We Americans tend to overeat and under-exercise.

Duh, right? But, while we spend an abundance of time trying to quell these tendencies of ours, how much time do we devote to making sure our souls and spirits are nurtured well???

Did you just take a big gulp? Yep, me too.

I hope, as you read my Wednesday posts, you will feel like you are addressing your soul just as much as you are exercising and eating right. Honestly? If your soul and spirit aren’t headed in the right direction, what makes you think you can conquer a weight or physical health issue???

Did you just gulp again? It’s okay. I have a plan.

As part of MIP’s Slow Reader posts, I’m going to bring to your attention some books and online readings that you can peruse to understand more of my spiritual journey and hopefully, chart a path for your own journey. Again, your journey may be quite different from mine because you and I are unique little snowflakes! But I am going to trust that God can bring to your attention the parts of these books that will inform your journey. 

Today we tackle general questions and tips I have encountered on my journey to a healthier me. And yes, this will be my last “dissertation” on fitness for a while. You can all breathe a sigh of relief now.

1. What if I keep getting arthritis or I have a huge blister on my foot? Won’t that keep me from losing weight by not being able to exercise? Take 2 Aleve or some other pain reliever about 30 minutes before your workout and I bet the arthritis goes away. If you have a headache, chances are that your body is telling you that you need some hydration (aka water) or a sports drink (G2 to the rescue!), so try that first. They make moleskin for blisters plus hydrocolloid bandages. You can even cut the moleskin to precisely fit the blistered area. This stuff works great and is what got me through 3 days of walking 60 miles for the Susan G. Komen organization. Don’t let this stuff deter you from exercising. Let’s be honest–all these little excuses are just your way of whining your way out of a workout. How did I know this? Cuz I’ve used them, too. 🙂
2. If the problem is more severe than some minor aches and pains, that is your body’s way of saying you need to alternate or slow down your workouts. On days where the feet can’t take the pounding anymore, I do yoga. Yoga helps my arthritis go away and helps me sleep! A lot of yoga poses can be done in a sitting position, as well. Don’t like yoga? Do sit-ups while you’re watching your favorite program or while listening to calming music. Other low-impact exercises also work. They may actually improve your weight loss ratio because you’re really varying your workouts!
3. If you are having SEVERE pain or have a bad cold, STOP exercising altogether until you have this investigated by a professional and are cleared by them. This is a WARNING that you are either overdoing it or your body needs to rest! Take some vitamins to help your body recover from your illness or condition, but only take those that your health professional recommends. Drink lots of water. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap. Clean that treadmill (particularly if it’s used by multiple people!). In other words take care of you!
4. What if I don’t like walking? Then, pick some form of exercise that works for you: yoga, using your game system exercise equipment and games, bicycling, dancing, etc. This is YOUR exercise routine–make it work for YOU! Just keep trying things until you find what works for you. If you need to, get a buddy to work out with you, so you’re accountable to someone. (I would pick someone who is roughly at the same fitness level as you or someone who is not too competitive or judgmental.) If necessary, hire a personal trainer for a month or two…to learn how to work out more effectively and to motivate yourself. Find what works and stick with it and change it up when it’s no longer working! You might enjoy walking or running outdoors more than that treadmill, so maybe just a change of environment will do the trick!
5. Reward yourself when you meet a goal. Goals keep me motivated, so do make small goals for yourself. The first one may be to just work out one day this week for 30 minutes and that’s okay! Reward yourself with things you like, but NON-FOOD ones. My favorites? New, cute, expensive (well, at least on sale!) workout clothes! Why? Because I actually want to wear them and I look stupid wearing them elsewhere. Maybe it’s getting a new haircut. Maybe, for you, it’s a piece of exercise equipment or subscribing to some service that helps you track your fitness journey. Even though I just hit my ultimate goal weight, I still have new goals for myself! And thus…new rewards!
6. Invest in good sox and shoes. It’s pretty hard to do this fitness thing for very long if you’re using inferior equipment and gear. You’ll minimize blisters if you wear really cushiony (Sure that’s a word!) sox. You’ll have fewer injuries or arthritis if you wear really good shoes (Go to a sports gear store and have them advise you on this!). You may pay out the wazoo (whatever a wazoo is) for this stuff initially, but it will probably last longer and prevent doctor bills. That’s just good common sense!
7. Don’t compare your journey with others’ journeys. This is really, really hard for me to do, mainly because I sometimes want to have the same achievements and goals as others. There is nothing wrong with getting new goal ideas and tips from others, but don’t let that creep into making you feel bad about your own journey! Pat yourself on the back when you reach your own goals and enjoy those moments big-time!
8. Change one thing each week. Research shows that it’s really, really hard to change bad habits. So, don’t try all of this at once. Make a list of everything you feel you need to change on the fitness front and pick out the smallest, easiest change on that list. Make that your first change. Small successes make you more motivated to change more things! When you’ve got that first one “under control,” look at the next easiest change and work on that one next. I bet, in a year, you will be amazed at how different your lifestyle is!
9. My scale is my friend. No, really. My scale merely gives me feedback about where I am on my fitness journey. Nothing else! It does not define me! It’s a number ONLY. You will still be wonderful you tomorrow whether you gained weight today or lost it or stayed exactly the same. So, use that number on the scale to help you adjust your workouts and eating plan accordingly. Do NOT become punitive about this–just adjust stuff and see if it helps or not.

