Swimsuit review: Junonia

I ordered a new swimsuit from Junonia, and being the first time I ordered from them, I ordered a 4X. It fit fine everywhere except the bust (it squished the rack of doom something awful). So I called to return it and make sure it was available in a 6X in the color I wanted (turquoise, this one). Well, they only had the turquoise one in black in a 6X, so I ended up ordering this one instead. It was $20 more, and I had to pay return shipping on the one I returned to exchange, but it was so worth it.
I returned the turquoise one last week, and the black and hot pink one came today. I can tell you right now that I'll never order another swimsuit from anyone else ever again. When it comes to swimsuits, Junonia has all of my business forever, or as long as they're making swimsuits in my size. This is the first time I've ever had a swimsuit that the bra part of it actually fit the rack of doom and gave it support. The suit is easy to get in and out of, and it actually looks pretty good on me (I think I look good in it, which is saying something for me, I don't usually think that about swimsuits). The only thing that could be improved is that it's just a bit long in the torso for me, but I'm willing to deal with that for the way the rest of the suit fits so well.
I hated to spend that amount of money on a swimsuit, but now that I have the suit and have tried it on and compared it to every other less expensive swimsuit I've ever owned, it's well worth the $109.95 plus shipping that I paid for it (DH thinks so too, he likes the way I look in it).
If you're looking for a swimsuit, and have a rack of doom and are fat to boot, Junonia is the place to go. I can't recommend them enough (and no, I'm not getting anything from them for saying this).

A week off helped get my head back on straight

I took last week off...from everything weight loss related. I didn't post anything, I didn't track or weigh and measure any of my food. I read very few weight loss blogs and commented on even fewer. I worked out three times last week instead of my normal six, and they were light workouts.

After a fitful night of sleep last Monday (I'm sleeping the sleep of the damned again), I woke up up exhausted. My first thought that day was "I'm so tired I just can't do it today." Normally I ignore these thoughts. Exercise has become a habit after two years. That morning I decided maybe it was time to take a break.

I got up and looked at my exercise calendar and realized I hadn't had a day off from exercise since Easter. Fourteen straight days of exercise. My body was sore and tired. My left elbow and shoulder had been aching for days. An old injury that happened about six months ago when I was trying to lift 25-pound dumbbells when I wasn't ready to move up on weights.

My previous week's workouts had been pathetic. Each day was a struggle. Each day I'd written in my exercise journal something negative. "Too hard today!" or "Just not into it." or "Worst workout ever!" I was going through the motions but my heart wasn't in it.

I decided last Monday maybe it was time to ease up on myself a little. In the NRWL4W it says you should take a recovery week between stages. It talks about the necessity of letting the body recover, the connective tissues, nervous system and bones need a week off every once and a while. I've ignored this advice for over two years for fear of falling into another one of my long term bouts of not exercising at all and gaining back weight like it was my job (history repeating itself).

The previous week I lost four pounds and was down to 164.8. If you want to lose one pound you need a 3500 calorie deificit. Multipy that by four and that means I had a 14,000 calorie deficit the previous week. No wonder each workout had been tortuous and miserable. I was starving. I wasn't tracking my food, just eating a lot less.

Last week I was in the mood of "to hell with all of it". The one thing I continued was my ban on sugar. I ate good, healthy food. The cravings are still non-existent, the night-time binges are a thing of the past. I still get hungry, but nothing like when I was hooked on Weight Watcher ice cream bars and other "healthy" junk foods that are full of sugar.

My weigh in yesterday showed I was up 1.4 pounds. I'm not upset or worried about it, I'm not freaking out over the small gain. I needed the added calories. I needed to eat and take a break. I'm finally learning to listen to my body.

Yesterday my workout was probably one of the best workouts of my life. During my hour and forty-five minutes of cardio and strength, I was energized. I felt much stronger than the last several weeks. Taking a week off was probably the best thing I could have done for myself.

Yesterday I was back to tracking my food, making sure I eat enough, but not eating too much. It's a fine line I walk these days between not starving myself and making sure I'm getting in the calories I need, yet still lose weight. It feels good to be back, back in control, back to exercising. Back to being me.

