September 19, 2007

Diet Secrets From Guru Gayle

***I've pulled out this golden oldie because I not only need the reminder, but after the day-full-o-discipline I've had, my brain cells have turned to oatmeal.



You know, when the cellulite works its way from my neck all the way down to my calves it’s time to get myself physically back on track. The problem is that my staying-power on a diet is usually about a week, before the siren song of fresh warm brownies breaks through my motivational chants of “Burn it off, baby, you can do it!”



So, since I have an exceptional amount of diet experience (wink, wink) I’m going to share with you my Grace For Gayle Super Exciting Diet Secrets that are sure to keep you right on track. (I’m being silly, but these seriously will help!)





  1. Graph your progress. I use a piece of graph paper and on the left side I have declining weights and on the top I have the dates that I weigh myself. I keep this taped inside my kitchen cupboard. When trying to lose weight, I weigh myself every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with a scale that tells ounces. Then I chart my weight changes and draw lines between the dots to graph my progress. Even when I go down by ½ a lb it makes me feel good to see that I’m actually accomplishing something more than starvation and body odor.
  2. Don’t Deprive Yourself Of The Good Stuff. I NEED CHOCOLATE! It’s just a fact and that’s all there is to it. If I don’t allow myself any treats than the deprivation will finally break me and you’ll find my face buried in a carton of Ben & Jerry’s, making grunting noises. I’ve found that if I eat 5 Hershey’s kisses rather than, ahem, HALF THE BLINKIN BAG than I satisfy my craving without sabotaging my diet.
  3. Eat Your Meals Off A Smaller Plate. I eat off a salad plate. That way my eyes are telling me I’m eating a whole plate full of food while my portion sizes are being controlled. Because, let’s face it, those plates aren’t real big. And by they way, put good stuff on the plate…..baked chicken breasts, fish, go crazy with the veggies. Oh, and twinkies on a smaller plate are still twinkies!
  4. Reward Yourself. Before I even start, I set goals and rewards. For example, when I lose the first 5 lbs I get to order the next book on my To Read list. At 10 lbs I get to go underwear shopping. At 15lbs I get a pedicure. I’m sure it goes without saying that rewarding yourself with say, a Peanut Buster Parfait from Dairy Queen is counterproductive.
  5. Find Out How Many Calories You Should Be Eating. There are a wealth of resources on the internet that you can plug in your current weight, your target weight and see how many calories you should be consuming each day to lose and then to maintain your weight. For me, when I’m trying to lose weight I eat about 1300 well rounded calories a day. By well rounded I mean lots of whole grains, fruits and veggies and protein. If it’s processed in any way it’s probably not a good choice. With the exception of chocolate of course!


Try one or all of these ideas and I just bet your diet will have a longer shelf life than most of the stuff in your fridge.



Oh, and go check out more Works For Me Wednesday ideas at Rocks In My Dryer.

14 comments:

Dawn said...

Those are some great tips. Thanks.

Kathy in WA said...

Great tip, as always! I'm a bit worried as to how I am going to fit exercise into our full-time homeschooling schedule.

Especially when I had a hard time making it a priority during the summer. Ha!

Duckabush Blog

Anonymous said...

I am trying to lose weight, too. Great tips ~ love the charting idea. I must get a scale that counts down to the ounce.

http://tonsofsons.wordpress.com/

Kimberly Mallett said...

Boy, I could have myself a whole lot of books because I seem to lose the same 5 pounds over and over!!!! The first 5 is easy and I LOVE books! LOL

Melissa Markham said...

These are great tips. I think setting reasonable goals is also important. I recently checked out how many calories I needed to eat to maintain, then subtracted 500 calories a day so I would lose a pound a week. I cannot exercise right now due to knee problems, so I made my goal very reasonable. In the last 4 weeks, I have lost 8 lbs.

I also need chocolate. I decided to set up 4 meals a day based on my hunger (breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, and supper) usually with enough calories leftover for a cup of pudding or a snack bar or a piece of fruit. My pudding is usually chocolate. I also buy the Slim Fast Ultima for my afternoon snack. Mix it up with milk and ice in a blender and a banana...yummy milkshake for 330 calories. And it tastes good.

I love the idea of goals and rewards! I need to do that!

penguinsandladybugs said...

These are good, sensible, easy tips...thanks for the reminders!

Unknown said...

Love the idea of eating from a smaller plate. Such a simple idea but it definately works! For some reason, we can't seem to shake the "you have to clean your plate" mindset. So, the smaller plate really helps. Thanks for the tips!

Chelle said...

Great tips! Now if I can just manage to implement them for more than two weeks at a time... LOL :-)

Anonymous said...

Great ideas!!! Are you sure a peanut butter parfait can't be a reward?? I can always start a diet but it's hard to stick to, even if I am seeing results.

Anonymous said...

I love the graph idea! I'm not great at sticking to diets either and I've been ignoring the fact that I need to try again to get this extra weight off.

Okay, okay, I'll give it another shot. :) h

Unknown said...

Loosing weight is so hard. Well, you know.
I think the closer you stay to normal healthy food, the better it is.

Otherwise you'll get jojo-ing, and end up bigger than you want.

Thanks for the tips.

Anonymous said...

Dieting is hard no matter what but these are some great tips to keep on track.

Mrs. Brownstone @ XBOX Wife said...

I especially love #4!!!

Thanks for the great ideas - they are ALL good!

EE said...

You can make it a week??
I can't make it an hour:(

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