not the intermediate ones. By doing this I was able to keep the weight loss going through the ups and downs of life’s challenges, and ultimately reach my goal weight.

Do you feel frustrated sometimes when you run to the very thing that caused your weight issues? How do you handle this?  Diane

What is it about the afternoon that is so difficult? Every morning of the ten years I struggled with my weight I’d swear that I was going to have a good eating day. And sometimes I’d do okay in the morning, but once about 2:30 p.m. rolled around, the afternoon munchie monster began rearing its ugly head.

I’m still amazed at how much I was able to eat in one afternoon. I tried to resist, but oftentimes ended up eating one unhealthy food after another. For example, I may have eaten half a bag of chips, a handful or two of cookies, some leftover biscuits smothered with butter, a spoonful or twelve of ice cream, and anything else I could get my hands on. The couple of hours before dinner time were so hard for me to control my eating.

Even when I was officially “dieting” and had purged the house of most unhealthy foods, I would find all sorts of things to eat. I’d make muffins or cookies. I’d eat the kids animal crackers by the bagful, and search the recesses of the pantry in search for something “good” to eat. The afternoon munchie monster was in full swing. After I had eaten all I could, I’d be so annoyed at myself. Why did I just eat all that when I was so determined to be good that day?

I think there were several factors that contributed to me giving into the afternoon munchie monster:

I didn’t plan ahead.

I had too many tempting foods around.

I thought I had to deprive myself of most sweets to be successful.

I was easily pulled into an emotional eating vortex.

Way back in 1997, when I finally lost my 158 pounds, I worked really hard to conquer the afternoon problem. I used the kitchen timer like I talked about on Dr. Oz. I set it for 15 minutes when I felt the urge to overeat, and nine times out of ten when the timer rang I determined that I wasn’t really hungry, but rather experiencing another type of emotional hunger. In addition to the kitchen timer, I also made sure I had some healthy snacks that I liked around. This made a big difference. And finally, I did not beat myself up if I made a mistake.

Is the afternoon a potentially difficult time for you? If so, what strategies do you employ to tame the monster?  Diane

One thing I’ve realized over the years is that a lot of snacking is related to certain situations. Think about the following scenarios:

• Do you always have crackers or chips when you sit down to watch TV?

• Do you tend to pick up a candy bar or goodie every time you stop for gas?

• Are you a taste tester when you (or your spouse) is cooking?

• If you drink alcohol, are you accustomed to drinking a glass of wine before certain meals?

• Does a football game just not seem complete without cheese nachos, chocolate candy, and salsa?

• Does the vending machine at work call your name at a certain time every single day?

If any of these scenarios sound familiar to you – relax – you are not alone! I had many situations during my obese years that I felt required a little “snack or two or three.” And if I had stopped to add up how many additional calories I was consuming by downing those little bites of things here and there I probably would have been surprised. I was easily adding more than 500 calories a day to my food intake – easily. No wonder I just kept gaining and gaining. Between the snacks and the cokes I was a mess.

I realized as I was on my weight loss journey that much of my situational snacking was a habit. And as such I needed to break myself of snacking unnecessarily. Unnecessary snacking is different from planned snacks! Unnecessary snacking almost always involves a situation that you have associated with a certain food. It’s similar to the thought that you ”have” to eat certain foods at certain holidays. Sometimes those stereotypes are meant to be broken – as was the case for me. I needed to break myself of those situations where food was involved unnecessarily – like eating plates of chips and cheese after dinner for no good reason. For me, I had to substitute other things for food – like scrapbooking or knitting or just talking on the phone. I also had to plan for those times as I knew I had the tendency to fall easily back into old habits.

Have you identified situational snacking on your journey? What was your solution to reigning in the unnecessary snack times?  Diane

I was also in a hurry. I was in a hurry to lose the extra weight I had so willingly piled on and get “on with my life.” And being in a hurry, I tried numerous diet plans with very little success. Every diet plan promised results, and most of them were fine and decent plans. But no diet plan promised the quick results I wanted. And thus, I didn’t stick with any of those plans long enough to lose more than 20 pounds. And when you need to lose 150 pounds, 20 pounds isn’t much. Especially considering that I promptly gained that 20 pounds back and usually added a few to go with it.