Tomorrow’s Post: Pomp Romp…

You might also like: You 3.0: Questions & Tips, Part II, You 3.0: Questions & Tips, Part I, You 3.0: MIP Exercise Plan, You 3.0: MIP Eating Plan, You 3.0: Mindset, Part III

Last Friday I discussed how to keep your exercise routine going even if you couldn’t do what I do. Today I tackle some diet-related questions I often get:

1. Lean Cuisine-eating taught me something vitally important: portion control. The portion sizes in our country are ridiculous! Some of them could feed an entire 3rd world country. Basically, Lean Cuisine taught me that portion sizes above the size of my fist are too, too big for one meal. So, I stopped eating for two (particularly since I haven’t been pregnant for 19 years).  I suggest doing the Lean Cuisine end of the MIP eating plan for at least a month so you can stop eating for two, also. Then, if that’s driving you crazy, you can branch out to other ways of eating, knowing how small the portion sizes really should be.

2. What if I have more to lose than 34 lbs? What if one Lean Cuisine doesn’t fill me up? Believe it or not, this is really the same question. People who have more than 20% of their current body weight to lose probably have bigger appetites and actually need more calories initially. So, be nice to yourself and eat 2 Lean Cuisines! I’m not coming over to your house to scold you if you deviate from my little eating plan…trust me. Make this work for you. However, before you consume the 2nd one, let me ask you to try these little tricks first:

• Wait 20 minutes. Often, I get my “full” feeling around this time. So, try to be patient and keep your hands busy during this time by playing music, playing a game, or doing a craft.
• Drink a 12 oz. glass of water. Often, I mistake a hungry stomach for a thirsty stomach!
• Eat an Atkins bar for “dessert.” The Atkins bars are probably fewer calories than the 2nd Lean Cuisine and thus, the weight comes off faster. Do not get the Advantage bars–get the Endulge bars, which really taste yummy.

