Top Tips for Weight Loss at Tame Your Inner Octopus! Don't Put Junk in Your Trunk! Purchase Healthy Items Each Week at the Grocery Store!

My new Twitter account is called inneroctopus.

Please follow me! One of the best and easiest ways to eliminate junk food from your daily eating pattern is to not purchase it or bring it into your home in the first place! Remember, we do not want to look, think or behave like the grabby Octopus!

I know, this sounds so darn simple but trust me, this is one of the very first things I did when I was in weight loss mode over two years ago. Think about that fact for one moment, if the unhealthy, high caloric items are not in your home, you can't eat them, so why purchase them in the first place! This one tip is extremely important both in weight loss mode and thereafter in maintenance once reached.

Think of it this way. When mothers are ready to wean their babies from the bottle, they don't put the bottle on the counter to remind the baby of the habit they wish for them to break. It would be sort of cruel to do so.

This is why it is extremely important not to purchase and bring these foods into your home or workplace in the first place. There's no need for them to be hanging around when you're in the process of getting extra weight off or when you're continuing to maintain your weight for life. Some experts state that it takes approximately 30 days to break a habit. It makes a great deal of sense to me not to have items in our home that work against what we are trying to achieve, especially when we are weaning ourselves from unhealthy habits.

From the very first week I made up mind to set up a healthy eating pattern in weight loss mode, I made sure that no foods of this nature were purchased or brought into my home on a weekly basis. I did it and it worked beautifully. If foods gifts from special occasions did come into my home, they were put out of sight very quickly, eaten by other family members or thrown away.

Remember, there's a difference between going on a temporary "diet" in order to lose weight and making a permanent lifestyle change and setting up a healthy eating pattern for life.

There's no room for unhealthy high caloric foods in life on a daily basis if we wish to be successful for life.

Try not to purchase them in the first place and save them for "special occasions" only in your life.

Have a great day!

Oprah! You Are Not Alone!

A few months ago, I, like many, witnessed "Oprah" expressing her long term struggle with weight loss. Tears came to her eyes, and I found myself cringing because I too have been there and like many, I have felt her pain. I wanted to say, "Hey Oprah, I know exactly what you're feeling! I've been there; I was just like you, minus the billion and I found a clear way to lose the weight; I can help you!" That's how life is for the most part, when we find a "solution" to anything we struggle with in life, we want to share it with those who may still be searching for answers.

Actually, I have a lot in common with Oprah. Please, refrain from laughing. We are approximately the same age at 55. We were both born in the month of January. We both have struggled with weight loss. We were both born in the deep south in states right next to each other, she in Mississippi and I, in Louisiana. Yes, unfortunately, I am not a billionaire like Oprah but fortunately I am no longer overweight.

I feel one of the reasons Oprah is so successful is due to the fact that she is a down-to-earth, open and honest person. She makes people feel like she's just like one of them and most people would would welcome the opportunity to get to know her better. Oprah is the real thing!

I admire the fact that during that small interview she had the courage to declare out loud, to the world that even with all of the avenues of help she has had in this area of her life, she still struggles with the issues of being overweight.

Oprah is one of the approximate 68% of people in our nation who is either overweight or obese. She's in the majority because there are only 32% of us that are not overweight or obese. Now that's a staggering statistic, isn't it? This is what I quickly came to realize at the start of my research at the beginning of my personal weight loss journey two years ago. After researching the statistics, right off the bat, I felt a sense of relief. I was not alone, this was not merely about me and my overall failed attempts at weight loss. Being overweight or obese in our country is close to a darn near national epidemic!

My next step was figuring out how and why becoming overweight or obese happens to so many of us. Then I had to delve much deeper to learn how to turn it all around.

I did, along with my co-author, and that's why we felt the great need to write the book, "Tame Your Inner Octopus!" in 30 Days or Less! We know for a fact that it is never too early or too late to make these type changes in your life.

It's real simple once you come to certain realizations and set up a healthy eating and exercise plan.

We did it; you can do it too!

Have a great day!

I Ordered a Slice of Key Lime Pie...

No, it's not a big deal if you choose to order Key Lime Pie. Unfortunately for me, at this particular time, it was not the smartest move I could have made. Allow me to set the stage.

