Yes, that's me, and no I don't have hydrophobia but I did make a startling discovery.

I tend to graze at night. I know I shouldn't, and I tell myself I won't and I've been very good about either having a cup of hot tea when I've got the munchies, or sugar free jello with a dollop of fat free Cool Whip. However, the desire is always there and it takes all my "won't power" not to give in to the temptation.

I am not a person who can do moderation. I'm either all in or not at all. Usually a small portion of whatever I'm craving turns into a bigger portion and the next thing I know it's all gone. (except for the lingering evidence of my dietary indiscretions that are forever on my hips and backside!)

I have discovered that if I brush my teeth after my cuppa tea at night it seems to signal my brain that the mouth has shut down for business till morning. If I do eat something after brushing my teeth it never taste good so why bother. It's so simple , yet it seems to work for me.....Who Knew?

Daisy Dilemma: What "tricks" have you discovered that help you from over eating?

Labels: simple tricks that work

I just finished writing a post about what is your greatest temptation food wise and now I've got cake on the brain.

I drank a nice glass of water.....it didn't help.

I ate a crunchy fiber filled apple....it didn't help.

I pictured myself thin and healthy....it didn't help.

I prayed that God would take away the temptation....God said, "relax you don't have any cake in the house and my grace is sufficient for you". That did help!

We had prayer day today at the mission and it was awesome how God is working in North Korea! Some days I feel like a spiritual pygmy!

Daisy Dilemma: What do you do when you have cake on the brain to distract yourself? Or do you give in to the impulse ?

Labels: Cake on the brain

I feel like the cartoon pretty often! Yesterday was a busy day at work and today has been too. I worked this morning packing and moving boxes that were 30 and 40 pounds so I think I got my strength training in for the day.

I still get up and move every hour and walk up and down a flight of stairs every hour. I would love to report that my butt dropped off with all this exercise but it hasn't.

Yesterday I was telling the Lord that I needed new underwear since mine no longer fits and guess what came in the mission? If you said, new underwear that fit me exactly give yourself 5 points and high five to God. I got a really nice black lacy bra that hugs my curves just exactly right, plus it's pretty. I made the mistake of showing it to Mr. Wonderful this morning and now when he looks at me he blushes. (Isn't that the cutest thing?)

If I weighed myself every day I would know that I dropped another pound but since that sounds obsessive compulsive I'll wait to report my weight loss next Monday.

Daisy Dilemma: Do you reward yourself for losing weight? for exercising? If so what is your reward system?

Labels: not so terrible Tuesday

Ok, it's the dreaded Monday morning again....the day all diets start and my weekly weigh in. I was down by three pounds and the picture on the left should give you an idea about how I feel about it!

I won't lie to you it was a hard week. Dieting to me is a full time job. I made good choices but it wasn't always easy.

I'm still adjusting to my eating limitations and learning not to push the boundaries. I'm learning to stop before I'm full. I'm learning what foods I tolerate better than others and I'm learning to let my mind control what I eat and not my eyes!

I'm also learning that I do better when I record what I eat (the good, the bad, and the ugly). I'm starting to see patterns in my eating and overeating so can start to formula a plan to counteract my emotional eating.

I'm three pounds away from letting my "little ole lady avatar" start walking again. Hope she still remembers how to go forward. Poor dear probably became arthritic waiting for me to come to my senses.

We went to a movie yesterday ( a rare treat) and then out for over priced coffee at Barnes and Noble. I found out they have "skinny" lattes and frappacino's (about a third of the regular calories). It tasted the same to me so I'm thrilled that I can have an occasional treat without totally blowing my calories for the day.

Daisy Dilemma: What's your favorite indulgence food wise? What's your favorite indulgence non- food?

Labels: Weekly weigh in

Now why didn't my doctor ever tell me this?

Sorry Leslie, you were on your own this morning. I looked at the clock at 6 a.m. and turned over with a groan.....yesterday was a little too much exercise. I was lifting 30 and 40 pound boxes most of the day and my back, arms and legs are talking to me today.

Today is a cold gray and I've been chilled most of the day in my office. I'm clock watching right now thinking about my nice warm house and a hot cup of tea.


My eating was good today but then it always is while I'm at work. The snack attacks occur at night. I've got all my meals planned out and I know what I'm eating tonight. I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm not really hungry and if I am reach for a healthy snack.

Daisy Dilemma: Do you exercise every day or try for 3 days a week?

