Once You Achieve Weight Loss Success, You Can Have A Cheat!

Posted on December 26, 2013 by therapysoup

I have been so good. I have not had any cake, cupcakes, etc. for two years. Everything I have had that is chocolate related or sugar related, has been low-carb and controlled.

The renown Sprinkles cupcakes have come to my area and on my bucket list was to try their well-known cupcakes. So, today, as a treat for weight stabilization, I went there with my husband and we bought one “black and white” (chocolate cake with white frosting). It was ridiculously good, but I am so glad I split it with him. It is 62g of carbs for an entire cupcake. I ate about 30g of carbs. I felt stoned. My eyes glazed over and I was all shaky and hyper feeling. I knew I would crash and it has been about 3 hours and I am really tired. The sugar roller coaster sucks, which is why I have gone white flour and sugar-free for so long. No wonder America is in such a mess eating this stuff every day.

Here is what it looked like:

So, I got it out of my system and now I have to work out to help burn those carbs out and I am eating few carbs today to make up for the higher carb desert.

My point is that I haven’t done this in a long time and I don’t recommend it until you have hit a point in your eating style that it will not throw you off of the wagon. I have eaten well so long now, I have no trouble getting back to my fruits, veggies, proteins and salads. The danger of doing this early on in your diet, is you might feel guilty and it could send you in a downward spiral of cheating. I know that I can do it, I did it! SO, I had my cheat and now–back to my normally scheduled program.

My recommendations for you!

You should set a goal. That you will lose a certain amount of weight and then you can get your treat. Maybe you need the motivation!

In the meantime, I am perfectly happy with my low-carb cookies from Lindora, Netrition.com and Carbessentials.net. I also like Breyers Carb Smart ice cream and Dreyers no sugar added ice cream. Those don’t leave me with feeling overly sugared and then exhausted from the sugar low later.

10 Strategies to Stay Thin Throughout the Holidays!

Posted on December 24, 2013 by therapysoup

10 Strategies to Stay Thin Throughout the Holidays!

Get enough sleep. Our bodies store more calories as fat when we’re sleep deprived. When we are tired, we turn to food as comfort, consuming more calories than when we’re well rested.
Don’t skip meals. It not only slows down your metabolism, If you skip meals, you’ll be hungrier and more likely to overindulge later in the day. Eat healthy, balanced meals and protein-based snacks and you’ll find it easier to stay in control.
Plan ahead. When going to a dinner party, call ahead to find out what foods will be served so you can plan your strategy. Offer to bring a healthy, delicious side dish you know you can enjoy without guilt. Skip the carby sauces, glazes and gravies. At buffets, only put a healthy portion on your plate with good choices and stay away from the buffet. No more trips. Keep a calorie-free beverage near you the whole time.
If you start to feel out of control, breathe and even step away and relax. Remind yourself that you are in control of your choices. Think about the benefits of making healthier choices, and pay attention to why you’re eating. Are you really hungry, or are you tired, angry, or bored?
Be sure to drink at least eight glasses of water every day. We often think we’re hungry when we’re actually thirsty. Water cleanses your system, curbs appetite, and reduces fluid retention. Drinking water can also increase your energy level. The dehydration that occurs when you don’t consume enough fluid can cause you to feel less energetic and become more easily fatigued.
Avoid or limit alcoholic beverages. Besides being high in calories, alcohol tends to trigger carbohydrate cravings and hunger, and can diminish your resolve to stick to your eating plan. Alcohol also interferes with your body’s ability to burn stored fat for fuel. Stick with calorie-free soda or mineral water with a slice of lemon and you’ll save yourself hundreds of empty calories. If you do indulge, mix alcohol with something calorie-free such as water, diet soda or tonic, or sparkling water.
Avoid the temptation to have “just one bite.” For many of us, it’s easier to avoid certain foods entirely than to try to eat them in moderation. We all know what our “trigger foods” are, so watch out.
Stay away from buffets and party platters. Out of sight doesn’t necessarily mean out of mind, but it’s a lot easier to resist those high-calories hors d’oeuvres and holiday sweets when they’re across the room.
Move your body! Plan to take a brisk 10-15 minute walk three times a day—you’ll burn calories, reduce stress, and feel great. Wear a pedometer and see how many steps you can log in a day. Maybe joining a walking club will motivate you.
Give yourself permission to stress less and do less. One of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves this time of year is the permission to slow down and focus on those things that really give us the greatest joy. Decide which traditions have the greatest meaning to you and your family and ask whether the way you spend time and money aligns with those values. Take a deep breath and let the deeper meaning of the holidays into your heart.