Carpal tunnel surgery results

Well, I had my carpal tunnel surgery on February 5th, stitches came out 10 days later, and my hand is still numb. Doctor says it could take as long as 6 months for the numbness to go away, and I could still end up with some numbness all the time. I've never seen carpal tunnel surgery done where mine was done on my hand. I have an incision that's 1.5" long and starts at the heel of my hand, just above my wrist, and runs into the palm of my hand (I always thought it was done more in the wrist than in the hand). My hand is still sore on either side of the incision whenever I put any pressure on it, and when I was making some of the new curtains for the living room this weekend, it felt like it was burning under the incision (I think from the pressure of using the iron to press the hems/casings on the curtains).
I only did 4 panels, I still have 12 more to go. My hand is going to be killing me if I don't take it easy. I think what I may have to do is plan on pressing and sewing 2 panels a day, and doing them every other day in order to give my hand a chance to rest. It's not the sewing that bothered me so much, it was the ironing that did me in, putting enough pressure on the iron to get the wrinkles out of the fabric and making sure the hems and casings were pressed in crisply.
I did see the neurologist last week, and she wants to do another EMG in September to see how that nerve is healing (and she wants to check the ulnar nerve in my left arm, I told her I had damage to it from 15 years ago that nothing had ever been done about). So yay, I get to have two EMGs done in September.
I'm going to do what she said, and keep wearing my wrist brace at night and when I'm driving long distances (more than 30 miles or so). The doctor who did the surgery said I didn't need to wear it anymore, but he's an orthopedist, not a neurologist, so I'm going to go by what the neurologist says.

My weigh-in and my best weight loss advice

First the weigh-in:

Weight April 10:  168.8

Weight April 17:  164.8

Loss for the week:  -4.0

Total loss:  -74.6

I credit the success of last week to one thing:: NO ADDED SUGAR

It's been six weeks since I've eaten a Weight Watcher ice cream bar or anything with added sugar. Removing sugar from my diet has completely changed my life.

I know this won't work for everyone because:

a.) not everyone is addicted to sugar.

b.) for those people that are truly addicted to sugar, you might not be willing to give it up.

If you have a problem with binging and eating massive amounts of food at one sitting, if you love sweets, and candy, cookies, cake and ice cream are your trigger foods, then you probably have a problem with sugar.

If you want to become normal and live a life free of that insatiable desire for more sugar and more food, then I strongly suggest you start right now and ban added sugar from your life. It's in everything so it takes a little work to eliminate it from your diet, but it's not that difficult.

Start by reading the labels on everything. I was shocked by some of the places I found sugar hiding. Remember my frozen bell peppers that had corn syrup in them?! Weight Watchers products are some of the worst offenders for hiding added sugar in what they promote as a "healthy" snack. Read the ingredients on their snack bars. Several of their products list the first ingredient as sugar, sand the second ingredient as corn syrup.

For me, eating things with added sugar brings on strong, almost uncontrollable, insatiable cravings. Sometimes I had the willpower to fight it, most often I would cave in and eat the entire box of whatever it was I thought I could eat just one. There were times when I ate an entire two-pound box of See's chocolates, or a box of six Weight Watcher ice cream bars, or an entire cake in one sitting (yes, I did this). Even as little as six weeks ago I bought a package of six dark chocolate 100-calories bars at Trader Joes. I know better. I ate the entire box in my car before I even got home.

That's when I realized I had a problem. That's when my weight, on March 2, reached 181.2 pounds (from my low of 154 last summer). I was freaked out, depressed, and realized I was less that twenty pounds from the 200-pound mark. Fortunately, I realized drastic times required drastic measures.

I'd just finished reading The End of Overeating and Change Your Brain Change Your Life. Both books talk about sugar and how some people (not all) have problems with sugar. This also includes fructose, the sugar in fruits.

I recently read an article regarding fruit. Although it's really good for us, with necessary vitamins and minerals, too much of it isn't good for us. When eating five to seven fruits and vegetables a day, it really should be five to seven vegetables and fruits a day. We should be eating more vegetables than fruit (I was doing the opposite). I've gone from five fruits a day to two or three maximum.

