Family and Your Weight Loss Plan

How to Incorporate Others into Your “Diet”

Don’t announce that you are going to lose weight. You want to have made some significant progress. I think around 10 pounds is a good starting point to feel confident that you can lose weight. At some point others are going to notice and begin asking if you have lost weight. I truly recommend down playing the situation and let your weight loss speak for itself.

 

Include Family in Menus

 

You do want to include your family in the menu planning. Learning actual nutrients and how to create well-balanced meals and mini-meals is education that should be shared with the entire family. Make sure that you are selecting foods that you and your family love! There is no sense in eating foods that you don’t like. Food is to be enjoyed! Make sure when you go grocery shopping that you have your menus’ figured out and you buy only foods that go together and for which you have a plan.

 

Eating More Often

 

When you are losing weight you will find that you are eating more often than you are used to.  Mini-meals are a great way to get you from one major meal to the other. Some people call them snacks, but I think of junk food when I hear the word snacks, so I prefer mini-meal. Your family and friends may be interested as to what is going on. If you can just let them know you are a little hungry and decided to eat a little something. You should never be full or hungry. Your goal is to always feel just right.

 

Exercise With Others

Feel free to do physical activity with others, including your kids, just don’t associate it with losing weight. Your physical activity should always be about your health and not your weight. Stress management is another advantage of daily exercise. Even a walk after dinner with your spouse can be a nice way to finish the day. I really cannot stress this enough…DO NOT WORKOUT TO LOSE WEIGHT!! Work out daily aerobically and be sure to include weights into your routine switching off between arms and legs daily.

 

Once You Have Lost Weight

 

After you have lost weight you will have changed the way that you and your entire family looks at food and exercise. Remember that losing weight is a solo-project. But, the education of the principles of nutrition and daily exercises are great gifts to share.

 

Sherri Sue Fisher author of TimerDiet and TimerOrganizer

 

 

 

Power of Desire

Power of Desire

The power of desire is only matched by the power of fear.  Fear of getting sick, the fear of ailments, and the fear of the situation getting worse. The problem with fear is that it is in the future…until it is actually in the present, then fear actually becomes desire. The desire to recover from being sick, the desire to be free from an ailment, and the desire to make things better.

Fear is the future. Desire is the present. When you get your desire to make a change stronger than your ability to accept the status quo that is when positive change can happen. Sometimes, you just have to go in faith. Go with your desire, make a plan, and make it happen!

 

Fear of Failure

Sometimes fear of failure can keep us from even trying to live out our desires. I completely understand! When I decided it was time to lose weight I didn’t tell anyone until I had lost 10 pounds. I wanted to make sure that I was able to do this and I didn’t want to start something and then have everyone ask me…how is it coming!! Once I lost 10 pounds I felt confident that I could lose the weight that I wanted which was about 35 pounds. I needed that boost of confidence of those 10 pounds.

Progress

Remember to appreciate your progress! So many times we make progress and then we take it for granted and it slips away. So take time to appreciate your progress but keep your next goal in mind. Stay the course. Know what your plan is and when it is time to transition to maintenance. Don’t underestimate the words, “Good job!” can make to your psyche. Being proud of your own progress is paramount to future success.

Here is to wishing you all the success you desire!

Sherri Sue Fisher, author of TimerDiet and TimerOrganizer

 

 

 

Diet Schmiet

Diet Schmiet

Who wants to go on a diet? No one? I agree! Diets have in them one fatal flaw—there comes a time you need to stop. That is when all the hard work can be undone. The way you eat, needs to be a way of life.

Places to Eat

When you are out and about and hungry do you know the places you will go to get food? When you are hungry is not the time to decide that eating French fries and a double/double cheese burger is not a good idea. Make your menus ahead of time. Know what places have the best options and which of those options you have decided are in your best interest. Almost every restaurant (even fast food) have options that are well-balanced and perhaps by eating only a portion are great choices. The thing is that you cannot guess. You really must go to the website and find out what the nutritional values are.