Thin Success Motivation

Posted on December 22, 2013 by therapysoup

Do you want to lose weight? Then, you have to do what it takes to be successful. You have to learn to make changes, sacrifices and to say NO to certain food and others trying to sabotage your efforts.

Do you have people in your life offering you food, candies, cookies, etc–esp. in holiday season, and you either feel obligated to eat them or your cravings for sweets cause you to cave in?

If you think you can’t do it, then you won’t! Make it happen.

What I Recommend to be Diet Successful. 4 tips:

1. I never go anywhere hungry (I eat some protein before I get there).

2. I pick only healthy items of protein, veggies, salad and fruit. If there are delicious items there that are sugar and carb laden, and you are dying to try them–take a piece of your favorite, and eat only a piece. Do not put the whole item in your plate or take it with you, or you will be more likely to eat the whole thing.

3. If someone offers you something and you are feeling too socially awkward to say, “No, thank you,” then say, “I can’t–doctor’s orders.” Or, “Thanks, but I am not feeling great and I can’t eat that right now.” Or take it and walk away and then dump it somewhere when no one is looking.

4. Bring your own version of food item (protein bar, etc) or desert to satisfy yourself, so you don’t go hungry if there are things there that you can’t eat.

To Get Thin and Stay Thin, You Have To Think Thin

Posted on December 20, 2013 by therapysoup

7 Tricks to getting and staying thin:

1. Do you want to be thin?

You have to want to be thin. Most unsuccessful dieters rely on diets to make them thin. They want the diet to make them thin rather than become slim through the diet. Many people think that they don’t have the willpower to lose weight. It is in your power, you have to want it. Don’t tell yourself that it is too hard, because the power of suggestioin will win out.

2. Do you make food the center of your life?

Stop using food as a way to deal with feelings. Many people eat out of boredom, anger, frustration, lonliness, feeling scared, depressed and basically unloved. Think of five activities that you could do intead of eating. Make a list. Don’t combine all activities with eating. When, I feel like eating, I go for a walk, use my elliptical, go to my workout classes, go on the computer, call a friend…….find things to do that distract you from food. When I feel like I want to eat, and it isn’t time yet, I eat a piece of cheese, but I have coffee or tea. That helps soothe out the need to eat and gives your lips something to do. Meet people to do something athletic (hike or bike), or at a coffee shop and only have coffee or tea–or bring your Greek yogurt with you.

3. Can you tolerate hunger:

Feeling hungry is not a disaster. You need to overcome the feeling that you might die if it is not time to eat yet. Have a drink of water or other low-cal beverage. Learn to stop eating WHILE you experience the hunger. It will go if you give it time. Don’t give into it.

4. Do you have bad body image?

You have to believe you will be thin to make it happen. Then, if you follow the rules and have a positive mindset, it will happen.

5. Did you set an achievable goal?

Don’t set an unreasonable goal or you will feel like a failure and give up. You can always reset goals, once you achieved a reasonable one. Don’t go crazy. I wanted to lose 30 pounds and once that I saw I did it, then I upped it to 10 more.

6. Did you up your physical activity?

A sedentary person cannot at the same amount of food that a phyically active person eats. If you ant to lose weight, and not eat very few calories, you have to pick up the pace. Do even just 15-20 minutes of something a day. Walk the dog!

7. Can you imagine something gross or distateful when you look at something decadent like a cookie?

It helps to use aversion to lower your desire for food.

Society is Addicted to Crap Food and Lost Their Discipline

Posted on December 14, 2013 by therapysoup

Going to be tough today!

Every day I have a salad with some form of meat and/or cheese–with vegetables, for lunch. I also have a salad at dinner, but the salad and veggies might be separate from my meat.

But, for the most part, that is what I eat. I have discipline. I have snacks in between and after dinner–protein-based.

