Breaking up with Junk Food

"Breaking up with Junk Food" by Carolyn Louise Maynard Breaking up with your boyfriend Junk Food is hard to do. Some time you don't give yourself enough credit. Just deciding to end your relationship is a big deal. You are tired of your boyfriend Junk Food's crap, how he treats you and the way he makes you feel. Your boyfriend Junk Food is abusive. Look what he has done to your body over the years. Now, you need to remember that you were once in love with your boyfriend Junk Food. You use to flirt with him. He seemed so cool. He made you feel so good, but you started noticing that after a while he was no good for you. You decided to end things. You saw your face in the mirror and were determined never to let Junk Food hurt you again. You felt so strong and powerful. You threw out all your boyfriend Junk Foods clothes. Then a few weeks later you saw your boyfriend Junk Food at the club. He was looking real cute. You had a few drinks and Junk Food started to look hot again. You went out dancing with Junk Food. The next morning you woke up feeling sorry for yourself. You asked yourself, "How could I be so stupid?", "What is wrong with me?" "I know me Ex Junk Food is no good for me." You started feeling bad about yourself and when Junk Food called the next day you answered his call. You wanted to feel better and Junk Food always had a way of making you laugh. You ended up back in bed with Junk Food again. You woke up hating yourself all over again. You needed to clear your head so you called your old friend Health. "Health, what is wrong with me?", you asked. "There is nothing wrong with you." "But I keep falling for Junk Food." "You have history with Junk and it can be hard to let go sometimes. You had a few one night stands with your Ex Junk Food, but that does not have to turn into an affair. Don't pay him any attention. If you have a moment of weakness, let it go. You have not changed your mind about your Ex Junk Food. You still know he is no good for you. After a while you will see Junk less and less. Some day you will look up and not even need him anymore. Don't let your Ex Junk Food get you down. He is just going to keep trying to get you back. Try to avoid him as much as possible. If you give in for a moment, let it be a one night stand. Wake up the next morning, take a cold and sober shower and renew your commitment to stay away from him. Don't give up, you deserve better!" "Thank you Health, you are such a good friend." "I know, some times I wish we could be more than friends." You thought about what Health said to you. You started to few better about yourself. You started to see your Ex Junk less and less. You noticed how cute Health looked. You began to spend more and more time with Health. Your love for Health started to grow more and more. You noticed how you felt around health. You had more confidence, you had higher self-esteem, more energy, you were less depressed. You started getting serious with Health. One day Health proposed to you and you accepted. You got married to Health. You and Health lived happily ever after! By Carolyn Louise Maynard 12/20/12

Clean and Sober in 2013!

Clean and Sober in 2013. It is my desire to become Clean and Sober in 2013. I was gifted a box of chocolates and suddenly I was faced with the decision, "Am I going to eat this?" Now I know all the facts and stats about Chocolate, I know that for eating one piece I would have to walk nearly 3 miles to burn it off. I know that it is high in fat. I no that it is addictive and that eating one piece will lead to me eating ten. I know that it will get me high for a few minutes and then return me to a lower state of energy. I thought about how I do not drink alcohol. Whenever some one offers me a drink at a restaurant, I usually say, "No thank you I do not drink!" When someone gives me a bottle of wine as a gift I pass it along to someone else who drinks or throw it away. I began to see that I must start thinking about chocolate the same way I think about wine. I don't want to be controlled or under the influence of chocolate. I don't want to become a chocolate zombie. I also do not do drugs, at-least illegal narcotics. I began to see that I must see the offer to share some chocolate with some one is the same as me being offered to do a line of coke with someone. Chocolate has harmed me. I am obese, I get depressed, have low energy and lower self-esteem and higher risk for heart disease, diabetes and breast cancer as a result of eating too much chocolate. The truth is that it is very difficult to limit how much chocolate I consume. I would not be satisfied with one bar of chocolate per day, certainly not one piece per day. Asking me to only eat one piece of chocolate per day is like asking an alcoholic to only have one drink at a bar. It's not going to happen captain! The way I see it the only way out of being addicted to food drugs or food narcotics is to get clean and sober. I have tried portion control and that did not work for me! I have meal planned, counted calories, tried three meals a day, tried six, but I have not been serious about a commitment to be clean and sober from food narcotics. Sure I have made commitments to my health, to eating right and exercise without directly addressing my addiction to food drugs. Whether you count calories or not, there is something about the chemistry of chocolate compared to that of an apple. It is easier to limit the intake of apples than it is to reduce the intake of sweets. I define food narcotics as all food substances that are both harmful and highly addictive, on my list that would include every sweet known to man, snack foods or junk food such as chips or crackers, fried foods and cheese products. It is my desire to be free of food narcotics in 2013 and for the rest of my life! I do not wish to a food addict any longer! Carolyn Louise Maynard (CLM) 12/19/12