Eat Well-balanced Meals

Eating well-balanced meals all the time is the easiest way to lose weight and keep the weight off. This means eating approximately the same amount of grams of dietary fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Unfortunately, we do not know what nutrient values food has unless we look them up. We are told, this is bad, this is good, but we don’t really know the nutritional value unless we look them up. Take fruits and vegetables for example. They are considered, good for you. However, fruits and vegetables are primarily carbohydrates, so you must add dietary fat and protein to your fruits and vegetables in order for them to be well-balanced.

How Much to Eat?

That is the question isn’t it? You need to begin to learn to listen to your body and when it starts to feel satisfied. If you feel full, you ate too much. It is a little trial and error at first. Once you get the right feeling you should be able to go anywhere from 2-4 hours without food. If you feel you need to eat sooner than 2 hours then perhaps you did not include enough dietary fat. If you can go longer than 4 hours, perhaps you ate too much dietary fat. If you feel dizzy, you probably had too much in carbohydrates and not enough protein.

Write It Down

Writing down what you ate and when and how you feel is the best way to learn to listen to your body. So go to my website www.timerdiet.com/journal and print out the journals for FREE to track your progress. You will be glad you have the historical information to see how far you have come.

Congratulate yourself along the way. Avoid rewards (they may backfire), but be sure to say to yourself, “Way to go!” when you see some progress.

Sherri Sue Fisher, author of TimerDiet and TimerOrganizer

Colonoscopy

Is It Time For Your Colonoscopy? 

So I took last week off from my blog because I needed to mentally prepare as well as physically prepare for my first ever colonoscopy. I wouldn’t say I am a hypochondriac but I would say I am a realist. I know anything can and will happen in life and you need to prepare. So many of you reading this are not yet in your 50’s which is the age that it is recommended that you get your first colonoscopy (I turned 52 this summer) but you more than likely have parents or grandparents and it  is important to have the discussion if you haven’t already.

Family History

Your family history is important, but so is your family. So if you don’t know if your family members that have reached their 50’s, have had their colonoscopy ask them. Colon cancer is curable if treated early. Plus, as I mentioned in Chapter 1 of TimerDiet it feels so good to get your annual exam and know everything is fine! I have to say for the last two years it has been on the back of my mind. My doctor of 25 years asked me when I turned 50 when I was going to have one. The last time I went in for my annual visit, I made a deal if there wasn’t anything abnormal in my stool sample I didn’t need to go—I passed, so I didn’t get one…but then this summer I got a postcard in the mail from Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Insurance Coverage

I received a post card from Blue Cross Blue Shield that changed my mind. I called about 5 times just to make sure I had everything right: an approved doctor, anesthesiologist, and hospital/treatment center. I asked a lot of questions (as you should, too!) and found out that if I had my colonoscopy before I had any symptoms the procedure did not go against my $7,500 deductible. Yeah! I called back, “Are you sure?” Yes, yes, yes…I think they were glad when I finally believed them. So far so good, the explanation of benefits for the hospital/treatment center came in today and Blue Cross Blue Shield paid all of it. If you wait until you have symptoms or something turns up during your annual exam, then you are not going to be so lucky. So check your insurance coverage and see if it is covered before you must have the procedure.

It Wasn’t Fun…but

I am not going to lie the whole ordeal was not fun, but it also wasn’t awful. Had I to do all over again, I would hydrate more a few days before the process begins, since I got a headache in the middle of the night. The headache was the worst part. Since it affected my ability to keep liquids down and made the morning of the procedure not so fun!  But, the procedure itself was easy peasy, and the prepping (other than the headache) was not as bad as I thought. Having said that, we are all grown-ups and from time to time we have to do things that are not so fun. So if it is time for you to do it—DO IT!! You will feel so good when it is over and you get the “ALL Clear” signal. If for some reason you don’t, more than likely you caught it early enough and the early treatment will have you doing well in no time!

Sherri Sue Fisher, author of TimerDiet and TimerOrganizer

Breakfast is Under Attack

Breakfast Is Under Attack

Or is it? So there was a new study that came out and said that eating breakfast (unknown what they ate for breakfast) did not provide any meaningful data for weight loss. Another day, another study. But, what were the parameters of the study were they allowed to eat anything they wanted for breakfast? Pancakes and syrup? Waffles and whipped cream? Dry sugar coated cereal? When you are told you can eat or not eat and there is no direction there is also no control group.

