Oct
Beat late-night snacking
Well, it was the subject of much discussion last night, so I thought I’d write it down and reinforce a few tips I picked up – see if I can actually incorporate them myself!! Naturally, this kind of discussion comes up frequently during weight loss meetings and I always tend to ask ‘What kind of snacker are you?’ As with everything, half the problem is recognising that there IS a problem. So if anyone out there wants to beat snacking …
What time of day do you tend to snack the most?
What kind of snacks do you reach for?
WHY? (Are you bored? Lonely? Is it simply a habit as soon as you put feet up in front of the TV?)
Next … what are you going to do about it? Because ‘I just can’t stop’ really is a pathetic excuse, isn’t it? Nobody is forcing those snacks into your mouth – other than you. YOU are in control – and if you’ve lost that control, then now’s the time to take it back. Last night, more than anything, we discussed late-night snacking. The trick is to break the cycle so your body isn’t expecting that treat! Here are a few suggestions and they have ALL worked. Trial and error is the only way you’re going to find out which one is going to work for you.
- Drink WATER! Yes, it sounds fairly ridiculous but we usually snack because we ‘think’ we’re puckish. Unfortunately, we so often confuse hunger with thirst, so instead of immediately reaching for the biscuit tin, reach for the kitchen tap instead. You are probably NOT hungry.
- Brush your teeth! There are few of us who like stuffing sticky chocolates and biscuits into our mouths straight after brushing our teeth. Clean teeth feel great and we don’t want to spoil that feeling, so brush your teeth and it’ll give you an extra 20 minutes or so before thinking about snacking again. By that time, well, it’ll be almost bedtime to … just go to bed!
- Go to bed! And yes, I have to admit that I’ve done this time and time again. There’s nothing worse than having a really good day ‘foodwise’ and then sabotaging it at the last hurdle when it’s really not necessary. Before it happens, just take yourself to bed with a good book. You WON’T be hungry – because you weren’t hungry in the first place – and you’ll get a better night’s sleep, too!
- Paint your nails! A great one! Feeling like you want to raid the biscuit tin? Sit down and paint your nails instead. And no – none of that quick-dry stuff. Make sure you have a bottle of slow-drying varnish and apply at least two coats. You CANNOT EAT when your nails are wet. What can be better? You avoid piling on the calories and come away with beautiful nails as well. Beat that!
- Have a bath! Treat yourself! (Oh – and don’t take the biscuit tin up with you – did I mention that?)
It takes 15-20 minutes for a food craving to pass. Make a list of things that YOU can do to fill up those minutes and get rid of the cravings, because we are NOT going to let a simple craving (and that’s all it is – a craving!) to ruin all the effort we’re putting in!
Are we?
Tags: snack, snacking, weight, weight loss
Oct
A laugh a day …
My laugh today comes from a post by a writer on one of my favourite sites: The Write Idea. The topic was about long and ridiculous words for phobias, etc. and his contribution was from Gary Larson. Seemingly, antidaeophobia (fictional) is the fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you.
There’s simply nothing I can add to that without detracting from its silliness.
Oct
Just a beautiful poem
Courtesy of Raymond Carver, here’s a poem that I would probably never have come across, save for being asked to read it at my brother’s wedding. I’m so glad I didn’t miss out. I hope you enjoy it, too.
Cherish
From the window I see her bend to the roses
holding close to the bloom so as not to
prick her fingers. With the other hand she clips, pauses and
clips, more alone in the world
than I had known. She won’t
look up, not now. She’s alone
with roses and with something else I can only think, not
say. I know the names of those bushes
given for our late wedding: Love, Honour, Cherish -
this last the rose she holds out to me suddenly, having
entered the house between glances. I press
my nose to it, draw the sweetness in, let it cling – scent
of promise, of treasure. My hand on her wrist to bring her close,
her eyes green as river-moss. Saying it then, against
what comes: wife, while I can, while my breath, each hurried petal
can still find her.
Oct
Countdown to Christmas
Oh yes, here it comes. It’s the dreaded C word – and with it all that that means (including lousy English, apparently!!?): expenses, expenses, expenses, food, flatulence, loss of will power, loss of motivation, loss of fitness diaries, etc. etc. etc. And I honestly think it all starts with food. The battle begins now and will continue over the next 11 weeks. Can I fit back into that LBD or will the expense start with buying a new one – a size or two larger? Will I lose the weight I want to lose over the next 9 weeks and then, just when I think I’m looking pretty damn good, pile it all back on the week before? Because that’s a real favourite of mine – crashing at the final hurdle. I work and work and work and then as soon as my goal is in sight my brain switches off and I blow it. That comes from my mother, by the way – that ‘you’re never going to make it’ syndrome, that I battle constantly.