Labels: just do it

I managed to drag my body out of bed again this morning at 6 a.m. It wasn't pretty and I felt very much like the daisy on the left. After a morning cup of coffee I did a two mile walk in my living room with Leslie Sansone. Mr. Wonderful walked the first mile with me, smiled sweetly and said, I'll have to work up to the second mile.

The rest of morning went pretty much like yesterday. We were pleased to get to work a few minutes early so we could prepare for the volunteers coming in to help us sort and box hospital linens for Haiti.

We had 21 people arrive to help with the Haiti relief project. It was hard work trying to keep ahead of the group to make sure every one had something to do. We ended up processing 3 pallets of hospital linens. I didn't have to worry about getting my 10,000 steps in today. I already have over 15,000.

Today is my carb up day. I had extra thin pizza for dinner and treated myself to a peppermint patty. I love carb up days. I figured the two extra miles today would definitely help compensate for the extra calories.

Hope your day went well. Looks like we are in for snow tomorrow.

Daisy Dilemma: How come commitment to exercise never gets easier?

Labels: A good day

I actually got up at 6:15 this morning. It was hard but I dragged myself out of bed with the same enthusiasm that the Dunkin Donuts man used to have in the commercials...."Gotta go make the donuts!"

Actually had I thought of donuts in my early morning stupor I might have been a little more energetic at my approach to walking with Leslie.

Mr. Wonderful had a wonderful cup of coffee waiting for me which helped. My heart doesn't start beating till I've had a cuppa joe in the morning.

By 6:35 I was dressed, finished with my coffee and in front of the TV to go walking with Leslie. She was her usual chirpy self and told me that I had made a good choice today. One mile into the two mile walk Mr. Wonderful decided to join me. It tickled me watching him trying to balance, move his arms, and legs all at one time. At the end of the second mile he had to admit it was much harder than it looks.

We finished by 7:05. He headed for the shower while I made breakfast. Southwest egg beater with red, and green peppers. I threw in some fresh mushroom and some low fat shredded cheese since I was thrilled that Mr. Wonderful had actually joined me walking this morning. I microwaved a couple strips of turkey bacon and we had a wonderful morning feast.

After breakfast, he put the dishes in the dishwasher and went out to put wood in the stove while I took my shower and dressed. We both made lunch to take with us, had our daily devotion and prayer time and out the door before 8 o'clock.

Wow! I can't say it will happen every day but we were both quite pleased with the experiment this morning.

So far the day has gone quite well.

Daisy Dilemma: Do you celebrate daily victories or do you celebrate only if the scale moves?

Melli Moment: In regard to your question about my recent weight gain. I had lost down to 214 but hadn't moved my little walker lady (so it's not quite as bad as it looks. ) And yes, this seems the blog where only we communicate! When are you thinking of taking your cross country road trip. I mentioned it to Mr. Wonderful and he just smiled. It was a Mona Lisa kind of smile so haven't figured out if it was good or bad.

Labels: Woo Hoo

A whole week has gone by and I jump on the scale expecting a 16 pound weight loss just like the book promised. Did it register 16.....no, but maybe it registered 16 on the Richter scale. The floor did shake a bit and I'm sure the scale groaned as much as I did when I saw the number.

I lost 2 pounds which is pretty good considering my Carb up days were rather extravagant. I was doing really very well as long as I recorded every mouthful and was diligent to walk with Leslie (I know, I know....you told me so Leslie!)

Tuesday, was the earthquake in Haiti and being the emotional eater I am , I ate even when I wasn't hungry. I ate till I finally heard that all our friends were alright and no one was injured. The rest of week has been full of activities trying to coordinate items for relief shipping.

I'll take the loss and say "Thank you Jesus". I'm back on the straight and narrow again, recording my activity and food choices. You won't see my little ole lady move till I get rid of the extra 12 pounds. I definitely do not back her up....poor dear has trouble going forward so I don't want to confuse her.

My plan for the week is to clean out my guest room and put my stationery bike in there so I can use it on a daily basis. Right now it's on the porch and a little too breezy to work out. (hmmm....bet I would move faster if I worked out on the porch!)

Stay away from my Red light foods (foods that tend to control me rather than me controlling them.) Exercise every day with a two mile walk with Leslie. Get up an hour earlier to get that walk in. Walk up and down the stairs at work every hour. Keep up my food journal daily.
Weigh weekly instead of every day.

Daisy Dilemma: Do you look thinner if you run around with thin people or with fat people?

Labels: week in review

1. Eat every three hours. (Finally, the number one tip that I can really follow!) "This simple strategy has been shown to melt as many calories in a day as a 30-minute workout. That's becau8se every time you eat, there's a rise in core temperatures that burns calories. Eating several small meals triggers many metabolism -revving spikes throughout the day.