Let’s Assume

So maybe the group was given a set of choices for breakfast (benefit of the doubt that they were well-balanced) and the other group did not have breakfast. Do we know if the non-breakfast eaters were allowed a mid-morning snack when they were hungry? Or forced to wait it out till lunch? And what were their choices of foods during the rest of day. The same as everyone else or just allowed to eat what they wanted? So much data that is needed to know the background of the study. Also, what were they told about the study? Mindset is as important to weight loss as anything. Did they know what the anticipated results were? Did they know the Doctor conducting the study didn’t like breakfast and was tired of being told to eat breakfast?

Is It All About Losing Weight?

When it comes down to it is breakfast all about losing weight? I eat breakfast every day and I haven’t needed to lose weight for over 5 years.  So I never said that eating breakfast will make you lose weight. Otherwise I would continue to keep losing weight until I was nothing…eating breakfast makes me feel better and I think helps me make better choices throughout the day. I don’t eat a big breakfast usually. Most times it is an egg with some Canadian bacon and a little fruit or veggies in the egg. I also never deprived myself throughout the day just to see if I can lose more weight. Eating is about making you productive during the each day, giving you the ability to think and focus and the energy to do what you need to do and the ability go to sleep at night and start all over again.

Remember that Breakfast is breaking the fast; so no matter what time you do it and no matter what you eat, you need Breakfast!!

Sherri Sue Fisher, author of TimerDiet and TimerOrganizer

www.timerdiet.com

www.timerorganizer.com

Food for Depression

Food for Depression

It is with great sadness that this is the topic of today’s blog. Most of us have been touched in some way or another by the passing of Robin Williams and specifically by his admission of his ongoing depression. On the outset of this blog by no means am I saying that depression can be cured by changing your diet. I am saying that your diet and exercise are important in light of the possibility that it can aggravate or affect your moods and should be your first defense in daily health and well-being.  

Always Seek Medical Advice

If you feel you are venturing into being depressed seek a doctor and don’t let them dismiss you. If you don’t feel you are being taken seriously, continue to seek help.  I myself was concerned many years ago when I spent two days in bed for no apparent reason. When I told the on-call doctor she told me, “Well, if you told me you spent two weeks then I would be concerned, but two days I am not concerned.” Personally I felt she was very dismissive and since she wasn’t my general doctor I decided to just leave and I went home and got on the internet and looked up everything I could including diet and made some changes that helped me.  If you feel a doctor is not taking you seriously seek out another doctor or consider a psychologist that specializes in the area of concern that you have. 

And of course if it is critical call the Suicide Hotline 1-800-273-8255 or go to www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org 

What I Learned About Food and Drinks

Probably the most important thing I learned when I went online was that alcohol and caffeine create a cycle of ups and downs. While many people are able to have both alcohol and caffeine without this side effect creating a more severe cycle of ups and down, it is why we usually drink caffeine (to bring us up) and alcohol (to bring us down). But both can work in reverse and against each other. So if you are sensing that your moods are being affected by either of these it is best to stop for a while and assess the situation without either of them in your system. AGAIN ALWAYS SEEK MEDICAL ADVICE FIRST!

I also learned that foods play a major role in my moods, one food in particular that seems to make me feel better is pistachios. I don’t know if it is taking the time to crack them open or the protein and dietary fat or what, but pistachios have been known to create calmness. Eating foods that are found in nature are your best bet when changing your diet to affect your mood in a positive way. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and legumes, and fishes high in Omega 3. Don’t forget to include some dairy into your daily diet and protein rich and dietary fat foods like eggs and beef. In other words eating basic foods will make you feel better than eating processed foods.

Sugar

If anyone has read my book, TimerDiet you know I am against all artificial, superficial sweeteners. Raw sugar is all I keep around for others to use in their tea and coffee. I keep white cane sugar around for baking and that is about it. If you think you are not affecting your blood sugar by using artificial sweeteners you may be mistaken. My brother-in-law just had a battery of blood tests and specific diagnosing for his blood sugar, they found that when he used artificial sweeteners (his sugar of choice) that his blood sugar went up significantly more than when he used regular sugar…I tried to tell him. But at least now he has scientific proof for him that artificial sweeteners are not ok for him.