It saddens me to see people trying to lose weight and still get stuck on eating white bread sandwiches (which have gluten and no nutritional value at all–it is all about just FILLING UP THE BELLY)–and boy does it fill up the belly, outwardly.

But, SO many people now seem to feel that they need to wash that sandwich down with a bag of chips.

I eat at a lunch place where they serve salads, sandwiches and soups. There is a rack of potato chips to choose from. Everyone who orders a sandwich (except my husband), grabs a bag to have with their lunch. Most people eating salads seem to know better and don’t eat the chips.

What is the deal with the chips? Is everyone so addicted to the carb, glucose-high?

Do you want to lose weight? You have to get through the addiction. I did it. I was addicted to pasta (wheat-based). It takes a few weeks and you must have a lot of low-fat cheese snacks and hard-boiled eggs to tide you over until the addiction clears…but it does. I learned to like coffee even more.

Then, you will lose the weight and keep it off.

Until then, the chips and bread are winning, not you! Nutritionally, they are useless. A lot of sodium (Not good for the heart), few vitamins, only 2g of protein and 24g of carbs. If you want to lose weight and only want 50 to 100g of carbs a day, you are going to waste it all on a bag of empty chips? It is going to turn to sugar and only make you crave more sugar later (about 6 sugar cubes worth)….

The sandwich in itself is about 24g of carbs for the bread. Great–in one sitting, little nutritional value and around 50g of carbs. This is not going to help with losing weight.

So, it is your choice. Do it or not. Stop complaining though if you don’t lose and you hate how you look!

Time Lapse of a Woman Losing 88 Pounds in a Year on the Ketogenic Diet

Posted on December 9, 2013 by therapysoup

My diet is based on a Paleo diet that focuses on being ketogenic. What is that?

The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, measured out amount of adequate protein and low carbohydrates.

The diet forces the body to burn fats rather than carbohydrates. Normally, the carbohydrates contained in food are converted into glucose (sugar), which is then transported around the body and is particularly important in fueling brain function. However, if there is very little carbohydrate in the diet, the liver converts fat into fatty acids and ketones.The ketone pass into the brain and replace glucose as an energy source. An elevated level of ketone bodies in the blood, a state known as ketosis, and that is when you start burning fat and lose weight.

I followed the ketogenic diet and I lost about 10 pounds a month, which then trickled down to a lesser amount until completion of the diet. I started my diet in September, 2011 and lost 40 pounds by the the end of January, 2012 (about 5 months).

My diet consists of 6 protein based meals a day, every 4 hours. Two small salads a day, four small servings of vegetables a day and two small servings of fruit per day (with my carb instake being only 50g to 100g per day). I stopped eating most wheat products, rice and potatoes. In the maintenance phase, you can incorporate those in, but you should measure out carbs and you should not go over 150g of carbs per day if you want to stay thin.

Below 50g of net carbs each day is sufficient for most people to stay in ketosis. Make sure to get your carbs from vegetables (10-15g), nuts and seeds (5-10g), and fruits (5-10g). Keep in mind that in Europe food labels generally show net carbs, while America shows total carbs. Calculate net carbs by subtracting fiber from total carbs.

Medicaldaily.com wrote about a woman following this diet and they showed a time-lapse video of her transformation of 88 pounds in a year. Check it out. I can attest to the magical effect of this diet, as far as I changed in the same way. However, I did exercise during my transformation, which is why I lost 10 pounds a month and she seemed to lose about 6 or 7 pounds per month.

http://m.medicaldaily.com/time-lapsed-video-shows-womans-transformation-ketogenic-diet-88-lbs-lost-5-seconds-255799

Holiday Travel or Any Travel Diet Survivial Guide

Posted on November 29, 2013 by therapysoup

When people go away on vacations or day trips, they usually just hop in the car after last-minute packing and they are not prepared nutritionally for their needs.

When you eat properly, you need protein every 3-4 hours. You need two small vegetables at lunch and two more at dinner. You need salad twice a day. Fruit twice a day.

But, without preparation, you ran out, probably without eating anything and then you are hungry and stop off for junk food.

THIS IS A GREAT WAY TO SABOTAGE YOUR WEIGHT MAINTENANCE or DIET.

