Halfpounder’s Blog

So I get on the scale again this morning (because I blew off my weigh-in yesterday… slept in, whatever) and I’m up a total of 15 pounds from my best weigh-in a month or so ago. A little depressing…. but I can do this.

I’ve done real well on the bike rides: three days in a row! I’m going to get out every day. I have physical therapy scheduled the next two Mondays and I have a session scheduled with my personal trainer on Tuesday.

I also journaled my breakfast this morning and will get back in the regular routine of writing down my food. Good nutrition and exercise—that’s how you do it. I have proven it works, now I just need to get back in my dedicated mode.

I read another good article from Jillian today. It is in answer to a question asked about skipping meals. Weight Watchers approaches the idea in their new Momentum Program by tracking your levels of satisfaction. A six point scale from starving hungry to Thanksgiving feast bloated (last part described in my own words) all designed to help you be more in control of when and how much you eat. The other part of the equation is that being in control might allow you to make better nutritional choices.

The goal is to keep you at a level of satisfaction that’s as constant as possible: never too hungry and never over-full. The logic is if you are never famished you will be more likely to chose what you eat more carefully. I know everyone of you reading this blog knows what I’m talking about. You skip a meal and you are out driving around in your car and pass a fast food joint. Before you know it, you’ve stopped and you are stuffing your face with a cheeseburger (or something equally as obnoxious.) Would you make the same decision if you were not feeling so hungry? I doubt it. You would probably say to yourself, “Hmmm, I’m feeling a bit hungry. I’ll have to fix something when I get home.” Then once in your safe environment of home you will choose something more nutritious for yourself to eat.

So read this article and see if it makes any sense to you. I like to plan eating about every three hours. They are not always big meals. Sometimes I will just grab some fruit and a handful of nuts. The idea is to help maintain the feeling of satisfaction and avoid becoming beastly hungry. (I used beastly because the inner out-of-control eating me is a beast to my diet.)

Have a great Sabbath. Get out and breath some fresh air today and eat an extra piece of frui

Your good friend in healthy living,

Kirk

Losing It with Jillian, Online with Jillian Michaels, Sunday, June 28, 2009
by Jillian Michaels

SUNDAY: ASK JILLIAN

Okay to Skip Meals?

Question: I’m trying to learn to listen to my body and eat only when I am hungry, and sometimes I just don’t really want anything to eat. Is it okay to skip meals or to eat fewer than the recommended calories?
Answer: You should NOT skip meals. There are so many adverse effects to skipping meals. Not only does it slow your metabolism but it can also lead to overeating, because when you do eat, you’re overly hungry.
As for cutting your calories below your recommended allowance, remember this golden rule: Never allow your daily calorie allowance to fall below 1,200 if you are a woman and 1,500 if you are a man. Falling below these daily allowances can do real damage to your metabolism and result in excessive loss of lean muscle tissue. When you dramatically reduce your calories on a consistent basis, it can slow your metabolism or trigger a plateau.

Consistent exercise — plus the occasional high-calorie day — will help ward off a plateau.
Now, provided you are not going below the 1,200 mark, you CAN drop your daily calories below your usual allowance, but make sure that you are exercising and taking the occasional high-calorie day to help you avoid a plateau.

JILLIAN’S TIP OF THE DAY
Eat Every Four Hours

I want you to eat every four hours — breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. This way of eating keeps your stomach from rumbling and your metabolism happy. Starve yourself for any portion of the day and you cheat yourself out of a bump in your metabolic rate. When you first start to eat every four hours, you might find that you’re not very hungry when the four hours are up. But that’s the idea — you don’t want to be famished by the time you eat again. You want to head off extreme hunger, which is a signal that your blood sugar has dipped too low and will lead to cravings and overeating.