Daily Exercise

Even a daily walk for 30 minutes can positively affect your mood. I believe when you exercise it should always be about your health and well-being—NOT about losing weight. If you exercise only to lose weight you will easily talk yourself out of exercising on a routine basis. Set aside 15 minutes every day at first and then increase it to anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes a day. Have a goal in mind as to what you want to accomplish. More stamina to keep up with the kids or grandkids? Get rid of the triceps flab? Show off some biceps? Or do a walk/run 5k for your favorite charity.

There is NO One Cure ALL

When it comes to depression there is not one cure all method or drug or reason or symptom. So I hope my point is made that you must be vigilant in your daily diet and exercise and be aware of your moods based on what you put into your body and if your moods are not consistent with your expectations—seek help!

If you are not sure if what you are feeling is depression there are various websites that provide valuable information and ask you questions to help you decide if you need more help. 

My go to website is www.webmd.com do not hesitate to check out your symptoms.

Sherri Sue Fisher, author of TimerDiet and TimerOrganizer

Back to School Part 2

Back to School – Part 2

For the first two weeks of August we are focusing on Back to School. Last week in the #TimerDiet101 blog the focus was daily exercise and nutrition for children. Earlier this week in the #TimerOrganizer101 blog we talked about schedules and chores for kids and how going back to school can be a great time to evaluate these two important parts of our children’s lives. Today in our last #TimerDiet101 blog devoted just to back to school we are going to talk about teaching kids (and maybe ourselves) about menu planning, nutrients, and cooking!

Menu Planning and Nutrients

Peanut Butter with Raspberries

Menu planning and nutrients go hand in hand. If you don’t understand the nutrients that are in foods it will be impossible to create well-balanced menus. Some foods have labels so they are pretty easy to know what their nutrients are. We all need dietary fat, protein, and carbohydrates in our daily diet. I find the easiest way to handle this is to look at grams equally and try to have approximate equal amount of grams of each in your menus. No more than double; no less than half. Always be sure to have annual physicals for everyone in the family, including the kids! If your doctor gives you specific nutrient guidelines then be sure to follow them!

Write out your menu plans, but be flexible. Perhaps say that Monday is Chicken, Tuesday is Taco Night, and Wednesday is Meat, then add the vegetables and grains you want to include to make sure you have a well-balanced meal. You can even write the menus out on a white board in the kitchen so everyone knows what to expect and be looking forward to dinner time with the family and make suggestions.

Cooking at Almost Any Age

Well-balanced 

Get the kids involved young; kids can start at a very young age with age appropriate things to do in the kitchen. Tossing a salad with wooden spoons in a large plastic bowl, dropping the tomatoes into the salad (after you have them prepared), spreading peanut butter on their bread (with a child’s knife) and mashing raspberries or banana’s (with a spoon or child’s fork) to put on top instead of jelly.

As they grow get them even more involved. While I don’t recommend using chefs knives as young as some do, I did see the Junior Master Chef show and there were 8 year olds who were better chefs than I can ever imagine being. So get the cookbooks out and make dinner preparation a family event! By the time the kids are in their early teens they should be able to, want to, and encouraged to make an entire dinner from beginning to end all on their own. This will be invaluable education that really is not taught anywhere else anymore. When I was growing up (yes another ‘when I was growing up’ story!) we all were required to take home economics in high school. We were taught how to sew one half of the year and cook the other half of the year. We also were required to take a course that taught us how to budget on ledger paper, find a job in the newspaper, and make a timeline for our future.

Just think how proud you will be when your son or daughter makes an entire meal for the family and how much money they will save when they go off to college and don’t have to eat out all the time!

