If Weight Loss is Your Game, Here are a Few Tips

By Dian Thomas

(see original article here)

For you that have been regular readers of my column, you will know that I am on a journey to lose at least 100 lbs and, yes, I would be very happy with more.

My journey began four and one-half years ago. I had been just right when I was young, but when I stopped Physical Education and lived a more passive life, weight began to creep up on me. Then it got a real shot in the arm when I became a regular talent on the “NBC Today Show.” I was invited to parties and trips that had the best food in the world. I did not want to miss a bite, and most of the time I did not. My coach Jackie Keller said that I ate with reckless abandon. Yes, she is right.

One day I woke up and said, enough. I can not pack this around any longer. The biggest thing is that I have had to invest time and energy to make a life style change. No, it did not happen over night. Yes, many times I wanted to give up. The most important thing that happened when I wanted to stop was how fast I was able to get back on the track.

In the day that I was eating lots, it was one two-week binge after another, with many days of saying, this was the end and I was going to make that change. If that is you, doesn't despair just mark the journey? I will tell you, it has not been easy and still had it challenges. But what I find is if I keep working at it, I have success and do enjoy the benefits, yes, of getting off the floor by myself and walking a block without stopping several times to huff and puff.

Today in my column I would like to share some of the things that I am doing right now to keep on the journey. Yes, I know that it will be a journey for the rest of my life, but what I have found is that I pick up little tips that help me, and when I put them all together, the result is there. I can mow my front and back lawn in the same day, as well as going on a bike ride and working out at the gym. Here are some things that I am working on learning right now.

There are still activities that are very challenging to me. One is traveling. I went on a weekend trip the other day. When I got home, I was up a little in weight, but not bad for where I was at. When I called Jackie Keller, my coach, I told her I thought that I had done pretty well. I was only up a little. What she told me has had a profound effect on me. I have thought of it so much. She said, “If your goal is to lose weight, and you stayed the same or just went up a little, you did not do very well. Boy, did that stop me in my tracks. This week I have doubled my effort and know that I really must get serious about losing weight and change my belief system.

While on a trip this summer, I heard a saying about exercise. It went like this. There are only two times that you have to exercise to lose weight. You have to exercise when you want to and when you do not want to. This message brought home how important exercise is. As one of my friends who gets up and jogs at 4 AM in California said, “I do not like to do it, but I like what it does for me.”

One of the best things that has helped me, along with selecting the right foods, is portion control. I remember when I used to sit down to eat one tablespoon of reduced calorie peanut butter. Fifteen tablespoon later I would decide I should quit. I have two helpers in portion control. The first is a scale that I picked up so that I can weigh my portions. Often that is the easiest and fastest way to do it. The other are boxes of Ziploc sandwich bags that I buy on sale at Costco. They end up costing about 1 cent a peace. Here are some of the portions that I use.

Snack. 2 T. raisins and 10 almonds. I put this in the zip lock sandwich bags so I am ready when I need a snack. This is great on trips.

The basic meats that I eat are dark meat turkey hamburger, white chicken, pork loin, fish, and smoked salmon. The smoked salmon is portioned in 2oz. portions. The other are measured on the scale in 4 oz portions. I even form the hamburger and put it into the bags. In my freezer I have a box for each. I just take out the portioned meat and put it in the refrigerator two days before I plan to use it.

Most of the time I use the portions that are listed on the container.

I eat three meals a day and three snacks a day. That way I keep my metabolism with fuel all the time. My blood sugar is steady and stays up. I rarely ever get hungry.

When I am invited out and I know that I will be challenged with what will be offered, I take some of my own food in a cooler bag. Last week I was invited to attend a luau. I knew that I would have challenges. I had a cooler bag with good food. I went though the line and only took what was appropriate, and then I opened up my bag and served myself my food that I had in healthy portions. I must say that all my friends know that I am working on this project and are very supportive when I am invited to their homes to eat.

If I am going to a family birthday party, I know that ice cream and cake will be served. On the time when I do not take my own dessert, I have a very hard time and sometimes weaken. Often I will take a 100 calorie yogurt. When I am eating my food that I like and enjoy, I do not care about what others are eating. The problem I have is when I have to sit and watch them eat. That rarely works for me.

At the store, I do not like to buy processed food. What I find is that there is usually too much sodium and often too many calories for me. I know that I checked on a chicken noodle soup can, and if I ate the whole thing, one can would be my entire daily allotment.

Find an activity that you can have for a hobby. The more that you move, the better it is. As one friend said, “motion is lotion.” Young ones will not know about this, but if you are over 50, you will know what I am talking about.

Always be on the look out for good food that you like. Today I stopped at a fruit stand to check on what they had. They had three bottles of healthy salsas. I bought all three to try and see if I could find something that I liked. I have been bottling tomatoes for the winter. The garden chili sauce was not great, nor was the corn salsa, but the black bean salsa was great. Tomorrow I will make it and freeze it for the winter.

Stopping for Ice cream was a pastime of mine. I would drive by my favorite store and it seemed to say, “Dian I have a wonderful shake waiting for you.” Now, that is totally off limit, but what I have done is found a replacement, and now I often enjoy it as one of my snacks. I freeze a cut-up banana and put it in one of my sandwich bags in the right portion. I put 1 ½ cups of milk in the blender and the cut up banana with a little vanilla and blend. What a wonderful treat that is at the end of the day.

Well, there you have a few of my tips that have helped keep me on track. I believe you have to find foods that you like as much as the food that you used to eat. When you do that and keep the portion right, you WIN.

If you have a tip that you would like to share with me please email it to dtc@dianthomas.com. I will look for some great tips from you.

During the past 25 years, Dian Thomas has delivered more than 5000 media appearances. She is the author of 18 books, including the New York Times Best Seller Roughing it Easy, which has sold more than a million copies. She was a network reporter — for eight years — on NBC’s Today Show. Tom Brokaw, NBC’s news anchor, said, “Dian made her network television debut on NBC’s Today Show and quickly became one of our most popular featured performers. Dian has some of the most spectacular ideas you can possibly imagine.”

She appeared on the NBC’s Tonight Show as well as several times on ABC’s Good Morning America and then went on the make weekly appearances for six years on ABC’s Home Show.