I'm not sure which book recommended this, but it's old advice that I've recently incorporated into my daily life. My snacks are always a complete snack. For example, I try to never eat just a piece of fruit. I always add some protein. A few almonds, an ounce of turkey, a small piece of cheese, some Greek yogurt. Something to make me feel satisfied. Never just a carb, but always a carb and a protein.

My night time binges have practically stopped. Sometimes if it's late and I'm truly really hungry I'll have a Greek yogurt and a tangerine, or something similar. Usually around three Points. Then I floss and brush my teeth (again, which annoys me and usually will stop me in the first place). This has been recommended by many people, but now it's a habit for me. Once my teeth are clean, it puts up a red light in my head. No more food. I'm done for the day.

A word about artificial sweeteners

Yes, I eat artificial sweeteners. I've tried everything. Stevia, Agave syrup, Truvia, Xylitol, Splenda. I always come back to the Splenda. It has the fewest calories (zero) and the least offensive taste. I'd rather not eat it, but I can't eat things like Greek yogurt without some sort of sweetener. I can't afford the added calories of honey and maple syrup.

I figure at this point in my life, a few more chemicals in my body aren't really going to matter. Perhaps if I was twenty I could get more into the clean eating routine. Let's face it, I'm 54. I've probably eaten enough chemicals in my life to kill a laboratory full of lab mice. A little Splenda in my diet over the next 20 or so years I have left is probably not going to kill me. I usually only eat one packet, sometimes two, a day.

Picture

Sorry, no picture of my hair. I'm not liking it very much, and I'm going through a phase where I don't like how I look. Maybe it's because my hair is too blond, or maybe it's because I'm almost 55 and the wrinkles seem to be jumping out at me when I look in the mirror. Whatever it is, I'm sure it'll pass. I'm just not feeling photogenic and not in the mood to have my picture taken.

About my lack of posting

I can't believe I let a whole week go by and didn't post. I'm not sure what happened or why. I started several posts, but just didn't publish them. My goal this week is to post every day. Even a short post just to let every know I'm still alive and more determined than ever to get to goal (by my 55th birthday in 16 weeks!).

Muve Gruve to help fight "obesity"

This doesn't surprise me at all, but I think it's probably going to be a waste of $835,000. And I'm sorry, but that name is just too cutesy (barf!).

Muve, a company created by Dr. James Levine of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, is moving ahead with more research funded by a $835,000 federal grant.
The goal? Strengthen the company's battle against the U.S. obesity epidemic. More that 72 million U.S. adults are considered obese.
"People who are overweight and obese need real support, real solutions," said Muve COO Jim Meyer, who wrote the application for the grant with Dr. Levine about 1 1/2 years ago. "We try to make it simple and to make meaningful. This research will help with that."

I can give you some hints on the real support and real solutions we fat people need, and none of them are tied to weight loss (but they are tied to improvement in health). How about making access to fresh/frozen fruits and veggies easier/cheaper for everyone? How about making safe places for everyone to get out and play/walk/bike? How about making sure everyone has enough income and time to prepare meals from scratch instead of having to rely on processed foods? Oh, those won't make fat people thinner, they'll just make them healthier, and healthier isn't the real goal here, is it?

The Gruve is a small iPod-like electronic device worn by people to track their daily calorie burn using activity sensors backed up by Dr. Levine's research. Going through the Muve process, individuals set a daily calorie usage goal to hit a targeted weight loss and health standard.

Yep, here we go again with the calories in/out bullshit = weightloss = health. EPIC FAIL, people, need I say more?

The first phases of the research will focus on the Gruve's performance as an anti-obesity tool, Meyer said. The later phases will explore additional versions of Gruve, possibly targeted at different age groups.

How long is this research going to last and how long is the follow-up going to be on the people who use this contraption to lose weight? What do you want to bet it's not going to be near long enough to find out that people who lost weight using this also started gaining weight back even though they kept using it the way they were instructed?

"We are thinking about doing a product for adolescents that we're loosely calling a Gruve Jr.," Meyer said. "And on other end of the spectrum, we want to research the possibility of a Gruve Sr."

I don't even want to think what the branding on these will look like.