Next Tuesday will be our last #TimerOrganizer Blog devoted just to Back to School—go to blog.timerorganizer.com to sign up for the weekly blog

If you are not sure about the nutrients of your favorite foods check out the USDA government web-site

http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/

Sherri Sue Fisher, author of TimerDiet and TimerOrganizer

Back to School

Back to School

It is Back to School time already! The school supplies, the new shoes, and the clothes to wear—these are our main areas of focus when we think of back to school. But maybe this year can be different. Eating right and exercising daily is not only good for our children’s health and well-being it also affects their ability to learn.

Daily Exercise

Learning requires good nutrition and exercise

It is a known fact that daily exercise helps us with so much more than our physical body. Daily exercise helps with our stress levels, feelings of well-being, and clearing our minds of the day’s events. Our children need to have daily exercise. 

During the summer this is usually an easy thing to have happen. However, as soon as the school books open and the snow begins to fall, it can be all too easy to forget about how much exercise children need. Consider getting them involved in local children activity groups, school sports, off school sports, whatever your family can think of—the sky is the limit.

Some people think it is expensive to be involved in all of the activities and some are expensive, but you can also make money and get exercise. My two oldest grandsons work mowing lawns and herding chickens. They get an amazing amount of exercise and paid! Gardening can also bring financial results while teaching science and providing daily exercise. On top of all this they are involved with their church sports teams and more.  

Daily Nutrition

Be sure when you are sending your kids off to school this year that you truly understand nutrition and make choices that will help your children stay focused throughout the day. A lot of people have what I call a carbohydrate rich breakfast—cereal. More than likely you are not getting enough protein and dietary fat in the morning when they start the day. Consider getting up 5 minutes early and make eggs for breakfast! That’s all it takes to make an egg based breakfast—five minutes!

Lunch time has its challenges as well. Some kids have school lunches and others have school cafeterias or restaurant. There are so many choices and no supervision. Teaching kids why and how to choose wisely is important! Learn what you can about nutrients like dietary fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Each of them have their place in your child’s daily diet. I use the word diet as it is defined in Merriam Webster, “habitual nourishment.” Our kids need habitual nourishment in order to grow and learn.

Snacks are another area that we need to think about what is best for our kids. A well-balanced snack is a great segue to a good dinner. Try something like apples and peanut butter or mini tunafish salad sandwiches or fruit and cheese cubes.   

This School Year

So this year when we are all concerned about our back to school plans make sure that nutrition and exercise is a major part of back to school planning.

The US Government and the NFL have websites to help with ideas on nutrition and how to get 60 minutes of daily exercise for children into each day.  www.fueluptoplay60.com and www.letsmove.gov

Sherri Sue Fisher, author of TimerDiet and TimerOrganizer

Check blog.TimerOrganizer.com next week for Back to School ideas for organization

Don't Let Anyone...

Don’t Let Anyone…

Don’t let anyone decide for you what to eat, when to eat, or how much to eat. So many times we look to someone else to give us the “magic” formula as to what, when, and how much to eat so that we will lose weight. But it doesn’t really work that way, “Why?” you may ask…because you need to learn what is best for you in all cases, at all times. Otherwise you will never have lasting results when it comes to your weight loss. And isn’t weight maintenance the final and ultimate goal?

What Do You Do?

Learn to listen to your body and learn based on trial and error. Learn to listen to your body when you eat and realize when you are close to being full…STOP before then! You want to feel satisfied, NOT FULL. You want to try stopping earlier than you usually do and see how long it takes for you to be hungry again. Be sure to write down what you ate and when you ate. At first you will want to also write down whether you felt you ate too much, too little, or just the right amount. Go to www.timerdiet.com/journal and you can download for free (but it’s copyrighted so don’t sell it!) the daily journals to keep track of what and when you are eating. Remember: Write down your daily eating as a way to educate yourself about you, not as a way to be accountable.

Do NOT Be Accountable to Anyone!

You do not need to be accountable to anyone, doing so will backfire and make you want to just quit. Don’t even be accountable to yourself, you may just feel disappointed. Instead when you are hungry look to what you last ate and when and learn from your notes. Did you not pick the right amount of foods, did you not eat enough, or maybe more time has passed than you thought and it makes perfect sense that you are hungry now! Writing down when and what you ate is for your education not to be accountable.

What to Eat?