So, here are some easy strategies to prevent diet sabotage:

Plan and Prepare. Leave yourself plenty of time and remember that all that rushing around can beat down your immune system and make you sick.
Take your Supplements. Especially nutrients such as zinc, vitamins C and D, probiotics and omega-3’s. These help buffer your immune system and keep you strong when exposed to germs on planes, etc.
Pack an Emergency Food Kit. I never leave home without a healthy snack or mini meal to keep my blood sugar balanced.

FOOD LIST: You Can Pack and Take with You:

1. Small preprepared and measured out packs of raw almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews and/or pistachios
2. Small bag of cut carrots or celery with snack-sized containers of hummus
3. Can of wild salmon or sardines (I can’t do this because I hate this!)
4. Hard-boiled eggs
5. Healthy whole food protein bar (eat half in morning, half in afternoon)
6. Bottle of water
7. A prepared set of bags of berries, some bananas or apples (sliced apples is ok too)

And when you can stop somewhere, work on getting in more salad, veggies, fruits with some protein, other than fast food junk. French fries are not a vegetable!

And have fun! Your bowels will thank you later.

Low-Carb Chicken Piccata

Posted on October 29, 2013 by therapysoup

My sister-in-law sent me this low carb recipe for piccata.
You can make it with turkey or chicken. It is actually quite good.
This particular time, I forgot to do what she suggested and cut
the fillets in half. Next time–makes for cooking through the
center of the meat faster. My husband ate a cutlet and he really
liked it. Consider serving with veggies, salad! Low
Carb Piccata (about 4g of carbs per cutlet) •4
turkey or chicken cutlets (about 5-6oz each) •1/4 teaspoon! salt
•1/4 teaspoon ground pepper •1 tablespoon olive oil, divided •1
tablespoon butter •1 1/2 cup chicken broth •2 tablespoon shallots,
chopped •2 cloves garlic, minced •1 teaspoon flour •1 – 2
tablespoons lemon juice •1 tablespoon capers, drained •1 tablespoon
flat leaf parsley Sprinkle turkey with salt and pepper. Heat a
large skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil to pan. Add
cutlets and cook 2-3 minutes per side or until done. Remove and
keep warm covered with a sheet of foil. Add remaining olive oil and
1/2 tablespoon of butter to pan. Add shallots and garlic cooking
for 1 minute. Stir in 3/4 cup broth. Bring to a boil and cook for 2
minutes, scraping sides of pan. Combine remaining chicken stock and
flour in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add to pan and bring
to a boil. Cook 5 minutes or until liquid has reduced by half.
Remove from heat and stir in remaining butter, lemon juice, and
capers. Pour sauce over turkey and garnish with parsley.
Nutritional Information Calories: 298
Fat: 10g Saturated fat: 4.1g Monounsaturated fat: 4g
Polyunsaturated fat: 0.6g Protein: 43.3g Carbohydrate: 4.5g Fiber:
0.6g Cholesterol: 83mg Iron: 2.7mg Sodium: 414mg Calcium: 19mg
My Pictures

11 Ways To Deal With Cravings When On A Diet!

Posted on October 24, 2013 by therapysoup

I hear this all of the time and I went through it too. I sometimes still do. How do you get through cravings, especially at home at night. or mid-day?

11 Ways to get you through cravings:
1. You have to set a goal.

I told myself every morning that I was on a MISSION and that mission had to be done, no matter what. I set a goal to lose a certain amount of weight.

2. Recognize that cravings mean something and fix the problem before it becomes a problem.

First off, sometimes you will crave things because you are deficient in a vitamin or mineral. People who crave steak are low in iron, bananas–potassium,chocolate-magnesium, etc. So, take a MULTIVITAMIN AND MULTIMINERAL all through your diet and after to help with unnecessary cravings.