Mon Dec17 Update!

Monday December 17th Update! My goal last Monday was to reduce the amount of junk food I ate by eating small meals high in protein and by eating pretzels, frozen fruit bars, sugar-free pudding, taking in no more than 200 calories a day from treats. I did meet my goal for 3 days last week. I am still so excited that I was able to get my eating under control for the 3 days. The rest of the days I did eat junk food and even some fast food. I realized that the difference between the days I met my goal and the days I did not was tracking. I tracked my calories on the days I met my goal. I now see the importance of Tracking as a powerful aid to my health and weight-loss. When I track I eat less food. I am more aware of what I eat and I make healthy food choices. Tracking is so beneficial to my weight-loss journey that I will not become a devoted tracker, knowing that whether I track the good, bad or ugly I will always eat better tracking than what I would have eaten without tracking. Awareness is a powerful tool. Tracking is a powerful tool that takes practice and it requires learning how to make it work for you. My new goal for Monday December 24th is to have tracked for 7/7 days. I know that by tracking I will meet my goal of staying under 200 calories per day for my treats! CLM

The Key to My Success!

When it comes to cutting back on calories the key to my success will be in me avoiding junk food and making sure that the percentage of my calorie intake that is devoted to snacks/ treats in no more than 20% of 1000 calories daily. The most important thing will be for me to stick to my daily calorie budget of 200 calories for treats each day. I have developed skills of eating lean meat, fruit, vegetables and whole grains and using portion control to help me cut calories throughout the day. I also drink only water. The next part will be in me making sure that I am staying to the 200 calorie treat limit. I know if I stick to my pretzels, sugar-free pudding and frozen fruit bars I will stay on target. CLM

Non-Scale Victory!

When I started walking in October 2012 it was a struggle just to walk for 60 minutes. My feet would hurt so bad and the end that I could hardly stand. Now it is Dec 2012 and I have continued on my walking routine, building up my stamina from short 20-30 min walks at a time. This morning I woke up at six am on a Saturday and I was able to do a straight 90 min walk without getting tired! My stamina, strength and endurance have all improved. My cardio-vascular health has greatly improved within a very short time period. I am so thankful for my legs and feet which power me to walk for miles. I have rediscovered my joy and passion for walking and reclaimed myself as a long distance walker. CLM

Three days in a row!

Three days in a row! Since Monday I have been on a roll. The goal of simply cutting out the junk food is so working. I have not gone over my calorie limit in three days. My daily treat allowance budget of either pretzels with a sugar-free pudding or pretzels with a frozen fruit pop has not been exceeded. I took my snack consumption down from 1000-3000 calories a day to less than 200 calories a day. I do enjoy mini meals high in protein. I have noticed that by making sure I am eating my protein at every meal I am far less hungry. When I eat the small meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner with a treat and a mini meal after dinner I still come under 1000 calories a day even though I am eating way more food. The difference is that I have shifted the balance of the quality of calories I consume from empty calories to healthy calories. I eat more real food and less junk food. Before 90% of my calorie intake was from junk food. I would easily eat 1000 calories worth of junk. I eat no junk now and even my treat meal is only 10% of my daily calories. I am learning that in order to keep this up I will have to exercise my endurance muscles and continue to stick to my healthy plan knowing that today's work will lead to tomorrow's victory. CLM

The Real Question is not Why, But What!