Enjoy what you eat at all times, that being said learn the nutrients of all the foods that you love and want to incorporate into your daily diet. Oh by the way the word “Diet” has as its 2^nd definition in the Merriam Webster dictionary—daily nourishment. I love that definition of diet, we all need daily nourishment. On page 47 of TimerDiet I discuss, Explaining the Ratios, in great detail. For now I will give you the quick and easy way to look at foods. Forget everything you have ever been told about grams equaling calories and how dietary fat has different values from protein and carbohydrates…this is all too complicated! Consider each gram of equal status and then try to keep to this motto: No more than double, no less than half. So if you have 10 grams of dietary fat you would want to have no more than 20 grams of protein and/or carbohydrates. Alternatively, no less than half—so no less than 5 grams of protein and/or carbohydrates. Which gives you a lot of leeway for getting the ratios using the TimerDiet method!

Give it a try and see and write down how you feel!!

Sherri Sue Fisher, author of TimerDiet and recently released TimerOrganizer

www.timerdiet.com/journal

www.timerorganizer.com

    

Beverages

Beverages

When we think of beverages we really need to focus on purpose. What is the purpose for what we are drinking? Most of the time when we eat, it is because we are hungry. But, many times our beverages are for a variety of reasons other than thirst. I normally don’t like to link to other peoples blogs, but this particular blog has a lot of scientific information in it which is in particular is what I want to discuss. So here is the link
http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol/AlcoholCaloriesAndWeight.html#.U8mLA19AKhs

 

In the Morning

When you get up in the morning what is your go to drink? More importantly why? For me it is coffee with half-n-half. I love the taste and after four decades of drinking coffee I can’t imagine a morning without it, so there are sentimental reasons, too. I have transitioned the way I drink coffee from my teens when it was half cream/half coffee along with real sugar then to my late twenties after I dabbled with sugar substitutes and decided in a very short amount of time that they were not for me and decided to not partake of any sugar substitutes whatsoever…so I decided to make the switch to NO Sugar at all. I was a little worried, but now if I accidentally get someone else’s coffee with sugar in it, I can’t stand it…so I am definitely converted.

When you drink in the morning are you adding sugars to your beverages? How does this make you feel? Have you tried going without any type of sugar or sugar substitute altogether? If you haven’t, give it a try and write down how you feel with and without the sugar or the sugar substitute.

 

During the Day

Your best bet to get some water into your daily routine is during the day, after your morning beverage of choice and before the evening arrives and the options usually change to more adult beverages. So if your daily beverage of choice is soda, juice, or some combination thereof you need to see how this is affecting you. Have you tried drinking just water during the day? Challenge yourself for one day to drink water during the day (make sure you like the taste of the water you are drinking!) and write down how you feel vs. how you were feeling when you drank all the other non-water beverages during the day. My hope is that you feel more refreshed, alert, and had little impact on your appetite. Sometimes drinking beverages other than water can make you hungry—so give it a try! I like to drink water from noon until about 7 pm until I switch to my evening beverage.

In the Evening

Some look to the evening for their wine, cocktails, and/or beer and this doesn’t appear to affect weight loss adversely if done in moderation (now is the time to look at the link above.) I personally like either red wine or bubbly (sparkling wine or champagne-depending on the occasion) in the evening while alternating with some water. I also make sure that I have a protein rich and dietary fat rich meal for dinner, along with some greens for vegetables. It doesn’t matter how late I eat. If I have already eaten dinner and it is later in the evening I may have some cheese and crackers—either goat cheese or cheddar cheese with saltine crackers. Until it is time to go to bed…

Overnight

When I go to sleep I ALWAYS (I can confidently say always) have water by my bed before I go to sleep. Almost always I get up at some time during the night and have some water. I live in a dry climate, so this could be the reason, but even when I travel I do the same thing.

My Plan

So there it is my daily plan for my beverages: Coffee w/cream in the morning until about noon, then water until about 7 pm and then beginning with dinner wine or bubbly alternating with water, until it is time for bed and then it is back to just water. Make your own plan and see how you feel!

 

Sherri Sue Fisher, author of TimerDiet and TimerOrganizer

www.timerdiet.com

www.timerorganizer.com