Back to Weight Loss After Vacation

We've been on the road for a week, which really Got My Attention on how hard it is to eat sensibly while traveling...or working.

On the Interstate, Husband insists on "Grab and Go" dining, 

which precludes a salad or anything with a fork.  

That means this:

or this:

and God Help You if you suggest anything different - it simply doesn't fly with a

 goal-oriented driver like my Husband.  You can toss the buns, but after about the third meal of this, you realize you are only saving about 200 calories.  One gets discouraged...

We visited his uncle, (who owns Andy Griffith's boyhood home in Mount Airy!) who loves Thai food, and there was nothing for it but to order up...there are no photos of that meal, but suffice to say that oil was a HUGE ingredient.

Once you get to the Beach, the Sunset Ceremony is a very special tradition that we cherish, whether with a house full of friends and family or just the two of us.

Which requires drinks to toast the sunset with.  Which puts dinner later than usual, and means you go to bed on a full tummy.  Lovely tradition, but honestly, a Diet Disaster!

We're back home in Atlanta now, and I'm getting some ribbing about serving "Roughage", but we are seeing instant results.  The extra pounds are slipping off.

Which means this:

Never give up on your new eating plan...even after a week of really bad food and sitting in a car for days, which will put a couple or three pounds back on you - never give up on your new body.  Just resume your sensible eating plan, and the pounds start melting off again.  

I promise.

Calories in, Calories out.  Don't eat more than you can burn off in a day.

Drink a lot of water.

Get back on your walking or workout plan.

Step on that scale religiously, morning and night, to track your weight.  If you have to, get extreme for a day to dump those regained pounds.

After this trip, I am seriously thinking about developing a line of Yummy, Fresh, and Convenient fast foods that could be stocked in the bigger Gas Station chains.

Like this:

Image from Live In The Now

Image from Neat Pins

  

Now.  Doesn't this look more appetizing than fried potatoes served in a cardboard box??

  Anyone want to go into business with me??

Oh, yes... this means Husband has to drive, so I can properly use my fork....

A Weight Loss Lesson from Guy Fieri

I am secretly in love with Guy Fieri of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  In the past few days, he's taught me a personal, private, and invaluable lesson on Weight Loss.

It's pretty simple, really, and I don't know why I didn't think of it before...

Stop Eating Out and You Will Loose Weight.

That's it.

Now.  Here is why I know this is absolute fact.

For ten days, I have been immobilized with a severe flare-up of arthritis.  My immune system has been so busy eating up all of my connective tissue that all I've had the energy to do is sleep and eat.  No exercise - unless you can call taking a shower exercise.  I haven't  cut back on eating (you have to have some pleasure in the middle of all that agony) but at the end of ten motionless days, I have lost three pounds.  I was puzzled about this until I sat down last night to watch the Triple D show for the Thousandth Episode.

See, Guy Fieri goes into the kitchens of favorite diners and takes his cameras and film crew with him to record how they make all that delicious food.  And THAT'S where the

mystery is solved.

I know this image from the restaurant Pine State Biscuits via Noble Pig is a little over the top but the point is, there is an amazing amount of fat and salt in restaurant food.  Just watch any episode of Triple D and you will see the ingredients going into the restaurant pot.  Lots of salt, always.  Lots of butter/lard/oil, always.  Doesn't matter what they are cooking,  those two ingredients are always there...Because They Taste Good!

When you eat at home for 10 days, and steam or lightly sautee everything you cook, there are no extra calories, no extra salt.  No restaurant sneaky yummy tricks to fatten you up.  

So there is a new trick on your weight loss plan - simply eat at home more often.  Isn't that easy?  You will save money and loose weight at the same time!

Sigh...that gravy sure does look good....

Weight Loss Without Diets and Gyms

I have learned so much in the past 8 weeks about weight loss with no stress, no hunger.  What I am carving in stone is this:  As Long As You eat Fresh Veggies, Fresh Fruits, Fish, Chicken, drink Water, and Get Tons of Outdoor Exercise...you will lose weight.  Period.  Simple, so simple.  No diet plans, no gym.  Just common sense.

Walking up Kennesaw Mountain - photo Atlanta Outdoor Club.

