I Like to Ride My Bicycle

Okay - this is NOT a picture of my family on a bike ride today.  In order to BE a picture of my family on a bike ride today, the man and woman would have to switch places, the woman in front would have to be 8 months pregnant, and the trailer behind would have to hold two.  THEN you would have our beautiful family bike ride today! :-)  But since I have NO WAY of capturing that on film, this is the next best thing.

We rode for probably 8 miles today.  I was SO PROUD of my twins as they took turns on the tandem bike.  Almost from the moment we left our house, my 4-y-o daughter was telling her twin brother, "Guess what?  Me and Mommy are going to BEAT you on our bike ride today!"  And that was the theme of our ride - with my 2-year-old chiming in with whomever was loudest and/or riding in the bike trailer with her when Daddy occasionally passed Mommy.

But what stood out to me the most was how GOOD it felt to be OUT together!  We weren't spending money, we weren't doing things that took a lot of prep work.  We were just out in nature, riding over the fallen Autumn leaves, past the smelly cows and beautiful horses and fields, over the bumpy bridges, down the hills, up the hills, having the BEST time together!  We laughed and reminisced.  We talked about the future and baby names.  We dreamed about living in the houses in our favorite neighborhoods along the route.  The kids chimed in and added that we were going to have horses and chickens and . . . . We just truly ENJOYED each other!

So many people are intent on giving their kids what they never had.  My husband and I realized today that we are no different . . . and today, we gave our children something we didn't have much growing up and would have LOVED more of.  Then I started to think about ALL the things we gave them today:

• We gave them a family outing that got us all some GREAT exercise (without the word exercise ever coming up in our minds or theirs)!  
• We gave them a family tradition of spending time together that doesn't cost money.  
• We passed onto them our family value of appreciating,enjoying, and meditating in nature. 
• We left our cell phones home and gave them the example of getting unplugged for family - that THEY are absolutely the MOST important things to us.  
• We gave them a MEMORY that they will never forget . . . and will be such a part of them that they really won't remember when it started.

Some things really are - above everything else - simply about TIME!

Got Milk?

I don't know if my post title is breaking copyright laws or something, but I found some information on milk that I wanted to pass along to you.

You may have heard that milk actually contributes to weight loss. Well, I think I may have found some sound reasoning as to why that is. The following is an excerpt from an article on fluids and weight loss at shapeup.org:

Milk is important because milk is a "floo-id" which means that it is treated like a food (rather than a fluid) when you drink it and it is satiating. For this reason, milk has a special role to play in your weight management efforts. Milk also promotes bone health and it is important for lowering blood pressure.

We live in a country where people do not drink enough milk. Yet, because of advances in medicine and pharmacology, we are living longer and longer. That is why more and more people above the age of 60 have poor bone health and nearly all women (and many men) have osteoporosis in their last decade of life. To make matters worse, when people diet, they tend to drink even less milk.

A large, very important study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing how important it is to consume 3 servings of milk and other dairy products each day in addition to a diet rich in grains, fruits and vegetables.² Such a diet was successful in lowering blood pressure in both normal people and in people who are prone to high blood pressure (which is most of us as we grow older). This type of dairy-rich diet also lowers blood pressure in people taking medication for high blood pressure, a finding that took researchers by surprise.

So - if your body recognizes and processes milk as a "food" instead of an empty fluid, you will feel full longer; it becomes a filling food instead of a liquid that simply passes through your body, leaving nothing but the added calories behind. Plus all that other good calcium-boosting information like strong bones and things. Minor benefit, right? ;-D

HOWEVER, the trick is in making smart choices with your dairy products. The basic rule, whether pregnant, breast-feeding, dieting, or just maintaining your weight as you are, is to drink LOW and NON-FAT milk and choose LOW and NON-FAT DAIRY products. Shapeup.org (which I thought was a FANTASTIC site that I never knew existed until yesterday) used cream as an example to show how higher-fat creams (and milk would be included in that) pack on the calories.

For weight management, the big issue is not to eliminate dairy, but to eliminate the fat in dairy - because fat is where the calories are. Cream is really over the top, even light cream is 29 calories per tablespoon. Here are the facts:

• Light cream is 464 calories per cup
• Medium cream is 592 calories per cup
• Heavy cream is a whopping 832 calories per cup (!)

Compared to those numbers, when you consider that skim milk is a mere 85 calories per cup, you realize how extravagant cream really is. Besides the calories, cream is loaded with saturated fat. All that fat is not good for your heart. Who needs cream in the 21st century when almost none of us are physically active on a regular basis? We say, skip it -- unless it is a really special occasion, like a birthday or a holiday, in which case, even we may indulge a little.