Levine and others formed Muve in 2007 to create the Gruve using a system developed at Mayo Clinic based on the theory that small but steady movement can combat weight loss caused by the modern sedentary lifestyle.
Mayo Clinic and Dr. Levine have a financial interest in technology licensed to Muve. Mayo also holds an equity position in the company.

Follow the money, folks, they want in on the billions of dollars spent on weight loss products and WLS just isn't cutting it anymore (pun fully intended).

While Muve does sell to directly to consumers through its Web site, the majority of its sales are done now through corporate programs, with companies buying or partially funding the purchase of Gruves for employees.

Gee, think they want to get insurance companies to pay for these things too? Another way to get more money for something that doesn't really work long-term.

Overall, Meyer says that he believes the society's position on obesity is reaching the point that it was at with smoking 20 years, 25 years ago.
"People are started to get that obesity is hurting everybody."

Um, no, my fat isn't hurting my kids or my grandkids or the next-door neighbor or the guy sitting next to me at the bar like second-hand smoke does, thank you very much. My fat isn't causing disease (it can be correlated, but that is NOT causation).
I'm sorry, but fat is not the next "health war" that needs to be fought. If you want to fight a health war, fight for affordable access to health care for everyone.

The 'do' and the Ambien experience

The 'do'
I promise I'll post a picture of the new hair later. Although I'm not sure I like it. I have --- layers! I wondered what took her so long to cut it. Apparently she added layers under the pretense of "cleaning" up the ends.

I thought it looked good when she styled it yesterday. This morning I was very frustrated trying to flat iron many different lengths of hair. My normal five minute process took about twenty minutes.

It's funny, when I was fat if I got a haircut I didn't like, even a half inch shorter than I expected, I would cry. Seriously, I'd actually shed tears over my hair. It was like it was the only part of me that I had any control over. If I hated my hair, I felt 100% ugly because I already hated my body.

Even though I'm not loving this haircut right now, it doesn't bother me. I feel like, oh well, it'll grow back. No big deal. Anyone that knew me before would be completely shocked over this attitude about my hair. Perhaps it's because I don't totally hate my body these days. Even though it's not perfect, I'm loving it a lot more than I did at 240 pounds. :)

The Ambien experience

I've stopped taking Ambien, the prescription sleeping aid. It's dangerous! This morning I woke up and had red stuff all over my hands. It looked liked I'd murdered someone in my sleep.

My fingers were literally "beet red". OMG! I ate the roasted beet dip! I headed into the kitchen and found the container in the refrigerator, with only a couple tablespoons of dip remaining. There was about 3/4 cup in the container when I went to bed. This meant I'd eaten almost the entire 3/4 cup of dip. Considering three tablespoons was 4.5 Points, this isn't a good thing.

The even weirder thing, I didn't see any evidence of bread or crackers eaten with the dip. Plus, my fingers were a brillant red. Did I eat it with my fingers?!

I honestly have no memory of eating anything at all last night and have no idea what else I may have eaten. This is scary stuff. If I could do this, could I get in my car and drive somewhere? Or what if I go to bed mad at my husband? What if that had been blood? Kind of scared the hell out of me.

Since this is the second incident in a week where I have no memory, I've flushed the remaining five Ambien pills down the drain. It's too scary of what I'm capable of doing while under the influence. Eating food that I don't even remember enjoying is one thing, but what else am I capable of doing?

I'll have to learn how to sleep on my own. I actually fell asleep a couple times last week without it so I think I'll be okay. Speaking of sleep...that's where I'm going now.

Happy Tuesday!

Weekend update

Just a quick post before I head out to the gym.

First...hair cut! Yeah! Two inches off and very blond. I have a new stylist and colorist after ten years with my old ones. The previous stylist refused to cut my hair more than two inches. I finally made the brave move to someone new. If you're a guy, I know you don't understand how difficult this is to to do. If you're a woman, you probably get it. It's like breaking up with a girlfriend. Terribly difficult, and I even felt guilt ridden about it. Glad that's over!

Yesterday I made Roxie's recipe she recommended for Roasted Beet Dip. This is a little piece of heaven on earth. It came out to one Point per tablespoon. The second one was 2.5 Points, the third was 4.5 Points. It's because of the high fat content (oil, walnuts), the Points grew exponentially. Totally worth it though and very healthy. Delicious! I had two tablespoons on a cup of spaghetti squash with a few ounces of turkey. Loved it!