My husband and I traveled to a nearby city so that he could play tennis with our eldest daughter. It was a beautiful day and I had been ahead of the game all week with my eating well and exercising routines. I was feeling pretty good while still trying to shed a couple of pounds I had put on over the course of the holidays, a cold weather snap, a brief unexpected medical problem, a four day mini trip and my recent birthday celebration. I was well on my way towards accomplishing the goal of losing the weight and feeling good. My plan was to stay away from reasons to celebrate where food was involved. Now we all know this is quite hard to do in America.

I had a great workout the day before and my plan was to sit on the sidelines, enjoy the beautiful weather and finish a book I had been reading. Not long after, during a court switch, my daughter casually asked if we would like to go out to eat after the tennis match. If you know me, I don't need to be persuaded in the least when the subject of food or eating out comes into play. I was like, "Yeah, I'm in!" Truthfully, I almost fell off the bench in anticipation.

So much for control, not even a moment's hesitation. After the match, we piled into our cars and proceeded to drive to a quaint little seafood/burger type restaurant on the beach. I ordered the peel & eat shrimp for an appetizer.

By the way, peel and eat shrimp is always a great choice! We split it three ways and I had five shrimp.

Here's the aha moment that I apparently missed. I didn't stop to think about the best choices I could have made for my main meal, in fact, I felt entitled to eat a hamburger because I rarely eat one out anymore and I rarely eat fries. Forget about the things I sometimes do eat that I shouldn't, these two things I rarely eat and that's a fact if anyone cares.

That's when my husband and eldest daughter's mouths dropped open and their faces immediately expressed great concern. You see, it's like my little family unit has this fear that I'll turn back into the grabby Octopus and start treating myself like a human version of a garbage disposal. Hey, guys, I got rid of my GDS or Garbage Disposal Syndrome two years ago! Give me a break!

Then it came down to another big decision. Do I order a burger and fries for myself or should my husband who can finish a half burger in two bites in less than minute and I share one order? I don't trust him. I know the pattern. He eats his and then starts in on mine. I have a problem with anyone touching the food on my plate. It is my domain and everyone who knows me knows this. I wasn't about to let that happen and again, I had done so well all week long, this was my REWARD! Yikes, food can't be a reward, I know that, it's in our book, "Tame Your Inner Octopus!" Yes, I knew all of this but when the waiter came over I promptly blurted out. "I'll take a hamburger medium well with FRIES!" I could see the fear in my husband and daughter's faces. It was like they were thinking, "Wow, she's going for it; I hope she's not reverting to her old pattern of eating."

I ate only a half of that burger and of course, I didn't eat all of the fries, my husband and daughter took a few and there were a few left over. I was TEMPORARILY happy but then I had another dilemma, was I to "choose" to order dessert?

Well, remember I had done well with my eating and exercising all week long, why not I told myself. My daughter sort of looked at me like, "You're not going to order dessert Mom?" In fact, I don't think she thought it, I think she said it out loud, "You're not going to order dessert Mom?" I've always been the rebellious type and I quickly stated, "Yes, I am."

I did it and I ordered coffee too. In my mind I was celebrating the beautiful day, the quaint little beach side restaurant and the opportunity to be with my husband and eldest child. In my mind I was creating a beautiful memory.

The truth is, I have a lot of beautiful memories and I really did not enjoy that Key Lime Pie, it wasn't the greatest I had ever eaten. I only ate about four small bites of it and it wasn't worth ordering. I wasted money and it simply wasn't necessary. Another valuable lesson learned and at least I am now able to assess the situation after the wrong choices are made.

In the past, when I was overweight, I wouldn't have cared or have been aware because I was the grabby Octopus who ate mindlessly throughout the day and I did treat my body on a daily basis like a human garbage disposal.

The moral of this story is to know when not to order Key Lime Pie!

Have a great day!

Here's What 1,400 Calories A Day Looks Like!

As a woman, my goal in weight loss mode is to modify what the food pyramid says I normally need to eat on a daily basis so that I can lose unwanted pounds. I do this by simply creating a deficit from what I should eat to what I need to eat in order to create a deficit of around 400 calories each day.

