Looking for Name Suggestions (Pagan Weight Watchers)

[Winter Black]

Excellent, Gypsy! I'm glad!  

[The Bookwyrm]

It's my pleasure to help out! 4laugh  

[Winter Black]

I'm glad to hear that. <3  

[The Bookwyrm]

Once I get off this perpetual backshift for a couple of days, I have a couple of essays/articles I'm going to put up here that might be useful for some people. Hopefully that will be this weekend. Right now, I'm 24 hours of the way through 24 hours of solid backshifts, and I'm not much good for anything. confused  

[Winter Black]

Well, take your time, Gypsy. Don't take on too much to handle at once.
I'm going to Toronto tomorrow around 6PM, so I won't be here until, possibly, Sunday night. More probably Monday morning/afternoon.
So, until then, anyone who comes in can just talk amongst themselves.
Stay sharp, and eat healthy, my dears. <3 I'm out.  

[The Bookwyrm]

Enjoy your trip! I'll be around for the weekend, since I'm running away for some much needed recoup time, but I'll have my compy with me. 3nodding  

[The Bookwyrm]

Water, Water Everywhere!

'So let's all have a drink,' right? We can laugh about it, but proper hydration is a key part to a healthy life style. It keeps up hydrated and fresh, and also help to flush out our systems, removing access fats, sugars and toxins.

It is reccomended that we should each consume 8 8 ounce glasses of water a day. And that's a lot, when you're not a big fan of the stuff. But, you can mix it up. One of those servings can be a glass of low fat milk, or fruit juice. Tea and coffee, anything wet counts towards it, but you'll want to watch what your drinking. Pop, fruit punch, fruit drinks are all very high in sugar in synthetic sugars; natural fruit juices aren't quite so bad, but too much can push you over the top.

If you're trying to lose weight, water is honestly your best bet but it doesn't have to be a chore. You can spruce up your water, so it's not as hard to drink. Adding a twist of lemon or lime adds a very faint, refrshing flavor to the water, and can help cover up some of the ick of normal tap water. Or, you can get fancy and add a couple of slices of them to your water; it gives you the benefit of the taste, and it looks attractive. Adding honey and a bit of lemon juice to hot water instead of tea not only makes a nice tasting cup of something hot, but it's great for sore throats or when you're losing your voice.

Crystal Light is also fantastic; it's low in sugar, it tastes great and they come in conveniently sized packets; you can either mix up a whole pitcher of the stuff, or you can just mix it in a bottle of water when you're on the go.

Keeping hydrated is very important, especially since we're in the dead heat of mid summer right now. While water is good, too much of it can be a bad thing. While drinking some will help to flush impurities out of the body, too much will remove vital nutrients; that's why some people get dizzy spells in the extreme heat: They're not only sweating out the nutrients that they need, but they're drinking too much water and flushing them before they can replace them. If you find yourself ( like I do) in that kind of a situation, grab a bottle of a sports drink. It's surprising how much better you feel afterwards. wink  

[The Bookwyrm]

Portion Sizes

In order to lose weight, you have to eat. Skipping meals is actually one of the most harmful things you can do to your body if you're trying to lose weight, because your body will store extra fat. It sounds like a contradiction, but it's true. Instead of not eating, trying managing what you're eating.

It doesn't do to go hungry (and feeling peckish doesn't constitute). Try eating three meals a day; if you find yourself hungry between meals, try eating four to five small meals a day. Sort of like a Hobbit (breakfast, second breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, supper, etc.). They key, however, is to moderate. As a personal example, when I was using the gym at my university, I used to go int he mornings; I'd eat a light breakfast before I went (usually a bowl of oatmeal), and then something a little more substantial when I went home (like bacon and eggs, or a nice omlette). Eat normally for your usual three meals in a day, and plan for your additonal ones; have a muffin between breakfast, a peanut butter sandwhich between lunch and supper.

Another thing to do is to eventually start to cut back on serving sizes. It's hard, but there are tricks to use here, too:
~ Drink more with your meal
~ Use smaller plates (you may be eating less, but it's easy to trick your brain into thinking you're eating more).
~ Eat slowly. Take your time chewing. Chat between mouthfuls.
~ When you start to feel full, stop. Don't eat the few bites that are left on your plate, just stop eating.
~ Clear your plate away from the table immediately; if food is left sitting there, odds are you're eventually going to start picking at it.
~ Take smaller helpings and go back for seconds if you're still hungry. Just sit for a few minutes inbetween to let your stomach settle.
~ Eat things that are going to be filling at meal times. Rice is good as a side, but on its own, just leaves you feeling hungry in an hour.

The changes can be hard to initiate, but it's best when you start slowly and build up. Watch what you eat by trying to make healthier choices, watch how much you're eating, and you'll start to see results. wink  

[Winter Black]

Thank you Gypsy!  

[The Bookwyrm]

No problem ^^  

[Winter Black]

Now if only people would show up. [laughs]  

[The Bookwyrm]

Give them time, and the people will come. ^^  

[Winter Black]

I hope so. [laughs]

How are you progressing?  

[The Bookwyrm]

It comes and goes. I've lost 5 pounds, but it was 5 pounds I had gained since starting this so I'm really back where I started. But I am eating far less junk, drinking more water and being more active. And the important thing right nos is that I did, in fact, lose those five pounds.  

[Winter Black]

Its been so hot lately that I have not been able to stand around, much less go for my walk... I think I gained five pounds, too, but I think it was more in retained water... Because it went away just yesterday... And now I'm back around 220... A lot of which used to be fat, but turned to muscle when I started walking every night. [laughs] But its cooler, now. I can walk again.
We're going to the movies, though, I think, today. To see Johnny. I mean... Pirate 2. XD

Anyways, yeah... I'm doing a lot better than I used to. I'm more active.
I'm still not eating right. But at least my pattern is a bit consistant. I'm eating one or two meals a day, usually between 3 and 7 PM.
But lately, its been generally one fair sized meal around 4:30 PM (sometimes later, but never after 6, I noticed), and then going for a walk or a swim. This is odd, since I wasn't conciously trying to set any sort of pattern, anyways.