Adding dairy to breakfast, lunch, and dinner will give you your "three a day" that your body needs. If you are breastfeeding, you need five a day, so be sure (wherever possible) to cut out the fat. It adds up a lot faster than you think.

Take cheese, for example. A regular piece of cheese has about 110 calories and 9 grams of fat PER ONE OUNCE serving. ONE ounce. Low-fat cheese brings you down the scale to about 80 calories and six grams of fat PER ONE OUNCE SERVING. Fat-free -- well, I've never actually seen fat-free cheese in our grocery stores here, but I have seen what they call "light" mozarella cheesesticks, and those have 50 calories and 2.5 grams of fat PER ONE OUNCE serving.

Milk is very similar. 2% milk has 122 calories and 5 grams of fat PER ONE CUP serving. 1% milk brings you down to 102 calories and 2 grams of fat PER ONE CUP serving. Skim milk brings you down to 83 calories and no fat PER ONE CUP SERVING.

Let's look at yogurt, another popular dairy fill-in. Plain whole yogurt has 149 calories and 8 grams of fat PER ONE CUP serving. Plain, low-fat yogurt has 154 calories and 4 grams of fat PER ONE CUP serving. Plain, fat-free yogurt has 137 calories PER ONE CUP serving.

So - let's add it all up. Choosing low-fat over regular (one milk, one cheese, and one yogurt a day) gives you 336 calories and 12 grams of fat instead of 381 calories and 22 grams of fat. Skim and non-fat products bring you down to 270 calories and 2.5 grams of fat (in the cheese, since we don't have non-fat in my area). That's 120 calories and almost 20 grams of fat if you switch from regular to skim/non-fat! WOW!!! The fat difference alone makes my arteries feel a little less cluttered just from reading all of this great information!

How do you switch? One day at a time! Try cutting back for a month, even, if you need more time. Slowly switch out your regular for low-fat and then your low-fat for non-fat. In the long run, it will help you in more ways than you think. Just one more tid-bit from shapeup.org:

A large, very important study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine showing how important it is to consume 3 servings of milk and other dairy products each day in addition to a diet rich in grains, fruits and vegetables.² Such a diet was successful in lowering blood pressure in both normal people and in people who are prone to high blood pressure (which is most of us as we grow older). This type of dairy-rich diet also lowers blood pressure in people taking medication for high blood pressure, a finding that took researchers by surprise.

They don't say it here, but I don't imagine those people in the study were consuming the extra 20 grams of fat a day and getting those kinds of amazing reductions in their blood pressure, do you? Hmmm . . . . food for thought.

Small Meals Throughout the Day

Tonight I wanted to share some more on calories. As I've said before, in general, women need 1800-2200 calories a day. If you eat less than that, your body will start to store fat, fearing that you might stop feeding it at any time.

I've written that pregnant women need 300 extra calories a day. But that is only true if you are eating within the 1800-2200 calorie range already. If you are eating 3,000 calories a day, you don't need an extra 300. You don't want to cut back, or your body might think you are starving it and somehow lash out to protect itself. You don't want your body on the defense while you're pregnant.

If you are breastfeeding, you need to eat at least 1800 calories a day to produce an adequate milk supply. If you want to lose weight AND breastfeed, aim to lose one pound a week. Now, if you are eating 3,000 calories a day, that means that you need to be careful to cut out and burn through exercise ONLY 500 calories a day. More than that could drastically reduce your milk supply.

If you aren't a mommy yet, aren't pregnant yet, or aren't breastfeeding, you should still aim to eat 1800 calories a day. If you want your weight loss to be lasting, sustainable weight loss, you want to slowly cut calories consumed through food and slowly add in calories burned through exercise.

If you are one of the women who has lost weight in the past by drastically cutting back on the number of calories you eat and need to add calories in to reach the 1800-2200 calorie point, you also need to do it gradually. Otherwise, you will just put on a lot of weight.

So - how do we choose what we are going to eat to get these calories? Well, I have read that you should eat six small meals a day. The article on stress and weight gain from the previous post suggested five. For the six small meals a day plan, you need to eat six 300 calorie meals at regular intervals throughout your day. Or maybe you want to eat three 400 calorie meals and three 200 calorie snacks. Whatever your preference, find what balance works with your weight, your needs, your levels of hunger throughout the day, etc. THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD HURRY OUT AND START EATING 1800 CALORIES STARTING TOMORROW. Again, gradually cut back and work into it. If you eat around 3000 calories a day (the average in 2003 was 3770 for most Americans), you want to just start cutting 500 calories a day, aiming for 1 pound a week weight loss. Then see how your body handles that and cut back a few more.

