Eat Breakfast!

We've all heard the importance of starting our day off with breakfast, for not only weight loss but also general health.  But I hear so many people say "I'm just not hungry when I wake up!'.  While I normally don't advocate eating if you aren't at least a little hungry, breakfast is one time I break that rule. 

Two reasons:

First of all, with breakfast you really are breaking the fast from the night before.  To make a long metabolic description really short, when you are fasting your body will begin to turn to muscle for fuel.  I don't know about you, but I've worked very hard for this muscle and I'd rather see it sitting on my body than being burned up as energy.  So to keep as much muscle on our bodies as we can it's very important to eat breakfast and keep the fasting state from hot having eaten since the night before as brief as possible.

Secondly, I usually work out in the AM.  I've done this both without eating breakfast and with.  I note a big difference between my energy level in the gym when I eat first as opposed as to when I don't.  I sure as heck don't want to spend any amount of time trying  to better my body without the ability to put max effort into it- I don't have enough hours in my day to be wasting time like that, and I'm sure you don't either.

As for the "I'm not hungry" excuse, it won't last long!  After a couple of weeks of eating breakfast as soon after rising as possible, you will start waking up hungry.  These days I usually wake up pretty much starving and breakfast has turned into what is often my biggest meal of the day.  This is a big departure from the gal who used to hoard up all of her calories all day to be able to eat a big dinner.

You don't have to start off with anything huge.  If your appetite is virtually nonexistent first thing in the morning, just have a few bites of a good-quality protein bar and a drink of water.  If you can handle a little more than that, have a scoop of protein powder in water and a small piece of fruit, or 1/4 cup of dry oats cooked and 1/2 C of cooked egg whites or egg beaters.  As time goes on, you'll be able to eat more.

Breakfast is too valuable meal with too many health and weight loss benefits to be skipping.  It is really, truly, no-kidding important that you eat breakfast.  So no more excuses!   Time to start making your morning re-fuel a habit!

Another Product Recommendation: Micro Steamer- For More than Just Veggies!

First off, I want to say that I am NOT a Pampered Chef consultant!  (I don't even know a Pampered Chef consultant, come to think of it!)

Now I want to ask a question:  Do you own a Pampered Chef Micro Steamer? http://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=251&catId=8&parentCatId=8&outletSubCat=

I've had one of these things for YEARS and all I thought I could make in it was vegetables.  It got quite the workout, but that was the limit of it's usage. 

Then we went to visit my sister in Phoenix last Christmas, who pulled hers out and used it to make slow-cook oatmeal in the microwave.  I was stunned!  I'd been making my oatmeal the old-fashioned way on the stove before that.  She just put the amount of dry oatmeal she wanted to cook in there, added as much water as she wanted, and nuked it for a few minutes.  No boiling over (my common problem with making it in the microwave), no watching it on the stove constantly and stirring so that it doesn't burn to the bottom.   She found it humorous that I was so amazed and said "It's good for more than just vegetables!".

So I went home to Texas and tried it for myself, and that thing has been getting a workout almost every day.  As a matter of fact, I think I need to get a second one because I find myself washing the one I have every morning to have it ready to steam veggies that night.  I think I might get the smaller one next time around.

At any rate, for 1/2 cup of dry oatmeal I put in about an equal amount of water (I like mine thick), put the lid on and nuke it for 2 minutes.  Then when it's done I let it sit a minute or two to soak up any additional water that didn't get cooked into it.  If it so happens that I put too much water in there and it's too soupy for me I just tip it over the sink, because the little steam holes also act as a strainer.  Then I add whatever I like to it (this morning it was pureed pumpkin, maple syrup, stevia, and cinnamon- yummy!).  After it's all mixed together I dump it into a bowl and enjoy. 

If I am having eggs and oats, I'll make my eggs while the oatmeal sits after cooking and then scramble the cooked oats in at the end of the cooking time.

Great way to get a quick hot breakfast before hitting the gym!

