Mary Lou's Weigh

Be nice to yourself.

You’ve made an important decision about your life and your health. It’s not easy to change old habits and adopt new ones, but you’re doing it anyway. So if you feel discouraged now and then, it’s okay. It won’t last long. Don’t beat yourself up. Do keep your chin up. Staying positive is a key to success.

Recognize your strengths.

What are you good at? If you know your strength lies in sticking to an eating plan, you’re already half way there. If you love to move around, then you’ve got the exercise part of the plan under control. Concentrate on what you do best and your not-so-strong areas will soon get with the program. Knowing what you can do is the first step in doing it. If you know that inside you beats the heart of an elite athlete, go for it! Let that athlete out! But if it’s more likely that you’ll start a modest exercise program and lose ten pounds, that’s just as exciting.

Buy smaller plates.

It’s a visual trick but it works. If you’re working on limiting the amount of food you eat, have a small, healthy meal and serve it on a salad plate instead of a dinner plate. Perception is everything!

Outsmart sneaky calories.

The first step of avoiding extra calories is knowing where they hide. Three crackers and a little cheese is a whopping 500 calories. Twelve tortilla chips is 300! However, one corn tortilla, torn up into chip-size pieces is only 58 calories. Your power – and a big wake-up call – comes from reading labels. Even a “healthy” “low-fat” granola bar can easily contain 500 calories. Think of all the fruits and vegetables you could have before you got to 500.

You can do anything for ten minutes.

Most experts say we should be getting an hour of exercise a day. Ah, but they don’t say we have to do it all at once. So, instead of getting overwhelmed with the idea of a whole hour, divide it up. Walk for ten minutes. Take the stairs a few times. Go for a bike ride. Wash the car. Vacuum the house. Do some crunches while you watch TV. Cultivate nervous energy. Fidget. Movement becomes a lovely habit ten minutes at a time.

Never say never.

Many diets fail because we feel we’re depriving ourselves of our favorite foods. Be reasonable. Let yourself enjoy a treat occasionally. Just not as much and not as often.

Celebrate the victories.

We get so caught up in forward progress and what’s next on the list that we often miss out on one of life’s greatest pleasures: the roses, and stopping to smell them. Did you lose a pound or two this week? Did you not gain anything? Did you walk farther than you did last week? Did you run instead of walk? Were you able to see your own feet for the first time since the baby was born? Enjoy your success. Acknowledge your achievement and know that you are actually DOING something most people only talk about.

Patience really is a virtue.

Remember the tortoise and the hare? Sure you do. And remember the lesson? Slow and steady wins the race. Maybe your dream is to lose fifty pounds. But maybe a better dream is to do it ten pounds at a time. Long-term goals are fine and necessary things, but realistic goals have a bigger payoff. So set a realistic goal of, say, ten pounds in time for your wedding day/high school reunion/second honeymoon cruise. You’ll make it, we know you will. And if you want to go for ten more, not only do we know you’ll make it, now you know it too. Because you’ve already done it!

Slips happen.

You must remember this, a slip is just a slip, a fry is just a fry. So you had a bad day. And you said “Yes” when they said “Biggie size?” Plus, you got the fries. Chalk it up as a bad day and MOVE ON. Don’t be hard on yourself, and don’t think that because you slipped a little that means you’re a failure at this healthy eating thing. It was one meal, and now it’s over. Your next meal will be one that makes you prouder. Just get back on the path.

Using the Platform each day keeps the pounds away.

The Platform is one of your most powerful tools when it comes to losing weight and improving your health, so step on it. Not only does it keep you focused on the task at hand, it does so with information you can actually use, not with a depressing – and often meaningless – number. In fact, it’s been proven that regular weigh-ins greatly improve your chance of lasting success. You don’t want to get on the Platform more than once a day, though. That might be a little too focused.

Seek challenges.

Once you start exercising it won’t be long before it gets easier every day. This is a great sign – your body is responding well to what you’re giving it. This is also a sign that you can do more than you thought you could. So turn up the volume a little bit. If you’re walking for 30 minutes, try running for one minute at the end of your walk. Next time, try walking for 10 minutes, then running for one minute, then walking for another 10. Take an aerobics class you’ve never tried, or use a new machine at the gym. With each new test your confidence grows. There’s no end to what you can do!