To help in this process, we are going to add a new sidebar item: A sample menu for six meals a day. Dinner will be up to you, since dinner is usually something you eat with your family. BUT, since we're giving you great recipe ideas, dinner shouldn't be a problem; and cooking dinner means leftovers for lunches or other small meals throughout the day.

As a general rule, each of our six meals will include a lean protein and a complex carbohydrate. We'll also try to throw some guiltless snacks in there and some dessert options -- but remember, you have your FREE DAY, so whatever you decide to throw in or leave out from our menus, you're bound to LOVE what you eat all week long and get a little bit of EVERYTHING YOU WANT!!!!

Calories Count!

Okay, so I have a little secret to reveal this post. Are you ready? If you want to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you eat. No. Seriously! You didn't know?

Honestly, though, there really aren't any shortcuts besides cutting calories and increasing activity. And, putting it back into the perspective of being healthy and active and able to ENJOY YOUR LIFE TO THE FULLEST, doesn't it just make sense? Remember how you feel when you eat too much? Think Thanksgiving. What does everyone do after dinner? Sleep! Yeah, no energy to go and do and create memories beyond the turkey and pumpkin pie! That's FABULOUS a few times a year, but every day? Well, you may not be eating Thanksgiving dinner every day, but you may be following the same pattern in your daily living: not eating on a regular basis and then overeating as soon as you get a chance and can stuff everything in sight in your overly anxious face!

Someone told me about a woman who wants very badly to lose weight. She's a veterinarian and is on her feet all day long. So, she decided that she wanted to get surgery done to lose weight. Problem: She found out that she isn't fat enough to qualify for the surgery. Bummer, right? How often do you hear, "I'm sorry, but you are just too thin!"? Know what she did? She started eating milkshakes every break she had, all day long. Know what happened? Well, believe it or not she must have engaged her metabolism because she lost five pounds! Who would have guessed, right?

Well, it makes sense. Our bodies need fuel throughout the day in order to function properly. And really, the only way to make sure it is getting the BEST fuel is to identify what you are getting vs. what you need. I know what you are saying: "Melinda, I am NOT a calorie counter! I don't have time to count calories. I will never BE a calorie counter. It just isn't me." Well, there is something we can work on together because the big secret still stands: Calories out have to exceed calories in; but your body still needs a certain amount of calories to function and run. If you are going to be in control of this, you have to first be aware of it.

I'll write more on how many calories your body needs in order to function in a later post; but for now, here are some simple calculations to help motivate you to get informed and START EATING THE RIGHT KINDS OF CALORIES and BURN THE UNWANTED CALORIES YOU ALREADY STORED.

Number of calories necessary to lose 1 pound of body fat: 3,500
Number of hours of exercise needed to lose 1 pound of body fat: 2 1/2 (more or less)

Now, let's break that down to TODAY:

To lose 1 pound of body fat a week (that's 52 pounds a year - more than most of us need to lose; but still -- perspective), cut 500 calories a day, through food intake and exercise. Divided equally between the two, that means you need to burn 250 calories (about what you would burn running two 10-minute miles a day) and cut out 250 calories (about a bowl of cereal with 1/2 c skim milk and an apple) a day.

If you're pregnant, did you know that you just need an extra 300 calories a day? And that is only if you are already eating only the recommended amount of calories for your fitness, age, activity level. If you are already overeating, you don't need extra calories at all when you get pregnant. If you're overweight and pregnant, you actually need to eat less. Again, we're talking about an extra apple with peanut butter, a bowl of cereal and two apples, 1/2 cup cottage cheese and a banana, etc. If you watch yourself now and don't go overboard, you'll reap the rewards later and have a healthier, easier, happier pregnancy and delivery.

If you are breastfeeding, you need to eat 1800 calories a day. That will be enough to give you an adequate milk supply. And they say the average woman burns 500 calories a day breastfeeding (I didn't, I don't think -- but I'm apparently not average!). I have also read that if you ARE breastfeeding, you really shouldn't lose more than about 1 pound a week in order to keep your milk supply. So - there are some guidelines for us, no matter our category.

There -- now on a day-to-day basis, that doesn't look so bad, does it? Why is it so hard? Well, we miscalculate what we are eating or aren't aware of what we are eating and cannot, therefore, make those few tiny cuts on a daily basis to reach our goals. So - now we know what lies ahead on our journey to success!

Start watching how many calories are in your favorite, daily foods. Just for fun, keep track one day and see where you honestly are in an average day.

Remember: Slow and Steady Wins the Race!

