My Personal Diet Story

I thought I was doing the right thing and following what Jess was telling me to do, changing several things including drinking hot water through the day. And of course the hot lemon water which is quite refreshing.

But of course everything doesn’t go to plan when you think it is… I’ve been following the plan every week, and even when I go out I have been watching everything I eat and drink. I have found it hard to lose the weight. Sure I’ve been losing centimetres around from my bust, hips and waist and yet, losing the kilos had stopped until this week.

So I was surprised when I went to the doctors after having some blood tests done to find that I was almost 6 kilos heavier rather than less and he told me I should cut down the calories. I’m not sure where I can cut down my intake because I am eating the fruit and vegetables that are required each day, my protein intake has reduced (and I was never a big eater) and I hardly eat bread, and yet I enjoy my cereal.

His thoughts were I should try meal replacement – which was my biggest meal of the day? That is a hard question to answer because I have learnt to graze because I still have the lapband in place.

Yesterday my doctor really believed that I sit and eat and eat and eat all day. I wish… I’ve never been able to do that, and I certainly don’t eat big meals because if I do, then I throw up because of my band. You can imagine my surprise when he told me it was time to start a diet. What the hell have I been doing all this time?

I walked out of his surgery feeling like I had failed because I have trouble managing my weight and yet I try every day to ensure I follow the new plan that I’m on. Short of starving myself which caused so many problems before, I’m at a loss as to what my doctor expects.

I had my thyroid checked early December 2006 and now we’re at the end of February 2007 and he wants me to wait 2 more months before I am to have my thyroid checked again. I can’t wait that long. I know there is something not quite right, but then what would I know.

I’m in the process of making an appointment to see my specialist again and I will go from there.

Unfortunately I cannot bring myself to use meal replacements especially when I used them before my thyroid problem was diagnosed and I ended up in hospital for 4 days. I’d dehydrated and couldn’t keep anything down. His response to that was, I should have drank more water…..

I’ve had my vent for the day… and I will continue to work towards losing weight no matter how hard it is.

Toni Livesey

Lifestyle changes don’t mean you have to starve yourself and for some people they know what that is like. Since having a lapband, losing many kilos and discovering that I was malnourished, I’ve discovered how to eat well and how to eat good foods that are healthy.

One of my favourite meals is garlic chili prawns and salad. I start with green prawns and I marinate them in the garlic for a couple of hours. I use green prawn cutlets and I remove the tails before I marinate them in the garlic.

I leave the prawns in the fridge until the salad is prepared because they don’t take long to cook in a hot wok.

Salad consists of lettuce, tomato, beetroot, cucumber and some capsicum. It’s not a big serving. Just enough for me, and just enough for my partner…

I place about a teaspoon of olive oil in the wok and when it is hot empty the prawns into the wok and they immediately start cooking. During this process, I add a little chili oil. It isn’t a lot just a dash because I don’t want the prawns to be full of oil.

The prawns are cooked when they are nice and pink and for some reason I always give them just a minute or two more before serving them out next to the salad.

This is such a simple and easy meal to prepare and cook and it tastes delicious.

Even though I can not eat a lot I like to enjoy my meals when I can…

Toni

Obesity is caused by unhealthy eating combined with sustained lack of activity. If food gives you more calories than you burn, your body turns on the storage program and puts on fat. This is the basic idea behind obesity.

Disorderly eating habits are the top reason why people become obese. With neither the time, nor the inclination to control one’s meals, it’s no wonder people get fat all over the world. Couple that with a sedentary lifestyle where most trips are taken by car and you got a health situation out of control.

Genetics:

Obesity can also be inherited from family members who suffered from it. If your family has a history of obesity, then you would do well to watch your weight.

Junk food:

We are all busy, but this does not mean that we have to eat everything fast food restaurants put before you. Burgers may look good, but they are fat too highly powered got your health. Thing is, a single burger is worth a whole meal, but your body does not judge the situation this way. Your stomach will never be filled by a regular burger, so it will keep asking for more, despite the fact that your body does not need more burgers.

Do you feel like giving up?

Many people try diets and manage to lose a few pounds. But returning to the old lifestyle and eating habits almost always means that weight lost turns into weight regained. Moreover, as diet follows diet, the body gets used to these “lean times” and makes it harder for you to lose weight.