Work outside your comfort zone.

Repetition creates a comfort zone, and when it comes to weight-loss, “comfort zone” can translate to “plateau.” The Platform will keep you informed of your progress, but if you’re not making enough progress to suit you, try something different. Work out twice a day for a week. Have a “juice only” day now and then. Create a new comfort zone.

Embrace healthy competition.

Enlist a friend to join you on your fitness quest. Competition keeps you both motivated and will help you blow right through the plateaus. And bragging rights have to go to somebody, why not you?

Don’t let anybody put limits on you.

It’s a fact of life that people project on you what they know of themselves. If they can’t do it, they’ll assume you can’t do it either, and they might tell you so. You don’t have to listen to the naysayers, and as a matter of fact you don’t have to talk to them either. Show them!

Veggies are filling and free!

As in free from guilt. So load up on them to help yourself feel full. A great mound of spinach, for example, sauteed in a tiny bit of olive oil and garlic, sprinkled with vinegar is filling, satisfying and absurdly good for you. The possibilities are endless, and the secret is in the “tiny bit of oil.” A little fat at each meal keeps you feeling very satisfied, very not-deprived.

Drink lots of water.

It turns out the oldest advice is the best advice. (Don’t you hate when that happens?) At least eight glasses of water a day is as close to a magic bullet as you’re going to get. And here’s what makes it magic:

1. Water keeps you feeling full so if you do overeat, you’ll feel stuffed and miserable and the awful memory will keep you from doing it again.
2. Drinking water actually keeps you from retaining water because there’s a constant flow of fresh water into our cells, causing them to release the toxin-laden water they’re hoarding. (They’re hoarding it because they don’t know when they’ll be getting more.)
3. Water hydrates us from the inside and the first place that shows up is on the outside, on our skin. It’s smooth and dewy and before too long people will be telling you that you “glow.”
4. Water keeps our digestive system running smoothly and regularly.
5. And a bonus to drinking lots of water is the return of that feeling of thirstiness. When water is constantly moving through you, never hanging around, you’ll get thirsty if you miss a glass. And we know of few finer things in life than a fresh glass of water when you’re really, really thirsty.

Spice up your water.

You can dress up a glass of water in a number of ways. Add a splash of cranberry juice and a squeeze of lime and call it a “Cosmo. ”Add a splash of any kind of juice, for that matter, and a splash of sparkling water and call it “What All the Smart Folks are Drinking.”

Laugh it off.

Laughing burns calories. It also makes this weight-loss journey a lot more fun. Rent a funny movie or call a funny friend. You deserve to be happy now, not five pounds from now.

Try to take 10,000 steps a day.

It’s the latest in “exercise fads,” but this is one of our favorites. It’s a device called a pedometer and it keeps track of every step you take. It is said that to walk 10,000 steps each day is to enjoy great health and well-being. We wouldn’t expect anybody to do it the first day, but it’s a lovely and gentle goal to work toward.

Get out!

Some days we’re blue. And on those days exercise is especially important. There’s nothing so bad that a nice walk won’t make it at least a little bit better. And if you have a Fido, take him along. He feels your pain.

Focus on the other benefits of weight loss.

It helps to see the bigger picture. Losing weight takes tremendous strain off your hips, knees and ankle joints. And the more you lose, the more energy you’ll have. The more energy you have, the easier it is to work out. And the easier it is to work out, the more you’ll do it. And the more you work out the more weight you’ll lose. We could go on, but you get the idea.

Weigh daily.

Studies have shown that people who have lost 10% or more of their body weight are more likely to avoid regaining five pounds or more if they weigh themselves daily. A study conducted at Brown University Medical School in Providence, R.I., showed 61% of people who weighed themselves daily continued to maintain their weight loss within a five-pound range after a year and a half. Only 32% of people who weighed themselves less frequently were similarly successful.

The more often you weigh and monitor your results, the faster you can catch whatever caused the weight gain. It’s easier to make small, daily corrections in your diet and exercise program than to feel the frustration of, say, a 5-pound gain. A daily weigh-in means you won’t get such unpleasant surprises. For the most accurate results, be consistent with the time of day you weigh. The morning is the best time to weigh yourself – just after your first run to the bathroom.