3. What if I can’t handle Lean Cuisines anymore? Remember–this is your eating plan, not mine. And yes, from time to time, I get tired of Lean Cuisines. (However, there are even Lean Cuisines sandwiches, pizzas, and salads now, so you probably won’t get tired of them easily. Plus, they taste pretty darn good for “diet food.”) Here’s how I survive when tired of them:

• Eat a can of soup. I prefer an entire can of Campbell’s Chunky soup. Even some of their really high calorie versions are still under 400 calories per can! I like this option in the wintertime, when I really need something to warm my stomach or when I feel a cold coming on. New research shows that people who eat soup lose more weight than those who don’t.
• Choose pre-sized menu plans. This will most likely require some cooking, but if you don’t mind the cooking, you’ll probably love the cheap nature of these plans (plus some even have shopping lists to make it easier for you at the store!). My DMIL (Darling Mother-in-Law) sent me a link to one and I have personally explored the other one, which is recommended by Dave Ramsey of Financial Peace University:
  • Emeals.com
  • Eatingwell.com
• Use smaller plates in your china cabinet. The problem with our current dinner plates is that, again, they are way too big for what we should be eating. So get out saucers (yes, saucers–you probably aren’t using them anyway) or very small salad plates. If you have small bowls, that will work, too.
• Use your fists! Judge portion sizes when you’re at a restaurant by how big your fist is. If it’s bigger than your fist, ask the server for a “to-go” box and remove the amount that is larger than your fist immediately. Guess what? You now have lunch (and maybe dinner!) for tomorrow. You can go to two fist sizes for veggies. This same formula works for when you are cooking for yourself and have more than just one portion available.

4. Are there certain foods I should avoid? Yes. The ones you can’t “downsize” on your own to make them the right-sized portion. Other than that, anything goes. Even junk food can be “down-sized.” I only get out one handful of chips at a time and put them in a small bowl. I put away the chip bag and take the bowl away from the kitchen. I eat my bowl-ful and wait for 20 minutes. If I’m still craving chips, I get myself another bowl-ful. I’m usually too lazy and too guilty to go back for a 3rd bowl! The same can go for chocolate or anything else you crave. I like things that are individually wrapped or are “wrapped” by Mother Nature. (Bananas come with their own banana peel!) That’s natural portion control without you even having to think about it! One note: A huge bag of chips labeled “Family Size” is not individually-wrapped. It says Family Size for a reason–it’s meant for your entire family. I don’t care if you’re pregnant with 6 bambinos, step away from the bag. The same goes for a box of low-cal cookies. They’re only low-cal if you stop eating the entire box in one “binge session.” The bottom-line for me was that if I told myself I couldn’t have it, I instantly craved it even more! So, I allowed myself a little to get rid of that craving and just tried to think strategically about how I could fool myself into thinking I had had a treat!

5. What if I blow it one day? There is no such thing. That’s all in your head. Why? Because you’re going to eat right for the rest of your life. If you eat right for the rest of your life, then one day is a teeny, teeny fraction of all the days in your life. So, it’s probably not going to keep you from reaching your goal weight.  Just do something now to correct for it and that now does not include starving yourself for the next 3 days. That will actually slow down your weight loss process! When I blow it, I crank up my workout a little higher that day or the next day and try to eat better from that point onward. But I don’t stress about blowing it. Why? Because stress is also counterproductive to my ability to lose weight (plus, it can bring on a heart attack for me!). So, forgive yourself and move on.

Don’t miss on Friday: You 3.0, Questions & Tips, Part III…

Tomorrow’s Post: I feel a trend coming on…

You might also like: You 3.0: Questions & Tips, Part I, You 3.0: MIP Exercise Plan, You 3.0: MIP Eating Plan, You 3.0: Mindset, Part III, You 3.0: Mindset, Part II

Hopefully, by now, you have started your journey to better health.  If so, congratulations to you! Even if you’re not seeing results yet, you deserve congratulations for not being complacent and actually changing your habits. The hardest part is getting started, so kudos to you!

