Weight Mindgames

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That really is me. I finally got the willpower to get away from sugar (I could easily say I was addicted). I had frozen all the rest of the Christmas chocolates and treats, but even that didn't stop me. I still chewed on frozen chocolate. I eventually had to bag it all up and give it to my son to take to a party he was going to. I figured a bunch of teenagers could lay waste to it in no time flat.

With this kind of addictive personality it's a good thing I never got into smoking, or doing drugs! We won't mention wine.

This is not about a new year's resolution, it just happens to fall at this time of year - post Christmas excess and a goal of going on a vacation to the south in March. It also falls on the heels of basically eating what I've wanted and being inactive for the last two (?) years. It doesn't help that the fifty year old female body likes to redeposit and add to fat stores in places that were never your "trouble zone". What the hell happened to my waist??? I used to have one. Really.

Anyhoo.... the thing that has always worked for me is writing down my food. I do love to write things down. So I dug out my little spiral bound notebook that I had been keeping track of my eating in a while ago, opened it up again and started. I was very successful several years ago with clean eating. I'm sure I don't need to explain the whole thing, but it involved about 5 small meals a day with protein and complex carbs in every meal and just good non-factory-processed food. I also was successful 15 years ago with weight watchers.

This time around I applied a combo-pack of the above strategies and got to work. I also started increasing my activity. THEN I FOUND MYFITNESSPAL!! I am likely the last person on earth to discover this app, but it is so cool! I'm not a phone person. I really only text my children on it, for the most part and I don't sit about looking up things on the internet because I live in fear of going over my data minutes and paying $5000.00 on my next bill.

The groovy little feature on myfitnesspal that I quite enjoy is the barcode reader. You just point your phone at the barcode of the food you are eating, it scans it, and determines the calories per serving. You can adjust it if you are having a half a serving, or two servings for example. Yes, there are bar codes on things like blueberries or slivered almonds.

Along with the whole keeping track of food and moving more, I also weigh myself. I know you aren't supposed to weigh yourself every day, but I do. And here is how I do it. I am going to bet that this strategy is not unknown to some of you out there. I only ever weigh myself first thing in the morning, naked, after going to the bathroom. Not a sock or an earring need be part of the read-out on the scale! I have even anguished while watching weight loss shows where people get weighed with clothes and shoes on. Come on, people! Get rid of those running shoes! They must be at least a pound!!

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O.K., spill the beans people. How many of you do the old "I didn't eat after supper, so I should be a pound lighter tomorrow" thing? "I went to the gym, so I should be able to see my biceps now." Let us all share in our weight loss lunacy.