2. Make the first meal of the day "chewy". During sleep, metabolism slows as the body "fasts", and a liquid breakfast does little to get calorie burning going again. "Chewing is necessary to fully stimulate the digestion, saliva production and enzymatic action that fire up the body's furnace." No more breakfast shakes for this girl!


3. Snack on grapefruit. This powerful metabolism booster and insulin regulator keeps carb cyclers losing at a fast and steady clip. On carb down days, add half a grapefruit to breakfast and lunch; on carb up days, add half a grapefruit to dinner and have the other half for a bedtime snack.

4. Make oatmeal your staple starch carb. Thanks to its superior fiber content, this breakfast favorite boosts levels of the appetite-suppressing hormone cholecystokinin. ( And oatmeal carbs won't stick to you hips!)

5. Stick to these portions. To easily setimate serving sizes without weighing every morsel of food, carb cyclers use the size of their fist as one serving of carbs ( including grains, veggies, fruit, beans and bread), their palm as one serving of protein and size of a soda-bottle cap, as one serving of fats.

6. Fill up on ultra-low carb veggies. Eating unlimited quantiest of asparagus, broccoli, lettuce, mushrooms, spinach and radishes ensures hugner is never an issue.The sugars in these high-fiber options enter the bloodstream slowly, prolonging fullness.

7. Opt for quality protein. Eggs, whey, lean meats, fish and unsweetened nut butters have a high termic effect of food-the body expends five times more calories digesting them than it does processing protein, fat or carbohydrates. Carb cyclers get the slimming effect by eating on serving of healthy protein at least four times a day.

8. Enjoy warming spices. Cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves are thermogenic, so eating just 1/2 tsp. daily raises body temperature to rev metabolism by up to 78 percent. That means that more calories are burned even at rest.

9. Move your body every hour. Many of the women who lost big on this plan report that they had no time for exercise. The beauty is they slim without it just by doing a smidgen of activity once every hour. According to research in the journal Diabetes, micro-fitness prevents metabolism slowdowns and deeps blood sugar stable, warding off weight gain. Try pacing while talking on the phone or rappidly tapping your feet football drill style for 30 seconds.

10. Get more fat-burning L-carnitine. This amino acid compound transprots stored fatty acids to cellular mitochondria, which burn that fat for fuel. L-carnitine is also proven to reduce hormone-induced cravings in peri-menopausal and menopausal women. It is found in beef, poultry, fish, eggs, mild and cheese, but to get the study-backed dose of 300 tp 1,000 mg,, consider taking top -rated Now L Carnitine Liquid 1,000 mg.

Daisy Dilemma : All but the last one sound reasonable. I should do some research on the last one though.

From the Magazine Article " Drop 16 lbs this week"

Labels: Something to consider

Well the new year is here and it's time to stop over eating and get back into healthy. I managed to gain 14 pounds from Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. So it's time to stop the insanity and get back to doing what I know to do.


My sister bought me the Biggest Loser Complete Calorie Counter which has really been helpful especially for knowing what to order when eating out. So I am recording what I eat and researching the calories as well. I am much more aware when I record my eating. It is also helping me remember to drink water. I can't eat and drink at the same time so I forget to drink.

Mr. Wonderful gave me a hot pink Bubba Keg (32 oz) that I keep on my desk and drink through out the day. Being Hot Pink it is not easy to overlook.

I'm wear my pedometer everyday and am pushing myself to get in 10,000 steps every day. I've blown the dust walk of my Leslie Sansone Walking away your hips and thighs and have been doing the two mile walk every day (well since Monday) and even started using the toning bands 3 times a week.

So far it's resulted in sore muscles especially when I go to sit or stand (so at least the right muscles are being targeted!)

I'm into Carb Cycling now (as of Monday) which is working pretty well so far.

Week 1 and 2

Carb down for 4 days each week (such as Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday)

On those days, have low-carb meals, and whey shakes at any time, plus one serving of starchy carbs ( such as oatmeal, pasta, rice, sweet potatoes, beets or carrots ) before 3P.M. Limit fat intact to one serving of healthy oils (like olive oil or flaxseed).

Carb up for two nonconsecutive days, (say, Wednesday and Saturday), having three carb meals- one before 3 PM, and two after 3 PM. You can really let loose on carb up days, enjoying pizza, ice cream, cake....even alcohol.

For the remaining "baseline day" ( for example, Sunday), eat two carb meals before 3 Pm and have 3 servings of healthy oils.


Excerpt from First Magazine Oct.26,2009

Labels: New goals, New Year