After spending a couple of weeks on the road, I realized how hard it is to maintain a sensible eating plan at fast food joints.  But I figured out, early on, to just order the burger or whatever sandwich in the drive through - with NO MAYO -  and before digging in you just ditch the buns.  That means you are left with meat, lettuce, tomato, pickles and cheese.  Washed down with a crisp unsweetened tea or water

 (NO DIET SODA or ARTIFICIALLY FLAVORED DRINKS...ARE YOU CRAZY?)

 and small fries, you are happy to pull away and back onto the Interstate.  You have had french fries, for goodness sakes!

If you get the munchies, have a bag of crisp celery sticks or baby carrots at hand, and gobble them down.  They're crunchy, good for you, and almost calorie-free.

And you know that when you get to your destination, you will be presented with, or cook something like this:

Seared Salmon on a bed of spinach - photo courtesy Whole Foods

and this:

courtesy Honey and Spice

And This:

Photo: Grgich Hills.

With all this yummy goodness to be had, guilt-free, why would you eat any other way?


Here are (again) the Secret Instructions to avoid having to wear a Faja:

Drink a lot of  good clean water.

Avoid highly processed foods.  That means no Lean Cuisine, for instance.  Pack your refrigerator and Counter Top Baskets with Fresh Vegetables and Fruits.

Eat Fish or Chicken, and very little red meat.  A boiled egg three times a week.


Keep dried fruit and pungent cheese on hand to punch up your salads or for a snack. 


Never Drink Sodas or Artificially Flavored Drinks of Any Kind.


Get outside and get active.  Challenge yourself physically. 


Be aware of what you are putting in your mouth - you know what I mean.


Get yourself some digital scales -$10.00 at CVS- and weigh yourself every morning.


You will LOVE how your new body feels, and since you have been so sensible about it all, go buy yourself some new shoes and paint your toenails...

My new favorite shoes...


                               Yellow Box Shoes

got 'em On Sale at Belk's...$21.00!  And yes,     you know I got more than one pair...

Happy Weekend!

Loosing Weight and Finding...My Ribs!

Good Heavens.  In the single-minded quest for a waist, I forgot about what else would emerge from the excessive Real Estate I was hauling around.  My ribs!  I had forgotten how the bottom of a rib cage felt - you know, those bones that get slowly buried under progressive layers of lard as one eats oneself into oblivion.

  I have my waistline in my sights now, and I'm still not hungry.  This is amazingly easy, and I'm ashamed now when I think of all that fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, pinto beans and cornbread, and especially those fried pork chops (my favorite) that I ate with such abandon...

This morning, I'm having a big bowl of Blueberries, eating them with my fingers two by two (better that way) along with a side of Sesame Melba Toast that I've quickly bronzed in my counter top oven.  It's warm and crunchy, and makes both my nose and my mouth happy.

The above image of Blueberries is courtesy of  Science Daily, which posted this article about how they may reduce Belly Fat.  And balance out your glucose levels, among other things.  Besides that, they are Yummy.

When eaten atop a bowl of steel cut oats, you have pretty much cleared your arteries, lowered your glucose levels, brought your cholesterol under control, and basically saved your own life.  With every warm, delicious bite.  I'm eating these oats at least a couple times a week for breakfast, always topped with fruit.

Since I'm so fascinated by what happened when I quit eating myself to death, I've been looking around for an occasional low-cholesterol substitute for the chicken breast I normally eat every day for lunch.  And discovered that Lentils are a great way to get protein without cholesterol.  Lentils are fast cooking, unlike other dried beans, and simply delicious.

Although fairly high in carbohydrates, they are also high in fiber so you feel full for hours.  A whole cup of lentils has about 225 calories and is packed with folic acid, iron, calcium and magnesium.  That's a chemical way of saying they are Very Good For You.  I'm adding these to the menu at least twice a week, cooked in  chicken broth that has had all the fat skimmed off, and punched up with onions, jalapenos, and a sprinkle of chopped cilantro on top.  Yum, yum!

Now.  These two - oats and beans - are high in carbs, which can add bulk to your belly, but they're good for you.  This is where the rule of Being Aware of What You Eat comes into play.  If you've had oats at breakfast, don't have beans at lunch that day.  Simple.

I'm going to send you over to Tish Jett's Blog for some marvelous advice on how to conquer - getting raw, here - Bloat!  You'll want to roam around her site for awhile; she has great advice on all manner of things that are germane to all of us who are over...40.  Or 50.  Or...