Emotional Sobriety: My Journey to ACA » Weight Loss

“So if cosmetic reasons are not enough of a motivating factor for losing weight, knowing that it can severely impact your health might be. Although wanting to look good in your summer bikini might be a short term motivator it may not be enough to really compel you to make lasting changes to your lifestyle. Focusing on the risks to your health is a more serious matter that requires major changes and commitment to losing weight.”

“This leads into the next point which is that most people go on short term diets rather than committing to making lasting changes to their lifestyle. When the focus is on temporary diets, any short term weight loss usually doesn’t last and people gain the weight back. Diets focused on the short term are also not a lot of fun and many people end up abandoning them before reaching their goals.”

Better Health Through Fasting

“The restrictions–both caloric and behaviorally–can be good for us holistically because they serve as a means for disciplining ourselves all-year-around in a world in which we are too often self-absorbed and overindulgent. Fasting serves as a spiritual check, reminding us about issues of poverty and clean water supplies in the world and encouraging us to avoid overeating and wasting food. After all, way too much food ends up in garbage cans.”

Obesity Solutions- -Fat Loss 4 Idiots–A Quick Diet Plan

“Going on a quick diet plan can certainly help you in your efforts to lose weight. It would however not lead to lasting weight loss unless it is aided by a healthy lifestyle. It is plain logic, what is the use of going on a diet, losing some weight and then revert back to your “normal” diet of fast food and sugary soft drinks. Your weight loss aspirations are doomed to failure and you have wasted your time and money!”

Weight Loss Quick Links to Motivate You

kberman — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:44:06 +0000

Itchen Bridge by Rhys Jones

In starting our discussion of weight loss resources, we begin with these quick links chosen to help you get motivated. In the quick links, we give the post name, hot link to the post and small excerpt from the post.

Savoring and Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is about learning to savor food with intention and joy. Many people report that, with mindfulness, they learn to really savor the experience of eating and, paradoxically, feel full after just a few mindful bites. The Center for Mindful Eating defines the principles of mindful eating as:

Choosing to eat food that is both pleasing and using all your senses to explore, savor and taste,
Learning to be aware of hunger and fullness cues and letting these guide your decision to begin and stop eating,
Acknowledging responses to food without judgment, and
Becoming more aware of the positive and nurturing opportunities through food preparation and consumption.

Exercise to Lose Weight–No Gym Membership Required!

“When people think of how to exercise to lose weight, they often assume that they will have to buy a gym membership and workout for hours every day. Not true! Not only is it not essential, the image of pumping iron in the gym for hour after hour is a complete red herring, and here’s why..”

Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin

“Yes, although the muscle-fat relationship is often misunderstood. According to calculations published in the journal Obesity Research by a Columbia University team in 2001, a pound of muscle burns approximately six calories a day in a resting body, compared with the two calories that a pound of fat burns. Which means that after you work out hard enough to convert, say, 10 lb. of fat to muscle — a major achievement — you would be able to eat only an extra 40 calories per day, about the amount in a teaspoon of butter, before beginning to gain weight. Good luck with that.”

Oprah and Dr. Oz Fight Back Against Acai Product Promoters

“Yesterday, Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Mehmet Oz filed suit against 40 peddlers of dietary supplements for falsely claiming that Winfrey and Oz endorsed these products. Go Team O! Ever since Dr. Oz praised health-promoting properties of the acai berry on Oprah’s show last year, internet marketers have been hard-selling and spamming all of us, intimating that their products were endorsed by Winfrey and/or Oz. In case you’ve been duped, neither has ever sponsored such a product—AND although you may have received a mailbox full of spam claiming that acai berry products could melt off the pounds, the Center for Science and the Public Interest says there is no evidence acai actually helps you lose weight.”

My Original Weight Loss in 2006

kberman — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 04:21:00 +0000

I originally started the Changemaker Weight Loss Plan in late February, 2006. From then until the first week in May, 2006, I lost 25 pounds that I had been trying to lose for 10 years. After the 3-5 day modified fast, all my cravings disappeared. I taught myself to recognize physical hunger and to listen to my emotional hunger. I started finding ways to gentle myself through those emotional hunger times. Many times, water is all I need to feel full and satisfied.

Chocolate is something I enjoy most days. Sugar-free hot chocolate at the end of the day was often my reward for a job well done that day. I also keep chocolate covered ice cream bars (110 calories). If I had more than one, I didn’t eat them for awhile. By testing my limits, I was able to gradually add many foods.

The secrets are: (1) shrink your stomach–all stomachs are about the size of our fist so that is the quantity we should be eating, (2) learn to be satisfied with much smaller portions, (3) use liquids to satisfy emotional hunger–water, hot soups, no sugar coffee, flavored water, hot chocolate, etc., and (4) find the foods that you enjoy and that help you to live a healthy life. Weight loss can only happen by determination, commitment and patience.

From the beginning of May until July 20, 2006, I allowed myself to introduce many different foods to see if I experienced a weight gain. If I weighted a few pounds more, I didn’t disregard it, but instead, I cut back for the next few days. Then once I was weighting what I wanted to weight, I started adding more different foods.

July 20, 2006, I started my second phase of losing weight. In the past 10 days, I have lost another 2 pounds. So my total weight loss to date is 25 pounds since the end of February. My goal is to lose 15 more pounds. By continuing to be patient with myself and the weight loss process, I keep focused on enjoying each day.

My Weight Loss Beginning Again

kberman — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 11:37:43 +0000

I have six blogs all with different topics. What I have done is to write this post listing the main links to the topic of weight loss and exercise. I personally believe you shouldn’t do them at the same time. Getting your food intake under control is the most important beginning. I lost 25 pounds two years ago on my high energy diet. But I gained the weight back because:

I quit weighting myself.
I quit measuring food. The food that definitely has to measured are the foods we least want to measure.
I believed because I quit drinking alcohol in 1976 and cigarettes in 1988 that I could begin eating the foods that I have little self-control over.
I thought I was too “smart” to let my food choices interfere with my personal happiness. Not surprisingly, I started AA as an “expert” on how to drink. That didn’t last long. I love the long silence in a 12 step meeting after you have said something stupid. I learned to listen to the silence and to stay away from those who piped up and agreed with me.

The links I have chosen to include are below. If you want more links, visit High Energy Goals.

Before you begin your new food plan:

1. Before you begin any weight loss plan, clear out your home of all the foods that are high calories with low food nutrition.

2. Read all food labels.

3. Count your food intake by calories in order to keep your daily plan positive.

4. Allow yourself 1200-1500 calories. Knowing ahead of time which time of the day you are more likely to cheat, always have on hand high fiber drinks or foods. I am currently using Crystal Light Hunger Satisfaction. You can use it in 16 ounces of water. It has 30 calories per packet and 5 grams of fiber daily.

5. Keeping a calorie journal for the first week helps to keep you accurate.

6. Always include 30-35 grams of fiber.

Prepare yourself for your new food plan:

Are you ready to begin losing weight?

Check your commitment

List of 100-200 calorie foods

The basic foods I use

The beginning of weight control

Salads from the food network

Use these fiber links to feel full

High Energy Food Plan:

High energy diet basics