But, how does one sustain such a start, over time? That’s the biggest part of my journey–learning how to do this practically for the rest of your life without feeling deprived. And yes, I think I finally get how to do this now…I still have lots to learn, I’m sure, but I’ve been doing this for about 3 years now and I don’t plan on going back. So, here are the lessons I’ve picked up along the way, plus questions people ask me frequently:

So what do you do if you can’t exercise 99 minutes a day for whatever reason? Do at least 15 minutes of walking at one time. Park at the edge of every parking lot you encounter. Walk during your lunch hour (You can probably do 45 minutes right there!). Make yourself do household chores for 99 minutes each day. Mow the lawn with a walking mower. Play something other than video games with children or grandchildren (preferably your own, but you could babysit someone else’s, if need be!). Walk up and down the stairs when going to upper floors in office buildings, etc.

What do you do if walking isn’t your thing? I recommend yoga. In fact I recommend yoga even if you ARE walking. It will keep the arthritis and other aches and pains down to a dull roar and actually help your walking routine. And yoga can be done anywhere, anytime for just a few minutes a day. It’s amazing how quickly you start to sweat while doing yoga, too! And that meditation part is optional as far as I’m concerned! And you don’t have to look beautiful doing these poses. Do them in a closet, if need be.

Other tips for getting yourself in the groove:

• Plug in that iPod and listen to your favorite music! My daughter listens to Pandora’s comedy channel while running and at least she’s laughing periodically while she’s panting away around a track!
• Give yourself a goal. The DSL‘s parents just recently set the goal to run their very first 5K in honor of their 25th anniversary and actually beat that goal by several months doing a “Couch to 5K” running program via a free phone app. “Mom” even had to figure out how to do that while dealing with asthma. If she can do it, so can you!
• Do something helpful for someone else. Sometimes the motivation we need is to help out those who cannot help themselves. I got started with the walking thing when my dearest friend came down with Stage IV breast cancer. I decided to do the Komen for the Cure 3 Day Walk, which consists of walking 60 miles in 3 days. The 3 day site has a training plan for couch potatoes like me and I used it! Because of my friend, I kept huffing and puffing my way through the training program until I could do the walk.
• Put yourself first in this one area of your life. If you are unhealthy, chances are you’re not going to be able to adequately care for those you love when they have a crisis in their own lives. So, working on your own health is actually the most selfless thing you can do for them.
• Learn a new skill. Some folks take dance lessons to get fit and have a blast while doing it. Some learn to cycle or do kickboxing. Whatever floats your boat!
• Make it a priority! Other things come after your workout. My workaholic hubby manages to get up before dawn each day and finishes his workout about the time I get up. But, at least he doesn’t have to worry about making time for it that way. I prefer to do mine last thing at night for the same reason.
• Break it up! Do 15 minutes before you get ready for work. Go to work. Do 45 minutes during the lunch hour. Work some more. Walk 15 more minutes after work. Go home. Get some household work done and help the family. Do 15 minutes after everyone else is in bed. Guess what? You just did a 90 minute workout without it disturbing your life that much! And research says that it makes no difference if you do it all at once or broken up like this!
• Tell yourself it’s your patriotic duty. The reality is that if we don’t get healthy as a nation, this will actually affect our ability to compete among the other countries of the world one day because of the amount of money that will have to be spent on health care, etc. Don’t believe me? Watch “The Weight of the Nation” series by HBO.

Don’t miss next Wednesday: You 3.0: Questions & Tips, Part II…

Tomorrow’s Post: Back-a-whaty-it?

You might also like: You 3.0: Mindset, Part I, You 3.0: Mindset, Part II, You 3.0: Mindset, Part III, You 3.0: MIP Eating Plan, You 3.0: MIP Exercise Plan…

Now that you’ve answered, all those pesky questions about yourself, it’s time to evaluate them and begin the first day of the rest of your life’s eating plan. After answering them myself, I concluded that I don’t like to cook and even if I had time to cook, I probably wouldn’t do it with any real consistency. While I have done low cal, low fat and low carb eating plans, I eventually feel deprived. When I feel deprived, then I usually go off my eating plan with a vengeance and it takes me months (okay…years) to get back on an eating plan. At the time I instituted my plan, I didn’t have time to go to meetings, count calories, count points, etc. Thus, I began looking at the “automated eating plans” such as Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig and the Biggest Loser. All of them looked fabulous, except for one thing: the cost. They were all pretty expensive, even given their “starter” discounts.