My problem? Well – there were many. But one problem I had was that I was in a hurry and wanted immediate and steady results. As we all know, weight loss doesn’t cooperate by falling down in a steady, slow line. Rather it zigs and zags, hops around, and sometimes stagnates like an ugly green pond full of algae.

And who wants to sit in the same ugly place? I certainly didn’t.  So I would quit when things got hard, or I got bored, or my weight loss stalled.

It’s funny because although I couldn’t tolerate a slow diet plan, I tolerated being morbidly obese for years and years and years. That makes no sense to me at all.

So when I finally started losing weight by following my Fit to the Finish plan, I set out with a different mindset from the very beginning. I gave myself a little pep talk and reminded myself that I hadn’t gained all this weight in two months and I certainly wasn’t going to lose it in two months. So I tried to prepare myself for the long-term road that I knew was ahead of me.

Going into the process with that realization made me much more prepared for the inevitable periods of boredom and frustration that came during my 14 months of weight loss. And bored and frustrated I did get.

Quite frankly, it gets boring watching every bite that goes into our mouths, or at least it did for me. It was frustrating to feel like I was doing all the right things and either no one was noticing or the scale wasn’t moving.  But I was prepared for a long trip so I just buckled my seat belt and kept driving forward.

Because I knew that going backwards wasn’t an option. Because if I put myself in reverse then I would end up gaining the weight I had fought to lose and I knew I didn’t want to do that.

So as you face your journey head on and feel the urge to get frustrated and quit – remember that it’s a long trip. It’s okay to take a detour to “maintain” where you are for a while, but it is important to try and keep things either in neutral or drive. Because if you go into reverse you will most likely get frustrated with yourself and be tempted to permanently detour as I had done many, many times before.

What strategies do you use to prepare for the possibility of a long trip? How do you stay positive when things aren’t going the speed you want them to?  Diane

She came in with two small loaves of french bread and a Wal-Mart bag. She asked if she could heat the bread up in my oven as she was going to do cheese bread and it needed to be freshly cooked. “Of course,” I said, and turned on the oven. Then, to my shock, she pulls out TWO sticks of butter and asks for a bowl in which to melt them. Puzzled, I handed her a bowl and watched as she melted the butter in the microwave.

THEN, she used a pastry brush and brushed the entire TWO sticks over butter over the opened bread loaves. THEN, she put an entire bag of shredded cheese on each loaf and put the whole greasy thing into the oven.

I didn’t even know what to say. The whole time she was making the bread she was going on and on about how much her family loved this bread and how they just got so excited every time she made it. I was standing there in shock. This was not a morbidly overweight woman, but like many people, could lose about 25 – 35 pounds.

I wanted to tell her to stop smearing all that fat all over the bread but I just couldn’t bring myself to be rude. I wanted to ask her if just a sprinkling of cheese would be sufficient but I didn’t.

What I did do was make sure I didn’t eat any of that “high-fat, horrible for you” bread.

But then later,  as I realized that I was standing in “judgement” of her actions, I felt guilty. I did many, many similar bad food things throughout my years of struggling with my weight. I added loads of fat to foods that didn’t need anything added to them like bread, veggies, fruit, pasta, and more. I honestly wasn’t thinking about the health and/or calorie aspect of any foods I was making. I was just trying to make everything taste as good and yummy as I thought it should. And if bread was good alone, then bread with butter must be better. If fruit salad was tasty undoctored, then adding 1/2 cup of sugar to it would make it even tastier.

What a difference just having an awareness of the nutrition, calorie counts, and healthyness of foods our body needs makes. Perhaps the woman at my house really didn’t think about how many unnecessary calories and fats she was adding to her food. Like I used to be, perhaps she was just doing what she had seen done by other people.

In any event, I learned another lesson that day. I shouldn’t judge other people for their food choices, but should realize that they too can change as I did. Perhaps I should have asked her if we could leave one loaf “unadorned” for those of us who were watching our fat intake – or not. I also learned that it is very hard to know for sure how dishes are prepared. Had I not seen her make that bread I would have incorrectly assumed it just had a lot of cheese on it. I may have eaten a piece and scraped off the cheese. I like to think I would have been able to taste the excess butter though!

What do you think when you see people preparing food in a way that you never would? Do you say anything or just let it go? Any tips on guiding people in the right direction?  Diane