I will first list an example of how I modify my calories in weight loss mode at approximately 1,400 calories. My goal has always been to set up the best balanced healthy eating pattern while in weight loss mode. Once I reach my "ideal" or "preferred" goal weight, I simply add in around 400 healthy calories from the same food basic food groups in the food pyramid in order to maintain my weight. This comes out to around 1,800 calories a day.

Here's An Example of 1,400 calories a day in Weight Loss mode:

Breakfast (Around 8:30 or 9:00 a.m.)

1/2 of a Whole Wheat English Muffin 62

1 teaspoon of peanut butter (Smucker's All Natural) 33

1/2 of a sliced banana 55

1 teaspoon of honey 20

6 oz. of Plain Non Fat Yogurt (I mix in Splenda) 80

25 blueberries (mixed in the yogurt) 20

4 teaspoons of lite or fat free Coffee Mate creamer 40

Breakfast Total: 310

Mid morning snack (around 10:30)
1 cup or @ 37 seedless red grapes 110

Lunch (around 12:30)
1 slice of whole wheat toast 110
2 oz. of Boar's Head sliced turkey breast 70
1 teaspoon of Kraft Olive Oil Mayonnaise 15
1 cup of steamed Broccoli 52
1 tablespoon of Ken's Lite (on top of steamed broc) 40
1 cup of split pea soup without ham 150

Lunch Total: 437

Afternoon Snack (around 4:00 p.m.)
1 Yoplait Yogurt Lite Strawberry 100
2 teaspoons of lite coffee creamer for afternoon coffee 20

Dinner (around 6:00 p.m.)
3 oz. skinless chicken breast 83
1 Tablespoon of ketchup 20
1 medium sweet potato 103
1 teaspoon of lite butter 17
1 teaspoon of brown sugar 19
1 cup of green beans with onions and 1 teaspoon 60
lite butter

Dinner Total: 302

Dessert or snack
Edy's Frozen Strawberry All Fruit Bar 80
1/2 banana 55

Daily Total: 1,410


Please note, I use Crystal Lite or assorted green teas at different times throughout the day most days. I also try to get the recommended amount of water in each day.

In my next post, I will discuss what mypyramid.gov lists as a recommended daily intake for women according to age when not in weight loss mode.

Have a great day!

Let's Begin to Set Up a Healthy Eating Pattern Today!

Are you ready! Let's begin to set up a healthy eating pattern. The first thing we may wish to consider is whether we want to set up our eating plan in order to lose weight or maintain our current weight.

Remember, the average woman requires an intake of approximately 1,800 calories daily. At this intake most of us would be able to maintain our proper weight, along with exercise.

If we are overweight or obese we can assume that we have been eating more than the 1,800 calories our body requires each day. If we wish to take off the extra weight, we're going to have to create a deficit in order to gain control over our eating habits in order to lose all of the extra weight we have put on over time.

There are different spots we can choose when creating a deficit. I chose the 1,200 calorie area. In hindsight, although this area worked well for me, I would recommend dropping to an intake of around 1,400. I think that's a great spot. This way, you're creating a deficit of 400 a day just from what your normal intake should be and you can also burn off 100 calories through walking which would result in a total reduction of 500 calories a day overall.

Remember, a reduction of 500 calories a day is equal to a 3,500 reduction at the end of 7 days. It takes a reduction of 3,500 in order to equal a one pound loss. This also explains why we drop more pounds in the beginning of starting a weight loss program. If we are way over our daily intake at 2,400, we will lose considerably more when we drop back to 1,400 a day. That would suddenly become a 1,000 calorie reduction per day. See, right there would account for a possible loss of 2 pounds a week.

It's all about the numbers, when you get down to it. Learning what 1,400 calories looks and feels like is extremely important towards achieving success in weight loss.

Sure, we could follow the latest or great diet and we could also look for a magic pill to solve our problems in these areas. The one sure way to reach our goals and preserve them for life, is to set up a healthy eating pattern based on staying within your numbers.

Do you know your body may not allow you to lose weight if you go too low? That's right and that's another reason to realize the importance of knowing your count. Many times people want to wing it and do it on their own by simply guessing. Many times, in their excitement to do something quickly, they eat too little. It's quite easy to do and most of us have done it that way.