I cleaned out all my old makeup. Literally about a hundred plus items went into the trash. I'm not a hoarder of anything except makeup. I never use the old stuff, I just keep it as my "backups". I haven't once used any of my backups because I know they're germ infested old junk. I even got rid of a bunch of new makeup that I bought in the last six months but didn't like the color or the product. I love a clean, uncluttered look. Now my vanity table and my three shelves in the bathroom closet are clear and neat. Again, this was Roxie inspired.

Well, time for the gym. 4:45am. Have to hit the road running. Have a fabulous day, and in Ron's famous words, make healthy choices today!

Too many words tonight

Each time I go a few days without posting, my mind starts to overflow with topics I want to write about. The more days that pass, the more cluttered my mind. I start a debate with myself, what shall I write about?

1. Should I tell you about the miracle of living a sugar free diet? I know I've already talked about it, but it's so amazing I keep wanting to talk about it more. I feel like I've found the cure for my sickness

2. Or tell you how I went from hating exercise with a passion two years ago to loving it to the point where it's almost another obsession now?

3. Should I share the conversation I had with my husband this morning? The conversation where he basically said...no where he actually said I was selfish since I've lost weight. I don't pay any attention to him now. He said I focus on myself too much. It's a long story, and it was an unpleasant conversation. I'm still a little angry about it, but I'm trying to let it go.

4. My bike ride into a strong headwind this morning. An extremely difficult ride going east, but clear sailing coming back home riding west. Sort of like losing weight, sometimes easy, sometimes so hard I think I'm going to die.

5. My Ambien blackout I had last night where I ate 1/4 of a loaf of Dave's Killer bread but didn't remember a thing (about 500 calories). This morning I wanted to make breakfast and found the empty bread bag. I asked my husband if he ate bread in the middle of the night and why couldn't he have left me just one slice. He said of course he didn't eat bread in the middle of the night (like I was insane). Plus there was a full glass of milk, untouched, on the counter next to the empty bread bag. I don't remember what happened. Scary!

6. My weigh in at Weight Watchers today where I lost 2.2 pounds, down to 168.8 (imagine if I hadn't eaten that bread last night!).

7. The guy at Weight Watchers that made goal today, after six freaking years. He was funny, said remember the Tommy Turtle and Brer Rabbit. Well, he was Tommy Turtle. Plus after investing $2200 in Weight Watchers he decided it was time to get to goal. Cracked me up!

8. The fact that I've only lost 11.6 pounds since January 9, 2010 (after a re-gain of 25 pounds last fall).

9. The weird fact that I'm hooked on that Parenthood show. I'm not a parent. The show comes on too late for me so I watch it on On Demand. So strange that I love this show. Go figure.

10. The miracle of sleep, right up there with a sugar-free diet.

11. I haven't been counting Points. Just eating super healthy, smaller meals, more often. I'm not hungry, no cravings (except I guess I had a bread craving while under the influence of Ambien last night).

It's freaking me out just a little that I don't dream or think about food every waking moment. This is a new experience for me. This week it's back to tracking every single Point, just because that's what I'm suppose to do.

Those were a few of the things I wanted to write about today. There were more, but this post is already too long. Too many words. Time for me to shut up. :)

Living SF

Yesterday MizFit left me a comment that she couldn't say much about bread because she was GF. I was puzzled. What did GF mean? GirlFriend? GoFer? Oh, I get it! Bread, Gluten-Free. I know several people that have a problem with gluten and are GF.

Saying I'm SF should be acceptable, meaning I'm sugar-free. I've started telling this to my coworkers as they offer me candy, cookies, and other sweet treats on an almost daily basis.

I've always refused them in the past by saying I'm trying to lose weight, but they'd push me and say you can have just one. Come on, just one. I'd still say no, but we'd always have this same stupid conversation. Now I'm telling them I "can't" eat sugar.