Then it hit me: I have an automated eating plan…at my store! I had already learned that I liked the taste and variety of Lean Cuisine frozen meals and after doing some calculations, I could eat in a very similar fashion to the more notable automated eating plans for around $ 23 to $ 38 a week! This is a fraction of the cost charged by other programs. Even if I added in snacks and simple breakfasts, I could eat well for about $ 50 to $ 75 a week. And thus, the MIP plan was born.

So, here are the nuts and bolts of this program, in case you, too, think you need to enact a similar plan:

1. Buy 14 Lean Cuisines of various kinds for a week. Eat one at lunch and one at dinner every day.
2. Buy Atkins Endulge candy bars for snacks. Please do NOT buy the Advantage bars unless you don’t have taste buds. The Endulge bars that are my favorites are the ones that resemble Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers bars. But, they also have ones that taste like Mounds bars and brownies. Taste is important to me and these are more than edible! I even freeze mine for that nostalgic frozen candy bar sensation!
3. In the summertime switch to Skinny Cow Cookies ‘n Cream Ice Cream Sandwiches for snacks. I also found the mint chocolate ones tolerable, but I did weary of every flavor except the Cookies ‘n Cream over time–fair warning!
4. Eat something you love every morning for breakfast. Why eat something you love? Because I am not a morning person and I usually don’t have time to cook breakfast in the morning. I chose raspberry almond granola that I could buy by the pound at my local store. Fair warning–this was not cheap! But, OMG! Yum-Yum! I poured 2% milk on it. If you can handle 1% or skim milk, you’re a better person than moi and you’ll probably drop the pounds more quickly. I also have a Keurig coffee latte with Truvia (I found that the real deal on Stevia tasted best to me. Hopefully, you will feel the generic is just fine. Stevia is the safest non-sugar sweetener to use, according to research.)
5. When eating out, follow these rules:

• Find the smallest roll or chip and thoroughly chew each bite. Count to at least 10 chews per bite, if not 20! Use salsa on chips instead of guacamole or queso dip.
• Try to pick chicken or fish for your dinner entree, if not a totally veggie version.
• When dinner arrives, ask for a take-out box immediately. When it arrives, put 1/2 of your dinner in the box and shut the lid. Put the box somewhere where you will not be tempted to eat it immediately.
• Eat the remaining half. Start with the protein item first. Then, eat the veggie part next. If others are still eating, slowly eat the starchy part of your meal. When everyone else is finished, so are you!
• Order tea, water or a diet soft drink for dinner. If dessert is tempting you, ask for flavored coffee instead and put in your favorite sweetener. Savor every sip and relish in the fact that you controlled yourself for once!

A few additional rules:

1. When you just can’t leave the highly fattening foods alone, put a handful of whatever it is in a bowl or on a plate, close up the bag or box and put it away! Now, walk away from the kitchen or pantry and eat only what’s in that bowl or on your plate. Sometimes I have gone back for a second bowl/plate, but I am usually way too lazy/guilty to make a 3rd trip!

2. For late night snacks, I keep microwave popcorn and fresh fruit on hand. I like the kinds of fruit that make me feel like I’m eating popcorn or chips. So, I usually have berries, grapes and cherries on hand. (In fact I think I can eat my weight in cherries.)

3. When others are cooking for me, I use the “fist method” to determine how much I eat. In other words, my protein source and starch portion sizes shouldn’t be any bigger than my fist. Go hog wild on the veggies!

Now, if you think you’ll wind up looking like Twiggy in one month doing all of this, then you are going to be sadly disappointed. This is a slow-paced process. But you’re going to eat like this for the rest of your life and that means that, over time, you will keep resetting your “normal weight” point and keep lowering it! So, just be patient!