The Real question is not why you want to lose weight, but what you are willing to do to lose the weight. For a long time I have had many reasons to lose weight, find reasons to lose seemed to be quite easy from wanting more self-esteem and cute clothes, to wanting more energy or better health. The harder question and the question that mattered the most was, What was I willing to do to lose the weight. I am know for me I am willing to do the following: Walk every day when it is not raining! Walk for at-least 20 minutes every day. Walking for 30 during my lunch break. Walk for at-least 20 minutes on weekends. Walk for multiple 20-30 minute sessions. Drink only water, tea and low cal drinks. Plan and track meals daily. Eat meals from fruit, vegetables, lean meat, and whole grains. Until now, there is one thing I was not willing to do and that was to cut out junk food, and for as long as I was unwilling to do it, the weight stayed on. I am finally willing to cut out empty calories. I am willing to give up junk food (sweets, fried foods, cheese products, chips and crackers!) I am finally willing to say I'd rather starve than eat empty calories. I am making the commitment to enter 2013 junk food free and to remain that way so that I can keep the weight off. No matter how much I may eat, I know one thing is for sure and that is my calories will no longer be coming from junk food. Junk food is way higher in fat and sugar than healthy food. For me if it is a choice between an apple or a cookie I am choosing the apple. I'd rather eat five apples than one cookie. At-least I know the apples will give me fiber and I will get full from them. The cookie is addictive and more than likely eating one cookie will lead to me eating ten. I can eat just one apple, but I have never been able to eat just one cookie! So this year I am focused on what I am willing to do to lose weight rather than why I want to lose. CLM

Goal for the week:Dec 10

Goal for the week: Dec 10 This week my goal is to not eat any junk food from this Monday Dec 10- Monday Dec 17. I plan to accomplish this by allowing myself three mini meals after dinner. One mini meal will be a protein bar and a fruit-cup for 290 calories and the another mini meal will be a yogurt and 100 cal pack of almonds for 160 calories. I will eat up to three of these mini meals after dinner when I get hungry. I will be so happy not to have eaten any junk food at night. It is my goal to completely stop eating junk food at night. Will report on Dec 17 what I was able to accomplish. I will try my best. CLM

December Update!

December Update: Well, well well, this month may have just started, but I have not just started! I have been going strong on my walking routine since October. I am headed into this new year feeling more happy and confident than ever! My short walks have really been they key to my success in consistently walking. I walk during my lunch breaks for 30 minutes Monday-Friday. I walk for 30 minutes after work a few days a week. I walk for 20-30 minutes after dinner a few days a week. I walk for 20-30 minutes in the morning a few days week. This walking plan is so much better than when I use to hope I would walk for 60 minutes every morning and never did it. I have also been tracking what I eat and keeping a food journal since October. I was tracking using an Excel sheet and I was not really looking at my calories. Recently I started using Livestrong.com again so that I can track the calories. For the most part I have been unsuccessful at my goal to eat three meals a day with no snacks and no sweets, like my goal to walk every morning for 1 hour it needed some adjusting. Now I follow a six meal a day plan with protein at every meal. I also have certain treats that I allow myself such as pretzels, frozen fruit-bars and sugar-free pudding. I also have frozen yogurt once a week. I am learning to manage just these treats and will be working on this plan of eating and monitoring my calories for all of 2013. I am happy that I don't have to create any New Years Resolutions concerning my diet and exercise, because I am already living out the changes every day. I no longer beat myself up when I make mistakes, when I fall I pick myself up immediately and ask myself a simple question, "What Have I learned?" The answers I find help me to live the next day even better. I am not focused on my body size right now, just focused on what I can do each day to live a healthy life. I know that in time my body will respond to my healthy habits. One thing I am learning to work on is getting a good nights rest. I am training myself to go to bed earlier so I can wake up the next morning refreshed and full of energy. Any way, that is what I have been up to from Oct-Dec. I have also been posting on a fitness challenge on FaceBook,and I made a few videos on youtube. I am continuing on my health journey and looking forward to what the New Year may bring. CLM