When they start questioning me (they're all very thin and healthy), I tell them it's kind of like my peanut allergy. They understand the peanut allergy, how I break out in hives and can't breathe, but they can't grasp my problem with sugar. They can eat 1/4 of a Krispy Kreme maple bar and be fine with it. One of them did that last week, I mean, who eats 1/4 of of a doughnut? None of them actually eat a whole doughnut.

I do eat fruit, even though it has fructose, a natural sugar, it's a slower release into the bloodstream because of the fiber in the fruit. It also has a lot of vitamins and nutrients. I've limited my fruit intake to two or three servings a day. I was eating five or six servings a day. That was definitely too much of a good thing, and I think it contributed to my cravings.

Letting go of sugar has been a miracle for me. The food cravings are gone. I've noticed the biggest changes in the evenings. I don't go on a food scavenger hunt every night in the kitchen, looking for something to feed my cravings. I eat dinner, and then I'm done.

If I'd only known about this forty years ago I think my life would have been a lot calmer, I wouldn't have lost and gained hundreds of pounds over the years. I wouldn't have lived in a constant frantic state of "I've got to lose weight!". I would have been "normal".

If you suffer from cravings and night binging, you should try going completely sugar free. Just for one week to see if you notice any changes. I noticed big changes in just a few days, although those first few days were hell. It gets better as more time passes being SF.

Be sure to read the labels on everything, especially Weight Watcher products. Their snack bars are the worst, the ones that taste like little cookies. The main ingredient is sugar, the second ingredient is corn syrup. Seriously Weight Watchers, what are you thinking selling these products to people trying to lose weight? Shame on you!

If you're telling yourself this would be impossible, you can't live without sugar, think again. I had the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know.

I could eat an entire cake or an entire batch of chocolate chip cookie dough in one sitting. I know all about not being able to live without sugar. I know it's draw, it's attraction, it's soothing sweetness. I also know the insane, out-of-control cravings it causes. The wanting more and more sugar. For me, it's a serious addiction.

You can do anything you set your mind to, and you can live without added sugar in your diet. Trust me, if I can do it, anyone can live sugar free.

Great article
I haven't read the entire article yet, but it looks really good. It's about re-gaining weight, something we can all relate to. Check it out - When Fat Comes Back, March 2010 Women's Health.

Getting control

It's been eight days since I've posted anything. I don't have an explanation as to why I've been so silent. I didn't fall into a vat of Easter chocolate, or have some sort of out-of-control eight crazy day binge.

Actually, it's been the opposite. I'm finally figuring out how to do this, after forty years of trying to eat healthy, the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place.

Weighin 4/3/2010:  170.4

Weekly loss:  0.6 pounds

Total loss:  -69.0

My goal for the week was 169.6. I didn't make it, but that's okay. Considering I was 181.2 four weeks ago on March 6, that's an eleven-pound loss for the month of March. Not too bad for someone that's been going the wrong direction with her weight for the past several months.

I finally feel at peace with my new way of eating. There are a few new things I'm doing that has really helped with my food cravings and binges. I haven't had a binge since I made these changes four weeks ago. It's been a miracle.

1. No added sugar
2. Seven to eight hours of sleep a night
3. Less processed foods
4. Mini-meals and eat more often

Sugar
Avoiding added sugar has been the easiest for me. The first few days without my beloved Weight Watchers ice cream bars was hell. Even after the first week of being sugar free, I almost bought a box. I'll always be addicted to sugar, but as long as avoid it as much as possible, it's losing it's hold on me.

Sleep
Getting enough sleep is difficult. Mainly because it really cuts into my free time. Between working full time, working out for at least an hour a day (usually an hour and a half), and preparing healthy food, plus sleeping eight hours, there really isn't much time left during a normal week day.

I've finally realized the importance of sleep. Maybe I miss out on a TV show I wanted to see, or I can't read as many blogs or even post on my own blog, but it's made a huge difference in my binging and weight loss to actually get enough sleep every night.

Processed foods
I still eating processed foods, but I'm a lot more conscious about what's in the processed foods I'm eating. Not all processed food is created equal.

About four weeks ago I was making my favorite Weight Watcher recipe for chicken fajitas. I was crunched for time, trying to get to bed by 8:30pm after getting home at 7pm. I had purchased frozen fajita vegetables. Normally I use fresh bell peppers and onions, but I keep a frozen fajita vegetable mix on hand when I'm in a hurry.