What usually happens is that we quit early because we're not eating enough. Our body has a self preservation mode it goes into when it thinks it might be starving. It will not allow us to shed pounds and it will hold onto to the extra pounds.

Many times this is what happens when we plateau. It's like our body says, "I better start conserving so she won't starve to death!"

That's why we need to know what 1,400 looks like when we're trying to lose weight. Many experts agree that women should go no lower than 1,200 calories a day. We also need to know how to pack in the best foods we can throughout the day in order to provide great fuel for our body. It's that simple.

So, where do we start? To me, it came down to common sense. I didn't look for a special diet. My thought was how do I go about setting up a great healthy eating pattern for life. I knew it couldn't be a "diet". It had to be something I could understand and learn to live with for life. It had to be based on all of the foods I like not foods someone else chose for me. Doesn't that make great sense?

That's when I turned to the best source I could think of and that was our Basic Food Pyramid. Think about it. All of the great foods we know are in that pyramid and everything there is healthful.

I found a site that our government and our taxes probably pay for, so I decided to make the most of this great information. I've noticed lately, this site now has awesome commercials, advertising all the great things it's set up to do for everyone of us in our nation.

You can check it out for yourself! Here's the site, take a little time to study it. It's great for your entire family! www.mypyramid.gov

On my next post I will explain how I discovered what the food pyramid states my body requires on a daily basis. I will then show you how I modified that area in order to create a deficit to at first lose all of the extra weight I had put on over time. You see, early on I realized that I wanted to start at the right place and finish at the right place. That's exactly what I did and I know it can work in the same way for anyone who takes the time to check it out!

Have a great day!

Oh! Oh! Valentine's Day Is Right Around the Corner!

Yes, Valentine's Day is coming up next! It's our next "special occasion". It's seems like we just celebrated the New Year, my birthday, a family marriage and let's not forget the "Super Bowl"! It's always something; isn't it? It's just another day in our lives that is celebrated or centered around food! I'm not trying to be negative; I am simply stating facts. I happen to love food and I adore candy but common sense tells us we have to become accountable at some point or we'll look just like our grabby Octopus with no control over our eating habits. Our eating habits will control us if we allow them to and if we "choose" to not become accountable.

When I had my "Aha! Moment" a couple of years ago, I soon thereafter began to set up my healthy eating pattern in order to lose weight. I knew it couldn't be a "diet", so I didn't go out looking for the latest or greatest "diet". I knew it couldn't be a pill; it had to be a transformation, a way of life. It had to be "profound", I love that word! I also instinctively knew I had to create my own healthy way of eating.

It was then that I began to immediately notice all of the "special occasions" where high fat or sugary food items came into my life. I was amazed! I had to put my foot down and not allow these things into my home or at the very least keep them out of sight while I was setting up my healthy pattern of eating. Let me tell you, it was not an easy thing to do but boy, was it enlightening.

Before, I looked just like that grabby Octopus! If food was in sight, you had better get out of my way and clear a path. I was like a football player going in for the recovery of a fumble at the Super Bowl!

Heck, my kids used to say things like, "If you want some of the bread pudding Mom just made, you better get it now before she wolfs it down!" I laugh, because my children have a warped sense of humor and I don't know where they get it from! Wolfs it down is something my eldest daughter made up and she still jokes about it even now after I've lost the weight and become fit. I have to admit, it is quite funny but sadly most of all it was factual. I did "wolf down" pretty much anything I wanted for a period of 18 years! I wolfed down the peanut butter fudge that I said I made for my children as a treat but I ate half the plate before they had arrived home from school. I wolfed down this special ice cream that I love whenever it was in the house. I can go on and on, I was pretty good at wolfing things down, let me tell you!

Yes, I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. That's why it was at first difficult for me to attempt to set up a healthy eating pattern. I had to work against the grain in order to break the cycle of eating that had been a part of my life for almost two decades! As I state in our book "Tame Your Inner Octopus", I can best compare to it to taking away a bottle from a baby. For many people, food represents "comfort". We reach for it, all throughout the day, without a thought, out of habit and it soothes us temporarily. Going over our proper intake for the day on a continual basis also makes us pile on extra fat and this makes us overweight or obese and that's far from being comforting or soothing if you stop and think about it.