To all this you may add that following a diet for a longer period of time is hard, because you will always crave the forbidden foods. The fact that certain delicious foods are forbidden makes them that much more attractive. A successful diet means adjusting your lifestyle to your needs, especially by making time for more exercising.

This article is courtesy of ProShapeRX

 

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Of course there could be other reasons why you are obese such as an underactive thyroid which can be sometimes unrecognized or misdiagnosed.

Seeing your doctor before making the move to diet is always recommended and if you feel you are desperately trying to lose weight and it isn’t happening for you, a simple blood test may discover this medical issue. Once your thyroid levels are corrected you can start slowly and lose weight following a healthy lifestyle plan and an exercise plan that you are happy with.

ProShapeRX

International No Diet Day…

The 6th May of each year is International No Diet Day and young Australian women and women from all over the world are told to go out and eat cake. But at the same time this day highlights the problems associated with constant dieting. Instead body image should be focused on, women should be allowed to be seen as individuals and be accepted for who they are.

This day will also help to promote healthy eating habits.

Many young women are on diets because of peer pressure and the pressure to be thin. A lot of women also have disorders that don’t help in their fight to stay slim and the pressure makes it worse for them.

Because of the expectations of young women in our communities, dieting constantly leads to a lot of eating disorders such as Bulimia and Anorexia and malnutrition.

If you are constantly dieting or would like to share your story with us, please email your information to My Personal Diet Story.

Questions raised over CSIRO diet

It might be a best-seller, but a leading Australian nutritionist says a popular Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) diet is baffling those battling the bulge.

Prime Minister John Howard has been asked to review the book The CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet, on concerns from Rosemary Stanton and medico John Tickell that the diet recommends high amounts of red meat.

The pair wrote to Mr. Howard, saying the high meat content in the diet contravenes the government’s own dietary advice.

The Government’s Australian Guide to Health Eating recommends consumption of 65 to 100g of lean red meat three to four times per week, but the new book advocates up to 300g of meat daily.

Ms Stanton said today the popular diet from the government-related agency, which has sold more than 500,000 copies in Australia so far, was better than the Atkins diet because it did allow a small amount of grains-based food.

But she said it was confusing those desperate to shed the kilos.

“They’re (dieters) saying why do our dietary guidelines tell us to eat 65 to 100g of lean red meat three to four times a week,” Ms Stanton told Macquarie Radio.

“And yet the CSIRO diet says 200g of meat at night and then another 100g of meat, chicken or fish at lunch. What do I do? Which one do I follow?”

She said the diet was based on a CSIRO study of 100 women.

Half the women were put on a red meat diet while half were put on a diet equally low in calories and equally low in fat, but with much less meat. 

Both groups achieved a relatively similar weight loss.

“And yet that’s not the message we’re getting,” Ms Stanton said.

She said she was concerned research money for the book came from Meat and Livestock Australia and they had promoted the diet heavily.

“I suppose you can’t be sure, but you’d have to wonder if the diet would have been popular if it hadn’t gotten so much promotion from some very effective public relations people,” Ms Stanton said.

From the Courier Mail - 8th January 2006

Gluten Free Foods and Diets

Many people in the world suffer from what is known as Coeliac Disease. A disease which is looked at closely. Sufferers have to endure a gluten free diet but sometimes that is hard to do especially when they dine in restaruants or dine with friends. There maybe no way of telling how much gluten is in the meal they are about to enjoy. Today on ABC News Online and other news programs information in regards to a study and testing of a treatment were disclosed…

I listened to the news and even though this will not stop people from having to have a gluten free diet it will make it easier for them when they dine out and not the gluten levels in the food they are eating…. Read on…

 

* * * * * * * * * *New coeliac disease treatment easy to digest…There is new hope for people who suffer from the debilitating stomach condition, coeliac disease. 

The disease affects people who lack the enzymes to digest gluten, which is a substance found in most cereals.

Now Australian doctors have developed a substitute for the missing enzymes to offer sufferers relief and a broader diet.

Patients with coeliac disease suffer cramps and fatigue.

If untreated, it can lead to more serious illnesses such as anaemia and osteoporosis.

Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne have developed a treatment that restores the gluten-processing enzymes, ending a very long wait for patients.

“This use of enzymes is quite a breakthrough because patients have only had use of a gluten-free diet for the last 50 years,” biochemist and Professor Hugh Cornell, from RMIT, said.

Jennifer Angwin took part in the first trial of the supplement at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

She took the pills just before eating foods high in gluten and found the reaction was reduced.