Well, you know what? I’ve just decided that I AM going to bloody make it this time. In fact, I’ve done pretty well this year with ‘finishing’. I might not have finished everything exactly where I wanted to, but I finished a number of things and I plan to (excuse repetition) ‘finish’ this year off on a good note, too. I WILL see a 9 on the scales (preferably in the ’stones’ area, not the pounds). It can be accompanied by a 13, but it WILL be a 9.
And how’s this going to come about? Well, I’ve tried a number of magic wands, but I’ll tell you a secret: don’t believe what it says on the box. Magic wands don’t bloody work! What will work is just a little consistency and a whole lot of attitude! If I put my mind to it I know I can do the consistency bit (even if that means that every Saturday is a chocolate day??? – just so long as it’s consistent, right?). Yep. And I picked up a truckload of attitude down at the gym this morning. I found it under the foam roller – a roller that was groaning about as loudly as my knees were. Oh, oh, why were they groaning, I hear you ask? Well, that’d be because I’ve been eating crap for the last month, my knees are f***** and all because I couldn’t keep my face out of the damn fridge. Simples!
But that’s finished now. I’ve got 11 weeks and that’s more than enough time to get back to where I want to be. I’m armed with attitude and ready to go. And I can already hear my knees whispering ‘Thank you’ – not to mention my heart, my lungs and my stomach!
It’s time. ‘Christmas? Here I come!’ I say. I’ll be ready for you.
Oct
Oh, so cruel
This training lark. It’s just so unforgiving, isn’t it? No respite – not even for an oldie-going-mouldy like me. I mean, you’d think you’d get a little bit of compassion, wouldn’t you? But no! I take a couple of weeks off after finishing the third and final triathlon of my first season and, well, do you think I’m just a little bit behind? Have just a bit of catching up to do to get back to my fitness level of three weeks ago? Oh, no! All the way back to bloomin’ Square One! What a nightmare – and so unfair!
It took me forever to get there. It took me months of working out at increasingly hard levels. And in just three weeks it’s all been sucked out of me. Like an excited child hurriedly sucking up the end of his milkshake through a straw because he doesn’t want to be last in line for a go on the new trampoline. Yep! That’s how quickly my efforts have been drained away.
But hey ho! No time to keep whining and moaning endlessly about what’s not going to happen, eh? Just got to get out there and start again. I’m quite pleased, I suppose, that I realised the pointlessness this morning in saying ‘I’ll start Monday’. I mean, why Monday? Why not right now? Yes, I think that’s definitely one point for me! It’s a start at least, isn’t i?
I’m on my way! 40 minutes on the stepper and … well … I was planning on 20 mins of core afterwards but I felt so rubbish I thought I was going to throw up. Pathetic! But …
I’m on my way. Tomorrow will be better. It will. I know it will. Really! Honest!
(If I keep saying it, I might even begin to believe it or, even better, it might even be true?)
I’ll let you know.
Oct
Live theatre – Great!
Well, I thought it sounded good on the tiny blurb I happened to spy a few weeks ago, but I never expected the impact of The Pillowman. It was simply astonishing and I can’t believe I might have missed it. I don’t often go to the theatre – certainly not on my own, but if this is the standard of theatre at the Brighton Little Theatre, then I’m going to be going there a lot more often. Shocking, hard-hitting, it was wonderful that the director gave us this tale of child abuse and murder, brutality and insanity without ‘softening’ the blow. In fact, quite a few people found it too much to handle and there were several empty seats after the interval. Me? I was enthralled from start to finish. My mind ‘wanders’ easily these days, so something has to be extremely gripping to keep my attention and this play didn’t lose me for one second. The acting was astonishingly good. I don’t know how the main character kept up that level of emotion for so many nights running. I was exhausted just watching him! But …
while I’m on the subject of actors, I very often find it difficult watching my ‘friends’ on stage. It was testament to the acting here that my ‘friends’ almost immediately disappeared and became these characters instead. Congratulations to them.
There really is nothing like live theatre that can transport you to other worlds. In this instance, the world was not one I wish to visit on a daily basis, but one that I’m so, so glad I had the privilege of visiting.
Then again, was it the best theatre I’ve ever seen? Erm …………………. Well, there was War Horse, of course …