It didn't take me long to realize how many "special occasions" or reasons I had for eating things I shouldn't have been eating. I was shocked to tell you the truth because I had never realized how many obstacles are in the path of trying to eat in a proper manner. It's no wonder why approximately 68% of our nation is overweight or obese. It's the reason why so many people can't stick to a diet or the proper way of eating. There are too many "special occasions" right around the corner!

Let's take a time out, no pun intended and realize that the average woman is supposed to ingest around 1,800 calories each day while exercising on an almost daily basis. We can't afford to go "off track" on every single occasion that high fat foods or celebrations come into our lives. We have to be choosy; we must be accountable and we have to aim to eat within that 1,800 count each day. If we're trying to lose weight we need to be in the area of 1,400 calories and no lower than 1,200 as a woman.

The healthy pattern of eating that I set up close to two years ago has been my salvation. It's my day to day game plan. It's the healthy eating pattern that I revert to after eating "off track" for special occasions in my life.

Right now, when you get a chance, please take the time to get a clear picture of how many times "food" comes into play in your life on a daily basis. It could be an advertisement on TV, in a magazine, or on a billboard. It's downright shocking that so much emphasis is put on food on a daily basis. You too will be amazed if you do this for a week or a month.

This realization was one of my biggest "Aha! Moments".

We simply cannot eat like the grabby Octopus and expect to lose weight or maintain our ideal weight for life.

Have a great day!

FOOD KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

The following is a great quote:

"It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows."

Epictetus

Let's stop an apply this quote to losing weight or maintaining a goal weight for life. Approximately 68% of our nation is presently either overweight or obese. If you ask many of these people if they know how to lose weight and keep it off permanently, many would probably emphatically answer "yes".

This would mean one of two things:

1) They really do know but don't want to lose weight and keep it off permanently.

2) They really don't possess the key knowledge in order to take the weight off and keep it off permanently.

I happen to feel most of us fall into the area of not having the right type of knowledge to lose weight in the most effective manner in order to keep it off for life.

I know because I was one of those people who felt they knew but really didn't know how to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together in order to lose weight and keep it off permanently for life. I only began to be able to put the puzzle together through a great deal of research. I then implemented all that I had learned into my lifestyle and only then did I meet great success through personal experience. Trust me, you can do this too.

Knowledge is power. I know that more than ever now that I have gained the knowledge I needed to make these tremendous changes in my lifestyle as it pertained to my eating and overall fitness patterns.

Realizing that I didn't know what I needed to know in order to reach success was the first issue I had to grasp. For 18 years I was in "limbo land". This is an area where I too thought I knew everything but really didn't know most of the basic numbers that I needed to know. Looking back I now realize I, like many, knew bits and pieces but I had no idea of how to go about setting up a healthy eating and fitness pattern for life.

Knowledge is power and food knowledge is critical when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off permanently yet so many of us want the quick or easy way out. Losing weight and keeping it off permanently is not about searching for the latest or greatest diet. It's not about taking a "magic" pill.

It's about coming to the realization that we must take "time out" in order to make it a "priority" in our lives to reach the weight and fitness levels that we wish for on a permanent basis.

If you've been reading my blog, as a woman, you will know the answers to the following four questions.

1) How many calories does the average woman need to ingest each day?

2) How many calories should the average woman consider cutting back to each day in order to create a deficit.

3) How many calories does it take to lose one pound?

4) How many pounds do most experts suggest we aim to lose on a weekly basis?

The answers to these questions are four of the most critical parts of losing weight and keeping it off permanently. This is the starting point. This is where the first areas of the "key" knowledge comes into play. Here are the answers.

1) Approximately 1,800 calories.

2) Around 1,400 but no lower than 1,200.

3) A deficit of 3,500 calories.

4) 1/4 to 2 pounds weekly.

Sounds simple doesn't it? It is, but the next step and we'll discuss this in depth, is learning how to parse out 1,400 calories throughout the course of a day in order to lose the extra weight while fueling our bodies with the best foods possible. Once we reach our goal weight, we can then up our intake to the area of 1,800 calories in order to maintain.

We'll discuss ways to incorporate great foods and exercising into your daily life in upcoming posts.

Of course, always check with your Dr. before starting any new eating or exercising program.

Have a great day!