Don’t miss You 3.0: MIP Exercise Plan next Wednesday! (In the meantime, get rolling on your own eating plan!

Tomorrow’s Post: Celebrating love…

You might also like: You 3.0: Mindset, Part I, You 3.0: Mindset, Part II, You 3.0: Mindset Part III, Lessons Learned from Visiting Sam Moon for the First Time

As you may recall, last week I asked you to consider several questions about eating, exercising and just plain living. Considering the answers to these questions helped me to shed more than 30 lbs. recently. I have kept it off for several years now and I think this is largely due to thinking through these questions. So today I have some more for you to consider and I promise…these are the last ones! (I heard you–you just said, “Hallelujah!” or “Thank God.” Don’t deny it!):

1. Do I need to clean out the pantry and the refrig and the “stash” (Yes, I know some of you hide food from your family.) so that I’m less tempted? I often designate one side of the pantry or a couple of shelves to “my food” so that I’m less tempted to eat the junk food that everyone else in my family insists on having on hand. *sigh* Remember—I’m still “in progress,” too! This may get better after the DS goes to college. I sure hope so!
2. Am I ready to actually design a way of eating and exercising for the rest of my life? If not, then stop reading this now until you are. Why? Because you do have to do this the rest of your life. The reality is that you’re aging (even if you’re a teen!), so your body is going to start rebelling about this and keep rebelling for the rest of your life. So unless you’re willing to make a sensible diet and exercise plan that you can keep going for the rest of your life, this won’t work. End of story. Deal with it. It’s reality. But, you can do this!
3. Is it easier for me to count calories, points, fat grams, carbohydrate grams? Is it easier for me to do portion control? Is it easier for me to weigh my food? Is it easier for me to just have the food put in front of me, ready to go? Is it easier for me to avoid restaurants? (The portion sizes and calorie counts in most restaurants are ridiculous!) Do I have time for meetings?
4. Can I work exercise into my routine? Do I do better with 4 workouts a week ? 5 per week? 6? 7? Again, I defy research and actually do better with 7. Why? Because I can get really, really lazy if I skip one. I change them up, so that the intensity is lighter one day and harder the next.
5. How often do I need to weigh myself? Experts say to do this once per week to keep your morale up. Actually I do better knowing, each and every day, exactly where I stand. It determines the intensity of my workout and gives me feedback about what foods pack on the pounds and which ones don’t seem to bump it up even an ounce. I do have to tell myself it’s ONLY a number and not who I am.
6. What are my strengths? Are you great at keeping records? Then, log everything you eat and go to town with spreadsheets! Are you a writer? Then, journal about how you’re doing and how you’re feeling! Are you a reader/researcher? Then, google about diets and exercise to your heart’s content and find the tips that work for you. Do you get lost in TV shows? Then, plant that TV next to a treadmill and work out to your favorite program. I bet you’ll workout longer than you thought! Are you a brilliant chef? Then, take healthy foods and conjure up great recipes of eats for all those days when you don’t feel like eating “diet food.”  Do you like to do crafts in the evening? Great! Just don’t eat while doing them! Use these things to your advantage!
7. How do I sabotage myself? I tend to take the chip bag to the couch with me and before I know it, I’ve consumed the whole bag! I also tend to eat everything that’s in front of me, whether I’m hungry or not. I can make a mountain range out of an anthill, particularly if it’s an opinion about myself as I try to change my health in a positive way. So, I have to have a battle plan for when I do these things. They are going to happen—I just have to have ways to cope with all of this nonsense!
8. What is the best thing I can gain if I do this? I have some real health concerns that could take my life at any minute and so, when I want to be a bum about eating right or exercising, I remind myself that I want to hold a grandchild in my arms someday. That future grandchild is what gets me off the sofa and onto my treadmill. So, is the teeny bikini the “best thing”? Is it getting a date with that one person you’re dying to go out with? Is it not having to take medication that you hate taking? Whatever it is, keep that idea firmly in your head at all times! And no, no one else gets to judge your “best thing,” as long as you don’t turn it into an obsession!