Maybe everyone else already knew this, but I thought I'd pass it on to any of you who hadn't thought of it before.

The Older You Are, The More You Gotta Move To Lose!

When I was 34 years old I lost 30 pounds without exercise. I followed the Weight Watchers program (materials purchsed on Ebay because I was a broke single mother of four) and occasionally took short walks during my lunch at work. That was it. I lost at the rate of 1-2 pounds a week, just like I was supposed to. Back then it wasn't all that hard.

Fast forward: Now I'm 10 years older and if I were to do that now, my weight would not budge. Not a bit. I think this is typical for most of as as we get older (and for many people in general): If we don't move, we won't lose.

I know they say that diet is 70-80% of the weight loss battle, and to a degree I agree with that. Why? Because when I eat whatever I want while exercising I GAIN weight. But if I eat what I am supposed to and don't exercise, I stay the same or lose very, very slowly. That tells me the diet is more powerful in keeping fat at bay than exercise. But if I, and most other people in mid-life and older, don't exercise we are going to have trouble shedding serious pounds.

Barring a medical condition, the only time I have seen people drop serious weight over the age of about 40 without exercising is when they have tremendous amounts of weight to lose. At first, these folks can just follow a sensible eating plan and weight will come off at a fairly predictable pace. But I've noted that usually when people get to within about 60-70 pounds of their goal weight their loss will either slow down significantly or come to a standstill without exercise.

At this point, something has to change. After close examination of diet (Are they TRULY following the program? Getting enough protein? Too many calories? Too few calories? Eating often enough?), the next thing to look at is the dreaded E word: Exercise.

But here is the beautiful thing: If you have been sedentary, you don't have to spend hours in the gym every day. You can just go for a 20 minute walk. The important thing is that you go higher than your current exercise level most days of the week. Often this little bump in activity is enough to get the metabolism going and the scale moving downward again.

As time goes on, you may hit another plateau. Then it's time to re-examine your diet and exercise levels again. Assuming your eating plan is on target, it's time to bump up the exercise a little more. I know this stinks, but it's just what has to be done to lose weight as we get older.

One thing you need to keep in mind if you are new to exercise, or if it has been a long time (several months) since you have exercised, is that you do NOT want to start off all gang-busters. If you do this, one of two things will more than likely happen: You will either burn out or get hurt. Bodies need time to adjust. At first an easy walk will be enough. When you feel ready (make sure you know the difference between "not ready" and "lazy"), either pick up your speed or increase your time. When you get to where you can walk an hour (if you have that much time), it's time to pick up the pace. There is really not a lot of point in spending more than an hour doing cardio exercise, unless you are a distance athlete.

When you get to where you feel mentally ready, you can also start to add some weight lifting. But I've blogged about that before. The point of today's blog is that if you want to lose weight when you are middle aged and older (and some younger folks with slower metabolisms) you will probably have to exercise past your current activity level to see the scale move. This is a fact a lot of people don't want to face, but if you truly want to climb out from underneath your excess fat, you are going to have to get going!

Exercise is the key that unlocks the nutrition door so that your healthy eating plan can do it's job and move the excess fat off of your body. Just give in, accept it, and start moving. :)

Don't Pre-load Your Fork!

This is a really simple tip that I heard somewhere lately (I think it was a Weight Watchers meeting): Don't pre-load your fork.  Wait to put more food on it before you are done chewing and swallowing the current bite.


I have a deserved reputation among family and friends for being a very fast eater.  This is going to sound like a excuse akin to "The devil made me do it", but I really was born this way:  There are literally photos of me screaming because my poor mother (who looks caught between amusement and horror) is not shoveling my baby food into my mouth fast enough.   When I went off to boot camp I got faster yet.  Then add motherhood to the mix and I developed the ability to positively inhale my food.

But when following the "Don't pre-load your fork" rule, I have to pay attention to my food and the process of eating.  This helps me to feel more satisfied, which, in turn makes me less likely to overeat.

Nothing horribly earth-shaking, but perhaps it can help someone else.