“To have the opportunity to take the capsules and know the likelihood of an attack is far diminished would be wonderful,” Ms Angwin said.

The new treatment is not designed to replace a gluten-free diet.

But researchers say it could be used as a safeguard when patients do not know what is in the food they are eating.

“This supplement would be used, for example, where patients are eating out in restaurants or [with] friends and they weren’t confident about the level of gluten exclusion by the cook in those settings,” Dr Finlay Macrae, head of the colorectal department of the Royal Melbourne Hospital, said.

After the success of the first trial, the treatment will be tested on a bigger group of volunteers.

Doctors hope it will be available at the end of next year.

I was sitting at one of my favourite cafés and while sipping on my cappuccino I was watching the news on the big screen TV. There are some things that really get up my nose and that is those ads that promote healthy foods and dieting. Not because the foods that they are promoting are healthy or the fact that the ads are about dieting, but the fact that the makers of those ads use girls or men who are slim.

Those men and women have no need to lose weight and yet they portray those ‘good foods’ as wonderful items to make slim people… slimmer.

Come on world… this is a real world and it is time the makers of products and advertisements used their heads a little. If they really wanted people who needed to lose weight to be healthy or to live a healthy lifestyle, then come up with an ad that portrays women who are a little overweight and how the those foods will benefit them. Have it as a progressive ad…

Of course the ad that I saw this morning was something of a sad ad really. It showed a woman who had children and she was trying to eat what she could fit through a straw. Now I am not sure if the makers of these ads do any research at all, but most know that some women gain a little weight when they have children, some even have trouble losing it. The comparison was done with a young lady, with obviously no children and her figure was a nice slim one.

But another moment to reflect with that ad was the woman was trying to eat what she could fit through a straw. For people who have had the lap band operation are too well aware of that saying. There is one doctor here in Australia who tells his patients when they first have the operation that there intake should be minimal and you can have what you can fit through a straw.

I’m not looking for sympathy here, but the makers of those ads should really take into consideration every person in the world before making those ads. Remember that most people are not slim and others have issues that go way beyond what many would consider text book cases.

Toni

Interestingly enough when I began to lose weight I was not very confident when it came to taking the plunge and going to the gym. No… it wasn’t because I was afraid of exercise… it was because I was scared. You see being overweight and going to the gym with all those men and women who were so fit was very daunting.

For those who have been in my situation will know how true that is. It is often the case that some slim people with the muscles would often put larger people down. It was just them. Many of them didn’t have some of the issues that surround some… not all large people, so they didn’t know that how offensive they could be. Finding the right people who ran those gyms and didn’t put you down because you were large was sometimes touch, but I managed to find a guy in who was very understanding and set up a program for me.

The program wasn’t a hard one to start with. It was enough though to get me started and as I slowly lost the weight my program increased. Five mornings a week I would rock up to the gym at 6am and begin my one hour work out before I went to work for the day.

My favourite was the weights and I have to admit there was a lot of weight work. Not all of it was weight lifting. I worked many areas of my body which helped a lot and I felt good. I loved working the weights because I made sure I worked my thighs, calves, arms… well every part of my body didn’t go without a work out. Did I say I loved it? Yes I did and I felt goo, inside myself and out. So there are many benefits to weight lifting or working out with weights and over the next few weeks, my goal is to find somewhere in the area I live to start working out with weights again.

Below is an article that explains the many benefits people can get from weight lifting and it is courtesy of Fast Fat Reduction...

Toni

 

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The Many Benefits of Weight Lifting

Most people, especially women, discard weight lifting as a good form of exercise because they think that weight lifting will actually make their bodies look like a man. If you are one of those people, then you might be surprised to know that this is not true. The hormones of man and woman are not the same. The hormone testosterone plays a major role in muscular development. Because women have very little of this hormone, they tend not to “bulk-up” with weight training.

Researches also demonstrate that resistance exercise, also called strength training, like weight training and weight lifting, has profound effects on the musculoskeletal system, contributes to the maintenance of functional abilities, and prevents osteoporosis, sarcopenia (loss of body mass), lower-back pain, and other disabilities.

Weight lifting also contributes to muscle conditioning. Muscle conditioning is important for the overall stability and strength of the body. It is beneficial until the end of life if well maintained. Muscle conditioning is good for the bones because bones grow stronger and denser with stresses put on the muscles around them.