Don’t miss You 3.0: MIP Eating Plan on Friday!

Tomorrow’s Post: A book is a poem? A poem is a book? (And I thought I was long-winded.)

You might also like: You 3.0: Mindset, Part I, You 3.0: Mindset, Part II, Lessons Learned from Visiting Sam Moon for the First Time, Absolutely, It’s All about the Splash

One of the post-DD-and-DSL-wedding perks is that I am 33 lbs. lighter these days. People still come up to me and say, “Wow! You look great!  What did you do?”  I offer up my journey to “MaryAnn 3.0” only because the “Battle of the Bulge” is often a very painful, back and forth journey for many people and not because I think I have it all figured out.  For all I know, tomorrow I may gain 33 lbs. But, for those who truly want to win the battle this time and want a little bit of hope, here is how I approached it and the lessons I have learned along the way. I have greatly modified my original version of this, so it may seem quite different for the FB readers! And since the original version was ridiculously long, I’m breaking this up into “bite-sized pieces,” so that it’s a little more easily “digested.” (Did you really think I would talk about dieting without throwing in some “groaner”-type humor? C’mon…you know me better than that!)

So, today’s “theme” of the bite-sized pieces is “mindset.” My “journey” began with the realization, one day, that I really do know how to lose weight and get healthy. I don’t need another diet book. I don’t need more gym equipment or another gym membership. I know what to do, because I’ve already tried a bunch of weight loss methods. So, the counselor in me decided I needed to get honest by answering a pile of questions about how I like to eat, workout and think! Folks? This was the key to my success. If you honestly answer these questions and design your “plan” around who you are, then you’ll succeed, too!

1. Do I enjoy cooking? When they were handing out the cooking gene, I apparently thought they said “hooking,” and avoided the line. The only time I enjoy cooking is on holidays, so if I’m going to diet, it has to involve as little time in the kitchen as possible. And I have noticed the more time I spend gawking at food, smelling food, cooking, doing dishes, and cleaning my kitchen, the more I eat. So, I don’t watch the Food Channel, don’t gawk at FB and Pinterest food pics and avoid my kitchen like the Bulge-bonic plague that it is. Step away from the Food porn!
2. What kind of time do I have to devote to healthy cooking? When I started this little “battle plan” of mine, I was in grad school, doing my counseling intern hours, working, studying for comps and helping my daughter plan her wedding. In other words, I had zero time to cook, even if I had gotten the gene.
3. How much money can I budget for eating in a healthy way? While I do think that, over time, you will come out about even on the money spent for healthy eating, the fact remains that changing what’s in your refrig and pantry is going to take some initial cash outlay, if you’re like most Americans. And no, eating up the bad stuff first is not okay. I know how you think.
4. Do I eat breakfast? Studies show that if you eat protein in the morning, you will most likely lose weight or weigh less. So, if you’re not a breakfast person, here’s your first “battleground.” I recommend trying to drink something by no later than 9 am, at first, to get yourself in the habit of consuming something in the morning. Then, work yourself up to having that protein. If you have to, work yourself backward from noon in 15 minute intervals.
5. Do I snack regularly? If not, you’re probably sabotaging your weight loss efforts. Yes, eat more often. This is how Dolly Parton took off her weight…she  broke her 3 big meals into 6 smaller meals, spaced evenly throughout the day. This causes your metabolism to work more efficiently. Dolly has kept her weight off, utilizing this little lifestyle change…for decades. I think all the weight went to her wigs.

To Be Continued on Friday: You 3.0: Mindset, Part II…

Tomorrow’s Post: I wish all my rivers were mink…

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