Habit, Habit, Habit

When I was getting my M.A., I studied and read a lot about habit formation. It's an intriguing process and interesting to see how our minds and bodies form and cling to habits.

As we are looking at "weight loss" and building healthy habits for ourselves and generations to come, I think habit is a key part of what will be our success.

It is a common tendency to start a diet by thinking about what you CAN'T EAT and what you HAVE TO LIMIT. However, that isn't really practical and will not lead to lasting results. If, for example, you say that you are not going to eat anything sweet until you lose all of your weight, you need to be prepared to not eat anything sweet for the rest of your life. If you say you are going to eat just 1200 calories a day until you lose your weight, you are -- once again -- setting yourself up to only be able to eat 1200 calories a day for the rest of your life. Why? Let me explain some of the things I have been learning that lead me to these conclusions.

1) Our bodies have fat cells. Though I plan on writing an entire blog on what I am learning about fat cells, the gist is this: At the conference I attended, I heard that there are three times in a woman's life when those fat cells DOUBLE: puberty, pregnancy, and menopause. Once a fat cell is formed, IT WILL NEVER GO AWAY (unless you have surgery to remove it, which doesn't really appeal or apply to us here). HOWEVER, though you cannot get rid of a fat cell, you can PROGRAM YOUR FAT CELLS to be thin or fat. That's funny, isn't it? Have you ever thought of a THIN fat cell? Well, look around you. There are people around you -- somewhere in your family or among your roommates from college or whatever -- who have lost weight and been able to keep their fat cells thin.

Once you have fat cells in your body, you cannot get rid of them; so they will always have at least a little bit of fat in them because they are, indeed, FAT CELLS. HOWEVER, do not despair! Everyone can program their fat cells to be thin or to be fat. But IT TAKES TIME for these things to happen. That's why they tell you to exercise during pregnancy -- to keep your fat cells as THIN as possible or, better yet, to keep your body from creating extra fat cells. SO -- we are NOT JUST LOSING WEIGHT; we are REPROGRAMMING FAT CELLS to be THIN FAT CELLS instead of FAT FAT CELLS and preparing our bodies to NOT form additional fat cells during periods when we cannot help but put on a lot of excess weight (like pregnancy). And that tells me that whatever you do to reprogram them is what you are going to have to do to keep them thin.

#2) My nutrition friend from the seminar I attended said that one of the #1 mistakes women make in this country is that they UNDEREAT. Can that be possible? With obesity on the rise, is it possible that women really under-eat? YES. And, believe it or not, CALORIES ARE GOOD -- CALORIES ARE OUR FRIENDS. Calories are what give our bodies fuel to function every day, fuel to get through the days and nights, to keep our blood pumping and our brain working and our muscles moving, etc. So, if you cut out calories that YOUR BODY NEEDS TO FUNCTION and maintain itself, you are slowly destroying your body.

So how many calories does the average woman need? 1800-2200 a day! Seriously, folks! That is how many we should be eating a day -- fat, fit, and everything in between. It doesn't matter. If you are going to DRASTICALLY CUT CALORIES, you are eventually going to throw your body into survival mode where it feels it needs to horde all of the calories it is getting out of fear that at some point, you are going to stop feeding it altogether and it's going to have to be able to sustain itself. Is that a message you want to send your body when you are trying to LOSE WEIGHT and MAINTAIN A HEALTHY WEIGHT AND LIFESTLYE? No-o-o-o-o! Besides which, if you do take away from your body the calories that it needs to sustain itself, when you stop dieting and stop eating those 1200 calories a day because you are right where you need to be, YOU ARE GOING TO GAIN WEIGHT.


SO ---- THUS WE SEE FROM ALL OF THIS that when we are talking about losing weight and being HEALTHY, we need to use wisdom and do it correctly: SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE!!! Thank you, Mr. Turtle and Mr. Hare, for that great lesson!

As you sit down now and think about what goals you want to set for yourself and how you are going to walk this journey to a healthier, fitter, and slimmer YOU, think about what you are going to CHANGE -- FOREVER -- and decide what you are willing to give up and what you are not.

I AM NOT WILLING TO GIVE UP SWEETS for the rest of my life! So, as I'm losing weight I need to learn to be moderate in my intake of sweets so that I can still eat them and enjoy them without feeling attached to them or having withdrawals from NOT getting enough.

On the other hand, I could just tell myself I'm diabetic and then give them up completely! WRONG!!! No way - my mind knows I'm NOT diabetic; my body knows I'm NOT diabetic, and they are the only things that matter in MY weight loss. So -- sweets are IN -- in moderation!