MyWeightLossForLife.com

Archive for May, 2008

This is a great recipe that’s very versatile. Use whatever meat and vegetables you have on hand, and you can get a unique meal each time.

Cook one cup of dry rice (either brown or white) as you normally would. While that’s boiling, work on your meat and vegetables.

I like to do this dish with chicken or with only vegetables, but you could use beef or pork too. A lean cut of meat works best.

1. Slice one chicken breast thinly and stir fry in olive oil. Remove it from the skillet when it’s done.
2. Add any vegetables you like to the skillet and stir fry those as well. I like to use onions, red and green peppers, corn, celery, broccoli and spinach. If you’re in a hurry, use a bag of frozen vegetables instead.
3. When they’re almost done, add a can of diced tomatoes with the juice. If you like spicy food, use tomatoes with green chilis.
4. Add the cooked rice and chicken.
5. Add a little chicken stock or water with a bullion cube.You’ll want just enough liquid to allow the dish to simmer for a few minutes without boiling dry.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste. I like to also add a bay leaf and parsley and some hot sauce.
7. Cook until everything is heated through and most of the liquid has boiled out.

I like to fix a big batch of this and take if for lunch two or three days. It’s a great way to get plenty of vegetables for lunch, and if you use brown rice, it’s also okay for diabetics to eat.

Take this for lunch, and you’ll have people asking what smells so good!

Getting to a healthy weight isn’t just about dieting and exercise. Many things in your everyday life contribute to your weight and your health. Clutter is one of them. Whether it’s the clutter in your floor, in your head, or on your hips, all have a similar source and need to be dealt with.

Physical clutter

Is your clutter a result of trying to keep too many things? Things you don’t need, use or even want any longer? Have you ever thought about why you keep so many things? Sometimes people tend to hoard items that have sentimental value. Or perhaps you grew up poor and are afraid to throw anything away. Maybe there are gifts you don’t like, but you can’t give them away because someone you care about gave it to you.

I doesn’t matter WHY you’re keeping too much stuff. The important thing is that you think about why you’re keeping it. If you’re not sure, start throwing things away and listen to the mental “chatter” that goes on as you resist getting rid of your things. As you go through this exercise, you’ll start to get a better idea of why you’re having trouble getting rid of things.

You’ll hear yourself thinking things like

• I may need it
• It’s my favorite (shirt, skirt, shoes, etc.)
• My (friend, mother, husband, etc.) gave it to me, so I want to keep it
• My (friend, mother, husband, etc.) gave it to me, and I’ll hurt their feelings if I get rid of it
• I paid too much for it to get rid of it

Mental Clutter

Once you recognize why you’re plagued with physical clutter, think about how that affects you mentally, particularly with your weight. Do you hoard because you’re afraid you’ll be without them some day? Could that be a reason you overeat?

Or maybe you keep items for sentimental reasons, or because they were gifts. Do you eat to please others (socially). Of do you eat certain foods because they bring back memories or good feelings?

Here’s a big one… Do you fear the changes that decluttering may bring? Are you afraid of what your life will be like if you lose weight?

When you resist giving away clutter, use some of these techniques.

• If you haven’t needed it in the last year, you’re not likely to. Put them in a box, date the box for three more months if you feel you have to, and then throw the whole thing away when the time comes.
• Even favorite items stop being useful eventually. Get rid of it to make room for a new favorite.
• You don’t have to keep every item a loved one gives you. Choose only items that are really meaningful. Take photos of any others if you like.
• You don’t have to tell loved ones that you’ve gotten rid of one of their gifts, just quietly do so and don’t feel guilty about it.
• How much you paid for something doesn’t matter. The money is gone regardless, and if you don’t like it and aren’t using it, it’s clutter.

I tend to keep things for sentimental reasons, and that goes hand in hand with my emotional eating. I eat to comfort myself, particularly when I’m stressed, and I keep things around me that comfort me as well, often long past their usefulness.

Look around your house and think about how much you own and whether you’re hoarding or not. As you examine why you tend to keep things, you’ll get clues as to why you tend to gain weight. Working on one will often help you with the other.

I need to get back on track developing my habits, so I’m going to bring back the monthly habits post here on the blog.

For this month, I want to do two things.

1. start weighing again daily
2. stop eating sweets at work

Unfortunately, I’ve gotten back into the habit of eating sweets with lunch and/or from the vending machine. My goal this month is to give that up.

I’ll post periodic updates to let you know how that’s coming for me.

If you’ve been reading for a while, you know that I believe that dieting isn’t a very productive thing to do. Instead, I’ve worked on changing my habits gradually, and I’ve taken off about 30 pounds in the last year.

My advice on starting a new habit? Pick one and work on it for an entire month. Anything more than that is going to be overwhelming. Choose something that’s doable. Notice that I didn’t say I’d give up sweets entirely for the month, just not while I’m at work. That’s better than what I’m doing now, and it’s a good step along the way without being too much at once.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to do with this blog. To be honest, I just don’t have a lot to say about diet and exercise that’s not old news for most people. If you’re interested in this topic, then you probably know HOW to lose weight. It’s the doing that gets tricky.

So… I’m planning on branching out a bit. As I’ve talked about before, I think our attitudes play a big role in our weights, more so than our diet and exercise habits really. I plan to start writing more about those types of issues, which I think will give me better fodder for the blog. 

You’ll still see the tips and recipes just like now, but you’ll be seeing more articles about other issues like stress management, positive attitudes, dealing with negative people, etc., with a weight loss slant.

I’m looking forward to the new direction, and I hope all my readers enjoy it too.

The last few weeks have been busy. Knitting for my Mom’s Mother’s Day present has taken up practically every spare moment. And no, I still didn’t finish it in time.

I do have quite a few updates. We have two new kittens, I had a birthday, and lots of other things are going on. I’ll do a “real” update as soon as I can.