As I was stir frying the vegetables I was reading the label. I wondered why there was 35 calories a serving and each serving was only 1/2 cup. Bell peppers and onions are extremely low in calories.

I read the label: Red peppers, yellow peppers, green peppers, onions, corn syrup. CORN SYRUP! What the hell was corn syrup doing in my vegetables?! The rest of the ingredients (and there were several) were mostly unpronounceable. Now I understood the 35 calories per 1/2 cup.

There are frozen bell peppers and onions without added corn syrup. I'd just been picking up a package without actually reading the ingredients. It's all processed food, some of it is healthier.

Mainly I'm paying more attention to what I'm eating. For example, I traded out my Oroweat Sandwich thins for a slice of Dave's Killer bread. The calories are almost the same, but Dave's bread is a much better choice (see ingredients list for both at the end of this post).

I'm not talking "clean eating". I've read the book on clean eating, and if I had all the free time in the world, I doubt I would spend that much time shopping for and preparing my food. I'm talking about "cleaner" eating. Cutting out as many of the chemicals and additives as possible without making preparing our meals my full-time job.

Six Mini-meals a day
We've heard this for years, eating smaller meals more often. I've been following Lyn's blog about eating six smaller meals a day on her MediFast plan. I decided to give this a try on my Weight Watcher plan.

It's not easy because it seems like I'm eating all the time. Sometimes meetings at work get in the way, or something comes up, but it's my goal to eat about every three hours.

My lunch and dinner are smaller these days, but my snacks are more significant. I try to always eat a carb and a protein together. I'm making sure I get 65 grams of protein a day. These complete snacks/meals with the carb and protein really help me feel satisfied.

Conclusion
None of this is new information. I've known all these things most of my life and you probably have too. The only thing that's new is that I'm actually making it part of my life.

It's been four weeks since I incorporated these changes and it's made a huge difference. The craving for sugar that was once uncontrollable is gone. The starving-to-death hunger I felt on a daily basis is mostly gone too. Sometimes a meal will be delayed, then I'll feel that old familiar hunger that makes me feel crazy. Fortunately it happens a lot less often now.

I'm pretty sure someone will comment, asking how can I live without ever having a cookie again or a piece of candy? The same way a recovering alcoholic can never have a drink again. I'll probably slip, but my intent is to give up sugar completely. I know this won't work for everyone, but it works for me.

I feel like I'm in control these days. This is something I can do for the rest of my life. It turns out it's not about total deprivation; it's about eating healthy food, eating it more often, but in reasonable amounts. Totally do-able.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Which do you think is the better choice?

Oroweat Sandwich Thins ingredient list (also called Arnold's depending where you live):

WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR, UNBLEACHED ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR [FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, REDUCED IRON, NIACIN, THIAMIN MONONITRATE (VITAMIN B1), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), FOLIC ACID], WATER, CELLULOSE FIBER, WHEAT GLUTEN, YEAST, SUGAR, CRACKED WHEAT, RYE, POLYDEXTROSE, SALT, GROUND CORN, CANOLA AND/OR SOYBEAN OIL, PRESERVATIVES (CALCIUMPROPIONATE, SORBIC ACID), GRAIN VINEGAR, GUAR GUM, CULTURED WHEAT FLOUR, BROWN RICE, OATS, MONOGLYCERIDES, SOYBEANS, TRITICALE, BARLEY, FLAXSEED, MILLET, CITRIC ACID, SODIUM STEAROYL LACTYLATE, SUCRALOSE, SOY LECITHIN.
 
Dave's Killer Bread ingredient list (Powerseed, my personal favorite):
 
INGREDIENTS: Organic whole wheat flour, organic cracked whole wheat, water, seed mix (organic flax, organic ground flaxseed, organic sunflower, organic unhulled sesame, organic pumpkin, and organic black sesame seeds), organic fruit juices (organic pear, organic pineapple, organic peach), organic oat fiber, organic vital wheat gluten, organic oats, sea salt, organic cultured wheat, yeast , organic rice bran extract