3. Go shopping and only buy the foods you are going to eat on the diet. Do not buy junk.

Oh, you have kids?
You want junk for the kids and you are afraid you will eat it too? Well, I have something controversial to say here. Screw that!
That junk hurts your body and mind, and it is not only BAD for your kids (they need white flour and sugar like a hole in the head), but you are also setting them up on a path of weight gain in their future too by allowing them to get hooked on pure sugar crap! Teach them to enjoy healthy, tasty options for their snacks. Nuts, fruit, cheese, protein bars. The Nature Valley Protein Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter bar (for instance) or their other Protein bars or any of the Power Crunch bars are low in carbs, high in protein. What the heck is wrong with those options? Cheetos, Doritos, Tortilla chips, candy, cheese balls–are all BAD, BAD options and will only make you sick. Buy low-carb baking books, look it up online, buy low carb food books, buy low-carb options at the market or online at places like netrition.com or low-carb stores online. Some items are at speciality stores.
4. Stop baking BAD stuff (look up better low-carb options online.

No more baking crap white flour nonsense in the house. Just knock it off. You don’t need it. Oh, your kid enjoys it? Well, too bad. You all need to find a healthier hobby or learn sugar-free options for baking and look at number one (set a goal) and go shopping (rule 3) and get new stuff to bake. Having bad food baking and wafting through the house is torture on a diet. It will just pull you back into the dark side of bad fattening food. If it is made with white flour–NO! You or your kids have to find recipes using coconut, almond or flax meal and make those things. Step outside of your fattening comfort zone and learn new tricks. Teach your loved ones to eat better WITH you.

YES! YOU WILL HAVE CRAVINGS THAT ARE DIFFICULT THE FIRST WEEK AFTER GIVING UP SUGAR AND SIMPLE CARBS. IT IS THE BODY DETOXING. YOU WILL GET THROUGH IT. JUST KEEP DRINKING WATER (COFFEE WAS MY SAVIOR). IT WILL EVENTUALLY STOP. YOU WON’T DIE. AFTER AWHILE, YOUR BODY WILL JUST CRAVE THE GOOD FOOD. IT IS LIKE GETTING OFF OF ANY DRUG. PEOPLE ARE ADDICTED TO SUGAR. IT IS NOT GOOD FOR YOU AND IT IS MAKING YOU FAT AND UNHEALTHY. GROW SOME BALLS AND DEAL WITH IT. 🙂

5. Tape a picture of yourself looking fat on the refrigerator so that you will be reminded why you are on the diet in the first place.

6. Throw out the bad food or give it away.

If it is there, you are gonna eat it!

7. Drink water and have lots of sugar-free options to drink.

Drink every time you are hungry, to help stop cravings.

8. If you are desperate and it is in between the time of 3-4 hours from your last protein meal (out of six for the day), then have a protein “hit.”

–a piece of low-fat string cheese, a slice of turkey, an egg, a protein drink with few carbs in it–but have a protein “hit”, so you get through the cravings, until your next meal.

9. Find a distraction.

Read, get online, call a friend, or go exercise. Exercise or walking the dog helps me. Exercising at least 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week, not only burns calories, it helps reduce cravings. So, move!

10. Find ways to de-stress.

Meditation, yoga, listening to music. Anxiety can make people eat. They have “emotional” eating. Most emotional eating is from anxiety. This is why I love yoga–between the exercise and the wind down meditative time, I am pretty chill. Take an L-Theanine 200 mg (a totally natural amino acid that
lowers anxiety like nothing I have ever tried and there are NO side effects. Look it up.)

11. Keep a diet journal showing what you ate and the number of carbs per meal and tally it all up daily. Also, use that journal to write when you are emotional and try to process what is bothering you instead of eating.

Consider therapy or a group like Overeaters Anonymous. Or, if you must eat, follow rule number 7 and avoid so-called, “comfort” foods. Those foods will only make you feel UNcomfortable tomorrow when you gained weight!

Frozen Yogurt: Good Replacement for Ice Cream in a Diet?