Moreover, weight lifting makes the muscles, connective tissues and tendons stronger.

The way you sit and stand are influenced by the health of a network of neck, shoulder, back, hip and abdominal muscles. Stronger muscles can help you stand and sit straighter and more comfortably. You may notice improved balance and stability.

As you begin to notice the positive physical changes in your body and develop a regular exercise routine, your ability to handle stress effectively will improve. Weight training allows you to sleep better, i.e.. fall asleep quicker and sleep deeper. Clinical studies have shown regular exercise to be one of the three best tools for effective stress management.

Weight lifting, like most forms of exercise also raises metabolism thus causing the body to burn more calories. This helps in the maintenance of our desirable weight. Boosted metabolism (which means burning more calories when at rest) with reduced body fat. Your overall weight may not change, but you will gain muscle and lose fat. Over time you should notice decreases in waist measurements and body fat measurement.

Remember the adage “something is better than nothing.” Start improving your health. A little start like lifting those grocery bags and rocking your baby to sleep may mean a decrease on your risk of muscle loss on later years.

Fast Fat Reduction

I’d always known that fruit and vegetables were very important to us and to our bodies, but getting the proportions right was where a lot of people go wrong. Now you may think that having ten pieces of fruit a day along with only a few vegetables would be healthy for us.

Well I know of people who had thought that and I even know a diabetic who would sit down to a bowl of fruit and not think anything of the ten pieces of fruit she had cut for herself but not for anyone else around her.

Personally I always knew that having fruit and vegetables does help with a healthy lifestyle but I never thought of how many pieces of each I was eating. It turned out even though I thought I was eating enough I wasn’t.

What a wake up call I had when I went to a place to help me keep on track once my underactive thyroid had been discovered and was in the process of being treated.

I suddenly realised that to eat four vegetables and three pieces of fruit along with all the other foods that make up the food group pyramid is healthy for you and you certainly do notice the changes that start to happen in your body…

I found an article online courtesy of Fast Fat Reduction, that I’d like to share with you…

 

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Fruits and Veggies

Bassy

We have heard it once we have heard it a thousand time. ‘Eat your veggies’. Most of us heard this more than anything during our childhood. All you could think of as a child was when you get older you will never eat another one again. Who needs those things anyway?

I hate to break the news to you, but fruits and veggies are a very important part of our diets. You can’t live without them. Oh you can, but you will either gain weight or feel like shit in the long run. Go a week without eating any, you will see what I mean. I guess the problem is, we tend to over cook veggies. Read more…

It is not everyday that friend’s will sit back and open up and share their secrets that they have kept to themselves for so long. Bobbie has helped me on various occassions, she is a wonderful friend and is someone who I believe is a very special person. When I saw her comments on My Personal Diet Story I knew some of her past but I didn’t realise that she too carried with her a secret about her younger days and how being larger than others her age affected her for so long.

It saddens me that many people in the world never accept people for who they are but instead will put them down because they are overweight. Some of the most caring and wonderful people in this world are overweight, some people have medical issues that make people want to put them down without knowing the full extent of those issues. Many people go out of their way to be hurtful.

Once again, you will read stories like mine and now like Bobbies on My Personal Diet Story blog, we are not after sympathy, we don’t want people to feel sorry for us, we want to share our stories and how it is not so easy for everyone. At the same time, on this blog you will read stories from people who have been able to change, they have been able to lose their weight or gain it successfully… Remember we are all individuals… and we are all very different people.

Take a moment and read Bobbie’s Diet Story…

I believe that genetics play a large role when it comes to me and my battle with weight. I was born into a large family. Most everyone in my family has weight issues. Some have successfully lost weight and battle daily to keep it off, others have had stomach stapling, bariatric surgery that has destroyed their bodies and others have tried almost every fad diet there is out there to only gain their weight back.. and then some.

Even though I was very active, not eating my more than a child my own age, I was chubby through my entire childhood. I was the blunt of many jokes from the children at school and aside from peer pressure, doctor visits always brought with them more stresses upon my already stressed out state. Our family doctor always looked down his nose at me, as though I was a glutton, pigging out on candy and junk foods, when in fact, those things were not permitted in our house.

So, at the age of 9 and tagged as *obese* at a weight of 85 lbs, with the doctors orders of 1 hard boiled egg and 1/2 a grapefruit 3 times a day, my diet dilemmas began.

Read more…