The pen is mightier than the fork.

Denial is not a river in Egypt. It’s when you think you’ve eaten two chocolate covered peanuts but you’ve actually eaten 129. These things don’t happen nearly as often if you commit to keeping a food journal. In fact, the simple act of recording what you eat is a proven and powerful weight loss tool. Pick up your pen. Put down the fork.

Shop on a full stomach.

And if you don’t believe how important this is, try it on an empty stomach and we’ll compare the groceries. It’s really quite amazing how sensible we are when we eat lunch then go shopping.

Eat at the table.

With the family if you have one, but in any case, set the table nicely and make it a pleasant, leisurely event. Savor each bite, and put down your fork in between. Think about your food – where it came from, what it took to get here, how it’s benefiting you. Have a relationship with each meal, a little fling if you will, then – having taken the best it has to give – move on. You heartbreaker, you.

Prepare your refrigerator for success.

Have ready supplies of smart snacks waiting inside your refrigerator. Carrots and celery sticks, of course, chunks of cool melon, and a slice of turkey ham rolled around a low-fat mozzarella stick – all are satisfying, nutritious, and virtually guilt free. When hunger strikes, make sure the easiest stuff to grab is also the healthiest.

Make a better habit.

An ancient yoga doctrine holds that it takes 40 days to break or establish any pattern. If you stop eating sugar for 40 days, you’ll lose your taste for it. If you go for a little run every day for 40 days, you’ll become a runner. Choose your habit and we’ll check back in 40 days.

Simplify your coffee.

Our favorite morning beverage has gotten so dressed up as to be practically unrecognizable. For one thing, it’s now called Grande Double Bliss-Mocha Peppermint Americano Latte and has about a zillion calories. Not to worry. If you love your Latte, ask for non-fat milk instead of cream and you’ll lose about a pound per month.

Devour a book.

After a day of sensible eating and plenty of exercise, few things are better than crawling into bed with a good book and a cup of herbal tea. Unless it’s having someone bring you the tea and the book. A book can be a delicious way to treat yourself.

Have an emergency plan.

There will be times when firm resolve and a swimsuit hanging on the refrigerator aren’t enough. Inappropriate foods are coming after you like zombies in that awful movie. Here’s what you do:

1. Call your buddy. Good friends can always talk you down.
2. Throw the food away! It’s wrong to waste food but it’s even more wrong to eat a whole pie.
3. Or you could give it to a neighbor.
4. Relax: breathe in deeply, hold it a moment, exhale, repeat. As you breathe, remind yourself why you’re doing this in the first place, and how far you’ve come.
5. Peek at the food. If it still looks dangerous, go for a nice walk. You’ll come back calm and in control.

Love your body and your mind.

Rearrange your thinking on this thing called “dieting.” It is not a series of deprivations, it is change of lifestyle that is all about you worshipping your body, but in a good way. You’re drenching it with fresh, nourishing food and fun, exhilarating exercise. You’re letting it sleep for 8 hours, and encouraging it to relax often with deep, restorative breathing. In fact you’re spoiling that body rotten. And it’s showing.

Breathe between bites.

Slow down and practice mindfulness with eating. Be aware of what you eat and savor each bite, instead of wolfing it down. It takes your tummy 15 minutes to register when it’s full, so put your fork down between bites and breath.

Don’t deprive yourself.

Just substitute. First substitution, non-fat milk for whole milk. How about oil and vinegar dressing instead of creamy dressings on salad. How about raw veggies instead of crackers. How about whole wheat bread instead of white? Ground turkey burgers instead of beef? Ok, so you get the idea.

Measure your food until you get the hang of portion control.

A portion is small. In fact, compared to the size of modern dinner plates, it’s positively tiny. A portion of pasta or rice is 1/2 cup cooked, and when this is placed on a plate, it looks lonely, and more like a tablespoon. It’s shocking how small some portions can look, but it makes all the difference in the world. Remember, eating lots of very small healthy snacks throughout the day also keeps that metabolism firing away!

Turn fatigue and stress into energy and peace.

Don’t accept stress as a fact of life. Stress makes weight loss tougher than it needs to be and interferes with the happiness you are entitled to. Set aside a few minutes every day to practice relaxing.