Posted on October 22, 2013 by therapysoup

I decided to blog about frozen yogurt. I know a LOT
of people who eat it and think it is a weight loss tool. But,
it isn’t. It is all a sham! And you have to do your
research before you just eat stuff. “But, it is good for
you.” Not really. It has sugar and a lot of things you
can’t even pronounce in it. It just tastes good and has
probiotics. Keep in mind. To
lose weight, you should stick between 50g and 100g of carbs per
day. IN TOTAL, for the WHOLE DAY! First off. Even if it
is non-fat frozen yogurt, that doesn’t mean anything. Fat is
actually a good thing for the body. And usually, there are
more bad things added to make up for the lack of fat in food.
So, some frozen yogurt that is non-fat has more sugar and
carbs than low-fat frozen yogurt. Let’s compare and
contrast: Most smalls everywhere range from
30g to 54g of carbs for frozen yogurt! A lot for a snack.
Leaves little for dieting the rest of the day.
Yogurtland:
Gluten-free, kosher and has probiotics. That is good,
but half a cup has anywhere from 17 to 27g of carbs (much of that
is sugar) and you will eat MORE than half a cup. A small is a
full cup. So, you could be eating 34 to 54g of carbs just in
the yogurt. And then, if you use toppings….you are eating
MORE carbs and sugar. The lowest in carbs are nuts and fruit,
from 2 to 6g of carbs per topping. The most was in gummy
bears and cereal (high 20s). And carob chips have more carbs
than the actual chocolate. I see NOTHING at Yogurtland that
I can eat. You could end up eating just under 100g of carbs
if you order a larger amount than a small (8 ounce size) and get
more than one topping. You could have had a double
cheeseburger and fries for that! http://www.yogurt-land.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/nutritionals.pdf
Many of the other yogurt shops are comparable in those numbers.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THEIR NUMBERS ARE BASED ON HALF A CUP!
THAT IS TO FOOL YOU BECAUSE A SMALL IS A FULL CUP. SO
NUMBERS MUST BE DOUBLED. Some places have really low-carb no sugar
added frozen yogurt. Menchie’s has a few flavors, like
Chocolate Peanut Butter at 11g of carbs per half cup. So, a
small is about 22g without toppings. Their non-fat is about
22g of carbs per half cup (44g of carbs per small), about 26g of
carbs (52g for a small) for low-fat and tart. And the sorbet
is about 19g of carbs per half cup (38g for a small).
Yozen Frogurt:
Regular frozen yogurt small is 30g of carbs, non-fat is MORE
at 36g of carbs and their no-sugar added is 14g of carbs.
My low carb choices:
I get Carbolite, Dream Delite, Wow
Cow or any other specifically
designed low-carb product. Not all stores carry this. I
go to Yogurt Cinema or Yogurt Zone in Woodland HIlls, Ca. and they
have it. It is basically about 2g of carbs per ounce.
So, for an 8 ounce cup, it is 16g of carbs and I do no
toppings. The website for Carbolite says it is 4g of carbs per half
cup, so actually if they are right, then my 8 ounce cup of yogurt
is only 8g of carbs. Sweet! http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/carbolite/frozen-yogurt
If you go to the market and get Breyer’s
Carb Smart ice cream, the carb amount is
about 18g of carbs. Very low.
Skinny-Cow is not so skinny. Many of
their frozen desserts are about 30g of carbs. IN
CONCLUSION: So, if you eat ice cream
(even low fat), you are eating anywhere from 34-38g of carbs per a
8 ounce cup vs. 34-54g for regular frozen yogurt.
And watch out for places like… –Cold Stone. The carbs are about
the same as the store bought ice cream, but it has a lot more sugar
and that can’t be good for your diet or health. — Carvel. A
Carvel ice cream cone (that is with the cone) is in the 30s of the
carb grams, but more than double with a waffle cone. And
their chocolate flying saucer is also in the 30s. I don’t
know about you, but if I was to eat that many carbs (30s), I would
rather have a Carvel soft serve cone than eat a small frozen
yogurt. This is why you have to research! In a
way, you are better off eating regular ice cream than frozen
yogurt. It is less carbs, unless you go with the low-carb
versions of either product. …STICKING TO MY
LOW-CARB FROZEN DESSERT CHOICES!

Skinny-Rules

Tag Archives: thin

Once You Achieve Weight Loss Success, You Can Have A Cheat!

10 Strategies to Stay Thin Throughout the Holidays!

Thin Success Motivation

To Get Thin and Stay Thin, You Have To Think Thin

Society is Addicted to Crap Food and Lost Their Discipline

Time Lapse of a Woman Losing 88 Pounds in a Year on the Ketogenic Diet

Holiday Travel or Any Travel Diet Survivial Guide

Low-Carb Chicken Piccata

11 Ways To Deal With Cravings When On A Diet!

Frozen Yogurt: Good Replacement for Ice Cream in a Diet?

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